Governors

Two days after federal agents publicly identified Eliot Spitzer as a client of a high-priced prostitution ring, the first-term governor announced his resignation at a somber news conference Wednesday, relinquishing his duties to Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson. Paterson, 53, who will be sworn in as New York's top state official Monday, will inherit a politically riven Legislature facing a $4.4-billion deficit.

In Harlem and other predominantly black neighborhoods, residents don't much care how David Paterson becomes governor. They just care that he is taking over the state's top job. The ascension of Paterson, the Democratic lieutenant governor, longtime lawmaker and heir to a Harlem political dynasty, has fueled a surge of black pride. The 53-year-old Paterson will be sworn in today as New York's first black and first legally blind governor, succeeding Democrat Eliot Spitzer, who announced his resignation after getting caught in a federal prostitution investigation.

Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila denied wrongdoing Thursday and gave no sign he would abandon his reelection effort after being charged with campaign finance violations that carry a penalty of 20 years in prison. Acevedo said that U.S. prosecutors' indictment -- which alleges that the governor and a dozen other people conspired to pay off his campaign debts illegally -- was politically motivated.

The governors of Virginia and Maryland announced in Colonial Beach that they would order the female blue crab harvest cut by a third this year to protect the hallmark seafood of the Chesapeake Bay. Scientists fear that the crab population is reaching numbers too low to survive. "We do not want to wake up in five or 10 years and realize we have lost this important part of who we are," said Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine.

. -- Few things get a state talking like a first lady scorned. Although Nevadans yawn at quickie divorces, drive-through weddings, topless showgirls and legalized prostitution, the divorce proceedings between Gov. Jim Gibbons and his estranged wife, Dawn, have transfixed folks here like a daytime soap opera. "I don't want to know all the details -- it makes me feel prurient," says Carol Hendricks, 79, at the Comma Coffee shop across from the state Legislative Building.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland received a standing ovation Saturday night when he predicted that his state will again tip the race for the White House -- this time delivering it to Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama. Strickland, noting that he had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, said she would want him to deliver a message. "Barack Obama is the nominee of our party.

Former President Clinton kicked off the centennial gathering of the National Governors Assn. on Saturday with a challenge to the states to reassert themselves to help the country combat what he called the profound challenges of globalization and interdependency.

West Coast governors urged the federal government Tuesday to keep new oil drilling rigs out of their waters and to spend more money on programs to restore the health of the Pacific Ocean. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, joined with Democratic Govs. Ted Kulongoski of Oregon and Chris Gregoire of Washington to reaffirm their opposition to opening undersea oil fields to new drilling, as part of an elaborate action plan for preserving coastal waters.

All year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has looked forward to treating Mexican and U.S. dignitaries to a one-of-a-kind California experience at a governors summit he is hosting in Los Angeles starting today. Schwarzenegger scheduled a 3D version of "Terminator 2" at Universal Studios. He organized a private dinner for the governors at his Brentwood mansion. He recruited his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead a seminar.