SPB News for Saturday

Wesley Snipes Appeals Three GA Tax Convictions

Fort Bragg Limits Palin Book Tour Visits

GOPers Slam Dismissal Of AmeriCorps Watchdog

CA Elected Officials Taking 18% Pay Cut In December

Unemployment rises in 29 states

U.S. Dropping Blackwater Shooting Case

Tag Team: Obama, Biden, Interest Groups Push On Health Care

Election 2010: Arizona Senate GOP Primary — 2010 Arizona GOP Primary: McCain 45%, Hayworth 43% — Senator John McCain's future in the U.S. Senate may be a little less assured than previously thought. — A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely 2010 Republican Primary voters …

Bay Area not maverick enough to read Palin book — It might as well have cooties. Hardly anyone wants to touch the thing, or even get close to it. — The new autobiography by moose hunter and failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is harder to find in the Bay Area than a hockey mom.

Notes from Bagram prison By James Bays In the past, military officials have refused to go on the record about the number of prisoners at the jail. Brigadier General Mark Martin, the acting commander, was more forthcoming. He told us the prison currently houses about 700 people. Of these, "about 30" were non-Afghans, and "about 5" were juveniles... A new command has been set up, to take charge of all detainee operations in Afghanistan, including Bagram. Of course, CJTF-435 is a US operation, not part of ISAF (the NATO force). Many other NATO and ISAF nations are very uneasy about Bagram and what goes on there.

GAO: Fraud in gov't contracts for disabled vets Companies fraudulently collected at least $100 million in federal contracts from a $4 billion government program designated for disabled military veterans who run small businesses, congressional investigators charge. In many cases, small business owners falsely claimed they had a service-related injury to get the federal work and were only caught when competitors protested. In other situations, the small veteran-owned businesses were legitimate but then improperly passed the work to large or foreign-based corporations.