WASHINGTON - Despite President Obama's vow to open government more than ever, the Justice Department is defending Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents about domestic wiretapping, data collection on travelers and U.S. citizens, and interrogation of suspected terrorists.

The U.S. Department of Justice has signed off on Mesa's plans to redraw the city's six City Council districts, which will be in place for a decade beginning with this fall's elections.

June 23, 2004

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration laid out its legal reasoning for denying terror war suspects the protections of international humanitarian law but immediately repudiated a key memo arguing that torture might be justified in the fight against al-Qaida.

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects.

August 25, 2004

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who oversaw the high court's conservative shift and presided over the impeachment trial of President Clinton, died Saturday evening. He was 80 years old and had spent 33 years on the Supreme Court.

It’s absolutely mind-boggling. President Obama has decided to gut the single most successful public policy of recent decades-- the 1996 welfare reform.

Claiming a pattern of discrimination, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the polygamous communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.

WASHINGTON - The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday.

WASHINGTON - The United States has "credible intelligence from multiple sources" that al-Qaida is determined to launch an attack in the United States in the next few months that could be linked to events such as an upcoming international economic summit and the summer political conventions, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities have brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to the United States, flying him into New York to face trial for bombing U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A briefing paper prepared for Attorney General Michael Mukasey during the Bush administration in 2007 outlined failed attempts by federal agents to track illicitly purchased guns across the border into Mexico and stressed the need for U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials to work together on such efforts using a tactic that now is generating controversy.

In a report completed by two policing experts and released by an Arizona government watchdog group on Wednesday, recommendations were made on how police departments can operate more efficiently during times of budget cuts without regressing to high levels of crime during the 1970s and 80s.

In a report completed by two policing experts and released by an Arizona government watchdog group on Wednesday, recommendations were made on how police departments can operate more efficiently during times of budget cuts without regressing to high levels of crime during the 1970s and 80s.

CHICAGO - United Airlines and US Airways saw their first attempt at marriage foiled earlier this decade by the deal's high cost coupled with stiff opposition from lawmakers, unions and consumers.

Prepared text of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's State of the State speech:

Bill Richardson: Gov. Jan Brewer needs to cut spending and improve statewide public safety by intelligent and innovative design

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - President Bush said Wednesday the vision of a Palestinian state cannot be realized if a Hamas-led government refuses to renounce its desire to destroy Israel. He also said Iran can have nuclear power but not a nuclear weapon.

United States Capitol, Washington, D.C. - THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, members of the Supreme Court and diplomatic corps, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Today our nation lost a beloved, graceful, courageous woman who called America to its founding ideals and carried on a noble dream.

February 2, 2005

Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, fellow citizens: Every year, by law and by custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.

Bill Richardson: The FBI defines organized crime “as any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities. Such groups maintain their position through the use of actual or threatened violence, corrupt public officials, graft, or extortion, and generally have a significant impact on the people in their locales, region, or the country as a whole.”