Today's Details

-A senior aide to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) received nearly $2 million in departure payments from a Washington lobbying firm when he returned to Capitol Hill to work for Lewis, who is now under federal investigation for ties to that firm. FULL STORY

- Mary Matlin a former counselor to Vice President Cheney and an influential strategist for the White House — defended Ann Coulter’s vicious attack on the 9/11 widows. FULL STORY

- Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), one of the Democrats' leading antiwar voices, startled his political colleagues yesterday by announcing he would seek a senior leadership position if the Democrats win control of the House in November. FULL STORY

-The first tropical depression of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season formed Saturday in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, and was expected to become the year’s first named storm, forecasters said. FULL STORY

-Three detainees at Guantanamo Bay apparently committed suicide amid protests of the U.S. military prison by inmates, the Defense Department said Saturday. They were the first reported deaths at the controversial detention center where suspected terrorists have been held for as long as 4 1/2 years. FULL STORY

- U.S. officials have altered their account of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, saying he was alive and partly conscious after bombs destroyed his hideout, and an Iraqi man raised fresh questions about the events surrounding the end of Iraq's most-wanted militant. The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, told AP Television News on Friday that he saw U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the victim's nose. FULL STORY

-Insurgents signaled the fight is still on after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, posting an Internet video Saturday showing the beheading of three alleged Shiite death squad members in revenge for killing Sunnis. FULL STORY