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hosted.ap.org — The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees. Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department's Office of Accountability and Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats on that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored. Brennan also alleges the State Department prevented a congressional aide visiting Baghdad from talking with staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, office members were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers' workload had been cut dramatically because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's "evisceration" of Iraq's top anti-corruption office.

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usatoday.com — The Bush administration urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease. The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere. Less than 1% of slaughtered cows are tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers.

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cnn.com — Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, said the general manager and possibly other senior staff members at the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, Utah, should face a criminal inquiry. Miller, chairman of a House investigation committee, has sent a referral letter to the Department of Justice asking it to investigate whether the mine's manager, on his own or in conspiracy with others in the company, concealed facts or made false statements to federal investigators about the condition of the mine before the disaster.

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iht.com — The results of a congressional investigation say sthat the general manager and possibly other senior staff at the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, Utah, where 9 miners died in August 2007, hid information from federal mining officials that could have prevented the disaster and should face criminal charges. The report also said that the mining company should never have submitted a request to remove coal from the section of mine where the collapse occurred, and that federal mining officials should not have approved the proposal, because of foreseeable dangers.

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ft.com — The Bush administration has sidelined a federal official who raised legal questions about whether John McCain, Republican senator, could raise private funds in his presidential bid. The White House late on Tuesday nominated Donald McGahn, who once served as an attorney for former majority leader Tom DeLay, to replace David Mason, a fellow Republican, as the chairman of the Federal Election Commission. Mr Mason raised hackles in some Republican circles early this year when, he questioned the legality of a McCain campaign decision to withdraw from the public financing system during the Republican primary.

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hosted.ap.org — U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch repeatedly butted heads with a task force he set up to decide whether to investigate high-profile accusations of political meddling by the Bush administration, newly released draft documents show. The new documents detail 11 subject areas the Office of Special Counsel's task force identified for potential investigation. In more than half of the cases, according to the draft report, Bloch and the task force disagreed on whether an investigation should be pursued or closed.

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mcclatchydc.com — FBI agents investigating government watchdog Scott Bloch have subpoenaed any records that would reveal whether concerns about the 2004 elections prompted him to clear Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of ethics violations. Bloch found no merit to allegations that Rice, then President Bush's national security adviser, timed some of her trips to boost Bush's 2004 reelection campaign. It's unclear whether the FBI is looking into Bloch's decision to clear Rice or whether agents are seeking evidence in separate obstruction and false-statements investigation.

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msnbc.msn.com — Contractors large and small have been heading offshore to shield piles of taxpayer dollars, according to an Associated Press investigation, but irate lawmakers are thundering that they'll put an end to it. The House recently passed tax legislation that would treat foreign subsidiaries of U.S. government contractors as American employers. That means they would have to pay the taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare programs. The Senate is now considering the legislation.

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washingtonpost.com — Two Bush administration Cabinet members acknowledged gaps in the capability of U.S. hospitals to deal with a mass-casualty terrorist attack or other disaster, but they said a congressional effort to block pending Medicaid cuts will not fix the problem. President Bush has threatened to veto House legislation that would impose a one-year moratorium on changes sought by HHS to Medicaid, the federal insurance program for the poor. State officials said the impact would be greater, including cuts to physicians at teaching hospitals and to urban public hospitals whose emergency rooms are already strained.

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usatoday.com — America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a new analysis shows. The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data found that since 2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been fined for violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten local drinking water and kill aquatic animals and plants.

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