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McLEAN, Va. - The courthouse files look like the Christmas list of a high-society fashion maven with a purse fetish: mink coats, jewelry, Faberge eggs, a Mercedes Benz and more than 100 handbags and wallets with designer names like Chanel, Hermes and Louis Vuitton. Those are among the items the FBI found at the Washington home of Harriette Walters, who until recently was an $81,000-a-year city tax official. Her salary was a pittance compared with the tens of millions of dollars prosecutors say she and at least five others stole in what may be the biggest embezzlement case in the...

In San Francisco's effort to pay the soaring cost for retiree health benefits, it's $500,000 down, $4.9 billion to go. The city, like most local governments and school districts in California, has put aside no money to cover the fast-growing cost of delivering on health care coverage promised to its workers once they hit retirement age. But in San Francisco, the financial liability hanging over the city is one of the heaviest in the state, thanks in part to the generosity of its employee health care benefits. "As this number keeps growing ... it can cripple our budget,'' said Supervisor...

The businessman, influential in Pakistani circles, also aided Boxer. WASHINGTON — A Pakistani immigrant who hosted fundraisers in Southern California for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being sought by the FBI on charges that he funneled illegal contributions to Clinton's political action committee and Sen. Barbara Boxer's 2004 reelection campaign. Authorities say Northridge businessman Abdul Rehman Jinnah, 56, fled the country after an indictment accused him of engineering more than $50,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic committees. A business associate charged as a co-conspirator has entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles next...

Global Warming is a ReligionFebruary 2, 2007 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Hey, try this headline. This is in the Scotsman, the UK Scotsman: "Russia to Analyze Yellow-Orange Snow in Siberia." What to a bet it's bears? What do you bet it's just bear urine? Everybody is out there just looking for a disaster because of global warming, they're out there looking for some sign that the apocalypse is here. It's bear pee. RUSH: Gary in Post Falls, Idaho. Welcome to the EIB Network, sir. CALLER: Good morning Rush. First time caller. Just two quick points on the global warming. RUSH: Yes,...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper once called the Kyoto accord a "socialist scheme" designed to suck money out of rich countries, according to a letter leaked Tuesday by the Liberals. The letter, posted on the federal Liberal party website, was apparently written by Harper in 2002, when he was leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance party. He was writing to party supporters, asking for money as he prepared to fight then-prime minister Jean Chrétien on the proposed Kyoto accord. "We're gearing up now for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership," Harper's letter says....

Miller mulls resignation in wake of fraud chargesCharges of altering checks to the federal government face the state House member Nikole Hannah-Jones, Staff Writer Miller State Rep. Paul Miller said Thursday that he has not decided whether he will resign his seat in the General Assembly after his arrest on felony charges of attempting to defraud the U.S. Department of Education. Miller said during a brief phone interview that he is in consultation with his attorney but that on the advice of counsel, he could not comment. In a short written statement, Miller reiterated that he would not speak about...

Aide says Jefferson cooked up schemeAssistant sentenced to 8 years in prison Saturday, May 27, 2006 By Bill Walsh Washington bureau ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- A former aide to U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, said Friday that it was the congressman's idea to solicit bribes to promote a telecommunications deal in West Africa that began as a legitimate business venture. "I've gone over it 10 million times in my head," Brett Pfeffer, 37, said at his sentencing in U.S. District Court. "I don't know why I didn't look him in the eye and say 'No.' " **SNIP** According to court...

SANTA ANA -- More than 50 former investors packed the courtroom Friday at the sentencing hearing for an Orange County man charged with running a $311-million fraud scheme over nearly two decades. Many were expected to testify against James P. Lewis Jr., who faces up to 30 years in prison for defrauding about 1,600 investors. Lewis, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and one count of mail fraud last October after he was arrested in Houston in 2004 following a nationwide manhunt. Prosecutors agreed to drop 12 of 14 counts in exchange for the pleas. During the...

SERBIA was plunged into a political crisis last night after Brussels suspended talks leading to EU membership as punishment for failing to arrest one of the most wanted war criminals in Europe. The European Commission said that it was halting negotiations on closer links with Serbia after the deadline to deliver Ratko Mladic to the Hague war crimes tribunal passed on April 30 with the fugitive still in hiding. Relations between Belgrade and the international community plunged to new lows as Carla del Ponte, the chief war crimes prosecutor at the UN, declared that she had been misled by the...

Serbia must choose between its past and its present How hard can it be to arrest a man recognised wherever he goes, in a country roughly the size of Scotland? Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minister, has asked the international community to believe that if the man in question does not want to be found, the answer is, effectively, “impossible”. This answer is not acceptable. It is entirely appropriate that Belgrade’s failure to surrender Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal as promised led yesterday to the suspension of talks with the EU on possible Serbian membership. Mr Kostunica...

Though Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean is not known for being publicity-shy, a speech by the former Vermont governor at Harvard Law School Saturday was closed to the press. Dean laid out a strategy for Democratic victories in 2006 and 2008 elections, according to students in attendance. Although Dean addressed the media’s perception that Democrats have no plan or message, students in attendance said, the media itself was barred from the speech. “Governor Dean’s presentation...was not intended to be a open press event, but rather an opportunity to discuss with conference participants their role in the party and...

Washington, D.C. – Washington sources reported Tuesday that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly using an illegal pyramid scheme to market its 2005 revision of the USDA basic food groups chart. "The USDA's pyramid scheme encourages folks to invest large sums of money – in this case, into groceries – and recruit the people closest to them, usually family members, to hop on board with this pyramid system," said E. Carl Lindgren, an FTC investigator. "Pyramid schemes are proven to be nothing more than complex scams that...

SAN DIEGO – A report released by the San Diego pension system board Friday details how the city racked up a pension deficit estimated at $2 billion, saying the system's underfunding plan did not make sense. The 240-page report, prepared by the forensic accounting firm Navigant Consulting of Chicago, outlined the now-familiar decisions made by the city and the pension board that led to underfunding of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System and the current fiscal crisis that grips the city. The consultants found that city underfunding schemes approved in 1996 and 2002 "did not make economic or actuarial...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Federal authorities arrested 11 people in connection with a sophisticated marriage fraud scheme that targeted Asians seeking U.S. citizenship. The arrests took place Tuesday in Los Angeles and Orange counties and the Bay Area, according to officials who described the operation as one of the biggest of its kind in the country. Chinese and Vietnamese nationals were charged up to $60,000 to marry American citizens to obtain green cards, authorities said. Couples were provided with fake wedding photographs, joint tax returns and even love letters. "Marriage fraud is not a new phenomenon but clearly this scheme...

Feds Indict 2 in Missile-Smuggling Scheme 47 minutes ago LOS ANGELES - A federal grand jury indicted two men Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States for use abroad. Such missiles are designed to bring down aircraft. The U.S. attorney's office said the charges marked the first time a 2004 anti-terrorism law has been used. The law calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted. Chao Tung Wu, 51, and Yi Qing Chen, 41, are naturalized U.S. citizens born in China, authorities said....

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal grand jury indicted two Southern California men Wednesday with conspiracy to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States. Such missiles are designed to bring down aircraft. The U.S. attorney's office said the charges against Chao Tung Wu, 51, of La Puente and Yi Qing Chen, 41, of Rosemead marked the first time a 2004 anti-terrorism statute has been used. The statute calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted. The men have been in custody since August when they were arrested as...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A federal judge on Monday denied bail for two Chinese nationals accused of conspiring to steal sensitive documents on U.S. Navy warship technology and smuggle them to China. Tai Wang Mak, a broadcast and engineering director for the Phoenix North American Chinese Channel, and his wife, Fuk Heung Li, were arrested Oct. 28 in Los Angeles as they prepared to board a flight to China. In Li's luggage, authorities found a disk that contained information on U.S. technology designed to suppress the noise of submarine propulsion systems, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Deirdre Eliot. The disk had...

Who do unions benefit? By: RAY HAYNES Just why do we have government employee unions? We all know the story of the rise of unionism in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Our country was being run by robber barons, the capitalist exploiters who would abuse children for profit and allow people to die in substandard working conditions while they sat in the lap of luxury. Unions fought the evil employers, pushed for labor reforms, minimum wages, safe workplaces and, through their tireless effort, made sure that people received a fair day's wage for a fair day's work in a...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - The FBI is looking for four more suspects involved in an alleged scheme to steal American Red Cross funds intended for victims of Hurricane Katrina, authorities said Friday. Elizabeth Ray, 48, Harold Oats, 26, David Candelaria, 37, and Marietta Snowden, 48, have not been arrested, but they were indicted Thursday along with eleven other Bakersfield residents suspected in the alleged wire fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fresno. The eleven others were arrested earlier this month. Authorities believe the suspects submitted fake claims through a Katrina relief call center in Bakersfield. Seven of...