Officials: Hastert "In the Mix" of Congressional Bribery Investigation  —  Brian Ross Reports:  —  The Speaker of the House Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigtaion by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress …

Inconvenient Truths Indeed  —  Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" opens around the country this week.  In the film Gore pulls together evidence from every corner of the globe to convince us that climate change is happening fast, we are to blame, and if we don't act immediately, our Earth will be all but ruined.

Pelosi asks congressman snared in bribery probe to resign post  —  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has formally asked Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) to resign from the powerful Ways and Means Committee.  —  Jefferson wrote Pelosi quickly in reply, refusing to surrender his seat.

Senate Advances Sweeping Immigration Bill  —  WASHINGTON, May 24 — The Senate voted on Tuesday to require employers to use a vast new employment verification system that would allow businesses to distinguish between legal and illegal workers.  —  The chances of the bill's passage increased sharply today …

Desperate for Supporters, DeLay Turns to Stephen Colbert  —  A good sign that Tom DeLay doesn't have the facts on his side: the top source for his latest defense against his critics is Stephen Colbert.  —  This morning, DeLay's legal defense fund sent out a mass email criticizing the movie …

Armed Groups Propel Iraq Toward Chaos  —  Haider Hamid was arrested in Baghdad on April 15 by officers wearing Interior Ministry uniforms, according to Mr. Hamid's brother, Majid.  Majid Hamid found his brother's body, above, showing signs of torture, five days later in the city morgue.

Bill Frist: A Doctor at Heart  —  The houses were dark on Bill Frist's street.  A morning bird chirped; the others were waiting for dawn.  But Frist was awake, and his bedroom light was on.  "I'm going to take a shower," the Senate majority leader said brightly.  Ten minutes later, the blow dryer roared.

Keep 'America' in Michigan schools  —  State bureaucrats want to do what Stalin, Osama could only dream about  —  C ensoring the word "America" from our own schools is something Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden would never have thought possible.  Michigan has done it without a whimper.

Desperate Telcos: When the Going Gets Tough, the Absurd Rumors Get Going  —  Opponents of Internet freedom seem shocked that Google, MoveOn, the Christian Coalition, and 700 other diverse organizations are fighting on the same side to preserve the Internet that has revolutionized democratic participation …

Senator McCain Worked Blue  —  On New York Stage  —  Behind Closed Doors, Republican Works in Material: 'I'd Tell Shiites and Sunnis, "Stop the Bulls**t"'; Fresh From Falwell, Attacks Right-Wing Nativism  —  For all the national attention surrounding John McCain's two highly anticipated …

Newspaper apologizes for anti-Iran report  —  Tehran summons envoy to explain Canadian leader's remarks  —  OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) — A Canadian newspaper apologized Wednesday for an article that said Iran planned to force Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive clothing to distinguish themselves from Muslims.

In need of moral clarity  —  "I was aiming to follow in the footsteps of one of my role-models, Muhammad Atta." … Do you remember Taheri-azar?  The 25-year-old Iranian graduate of the University of North Carolina rented an SUV in March and drove it into The Pit, a campus gathering place for UNC students.

Marry or get out, US town tells unwed parents  —  A small American town is facing accusations of seeking to drive unmarried couples with children out of town on grounds they do not fit the local definition of a family.  —  The brewing controversy in Black Jack, a town of 6,800 in the central state …

Some bloggers released, Alaa and Droubi still detained  —  The government has released a 5 of the original48 detained, amongst them the 3 bloggers: Malek, Sharkawy and Mohamed Adel.  No word yet on when Alaa or Droubi or any of the other detainees are supposed to get released.