Cheney focuses on Mideast peace process
JERUSALEM – Vice President Dick Cheney sought to coax Israel and the Palestinians to follow through on promises to forge a peace deal as he began an Easter weekend trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Dick Cheney tour sparks Iran war rumours
Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, has triggered speculation that he has been using a tour of the Middle East to prepare Iran’s neighbours for a possible war with Tehran. Mr Cheney, whose nine-day tour has included stops in Turkey, the Gulf and Afghanistan, insisted that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. “The important thing to keep in mind is the objective that we share with many of our friends in the region, and that is that a nuclear-armed Iran would be very destabilising for the entire area,” Mr Cheney told ABC News before arriving in Kabul, the Afghan capital, after a visit to Oman.

Cheney, Saudis talk about oil, security
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Vice President Dick Cheney, completing a two-day stay in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, discussed ways to stabilize the energy market with Saudi King Abdullah, but it is unclear whether he asked for increased oil production to hold down rising gas prices.

US deaths in Iraq approach 4,000
BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers north of Baghdad on Saturday, pushing the U.S. death toll in the five-year conflict to nearly 4,000.

Workers punished for passport breach
WASHINGTON – Two companies that provide workers for the State Department say they fired or otherwise punished those who improperly accessed the passport records of the three major presidential candidates. The security breaches touched off demands for a congressional investigation.

Plan gives federal No Child law more flexibility (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune)
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings was in Minnesota on Tuesday to announce a proposed pilot project for the federal No Child Left Behind law that would give 10 states more flexibility in addressing struggling schools’ specific needs. Critics and supporters alike say No Child Left Behind paints with too broad a brush the schools that struggle to show academic improvement. However, Minnesota doesn’t yet have enough of those schools to participate in the pilot project, prompting some to question why Spellings made the announcement here and whether it was an effort to help Sen. Norm Coleman in his reelection campaign.
And oh, by the way, IT’S ILLEGAL to use government employees and resources in this way.

White House: Computer hard drives tossed
WASHINGTON – Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

Security is poor for personal data held by government
WASHINGTON — Government agencies have a long way to go before they can assure taxpayers that the country’s secrets — as well as citizens’ personal information — are secure, according to recent government reports. In fact, the Government Accountability Office testified to Congress last week that “poor information security is a widespread problem with potentially devastating consequences.”

Immigration Official Arrested After Allegedly Trading Sex for Green Cards (by Jonathan Turley)
A case out of New York has shown how immigration officials can prey upon immigrants for green cards and administrative measures. The arrest of Isaac R. Baichu, 46, an adjudicator for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, was particularly enlightening due to a recording made of his threats against a married Colombian woman that if she did not give him sexual favors, he would cause trouble for her and her family.

FDA issues warning on cantaloupes
WASHINGTON – People should throw away cantaloupes from a Honduran manufacturer believed to be linked to a salmonella outbreak, the government said Saturday.

Dems want HUD chief to resign
WASHINGTON – Two Democratic senators said Friday that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, buffeted by allegations of cronyism and favoritism, should resign.

Congress gets involved in passport breaches
The revelation that the passport files of all three of the leading presidential candidates have been breached is prompting Congress to consider whether to examine the State Department’s oversight of sensitive personal information, according to congressional aides.

Pentagon will not send Adm. Fallon to Congress on Iraq
Adm. William Fallon, who is resigning after a magazine reported he was challenging the White House over Iran, will not appear before Congress to discuss the war in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Friday. Only Gen. David Petraeus, top U.S. officer in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will go to Capitol Hill in April to update lawmakers on the war, said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

Obama holds financial edge, but Clinton digging in heels
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democrat Barack Obama has built a huge financial edge over rival Hillary Clinton as the White House hopefuls gear up for a dogfight ahead of next month’s crucial primary clash in the state of Pennsylvania.

Dems crushing McCain in money war
John McCain had his second biggest fundraising month in February, pulling in $11 million mostly after he all but secured the GOP presidential nomination with a collection of big wins in the Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5.