Inquiry

Los Angeles County prosecutors and officials confirmed Wednesday that an inquiry was launched last year into a former appraiser at one of the county assessor's district offices. Other county government sources said the inquiry involves allegations that two firms that help property owners reduce their tax assessments received special treatment from an appraiser at the West District Office. One of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing, was interviewed by prosecutors.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley said hedge fund billionaire Philip Falcone and a telecommunications executive implied that they wanted a weaker inquiry into the U.S. handling of Falcone's LightSquared Inc. wireless venture. Statements by the men "implied an invitation to pull punches in my investigation," Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a letter to Falcone that was distributed electronically Monday. "I won't be part of that. " Grassley is reviewing whether authorities improperly accelerated the Reston, Va., company's partial approval last year.

Lawyers for a Texas man officially exonerated Monday after serving 25 years of a life sentence in connection with his wife's murder requested a special judicial inquiry into alleged misconduct by the lead prosecutor. After Michael Morton, 57, was released in October, his lawyers continued investigating the lead prosecutor in the case, former Williamson County Dist. Atty. Ken Anderson, now a District Court judge. On Monday, they filed a report summing up their investigation and argued that Anderson acted improperly while prosecuting Morton for the fatal 1986 beating of his wife, Christine, at their home in the Austin suburb of Georgetown.

Prosecutors announced a forgery investigation of the campaign of the only liberal Kremlin critic still in Russia's presidential race, which is expected to be won easily by Dmitry Medvedev, Vladimir V. Putin's handpicked candidate to succeed him. Liberal opposition groups are weak, and former Prime Minister Mikhail M. Kasyanov is believed to have no chance, even if the investigation doesn't push him out of the race. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor-general's office said the inquiry involved possible forged signatures on nominating petitions.

An Iranian lawmaker vowed today to examine allegations that dozens of unidentified people killed in the recent post-election unrest were secretly buried in the country's largest cemetery last month. The reformist website Norooznews.org on Friday cited an unnamed employee of the capital's Behesht Zahra cemetery as saying that 44 unidentified corpses were buried under heavy security July 12 and 15. Majid Nasirpour, a reformist lawmaker who serves on parliament's Social Affairs Committee, filed a request for an inquiry into the mass burial allegation, the website Parlemannews.

The Treasury Department has opened an inquiry into the role one of its units played in granting a $535-million federal loan guarantee to solar equipment maker Solyndra, which collapsed into bankruptcy 10 days ago. Once heralded by the Obama administration as the kind of innovative manufacturer that could help revive the economy, Solyndra laid off nearly all its 1,100 workers at the end of August and ceased operations. After it filed its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Court petition, the FBI raided its offices in Fremont, Calif., and the homes of its executives.

International aid group Action Against Hunger has pulled out of Sri Lanka, saying it has no trust in a government investigation into the massacre of 17 of its workers nearly two years ago, a spokeswoman said. Last month, an international panel of experts monitoring the government's inquiry announced it was resigning in frustration. The panel criticized the inquiry as lethargic, said it did not meet international standards, and accused the government of lacking the will to investigate.

Ben Johnson wasn't the only Canadian athlete to fail a drug test at the Olympics in Seoul, a federal drug inquiry was told today. But Carol Anne Letheren, the chief of the delegation to the Summer Games' team, said the test result was overturned by the International Olympic Committee after an appeal by Canadian officials. Letheren, who did not name the athlete or the sport, said she was informed that one of Canada's athletes tested for a banned sedative the same day Johnson won the 100 meters.

Heavily favored Mazaad helped the team of jockey Bill Shoemaker and trainer Charles Whittingham win its 79th stakes race Saturday at Hollywood Park, but a 10-minute inquiry was needed before the number of the apparent winner of the $82,550 Will Rogers Handicap, Sovereign Don, was taken down. Sovereign Don, ridden by Gary Stevens, was called for interference in the stretch. It was only the 10th time in Hollywood Park history that a horse has been disqualified in a stakes race.

The government launched its first sweeping inquiry into the Iraq war, a potentially explosive national reckoning that will call ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair as a witness and seek evidence from former White House staff members. John Chilcot, the inquiry chairman, vowed not to shy away from embarrassing truths. But the panel is not permitted to establish criminal or civil liability. Bereaved families and anti-war activists have long called for an inquiry to consider Britain's role in a conflict that killed 179 British troops.