RADICAL RIGHT -- WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY TO AWARD PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY HONORARY DEGREE: Yesterday, Washington University in St. Louis announced it will award right-wing activist Phyllis Schlafly an honorary degree at this year's graduation ceremony. The university hailed Schlafly as a "leader," evoking her "10-year battle against the Equal Rights Amendment" and her position as "a well-known advocate for the role of the full-time homemaker." But Schlafly did not just argue for equal respect for homemakers; she ridiculed the idea that women could work outside the home. "The flight from the home is a flight from yourself, from responsibility, from the nature of woman, in pursuit of false hopes and fading illusions," she once said. She also claimed recently that women "are too emotional to handle intellectual or scientific debate." Washington University students are planning protests against Schlafly's award, with "several professors [and] community members" joining them. A Facebook group protesting the honorary degree has over 1,000 members, while a group supporting her visit to the university has only 20.

VETERANS -- SUICIDES AMONG IRAQ WAR VETS MAY EXCEED IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN COMBAT DEATHS: Bloomberg reported yesterday that the "number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care." The revelations came from Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. government's top psychiatric researcher, at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. "Based on those figures and established suicide rates for similar patients who commonly develop substance abuse and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, 'it's quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths,' Insel said." A CBS News report last month revealed that the Department of Veterans Affairs deliberately withheld information about the suicide risk among veterans. "The Pentagon didn't dispute Insel's remark," Bloomberg noted.

JUSTICE -- KYL SHACKLES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WATCHDOG TO BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S WHIMS:  On April 23, the Senate unanimously approved the Inspector General Reform Act (S. 2324), a bill meant to enhance the independence of federal agency watchdogs. Yet it passed only after Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) inserted a little-noticed amendment to water down the bill. His amendment deleted a provision giving the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) jurisdiction to investigate misconduct amongst senior officials. Instead, "unlike all other OIGs who can investigate misconduct within their entire agency, Justice's OIG must refer allegations against department attorneys to the department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)." In October, the House passed a similar IG bill, except that it eliminated the requirement that the Justice Department's IG refer misconduct allegations to OPR. The White House had threatened to veto the House bill, and the Kyl amendment "was seen by many as a vehicle for the White House’s objections." In the past, the White House has repeatedly used OPR to block investigations. Last year, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales directed OPR to investigate the U.S. attorney scandal, even though it would face a conflict-of-interest by having to look into its two bosses -- the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. Justice Department IG Glenn Fine objected, and eventually a joint OPR-OIG investigation was conducted.

If the election season's voting patterns "hold today in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries, voters under 30 are headed for increases not just in turnout but also in their share of the electorate." According to five Gallup and USA Today/Gallup poll since mid-February, "87% said they plan to vote, up from 81% in 2004." Overall, both Indiana and North Carolina are expecting record voter turnout today.

Over nearly seven years, "not one of the approximately 775 terrorism suspects who have been held" on Guantanamo Bay "has faced a jury trial inside the new complex, and U.S. officials think it is highly unlikely that any of the Sept. 11 suspects will before the Bush administration ends." A "high-ranking Pentagon officer” has been quoted noting the "strategic political value" of starting the 9/11 trials before November.

"The Pentagon has concluded it can't send additional troops to Afghanistan until sizable numbers of forces withdraw from Iraq," according to a senior military official. "We might be able to generate a little bit more," the official said. "But not 10,000 to 12,000 more troops," which are needed. The comments are "an acknowledgment of the challenges facing the Pentagon" while fighting two wars in the Middle East.

Concerned that Democratic leaders are cutting a "backroom deal" on surveillance legislation, "the American Civil Liberties Union urged its members to contact their legislators and oppose any compromise." House leaders "say there is no deal," claiming they still exchanging drafts with Senate negotiators.

Despite President Bush's insistence that he will "not approve any legislation that exceeds his spending request for the war" or "adds domestic money he opposes," House Democrats are preparing "a war spending measure that would include extended unemployment assistance and new educational benefits for returning veterans." The $178 billion measure may be brought to the floor this week.

A black man is "11.8 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison" on drug charges, and a black woman is 4.8 times more likely than a white woman, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Also released yesterday, a study by the Sentencing Project "found that, since 1980, the rate of drug arrests for African Americans increased by 225 percent, compared to 70 percent among whites."

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke last night "endorsed the need for government intervention" in stemming home foreclosures, "saying that letting markets take their own course could 'destabilize communities, reduce the property values of nearby homes and lower municipal tax revenues.'"

And finally: Yesterday, the House passed a resolution honoring the late actor and National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston, who died last month. The measure, introduced by Rep. Don Young (R-AK) with a bipartisan list of 112 co-sponsors, noted that "the United States of America has lost a great patriot." Roll Call adds, "Language in the resolution notes that aside from holding conservative views, Heston did something else pretty un-Hollywood by staying married to Lydia Clarke -- ‘the love of his life' -- for 64 years."