Via Ed Morrissey:

Sarah Palin did nothing wrong in firing Walt Monegan, the Alaskan State Personnel Board has concluded. Their independent investigator criticized the legislature’s investigator for applying the wrong law. They also said that Todd Palin did nothing wrong in pressing for action against the governor’s former brother-in-law:

[emphasis: mine]

Also Breitbart:

A report has cleared Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin of ethics violations in the firing of her public safety commissioner.

Released Monday, the report says there is no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with the firing. The report was prepared by Timothy Petumenos, an independent counsel for the Alaska Personnel Board.

From the AP:

Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has brain tumor; condition discovered after he had seizure.

This is all the information available at this time. Updates will follow if further news on the Senator’s condition is released.

Major Update:

Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said.

His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy.

The 76-year-old senator has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home.

Thoughts and prayers are offered to the Senator and his family.

Update:

As it should be. There are no politics here, just grief for an old, dear friend.

Senator Robert Byrd delivered these remarks upon hearing of the diagnosis received by Senator Kennedy:

The NYT is reporting:

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.

Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times.

Mr. Spitzer, a first term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform an end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.

More here.

For continuous updates and comprehensive information (with lots of links) on this situation check here.

Video of Spitzer’s news conference:

The only comment I will add here is that if the Governor believes this is really just a private matter then he is sadly mistaken. By his alleged actions he has thrust himself, but more imnportantly his family into the very public spotlight.

This post is not offered to presume guilt or innocence on the part of the Governor, just to pass on the news.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A missile launched from a Navy ship successfully struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, a defense official said. Full details were not immediately available.
It happened just after 10:30 p.m. EST.

Two officials said the missile was launched successfully. One official, who is close to the process, said it hit the target. He said details on the results were not immediately known.

Details here.

* UPDATE*: Follow up to the above post and very good news indeed if it holds true.

A defense official says an initial view of missile strike on spy satellite indicated it probably hit the spacecraft’s fuel tank,……

Video Update: HT: Macsmind

The administration and Congress have reached a tentative deal on the tax rebate and business tax cut package.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats running Congress and the Bush administration reached a tentative deal Thursday on $300-$1,200 tax rebates and business tax cuts to jolt the slumping economy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to drop increases in food stamp and unemployment benefits during the Wednesday meeting in exchange for gaining rebates of at least $300 for almost everyone earning a paycheck, including low-income earners who make too little to pay income taxes.

Families with children would receive an additional $300 per child, subject to an overall cap of perhaps $1,200, according to a senior House aide who outlined the deal on condition of anonymity in advance of formal adoption of the whole package. Rebates would go to people earning below a certain income cap, likely individuals earning $75,000 or less and couples with incomes of $150,000 or less.

More here.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been killed.

Fox News is reporting:

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a homicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally.

Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest as she was entering her vehicle, and then the bomber blew himself up, FOX News has confirmed.

The former prime minister died in Rawalpindi General Hospital, where she had been rushed to surgery. She was 54.

“At 6:16 p.m. she expired,” said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Bhutto’s party who was at the hospital.

Her supporters at the hospital began chanting “Dog, Musharraf, dog,” referring to Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf.

Some of them smashed the glass door at the main entrance of the emergency unit, others burst into tears. Top party leaders were outside the hospital, crying.

One man with a flag of Pakistan People’s Party tied around his head was beating his chest.

Sen. Babar Awan, Bhutto’s lawyer, said, “The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred.”

*Update* In related news to this mornings assassination of the former Prime
Minister.

Jihad Watch is reporting the following:

US Special Forces to increase presence in Pakistan — Al-Qaeda’s new central battlefield

US Special Forces are to increase their presence in Pakistan amid assessments that the country is to become the central battlefield for al-Qaida as it is driven from Iraq.
“Pakistan should be carefully watched because it could prove to be a significant flashpoint in the coming year,” US think tank Strategic Forecasting said in an evaluation of al-Qaida’s tactics as the Islamist group comes under mounting pressure in Iraq.

This is a development which will become ever more necessary if we are to see peace in this area of the world. The events of today perhaps will speed the deployment of these forces and perhaps help keep some sanity in a country which will no doubt be in terrible turmoil in the coming months.

According to this report Trent Lott is expected to announce he is going to resign his senate seat before the end of the year.

He was not an effective Majority/Minority leader but is an excellent number two man for the party in the Senate.

What happened to him when he was tossed under the bus for being kind to a 100 year old man who used to be a segregationist, but claimed to have renounced it, was a shameful day for our party. Robert Byrd, anyone? A former member of the KKK? He’s still there and no one ran him out of anything.

If this story is correct I wish Mr. Lott happiness in his future endeavors.