Friday afternoon news

WASHINGTON IN BRIEF - washingtonpost.com

What did our benevolent leaders in Washington do for us while we were busy getting ready for the weekend?

Snippets:

The Bush administration yesterday eliminated about $700 million a year in Medicaid reimbursements to schools, sidestepping an attempt by Congress to block such a move.

The new rule, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is expected to save the federal government $3.6 billion over five years, transferring those costs to school districts.

(This cost-cutting measure will cover 13 days of war in Iraq.)

A federal judge agreed to let the Bush administration keep secret the lists of visitors to the White House until an appeals court decides whether the documents are public records.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered the Secret Service this week to turn over the records under the Freedom of Information Act.

The logs sought by the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington involve visits to the White House and Vice President Cheney's residence by nine religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell.

Are people who don't believe in evolution advising our executive branch? We may never know.