Exclusive: Guard Who Saw Alleged Duke Victim Says No Sign or Mention of Rape  —  Sealed Indictments Handed Down by Grand Jury  —  April 17, 2006 — The grand jury considering the Duke lacrosse team rape allegations has adjourned for the day and has handed down indictments, all of which are sealed.

Clueless Joe Wilson  —  How did the CIA's special envoy miss Zahawie's trip to Niger?  —  Nobody appears to dispute what I wrote in last week's Slate to the effect that in February 1999, Saddam Hussein dispatched his former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency …

Washington Post Wins Four Pulitzers  —  The Washington Post won four Pulitzer Prizes today, including awards for breaking open the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and disclosing the existence of secret CIA prisons overseas, while two newspapers whose regions were devastated by Hurricane Katrina shared the prize for public service.

Ryan found guilty on all counts  —  Co-defendant Warner also guilty  —  A federal jury convicted former Gov. George Ryan today on all charges that as secretary of state he steered state business to cronies in return for vacations, gifts and other benefits for himself and his family.

Blame Builds More Barriers in Immigration Debate  —  Does chutzpah translate into Spanish?  —  It's a reasonable question after the joint statement House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) issued last week about the impasse blocking congressional action …

Changes to Bush Staff Expected Soon  —  Are heads rolling at the White House?  Or just Easter eggs on the South Lawn?  —  President Bush's new chief of staff told White House aides this morning to expect a shakeup and asked anyone who was thinking of leaving to quit now, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

TERROR IN TEL AVIV  —  Don't turn away:  —  Source: Yahoo! News  —  Getty Images caption: Tel Aviv, ISRAEL: An Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Zaka volunteer picks out pieces of flesh from the scene where a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up, in the southern Neveh Sha'anan district …

Anger at Bush May Hurt GOP At Polls  —  Intense and widespread opposition to President Bush is likely to be a sharp spur driving voters to the polls in this fall's midterm elections, according to strategists in both parties, a phenomenon that could give Democrats a turnout advantage over Republicans for the first time in recent years.

Court grants three cases, acts on asylum issue  —  The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether it is unconstitutional for a judge in a criminal trial to allow family members of a murder victim to wear buttons depicting the victim, when they are spectators in the courtroom.

Hunting Slugs  —  I know I'm not supposed to, but I pity Michelle Malkin.  Really, I do.  Punditry is a game of incentives, encouragement, luck.  You write a hundred articles before striking paydirt with one.  That zeitgeisty dispatch activates an eruption of applause and adulation, so you try to repeat it.

April 17, 1961 (Updated)  —  The invasion that could have saved Latin America  —  Introduction  —  My father in law was a member of La Brigada 2506 and fought in the Bay of Pigs in what was called Operation Mongoose by the US Government.  He has a million stories to tell …

A REPUBLICAN JIMMY CARTER  —  April 17, 2006 — GEORGE W. Bush is a one- term president now serving deep into his second term.  Like his father, he shot his bolt during his first four years.  Unlike his dad, he was able to persuade America to keep him around for another term.

Congress Approval at 12-Year Low  —  Rating slipped four percentage points since March  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Public approval of the job Congress is doing has dipped to its lowest level of 2006, and is now the worst Gallup has recorded since the closing days of the Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.

FREE SPEECH UPDATE: A reader sends an email to the campus from Northern Kentucky University President James Votruba, regarding the incident in which a professor destroyed a pro-life cross exhibit.  Whole thing's below the fold (click "read more" to read it) but here's an excerpt: … This seems right to me.