Impeachment

I think this impeachment business is giving sex a bad name. SYLVIA LAMONT Gardena

When filmmaker Sofia Coppola set out to tell the story of the "bling ring," she wanted the movie to have an authentic, docudrama sensibility. So the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department investigator who cracked the case of the starry-eyed youths from the San Fernando Valley. Four years ago, their lust for stardom and money led them to raid the homes of young Hollywood, making off with Paris Hilton's designer clothes and Lindsay Lohan's artwork.

The Constitution offers little guidance on impeachment proceedings beyond the fact that the process is handled by the House. If the House votes to approve the articles of impeachment, the Senate then conducts a trial. 1. Sept. 9: In the case of President Clinton, the Office of Independent Counsel delivers a report listing 11 possible counts of impeachable offenses and back-up evidence to the House. 2. Sept.

Enzo Bearzot Beloved Italian soccer coach Enzo Bearzot, 83, who in 1982 coached the Italian soccer team to its first World Cup triumph in 44 years, died Tuesday in Milan. He had been ill for several years. Bearzot, a beloved figure in Italy, first guided the national team in 1975 and led the squad at the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Italy beat West Germany 3-1 in the final, after defeating Argentina and Brazil in the second round and Poland in the semifinals.

The Senate on Wednesday convicted a Louisiana federal judge on corruption and perjury charges, the first time in more than two decades the chamber has voted to remove a public official after an impeachment trial. The vote to remove Judge Thomas Porteous was unanimous on one of the four articles of impeachment; the charges were brought against Porteous in unanimous votes by the House of Representatives in March. He becomes the eighth federal judge removed from office. The Senate also voted to bar him from ever holding public office in the future.

Only seven federal judges in American history have been impeached and removed from office -- for offenses that include being intoxicated on the bench and waging war against the United States during the Civil War. On Tuesday, a special Senate impeachment committee finished five days of testimony to decide whether to add to the list a judge from New Orleans who ran up gambling debts, filed for bankruptcy under a false name and accepted gifts from...

Abdurrahman Wahid, who became Indonesia's first democratically elected president in 1999 after half a century of authoritarian rule, died Wednesday in Jakarta. He was 69. Long in failing health, Wahid left an indelible mark on Indonesia as a liberal Muslim cleric who spoke with moral authority and defended the rights of ethnic minorities and the disenfranchised. He had been receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of a Jakarta hospital for the last week. Doctors said the former president, who had long been confined to a wheelchair, unable to see and suffering kidney problems, died during surgery to remove a blood clot in his heart.

The chances of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford being impeached lessened significantly Wednesday when a state legislative panel rejected a resolution to begin the process of removing the philandering chief executive from office. However, the House judiciary subcommittee did approve a resolution to censure Sanford for secretly leaving the state in June. Rather than go hiking along the Appalachian Trail as he had stated, the Republican governor spent a week in Argentina with the woman he has called his soul mate.

A group of South Carolina House lawmakers wants sworn statements from Gov. Mark Sanford's staff and others, detailing the events leading up to his five-day disappearance in June. Those details, they say, will help determine whether Sanford should be impeached for his secret trip to visit his lover in Argentina. The seven members of a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee met for the first time Tuesday to consider a resolution to try the two-term Republican governor.

A resolution calling for the impeachment of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to be filed with the state House of Representatives today, setting up what could be an ugly and protracted battle between the Legislature and a scandal-plauged lame-duck governor who has vowed to stay until his term expires in early 2011. The measure is expected to be filed by Republican State Rep. F. Gregory Delleney Jr., according to The State newspaper in Columbia. But the matter could take some time to resolve.

South Carolina's lieutenant governor on Wednesday called for the resignation of Gov. Mark Sanford, citing "serious misconduct" and "serious distractions" that have stemmed from Sanford's extramarital tryst with an Argentine woman. But Sanford declined to step down, calling his understudy's move "pure politics, plain and simple." Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who, like Sanford, is a Republican, said that he was in fact trying to depoliticize the deliberations over the fate of Sanford, who is facing potential impeachment.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford broke state law when he charged taxpayers for business and first-class flights, according to the chairman of the legislative committee investigating Sanford's international travel. State Sen. David Thomas, whose budget committee investigated Sanford's flights after reports last month by the Associated Press, sent evidence to Senate leaders Monday arguing that the Republican governor violated state laws requiring the cheapest travel possible. Thomas said Sanford's more expensive flights on two state Commerce Department trips cost taxpayers $13,700 more than economy class.