Nation in brief: Palin reimburses state for trips

Anchorage, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin has paid more than $8,100 to reimburse Alaska for the costs associated with nine trips taken with her children.

Palin’s attorney, Thomas Van Flein, says the governor paid $8,143.62 to the state on June 19 for the nine trips, some with more than one of her five children, taken between January 2007 and February of this year. The payment was due Tuesday.

An ethics complaint had alleged Palin abused her power by charging the state when her children traveled with her. The Alaska Personnel Board found no wrongdoing, but Palin agreed …

Anchorage, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin has paid more than $8,100 to reimburse Alaska for the costs associated with nine trips taken with her children.

Palin’s attorney, Thomas Van Flein, says the governor paid $8,143.62 to the state on June 19 for the nine trips, some with more than one of her five children, taken between January 2007 and February of this year. The payment was due Tuesday.

An ethics complaint had alleged Palin abused her power by charging the state when her children traveled with her. The Alaska Personnel Board found no wrongdoing, but Palin agreed to reimburse the state for trips found to be of questionable state interest.

The board’s investigator, Timothy Petumenos, said in his report that state rules give little guidance to determine ethical standards for travel by the governor’s family. But he interpreted the law to require that the state pay only if the first family serves an important state interest.

Doctor confirms Jobs’ transplant

Memphis, Tenn. – Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has an “excellent prognosis” after receiving a liver transplant at a Tennessee hospital, a doctor confirmed Tuesday.

“He received a liver transplant because he was … the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available,” said Dr. James D. Eason, chief of transplantation at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis. “Mr. Jobs is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis.”

Eason said in a news release posted on the hospital’s Web site that when Jobs received the transplant, he was in end-stage liver disease.

Eason did not reveal when the operation took place, citing patient privacy.