JUSTICE -- JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING FIRING OF CAREER ATTORNEY FOR BEING GAY: The Justice Department Inspector General is investigating whether Monica Goodling -- a key player in the U.S. Attorney scandal -- fired a career department attorney in late 2006 "because of rumors that she is a lesbian." Despite the fact that the attorney, Leslie Hagen, "received the highest possible ratings for her work," several people interviewed said "they came away with the impression that" she was fired "because of the talk about her sexual orientation." NPR areports that Goodling, who had served as senior counsel to Alberto Gonzales, "had a particular interest in Hagen's duties." One Republican source said, "To some people, that's [homosexuality] even worse than being a Democrat." Last year, the Justice Department Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility investigated the types of questions applicants had faced when applying to jobs at the department under the leadership of Alberto Gonzales. They found that applicants had been asked about not only their political affiliation, but also more personal information, including religious beliefs and sexual orientation.

MILITARY -- REPORT FINDS ARMY UNCERTAIN OF BODY ARMOR SAFETY: A Defense Department Inspector General report released yesterday found that the "Army can't be sure some of its body armor met safety standards" because it "repeatedly failed to follow federal contracting rules in procuring billions of dollars worth" of the protective vests for American soldiers. According to the report, "in nearly half of the body-armor contracts given out between January 2004 and December 2006...the Army failed to require or perform so-called 'first article testing' designed to catch and correct any defects in the body-armor manufacturing process." The Army also "failed to maintain appropriate records to justify why a number of contracts were awarded in the first place." Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), who initially requested the report, said that "during a time of war, it's shameful that the Army would not scrupulously ensure that every piece of equipment is properly tested, especially a fundamentally life-and-death product such as body armor." She added, "Whoever is responsible for this needs to be fired."

ENVIRONMENT -- INTERIOR SECRETARY FAILS TO APPEAR AT HEARING ON POLAR BEARS: Environmental groups have long noted that "global warming has already severely and adversely affected the polar bear" by causing sea ice to melt throughout the Arctic. Subsequently, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) required the Department of the Interior to rule by Jan. 9, 2008, on whether the polar bear should be listed as an endangered species, but the Department has failed to do so. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee requested that Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne appear before the committee yesterday to discuss why the department had still, three years later, failed to meet the deadline set by the ESA. But Kempthorne refused to attend the hearing, instead sending a letter which stated that he would not appear because he is the defendant in a pending case on the same matter. In response, Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) lashed out at Kempthorne. "Time has run out for this decision to be made," Boxer said. "Mr. Kempthorne not being here, I believe, is a slap at this committee and a slap at the American people who care about this."

"For a man who came into office as the nation's first M.B.A. president, Mr. Bush has sometimes seemed invisible during the housing and credit crunch," writes The New York Times. Even Bush's conservative allies say that the President "is being eclipsed and is in danger of looking out of touch." As Congress scrambled to "produce a bill to help struggling homeowners," Bush left for Eastern Europe.

"For at least 16 months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001, the Bush administration believed that the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures on U.S. soil didn't apply to its efforts to protect against terrorism," according to "a secret Justice Department legal memo dated Oct. 23, 2001." The memo's existence was disclosed "Tuesday in a footnote of a separate secret memo" about interrogation policy.

More than 1,000 people attended a rally Wednesday in support of a Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R), who was "widely criticized" for a saying homosexuality is "the biggest threat our nation has." Kern said the rally affirms the rights of those "who want to stand up for the truth of God's word."

Recent surveys by the National Patient Advocate Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that "[p]eople with health insurance are having more trouble paying for prescription drugs as higher out-of-pocket costs for medications and a slowing economy strain family budgets."

Yesterday, a bipartisan group of seven senators proposed legislation that would "improve health care for female soldiers returning from duty in Iraq and require the Veteran Administration's mental health staff to be trained to counsel victims of sexual assault."

"Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Thursday for a million-strong demonstration against U.S. 'occupation,' a potentially destabilizing show of force after his followers battled U.S. and government troops. The demonstration would take place next Wednesday April 9, the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, when the U.S. commander in Iraq is also scheduled to brief Congress in Washington about progress in the war."

Just before the March recess, "House Democrats thought they were close to getting a deal on an immigration package." But according to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) "a senior Republican came to him" to derail the bill, saying that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "didn't want to deal with immigration this year."

And finally: Edward Gabriel was the U.S. ambassador to Morocco from 1997 to 2001. Yesterday, an "in memoriam" ad ran in The Washington Post titled "Ed Gabriel: A Partner for Life." Gabriel, however, is not dead. The ad was an April Fools' Day prank by an old friend, J. Peter Segall. Gabriel fielded calls all day from people who thought he had passed away, including one woman who had cried for two hours after seeing the ad. Segall later admitted that his joke was "very stupid."