Curtis Wilkie and the Dickie Scruggs Story

Richard Scruggs is probably the only man in his prison, or even perhaps the entire U.S. Federal prison system, that is currently legally being paid $20 million a year, up until the year 2025, as part of a few legal settlements he'd put together with Big Tobacco in America. NPR's Morning Edition covered the book and the Dickie Scruggs story. See also: Dixie: A Personal Odyssey Through Events That Shaped the Modern South, Arkansas Mischief: The Birth of a National Scandal. NPR notes that: Right now, Scruggs is serving a sentence in an Ashland, Ky., prison. But he has held on to his money — and continues to make more. As Wilkie says, Scruggs' tobacco settlement fee arrangements will continue to pay him $20 million a year until the year 2025. View the webpage for this feature story, here. Read an excerpt here.

Kosovo PM Seeks To Sue European Investigator by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Marty, a Swiss senator, led a team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009, following allegations of organ trafficking published in a book by former U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte who said she was given information by Western journalists. Marty's investigation found that there were a number of detention facilities in Albania, where both Kosovan opponents of the KLA and Serbs were allegedly held once the hostilities in Kosovo were over in 1999, including a "state-of-the-art reception center for the organized crime of organ trafficking." EU investigators looking into claims that organ harvesting took place in northern Albania have said they found no proof of the allegations. The EU police force in Kosovo on Wednesday called for those with evidence to come forward.

NPR posted this AP story; read it here. The Telegraph said this about the alleged organ trafficking:

Allegations of the Kosovo Liberation Army's alleged trade in civilian organs stem from a book by U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, based on information she has said she received from Western journalists. In response to the allegations, Swiss senator Dick Marty led a Council of Europe team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009. The council's report is to be released to the public in France on Thursday.

Read that Telegraph report and story here. See also: U.S. Department of State Press Briefing for Dec 15, 2010.