Goodling has become a focus of congressional investigators because she played a central role in identifying eight U.S. attorneys who were fired last year. The latest disclosure that she also was involved in the hiring of assistant U.S. attorneys shed new light on her clout at the Justice Department and raised more questions about how the agency has operated under Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.

"This is a troubling assertion that, if true, suggests politics infected the most basic operations at the Justice Department," said Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. "This only underscores our commitment to hear directly from Ms. Goodling about her role in this process, and at the Justice Department, to establish who should be held accountable."

The department's investigation, however, could delay the date when lawmakers hear from Goodling. Conyers' panel is trying to win a grant of immunity from prosecution for Goodling, who has said through her lawyer that she would assert her right against self-incrimination if called to testify.

But the Justice Department is unlikely to support immunity while its own probe is pending. The issue of immunity is ultimately decided by a federal judge. Justice Department officials are supposed to weigh in with a recommendation next week.

Department spokesman Dean Boyd declined to provide details about the investigation of Goodling, beyond a three-paragraph statement.

Goodling, the department said, is being investigated in connection with helping review candidates for career positions in certain U.S. attorneys' offices around the country.

The agency declined to say what "prohibited considerations" Goodling might have taken into account, but said that it is against policy and possibly federal law to consider "party affiliation" in deciding whether to hire a career lawyer.

According to people familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity because the probe is ongoing, Goodling allegedly sought information about party affiliation while vetting applicants for assistant U.S. attorney positions.

Goodling has become a focus of the scandal because she was part of a group of young White House and Justice Department politicos with little or no prosecutorial experience who acted as gatekeepers for U.S. attorney positions. She had also worked in the department's public affairs office, and the office that oversees U.S. attorneys.

Her lawyer, John Dowd, declined to comment Wednesday.

Goodling's activities, the department said, were confined to offices that were headed by interim or acting U.S. attorneys.

The Justice Department has been criticized for using a little-known federal law to appoint interim U.S. attorneys, who do not require Senate confirmation. The practice has triggered allegations from Democrats that the administration is trying to circumvent long-standing checks and balances.

Interim and acting U.S. attorneys do not usually have the authority to hire personnel, the theory being that career prosecutors often outlast their political bosses, and should be selected only when the U.S. attorneys have been Senate-confirmed.

The Justice Department statement Wednesday indicated that the department had granted waivers to a number of those offices so they could hire personnel. But it declined to provide specifics.

Also Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued new subpoenas to Gonzales, seeking e-mails in the possession of the department involving presidential advisor Karl Rove.

White House officials said little about the subpoena except to reiterate their previous offer that Rove answer questions behind closed doors without a transcript.

"I know they like to get headlines more than they like to get the facts," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "But if there's still any interest in the facts up there, the easiest way is to simply accept our offer to have Karl and others in for interviews."

Dina Habib Powell, a senior aide to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, resigned Wednesday to join a Wall Street investment bank, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said.

Powell, 33, was assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and deputy to Underscretary of State Karen P. Hughes before her resignation.

Powell said she resigned for personal reason.

She is one of the youngest senior State Department diplomats, and a key architect of a Rice initiative to improve the United States' image abroad.

Powell, who emigrated from Egypt to Texas with her parents, is the highest-ranking Arab American in the Bush administration.

Days before Powell's resignation, Barry Lowenkron, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, resigned to join a private charitable foundation. In addition, one of Rice's two deputies, foreign aid director Randall Tobias also quit due to involvement of sex scandal. ?

A series of emails released by the Department of Justice in March revealed that Rove originally suggested firing all 93 US Attorneys in January 2005, contradicting earlier assertions by the White House that the idea first came from former White House counsel Harriet Miers. The same month, the Senate Judiciary Committee panel subpoenaed Rove, Miers, and former DOJ Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson, rejecting Bush's interview offer. The House Judiciary Committee panel later subpoenaed Rove, Miers, and several aides to testify in a concurrent investigation.

The Oregon Senate passed a bill Wednesday allowing same-sex couples to enter into contractual domestic partnerships with the same state benefits as married couples. The measure covers state benefits including inheritance, child custody, and hospital visitation rights, but does not affect federal benefits for married couples. The bill passed the state House last month and now goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who has said he will sign it. Kulongoski has also said he will sign a second piece of legislation protecting individuals against discrimination based on sexual orientation. That bill would ban discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations, and create a civil cause of action for violations of the act.

Currently, Vermont, Connecticut, California, New Jersey, Maine and Washington are the only states that recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships. The Washington State Senate passed a domestic partnership bill in March. Late last month, the New Hampshire Senate voted in favor of a bill already passed by the state House allowing same-sex civil unions. Also in late April, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer introduced a bill to legalize gay marriage in New York.

Though most claims were dismissed by the judge, the families still intend to pursue claims left standing.

Adam Saleh today received the maximum sentence of 38 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of the murder of Reynoldsburg model Julie Popovich.

The judge called Saleh a "shark" who might prey on other women if he is ever released. He also order that Saleh, 20, be labeled a sexual predator.

"Today we received justice for Julie because a very dangerous man is being removed from society," said Popovich's mother, Peggy White. "But I encourage young women to beware of the predators because they are out there waiting."

The jury of six men and six women found Saleh, an auto mechanic, guilty of murder, attempted rape, kidnapping and tampering with evidence for the 2005 slaying of the 20-year-old Popovich.

They acquitted him of aggravated murder charges, sparing him a possible prison sentence of life without parole. Jurors deliberated about seven hours over two days.

The jury told Assistant County Prosecutors James Lowe and Daniel Hawkins afterward that they didn't think Saleh intended to kill Popovich, as one inmate had testified.

"They said they believed that he choked her, but he wasn't trying to kill her," Lowe said. "The testimony was that he tried to make her pass out and then he realized she was dead."

"Only God can judge me," Saleh told Hogan before he was sentenced.

Hogan told Saleh: "I have come to the conclusion that you, sir, are a shark and I hope the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction never lets you out, because I am convinced that once you are out you will find a way to behave the same way again."