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The "axis of evil" is apparently losing one of its star players after President Bush announced North Korea would be removed from the terrorism blacklist and trade sanctions would be lifted against the communist nation.

The announcement at the White House came after North Korea handed over a long-awaited accounting of its nuclear work to Chinese officials on Thursday, fulfilling a key step in the denuclearization process.

Bush called the declaration a positive step along a long road to get the nation to give up its nuclear weapons. Yet, he remained wary of the regime, which has lied about its nuclear work before. And North Korea's declaration, received six months late, falls short of what the administration once sought, leaving it open to criticism from those who want the U.S. to take an even tougher stance against the regime.

The ACLU has complained that Denver redacated several pages of the city jail policy manual before it was turned over to the group.

Sue Lindsay reports:

The ACLU sued the city last month to get the manual, citing concerns that the jail was unprepared to handle the anticipated onslaught of protester arrests during the Democratic National Convention.

"I am mystified," ACLU attorney Taylor Pendergrass said Wednesday. "The manual is heavily redacted, which we were hopeful it wouldn't be. Whole pages have been redacted in some of the policies that we have gotten previously.

"It's quite obvious the city is redacting stuff they are not entitled to under the open records act."

Jared Polis made a fortune as an Internet entrepreneur and continues to spend a chunk of it to run for Congress.

So far, Polis has put $3.7 million of his own money into his campaign for the Democratic Congressional nomination to replace Rep. Mark Udall, who is running for Senate. Polis is on track to become the largest-ever self-donor in Colorado political history.

Todd Hartman reports:

That puts pressure on his 2nd Congressional District primary competitors - former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, of Coal Creek Canyon, and land preservation advocate Will Shafroth, of Boulder - to keep up with advertising and mailings.

Guns for everybody.

The Supreme Court struck down a 32-year-old ban on handguns in the District of Columbia and ruled that Americans have a constitutional right to own guns for hunting and protection.

The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

The Supreme Court says execution is too severe a punishment for the rape of a child.

In a 5-4 decision, the court struck down a Louisiana law Wednesday that allows rapists to be executed if their victims are children.

The decision added a wrinkle to the court's death penalty law, further limiting who may be executed in the same term it upheld executions by lethal injection. The outcome in the lethal injection case rested partly on the rationale that because capital punishment itself is constitutional, there must be some way to carry it out.

But Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing the majority opinion, said that however devastating the crime to children, "the death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child."

His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented.