Stories Making Headlines Right Now

MADOFF SCANDAL
    Investigators keep digging into Madoff fraud

Bernard Madoff has gone from a $7 million
penthouse to a tiny jail cell in Manhattan with cinderblock walls
and linoleum floors.
    Madoff pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday but implicated
no one but himself.
    With the disgraced financier awaiting sentencing behind bars now
that his bail’s been revoked, the investigative focus may shift to
other members of the family financial business.
    Investigators continue to pore over records, trying to figure
out, among other things, who helped Madoff engineer the $64 billion
fraud that may be the largest in U.S. history.
    Victims like Miriam Siegman say Madoff’s wife and longtime
bookkeeper would be a good place to start looking for evidence.
    Sixty-seven-year-old Ruth Madoff is trustee of the family
foundation. Attorneys for Madoff victims say she can expect to have
her finances carefully scrutinized, even if she’s never charged.

OBAMA-CONFIDENCE
    Obama: Economic crisis ‘not as bad as we think’

President Barack Obama is mounting a stout
defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy.
    The president says the national crisis is “not as bad as we
think” and says his plans will speed recovery.
    Obama confronted misgivings, even in his own party, about his
proposals during an address to top executives of the Business
Roundtable.
    The president said Americans shouldn’t be whipsawed by bursts of
either bad or good news and that he’s “highly optimistic” about
the long term.
    Obama’s proposals for major health care, energy and education
changes in the midst of economic hard times are facing skepticism
from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.

OBAMA-ECONOMY: REPUBLICANS
    NEW: GOP plans to scrutinize stimulus spending

Republicans have announced plans to keep a
close watch on how economic stimulus money is spent.
    As President Barack Obama was warning his administration won’t
tolerate wasteful spending, Republicans unveiled plans to put that
stimulus spending under a microscope.
    Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander says Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell has already asked the General Accountability Office for
an independent audit of the stimulus bill as well as regular
reports.
    Alexander says Republicans want to make sure the money isn’t
wasted.

STIMULUS-TEXAS
    UPDATE: Texas gov. rejects stimulus money for unemployment

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s decision to turn down
$555 million of federal stimulus funding that would expand the
state’s unemployment benefits has drawn a quick response from
Democratic lawmakers.
    Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin says rejecting the money
“demonstrates the height of denial” about the challenges facing
Texans. Watson said it’s now up to the Legislature, which can still
try to accept the funds but risks a veto from the governor.
    Perry says accepting the fund would put a tax burden on the
Texas businesses. Perry did accept most of the roughly $17 billion
slated for Texas in the plan.
    A policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities
says without the federal unemployment money, about 45,000 Texas
workers will go without unemployment insurance.

CHINA-US LOANS
    China’s premier worries about loans to U.S.

China’s premier said Friday that he worries about
the safety of the enormous holdings of U.S. treasuries and other
debt and called on Washington to maintain a credible economic.
    Premier Wen Jiabao noted that China is now the largest creditor
to the United States and as such wants to make sure that U.S.
policies to deal with the economic crisis do not damage the value
of Chinese holdings.
    “We have made a huge amount of loans to the United States. Of
course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be
honest, I’m a little bit worried,“ Wen said at his annual news
conference. He called on Washington “to honor its words, stay a
credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets.“
    Nearly half of China’s $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves
are invested in U.S. treasuries and notes issued by other
government-affiliated agencies.

NAACP-MORTGAGE DISCRIMINATION
    NAACP says banks steered blacks to bad loans

The NAACP is accusing Wells Fargo and HSBC of
forcing blacks into subprime mortgages while whites with identical
qualifications got lower rates.
    Austin Tighe, co-lead counsel for the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, tells The Associated Press that
class-action lawsuits will be filed Friday in federal court in Los
Angeles.
    Tighe says black homebuyers have been 3 1/2 times more likely to
receive a subprime loan than white borrowers, and six times more
likely to get a subprime rate when refinancing. He says blacks
still were disproportionately steered into subprime loans when
their credit scores, income and down payment was equal to those of
white homebuyers.
    Messages left after hours with Wells Fargo and HSBC were not
immediately returned.
    Similar NAACP lawsuits are pending against a dozen other
subprime lenders.

MORTGAGE SCHEME
    Calif. brokers indicted in $7 million lender theft

Two California mortgage brokers have
been indicted on charges that they stole more than $7 million from
a Florida lender.
    A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted 26-year-old
Christopher Warren of Folsom and 27-year-old Scott Cavell of
Sacramento. They face 44 counts of wire fraud, money laundering,
passport fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
    Warren was arrested with $70,000 stuffed in his cowboy boots as
he re-entered the United States from Canada last month. He also
faces charges of buying millions of dollars in gold that he took
with him during an escape to Lebanon.
    Cavell remains a fugitive.
    They face multiple 20-year prison terms if convicted.
    Warren’s attorney, Don Heller, says he hopes to get the case
resolved so his client can get on with his life. Cavell’s attorney,
Miles Ehrlich, declined comment.

PAKISTAN
    NEW: Pakistan blocks anti-government demonstrators

Pakistan’s opposition leader predicts
President Asif Ali Zardari won’t last his full five-year term.
    The comment came as police turned away another convoy of
protesters trying to reach the capital for a major anti-government
demonstration.
    Authorities have detained several hundred political activists
and lawyers in recent days. The government is trying to thwart a
protest movement that is challenging the government’s shaky
one-year rule. The challenge comes just as the West wants to see
Pakistan unite and fight against al-Qaida and Taliban extremists.
    Activist lawyers are demanding Zardari fulfill a pledge to
reinstate judges fired by former President Pervez Musharraf.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH-DRUG CHARGES
    UPDATE: Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend, doctor posts bail

Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend Howard K. Stern
and one of her doctors have posted bail after surrendering in Los
Angeles on charges they gave the former playmate drugs before her
fatal overdose in 2007.
    The California attorney general’s office says Stern and Dr.
Sandeep Kapoor were released Thursday night after each posted
$20,000 bond.
    The two men and Dr. Khristine Eroshevich are charged with three
felony counts of conspiracy and several other charges of fraudulent
prescriptions. Eroshevich is expected to surrender Monday.
    Prosecutors say the doctors gave dozens of different
prescription drugs - including opiates and benzodiazepines - to
Stern, who then gave them to Smith.

UTAH BEER
    Utah draft beer to remain watered down

The Utah Senate has decided against
allowing the sale of full-strength draft beer in bars and
restaurants.
    Currently, draft beer sold in Utah can contain no more than 3.2
percent alcohol by weight, or 4 percent by volume.
    Most beer contains about 5 percent alcohol by volume and is
watered down for sale in Utah.
    A bill to lift the cap was approved 58-2 in the House. But on
Thursday, the last day of the session, the Senate decided not to
debate the measure and to go home early instead.
    Bars and restaurants are already allowed to serve full-strength
beer if they buy it in bottles from the state liquor store at the
same 86 percent markup paid by the general public.