"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," Kyle Sampson told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful."

Democrats on the panel immediately rejected the concept of mixing politics with federal law enforcement. They accusing the Bush administration of cronyism and trying to circumvent the Senate confirmation process by installing favored GOP allies in plum jobs as U.S. attorneys.

"It corrodes the public's trust in our system of Justice. It's wrong," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. "When anybody tries a backdoor way to get around the Senate's constitutional duty and obligation of advise and consent, it does not sit well."

After being sworn, Sampson, who quit earlier this month amid the furor, disputed Democratic charges that the firings were a purge by intimidation and a warning to the remaining prosecutors to fall in line. Nor, he said, were the prosecutors dismissed to interfere with corruption investigations.

"To my knowledge, nothing of the sort occurred here," Sampson told the committee.

Kaye Steinsapir said she thought she was feeding her cat, Lila, one of the healthiest, most nutritious cat foods available.

"Lila was a healthy, vibrant cat without any medical conditions," said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. But in recent weeks, Lila began vomiting, drinking an excessive amount of water and was eventually diagnosed with acute kidney failure, the lawsuit said.

Complete list of recalled brands of pet food.

Gregory Helmer, a Los Angeles attorney retained by Steinsapir and Lois Grady of Sacramento, Calif., who alleges her cat, Riley, also became ill after eating tainted cat food, filed the lawsuit "on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated."

Menu Foods recalled on March 16 several brands of dog and cat food products nationwide. Scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory last week identified the rodent poison aminopterin as the likely culprit in a scare that prompted the recall of 95 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food by Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada.

A nonprofit provider of mental health services paid nearly $557,000 to settle allegations of improper billing to government health programs, the state attorney general's office said yesterday.

Tri-City Mental Health Center began reviewing employee complaints about irregularities in its government claims practices in 2003, and the nonprofit's board ordered an outside audit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

Tri-City reported the improper billing to the government in late 2004, and was never charged.

State and federal investigators found Tri-City Mental Health billed the state Medicaid program and the state Department of Mental Health for psychiatric services that were never provided or couldn't be documented.

The improper billing occurred for more than two years, starting in Sept. 2001 at a center in Malden.

At least one manager at the Malden office was fired as a result of Tri-City's internal investigation, Coakley said.

Ellen Dalton, a manager at Tri-City, said the improperly received government payments were used to fund the nonprofit's operations, not for any personal use by its nearly 500 employees.

Dalton said Tri-City set aside cash from recent years' operations, and has paid the $556,687 settlement total in full.

"The agency is ready to move forward, and no services will be disrupted," she said.

The nonprofit, which began operations in the 1960s, runs mental health centers in the neighboring communities of Malden, Medford, and Everett.

The settlement total equals the amount of money that investigators found had been improperly billed, plus interest, according to Dalton.

Under the settlement, Tri-City agreed to ensure future compliance with rules governing Medicare reimbursement.

The settlement relieves Tri-City and its board of any civil or administrative liability.

Coakley said Tri-City "has cooperated fully with the investigation."

Chipmaker Intel Corp. said on Thursday it will set aside $275 million less than it had planned for taxes as a result of a settlement with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, and says its 2007 tax rate will be lower than expected.

The IRS told Intel on Tuesday it closed its examination of the chipmaker's tax returns for the years 1999 to 2002, resolving several issues, including the tax benefit for export sales. The two sides also agreed on the tax benefit for export sales for the years 2003 through 2005.

In connection with the settlement, the company expects to reverse previously accrued taxes, which will reduce the current quarter's tax provision and reduce the income tax rate for 2007 below the previous forecast of about 30 percent.

In February, Intel said it would appeal an IRS tax adjustment related to export sales that could increase its tax due by $2.4 billion from 1999 through 2006.

Intel has been contesting the issue since August 2003 when the IRS first gave it notice of the adjustment.

Boston-based legal firm Goodwin Procter has inked a deal to lease several floors in The New York Times’ new Manhattan high-rise headquarters.

The law firm will lease seven floors, totaling 216,000 square feet, in the 52-story Renzo Piano designed building, which is now nearing completion.

The move is part of a major expansion by Goodwin Procter of its New York office, which focuses on the city’s booming financial services sector. The firm expects to double its New York office in size from 150 to 300 over the next few years, a spokeswoman said.

The law firm, which has more than 800 lawyers, has opened a number of new offices recently in other cities around the country.

The new Times headquarters building is a joint venture between The New York Times Co. and Forest City Ratner Cos. The 1.6 million-square-foot New York Times Building, which will open in the fall, is now almost fully leased.

http://www.goodwinprocter.com

The US District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for authorizing torture and abuse of detainees by US personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The suit asserted that Rumsfeld bears direct responsibility for detainee abuse and that his actions violated the US Constitution, federal statutes and international law. Chief Judge Thomas Hogan based the dismissal on the immunity of government officials from lawsuits and the premise that US constitutional rights do not apply overseas. While noting that the allegations of torture were "horrifying," Hogan concluded that policy considerations counsel against permitting government officials to be sued for political decisions.

The suit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Human Rights First, which had previously sued Rumsfeld and other military officials in 2005 on behalf of eight former detainees. A war crimes action is also pending against Rumsfeld in Germany, where the German Federal Prosecutor is using Germany's universal jurisdiction law to investigate similar allegations.