Duke's Dirty Money?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

The U.S. attorney in San Diego has filed suit to seize the California home of embattled Republican Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (search), claiming the property was bought with money traced to a violation of federal bribery laws.

A grand jury has been investigating whether Cunningham, who sits on the House committee that authorizes defense spending, sold his house to defense contractor Mitchell Wade for $700,000 more than it was worth. While in DC, Cunningham also lived on a boat owned by the same defense contractor. Cunningham insists he's done nothing wrong, but experts tell The San Diego Union-Tribune that the suit, filed in secret last month, marks a "serious step forward in this investigation."

Senators' Science

On a trip to Alaska, Arizona Republican Senator John McCain (search) and New York Democrat Hillary Clinton (search) told reporters that scientific evidence leaves little doubt that global warming is accelerating. But two skeptical Russian scientists are betting that's not the case — wagering $10,000 against a British climatologist that the earth will cool over the next decade.

The Russians believe global temperatures are driven more by changes in the sun's activity than by the emissions of greenhouse gases, while British expert James Annan (search) thinks humans are heating up the globe. Dr Annan says he's looking forward to winning the wager, adding, "There isn't much money in climate science and I'm still looking for that gold watch at retirement."

Back to School

State officials have granted a Texas Marine in-state tuition at Austin Community College (search), after first denying the Iraq war veteran's request because they say he volunteered for duty in a neighboring state.

Last night we told you that Carl Basham would have been forced to pay an extra $2000 a semester — even though he was registered to vote in Texas and was an official resident of Austin. In reversing the state's earlier ruling, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, himself a retired military man, said, "it's been a pretty good day to help one Marine."

Tight Lips

Finally, I had to shake my head in disbelief at this bit of tape from our FOX affiliate in Phoenix. The cameraman was sent out to talk to anti-war protesters gathered to show solidarity with Cindy Sheehan (search). And he ran into one fellow who had issues about talking to anyone from Fox News.

"I'm not talking to anybody from FOX. (WHY?) If you don't know by now, then there's nothing I can say that will help you. And I work for the news agency, as a matter of fact.”

He works at a news agency and he's participating in an anti-war protester. And he thinks that is fair and balanced.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report