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player ready...by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning’s most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
The House passed major lobbying reform legislation to require lobbyists and lawmakers to disclose significantly more, including the earmarks members of Congress seek and whether they have any financial interests in them, and the campaign contributions lobbyists collect and “bundle” before they pass them along to lawmakers.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. won its $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, potentially giving him his most influential platform in the U.S. yet for his conservative views, which critics believe could eventually damage the newspaper’s reputation for journalistic integrity.
U.S. military officials said Shiite militias were the greatest threat in Iraq, not the al Qaeda terrorist group, as President Bush has insisted. Fearing they could be depicted by President Bush as weak on national security if they don’t act, congressional Democrats are working to enlarge the federal government’s electronic wiretapping powers before they depart for their August recess.
The Bush Administration’s electronic surveillance efforts were much broader than the terrorist surveillance program President Bush has publicly disclosed, the national director of intelligence told Congress.
State election officials are under pressure to limit their political and financial conflicts of interest.
A retired three-star general was censured for his mishandling of the probe following the friendly fire death in Afghanistan of Army corporal Pat Tillman, a former National Football League star.
The UN authorized a 26,000 military force of UN and African peace-keeping personnel for Darfur, Sudan.
Republican presidential candidates have lagged behind Democrats in offering detailed health care plans despite high voter interest in the issue.
A U.S. attorney who had prosecuted a maker of the painkiller OxyContin More Top Picks Best Leg Massagers For Circulation