"Bob gave a personal reason for his resignation," said spokesman Bryan Sierra. He stressed that Coughlin "had no involvement" in the department's investigation of Abramoff.

Coughlin had worked in the criminal division since 2005 but was recused from the Abramoff inquiry because of a longtime personal friendship with Kevin A. Ring, one of Abramoff's lobbying colleagues whose actions are under investigation, a law enforcement source said. Investigators are looking into dealings between the two in 2001 and 2002, when Coughlin worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, the sources said.

Coughlin and Ring were friends on Capitol Hill in the 1990s when both worked as staffers to then-Sen. John D. Ashcroft (R-Mo.), who became attorney general in 2001.

Coughlin's resignation and the surfacing of his name in the Abramoff investigation were first reported yesterday by McClatchy Newspapers.

Investigators came across Coughlin's name while looking into whether Ring improperly sought or received favors for lobbying clients from people in government, the sources told The Washington Post.

Ring took Coughlin to sporting events with tickets provided by his lobbying firm, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The task force has tracked millions of dollars in meals, trips, tickets, gifts and campaign contributions that the Abramoff lobbying team lavished on lawmakers and staffers. The investigation has so far resulted in 11 convictions and guilty pleas from lobbyists, staffers, two administration officials and a congressman.

An attorney for Ring could not be reached for comment. Coughlin did not answer calls to his home yesterday, and a lawyer who is serving as his spokesman did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Coughlin is the second Justice Department official whose name has surfaced in the wide-ranging Abramoff investigation. Earlier this year, Sue Ellen Wooldridge, deputy assistant attorney general for environment and natural resources, abruptly resigned when her boyfriend -- now her husband -- was notified that he was a criminal target. J. Steven Griles, former deputy secretary of the Interior Department, has since pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Abramoff.

Project Honey Pot has collected thousands of Internet addresses that it has linked to spam harvesters, but it so far has been unable to link those addresses to an actual person.

The lawsuit names a variety of John Does as defendants, and the plaintiffs hope that the legal process will allow them to track the actual people who are harvesting the e-mail addresses, said lead attorney Jon Praed with the Arlington-based Internet Law Group.

Collecting e-mail addresses is not by itself illegal, but Praed said the plaintiffs will be able to link the harvesting to spam e-mails, which are illegal under federal and state laws. Those laws allow individuals who receive unwanted spam to seek civil damages.

Praed said legitimate businesses are afraid to post e-mail addresses on their Web sites for fear that automated Web crawlers will find the addresses, record them and sell them to spammers who will inundate them with junk e-mail.

The law firm founded by the late Johnnie Cochran Jr. has joined the team representing a woman whose toddler was shot to death during in a gunbattle between the child's father and a police SWAT team, according to court papers.

Brian Dunn of The Cochran Firm filed papers this week, saying he has joined attorney Luis Carillo in representing Lorena Lopez.

Carillo filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on Lopez's behalf against the city of Los Angeles, Police Chief William Bratton and other police officers. The Cochran Firm has filed numerous lawsuits against law enforcement, including cases that involved officer shootings.

Nineteen-month-old Suzie Pena was killed by a police bullet as SWAT officers exchanged fire with her father, Jose Raul Pena, in 2005. Authorities said that Pena, who also was killed, used the child as a shield during the gunbattle.

In a court hearing Friday, Superior Court Judge Rolf M. Treu denied Carrillo's motion to review investigative reports and witness statements. Deputy City Attorney Christian Bojorquez had argued the documents were confidential.

The civilian Police Commission last year ruled that two officers who fired their weapons early in the standoff violated the department's use-of-force policy.

The district attorney's office declined to file charges against the officers involved in the standoff and shooting, saying they acted lawfully in defense of themselves and others.

The University of Georgia reached an out-of-court settlement with a former student who filed a 25 million dollar sexual harassment lawsuit.

The woman -- Tiffany Williams -- claimed U-G-A officials were slow to respond to an alleged assault involving three athletes.

The lawsuit revolves around a 2002 claim that she had consensual sex with former Georgia basketball player Tony Cole in her dorm room. Afterward she told police that former basketball player Steve Thomas and ex-football player Brandon Williams sexually assaulted her.

The lawsuit claimed that school officials exposed her to danger by recruiting Cole even though they knew he had a history of sexual misconduct.

U-G-A attorney Ed Tolley said the settlement was six figures but he did NOT specify the precise figure.

Brandon Williams was acquitted of any wrongdoing and criminal charges against Cole and Thomas were dropped.

President Bush warned Congress Friday that he will continue vetoing war spending bills as long as they contain a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Speaking a day after the Democratic-controlled Congress approved legislation that requires that a troop drawdown begin by Oct. 1, Bush said - as he has before - he will veto it because of that demand. He invited congressional leaders to come to the White House to discuss a new piece of legislation that would not include a timetable, and expressed hope a deal could be reached.

But he made clear that if Democrats insist on including timetables again, he will not hesitate to bring out his veto pen.

``If they want to try again that which I've said is unacceptable, of course I won't accept it,'' the president said during a news conference here with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. ``I hope it won't come to that.''

Passage of the Iraq spending legislation in both houses was not by big enough margins to override a presidential veto. So lawmakers and the White House immediately began talking about a follow-up bill.

Democratic leaders said they hoped to have one ready by June 1. Several Democratic officials have said the next measure likely will jettison the withdrawal timetable, but may include consequences if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks, such as expanding democratic participation and allocating oil resources.

Bush has set benchmarks for the Iraqi government, but has steadfastly opposed attaching any timeframe to them or requiring any actions if they are not met.

Senate leaders said Friday that the bill approved Thursday should go to Bush early next week. The White House has not said whether Bush plans a quiet veto or a public ceremony. Spokeswoman Dana Perino said it was unlikely that Bush would use a Tuesday trip to the Tampa, Fla.-based headquarters of Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, including Iraq, for the veto.

A Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy, who alleged in a lawsuit that the jail operation was beset by corruption, has received a $200,000 settlement to resolve the lawsuit.

The county paid another $240,000 to an outside law firm which handled the litigation, which was settled last year.

The county paid the settlement to Deputy Thomas Zembiec, county officials confirmed today.

In a 2004 lawsuit, Zembiec alleged that jail payrolls were falsified so workers were paid for time they didn’t work; that some jail workers possessed and used drugs; and that some high-ranking officials and other jail workers consorted with "temporarily released inmates and persons with criminal backgrounds in order to make money and receive free services."

Zembiec alleged that he was transferred from his job at the downtown jail to the Brighton facility to silence his complaints about corruption at the jail.

He claimed that two nurses at the downtown jail accused him of sexual harassment, and those charges were the official reason for his transfer.