SPB News for Tuesday

Shocker: Severed goat head found outside Democrat's office

California GOP Files FEC Complaint Over Obama Visit to Grandmother — Perhaps the most ill-timed press release of the 2008 campaign arrived shortly after 1:30 p.m. today, sent by the Republican National Committee. — The release forwarded word that the California Republican Party filed …

NAACP Election Suit Unsuccessful in Va.

Indiana court ruling backs GOP on challenged ballots The Indiana Supreme Court this afternoon let stand a Marion County judge's ruling directing poll workers on Election Day to set aside any challenged absentee ballots. Today's ruling, in line with a lawsuit brought by the Marion County GOP, means challenges of absentee ballots based on voters' eligibility will be dealt with after Election Day. Ballots deemed valid by bipartisan teams later in the week will still be counted, but those votes won't be reflected in election results Tuesday night.

Afghan Officials Aided an Attack on U.S. Soldiers An internal review by the American military has found that a local Afghan police chief and another district leader helped Taliban militants carry out an attack on July 13 in which nine United States soldiers were killed and a remote American outpost in eastern Afghanistan was nearly overrun.

Judge Refuses to Extend Voting Hours in Virginia The Associated Press is reporting that a Judge has refused to order longer voting hours and reallocation of voting machines in Virginia. Last week the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Commonwealth and Governor Tim Kaine saying the state was not prepared for Tuesday's election. It said that there were not enough voting machines for areas that predominately served African-American voters. It also asked the governor to extend voting hours from 7pm to 10pm. The ruling from the judge today means that hours will remain the same and no additional machines will be added to five precincts named in the suit.

Russians With Pumpkins Protest Many U.S. Plots Thousands of Russians from the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi gathered in front of the United States Embassy here on Sunday night carrying jack-o’-lanterns inked with the names of war victims and charging that the war in Georgia was part of an American plot to improve Senator John McCain's electoral prospects. Most of the demonstrators, men and women in their teens and early 20s, said they held the United States responsible for the war in Georgia, saying President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia would not have attacked the separatist enclave of South Ossetia without express permission from American officials.

U.S. army commits $50 million research into soldier suicides The U.S. Army and the National Institute of Mental Health have begun a five-year, $50 million research program into the factors behind soldier suicides and how to prevent them.

Scientists Slam FBI Anthrax Probe It was an open-and-shut case, the FBI said. But three months after agents pinned the post-9/11 anthrax mailings on Army scientist Bruce Ivins - who 'committed suicide' as the FBI closed in on him - his former colleagues have approached a lawyer to sue the feds for fingering the wrong man, The Post has learned. They argue that the FBI abused its power and violated its own policies as they probed an innocent man for six months.

Senior Corporate Executives Warned to Leave N.Y. on 9/11: Source By Jeremy R. Hammond Foreign Policy Journal has learned that senior executives of a major U.S. international corporation may have been warned to leave New York on September 11, 2001. According to an inside source, one of the senior executives of the corporation told him beforehand that "something big" was going to occur and so other corporate executives would be travelling out of New York. The source, who spoke to the Journal on the condition of anonymity, worked at a European branch of the media giant Warner Bros.

Bush, business groups push limits on lawsuits for drug companies The question before the Supreme Court is whether patients such as Seuferer should be able to sue when they believe drugmakers failed to warn them adequately about the risks of medicines. The pharmaceutical industry, and the Bush administration, say patients are amply protected by the Food and Drug Administration. In the case called Wyeth vs. Levine, business groups and the government are asking the Supreme Court to impose strict new limits on lawsuits against drug firms.

Bloomberg Gets an Earful Before Signing Term Limits Bill After listening for nearly four and a half hours to emotional and at times harshly critical testimony from scores of residents, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed legislation at 1:55 p.m. Monday to extend New York City’s term limits law, allowing himself and a majority of the City Council to seek a third four-year term in 2009.