ROANOKE VA - Two men prosecutors say arranged prostitutes for two Charlottesville police officers pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges Thursday in Roanoke. Charles M. Phillips, a former manager of Max nightclub who also ran a local escort service, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. His associate, Jason Madison, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit perjury. Phillips could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Madison could get five years and a $250,000 fine. They will not be sentenced until city officers Roy Fitzgerald and Charles Saunders stand trial on multiple corruption charges.

http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031782429350&path=!news

30 04 05 14:29

Vincent A. Cianci Jr., who turns 64 today, would like to come home from prison before his next birthday. In court papers filed yesterday, the former mayor of Providence asked a federal judge to reduce his prison term for corruption from 64 months to 35 months. Cianci, who has served 29 months in federal prison at Fort Dix, N.J., would thereby be eligible for release this fall, rather than summer 2007. But prosecutors countered that Cianci should receive more time, in part because he "has not accepted responsibility for his actions." The government also objected to Cianci's request, filed Thursday, that he appear at his resentencing hearing in Providence via video conference, to avoid the hardships of transport from Fort Dix. Richard M. Egbert, Cianci's lawyer, argued that Cianci merits a reduced sentence in light of his acquittal on all but one corruption charge, and that he does not deserve the increased time -- about two years -- that he received for being the leader of a corruption racket at City Hall. Cianci, the longest-serving mayor in Providence history and acclaimed maestro of the Providence Renaissance, was convicted in 2002 of racketeering conspiracy. The maximum sentence for that crime is 20 years in prison.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20050430_cianci30.2199a04.html

14:27

Dick Murphy, San Diego's Republican mayor, has given up his battle to stay in charge of the southern California city, announcing on Wednesday that he will resign on July 15. He acknowledged defeat as pressure mounted for his removal in a recall election, following months of controversy over his handling of the city's pension fund. "A good leader knows when it is time to move on," Mr Murphy said at a press conference called less than five months after he was installed for a second term. His troubles were rooted in a $1.4bn pension-fund deficit that has led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of alleged fraud, a federal corruption probe and repeated credit downgrades by ratings firms.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/39403b38-b799-11d9-9f22-00000e2511c8.html

14:25

For the second time in a month San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre is butting heads with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. A day after Dumanis' office charged two former officials of a San Diego city agency with crimes, Aguirre said he will launch his own investigation into the agency's activities. Advertisement Aguirre said yesterday that he wants his own staff to review the district attorney's probe into the dealings of former executives of the San Diego Data Processing Corp., a city-owned nonprofit computer and telecommunications agency.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050430-9999-7m30data.html

13:48