What ever happened in the charges against Delay in Texas? Ronnie Earl….. what’s going on?

WASHINGTON - The federal probe into corruption related to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff could be inching closer to former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land as investigators focus on a former DeLay chief of staff who later employed the Republican leader’s wife.

DeLay has not been charged with any crime in the Abramoff case. And his lawyer, Richard Cullen, said federal investigators have given DeLay no indication that he is a target of the ongoing grand jury probe, such as subpoenaing documents.

But prosecutors could decide within weeks whether to bring charges against former DeLay staff chief Edwin Buckham, according to sources close to the investigation who spoke on the condition that they not be identified. The decision should give a clear signal on whether DeLay remains in legal jeopardy, the sources said.

In recent days federal prosecutors have served notice that their sprawling Abramoff case has remained very much alive.

On Tuesday a former aide to Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff - including a golf junket to Scotland - in exchange for giving the lobbyist illegal help. Mark Zachares accepted more than $30,000 in sports tickets from Abramoff, including $10,000 through a nonprofit foundation Abramoff controlled.

Zachares is the 11th person convicted in the scandal.

More at Chron.com

OSLO, Norway - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order.

Rice said she would respond by mail to questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Bush administration’s prewar claims about Saddam Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction, but signaled she would not appear in person.

“I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter,” she told reporters in Oslo, where she is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

The comments were her first reaction to a subpoena issued on Wednesday by the committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Exxon Mobil

NEW YORK - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday its net income grew 10 percent in the first quarter, as higher refining, marketing and chemical profit margins overcame lower crude oil and natural gas prices.

Net income rose to $9.3 billion, or $1.62 per share, for the January-March period from $8.4 billion, or $1.37 per share, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for a profit of $1.52 per share.

Revenue fell to $87.2 billion from $88.9 billion a year earlier. Like other major oil companies, Exxon was hurt by lower oil and natural gas prices to start 2007 compared with a year ago.

Last year, the Irving, Texas-based company posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company - $39.5 billion. That result topped the previous record, also by Exxon Mobil, of $36.13 billion set in 2005.

Nintendo

TOKYO - Booming sales of the popular Wii and DS game machines lifted Nintendo Co.’s earnings 77 percent in the latest fiscal year as the Japanese gamemaker held its own against bigger rivals Sony and Microsoft.

Nintendo reported a group net profit of 174.29 billion yen ($1.47 billion) in the year through March, up dramatically from 98.38 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales soared 90 percent to 966.53 billion yen ($8.13 billion) from 509.25 billion yen in the previous year, powered by brisk sales of its handheld DS machine and its wand-wielding Wii console, the Kyoto-based maker said in a statement.

Nintendo did not release fiscal fourth quarter figures. But subtracting nine-month profit from the full-year figure showed that the latest quarter’s earnings rose almost sevenfold to 42 billion yen ($355 million) from 6.2 billion yen a year earlier. Quarterly sales almost tripled to 253 billion yen ($2.12 billion).

Apple

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Shares of Apple Inc. rose more than 6 percent early Thursday, continuing to soar above $100 for the first time after the company walloped Wall Street expectations with quarterly profit that jumped 88 percent on strong sales of its iPod players and
Macintosh computers.

Apple shares rose $6.25 to $101.60 in morning trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The earnings results were released after the market closed Wednesday, and the stock leaped to $102.40 in after-hours trading.

Investor optimism in the trendsetting company may have also been bolstered by a vote of confidence the board of directors gave Apple’s chief executive officer,
Steve Jobs. The board on Wednesday defended the iconic CEO from new accusations by a former Apple executive who alleged Jobs may have had a more significant role in the company’s backdating of stock options than previously stated.

Is there anyone in this administration who ISN’T under investigation?

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is launching a broad investigation into at least three Bush administration scandals - the firing of U.S. Attorneys, missing White House emails and the White House’s exercise of improper political influence over presidential appointees in the executive branch. OSC, headed up by highly controversial presidential appointee Scott Bloch, is the wrong entity for this investigation. The fact that OSC has been charged with handling these matters suggests the possibility that the White House is orchestrating a cover-up of its illegal and improper activities.

Bloch has come under widespread criticism for his gross mismanagement and politicization of the office. Bloch is currently under investigation by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for his mistreatment of career appointees, who have alleged the exact kind of retaliation that OSC is designed to investigate. OSC employees have alleged that Bloch has tossed out legitimate whistleblower cases to reduce the office backlog. The probe into Bloch’s conduct has been stymied by the fear of OSC staff that speaking to investigators will result in reprisal. Prominent conservatives, who support Bloch in part because he adopted a sexual orientation policy that makes it more difficult for gay employees to allege discrimination, have called on President Bush to protect Bloch from the OPM investigation.

Read more at CREW