Bill OK'd to pause adding oil reserves

The Senate approved and sent to the White House late yesterday legislation directing President Bush to temporarily halt oil shipments to the government's emergency reserve. Bush has refused to halt the shipment of about 70,000 barrels of oil a day into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying it was such a small amount that it has no impact on gasoline or crude oil prices. But the White House has indicated that he will sign the bill. (AP)

NEW YORK - A woman accused of booking clients for a high-priced call-girl ring pleaded guilty yesterday to money laundering and promoting prostitution in the federal probe that brought down "Client No. 9," former governor Eliot Spitzer. Temeka Rachelle Lewis, a booking agent for the Emperor's Club VIP, is the first defendant to admit guilt in the case. (AP)

CHICAGO - Gourmets in Chicago can order foie gras again after the City Council yesterday repealed a two-year restaurant ban on a delicacy that critics say is produced at cruel expense to geese and ducks. The aldermen voted, 37 to 6, to drop the ban on restaurants serving foie gras, an ordinance that had passed with a single dissenting vote in April 2006. Mayor Richard Daley had called the ban the "silliest ordinance" the City Council ever passed. (Reuters)