Who Should Pay?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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