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FLASH: KFI-AM Los Angeles HIRES Talk Show Host Graham FIRED By WMAL After Islam Remarks...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A communications firm with close ties to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is helping a state contractor persuade department heads to join a struggling procurement program, an official with the contractor said Wednesday. The contractor, Virginia-based CGI-AMS, recently hired Wilson-Miller Communications, which is co-owned by Marty Wilson, a top political adviser to Schwarzenegger and his main fund-raiser. Last May, the Schwarzenegger administration hired CGI-AMS to help the state trim its $4.9 billion purchasing bill. A spokeswoman for CGI-AMS said her company hired Beth Miller, Wilson's partner, to develop a marketing and education program aimed at getting more state officials...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Music producer Phil Spector has hired former John Gotti attorney Bruce Cutler to defend him against charges of murdering a B-movie actress, attorneys said Tuesday. Spector will now be represented by Roger Jay Rosen and Cutler, the flamboyant attorney who long kept the notorious New York mob boss out of prison, Rosen said. The two filed substitution paperwork with the court last Thursday and a judge approved the switch Monday. "Bruce and I are going to be working hand in hand," said Rosen, a Los Angeles attorney. Spector's previous defense attorney, Leslie Abramson, said she was...

The Pentagon's personnel chief said he hopes to bring the first 300,000 civilian Defense Department employees under the new National Security Personnel System within the next six months. The system, authorized by the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, will introduce sweeping changes to the way the department hires, pays, promotes, disciplines and fires its civilian employees. David S. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told American Forces Radio and Television Service today that progress in introducing the new system is continuing on all fronts. For example, meetings between management and nine unions representing the department's 400,000 employees...

<p>SACRAMENTO - The political strategist who helped Arnold Schwarzenegger win last fall's governor's race by positioning the actor as an incorruptible outsider is now capitalizing on his own insider access.</p> <p>Mike Murphy, who remains one of the governor's top political advisers, is expanding the West Coast operation of his firm, DC Navigators, which has hired a lobbyist and is touting its links to Schwarzenegger.</p>

The mayor of Ecuador's biggest city has hired a parrot to speak on his behalf when he is asked "undesirable questions." Jaime Nebot, Mayor of Guayaquil, presented the parrot to journalists at a press conference, reports Teerra.com. He said: "Here is the parrot that will be in charge to answer all the undesirable comments that I have no time to answer. "Some people only approach me with nonsense talk so the parrot will answer back in the same way because I need to use my time to work." Mr Nebot has been heavily criticised by the press and the public...