Countdown Newletter -- 03/06/06: Going After The Press

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Tonight on Countdown
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The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws. In recent weeks, dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies have been interviewed by agents from the FBI's Washington field office, who are investigating possible leaks that led to reports about secret CIA prisons and the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials familiar with the two cases. In a little-noticed case in California, FBI agents from Los Angeles have already contacted reporters at the Sacramento Bee about stories published in July that were based on sealed court documents related to a terrorism case in Lodi, according to the newspaper. Some media watchers, lawyers and editors say that, taken together, the incidents represent perhaps the most extensive and overt campaign against leaks in a generation, and that they have worsened the already-tense relationship between mainstream news organizations and the White House. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400867.html

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AT&T Inc. plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs, mostly through attrition, if its $67 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. goes through, AT&T's chief financial officer said Monday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11684785/

Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan, who is helping to bankroll the birth of a Florida town and university, backtracked Friday from comments that he would like the community to be governed by strict Roman Catholic principles. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002843125_catholic04.html

Police have been questioning a bouncer at the trendy bar where a graduate student was seen hours before her naked body was found, bound and with packaging tape wrapped over her face. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11696936/

"Crash" pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Academy Awards history, winning best picture Sunday over the front-runner "Brokeback Mountain." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11686715/

Diamond-drenched Oscar winners, hip-hop artists, Olympic athletes, fashion designers - it was a melting pot of revelry at the Oscar afterparties. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11698383/


That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
CLEVELAND -- Eighty-one-year-old Myron Manders wants the Social Security Administration to know that he still is alive. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be listening. Last November, Manders was preparing to leave a hospital where he was treated for pneumonia when a social worker said his insurance company would not pay the bill because it believed Manders died on Sept. 1. William Jarrett, a Social Security spokesman in Cleveland, said Friday the mistake was due to an erroneous document. Manders, who describes himself as an almost-retired architect, sought to clear up the problem by showing up at a Social Security office. The in-person appearance did not help. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOCIAL_SECURITY_ERROR?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
Treasury Secretary John Snow notified Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken "all prudent and legal actions," including tapping certain government retirement funds, to keep from hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit. In a letter to Congress, Snow urged lawmakers to pass a new debt ceiling immediately to avoid the nation's first-ever default on its obligations. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11699012/

Iraq's president said Monday he would convene the new parliament for the first time next week, beginning a 60-day countdown during which lawmakers must elect a new head of state and sign off on a prime minister and Cabinet. After nightfall, nine key Shiite parliamentarians rushed to an emergency meeting at President Jalal Talabani's Baghdad home to try to change his mind about forcing a showdown in the deepening political crisis and further inflaming sectarian tensions. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11680681/

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that colleges that accept federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, despite university objections to the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11697530/

The sentencing trial of terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui opened Monday with the selection of a jury that will determine whether he is put to death for his involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11694990/

The number of overweight children worldwide will increase significantly by the end of the decade, and scientists expect profound impacts on everything from public health care to economies, a study published Monday said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11694799/

An official British inquiry into the 1997 death of Princess Diana in a high-speed car crash has found no evidence of foul play, a newspaper reported Monday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11696962/

if Keith was going to be on vacation this week. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, given that it's spring training and all, but, well, now that he's not on Dan's show this week, I'm getting ready to be depressed until Sunday. :cry: