A former Casper Youth Baseball official has pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling money from the organization.

As part of a plea agreement, four other embezzlement charges against Keith Hood were dropped, Assistant Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen said Friday.

Hood was accused of writing $6,600 worth of checks to himself from the organization's bank account.

He faces a two- to three-year prison sentence that will be suspended, provided he completes three years of supervised probation and makes restitution, Itzen said.

Hood said in Natrona County District Court on Friday that he has already paid back $4,500 to the league, which serves about 700 children. pervised probation and makes restitution, Itzen said.

John Rigas, 82, was sentenced in June 2005 to 15 years in prison, and Timothy Rigas, 51, the company's former finance chief, was sentenced to 20 years. Both men have remained free on bail while they pursued their appeals.

At the time, U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand in Manhattan admonished the elder Rigas for his lack of remorse and said he would have imposed a lengthier prison term if not for Rigas' age and ill health.

The Adelphia case was one of the biggest corporate fraud prosecutions in recent years. The father and son were accused of looting the company to pay for personal land deals and vacation homes.

In its decision Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said the defendants needed to show substantial errors by the district court for a reversal of the jury verdict.

"Given the weight of evidence supporting the jury's verdict on each charge, we conclude that they have not done so," the judges said.

Attorneys for the Rigases had no immediate comment on the ruling, nor did the U.S. attorney's office in New York, which prosecuted the case.

Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2002. Its cable assets have been sold to Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc.

"Elimination of the head-to-head competition currently offered by XM and Sirius leaving only a monopoly satellite radio service will likely result in higher prices and poorer service being offered to consumers," Kohl said. "Satellite radio is a unique service for which none of the other audio services is a substitute. Uncertain promises of competition from new technologies tomorrow do not protect consumers from higher prices today."

The FCC and Justice Department are currently reviewing the proposed deal. The FCC issued satellite radio licenses 10 years ago to D.C.-based XM (NASDAQ: XMSR) and New York-based Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) on the condition that the two companies would not combine their operations.

"I have concluded this merger, if permitted to proceed, would cause substantial harm to competition and consumers, would be contrary to antitrust law and not in the public interest, and therefore should be blocked by your agencies," Kohl said.

Analysts who follow the satellite radio industry have said that the merger is a long shot. Most analysts say the transaction, at best, has a 50 percent chance of getting regulatory approval.

XM spokesman Chance Patterson, in response to Kohl's comments, said that the "companies continue to believe that the regulatory agencies conducting formal reviews of the merger will conclude that the combination of Sirius and XM will increase programming choices and improve pricing for consumers, and that the audio entertainment market after the merger will remain robust, competitive and open to new entrants."

Federal suits filed in October 2001 determined that the most Silverstein could collect for losses sustained in the September 11 attacks would be $4.68 billion. Insurance companies have already paid about $2.55 billion, and the settlement resolved the remaining sum. Spitzer's office said that the settlement, which was the biggest obstacle to reconstruction at the World Trade Center site, "will save additional tens of millions in legal costs and allow the Port Authority and Silverstein Properties to focus on rebuilding at Ground Zero." Prior litigation has cost Silverstein and the insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars.

The National Restaurant Association (NRA), which represents an industry that employs approximately 12.8 million workers in 935,000 locations, issued a statement Thursday criticizing the minimum wage increase, saying that it "will cost our industry jobs... and that the current $4.9 billion tax package" would not provide sufficient relief for employers most impacted. The NRA claims that the industry "lost more than 146,000 jobs" and delayed the employment of 106,000 new employees as a result of the 40-cent minimum wage increase in 1997.

Prosecutors are recommending that Pope be placed on probation while Brown gets at least two and a-half years in prison. Both will be sentenced in July. Investigators say the girl wasn't threatened but she felt coerced into complying.

Prosecutors are in plea discussions with attorneys for the three other defendants.

The US Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility has expanded its investigation into whether department aides illegally made hiring decisions based on consideration of applicants' political beliefs, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The move follows Wednesday's testimony to the House Judiciary Committee by former DOJ aide Monica Goodling, where she admitted making hiring decisions based on political party affiliation. The DOJ also said that it found no evidence to support Goodling's claim that the practice was approved by officials in the department.

Goodling was testifying about her role in the firings of eight US Attorneys. She disputed testimony by resigning Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and claimed that at least one US Attorney was fired to open a spot for a protege of Karl Rove.