Backpack blast near Vegas casino kills 1  —  LAS VEGAS (AP) — A backpack exploded in a parking garage attached to a Las Vegas hotel early Monday, killing a man who had picked it up and injuring another person, authorities said.  —  The man had removed the backpack from atop his car …

Iraq War Hampers Kansas Cleanup  —  GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) — The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state's governor.  —  Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment …

Newspaper Suicide: The Star Tribune Kills Lileks' Column  —  Let's see.  Your circulation is crashing.  The value of your paper has plummeted.  Everyone in the industry recognizes that the the future is online, and most realize that the byline has become the brand and that writers …

L'Giuliani, C'est Moi  —  Yesterday's quickie post on the French election noted President-elect Sarkozy's tendency to freeze or combat his critics in the press.  I called it Nixonian, because it seemed a little pat to compare Sarkozy to GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.  "Please!" says Rudy court biographer Fred Siegel.

George Tenet cashes in on Iraq  —  If you go by the book jacket of his new memoir, "At the Center of the Storm," George Tenet is enjoying the life of a retired government servant teaching at Georgetown University, where he was appointed to the faculty in 2004.

Queen Elizabeth welcomed at White House  —  WASHINGTON - In a slip of the tongue, President Bush brought roars of laughter to a White House welcoming ceremony Monday for Queen Elizabeth II.  —  The president stumbled on a line in his speech, saying that the queen had dined with 10 U.S. presidents …

Today's Must Read  —  I'm not sure if this qualifies as ironic or just sadly fitting.  —  As we've attempted to document here, the Civil Rights Division has been the focus of the most dramatic effort at politicization in the Justice Department.  Career lawyers, harassed and discouraged …

Whistle-Blower on Student Aid Is Vindicated  —  WASHINGTON — When Jon Oberg, a Department of Education researcher, warned in 2003 that student lending companies were improperly collecting hundreds of millions in federal subsidies and suggested how to correct the problem, his supervisor told him to work on something else.

Lou Dobbs Becomes Lifetime Member Of Hispanic Journalists Association  —  An article in the Spanish-language newspaper El Diario La Prensa today notes that the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) has accepted CNN host Lou Dobbs as a national lifetime member.

Journalists Intend to Sue Hewlett-Packard Over Surveillance  —  In an unusual step for the news media, three journalists whose private phone records were scrutinized by investigators working for Hewlett-Packard intend to sue the company for invasion of privacy.

Methods Used by Insurers Are Questioned  —  Insurance companies have used improper hard-sell tactics to persuade Medicare recipients to sign up for private health plans that cost the government far more than the traditional Medicare program, federal and state officials and consumer advocates say.