Abramoff assisted Zachares in obtaining his committee post. Zachares left Young's staff in 2005. Young's office declined to comment Tuesday.

"Guilty, your honor," Zachares told U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, who had asked what plea he would enter to a single count of conspiracy. He faces a maximum of five years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines will probably face two years or less.

After the court appearance, defense attorney Edward MacMahon declined to say whether Young knew what Zachares was doing on behalf of Abramoff.

Zachares agreed to cooperate with the government's continuing investigation and, outside the courthouse, MacMahon reinforced that point.

The former Republican aide is the fifth congressional staffer to plead guilty in the Abramoff scandal, including two former aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Zachares provided information to Abramoff about pending congressional actions on the reorganization of federal agencies into the Homeland Security Department.

Zachares said in court that Abramoff and his lobbying team supplied him with $30,000 worth of tickets to sporting events and concerts on more than 40 occasions in the 18 months from mid-2002 to early 2004.

Zachares accompanied Abramoff and six others, including Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., on a $160,000 golf junket to Scotland in 2003, according to the conspiracy count to which Zachares pleaded guilty.

Feeney's office said the Justice Department has contacted the congressman to request more information and that Feeney is cooperating.

Early this year, Feeney agreed to reimburse the government $5,643 for the Scotland trip.

According to a statement of facts that Zachares signed on March 14, he "falsely reported the cost of transportation, lodging and meals as only $5,643, a figure coordinated with Abramoff to be substantially identical as the figures other attendees, including Representative .3, would report."Representative .3" refers to Feeney. After Tuesday's guilty plea, Feeney's office said only that the congressman "is anxious to discuss this matter at the appropriate time."

Stewart has insisted that she "is not a traitor" and has said that she was only advocating for her client. She remains free pending appeal of her conviction.

The former Brighton Charter Academy teacher accused of fondling one of her students and providing him with alcohol during an overnight trip to Estes Park pleaded guilty Tuesday to three charges.

Carrie McCandless, 29, pleaded to tampering with physical evidence, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unlawful sexual contact.

Under the plea agreement, McCandless avoids prison, but will serve 45 days in the Larimer County jail. She also will serve a 5 year deferred sentence and will spend time in a sex offender program with intensive supervised probation. A sentencing hearing for McCandless is scheduled for June 8.

"Due to the possible consequences of going to trial and being unsuccessful, Ms. McCandless felt like she was in a position that she had to accept the plea bargain," defense attorney Trent Trani said.

McCandless was charged with sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

"There was never any kind of sexual intercourse or anything other than Mr. Clay fondling her," Trani said. "It's ridiculous to assert that she subjected him to this contact and I think that's what should have been heard by a jury."

The victim, Tommy Clay, appeared on national TV last month. Clay said he and McCandless became friends during a summer school session because he found it easy to talk with her.

Clay said when another teacher discovered the relationship, "I told Mrs. McCandless that I would take the fall for it. I didn't want her ending up losing her job and I figured I had a lot less to lose than she did."

She was 29 and Clay was 17 at the time, authorities said. McCandless was fired. Her husband, Chris, is principal of the school in Brighton, on the northeast edge of the Denver area.

Upper St. Clair attorney Charles McCullough, under scrutiny for his management of a widow’s trust fund, has dropped out of the race for an at-large Republican seat on Allegheny County Council, his former campaign coordinator said today.

McCullough also no longer works for Downtown law firm Eckert, the firm’s CEO, Tim Ryan, confirmed this afternoon.

"He is not employed by, nor associated with, Eckert Seamans," said Ryan, who declined further comment.

Ryan said the firm is still examining how McCullough helped manage a fund for Shirley H. Jordan, 90, of Upper St. Clair, that donated $10,000 each to a judicial candidate, three council members and a Catholic charity headed by McCullough's wife. The money was returned after the recipients learned that Jordan suffers from dementia.

McCullough was running against Republican Kevin Acklin for the council seat.

Mr. Meyers is one of the leading US legal advisers to Australian companies and Australian and international investment banks on US and international capital raisings and stock exchange listings, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, structured finance and M&A transactions.

Tom Cole, Chair of the firm’s Executive Committee, noted “Our decision to open an office in Sydney and the recruitment of Mr. Meyers demonstrates our commitment to serving our clients throughout the world.”

Tom Albrecht, a member of the firm’s Executive and Management Committees with responsibility for International operations, noted “For over twenty years, our firm has represented investment banks and financial institutions based in the Australian and New Zealand markets on US and European capital markets, structured finance and related transactions.  Given the increased sophistication and number of transactions that have been originated in the Australian market,  we believe that it is now time for us to establish a local presence, and we are very fortunate to have a lawyer with Bob’s skills and reputation join us. The US-qualified lawyers to be based in our Sydney office will also provide additional depth and breadth to our existing international legal practices based in the other Sidley offices in the Asia Pacific time zone.”

Mr. Meyers expressed his delight at joining Sidley, commenting, “Sidley’s longstanding experience in the Australian and New Zealand markets, its strength in the Asia Pacific region, its world class corporate, capital markets and litigation practices and its reputation as one of the world’s leading international law firms is the perfect platform for my practice and my clients.”

Mr. Meyers will join Sidley’s global corporate finance and capital markets practice, which numbers several hundred lawyers practicing in 11 offices around the world.  Sidley has long maintained one of the world’s leading capital markets’ practices.  For the third consecutive year, Sidley was ranked top issuer counsel for U.S. debt, equity and equity-related deals by Thomson Financial in its 2006 U.S. law firm league tables.  The firm advised on 548 deals worth $374.1 billion in deal value representing a market share of 10.7 percent. Sidley also ranked number three as underwriter’s counsel in the same category with $257.3 billion in deal value from 429 offerings representing a market share of 7.2 percent.  In the 2007 American Lawyer Corporate Scorecard, Sidley ranked third (tied) for top law firm transactional practice in the United States.

Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world's largest full-service law firms, with more than 1,700 lawyers practicing in 15 U.S. and international cities including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.  Sydney will be Sidley’s sixteenth office.  In 2006, Sidley was named to Legal Business’ Global Elite, their designation for "the 15 finest law firms in the world."  Sidley was again named the number one law firm for overall client service by BTI, a Boston-based consulting and research firm, in 2007.  BTI has also named Sidley to their Client Service Hall of Fame as one of only two law firms to rank in the Client Service Top 10 for six years in a row.

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