Tuesday News Roundup

The Justice Department has settled for $300,000 the case of an Egyptian national who was detained in New York after 9/11. It is the first time that the government has settled a case of this nature. The government's inclination to settle was enhanced when Judge John Gleeson ordered that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and the former head of the FBI testify under oath about the case.
The Attorney General of Kentuky has asked for the recusal of two justices who were appointed to the state's Supreme Court in order to hear exactly one case--a case brought by the Attorney General against the Governor's office for hiring practices of questionable legality. The Governor appointed those two temporary justices (who both have contributed to his campaign) after two others recused themseves from the case. (Via Americablog.)
A New York appellate-level judge has rejected New York City's request for a preliminary injuction against the Critial Mass group of bicyclists. Members of Critical Mass bicycle through the streets of several major cities on one Friday each month to advocate environmentally friendly modes of transportation, blocking automobile traffic in the process. The city argues that the group needs a permit in order to ride together.
A Texas-based non-profit has been cleared of violation of the tax laws by the IRS. According to the Washington Post, the audit commenced at the request of Representative Tom Delay, of whom the non-profit was critical: "the circumstances behind the [audit]--which were uncovered by the group's director and founder, Craig L. McDonald, using the Freedom of Information Act--prompted him to allege that the audit was an abuse of the IRS's mandate."
Figures for the death toll caused by last week's sectarian violence in Iraq have been revised upward to three times previous estimates. Officials currently say that the dead number a grisly 1300.
AOL has proposed charging a fee to groups wishing to send email to its subscribers. Critics call the fee an "internet tax" in which AOL is the tax collector and charge that it could severely curtain online political organizing.