Coming Soon.

PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA---For the last 25 years, he's given food to the needy by the basketful.

Now he's being starved to death.

Haleigh Poutre, the 11-year-old girl who was severely beaten and abused, has been hospitalized since September in Massachusetts. She has now emerged from her coma. At one stage, her guardian, the state Department of Social Services, ordered that all life support be removed but when Haleigh showed signs of improvement, DSS rescinded the order and has now moved her into a rehabilitation facility.

NEW YORK---A New York attorney who pleaded guilty last May for engaging in a scheme with other attorneys to bribe hospital workers for medical records which revealed potential candidates for personal injury lawsuits has been disbarred.

ALBANY--County property taxes increased by half as much in 2006 as they had in the prior five years, in large part because Medicaid costs were $190 million less than they would have been without the Medicaid cap, according to a research brief with county-by-county data issued by New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi.

ALBANY---Gov. George E. Pataki has detailed the more than $1.1 billion in new Medicaid relief that will be provided to counties and New York City this year during his address to the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) annual conference in Albany.

NEW YORK-- The National Abortion Federation (NAF) and the American Civil Liberties Union have praised two rulings holding the "Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003" unconstitutional. The decisions came out of federal appeals courts in New York and California. These rulings join an Eighth Circuit decision holding the ban unconstitutional.

NEW YORK---More than one third of people who are arrested and arraigned in New York City must wait over 24 hours in jail before even seeing a judge or being informed of the charges against them, according to a New York Civil Liberties Union study released Tuesday. This pattern of long processing times means that people arrested even for minor offenses may have to leave children without childcare, miss days of school, or lose their jobs, all because the justice system cannot process them within the period of time mandated by the courts.

Over the past 11 years, we've cut 19 different State taxes 81 times, injecting more than $140 billion into New York's economy, a feat that has spurred the creation of over 620,000 new private-sector jobs. But it's not just about putting the money back into the economy -- it's about putting money back into the pockets of seniors and families throughout our great State.

CINCINNATTUS, NY---Ted Stith Sr. left his Cincinnattus farm to visit a friend in Florida.

He probably won't return home alive.

As of Monday afternoon, he'd been seven days without food and water, a decision made by his son who left his father to die in Florida and returned home.

BUFFALO---Eight indictments returned by Erie County grand juries have been unsealed, charging 26 people with participating in a large-scale heroin and cocaine trafficking operation. Additionally, two other people were arrested after being charged in two separate but related felony complaints.

ALBANY---Parents in qualified school districts across the state would be provided with a refundable education tax credit of up to $500 per-child under the new Executive Budget which would help defray the cost of education-related expenses and new initiatives.

ALBANY-- As part of a campaign under NYSBA president A. Vincent Buzard to improve public understanding of the legal system and the role of lawyers in society, the New York State Bar Association's House of Delegates has voted to recommend major changes in the way lawyers' advertising is reviewed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Kevin M. McMaster-formerly of Port St. Lucie, Florida-pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to selling and offering to sell in interstate commerce more than $200,000 worth of endangered species in violation of the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

MIAMI---A Florida man who claimed that he had organized a group of Florida pilots to assist him in supposed relief efforts in connection with Hurricane Katrina has pleaded guilty to fraudulently soliciting charitable donations and wire fraud.

MANTECA, CA---After preaching at the First Congregational church in Ripon for nearly 10 years, pastor Randall Radic sold the church for $525,000.

TALLAHASSEE--A federal jury in Pensacola has returned a verdict against Panama City doctor Thomas G. Merrill, convicting him on charges of wire fraud, health care fraud and distribution of controlled substances.

Some Catholics are calling it premeditated murder.

Many are calling for the removal of St. Petersburg Diocese Bishop Robert N. Lynch for allowing the ceremony to occur in the diocese.

It could be the latest scandal in the Catholic church---at least in the Diocese of St. Petersburg.

By now, most of you are familiar with the type of news coverage and investigative journalism that The North Country Gazette provides. However, it doesn't come without risk or repercussions and it is in peril.

Due to the threat of imminent false incarceration as the result of falsified records and statements made by the Warren County Sheriff and filed with the court, I am in need of an experienced criminal attorney as well as civil attorney.

LINCOLN, NEB---Terri Schindler-Schiavo's case should provide a wake-up call, her brother told about 3,000 people gathered in Lincoln Saturday for this year's Nebraska Walk of Life, sponsored by the Nebraska Right to Life.

ALBANY---Gov. George Pataki has signed a bill which will allot another $100 million in emergency heating aid for the poor and elderly to augment federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP).

NEW YORK---A Manhattan woman faces a litany of criminal charges including second degree arson after she allegedly set fire to a rack of clothes at a clothing chain store in order to create a diversion for her shoplifting.

WASHINGTON---HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has announced the release of "Pandemic Influenza Planning: A Guide for Individuals and Families," a new tool to help Americans understand the threat of pandemic influenza and specific actions they can take to protect themselves and their families.

GUIDERLAND---The epidemic continues.
An elementary school music teacher at Gardner Dickinson Elementary School in Wynantskill, the father of five children, has been arrested for allegedly possessing child pornography on his computer.

ALBANY---The New York Assembly has agreed to spend $500,000 of tax dollars to settle a lawsuit filed by a former Assembly employee who had brought sex charges against J. Michael Boxley, former chief counsel to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

BOSTON, MASS---Earlier this month the state Department of Social Services won a court order to remove 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre's ventilator and feeding tube.
But she began breathing on her own and showing signs of responsiveness.
Now they're saying there's "great reason for hope" and have moved the abused and brain-damaged girl to a Boston rehabilitation hospital.

BROOKLYN---U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn has granted a motion for preliminary injunctive relief in Lopez Torres v. New York State Board of Elections. The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, together with pro bono counsel, Arnold & Porter LLP, argued that New York's unique convention system -- used by the political parties to select their judicial nominees -- deprives New Yorkers of their right to cast a meaningful vote for trial court judges.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The federal government has agreed to pay $200,000 in attorneys' fees to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California to end a Freedom of Information and Privacy Act lawsuit that succeeded in making public, for the first time, hundreds of records about the government's secret "no fly" list used to screen airline passengers after September 11, 2001.

WASHINGTON---Conservative and liberal interest groups fighting a battle over the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court have adopted starkly different strategies - at least when it comes to their paid television advertising campaigns - according to new data released by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and the Justice at Stake Campaign.

ALBANY---The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) has criticized the Governor's budget plan on higher education. Governor Pataki, in his 2006-2007 Executive Budget, proposes to raise tuition and restructure the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

FORT PIERCE, FLA---A veteran Palm Beach attorney has been sentenced to a year and nine months in prison on obstruction and conspiracy charges for obstructing a grand jury investigation into a firm which exported Florida citrus to China.

The McMasters thesis reminds me of how important the First Amendment is and how corporate and government policy has eroded it by threatening people with reprisals for the darndest reasons. http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/012606NoPlaceToHide.html

If you have followed the Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Sam Alito, you may have learned a valuable lesson in government---how to sideline the judicial process via legislative maneuvering.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006, the website of The North Country Gazette was removed from the Internet without notice to publisher June Maxam. When Maxam contacted the website host, she was advised that Virginia Berlin had canceled the account, causing the website to go down.

LARGO---A former corrections officer with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department will spend the next two years and the other side of the bars.

FONDA---The former coach of the Fonda-Johnstown combined girls swim team has been charged with allegedly raping a 16-year-old team member.

ALBANY---New Yorkers can shop tax-free for clothing and footwear purchases that cost less than $110 per item starting Monday, Jan. 30, through Sunday, Feb. 5.

WASHINGTON, DC-- DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined by Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown have announced $250,000 in federal funding for a demonstration project to address the serious and growing problem of crimes involving the financial exploitation of the elderly.

JACKSONVILLE, FLA---A Jacksonville woman had more than blood in her veins when two off-duty police officers stopped the bloodmobile she was driving in Jacksonville Wednesday about 5 p.m. after they said she ran a red light.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA---Four individuals and their companies have been sentenced in Fort Lauderdale federal court for engaging in a scheme to defraud by marketing and selling to health care providers for use in human patients fake Botox, an anti-wrinkle drug.

ALBANY---A total of $1.8 million in new grants that will help create jobs, improve communities, and enhance public services in Cortland, Putnam, Schoharie, Warren, and Wayne counties was announced Friday by Gov. George E. Pataki. The funds, administered through the Governor's Office for Small Cities (GOSC), will support $19 million in projects which will create 217 new jobs.

ALBANY---An city police officer has pleaded guilty to fifth degree insurance fraud, a misdemeanor, for filing a false insurance claim.

BURLINGTON, VT-District Court Judge Edward Cashman set off a firestorm when he imposed the minimum 60-day sentence for a child molester who admitted sexually abusing a six-year-old girl for over four years.

NEW YORK---State Senator Kiz Krueger (D-Manhattan) has commended Majority Leader Joseph Bruno for his recent statements supporting rules banning legislators from accepting gifts from lobbyists, while reminding him that no such rule actually exists".

Most Americans are always ready to tick off any number of reasons they value their privacy.

They want to avoid junk mail, junk faxes, junk calls and junk e-mail. They want to maintain physical and financial security. They want to keep medical and psychological information confidential. They want to keep nosy neighbors and Big Brother out of their business.

ALBANY---Philip Morris USA (PM USA) has agreed to incorporate protocols aimed at combating the illegal sale of the company's cigarettes over the Internet and through the mails, according to Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The protocols are being adopted voluntarily by PM USA pursuant to an agreement reached with 37 Attorneys General across the country.

ALBANY--A new Biotechnology and Biomedicine Research Initiative that will continue New York State's role as a world leader in bio-tech research, development and job creation has been announced by Gov. George Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick)

ALBANY---More than $1.3 million in Hudson River Estuary grants for 45 community projects that will enhance public use and enjoyment of the Hudson River, clean up pollution, promote environmental stewardship and education, and help to preserve the natural resources of the Hudson River Estuary and its tributaries and watersheds has been announced by Gov. George E. Pataki.

TALLAHASSEE - A Broward County man has been arrested for using the Internet to solicit a minor to engage in sexual conduct. Alan Naj traveled from Broward County to Jacksonville intending to have a sexual encounter with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl, but who in fact was an undercover CyberCrime investigator from the Attorney General's Office.

MANHATTAN---Two Manhattan accountants have been indicted on 21 counts for failing to pay their own personal New York State and City income tax and for orchestrating the filing of false income tax returns for at least 600 of their clients resulting in millions of dollars of tax evasion.

ALBANY-- The Healthcare Association of New York State's (HANYS) just-completed hospital-specific analysis of Gov. George Pataki's 2006-2007 Executive Budget proposal has determined that every one of New York State's 229 not-for-profit hospitals would lose critically needed funding under the Governor's budget plan. All told, the budget would cost hospitals in New York State a staggering $431 million in just one year alone.

LAKE GEORGE---The 500-page report that Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland says his agency has compiled in the investigation of the capsizing of the Ethan Allen will be released by the end of next week according to Cleveland.

MADISON, WIS---It pays to surf porn sites while working for the Michigan Department of Corrections.

NEW YORK---Although prosecutors charged Msgr. John Woolsey last year with stealing some $800,000 of church funds, a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court this week claims that Woolsey actually stole $1.3 million.

ARLINGTON, VA---BB&T, the nation's ninth largest financial holdings company with $109.2 billion in assets, has announced that it "will not lend to commercial developers that plan to build condominiums, shopping malls and other private projects on land taken from private citizens by government entities using eminent domain."

MIAMI---Eight defendants have been indicted in Broward County on charges that they defrauded the Social Security Administration by obtaining and negotiating duplicate Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability checks. Six of the eight defendants have been arrested and made their initial appearances in federal court in Miami and Broward.

NEW YORK---The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has settled a civil lawsuit against the City of New York involving violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in connection with the city's underground storage tank systems.

QUEENSBURY---A Queensbury man has pleaded guilty to posing as a FBI agent in order to kidnap a woman.

The New York State Senate has given final passage to an emergency bill to help thousands of low-income seniors and disabled New Yorkers that are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid pay for medically necessary drugs that should have been paid for by Medicare's newly implemented prescription drug program.

By now, most of you are familiar with the type of news coverage and investigative journalism that The North Country Gazette provides. However, it doesn't come without risk or repercussions and it is in peril.
Due to the threat of imminent false incarceration as the result of falsified records and statements made by the Warren County Sheriff and filed with the court, I am in need of an experienced criminal attorney as well as civil attorney.

CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OHIO-Although her case has been marked closed on the criminal docket at Cuyahoga County Court, bond for Elsebeth Baumgartner has been reinstated and she has been released pending a trial date now set for March 27.

The disbarred Oak Harbor attorney and pharmacist, charged with allegedly intimidating a judge, was released last week following a competency hearing before Cuyahoga County Court Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold, the judge who had declared Baumgartner incompetent last month without medical diagnosis.

ALBANY--Cross Country Bank, one of the nation's largest subprime credit card issuers, has been ordered to pay approximately $9 million in restitution and penalties for engaging in fraudulent, deceptive and illegal practices.

TROY---Embattled Rensselaer County District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis has had another conviction overturned for prosecutorial misconduct-this time for failing to disclose to a defendant exculpatory evidence which may have helped his defense.

State Senator Betty Little (R,C,I-Queensbury) is co-sponsoring legislation that would require a sentence of life in prison without parole for parents or guardians who kill a child under the age of 14.

MIAMI---The principals of a Miami seafood company have been indicted for dealing in illegal lobster sales.

TALLAHASSEE -A settlement resolving allegations that two Broward County organizations targeted senior citizens in a charitable donations scheme has been reached by the Florida Attorney General's office. Global Mindlink Foundation and Select International Donors Corp. will pay up to $350,000 for consumer restitution. The agreement also requires the companies to dissolve.

BROOKLYN---A new proposal which would provide parents in New York City and other qualified school districts with a refundable education tax credit of up to $500 per child to help defray programs, summer, school, special classes or primary or secondary school tuition was unveiled Wednesday by Gov. George E. Pataki during a visit to Brooklyn.

The former head trader and owner of Securities Brokerage, Inc. (SBI), a broker-dealer formerly based in Las Vegas, who engaged in market timing has been convicted of fraud.

SEMINOLE, FLA---A Pinellas County sheriff's officer who worked as a school resource officer is being held in the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $40,000 after being charged with having sexual relations with a 15-year old student at Osceola High School in 2001.

LONG ISLAND---The Long Island-based Crossings Recovery Centers has been fined $6.9 million by the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse (OASAS) for infractions of patient care and patterns of repeated regulatory violations.

The weekend marriage of Michael Schiavo and his longtime paramour and concubine Jodi Centonze in a Catholic church has caused serious rumblings within the church.

News of Michael Schiavo's remarriage (on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, no less) brought back many fresh memories. It has been less than a year since my family spent nearly three weeks outside of the Florida hospice where Terri was killed. Since then, the culture of death crowd has pushed on.

WASHINGTON, DC---Over 150,000 people attended the March For Life held Monday in Washington to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schiavo who died last year in Florida when her feeding tube was removed by court order, was among the speakers. Also speaking was Brother Paul O'Donnell of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace of Minneapolis, MN, who served as the spokesman for the Schindler family during the efforts to save Terri's life.

BOSTON, MASS---Saying that he wasn't being motivated by politics, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ordered an independent investigation into the state's handling of the abuse case of 11-year-old Haleigh Poutre.

The girl is at the center of a right-to-life case reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo case in Florida.

STARKE, FLA---Florida law says it's unlawful to withhold nutrition and hydration from a person.

Failing to provide proper care to an animal including feeding it is animal cruelty and a felony.

VOORHEESVILLE---The former Voorheesville school district superintendent and assistant superintendent inappropriately paid themselves $216,000 for leave and other employment benefits, according to an audit report of the New York State Comptroller and Voorheesville district officials announced they have filed a civil lawsuit based on the Comptroller's findings to recover the funds.

ALBANY---State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) has sharply criticized her Republican colleagues for voting against an amendment that would have adopted optical scanning as the standard statewide voting system. "We are a few months away from a federal mandate to have new voting machines in every county," stated Sen. Krueger. "Optical scanning is the only technology that will assure the voters of New York State that their votes are counted accurately. The fact that this amendment did not pass proves yet again that the Senate Republicans are more interested in protecting the desires of voting machine vendors than the voting rights of New Yorkers."

MINEOLA-A home health care aide has been charged with stealing with more than $93,000 from a patient under her care.

ALBANY---An agenda of 21 reform measures to strengthen New York's fiscal management practices, as well as an analysis of best fiscal practices of other states and New York City conducted during the past several months has been released by State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi.

TALLAHASSEE - Tom Gallagher, Florida's chief financial officer, has announced the next round of homeowner-friendly insurance reforms to better protect and prepare Floridians for a catastrophic event, and to empower them with information they need to shop for property coverage. The new reforms, initiated by a special committee created by Gallagher, include consumer coverage checklists and quick check guides to help Floridians purchase adequate coverage to rebuild and to repair their homes after a catastrophe.

ALBANY-- The State Health Department has announced that since launching the New York State Hospital Profile (NYSHP) web site just four days ago it has received more than 1.1 million hits. The web site highlights key hospital quality measures and treatments for specific patient conditions at all 239 hospitals in the state.

NEW YORK ---CIGNA Healthcare of New York, Inc. has paid the New York State Insurance Department a $150,000 fine for neglecting consumer complaints for a prolonged period of time, which is a violation of the law. In addition to paying the fine, CIGNA pledged to take steps that would prevent the recurrence of the customer service violations which initially prompted the Insurance Department's action, Supt. Howard Mills said.

TALLAHASSEE---Four Miami residents have been arrested for their roles in two separate but related scams involving foreclosures.

WHITE PLAINS----A conference to explore strategies for increasing services in the courts and the community to assist self-represented (pro se) litigants will be held May 11-12 at the New York State Judicial Institute at 84, North Broadway in White Plains.

TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Charlie Crist has sued a Florida corporation and its officers for improperly selling confidential cell phone and telephone records through its internet sites. Ft. Lauderdale-based 1st Source Information Specialists, Inc., is accused of providing its customers with confidential telephone calling records of unsuspecting consumers.

TALLAHASSEE---A Miami-Dade County man has been arrested for allegedly continuing a multi-million dollar tax theft scheme in Lee County just 16 months after being arrested on similar charges in Miami-Dade. In the latest scheme, Courtney Longman is charged with collecting more than $43,000 in taxes on motor vehicle sales between August 2003 and May 2005 and then failing to pay the funds to the state. He is being held in the Lee County Jail without bond after turning himself into authorities.

ALBANY---The New York State Supreme Court has affirmed that State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi has Constitutional and statutory authority to determine that Worth Construction is not a responsible vendor and therefore could not be awarded a road construction project by the New York State Thruway Authority.

ELIZABETHTOWN---The former four-term district attorney for Washington County has become an assistant district attorney in Essex County under newly elected DA Julie Garcia.

NEW YORK---Manhattan prosecutors have indicated that they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the murder conviction of the man whose killing of a woman was the impetus for Kendra's Law, a state law which allows the court-ordered treatment of mentally ill patients.

BINGHAMTON---"It's the U.S. government that is guilty of much larger crimes", a war protester told a federal judge last week during his sentencing for smearing his blood on windows, walls, pictures and an American flag at the Army and Marine Corps recruiting station outside of Ithaca during an anti-war protest on March 17, 2003 when the war with Iraq was imminent.

SACRAMENTO, CA---Will California become the second state in the nation to allow doctor-assisted suicide?

NEW YORK--Famed First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams of New York, The New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning reporter David Barstow, and former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Zachary Carter will lead a panel discussion on whether reporters should have a privilege from testifying in court, and if Congress should pass a federal shield law.

MIAMI---A Miami stock broker has been arrested on mail fraud charges, charged with allegedly misappropriating approximately $1.5 million of investor money for his own use from more than 400 investors.

PALM BEACH, FLA---A West Palm Beach man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for possession of child pornography.

QUEENS---A Flushing woman and her husband have been convicted of stealing more than $86,000 from six landlords, including a U.S. Army Reserve soldier and home owner, by failing to pay rent and utility bills over a seven-year period.

NEW YORK---A California woman has been sentenced to three months in prison for her role in a fraud scheme involving Impath securities.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA---A Vermont man has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the illegal distribution of Oxycodone, a controlled substance and using a facility of interstate commerce to carry on the illegal distribution of Oxycodone sent from Florida and distributed on the streets of Vermont.

TALLAHASSEE - Florida and 48 states plus the District of Columbia have signed the second largest consumer protection settlement ever with Ameriquest Mortgage Company and its parent company, ACC Capital Holding Corporation. Among the states that signed the $325-million agreement, Florida has the second largest pool of Ameriquest consumers eligible for compensation.

ALBANY -- New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Commissioner Thomas J. Madison, Jr. today reminded New Yorkers to be prepared when venturing out this winter and visit www.travelinfony.com for the latest road, weather, and traffic conditions.

ALBANY--Furthering his commitment to keep New York's children and families safe, Gov. George Pataki has proposed Jessica's Law, legislation that imposes tougher penalties on those who commit sexual crimes against children, and further strengthen other sexual assault laws.

SAFETY HARBOR, FLA---She's divorced.

They are the parents of two illegitimate children.

They've lived together in an adulterous relationship for over 10 years.

COLUMBIA, SC---On the day previous to the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision regarding abortion, the sister of Terri Schindler-Schiavo said that society has "lost sight of the value" of human life.

ALBANY---Two key Assembly committees will launch a statewide investigation into New York's child welfare system focusing on the vigilance, reliability and efficiencies of agencies charged with protecting at-risk children.

Whether it's cutting taxes by billions of dollars, creating new Empire Zones, or reforming Workers' Comp-- we know that lowering the cost of doing business in New York is the best way to create new jobs and expand the economy. To ensure that our economy continues to experience unprecedented growth, I have included a new $1.1 billion job-creating tax cut package for businesses in the 2006-07 Executive Budget.

ALBANY---The New York State Legislature has cut a deal to dedicate $100 million in emergency heating aid for the poor and elderly to augment federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Scam artists are now trying to cash in on the national paranoia over Identity Theft by luring victims with a phony warning that they may already be the victims of Identity Theft, the New York State Consumer Protection Board (CPB) is warning.

ALBANY--Uninsured New Yorkers are often charged more than twice as much for prescription drugs than the best available market prices, according to a report released by consumer groups.

ALBANY--Despite making progress in reforming Albany, civic groups graded lawmakers' efforts a "C-" and urged action on the "big ticket items" before the end of the 2006 legislative session.

ALBANY---The New York State Police engaged in an improper employer practice when it banned off-duty troopers from wearing their union pins from the Police Benevolent Association while assisting the defense in any criminal jury trial the state Public Employment Relations Board said.

How romantic.

Just weeks before Valentine's Day and her 41st birthday, Michael Schiavo and Jodi Centonze have applied for a marriage license in Pinellas County.

PITTSBURGH, PA---Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, a nationally recognized forensic pathologist and coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., who had been denied permission to observe the autopsy of Terri Schindler-Schiavo last April despite the wishes of her parents, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for fraud and theft of bodies.

JACKSONVILLE, FLA---Four employees of the state Department of Corrections have been placed on administrative leave after it was learned that federal officials were investigating them for their alleged involvement with steroids.

KEY WEST, FLA---A woman who worked at a Key West real estate office wasn't seeing too clearly when she allegedly attempted to poison a 73-year-old co-worker by placing drops of Visine in the employee's tea.

WEARE, NH----Supreme Court Justice David Souter is learning that what goes around comes around.

"Who Turned Out The Lights?" is the title of an article written by Carrie Hutchens published Saturday on the national website at indymedia.org, an article about the recent suspension of The North Country Gazette.

WHEATON, ILL---In a disturbing account of alleged abuse of a nursing home resident, a nursing assistant at the Elmhurst Extended Care Center in Chicago has been charged with dripping urine on the face of an 83-year-old mand and then throwing a dirty diaper at his head when he asked for help.

ALBANY---Albany attorney John Aretakis, at the center of clergy sexual abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese, has been ordered to stay 300 feet away from the Holy Cross parish.

The North Country Gazette has been spotlighted in an article posted Friday, Jan. 20 by author John Galt at the website for the Tampa Bay Independent Media Center in Tampa, Florida.

The article is entitled "Why Do We Hear So Little About Judicial Scandals?" and is reprinted below.