Senate unveils plan to fund troops

The Senate is slated to vote today on providing $165 billion to fund Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the new administration takes over next year. A plan revealed last night would give leverage to Republicans and would probably doom billions of dollars in domestic programs sought by Democrats, including 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits. In exchange, GOP leaders would allow a vote on a big expansion of education benefits for veterans under the GI Bill. The White House vows to veto additional education benefits, arguing they would hurt efforts to reenlist troops. (AP)

ANCHORAGE - Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska said the state will sue to challenge the federal decision to list polar bears as a threatened species. Palin yesterday said there is insufficient evidence to support the decision US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne made last week. Kempthorne said the best available science indicates that the bears' primary habitat, sea ice, was shrinking and expected to further recede. Palin contended the number of polar bears has increased. (AP)

ELDORADO - Child Protective Services workers returned to the west Texas ranch of a polygamist sect yesterday in search of children they believe might have arrived since about 460 others were seized in a raid last month. Guy Jessop, standing guard at the gate of the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said two child services workers accompanied by a sheriff's deputy asked whether they could enter the ranch to look for more children. Jessop said he denied them access without a search warrant. (AP)

BOLINGBROOK - Former police sergeant Drew Peterson turned himself in yesterday on a weapons charge unrelated to the disappearance of his wife, a high-profile case in which he has been named as a suspect. Peterson surrendered at the Bolingbrook Police Department, where he once worked, and was taken to the Will County jail. The gun, a semiautomatic assault rifle, was one of 11 seized during a search of Peterson's home Nov. 1, shortly after Stacy Peterson disappeared. (AP)

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK - A dig for graves at Charles Manson's last hideout was halted yesterday after yielding no bodies and leaving scientists puzzled over the clues that had enticed them to come this far. Manson and his followers hid at the ranch following their killing rampage in Los Angeles. For years, rumors have swirled about other possible victims. (AP)