Miscellaneous

   Mary Cheney, the vice president's lesbian daughter, had her first child this morning at Sibley Hospital in Washington, D.C.

    Senators from both parties announced an agreement this afternoon on immigration-reform legislation that would bring illegal immigrants and their families “out of the shadows and into the sunshine of American life,” as Senator Edward M. Kennedy put it.

   The bill would provide an opportunity “right away” for millions of illegal aliens to correct their status, said Kennedy. It would emphasize family ties as well as employment skills in weighing how soon immigrants could become legal residents, he said.

    The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench. The 5-4 ruling said the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law in 2003 does not violate a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. More here.

   BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) -- A gunman opened fire in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech on Monday, killing 21 people and wounding another 21 before he was killed, police said.

   UPDATE: The toll now is at least 30. 

    More here.

   The Star's Jason Whitlock: Imus isn't the real bad guy.

   UPDATE: Whitlock's next stop: "Oprah" on Monday.

  On his blog, Dick Polman, a national correspondent for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wonders what gives Al Sharpton the credibility to sit as judge and jury on Don Imus. 

  A New York Times story:

  "Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?

  "The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse."

    More here.

   The happiest place on earth, a.k.a. Walt Disney World, announced that gay couples can now fork over tens of thousands to wed in front of Cinderalla's Castle and other places where hetrosexuals already can exchange vows.

   Previously, gay couples were limited to meeting rooms at hotel resorts for vow exchanges. But now they can get their fairy tale wedding through packages for locations at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, including Disney's wedding pavilion and Cinderalla Castle at the Magic Kingdom. Here's a wire story with more details.

   The packages start at $8,000 and can cost more than $50,000. Predictably, liberals like those at DailyKos.com think this is a significant development for gay rights while conservatives, such as those at FreeRepublic.com, are outraged.

    Most Florida felons will regain voting and other civil rights more quickly after completing their sentences under changes approved Thursday by the governor and the state clemency board.

   The Jib Jab comedy site has posted a hilarious video: "What We Call the News." Get it here.

Editorial topics

• On TIF projects in Kansas City.
• On President Bush.

Local columnist

• Lewis Diuguid on Wal-Mart and the environment.

  Scott Adams of "Dilbert" predicts all future work will be done by robots, artists and lawyers: "Robots will do the routine work, artists will do what the robots can't, and lawyers will sue them. Everyone else will be wearing straw hats and driving around not working,"

    On The Dilbert Blog, he muses on tax policy:

"I saw a statistic that the people in the top 5 percent of incomes pay the majority of all the taxes in the United States. If that trend continues, we only need one super rich guy to pay all of the taxes. The rest of us can just enjoy our robot slave labor and free social services. If the guy paying all the taxes says that's unfair, we'll just vote for a robot president who will order the army (of robots) to kill the one rich taxpayer and replace him with a robot that doesn't whine so much. I don't see how that could go wrong."

Editorial topics

• On subprime mortgages
• On the St. Patrick's Day parade
• Recommendations for the Johnson County water board.

Local columnist

• Mary Sanchez on Don't Ask Don't Tell

    A Yale research survey found that 63 percent of Americans believe that the United States “is in as much danger from environmental hazards, such as air pollution and global warming, as it is from terrorists.”

   The survey released Wednesday found a significant increase in the public attitudes toward the environment and global warming. It also found that 70 percent of Americans believe that President Bush doesn’t do enough for the environment and should do more.

   A lead on a just-moved AP story:

    Bomb deaths have gone down 30 percent in Baghdad since the U.S.-led security crackdown began a month ago. Execution-style slayings are down by nearly half.

   The once frequent sound of weapons has been reduced to episodic, and downtown shoppers have returned to outdoor markets - favored targets of car bombers.

   There are signs of progress in the campaign to restore order in Iraq, starting with its capital city.

   But while many Iraqis are encouraged, they remain skeptical how long the relative calm will last.

    The District of Columbia's long-standing ban on handguns was overturned Friday by a federal appeals court, which rejected the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies only to militias, not individuals.

   In Kay's Silence Broken, lamarmickens writes a poem for Mayor Kay Barnes.

    Other topics in Forums: 

• What are lessons from Nace/Roe managed race for mayor?
• Confessions of a Disillusioned War Junkie
• George W. Bush.

   To get to the Forums, click on the links above in this post or on "Our new forums" in the left rail.

    The latest from Gallup finds Americans increasingly saying the Iraq war was a mistake, and fewer than half see victory as possible. But by a margin of almost two-to-one, those surveyed oppose a denial of funding to send troops to the war.

   Clear majorities support a cap on the number of troops deployed to Iraq at a given time, requiring troops to come home if Iraqi leaders fail to get the violence under control, and setting a timetable of withdrawing all troops by the end of next year.

   Tony Ortega, one-time editor of The Pitch, now sits atop the alternative newspaper world. The Village Voice announced today that he is its new editor-in-chief.

   Ortega was Pitch managing editor from 2003 to 2005 and the distinctive voice of the paper's "KC Strip." More recently, he's been editor of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach.

   Former U.S. attorney general and Missouri favorite son John Ashcroft is taking some lumps today in a Wall Street Journal story suggesting he's been hiring his lobbying services out to the highest bidder.

   He sent a letter this week to his successor, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, arguing broadcast radio's objections to the pending merger of satellite radio companies Sirius and XM.  The folks at XM say that after news of the merger broke he first came to them offering to his services.

   Think the spat means you can't hear him crooning that song about the soaring eagles on satellite radio?

   The Wall Street Journal story is subscription only, but you can see Reuters' summation here.