Coming Soon.

Today marks the two year anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo.

I don't imagine I'll ever forget that morning, receiving a phone call from Bobby Schindler to tell me he and his younger sister were just escorted out of Terri's room. Thinking back, that might have been the first time I actually heard him crying.

Two days after the Nestlé Purina PetCare Company "reassured" the public that Mighty Dog 5.3 ounce pouch-packaged products were the ONLY Purina® brand products affected by the Menu Foods' recall, now the company has announced that it is voluntarily recalling all sizes and varieties of its ALPO® Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food with specific date dates.

MANHATTAN---The teacher and director of an exclusive Manhattan Montessori elementary school has been convicted of multiple counts of sodomizing a former male student more than a decade ago and bribing another student with whom she allegedly had sex.

Two years ago today, shortly after 9 a.m., Terri Schindler Schiavo died as a result of the long, painful and barbaric process of the court-ordered execution by starvation when her estranged husband Michael Schiavo removed her feeding tube which provided her nutrition and hydration.

WASHINGTON - Disbarred lawyer Eduardo M. Rivera of Los Angeles, Ca., has been sentenced to 60 days in jail and a $500.00 fine for committing criminal contempt of court by violating an injunction that barred him from promoting a frivolous legal opinion.

QUEENS---A high school teacher employed at Cathedral High School in Manhattan has been charged with the statutory rape of one student and the sexual abuse of a second student. Both incidents allegedly occurred in Queens.

MANHATTAN---The former assistant director of housing management for the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for his involvement in a series of schemes intended to obtain, illegally, inexpensive "Mitchell-Lama" housing at Southbridge Towers, Inc. for himself and his friends, and to steal thousands of dollars earmarked for the victims of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

QUEENS--A cleaning crew supervisor at the Port Authority's Jamaica Air Train Station has been charged with tampering with a witness during the Queens Grand Jury investigation into the Sean Bell police shooting.

COLONIE-The former chief financial officer for the New York State Nurses Association who allegedly embezzled more than $1 million from the organization over the past four years has been sentenced to 3 1/3 to 10 years in prison.

BALLSTON SPA---Five people have been indicted on charges that they used and trafficked banned performance enhancing drugs on horses at the Saratoga Harness Track and then bet on the horses and collected purse money.

SCHENECTADY---A former prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice and Marine JAG attorney admitted that he had robbed a string of banks in order to support his heroin habit.

Just what is safe to feed your beloved pets?

At first, the pet food recall by Menu Foods of Canada focused solely on wet food as over 90 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food was targeted, products carrying names of major brand-name and private-label products sold throughout Canada and the United States.

WASHINGTON---The federal Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that while they had found that recalled pet foods contained Melamine, a chemical banned in this country and used to make plastics and fertilizer in Asia, they had not detected any rat poison.

LAKE GEORGE--It was a warm sunny autumn afternoon in Warren County when a group of 47 senior citizens from Michigan and Ohio boarded the 40-foot long tour boat Ethan Allen on Oct. 2, 2005, for a cruise along the shoreline of Lake George to view the vibrant reds and orange hues of the fall foliage.

About 20 minutes into the cruise, the boat capsized, throwing the 47 passengers and the captain into the water. The boat sank in 70 feet of water near Cramer Point. Twenty people died.

Following investigations conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Warren County Sheriff's Department and a Warren County Grand Jury, all of which determined no criminal negligence existed, the NTSB investigator-in-charge of the Ethan Allen probe says that the federal investigation was seriously flawed, evidence was withheld and he wants Congress to reopen the investigation.

People accused of witchcraft in America aren't executed anymore (we are 300 years and a First Amendment away from Puritan Massachusetts). These days they just lose their jobs.

YONKERS---A disbarred attorney escaped prison time, instead being sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to second degree grand larceny.

QUEENS---Seventeen individuals, including former and current government workers, have been indicted on charges of unlawfully operating an online gambling operation that operated mainly out of a Long Island City strip club and a Jackson Heights restaurant, annually booking more than $30 million in wagers on a wide variety of sporting events ranging from horse-racing, football, baseball, basketball and hockey to NASCAR, PGA golf and professional tennis.

CORTLAND---A Cortland certified nurse aide has been convicted for neglecting a rehabilitation and extended care center resident and falsifying the business records of the facility.

ALBANY---In response to vicious attacks earlier this month on Rose Morat, a 101-year-old Queens woman who was mugged on her way to church, and 85-year-old Solange Elizee, who was mugged and beaten a half hour later by the same attacker, the state Senate has passed legislation to impose tougher penalties for physical attacks on senior citizens.

PORT HENRY---The Port Henry village clerk has been released on her own recognizance after being charged Tuesday with stealing an undisclosed amount of money from the village.

SARANAC LAKE-A former substitute teacher's aide at the Saranac Lake Central School, facing child molestation charges, appeared in Saranac Lake Village Court Monday, represented by Ronald Kilburn of Batavia, the defendant's uncle.

CALVERT, MD-Turnabout is fair play. She saved the dog's life, he saved hers.

When two-year-old Toby, a golden retriever was a puppy, Debbie Parkhurst rescued him from a dumpster and the two have developed a strong bond.

Pet owners across the country are in shock after learning of the recall of nearly 95 brands of dog and cat foods manufactured by Menu Foods, the Canadian company which sells pet foods under dozens of different brand names including Wegman's, Science Diet and Iams.

In 1931, British author Anthony Berkeley Cox, writing under the pseudonym of Francis Iles, penned a murder mystery novel titled "Malice Aforethought".

The novel related the story of a physician who slowly poisoned his domineering wife to death so he could be with the woman that he loved. It is a classic tale of infatuation, revenge and murder. The work was groundbreaking in that it was the first in the genre to reveal the murderer's identity at the beginning and allow the reader to see the workings of a criminal mind.

As the second anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death from dehydration on March 31, 2005, approaches, her brother, Bobby Schindler has released a letter written to Bishop Robert Lynch of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida.

PORT CLINTON---Judicial whistleblower Elsebeth Baumgartner was released from the Ottawa County Jail Tuesday morning after serving 120 days for criticizing a judge, but not before a habeas corpus petition challenging the constitutionality of the judgment and sentence was filed on her behalf in U.S. District Court in Toledo.

SUFFOLK COUNTY---Four Ocean Beach village police officers, including the acting Chief of Police, have been indicted, arrested and arraigned on charges related to the stationhouse beating of a New York City man in August of 2005.

NEW YORK---The New York Civil Liberties Union delivered a petition signed by over 1,200 New Yorkers and 15 civil rights organizations to the New York City Council on Monday, insisting that the Council formally consider a bill that would protect individuals' legal right to be arraigned within 24 hours of arrest.

HAMBURG---A New York State corrections officer who fraudulently obtained workers' compensation benefits has pleaded guilty.

QUEENSBURY---An explosion in an electrical panel box and resulting fire closed down the Warren County Municipal Center on Route 9 Tuesday morning and about 200 people were evacuated and sent home.

ALBANY----Although officially the death toll of the pet food recall by Menu Foods of Canada remains at 16 animals-15 cats and one dog---according to a veterinarians' information service, at least 471 cases of pet kidney failure have been reported since March 16 when the nationwide recall of the dog and cat food was announced.

LAKE GEORGE---Shoreline Cruises Inc. of Lake George, owner of the tour boat Ethan Allen, and the boat's captain, Richard Paris, pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of violating the state's Navigation law by failing to have more than one crew member on board on Oct. 2, 2005, when the boat sank in Lake George and killed 20 of its 47 passengers.

What's going on between the Albany Times-Union and the Albany County district attorney's office?

When Albany County district attorney David Soares and two of his investigators flew to Orlando, Fla., the end of February to conduct his flamboyant raid on two Signature Pharmacies as part of an alleged steroid distribution ring, it appears that Soares may have given ample advance notice to the Times-Union so that they could be there with cameras and crews to provide "exclusive" coverage of Soares' expenditure of Albany County tax dollars in an operation which should have been conducted by federal agencies.

WESTCHESTER---A suspended Westchester County corrections officer has pleaded guilty to trafficking drugs.

WESTCHESTER COUNTY---A total of $2,206,416.46 in restitution checks has been issued to insurance companies victimized by Elm Street Medical, a medical mill fraud enterprise, which operated over a period of approximately five years.

QUEENS---A Whitestone man has been indicted on charges of attempting to burglarize the Bayside home of New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch earlier this year.

BROOKLYN---For the first time ever, a person has been indicted in New York City for manslaughter in relation to a boating incident.

ALBANY---The state Attorney General's office has reached a settlement with a Queens pet broker that had sold puppies with inaccurate pedigrees.

QUEENSBURY---Earlier this month, Nathan "Bud" York of Warrensburg, a 30-year veteran of the New York State Police, announced his candidacy for the office of Warren County Sheriff, challenging incumbent Larry Cleveland of Queensbury, a Warrensburg native, who is seeking his third term.

Emilio Gonzales is a 16 month old baby boy. He's in has a degenerative neurological condition called Leigh's disease. A Google search will reveal that Leigh's disease -- "is a rare inherited neurometabolic disorder characterized by degeneration of the central nervous system. Symptoms of Leigh's disease usually begin between the ages of 3 months to 2 years and progress rapidly. In most children, the first signs may be poor sucking ability and loss of head control and motor skills.

CLEVELAND---Double standards are at work again in northern Ohio.

When disbarred Oak Harbor attorney Elsebeth Baumgartner told retired visiting judge Richard Markus that he was corrupt, alleging that he was part of a case fixing scheme in northern Ohio, Markus filed a criminal complaint against her which resulted in her being charged with and convicted of retaliation and intimidation.

FORT ANN---The former Fort Ann elementary teacher and coach who was arrested last month for allegedly allowing two middle schools to masturbate in front of him has now been charged with second degree sexual abuse for allegedly touching one of the male students with a ruler, telling the student he was measuring his genitalia.

The letters seeking additional information about campaign finance activity issued by the Federal Election Commission issue stern warnings, stating that there will be no extensions granted and that there will be no additional notices.

"Failure to provide an adequate response by (the response due date) may result in an audit of the committee", is boldly declared in the three letters issued on Feb. 16.

ALBANY---If you forget to renew your driver's license and get stopped by a police officer, you'd get ticketed for unlicensed operation.

You wouldn't get any reminder notice or grace period and would likely be fined.

But if you're an attorney and fail to renew your attorney registration, you get several chances until you're designated delinquent. If that delinquent attorney is a prosecutor, he might even be prosecuting you for failing to renew your drivers license.

WASHINGTON - James Steven Griles, the former deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI), has pleaded guilty to obstructing the U.S. Senate's investigation into the corruption allegations surrounding former Washington lobbyist Jack A. Abramoff.

SUFFOLK COUNTY---A Suffolk County Grand Jury has returned an indictment charging 11 persons with endangering the welfare of pediatric patients at a Suffolk County nursing home. The charged crimes are misdemeanors.

ORANGE COUNTY, FLA---The Orange County state attorney's office has declined to file criminal charges against former Mount Dora police Lt. Roger Chilton who had been accused of forcing a transvestite prostitute to perform a sex act inside his patrol car.

QUEENS---An unlicensed Woodside real estate broker has been charged with defrauding three real estate investors out of more than $600,000 in cash and property which she allegedly used, in part, to pay personal expenses.

CORNELL---Scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine have identified Aminopterin, a toxic chemical used to kill rats and to treat cancer, as a toxin present in cat food samples from Menu Foods, the manufacturer of the more than 90 brands of dog and cat food that are currently the subject of a nationwide recall.

Several weeks ago, P. David Soares, Albany County district attorney, marched into Florida with camera crews, leading federal and state narcotics agents in executing search warrants on several Signature Pharmacies in Central Florida as part of what Soares said was a multistate investigation into the illegal sales of steroids over the Internet.

In a prepared statement, Soares said that the pharmacies are "believed to supply a large portion of the national market of the illegal online sale of anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and other controlled substances".

When the St. Petersburg Times published an article on March 10, entitled "An exit of her choosing: unafraid and in control", it compared the death of octogenarian Adelaide R. Snyder to that of Terri Schiavo, the woman who was court ordered to die by removal of all hydration and sustenance because her husband said that's what she would have wanted.

Well, whoopee do. Sterling Goodspeed has announced that he's going to seek the Republican nomination for the position of Johnsburg town supervisor.

Warren County needs fewer of individuals like Sterling Goodspeed on the Warren County Board of Supervisors, not more. He personifies what's wrong with Warren County. We need fresh ideas, not stale old repeats of the same stodgy ideas, lame excuses and phony promises that have been promulgated for years in this Republican controlled county, including the more than 20 years that Goodspeed's father was in county politics.

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that a measure to introduce Physician Assisted Suicide in the state of Vermont was struck down in that state's House of Representatives. Good. Very well done.

What do you think "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" means?

The U.S. Supreme Court heard March 19 from lawyers for former student Joseph Frederick, who says it means nothing - and for the Juneau-Douglas, Alaska, school system that suspended Frederick for displaying it on a banner, who say it's drug-related and disruptive.

SUFFOLK COUNTY---Eight former or current members of fire districts, fire departments, and an ambulance company in Suffolk County have been arrested on charges of spending thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for their personal expenses or benefit.

OLEAN---The City of Olean went from a $3.7 million combined surplus in 2001 to an estimated deficit of $4.2 million by the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year, a negative shift of $7.9 million, because of poor budgeting and fiscal management practices, according to an audit released Thursday by the state Comptroller's office.

TROY---Based on an anonymous tip and a month-long investigation, Troy Police arrested a special education teacher and her daughter Monday on charges of marijuana possession after authorities executed a search warrant at their Lavin Court home.

BRANT LAKE-The volunteer firefighter charged with arson for allegedly torching the historic Brant Lake General Store on Route 8 in northern Warren County rejected a plea bargain offer Wednesday and appears to be headed to trial.

Presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney recently stated, "My view was a case like this would normally be left in the hands of a court."

Romney was referring to the attempt by Congress to help save the life of my sister, Terri Schiavo. He mistakenly assumed passing the buck on this issue would gain him political capital. He could not be more wrong, morally or politically.

I am periodically contacted regarding a developmentally disabled person who is being denied care with the intent of causing death. It usually takes the form of being denied nutrition and hydration (AKA food and water).

The New York State Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would move New York State's presidential primary vote up one month from March 4, 2008 to Feb. 5, 2008.

"My Classic trusted me to care for him and now he's dead at 10 months because I fed him tainted food" Texas dog owner Marlene Braun laments after her poodle died of kidney failure last week after eating Nutro dog food.

Marlene isn't alone as many pet owners across the United States are grief stricken after their pets have died or become seriously ill following more than 60 million cans of tainted pet food being recalled.

AUSTIN, TEXAS---Lawyers for the mother of "Little Emilio" Gonzales, a 16-month-old baby boy who physicians say is dying of Leigh's Disease, filed a temporary restraining order request Tuesday against the Seton Family of Hospitals in an effort to stay the "death by vote" edict imposed by the ethics committee of Children's Hospital.

There was a time when I might have believed humanity had passed beyond barbarism of past centuries and into sunlit enlightenment. I might have believed it if I was kept unaware of 20th Century barbarism. This western barbarism culminated in cultural embrace (even celebration) of abortion on demand, and, more recently, the advent of euthanasia consciousness. Yes, if I had lived in a bubble apart from the happenings of man, I might have believed a myth that humanity is capable, on its own, of attaining glorious heights of refined enlightenment. But I have not lived in a bubble! I know it is not possible! Not even I, in my obvious stupidity and dullness of mind, could buy that myth. My eyes see and my soul has often stirred to learn of cruelties that mar human history to this very day! Besides, in my own crude way, I contributed to the brutality of the age to which I refer. G.W.F. Hegel (1797-1856) said in the Introduction his essays of the Philosophy of History, "What experience and history teach is this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it."

QUEENS---A Miami, Florida, executive and his wife, charged with participating in an unlawful online gambling operation that booked more than $3.3 billion in wagers over a 28-month period, have pleaded guilty to felony charges in the case.

PORT CHESTER---New Yorkers must challenge the taking of their property through eminent domain before the government ever actually uses the power against them.

A federal trial which opened Monday and will continue Tuesday and Wednesday [March 19-21, 2007] seeks to vindicate the rights of one of the many property owners who has fallen victim to this purposefully convoluted system.

AUSTIN, TEXAS---The clock is ticking.

The Texas Futile Care Law is at work again, trying to claim yet another life, this time that of a 16-month old baby boy.

If another hospital can't be found where Emilio Gonzales can be transferred before Friday, doctors at Brackenridge Children's Hospital of Austin will withdraw a respirator from the baby which will result in his death, against the wishes of his mother.

Emilio has been diagnosed with Leigh's disease which causes the central nervous system and muscles to degenerate. Doctors say that his brain is shrinking and that there is no hope for recovery.

Pet owners across the country are carefully watching their pets and checking their pet food supply after more than 60 million cans of tainted pet food have been recalled.

The recall was prompted by the deaths of nearly a dozen animals. According to reports, at least nine cats and one dog died and many other pets are said to be suffering from kidney failure.

LEESBURG, FLA---The day after a jury voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty for John Evander Couey, convicted killer of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, the medical examiner in the case abruptly resigned Friday.

TAMPA---Following a nine-month investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has charged a Tampa woman with falsifying official state records related to child welfare services.

YONKERS---A Yonkers woman has pleaded guilty to one count of first degree assault in the scalding of her son.

SCHENECTADY---A veteran Schenectady police officer has been arrested on drug charges in connection with the ongoing investigation of missing drug evidence from the Schenectady Police Department.

ALBANY----Turkish immigrant Ziya Ozbay of Schenectady, one of the owners of a chain of USA Gas stations and convenience stores convicted of federal tax violations and obstructing and impeding the Internal Revenue Service was sentenced this week to 10 years and one month in prison and must forfeit $6.8 million.

LOUDONVILLE---State Police Major Patricia Groeber has been appointed Troop Commander of Troop G by Supt. Preston L. Felton, the first woman in New York State to lead a police troop.

MIAMI---It only took jurors about an hour Wednesday to decide that the convicted killer of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford should die.

PANAMA CITY, FLA---Saying it was the "right thing to do", Florida Gov. Charlie Crist asked state legislators Wednesday to authorize a $5 million settlement to the parents of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson who died of suffocation at a Bay County boot camp last January, allegedly at the hands of sheriff's officers.

One of the great ironies of American life is that for all our religiosity, we don't know much about religion.

Just how little we know about religion is in the media spotlight this month thanks to a new book by Boston University professor Stephen Prothero, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know - and Doesn't.

WESTCHESTER---Former Pace University student William Gerhard of Yorktown has been sentenced to five years probation and 100 hours of community service on his guilty plea to one count of second degree forgery, a class D felony.

SUFFOLK COUNTY---A 32-year-old Southampton town police officer has been indicted and charged with using his police power and authority to coerce and solicit sex from local women over the past five years.

NEW YORK--- The New York State Banking Department issued two enforcement actions Tuesday ordering New Century Mortgage Corporation to cease doing business in the state. The department also suspended the license of the national mortgage lender.

NEW HAMPSHIRE--Online real estate advertising company ZeroBrokerFees.com has won a first-round victory in its First Amendment challenge to New Hampshire's anti-competitive real estate licensing scheme. Magistrate Judge James R. Muirhead of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire denied the New Hampshire Real Estate Commission's motion to dismiss the challenge and agreed that the First Amendment issues at stake require a fuller hearing by the courts. The ruling was signed March 13.

ALBANY---In honor of "Sunshine Week" the state Assembly has passed a series of bills aimed at strengthening the state's Open Meetings Law, increasing government transparency and ensuring compliance with Freedom of Information laws.

ALBANY--- Deceptive practices exist in the college loan industry, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says, claiming that he has conducted a nationwide investigation into the college loan industry.

ALBANY---Governor Eliot Spitzer received support Thursday from AARP New York for provisions in his budget that assist older New Yorkers.

TALLAHASSEE---Florida's Department of Children and Families has become the first in the nation to access the National Crime Information Center's new resource which will provide child protection investigators with direct, online access to national criminal justice information such as criminal history records and warrants.

DENVER, CO - The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a complaint against three White House staffers for illegally ejecting Denver residents from a taxpayer-funded town hall with President Bush, even though they had done nothing to disrupt the event.

WARRENSBURG---A Warrensburg woman who was arrested on statutory rape charges after seeking child support for the underaged father of her child been indicted on eight counts of statutory rape.

MANHATTAN---The federal government has filed a civil rights lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against the New York State Department of Correctional Services, the agency responsible for operating New York State's prisons, alleging that DOCS has engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination on the basis of religion.

ALBANY----Warren County district attorney Kathleen B. Hogan will be the keynote speaker Thursday, March 15 for the New York State Police celebration of Women's History Month.

ALBANY---New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed the Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act Wednesday that will tighten regulations for convicted sex offenders and implements civil confinement, helping to protect New Yorkers from repeated sexual predators.

ALBANY---Gov. Eliot Spitzer went on the attack against the proposed budget bill of the Senate Majority, saying that it would add more than $3 billion in new spending.

MOUNT VERNON---A licensed nurse has been sentenced to prison for fraudulently billing Medicaid for home care to a severely disabled child that was never performed.

NEW YORK---An Amagansett physician has been charged with writing hundreds of illegal prescriptions for patients from the Bronx and Manhattan, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in medically unnecessary Medicaid billings.

ROCHESTER---A Rochester-area nurse has admitted to receiving over $70,000 in Medicaid funds for private nursing services that she never provided.

The ghosts of the Ethan Allen have come back to haunt Larry Cleveland.

The two-term sheriff of Warren County is the captain of a sinking ship.

The mutiny is already underway. Cleveland is demanding allegiance from his subordinates and taking those to task who he thinks may have jumped ship and be supporting his challenger, Bud York, or worse yet, may be providing information to Cleveland's long-time critic, The North Country Gazette.

ALEXANDRIA, VA---Kansas Senator and Republican conservative Sam Brownback's presidential bid received an endorsement Tuesday from Bobby Schindler, brother of the late Terri Schindler Schiavo who died two years ago this month in Florida from starvation and dehydration after a court mandated the removal of her feeding tube at the behest of her estranged husband.

KENNEWICK, WASH---Suzanne Vitadamo, sister of Terri Schindler Schiavo, spoke about her family's struggle to care for her disabled sister in Kennewick on Saturday as one of the featured speakers at the 3rd Annual It's About Life Conference sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Council.

POLST (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment), also called POST (Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment) and MOST (Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment), is incrementally making its way across the U.S.

What is POLST? A physician's preprinted order sheet with check boxes to choose NO IV, antibiotics, do not resuscitate, and other treatment wishes, or lack thereof.

MINEOLA - A couple who allegedly extorted people they met on adult Web sites have been indicted by a Nassau County grand jury.

ALBANY---The New York State Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to reject massive health care cuts to proposed by Governor Spitzer in his Executive Budget that would have taken more than $1.2 billion from hospitals and nursing homes across the State.

ELIZABETHTOWN---Greggary L. Varmette got the maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life for the murder of Stephen McKay, the three-year-old son of his girlfriend.

BRONX---A Bronx Grand Jury has indicted a former worker at an assisted living facility for abusing her position to steal more than $300,000 from numerous elderly and infirmed residents at the facility.

SAN FRANCISCO---The owner of numerous nursing home facilities has been convicted of 107 counts of willful failure to pay nearly $10 million in employment taxes.

TAMPA---Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed the Anti-Murder Act as the first law of the 2007 legislative session.

ALBANY--- Governor Eliot Spitzer has announced the first steps in a multi-year plan to make New York the healthiest state in the nation through a comprehensive disease prevention program.

ALBANY---A plan to cut New York's uninsured population in half over the next four years is being advocated by acting state health commissioner Richard F. Daines. The plan, included as part of the proposed state budget, would expand access to health insurance to 400,000 uninsured children by increasing the State's Child Health Plus program and simplifying Medicaid rules to reach both uninsured children and the 900,000 uninsured adults who are currently eligible for coverage.

Experts at a New York hospital say that more research is needed on the care and fate of severely brain-injured patients.

CLEARWATER, FLA---Less than 90 days into the next year, there's already been two inmate deaths at the Pinellas County Jail.

OMAHA, NEB---A retired Air Force combat pilot faced perhaps his most difficult mission last week when he put himself at risk to save his 10-month-old English bulldog who nearly drowned after she fell through thin ice on a pond near their home while chasing geese and ducks.

BRONX--Although 83-year-old Florence Bock had been missing for at least four years, she was apparently home all the time.

ENGLEWOOD, FLA---The administration at the Lemon Bay High school in Englewood believes that the actors in "The Full Monty" should be fully clothed, at least if the actors are teachers.

In reporters' role as the eyes and ears of their readers and as citizens seeking information from the government to improve or make more sense of their lives, there is a constant effort to acquire and process information from the government. Although that may be an easy task in some circumstances, it can be daunting in others. When there is a question, legal tools, particularly laws granting public access to government information often known as sunshine, Freedom of Information (FOI) or open meetings laws, can be especially useful. But how do you use them in the best way possible?

Sunshine Week (March 11-17) is the news media's industrywide effort to alert the public to the importance of open government and the right of access to public information and public meetings.

WASHINGTON--- A nationwide information audit, conducted as a prelude to Sunshine Week, found slightly more than four in 10 of the official gatekeepers willing, if wary, to provide copies of emergency response plans, which federal law makes public.

QUEENSBURY---Flanked by several former investigators of the Warren County Sheriff's Department, the former Glens Falls police chief and former county commissioner of jurors, Nathan "Bud" York threw down the gauntlet at a press conference Saturday in front of the Warren County Municipal Center, formally announcing his candidacy for the office of Warren County sheriff.