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nytimes.com — For months, a national debate has raged over the fate of the 245 detainees at the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But what may be an equally difficult problem now confronts the Obama administration in the 600 prisoners packed into a cavernous, makeshift prison on the American air base at Bagram in Afghanistan. Military personnel who know Bagram and Guantánamo describe the Afghan site as tougher and more spartan. The prisoners have fewer privileges and virtually no access to lawyers. The Bush administration never allowed journalists or human rights advocates inside.

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washingtonpost.com — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. issued a new subpoena to former Bush White House aide Karl Rove, months after Rove deflected an earlier effort to compel his testimony about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and other political disputes that swirled around the Justice Department. Conyers's committee subpoenaed Rove on May 22, calling on him to testify about his contacts with department officials in the Bush era. But Rove rebuffed the summons, saying he was barred from testifying because of executive privilege. Yesterday's subpoena may test the limits of that power for the first time since George W. Bush left office, legal experts said.

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cnn.com — Security experts are questioning information released by the Pentagon last week, saying 61 former detainees from its detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may have returned to terrorist activities. The report says 18 former detainees are confirmed to have participated in attacks, and 43 are suspected to have been involved in attacks. That figure would be about 11 percent of the roughly 520 prisoners that have been released from Guantanamo. A Pentagon spokesman defended the integrity of the report, but would not directly answer questions about where the figures come from. Pentagon officials have said they would not discuss how the statistics were derived because of security concerns that such information could give clues to how U.S. intelligence officers collect their data.

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washingtonpost.com — President Obama's plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials — barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the detainees — discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them. Instead, they found that information on individual prisoners is "scattered throughout the executive branch," a senior administration official said. The executive order Obama signed orders the prison closed within one year, and a Cabinet-level panel named to review each case separately will have to spend its initial weeks and perhaps months scouring the corners of the federal government in search of relevant material.

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hosted.ap.org — Nearly four years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, researchers called on the federal government to upgrade its flood maps, arguing that the effort could save lives as well as stem losses to properties and businesses. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance rate maps are used to set flood insurance rates, regulate development in flood plains, and let people know about the risk they face. FEMA is wrapping up a five-year map modernization plan that had led to digital flood maps for 92 percent of the continental U.S. population, but even after $1 billion has been spent on the effort, only 21 percent of the population has maps which meet all of FEMA's data quality standards.

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iht.com — Republicans plan to test President Barack Obama's commitment to bipartisanship as his $825 billion stimulus package heads to the floor of the House of Representatives this week, with the House Republican leader saying that many in his party will vote no unless there are significant changes to the plan. While the plan can potentially pass the Democrat-dominated House without Republican support, it will continue to face opposition when it comes before the Senate, said Senator John McCain of Arizona, speaking on "Fox News Sunday." At least two Republicans will need to approve the bill for a filibuster-proof majority vote of 60."

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hosted.ap.org — The U.S. regulatory structure policing the financial sector is outdated, federal oversight of medical products is inadequate and the government's tracking system for toxic chemicals is in danger of becoming obsolete, the investigative arm of Congress said. Shortcomings in regulation topped a list of 30 programs needing broad-based transformation or at high risk for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report it issues at the start of every new Congress.

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hosted.ap.org — Two years after a politically embarrassing $1 billion shortfall that imperiled veterans health care, the Veterans Affairs Department is still lowballing budget estimates to Congress to keep its spending down, government investigators say. The report by the Government Accountability Office highlights the Bush administration's problems in planning for the treatment of veterans that President Barack Obama has pledged to fix. It found the VA's long-term budget plan for the rehabilitation of veterans in nursing homes, hospices and community centers to be flawed, failing to account for tens of thousands of patients and understating costs by millions of dollars.

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cnn.com — House Republican leaders have asked for a meeting with President Obama to offer major changes to the $825 billion economic recovery package urged by the president and proposed by House Democrats last week. Republicans want a greater focus on incentives for businesses to create more jobs, instead of direct spending on infrastructure projects. The Democratic proposal was created at Obama's urging. Last week, Obama said the plan will save or create up to 4 million jobs and invest in health care, energy and education, among other priorities. House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence declined to say whether the Democrats' package would get any Republican support if it didn't change significantly.

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washingtonpost.com — At least 30 banks since 2000 have escaped federal regulatory action by walking away from their federal regulators and moving under state supervision, taking advantage of a long-standing system that allows banks to choose between federal and state oversight, according to a review of government records. The moves, known as charter conversions, highlight the tremendous leverage that banks hold in their relationships with government supervisors. The financial crisis has pushed regulatory reform high up the agenda of the Obama administration and congressional leaders. Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary nominee, sounded the theme at his confirmation hearing yesterday, calling for a "stronger, more resilient system." Some regulatory experts say that eliminating the opportunity to switch regulators is critical to strengthening oversight.

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