Why are they pardoning the DUI drivers?  I think that you do the crime you do the time. They are just learning to do something wrong and they can get away with doing the wrong thing. Why do the Judges give such a lite sentence to these people, but to have a Govern to pardon them for drinking while driving I don’t think it is right. What is this teaching our children when they want to drink and drive. They watch and learn from us and this is not the right way.  I know these people have families to, but someone has to step up to the plate and get them help one way or another. Just my opinion.

OXFORD, Mississippi (CNN) — Unraveling the complex back stories of the more than 200 pardons issued by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is revealing serious questions about how pardon review decisions were carried out.

But perhaps no pardon is as confounding as the case of Harry Bostick. The retired Internal Revenue Service investigator’s pardon has been called “heinous” by critics of Barbour.

“Someone didn’t do their homework on this case,” said Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland.

When Barbour pardoned Bostick in January, the convicted DUI felon was sitting in an Oxford, Mississippi, jail cell for violating the terms of a previous DUI sentence and was awaiting formal charges from yet another drunken driving accident in October that ended in the tragic death of 18-year-old Charity Smith. Who’s at fault in that accident has yet to be determined.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — Get ready for a possible jump at the pump. Governor Martin O’Malley wants to raise the gas tax. Now drivers are sounding off.

Andrea Fujii has the outrage.

It wasn’t the news one driver wanted to hear right after buying a new sports car.

“It doesn’t sound so pleasing to me as I fill up for gas. Fifteen cents a gallon?” he said.

Yes, Governor O’Malley is considering an additional 15-cent gas tax to pay for state infrastructure projects that create jobs.

“What we need to figure out is, are we willing to pay another penny to bring those things about, or a nickel, or a dime or, as Gus Bauman and his commission say, another 15 cents?” O’Malley said.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican lawmakers reached a deal to end what has become the longest state shutdown in recent U.S. history.

The deal came after a three-hour negotiating session that followed major concessions by Dayton. If details are worked out and approved by state legislators, it would end a two-week shutdown.

The two sides agreed on a proposal that would raise $1.4 billion in new revenue, half by delaying state aid checks to school districts and the other half by selling tobacco payment bonds.

PHOENIX – Arizona lawmakers approved a sweeping immigration bill Monday intended to ramp up law enforcement efforts even as critics complained it could lead to racial profiling and other abuse.

The state Senate voted 17-11 nearly along party lines to send the bill to Gov. Jan Brewer, who has not taken a position on the measure championed by fellow Republicans. The House approved the bill April 13.

But what about a tech geek?

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman wants to move into politics with a run for the job of governor of California in 2010. In doing so, she is, in effect, trying to prove that high-tech personas have become mainstream and trusted enough to take up political office. Although movie stars and astronauts have paved routes from fame to politics, tech moguls largely have not broken into major elected offices.

To make things all the more dramatic, one of Whitman’s main opponents, Steve Poizner, is also a Silicon Valley mogul.

Whitman is not the first successful person from the tech world to attempt a leap into politics, but she is perhaps the most well-known, said Mark Z. Barabak, a political writer at the Los Angeles Times. Less famous tech personalities have run for lower offices in California and have had some success, he said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Inauguration revelry began Sunday afternoon
as thousands of people packed the National Mall in Washington for a
free concert featuring big stars.

President-elect Barack Obama addressed a roaring crowd after 90 minutes of high-energy acts such as U2, Mary J. Blige, Usher and Beyonce.

“Welcome to this celebration of American renewal,” he said.

“In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now.”

When Pamela Davis agreed to wear an FBI wire in late 2003, she became a
key part of the investigation that culminated in the arrest of Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich for allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
The extent of Davis’ role as a whistle-blower and FBI informant exceeded her expectations.

“I had my suspicions that it would go all the way up to the level of the governor,” Davis told ABC News in her first television interview. “Though, I did not have personal knowledge that he was involved.”

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country’s 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.

The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin — all Democrats — said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues.