Still, many veterans of those days must feel a sense of betrayal. Was what we stood up for as right - and this applies to those urging obedience to the law and those protesting in the streets - all wrong?

Members of the county school board must feel that the high court has turned its back to its efforts to make classrooms' racial makeup reflect the county's.

Lost among the arguments and counterarguments was the simple fact that the case didn't have to be. Louisville had won national attention in 1956 for voluntarily desegregating its public schools in compliance with Brown vs. Board of Education. It was a token action since housing patterns dictated that neighborhood schools would remain single-race.

By the 1970s, the city's demographics had changed. Housing patterns, in part spurred by urban renewal, had shifted. Louisville's West End, once dominated by ethnic, blue-collar families, became the home for blacks fleeing the inner city and, in many cases, urban renewal's relentless bulldozers. White families moved to the suburban developments springing up across Jefferson County.

A ring of small cities surrounding Louisville blocked the city from annexing the new communities. And the county's sleepy, essentially rural school system found itself scrambling to build schools fast enough to accommodate the influx.

By the early 1970s, it was apparent the Louisville school system was close to the tipping point where the city's remaining white families would flee. The county schools, by contrast, were almost all white. There were a few historically black neighborhoods scattered across the county, most of them in one school district. Both districts became the target of desegregation suits. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights argued that the districts should be merged.

The city school board then complicated the cases. It bowed to the reality of a shrinking tax base and the threat of white flight and went out of business. The Legislature enacted merger legislation, and the systems, which had little respect for each other, began to try to reconcile their cultures and educational philosophies. U.S. District Judge James Gordon, who was hearing the desegregation suits, gave them breathing room by finding both systems legally desegregated.

But the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals wasn't convinced. Newburg School, serving a historically black community, went through the eighth grade. All other county elementary schools stopped at the sixth grade. It was a vestige of de jure segregation that Judge Gordon acknowledged having had difficulty "writing around" in finding the schools in compliance with Brown.

The case bounced back to Judge Gordon with an order to put a desegregation plan into effect. To help in drafting it, Judge Gordon turned to two young administrators in the city system. They developed a system of school clusters, pairing inner city predominantly black schools with suburban schools. Students were to be transported among the schools according to the first letter of their last name. To achieve racial balance, white students would be bused two years; black students, 10.

Implementation of the plan marred Louisville's image across the country. The ugly pictures from protest marches and rallies showed up on the 6 p.m. news nationwide. The Courier Journal and Louisville Times building at Sixth and Broadway became a favorite target because of our calls for obedience to the law. Reporters and photographers covering the marches and rallies took an undeserved share of the abuse.

To have it end up with the almost flip statement by Chief Justice John Roberts that the "way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race" is dismissive of centuries of discrimination. It puts down the good-faith efforts by Louisville and thousands of other communities to overcome that past.

Americans of all races deserve better of their highest court.

‘‘I came to understand that providing payment services to online gambling businesses serving customers in the United States was wrong,’’ Lawrence said prior to entering his plea.

Lawrence, 47, faces as much as five years in prison on the charge. Sentencing is set for Oct. 29.

John David Lefebvre, another Neteller founder, and Lawrence were arrested and charged with conspiracy in the matter in January. Lefebvre is awaiting trial.

As part of his plea agreement with the government, Lawrence agreed to cooperate with its investigation and agreed to a forfeiture of $100 million.

Lawrence, who lives in the Bahamas, was Neteller’s chairman until May 2006 and left its board last October, while Lefebvre was the company’s president from October 2000 to 2002 and served on the board until December 2005.

Neteller, which is publicly traded in London, has said Lawrence and Lefebvre are no longer affiliated with the company. Neteller has stopped handling transactions involving online gambling from U.S. customers.

Electronic Clearing House Inc., another online payment processing company, entered a nonprosecution agreement with the government in March and agreed to disgorge $2.3 million. Neteller was one of its customers.

U.S. authorities have cracked down on online gambling in recent months, arresting executives of some overseas online gambling firms when they travel to the United States.

President Bush signed into law legislation in October that makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to process payments from U.S. customers to online gambling sites.

Apart from Kim, the Chinese Foreign Minister also held a bilateral meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Pak Ui Chun, and met with Premier Kim Yong Il.

During the meetings, Yang reiterated Beijing's commitment to the six-party talks mechanism and supported the efforts for the implementation of the February 13 joint declaration on Pyongyang's nuclear disarmament, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang said.

The six-party talks involve the United States, North Korea, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

China was communicating and consulting closely with the other parties on the next steps in the talks, he said when asked for fresh dates for the next round of six-way talks, hosted by China.

North Korea last week announced the dispute with the United States over USD 25 million frozen in Macao's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) has been resolved, and vowed to start implementing the disarmament deal struck in Beijing on February 13.

Under the February deal, North Korea was supposed to shut down the Yongbyon reactor within 60 days in exchange for some 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil or equivalent aid.

The financial dispute between the United States and North Korea over the return of the frozen assets held up progress of the talks for months.

“My family would be here had I known that weather radios existed,” said Kathryn Martin, who pushed heavily for the law after the tornado shattered the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park and killed dozens of people, including three of her relatives.

The Indiana regulation is one of hundreds of new laws taking effect on July 1, when most states begin their fiscal years. Among them are efforts to encourage alternative energy in Nevada and Minnesota, tougher rules against illegal immigrants in Georgia and Idaho, and higher minimum wages in Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The Indiana tornado hit before dawn on Nov. 6, 2005, with winds estimated at 200 miles an hour. Twenty of the 25 victims of the storm were in mobile homes on the outskirts of Evansville, where emergency officials said few had radios or access to shelters.

The Indiana General Assembly responded last year, passing the weather-radio proposal with overwhelming support. A similar effort is under way on the federal level to make the radios a requirement nationwide.

The radios, which cost about $30, operate on frequencies dedicated to the weather service. Officials say they often broadcast warnings before regular radio and television stations.

More than 20 million Americans live in mobile homes, according to Census estimates. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that the fatality rate for residents of mobile homes is 10 times greater than those in homes with fixed foundations.

These are among other laws taking effect on July 1:

- Virginia will require convicted sex offenders to register e-mail addresses with the state.

- Nevada will force certain sex offenders to live at least 1,000 feet from schools and other places where children gather.

- Tennessee will require everyone buying beer at a store to show ID.

- California will ban sales of soda in schools during school hours and put new limits on sugar and fat content in school food.

- Colorado will ban abstinence-only sex education in all schools, except for one district, requiring schools to teach sex education based on scientific research and to include information on contraception.

In Indiana, people riding in back seats and in S.U.V.’s and pickups will have to wear seat belts. The mandatory belt law had a loophole for vehicles with truck plates.

Ice Miller LLP, Indianapolis' largest law firm, announced today the opening of an office in DuPage County, Illinois. The new office marks the Firm's expansion in the Chicago area and is the result of the attorneys from the Lisle, Illinois office of Chicago's Wildman Harrold joining Ice Miller. The attorneys, and staff, will broaden and strengthen Ice Miller's work in construction, general business, corporate transactions, intellectual property, higher education, labor and employment, litigation, private equity/venture services, estate planning, municipal finance and real estate.

"This strategic expansion will enable us to enhance our existing Illinois-based operations and expand our practices to serve a broader client base," stated Byron Myers, Managing Partner, Ice Miller LLP. "There is an enormous amount of synergy between the groups and we are fortunate to have found this talented group of individuals."

The DuPage County office includes fourteen attorneys, two paraprofessionals and seven support staff members. The group of attorneys joining Ice Miller have extensive experience in regulatory and legislative issues, complex business transactions, mergers and acquisitions, land development and development related litigation, trusts and estates, succession planning, public finance transactions, class actions, higher education and construction law. They have represented a diverse client base including Fortune 500 companies, private businesses, universities, hospitals, as well as municipalities and government entities.

Founded in 1910, Ice Miller is the largest law firm in Indianapolis. It is nationally recognized in many of its practice areas. With additional offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C., the Firm has over 250 lawyers, 40 paraprofessionals and 290 support staff members. The Firm represents a full portfolio of private and public companies, government entities and individuals. Ice Miller serves as legal counsel to many of the Midwest's leading businesses and to companies throughout the country and the world.

"DuPage County is home to some of the nation's most prestigious employers," stated Dean J. Leffelman, partner, Ice Miller. "We are delighted to join Ice Miller in bringing cost-effective, sophisticated legal services to the growing Chicago suburban area," concluded Leffelman. With a population approaching one million people and over 700,000 jobs, DuPage County is the second most populous county in the state of Illinois and one of the fastest growing.

"DuPage County is a business center of exceptional opportunity with a robust business mix of finance, retail, high tech, transportation and manufacturing," stated Bob Schillerstrom, partner, Ice Miller. "These world class companies offer Ice Miller a built-in client base that may be looking to expand their legal representation outside of the city of Chicago." Schillerstrom currently serves as the Board Chairman for DuPage County. He will be re-locating to the DuPage County office. In addition to Leffelman and Schillerstrom, the DuPage office will include partners Richard Johnson, Bart Murphy, David Hight, James Snyder and Michael Roth. They will be joined by James Durkin, Mark Baggio and Eric Singer as senior counsel, Laurie Miller and David Chroust as of counsel and Jenée Straub and Elizabeth McKillip as associates.

Ice Miller's lawyers and business professionals, through their understanding of businesses, industries, and government entities, help simplify the complexities faced by its clients. Ice Miller is committed to helping its clients achieve their legal and business goals. The Firm has offices in Indianapolis, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; DuPage County, Illinois; and Washington, D.C. For additional information, visit www.icemiller.com.

"They've chosen confrontation rather than compromise or cooperation," Leahy said. "The bottom line on this U.S. attorneys investigation is that we have people manipulating law enforcement. Law enforcement can't be partisan."

At issue is whether the White House exerted undue political influence in the Justice Department's firing of prosecutors.

Leahy's hardening stance is pushing the Democratic-led investigation closer to a constitutional showdown over executive power and Congress' right to oversight.

The White House accused the committee of overreaching.

"After thousands of pages of documents, interviews and testimony by Justice Department officials, it's clear that there's simply no merit for this overreach," presidential spokesman Tony Fratto said.

He said Leahy "is seeking access to candid and confidential deliberations from the president's advisers - an intrusion he would never subject his own staff to. We have gone to great lengths to accommodate the committee in their oversight responsibilities."

Separately, the Senate has subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office for documents related to the administration's legal basis for conducting warrant-free eavesdropping on people in the United States.

Leahy and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who heads the House Judiciary Committee, have demanded a White House explanation by next Monday as to its grounds for claiming executive privilege in refusing to turn over additional documents.

The two lawmakers say that regardless whether the White House meets the deadline, they would begin acting to enforce the subpoenas as appropriate under the law.