Suzette Boler, of Caledonia, returned home that Sunday night and prepared the next day to return to her receptionist job at a small Caledonia employee benefits firm. She had taken four unpaid days off to see her husband of 22 years off to war.

Late Monday afternoon, Boler, 40, answered the phone. She was told to come in the next day and pick up her things.

She was fired.

States expect the costs of complying with the Real ID Act to top $500 million, the Financial Times reports.

---

Republican Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, chairman of the Governors Association, did not hide his criticism of the measure. "They have created a national nightmare and they'll probably be driving up the cost of the driver's licenses by three- or four-fold," the AP quoted Huckabee saying.

Watching coverage of Iran's presidential election on television dredged up 25-year-old memories that prompted four of the former hostages to exchange e-mails. And those four realized they shared the same conclusion -- the firm belief that President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been one of their Iranian captors.

Some could not even explain the difference between Sunnis and Shiites, the two primary groups of Muslims. And they still do not believe such experience is necessary today, even as terrorist acts occur across the globe.

A government biologist and a hydrologist, who both retired this year from the Bureau of Land Management, said their conclusions that the proposed rules might adversely affect water quality and wildlife, including endangered species, were excised and replaced with language justifying less-stringent regulations favored by cattle ranchers.

Dean noted that he, too, is a white Christian. But he said the GOP is too narrow in its scope and the Democratic Party is far more diverse.

While even prominent Democrats in recent days have distanced themselves from some of his comments, the outspoken Dean, appearing on NBC"s "Today" show, said criticism of him is meant by Republicans to divert attention from the country's problems and make him the issue instead.

"Comedy Central has suspended production on the third season of Chappelle's Show until further notice," network spokesman Tony Fox said in a brief statement. "All parties are optimistic that production will resume in the near future."