Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday denied a report that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI in connection with a corruption probe.ABC News, citing high level Justice Department sources, said information implicating Hastert had been developed from convicted lobbyists who are now cooperating with the government.But department officials, who asked to not be identified, said the story was not accurate and that Hastert was not under investigation. "The story is wrong. Hastert is not under investigation," one official said.

NEW YORK Susan Zirinsky, executive producer of CBS’ "48 Hours Mystery, has apologized for airing an altered image of the front page of the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune in an episode about a local murder trial that aired Saturday. The paper’s managing editor, Jim Robertson, had complained to CBS in an e-mail. Zirinsky said she didn’t know the image of the front page covering Ryan Ferguson’s sentencing had been drastically manipulated. Ferguson had been convicted last October of killing the newpaper’s sports editor, Kent Heitholt, whose body was found in the Tribune’s parking lot in November 2001. "It was an...