"Die Hard" director John McTiernan pleaded guilty Monday to lying to FBI agents and a judge during the investigation of Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano in a wiretapping case.

McTiernan, 59, entered his plea to two counts of making false statements to the FBI and one count of perjury for lying to a federal judge while trying to withdraw a guilty plea. He could face up to a year in prison.

Attorney S. Todd Neal, who represents McTiernan, said the plea will allow his client to appeal certain pretrial rulings made by a federal judge.

"We continue to believe that the charges against him were developed in an unfair way," Neal said. "The FBI should not be in the business of ambushing citizens with surprise phone calls in which they ask 'questions' for which they already know the answers."

McTiernan previously pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents in 2006 about the investigation of Pellicano. The director later withdrew that plea, arguing he didn't have adequate legal representation.

Pellicano was convicted in 2008 of wiretapping film producer Charles Roven for McTiernan and of bugging the phones of celebrities and others to get information for clients.

Rebuffed twice by the courts, the Obama administration is taking another crack at a moratorium on deep-water drilling, stressing new evidence of safety concerns and no longer basing the moratorium on water depth. But those who challenge the latest ban question whether it complies with a judge's ruling tossing out the first one.

The new order does not appear to deviate much from the original moratorium, as it still targets deep-water drilling operators but defines them in a different way.

Last week, a federal appeals court rejected the government's effort to restore its initial offshore deep-water drilling moratorium, which was issued following the catastrophic Gulf oil spill in April. The moratorium was first blocked last month by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman.

The Justice Department said Monday it will file a motion with the U.S. District Court seeking a dismissal of that case, because the old moratorium is no longer operative, making the challenge moot. The department also will ask the appeals court to set aside Feldman's order of last month.

Carl Rosenblum, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who sued to block the moratorium, said they are reviewing the new moratorium and "we have substantial concerns about its consistency with Judge Feldman's order." He wouldn't elaborate or say if they planned to challenge it in court.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he decided to put in place a new moratorium because of "evidence that grows every day of the industry's inability in the deep water to contain a catastrophic blowout, respond to an oil spill and to operate safely."

A man accused of shooting and wounding two eighth-graders outside their middle school pleaded not guilty Monday by reason of insanity.

Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, 32, entered his plea in Jefferson County District Court, and was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation at the state Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. The evaluation would take at least 45 days.

Eastwood faces 15 charges, including attempted first-degree murder in the Feb. 23 shootings outside Deer Creek Middle School in south suburban Denver. Teachers tackled and restrained Eastwood until deputies arrived.

He faces decades in prison if convicted of the charges or an indefinite amount of time in a mental health institute if found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Before Eastwood accepted the plea, District Judge Christopher Munch told him that "commitment could be the rest of your life." Eastwood nodded that he understood.

Prosecutors are seeking access to observations of Eastwood's actions in jail and conversations between Eastwood and a psychologist made on a jail phone.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Jensen said during Monday's court hearing that because Eastwood is making his mental health an issue in the case, Eastwood's private medical records are no longer private.

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether Elena Kagan should fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, there remain a substantial number of other vacancies in the nation’s lower federal courts that urgently need filling.

Currently, there are about 100 vacancies in the lower federal courts. The American Bar Association says the lack of judges is affecting the efficiency and fairness of the justice system.

ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm said, “Our courts are already terribly strained at the federal level because of the caseload and the workload, and when you’re a hundred justices down…that’s a big gap.  We have speedy trial rules that require them to put criminal cases first.  As a result, all of the civil proceedings are put off and there is a real gap in terms of a significant delay as a result of the vacancies. It is edging toward a crisis not to have a full bench.”

Even if all the vacancies were filled, said Lamm, a significant number of new judgeships would still be necessary to handle caseload growth.  In fact, the Judicial Conference of the United States is recommending 67 new permanent and temporary judgeships. 

Beyond the existing 100 vacancies, more than 20 additional judges have announced that they will retire in the next several months. Since the start of the 111th Congress, President Obama has made 78 nominations to fill the empty seats, and the Senate has confirmed 36 of the nominees.  

Lamm noted that most nominees have moved through the Senate with little dissent and little delay.

When they finally are scheduled for a vote by the Senate, Lamm commented, “None of them have in fact engendered huge debate on the floor of the Senate….  No one has seen a pattern of inappropriate people being nominated; it is simply very slow and it really needs a full bipartisan effort to move these nominations. And quite frankly, it is becoming urgent,” said Lamm.

A new gun ordinance in Chicago that officials say is the strictest of its kind in the country went into effect on Monday.

The ordinance was pushed through quickly by Mayor Richard Daley and the City Council after the U.S. Supreme Court last month made the city's 28-year-old handgun ban unenforceable. The high court ruled that Americans have the right to have guns in their homes for protection.

The ordinance permits residents to have only one working gun at a time in their homes and prohibits them from stepping outside, even onto their porches or in their garages, with a handgun.

Following the lead of Washington, D.C., which enacted a strict ordinance after the Supreme Court struck down its gun ban two years ago, Chicago also requires prospective gun owners to take a class and receive firearms training.

Chicago's ordinance also bans gun shops from setting up shop in the city and bars anyone convicted of a violent crime, domestic violence or two or more convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs from owning a handgun.

Also starting Monday is a 90-day grace period in which residents who owned handguns illegally during the ban can register them without penalty.

Chicago's ordinance was widely criticized by gun rights advocates, who have said the city is simply trying to make it as difficult as it can for people to own guns and putting up unconstitutional roadblocks in their way. They promised lawsuits and last week, even before the ordinance went into effect, at least two lawsuits were filed challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance.

Businesses have added 4.5 million workers under a new program that provides tax breaks for hiring unemployed workers, the Treasury Department said Monday.

It is unclear, however, how many of those workers would have been added without the tax break.

President Barack Obama signed a law in March that exempts businesses hiring people who have been unemployed for at least 60 days from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December. Employers get an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year.

Treasury released a report Monday estimating that from February to May, businesses added 4.5 million workers who qualify for the tax breaks. Those businesses are projected to save $8.5 billion in taxes.