Update: Wire service reporting Joran Van der Sloot will be extradited to Peru tomorrow. Sounds like either he agreed to it or he's not being extradited, but expelled. I'm getting more and more convinced he didn't kill anyone and the authorities know it.

Joran Van der Sloot was arrested in Chile today and is in custody awaiting a decision from Peru on how it wants to proceed.

Van der Sloot was also charged in federal court in the Northern District of Alabama with extortion and wire fraud. The amended complaint is here. He's accused of trying to sell information about the whereabouts of Natalee Holloway's body and how she died.

Authorities in Peru say he and Stephany Flores were seen going to his hotel room about 5:00 a.m. Sunday, and Joran was seen leaving the hotel alone four hours later. Flores' body wasn't found until Wednesday. There's no mention of whether he was bloody or disheveled when seen leaving the hotel, but the cab driver who took him to Chile doesn't mention his appearance being out of the ordinary.

In Lima, police Gen. Cesar Guardia said Flores, who had been seen with the suspect early Sunday, was found Wednesday lying face down on the floor of van der Sloot's hotel room. Her neck was broken, and she was fully clothed, with no signs of having been sexually abused, Guardia told The Associated Press. Authorities found no potential murder weapons in the room, Garcia said.

Hearing over.

Some blogging by me to resume tomorrow.

Open Thread.

For the first time since 1982, the inmate population at local jails across the country has declined.

The government says the number of inmates in county and city jails was more than 767,600 at the end of June 2009. That's down by nearly 18,000 inmates from a year earlier.

The top six local incarcerators in 2008 and 2009: LA, NYC, Houston, Chicago, Philly and Phoenix:

Los Angeles County Calif. 19,533/ 19,869
New York City N.Y. 13,804/ 13,130
Harris County Texas 10,063 /11,360
Cook County Ill. 9,984/ 9,737
Philadelphia City Pa. 8,824/ 9,436
Maricopa County Ariz. 9,536/ 8,745

The lowest: Denver and El Paso, TX. El Paso shows not every border town is a hotbed of crime. It's one of the safest cities in the country.

I've got a lot of work to get done today, and BTD is busy in hearings.

I don't think the Romanoff news is any big deal but Politico says it means Obama's political team is faltering.

I can't see the argument that the contacts were unethical or illegal. It's more of a perception problem, that Obama promised to end "politics as usual" practices and provide greater transparency, and this was just a typical back-door effort to exercise some muscle.

If Rahm Emanuael's testimony at the Rod Blagojevich trial, which I assume will include him answering questions about taped conversations replayed in court, is embarrassing, I wonder if he'll then announce his departure and return to Chicago. I think it's time. But given the Blago trial is expected to last four months, and he'd be a defense witness, his testimony is still a few months away.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

There's lots of attention being paid to AT&T's decision to end unlimited use plans for internet data on phones and pda's and the iPad.

It's set to go into effect around June 7 when Apple announces the new iPhone. But, if you have a plan before Monday, you'll be able to keep renewing, at least for a while.

Current subscribers will be able to keep their $30-per-month unlimited plans, even if they renew their contracts. But starting Monday, new customers will have to choose one of two new data plans for all smartphones, including iPhones and BlackBerrys.

So if you've been waiting before signing up for the unlimited plan, this week is the week to do it or the option is gone. The other phone companies are expected to follow AT&T's lead.

President Obama will meet with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer today. Brewer intends to ask Obama for more federal assistance in securing the border.

Obama should insist on immigration law reform before throwing more money at the border. Putting enforcement first is the wrong approach. [More...]

Jury selection begins tomorrow morning in the corruption trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Team Blago is ready

Blago is now tweeting updates. His website has a media page where you can sign up for email updates on the trial, and a link to the rss feed for his updates.

Blago says he and wife Patty will testify at trial.

"I never could understand these politicians who said they never did anything wrong and then when they're given the chance to say they didn't do anything wrong, where it matters in court, they don't do it. So, yes, I'm gonna do it and Patti's gonna do it. We have the truth on our side," said Blagojevich.

[More...]

This is just too bizarre. Joran Van Der Sloot is being sought for the murder of a young Peruvian woman this past weekend. The bloody murder occurred in a Lima hotel room rented by him.

Officials believe Flores was killed exactly five years after Holloway's May 30, 2005, disappearance. Flores was found beaten and stabbed to death in a room booked in van der Sloot's name, police said. A hotel employee told police that Flores entered the hotel early Sunday morning with van der Sloot.

....Flores left a friend's home Wednesday morning and was last seen that evening leaving a casino with Van der Sloot, according local media quoting to the woman's father, Ricardo Flores, a Peruvian businessman and racecar driver. Surveillance cameras caught the pair leaving the casino together.

Van der Sloot arrived in Peru on May 14 for a poker tournament. Authorities believe he fled Peru after the murder, crossed into Chile and is en route to Argentina.

Democrat Artur Davis has lost his bid to become Governor of Alabama. I don't know anything about his challenger, Ron Sparks, but I'm glad Davis lost. Back in 2008, when his name was mentioned as a possible Attorney General pick for Obama, I researched his record and found it terrible on crime. He was a total crime warrior.

Some snippets below: [More...]

I'm still in hearing mode.

Open Thread.

It's a dead TV night, so I'm going to test out new Apps for my iPad. I take it everywhere now. It's so much faster and easier to read and use than my iPhone, both on wi-fi and 3G. And the screen display is so awesome. Netflix movies and TV shows look incredible and reading is more enjoyable than on the Kindle. The Kindle syncs with the iPad, so I can pick up either one and access all my books. The battery lasts hours and hours.

For those of you online, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Actor Charlie Sheen and the Aspen DA's office have reached a plea agreement in his domestic assault case.

According to TMZ, Sheen will plead no contest to misdemeanor assault, the felony menacing charge will be dismissed and Sheen will avoid probation by serving 30 days in the Pitkin County Jail.

With good time, Sheen will serve 17 days. Smart choice by Sheen. Probation could be risky for him and this way he avoids it. The jail in Aspen is pretty nice -- as far as jails go.

He still could have lingering problems as a result of the plea, since it was charged as a domestic violence crime. I don't think it's sealable. And he's likely to be put on the national and state domestic violence dataabases, which will turn up his name even during a routine traffic stop.