Scandal

William Jefferson, the former congressman from Louisiana caught with $90,000 cash stuffed in his freezer, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for using his office to solicit bribes. Jefferson, 62, was sentenced Friday in Virginia, three months after a federal jury found him guilty on 11 of 16 ...

Published: 11/13/09

'Balloon Boy' Parents Plead Guilty to Charges in Hoax

By David Sessions

The Colorado couple who told authorities that their 6-year-old son was carried away by a homemade helium balloon pleaded guilty Friday to federal and misdemeanor charges, CNN reports. Richard Heene was charged with a felony count of attempting to influence a public servant; his wife, Mayumi Heene, ...

Published: 11/13/09

Peter Galbraith -- Rich, Dedicated, Sleeping Easy

By Bonnie Goldstein

Raised in a privileged household and educated at Harvard and Oxford, Peter Galbraith, son of legendary JFK-era economist John Kenneth Galbraith, has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to public service. He was for 14 years a senior staffer on the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee until Bill ...

Published: 11/11/09

Report: Blackwater Executives OK'd Bribes After Iraqi Shootings

Senior executives at the security firm Blackwater Worldwide approved secret payments of $1 million to buy the silence of Iraqi officials after its guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad two years ago, it was reported Wednesday. Blackwater's then-president Gary Jackson approved the payments in ...

Published: 11/9/09

John Ensign Moves Out of Storied C Street House

By David Sessions

Nevada Sen. John Ensign, who admitted to an affair with his best friend's wife earlier this year, has moved out of C Street House, a residence shared by a half-dozen Christian politicians, the Las Vegas Sun reports. The house became a hub of scandal involving extramarital affairs carried on by at ...

Published: 11/4/09

Jerry Brown Staffer Quits Over Recorded Conversations

A spokesman for California Attorney General Jerry Brown has resigned after admitting he secretly taped telephone conversations with reporters. In his resignation letter, Scott Gerber wrote that he didn't make the recordings "to play gotcha but simply to have an accurate record of official, ...

Published: 10/30/09

Does a Defense Lobbying Investigation Put Charlie Rangel at Risk?

By David Corn

Bad news for Rep. Charles Rangel, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee: The Washington Post obtained a copy of a House document showing that seven members of the House appropriations subcommittee in charge of military spending -- almost half of the panel's members ...

Published: 10/28/09

Fault: Andre Agassi's Meth Confession

By Domenica Marchetti

Ridiculously, I feel betrayed by tennis star Andre Agassi's admission in his new autobiography that he used crystal methamphetamine in 1997, when his career was in the tank. The book, "Open," doesn't come out until next month, but is being excerpted in The Times of London Wednesday and Thursday. ...

Published: 10/26/09

Alaska Congressman Don Young Tied to Corruption in Court Documents

Alaska congressman Don Young is accused of taking illegal gifts in court documents filed last week as part of an ongoing federal investigation into political corruption in the state. The documents are related to the imminent sentencing of Bill Allen, a key figure in the corruption probe of former ...

Published: 10/22/09

Musicians Demand to Know Titles of Songs Used in Detainee Torture

By David Sessions

A coalition of high-profile musicians has endorsed a Freedom of Information Act request to learn which songs the U.S. military and security agencies used during interrogations and torture of detainees, the Washington Post reported Thursday. The group includes Rosanne Cash, Nine Inch Nails frontman ...