Washington in 5 minutes

EDUCATION

Sharpton, Gingrich push school reforms

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is joining forces with two unlikely allies, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, to push cities to fix failing schools.

The trio will visit Philadelphia, New Orleans and Baltimore later this year. They plan to add more stops as their tour progresses.

“These are cities that have real challenges but also tremendous hope and opportunity,” Mr. Duncan told reporters on a conference call Thursday. The idea came from a meeting they had with President Obama at the White House in May.

Mr. Sharpton, a firebrand community activist, said teachers and administrators aren’t the only ones responsible for improving schools. “The parents need to be challenged with the message of ’no excuses,’ ” he said.

Interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show Friday, the two men were asked how they had agreed to work together on education in view of the many differences they’ve had on other issues.

“I think that he has it exactly right, that education has to be the No. 1 civil right of the 21st century and I’ve been passionate about reforming education,” Mr. Gingrich said. “And we can’t get it done as a partisan issue.”

MILITARY

Pentagon can hire firm tied to Murtha

A defense contractor with longtime ties to Rep. John P. Murtha, Pennsylvania Democrat, will now be able to get new government work following a favorable ruling from the Navy.

An agreement between Kuchera Defense Systems of Windber, Pa., and the Navy comes amid a Justice Department criminal investigation that appears to be intensifying.

Dennis McGlynn, an attorney representing Kuchera, said Thursday night the firm was removed from the Excluded Parties List System of contractors blocked from government work. Mr. McGlynn said Kuchera made some accounting adjustments to satisfy the Navy.

Kuchera is caught up in a criminal investigation that became public early this year when FBI agents raided the company’s offices. In a separate raid last November, the FBI carted away financial records of campaign donations by a Washington-area lobbying firm founded by Paul Magliocchetti, who has long been close to Mr. Murtha.

Mr. Magliocchetti’s firm specialized in getting “earmarks” for defense contractors from Mr. Murtha and other House appropriators. The Justice Department investigation focuses on campaign donations from defense contractors that have fueled the process of congressional earmarks - specific projects that lawmakers direct to particular contractors - for many decades.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Sanford goes on Reserve duty

COLUMBIA, S.C. | South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford headed to Florida on Friday for a refresher course with the Air Force Reserves while a state ethics panel considered whether to investigate his state plane use and his flights on commercial airlines.

Capt. Sanford, as he is known in the Air Force Reserves, was scheduled for a two-day tour of duty at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City in the Florida Panhandle. The governor’s weekend in Florida comes a day after South Carolina’s attorney general called for an ethics inquiry into his travel, which has been under scrutiny since he admitted in June to having a mistress in Argentina.

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox said the governor took “private transportation” to Florida, but he wouldn’t say whether he drove or flew.

Mr. Sanford, who joined the Air Force Reserves in 2002, is assigned as a liaison officer between the military and the nation’s civilian leadership in the event of national crisis or an emergency.

“Capt. Sanford is obligated to attend a refresher course this weekend,” said Maj. Susan Romano, a spokesman for the 1st Air Force, which is based at Tyndall.

INDICTMENT

Former congressman indicted for DWI

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. | A former New York congressman has been indicted on a felony charge of drunken driving.

A Saratoga County grand jury indicted John Sweeney, 54, Friday.

State police stopped Mr. Sweeney for speeding early on April 5. He refused sobriety tests and was charged with his second DWI count since November 2007. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charged of misdemeanor DWI in that case.

The Republican lost his seat in 2006 to Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, now a U.S. senator, amid allegations of spousal abuse.

Mr. Sweeney’s lawyer, E. Stewart Jones, said he doesn’t think the indictment was the right way to resolve “this very sad matter.”

From wire dispatches and staff reports.