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Judge orders Cheney to hold on to records

WASHINGTON --- A federal judge on Saturday ordered Vice President Dick Cheney to preserve a wide range of the records from his time in office.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is a setback for the Bush administration in its effort to promote a narrow definition of materials that must be safeguarded under by the Presidential Records Act.

The administration's legal position "heightens the court's concern" that some records might not be preserved, the judge said.

A private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is suing Mr. Cheney and the Executive Office of the President in an effort to ensure no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that makes them unavailable to the public. The other defendants include the National Archives and the archivist of the United States.

A Cheney spokesman would not comment on the ruling.

The lawsuit stems from Mr. Cheney's position that his office is not part of the executive branch of government.

The suit alleges the Bush administration's actions over the past 71/2 years raise questions over whether the White House will turn over records created by Mr. Cheney and his staff to the National Archives in January.

In other news

HELICOPTERS DROPPED huge sandbags on a levee, and a crew of prison inmates worked to create a makeshift dam Saturday in the rural border city of Presidio, Texas, which was threatened by flooding from the Rio Grande.

BRINGING AN END TO the state's longest budget fight, California lawmakers approved changes to their $143 billion spending plan and gave in to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demands for a more robust rainy day fund Friday night. Still, the governor said elected officials failed to fix California's ongoing fiscal imbalance that allows the state to spend more money than it takes in.