New York Times, by Michael Cieply Posted By: DW626- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:58:56 GMT LOS ANGELES — Is the 33'year'old sex'crime prosecution of Roman Polanski finally creeping toward its end'game? On Friday, three appeals court justices ordered a lower court to send them a transcript of recent, secret testimony in which a prosecutor in the case outlined his misgivings about the conduct of the judge who originally handled Mr. Polanski’s guilty plea for having sex with a minor in 1977.

The Baltimore Sun, by Robbie Whelan Posted By: Struan- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:56:01 GMT Outraged that the father of a dead Marine was ordered to pay some court costs incurred by a group he had sued for picketing his son's funeral, people from across the country have launched a grass'roots fundraising effort to help the grieving family. "I was appalled," said Sally Giannini, a 72'year'old retired bookkeeper from Spokane, Wash., who had called The Baltimore Sun after seeing an article about the court decision against Albert Snyder. "I believe in free speech, but this goes too far." Living on a fixed income, Giannini said she could send only $10

Globe & Mail [Toronto], by Martin Mittelstaedt Posted By: Photoonist- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:47:58 GMT The reason why flu season breaks out every winter and then vanishes every summer has been a mystery long puzzling medical researchers. Now, Japanese doctors may have found an answer to the enigma – low levels of vitamin D during the dark winter months. In the first drug'style clinical trial giving relatively large doses of the vitamin to children, researchers found it was a potent flu'fighter. Those receiving the sunshine vitamin had a 42'per'cent reduction in the most severe type of flu, known as influenza A

Stars and Stripes, by Staff Posted By: Struan- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:47:48 GMT U.S. troops in Kosovo have conducted their last scheduled patrol along the border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. American soldiers have regularly conducted such patrols —often with the Kosovo Border and Boundary Police — since entering Kosovo in 1999. But a joint patrol Monday with the KBBP was the last one planned for U.S. troops, according to Multi'National Battle Group'East. From now on, members of the KBBP will conduct the patrols themselves or in coordination with their counterparts across the border. “We are definitely at the point where we can step back,” said Capt. Dan Murphy

Christian Science Monitor, by Jeffrey W. Rubin Posted By: Photoonist- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:30:14 GMT Boston – March 31 is the birthday of the Chavez Americans love to love. Cesar Chavez led the United Farm Workers (UFW) to successfully take on California agribusiness in the 1960s, and his soft'spoken manner and fierce commitment to social justice inspired a generation of activists. (Snip) The truth is, however, that the two Chavezes are more alike than they are different. Americans’ inability to see that says more about our own political blindness than about these two charismatic fighters for social justice.

CNN, by Jack Cafferty Posted By: Photoonist- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:17:35 GMT The White House is backing a race'based admissions policy at one public university. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration has asked a federal appeals court to uphold the system at the University of Texas at Austin. The case was brought by two white students who were rejected for admission at the Austin campus. (Snip) These white students say the admissions policy violated the federal civil rights law. So far, a district judge has rejected their claim

Politico, by Michael Calderone Posted By: Photoonist- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:12:02 GMT The future of CNN, never exactly bright the last couple of years, suddenly looked dire this week when new ratings came out showing a 40 percent decline in prime'time viewers since 2009. Jon Klein, the network president, has consistently defended the network’s down'the'middle news strategy despite the increasingly large ratings leads opened up by MSNBC and particularly Fox (Snip) Their near'consensus: It has to change, get more personality, no longer be – as one media critic called it – ''the view from nowhere.''

CNN, by Staff Posted By: Photoonist- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:55:02 GMT Chechen rebel leader Dokku Umarov claimed that he personally gave orders to attack the Moscow subway this week, according to a Chechen rebel Web site. Kavkaz Center, a Web site that regularly carries messages from the rebels, released a video in which Umarov said he was behind the Monday attacks. The attacks were revenge for what Umarov called a ''massacre conducted by the Russian occupants against the poorest residents of Chechnya and Ingushetia''

Detroit Free Press, by Justin Hyde Posted By: fishmonger- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:21:36 GMT The first customer for the Chevrolet Volt also happens to be its largest investor '' the Obama administration. The White House said today that the government will "purchase the first 100 plug'in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines" before the end of the year. The Volt, which GM describes as an extended range electric vehicle, is the only model that fits that description. GM began building Its first production Volts at the Detroit'Hamtramck plant today. President Barack Obama has set a target of putting one million plug'in hybrids on U.S roads by 2015.

The Hill [Washington DC], by Jordan Fabian Posted By: fishmonger- Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:14:09 GMT Rep. Tim Ryan (D'Ohio) canceled a town hall on the new healthcare law Tuesday because of concerns about the security of the event. The congressman's office cited safety issues at the facility where the meeting was to take place and threats to his office, according to a report by News21. "We just thought it best to cancel it for safety concerns. This was not meant to be a place where we're going to talk partisan politics," Pat Lowry, a member of Ryan's staff, told News21. "Don't get me wrong, Congressman Ryan