U.S. attorney being moved to Washington
Rachel Paulose, the embattled U.S. attorney for Minnesota, will be leaving the post to take a position at the Justice Department in Washington, the department confirmed Monday.
If you’re a Bush toady, you can only fail up.

DHS Erred in $475 Million Contract Given to Native Firm
The Department of Homeland Security improperly awarded a half-billion-dollar, no-bid contract in 2003 to a little-known company to maintain thousands of X-ray, radiation and other screening machines at U.S. border checkpoints, incorrectly designating the firm a disadvantaged small business, according to a report by the department’s inspector general.

US prison system ‘costly failure’
The US prison population has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little impact on crime but at great cost to the taxpayer, researchers say. There are more than 1.5 million people in US state and federal jails, a report by a Washington-based criminal justice research group, the JFA Institute says.

Loophole keeps FDA in the dark on tainted food imports
About 150 imported food shipments a month are tested at a San Francisco laboratory for contaminants consumers shouldn’t eat… At least 10% of the time, the lab finds the shipments contaminated, says David Eisenberg, chairman of Anresco Labs. Most of the time, the lab tells no one but the importer who’s paying for the test, Eisenberg says. The Food and Drug Administration is none the wiser.

Obama leads in poll of Iowa voters
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) — Sen. Barack Obama has overtaken Sen. Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in Iowa, an ABC-Washington Post poll indicates. The poll released Monday shows Obama, D-Ill., with 30 percent support, compared with 26 percent for Clinton, D-N.Y., among likely Democratic caucus voters. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., was third with 22 percent and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson came in fourth with 11 percent. Obama’s figures are up 8 percent since July, the Post said.

Kucinich protests Army training school
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich said Sunday the thinking that went into producing an Army school blamed for human rights abuses in Latin America was the same that led the U.S. to war in Iraq and could cause it to raid Iran.

9-11 group blasts GOP hopeful Giuliani
HANOVER, N.H. — With the New Hampshire presidential primary now seven weeks away, a New York group whose members lost relatives in the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 tried to dent Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani’s image as “America’s Mayor” Monday night, saying he failed to prepare the city to deal with a major disaster in the years before the attack.

College criticizes invitation-only political rallies
A Pennsylvania college that was the scene of a protest against Vice President Cheney is trying to start a movement to ban politicians from holding closed meetings restricted to supporters on all campuses in the nation.

California suing Nebraska voting machine maker for $15 million
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen sued a Nebraska voting machine company on Monday, seeking fines and reimbursements of nearly $15 million from the firm for allegedly selling nearly 1,000 uncertified machines to San Francisco and four other counties.

Calif. Sues Over Lead-Contaminated Toys
California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued 20 companies, including Mattel Inc. and Toys “R” Us, claiming they sold toys containing “unlawful quantities of lead.”

Hate crimes rose 8 percent in 2006
WASHINGTON – Hate crime incidents rose nearly 8 percent last year, the FBI reported Monday, as civil rights advocates increasingly take to the streets to protest what they call official indifference to intimidation and attacks against blacks and other minorities.