The New York Times editorial board is now calling on Congress to investigate the allegations made about Bush Justice Department manipulation of justice in the Jill Simpson affidavit. The editorial page even refers to it as the “Bush Justice Department.”

This is a first, and signals some kind of major sea change at the Times. I tried to get the New York Times to show some skepticism of the Bush Justice Department in its handling of the case of HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy back in the winter of 2005.

Instead, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin referred to one of the Times business reporters as her “little buddy.” Every correspondent I worked for covering that case demonstrated that all they were interested in was throwing Scrushy in jail for the rest of his life and taking all his money away.

The Times editors in the Business section did not back me up when I was harassed by certain U.S. Marshals at the federal courthouse in Birmingham – simply because I was working for the New York Times and the Times had failed to obtain press credentials in advance of the trial.

The paper also never included in ANY story ANY of my reporting showing that the Scrushy case was in some ways politically motivated.

I have no way of knowing if there has been a major personnel change at the Times or why they have changed their minds. Maybe we can chalk that up to Jill Simpson and her sworn affidavit.

Now if only the House and Senate Judiciary Committees would heed what the “new” Times is saying and call for a full investigation, perhaps we can get to the bottom of this once and for all.

In any event, the reporting on this is not over…

NYT: Questions About a Governor’s Fall

The investigation into White House connections to the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy continues by a number of news organizations, although we won’t be publishing much about that here until those stories emerge.

Locust Fork News and Journal Editor and Publisher Glynn Wilson is working under a national investigative reporting grant for several national news outlets, all of which require exclusivity for specific stories under development. So it would not be proper for those stories to be foreshadowed or commented on in this space. Links will be provided when those stories are published.

Keep all those tips coming via e-mail. We appreciate all the supportive comments about the work we have accomplished on this site since it’s creation as Mr. Scrushy’s first trial was underway in 2005 in Birmingham. That was the case that resulted in acquittal.

We will continue to publish here on other subjects as stories arise, so check back often to see what else we’ve got in store.

For those of you who may be new to this Website, this in an experiment in online publishing produced by experienced journalists and photographers. We mostly focus on the big national stories of the day, although we sometimes explore stories of regional, statewide or even local interest – when they spark our interest – especially concerning politics, science and the natural environment.

In that vein, we are also into wildlife photography, especially birds. So if that floats your boat, check back during the bird migration season in spring and fall.

As always, if you have suggestions for improving the site we would love to hear them, although we can’t promise we will be able to implement them all.

Happy surfing…