ending April 13
President Bush last week before
departing to Camp David.
Photo © Reuters.
A year after saying a court monitor for trust reform would be "beneficial" to her department, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton appears to have changed her mind. Her attorneys this week said they objected to additional oversight by a federal court. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said he wants one of his officials to watch over the Department of Interior for at least another year. But even if court monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III weren't around, special master Alan Balaran has enough criticism to go around. He released another report in his year-plus investigation into the records belonging to 300,000 American Indians. Get the Story:
Interior fares worse under Norton (4/8)
Lamberth's 'Lone Star Justice' (4/8)
Norton admits to erased e-mails (4/10)
Responses filed on court monitor (4/11)
Norton makes demands on court (4/12)
And the court strikes back (4/12)
Report blasts trust records progress (4/12) ANWR twisting resumes
Senate Democrats and environmentalists remain confident they can prevent drilling from ever occurring in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Republicans and the Bush administration are pushing the issue anyway, tying it to the Middle East crisis and releasing a reassessment which conveniently said limited drilling won't have an impact on a herd of porcupine considered sacred to an Alaskan tribe. But GOP members in the Senate acknowledged this week they didn't have enough votes to break an expected Democrat filibuster. They delayed their proposal in hopes of finding more supporters. Get the Story:
ANWR findings reversed (4/8)
Native drilling to impact caribou (4/9)
ANWR amendment may be offered (4/9)
Burns says caribou impact 'nil' (4/10)
Hussein threat sparks ANWR plea (4/11)
ANWR debate about procedures (4/11)
ANWR amendment delayed in Senate (4/12)
Norton defends use of pro-ANWR video (4/12) more stories
There's still more to read in the recap of the top stories.