Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two Republican congressman from Northern California used their positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a Texas businessman who had given them political contributions, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo, along with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, fought an investigation by federal banking regulators of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, according to government documents and copies of letters between the congressmen and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials obtained by The Times. The FDIC was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his alleged role in...

SCOTIA, Calif. - Financially troubled Pacific Lumber Co. is the victim of its corporate owner's excesses, not increasing government restrictions on logging, according to a state water agency's controversial new study. The state Water Resources Control Board's 18-page report blames Texas-based Maxxam Inc. for shifting hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from Pacific Lumber in "subtle and complex ways," forcing the North Coast timber giant to cut trees "at rates that greatly exceed sustainable forest practices." The state report claims Maxxam has funneled nearly $725 million in Pacific Lumber earnings into its own Houston, Texas, coffers over the past...

The most expensive conservation acquisition in California history could soon prove to have been a bad deal for taxpayers, illustrating a potential weakness of public preservation efforts that rely on the good faith of private companies. Resurrection of one of the nation's most bitter, drawn-out and violent disputes over forest management also finds Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a distinctly awkward position. He campaigned as a staunch supporter of the business community, but has also pledged to fight hard to defend California's environmental interests. And now, with those interests on a collision course in the state's forests, he's being pressed to...

OAKLAND -- After working 30 years for Kaiser Aluminum, Oakland resident Karen Wessenberg retired in 2000, ready to reap the rewards of a pension and low-cost lifetime medical benefits, just like her mom, who worked 27 years for Kaiser. But the 53-year-old Wessenberg took a new job last month to help pay for her health insurance, which has skyrocketed since Kaiser Aluminum filed for bankruptcy in February 2002. It's only getting worse. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., a company once synonymous with Oakland that is now based in Houston and trying to emerge from bankruptcy, has reached an agreement to...

Leaving behind canned food, rope, fireworks and a mixed environmental message, the last Memorial Park tree sitter has quietly slipped away from his perch. A city of Houston park ranger discovered Monday morning that the man, who identified himself only as "Trust," had vacated his platform in the top branches of a 110-foot pine tree. Ranger Joe Cochran said he was making a routine check when he realized that Trust, the last of several protesters who had taken to the trees to make a point, was gone. Trust had been perched in the pine since July 5 in an effort...