SPB News for Saturday

Hillary To Visit UK And Moscow Next Week

Montblanc Celebrates Gandhi's Birthday With...$25K Pen?

GOP Tried To Recruit Hero Pilot "Sully" For Congressional Bid

Senate Ethics Committee investigating Ensign

Unemployment Rate At 9.8% As 263K Jobs Lost In September

Report: Blair Likely To Be EU's First President

Obama Extends 'Hearty Congratulations' To Rio

Montana AG probing 'American Police' deal
Entrepeneur behind jail a convicted felon with at least 17 aliases, per AP.

Texas Governor Thwarting Panel Probing Flawed Death Penalty Case?
Texas governor Rick Perry abruptly removed three members from a panel probing a flawed arson investigation which may have led to the execution of an innocent man. Perry then appointed a new chair who cancelled testimony from an arson expert.

Pharmacy groups sue over Medicaid cuts in three states (Law.com subj. req.)
Pharmacy groups are suing California, New York and Washington, alleging the states' reimbursements for prescription drugs under the Medicaid program are too low. They warn that pharmacies may be forced to terminate their Medicaid contracts.

One-Third of U.S. Attorneys Are Bush Holdovers - Data compiled by Main Justice show that President Obama is moving relatively slowly to replace top federal prosecutors around the country.

Michigan's Warren Bank is 96th failure of 2009 Warren, Mich.-based Warren Bank was closed by regulators Friday, marking the 96th U.S. bank failure of the year. Warren Bank had $538 million in assets and $501 million in deposits as of July 31, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC said in a statement that the bank's failure will cost the deposit-insurance fund $275 million.

Banks With 20% Unpaid Loans at 18-Year High Amid Recovery Doubt The number of U.S. lenders that can’t collect on at least 20 percent of their loans hit an 18-year high, signaling that more bank failures and losses could slow an economic recovery. ...26 firms with more than one-fifth of their loans 90 days overdue or not accruing interest as of June 30 -- a level of distress almost five times the national average -- according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data compiled for Bloomberg News by SNL Financial, a bank research firm. Three reported almost half of their loans weren’t being paid.

Personal bankruptcies up 41 percent --Filings soar over last year as unemployment, housing crash take toll Consumer bankruptcies soared 41 percent in September from a year before and climbed from August, as high unemployment and the housing market crash took their toll, the American Bankruptcy Institute said on Friday. September filings totaled 124,790, the fourth-highest month since the bankruptcy law changed in 2005.