After initially defending the contributions it received from Norman Hsu, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has decided to donate $23,000 it received from the now-controversial donor to charity.

Hsu was one of Clinton’s top fundraisers, but stories pulished this week by the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times raised questions about his activities. The Times story found that Hsu is wanted in California on grand theft charges.

Read more about the Clinton’s latest move here>

Hillary Clinton will spend much of the upcoming holiday weekend campaigning in the key states of Iowa and New Hampshire with her husband, Bill Clinton. It’s being dubbed as the Clinton Campaign’s Fall Kick-Off trip.

On Sunday, the senator and the former president will make stops in Concord and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

On Monday, its on to Iowa and stops in Sioux City and Des Moines.

Tom Staudter, who served as a spokesman for John Hall’s campaign for Congress in 2006 and briefly served as the newly-elected Congressman’s press secretary, called today to say he has a new job — Communications Director for state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

“I’m super pleased to be able to join her organization,” Staudter said about the Yonkers Democrat. “I’m really looking forward to a nice long run with her. She’s really a super person.”

Staudter said he got to know Stewart-Cousins last year when they would run into each other at various campaign stops. After he left Hall’s staff this spring, he was encouraged by Stewart-Cousins to apply for a job on her staff.

Staudter said he decided to leave Hall’s staff because the former Orleans singer wanted his press operations to be run out of Washington, D.C. and, for family reasons, Staudter could not move out of Westchester.

Anger over the Bush administration’s decision to limit the ability of states, including New York, to raise income limits for their federally subsidized health care programs for children seems to be growing.

Rep. Nita Lowey, a Harrison Democrat and one of the senior members of New York’s congressional delegation, held a press conference at a Port Chester health clinic this morning to declare her opposition to what she called the “sneak attack” on the State Child Health Insurance Program.

Lowey circulated copies of a letter she intends to have signed by each member of the delegation urging the Bush administration to reverse course and allow New York and other states to expand their programs. She also promised legislative action once Congress returns next month.

Meanwhile, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who threatened to sue the Bush administration over the issue earlier this week, teamed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today to oppose the Bush administration’s move. They co-wrote a letter to President Bush urging him to change the policy.

â€Å“Ensuring that all children in this country have access to quality health care is a foremost national priority and an issue that rises above party lines,â€? Spitzer said in a press release that accompanies the letter.

“Governor Schwarzenegger and I are joining together today to call on President Bush to do the right thing and roll back these troubling federal roadblocks,” Spitzer said. “These federal rules represent the wrong prescription for our children and will deny thousands of children access to the health insurance they need and deserve.â€?

Sen. Hillary Clinton released this statement today:

â€Å“Two years after the national tragedy of Katrina, we still don’t have a reliable hurricane protection system. We still haven’t rebuilt many schools, hospitals, firehouses or parks. And there are more than 60,000 families living in trailers. We need action by our federal government that leads to real, measurable improvements. We don’t need more of the Bush administration incompetence that turned a natural disaster into a national disgrace and an international embarrassment.

â€Å“Rebuilding New Orleans is not a local obligation, it is an American obligation. And we must finally begin to fulfill it. As President, that will not just be my goal – but my mission. That’s why I’ve outlined a comprehensive 10-point plan to rebuild the Gulf Coast that would begin the hard work of rebuilding the levees, returning people to their homes, cutting red tape to provide needed services and revamping our emergency response system to ensure that another Katrina cannot happen.

â€Å“When the history of Hurricane Katrina is written, it will say that the people of this country rallied around New Orleans. While our government stumbled at first, we ultimately found our way. That out of the sludge and ashes and destruction, we rebuilt the Gulf Coast—stronger, prouder, and more lasting than ever before.â€?

In a little different vein, Sen. Barack Obama sent a video. You can view it here.

In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal earlier this week published a story about the Paw family in San Francisco and their unlikely contributions to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The family lives in a seemingly modest home near the San Francisco airport but made contributions totaling $45,000 to Clinton since 2005. Those contributions, according to the newspaper, mirror contributions made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman and Clinton bundler who once listed the Paw home as his address.

Hsu, through his attorney, and the Clinton campaign both argued that there was nothing wrong with the contributions.

Today, though, the Los Angeles Times reported that Hsu is a fugitive. He is wanted in California on grand theft charges.

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani released this statement today regarding the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina:

“On this anniversary, Americans come together to remember all those who lost their lives, suffered or were affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. We must now use the lessons learned to ensure we are better prepared in the future. By building on the courage and skills of all our citizens, America will become a stronger, more resilient nation.”

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., this afternoon and, according to a report from Erin Kelly of Gannett News Service, used the occassion to joke about his much-speculated plans for higher office.

Instead of repeating his standard denial about running, he used this week’s resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to put a new twist on his punch line.

“Despite any rumors that you may have heard, I did not come to Washington to launch a stealth campaign to become the nation’s next attorney general,” Bloomberg told a crowd of about 400 people at the press club.

Bloomberg added that wouldn’t want to be grilled by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who led the fight to push Gonzales to resign.

“He’s a good senator and he really works hard for New York City,” Bloomberg said of Schumer. “But I don’t want to be the subject of his tenacious questioning.”

Bloomberg was in the nation’s capital to speak at an anti-poverty conference led by the Brookings Institution think tank.

Eight vigils opposing the Iraq war are planned for tonight in Westchester County as part of the Iraq Summer – MoveOn.org campaign.

The locations are:
The Westchester County Center at 100 Central Ave. in White Plains at 5 p.m.
Ossining High School on Route 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Dobbs Ferry near Stop and Shop at Broadway and Cedar Street at 7 p.m.
Tarrytown on Route 9 on the east side of Patriots’ Park at 7 p.m.
Larchmont/Mamaroneck at Memorial Park at Murray Avenue and Myrtle Blvd at 7 p.m.
Hastings library park at Maple Avenue in Hastings-on-Hudson at 7 p.m.
Yonkers at 34 Sunnyside Drive between Fairfield and Beechwood at 7 p.m.
Mount Kisco at North Bedford Road (Route 117) and Preston Way on the sidewalk near Applebees at 7 p.m.

The United Transportation Union, which represents 125,000 active and retired railroad, bus and public transit workers, has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, the first national union endorsement of the 2008 race.

“The UTU has a long history of picking winners early. Hillary will be a president that America’s working families can count on. Time and again, as a United States senator, she has stood with us,â€? said UTU President Paul Thompson, in a press release from Clinton’s campaign.

Clinton, in the release, said she was honored to have the union’s support and also took a slap at the Bush administration.

“America’s workers have been invisible to this administration, and it’s time they had an advocate in the White House,” Clinton said