The University of Colorado will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. Mountain Time on the results of its review of Ward Churchill's works and whether it has grounds to fire him.

Update: Denver's 9News will live stream the event at this link.

Live blogging:

Wow, just when you thought it was all over, MSNBC is reporting that a federal judge has granted a new hearing at 6:00 p.m. today based on the new neurologist's affidavit. I don't think there will be a different result. The AP reported earlier:

Bush's challenge to the disagnosis on Terri Schiavo's brain damage is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

The neurologist, William Cheshire of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, is a bioethicist who is also an active member in Christian organizations, including two whose leaders have spoken out against the tube's removal.

Terri Schiavo is being described now by a doctor on MSNBC as being comatose, and possibly suffering from liver failure and kidney failure. There may be pain, but the hospice will be providing comfort and relief.

Update: The Schindler's spokesman says the family is pinning their hopes on Governor Jeb Bush. The parents will attend the hearing.

The battle to save Terri Schiavo's life is all but over for her, her husband and parents. A Florida state court judge has rejected Jeb Bush's motion to intervene. Here's a not-surprising bit of information on the neurologist that said Terri could recover and whose opinion was included by Jeb Bush in his court petition:

Bush's challenge to the disagnosis on Terri Schiavo's brain damage is based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state who observed Schiavo at her bedside but did not conduct an examination of her.

The neurologist, William Cheshire of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, is a bioethicist who is also an active member in Christian organizations, including two whose leaders have spoken out against the tube's removal.

Ronald Cranford of the University of Minnesota, a neurologist who was among those who made a previous diagnosis of Schiavo, said "there isn't a reputable, credible neurologist in the world who won't find her in a vegetative state."

Now the death watch will begin. I can't even fathom what the rest of the world, watching on tv, will make of the radical right carrying life-size crosses and engaging in other wierd activity outside the hospice. Actually, yes I can. They will say Amercians are behaving like lunatics. They'll be right.

After the death watch ends, the political fallout will begin. How many days until we can get back to real news?

Sorry to interrupt your Schiavo news, but this warrants mention:

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said jurors who acquitted actor Robert Blake of the murder of his wife are "incredibly stupid" and insisted his office put on a good case.

A juror responds:

"To hear him say we aren't a smart jury is sour grapes," Blake juror Chuck Safko said. "They didn't have a good case. Their case was built around witnesses who weren't truthful."

As legal analyst Laurie Levenson says:

"To criticize the jurors is unprofessional. It is unbelievable.

Bump and Update: The Supreme Court has denied Terri Schiavo's parents appeal to reinsert the feeding tube. It was a one sentence order, available here (pdf). CNN is talking about the "alleged anonymous Republican Talking Points Memo" and how it had a section saying that Rep. Bill Nelson's congressional seat could be affected.

A Reverend named Pat Mahoney is calling for the country to fast tomorrow on Good Friday in solidarity with Terri Schiavo.

Update: The Schiavo case has caused Tristero to resume blogging. He's been silent since Election Day when Kerry lost.

**********

Original Post: 3/23 9pm

Terri Schiavo's parents have lodged their appeal tonight with the Supreme Court. I suspect its rejection will be fast and tersely worded.

What kind of parents let their ten year old kid get arrested? Answer: Anti-abortion activists, like those out in force at the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo is spending her final days.

Earlier at the hospice, veteran pro-life activists skilled in civil disobedience at abortion clinics joined demonstrators to orchestrate the peaceful arrest of 10 people, including three children, ages 10 to 14.

Those arrested were charged with trespassing after their staged attempt to carry Styrofoam cups of water into the hospice. "It's an act of Biblical obedience, not civil disobedience," said Chet Gallagher, 55, a former Las Vegas motorcycle policeman turned anti-abortion activist with Operation Rescue. Gallagher, fired from his job in 1989 after he joined anti-abortion demonstrators whom he was supposed to arrest, has been jailed "at least 100 times" for his activism, he said. Each stepped up to waiting officers, then knelt down and acknowledged that they still wanted to proceed into the hospice.

Police then notified them that they were being arrested, helped them to their feet, and handcuffed each of them, including Chris Key, 43, of Texas, and three of his children. The adults were taken to the Pinellas County Jail. The children went to a juvenile center.

"My 10-year-old said that Jesus said, `If you offer a cup of water in my name, you did it for me.' And he told me that's what he wanted to do," said Key's wife, Gaylen.

Where's Gloria Allred and why isn't she demanding that Social Services remove these kids from their parents custody like she did with Michael Jackson?

Trial Update
Thursday March 24

The prosecution may have lost a witness against Michael Jackson. Christopher Carter, one of Michael Jackson's bodyguards, is sitting in jail in Las Vegas, charged with robbing a Jack in the Box at gunpoint in January. Smoking Gun has the Las Vegas arrest warrant affidavit. Carter testified at the grand jury, providing statements the accuser made to him about the use of alchohol at Neverland. But will the prosecution still want to use him? I think its doubtful, unless the prosecution can convince the Judge not to let the jury know about the recent charges or his current residency in the Clark County jail.

In other Jackson news, the Judge has ruled the prosecution cannot introduce sexually explicit heterosexual images from Jackson's computers.

...defense lawyers argued that none of the material was from February and March of 2003, the period during which Jackson is accused of sexually molesting the then-13-year-old boy and that prosecutors could not prove that it was accessed by the singer.

The judge agreed. "The court will grant the defense motion not to allow (the material)," Melville said. "It does appear to be cached material. There's no way of knowing if anyone looked at it or not."

And in still further developments, Jackson attorney Brian Oxman, was taken by ambulance from the courtroom to a hospital.

Is an execution chamber just another room? Some architects don't think so. In September, 2004, they initiated a boycott of prison design. Lux Lotus has an interview with architect and boycott supporter Raphael Sperry.[Via Alternet's Peek.]

Last week I wrote about the Internet radio channel, Rightalk.com, for two reasons.

One was that righty bloggers Jeff Goldstein of Protein Wisdom and Bill Ardolino of INDC Journal , got their own show which debuts tomorrow at 3:00 pm ET. I will be a guest. So will Michelle Malkin, but not at the same time. The call-in number is 1-866-884-8355 (866-884-TALK.)

The Citizen Journalist Report (3pm EST)
Description: 2 broadcast amateurs ask personal questions of famous people they hardly know!
Host: [Bill Ardolino] [Jeff Goldstein]
Guest: [Michelle Malkin] [Jeralyn Merritt]

Personal questions? I had no idea.

Jeff, on the other hand says, "Topics: Who knows? Immigration? Michael Jackson? Fruit pies?"

If listening to rightalkers doesn't interest you, don't forget Air America and Radio Left.

The second reason I wrote about the station was that several talkleft readers had e-mailed me to tell me talkleft had been hijacked and redirected to rightalk.com. It turned out that these readers had incorrectly typed leftalk.com instead of talkeft.com. Rightalk apparently bought the domain name leftalk.com and redirected it to rightalk.com.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) responds to the Trustee's social security report and says it confirms there is no crisis and that the President is delaying bipartisan action by pushing his private-account proposal. You can read the report here.

The Agonist has a roundup of blogger comments on the Trustee report.

• Atrios
• Max Sawicky
• Kevin Drum
• Democracy Guy
• Just Another Bump in the Beltway
• Matthew Yglesias and Tapped
• Bob Brigham at There is No Crisis
• Josh Marshall

Also,

Brad deLong and Brad Plummer [hat tip Burnt Orange Report.]

What an outrage! Wilbert Rideau was freed from jail in January after serving 44 years. During that time he became a critically acclaimed journalist. At his last re-trial, he was convicted of manslaughter, for which the maximum sentence is 21 years. Having served more than that, he was freed.

Judge David Ritchie issued the order for Rideau to pay up and said he based it on an anticipated windfall of money he expects Rideau to make from a writing career. Ritchie, who presided over Rideau's fourth trial, said it's not unlike assessing costs to a person who expects a settlement in the near future from a pending civil suit.

His lawyers have until April 15 to appeal, and they will.

Lead defense attorney and public defender Ron Ware said Tuesday he and the other members of Rideau's defense team plan to do just that. "It is totally inappropriate," Ware said. "It is unprecedented for an indigent (defendant) who has served that much time to be ordered to pay court costs. The trial is over, the verdict is in, and it is time to let it go and move on."

You can read about Mr. Rideau's long fight for justice here.

by TChris

Bobby Fischer, wanted by the U.S. government for engaging in the "unpatriotic" act of playing a chess match in Yugoslavia, may have found a way to avoid prosecution.

After a series of strategic moves worthy of one of his greatest matches, fugitive chess legend Bobby Fischer reached an agreement with Japanese authorities to avoid deportation to the United States on Wednesday. He will instead be released after nine months in prison here and flown to freedom in Iceland as early as Thursday morning, according to sources familiar with the case.

Iceland (described in the linked article as a "chess loving nation") granted Fischer citizenship so that he would have a sanctuary from U.S. prosecution. While Fischer is more than a little daffy and has made some viciously ugly statements, the "crime" of playing chess in a sanctioned country hardly merits prosecution.

Fischer may not have scored a checkmate, as federal authorities are thinking about charging him with tax evasion or some other extraditable offense. Doing so would be a waste of resources. Let Iceland have him; Fischer isn't worth the effort.