News Digest

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 12:57 PM PDT

IDAHO - Prosecutor: Craig

politicking to get out of guilty plea

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Sen. Larry Craig is only trying to get out of his guilty plea in an airport sex sting because he doesn’t like the political consequences, a prosecutor wrote in court papers filed Monday.

Craig, R-Idaho, has asked to withdraw his guilty plea, saying he was panicked into admitting to a crime he did not commit. A judge is set to hear the matter on Wednesday. Craig pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct last month after an undercover officer at the Minneapolis airport alleged that Craig solicited him for sex. The senator has contended in recent weeks that he had done nothing wrong and said his only mistake was pleading guilty.

IDAHO

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Lack of shelter leaves Kootenai County teeming with feral cats

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Callers who ask the Kootenai Humane Society where they can take a stray cat get a one-word answer: Home.

‘‘That’s really the only option they have,’’ Executive Director Phil Morgan says.

The last drop-off option in Kootenai County ended in February with the closing of the Coeur d’Alene Animal Shelter. Now, animal activists say, the county is crawling with thousands of stray and cast-off feral cats which mate and produce kittens with rabbit-like rapidity. When Philip Waring found a wild kitten in his yard this summer and was told by Mayor Sandi Bloem there was no place that accepted unwanted cats, he told her he’d leave the critter at City Hall.

THE NATION

Administration: Social Security fix needed as soon as possible

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration said in a new report Monday that Social Security is facing a $13.6 trillion shortfall and that delaying needed reforms is not fair to younger workers.

A report issued by the Treasury Department said that some combination of benefit cuts and tax increases will need to be considered to permanently fix the funding shortfall. But White House officials stressed that President Bush remains opposed to raising taxes.

The Treasury report put the cost of the gap between what Social Security is expected to need to pay out in benefits and what it will raise in payroll taxes in coming years at $13.6 trillion.