Who Should Pay?

And now the most telling two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:

Naming Names

Administration officials are demanding that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry name the -- "foreign leaders" he allegedly said told him to beat President Bush ... but the man who originally reported Kerry's claims now says he got the quote wrong.

The Boston Globe's Patrick Healy says that after reviewing his own audiotape, he believes Kerry said "more leaders," not "foreign leaders." However, Kerry himself now says -- "What I said was, that I have heard from people who are leaders elsewhere in the world, who don't appreciate the Bush administration approach and would love to see a change in the leadership of the United States."

Who Should Pay?

When former South Dakota Republican Rep. Bill Janklow sped through a stop sign and killed a man last August, he was -- "acting within the scope of his employment as a member of the United States Congress," a U.S. Attorney ruled yesterday.

The victim's family had filed a wrongful death suit against Janklow, who is currently serving a one hundred day jail sentence for second-degree manslaughter and reckless driving. The new ruling, however, means that the federal government replaces Janklow as the defendant - and that taxpayers are now responsible for any civil damages.

Paper Politics

The New York Times recently banned employees from giving to political causes, saying such contributions could -- "feed a false impression that the paper is taking sides." But over the past two decades, dozens of Times staffers have made political donations totaling over $43,000.

What's more, nearly $42,000 went to Democratic candidates and liberal causes, while just over $1,400 went to Republicans. Times shareholder Michael Petrelis turned up the donations, and also found that the paper's owners, the Sulzberger family, have given over $38,000 to Democrats and $6,000 to Republicans.

Free from Prison...

Steven Dowling was found guilty of murder in England in 1974, but after nearly three decades in prison a court overturned the conviction and set Dowling free. Now, the government wants to hand him a bill for over $150,000 for 27 years of room and board.

British Home Secretary David Blunkett is asking London's Royal Court for the right to charge Britain's wrongly convicted a fee for each year they mistakenly spent in prison, according to Scotland's Sunday Herald. A Home Office spokesman calls the plan a -- "reasonable course of action," saying the government should be compensated for providing food and lodging.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report