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Calif. Al-Qaeda probe — The FBI says he went to Pakistan to attend an Al-Qaeda training camp, and learn how to kill Americans in America.  His cousin says he went to Pakistan to arrange some marriages, and visit some relatives.  But the government insists that 23-year-old fruit-packer Hamid Hayat of Lodi, California, is a terrorist-in-the-making, just back from indoctrination.  Initial court documents said his potential targets in the United States could include hospitals and the food supply. A second set of filings left those targets off.  But, so far, they have charged him -- and his father the ice cream truck driver — only with "lying to federal authorities."  According to the criminal complaint, both suspects initially denied having anything to do with terrorism.  But after voluntarily taking a lie detector test — Hamid Hayat, allegedly confessed to attending an Al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan from 2003 to 2004.

Greenhouse emissions — It is the seeming climax of one of the principal complaints against the Bush Administration.  The "I told you so" from its critics.  Need a U.N. ambassador? Choose somebody who doubts the validity of the U.N.  Need an Attorney General to uphold the laws of the country? Nominate somebody who once wrote that parts of the Geneva Convention were "quaint."  And tonight, need somebody to confront greenhouse gases and global warnings? Hire the Oil Industry lobbyist who used to fight the Environmental Protection Agency against stricter emissions standards.  Though the man had no scientific training,  he was reportedly editing the scientific stuff the government's been putting out.

Dean gets dirty — Current Democratic chair Howard Dean says that the Republicans are "pretty much a White, Christian party," and defending those remarks today — that is what apparently passes for dirty politics these days.  It is now a regular occurrence for the former Presidential candidate to say something branded as outrageous.  GOP and Democrats alike tend to pounce on him.  Last week it was that a lot of Republicans, "have never made an honest living in their lives" — a comment that he says was misinterpreted.  Just two weeks before, it was that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, "ought to go back to Houston, where he can serve his jail sentence.”  But as he showed this morning on the Today Show, Howard Dean is as unapologetic as he is outspoken.

Jackson verdict watch — The Jackson jurors are 0-for-4.  They have had the case since late last Friday, and have not reached a verdict, despite their third consecutive, nearly strenuous, day of deliberations that have gone almost six hours in a row!  It's your tax and entertainment dollars in action: Day 569 of the Michael Jackson Investigations.  And there was one minor development this afternoon, as court closed for the day, somebody involved in the case slipped a note out to the teeming millions of media types.

Floating aqua cab — If you saw it happen during our news-hour last night, you know that the idea of simply making a call simply isn't always enough.  Because when it comes to escaping to somewhere else, "The next best thing to being there" just isn't "best" enough.  It turns out that the guy who tried to sail the converted, beautiful blue 1948 Mercury taxi from Cuba to Florida yesterday was the same one who tried to drive a truck over the same watery route a year ago.

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