Polanski must return to U.S.

LOS ANGELES -- A judge has rejected director Roman Polanski's bid to be sentenced in absentia in a three-decade-old child-sex case.

Judge Peter Espinoza ruled that Mr. Polanski, 76, will have to come back to Los Angeles to be sentenced.

Mr. Polanski's attorneys said they would appeal.

The famed film director is under house arrest in Switzerland, where he is waiting to learn whether the Swiss government will extradite him to the United States to face sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

WASHINGTON -- Dozens of current and former corporate executives have a message for Congress: Quit hitting us up for campaign cash.

Roughly 40 executives from companies including Playboy Enterprises, ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's, the Seagram's liquor company, toymaker Hasbro, Delta Airlines and Men's Wearhouse sent a letter to congressional leaders yesterday urging them to approve public financing for House and Senate campaigns. They say they are tired of getting fundraising calls from lawmakers -- and fear it will only get worse after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling.

The court ruled that corporations and unions can spend unlimited money on ads urging people to vote for or against candidates.

WASHINGTON -- Although the FBI has acknowledged it improperly obtained thousands of Americans' phone records for years, the Obama administration continues to assert that the bureau can obtain them without any formal legal process or court oversight.

The FBI revealed this stance in a newly released report.

In further support of the legal authority, however, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel backed the FBI in a written opinion issued this month.

The opinion by the OLC -- the section that wrote the memos that justified enhanced interrogation techniques during the last administration -- appears to be yet another sign that the Obama administration can be just as assertive as Mr. Bush's in claiming sweeping and controversial anti-terrorism powers.

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- California Controller John Chiang said he may have to use IOUs for the second year in a row to pay some government bills unless politicians close the $20 billion budget deficit facing the most-populous state.

Mr. Chiang, the elected Democratic official who pays the government's expenses, said in a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders today that California faces another potential "cash crisis" in July if lawmakers can't reach a budget agreement before the fiscal year ends June 30.

The state issued $2.6 billion of the vouchers last year to pay bills, resorting to promissory notes instead of cash for the second time since the Great Depression.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Sarah Palin's oldest daughter, Bristol, is seeking child support from the young man who fathered her 1-year-old son.

Documents filed Thursday in Superior Court in Palmer show Bristol Palin is seeking $1,750 a month from 19-year-old Levi Johnston, her former fiance. Their son, Tripp, was born in December 2008.

The details regarding child support come at the same time Bristol is seeking full custody of the baby.

-- Compiled from news services

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.