Private: Friday News Roundup

Samuel Alito's testimony in his Senate hearings concluded yesterday, although witness testimony regarding his nomination will continue today. The nomination of Alito to replace Justice O'Connor is expected to be confirmed next week. The Judiciary Committee senators will begin deliberating the nomination on Tuesday.

The retesting of DNA evidence that resulted in the 1992 execution of Roger Keith Coleman has concluded that Coleman did indeed commit the crimes for which he was convicted. The retesting was ordered by Virginia governor Mark Warner, as one of his final acts before his term ends tomorrow. Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the Innocence Project, said of the retesting, "This is a governor who has broken the logjam and ordered post-execution testing. I believe this will be a role model for the other 49 governors. One cannot suggest for a moment that one case represents a system. There are literally dozens of cases in which the defendants asserted their innocence in which there is physical evidence that could be tested. So let's get to the other cases."

Maryland's state legislature has passed a law that will require Wal-Mart to increase its spending on employee healthcare. The law requires that an employer with more than 10,000 employees working in the state must contribute 8% of its payroll to fund employee healthcare costs. Wal-Mart is considering a lawsuit, and threatened to change the location of a distribution center it had planned to build in Maryland.

The rebuilding plan for New Orleans is eliciting accusations of racial disparity. The plan in includes a 4-month moratorium on rebuilding. During the 4-month period, residents of particularly damaged areas are required to demonstrate that there is justification for rebuilding their neighborhoods. Meanwhile, the commission overseeing rebuilding retains eminent domain authority. Marc Morial, a former New Orleans mayor and the current president of the National Urban League, characterized the rebuilding proposal as a "massive red-lining plan wrapped around a giant land grab."