Good morning . . .
The British elections are over and, as expected, Tony Blair and the Labour Party have won an unprecedented third term to form a government.
While Labour did win, the size of its majority in the House of Commons has shrunk to 66 seats. The big winner in the election was the Conservative Party.
Before the election many observers said this was the last chance for the Tories to remain a viable party. The pick-up of more than 20 seats shows the Tories still have some political life. Pundits say the gains by Conservatives and Liberal-Democrats were a warning to Labour more than a desire for another party to lead the country.
More from the BBC.
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Indiana is known for the cult-like status of its love of basketball. High school and college gyms are filled to capacity during basketball season. But Indiana also ha another sport that has fascinated observers and critics for many years - - political corruption.
The sport of political corruption is more prevalent in northwest Indiana than the rest of the state. It is not uncommon to find one of more city or county official under federal or state indictment.
The now infamous "sidewalk-for-votes" scandal in East Chicago has inspired new laws signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) Thursday.
The new laws will make clear when a convicted public official must give up his office. Until now, the laws were ambiguous and in northwest Indiana convicted politicians stayed in office until the day they went to prison.
The first new law prohibits local governments from paying for the legal defense of public officials in criminal cases and certain civil actions. During the "sidewalk-for-votes" scandal, the City of East Chicago paid more than $2 million dollars to defend indicted city officials until the practice was halted by a Lake County Judge.
The second law clarifies conflicting laws about when convicted officials must vacate an office. Under the new law makes it clear that officials will be removed from office upon conviction.
While the law goes into effect immediately, its provisions are not retroactive.
Northwest Indiana News: nwitimes.com
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As the Army decides what to do with the trial of PFC Lyndie England, it has made a decision about the future of a high-ranking officer.
The Army announced that it demoted Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski whose reserve unit was in charge of the Abu Ghraib prison during the period of abuse. Dropping her rank to colonel required the approval of President Bush. Pentagon officials say the approval was given on Thursday.
The Army also said that it cleared three other, more senior generals of wrongdoing in the abuse cases.
The demotion of Karpinski essentially ends her military career.
Meanwhile Congress wants to get involved in the investigation again. The Senate Armed Services Committee intends to begin hearings to assess whether high ranking military and civilian officials were adequately held responsible in the prisoner abuse scandal.
Army Demotes General in Abu Ghraib Scandal - Yahoo! News
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Arizona has a very large Hispanic population. More than 500,000 of them do not speak English. It seems a little strange that the Arizona legislature would pass a bill establishing English as the official state language. The bill is waiting for Gov. Janet Napolitano's signature.
If signed, Arizona would become the 28th state to declare English the official language.
Arizona Bill Would Make English the State's Official Language -- 05/06/2005
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More later.
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