Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) appears on the U.S. Capitol steps in Washington December 2, 2011.

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO | Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:49pm EST

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Former Chicago congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., son of the famed civil rights leader, plans to plead guilty to charges filed on Friday accusing him of misusing $750,000 in campaign funds, his attorney said.

Jackson's wife, Sandi Jackson, has also agreed to plead guilty to a related charge of filing false tax returns, according to her attorneys. She resigned her seat on the Chicago city council last month.

Both Jacksons, once considered one of the most powerful couples in the city, issued statements accepting responsibility.

"I offer no excuses for my conduct and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I have made," said Jesse Jackson Jr, a Democrat, in his statement. He faces fraud and conspiracy charges.

Jackson's wife said in a statement that she was "deeply sorry" for her actions.

Once considered one of the most promising black politicians in the United States, Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned his congressional seat on November 21 for health reasons, acknowledging at the time that he was under investigation by the FBI.

Jackson was once talked about as having the potential to become the first black president, noted Andy Shaw, president and CEO of the Chicago-based Better Government Association.

"Instead of heading for the White House, he is heading for the big house, and that is an enormous fall from grace," Shaw said in a radio interview on WBBM-AM.

Jackson's father, a former presidential candidate, was not immediately available for comment.

Prosecutors said at least seven people were involved in the scheme to divert campaign funds to personal uses.

Among the accusations is that Jesse Jackson, Jr. shipped a $43,350 men's Rolex watch purchased with campaign funds to his D.C. address. He also shipped fur capes and parkas purchased with $5,150 in campaign funds to the Beverly Hills home of an unnamed person, the documents said.

As part of the case, the government said Jackson must forfeit tens of thousands of dollars in celebrity memorabilia derived from the alleged crimes, including a $4,600 fedora that once belonged to late pop star Michael Jackson.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, if convicted, Jackson faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and his wife three years, but defendants who accept responsibility are typically sentenced to much less than the maximum term.

JACKSON'S ABSENCE

Jackson disappeared from public view early in the summer of 2012 and speculation swirled for weeks about his condition. He said in late June he had taken a leave of absence two weeks earlier for treatment of what was then described as exhaustion.

Jackson issued a statement in early July saying his health problems were more serious and he needed extended in-patient treatment for unspecified "physical and emotional ailments."

Days later, his physician said the congressman was receiving intensive care for a "mood disorder" and was expected to make a full recovery. The Mayo Clinic announced in late July that Jackson had been admitted.

He was treated for at least six weeks at Mayo for bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic depression, which is marked by highs and lows of mood and can be treated by medication and psychological counseling.

Representative Danny Davis, another Chicago Democrat, said he believed the alleged offenses were related to the disorder, the symptoms of which can include reckless behavior, such as spending sprees.

"It's kind of beyond one's imagination," Davis told Reuters. "A $5,000 football - that's kind of bizarre. It's so sad and so unfortunate."

Jackson made it to Congress in 1995 after winning a special election triggered by the resignation of Representative Mel Reynolds, who was convicted of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. Reynolds is now vying for the seat again in a February 26 Democratic primary.

Jackson was a reliable liberal vote during his 17-year House career, supporting increases in the minimum wage, the expansion of environmental regulations and gay rights and, in 2008, the bailout of the teetering U.S. financial system.

He was also an early advocate of a strict timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. He was easily re-elected in November 2012, despite his absence from the district. His resignation came two weeks after the election.

In addition to the federal investigation of his campaign finances, Jackson had been the subject of a House ethics committee probe over an alleged bribe offered by a Jackson supporter in 2008 to then-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The bribe was said to be intended to entice Blagojevich to appoint Jackson to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. Jackson has admitted to lobbying for the seat, but denied knowing about any money offered to Blagojevich, who has since been convicted of corruption and imprisoned.

(Reporting by David Ingram in Washington, D.C., and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, speaks during a news conference in Rio de Janeiro June 20, 2012.

NEW YORK | Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:28pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The past four years of U.S. environmental regulation was marked by a crackdown on emissions that angered coal miners and power companies. Over the next four, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency will have to decide whether to take on an even larger industry: Big Oil.

Following Lisa Jackson's resignation on Wednesday, her successor will inherit the tricky task of regulating a drilling boom that has revolutionized the energy industry but raised fears over the possible contamination of water supplies.

The controversial technique at the center of the boom, hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting millions of gallons of water laced with chemicals deep into shale rocks to extract oil and gas. It has become a flashpoint issue, putting the EPA -- charged with safeguarding the nation's water -- in the middle of a fight between environmentalists and the energy industry.

Both sides now eagerly await a major EPA research project into fracking's effects on water supplies due in 2014, as well as final rules on issues including the disposal of wastewater and the use of 'diesel' chemicals in the process.

It is unclear who will take the role, but the incoming chief may have a "huge impact" on the oil and gas industry, says Robert McNally, a White House energy adviser during the George W. Bush administration who now heads the Rapidan Group, a consulting firm.

On the one hand, energy industry and big manufacturers are warning the EPA not to impede a drilling boom that offers the promise of decades' worth of cheap energy. Meanwhile, environmentalists are pressing President Barack Obama to ensure the drilling bonanza is not endangering water resources.

"This administration clearly needs contributors to economic growth for its economic legacy as much as it needs to add to its environmental legacy," said Bruce Bullock of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"This appointment could be key in seeing which of those two legacies is more important."

There are many contenders for the role, but no clear front-runner as yet. Obama may seek an insider to avoid a difficult confirmation process, with possible candidates including Bob Perciasepe, the EPA deputy administrator and interim chief, and Gina McCarthy, who runs the air quality division.

Obama is unlikely to win Congressional approval for a heavy-handed regulator, and there is no suggestion of a stringent crackdown.

Even Jackson, who suffered withering criticism from big industry and Republicans for her efforts to curb pollution and limit greenhouse gas emissions, has cautiously condoned the practice as safe, while acknowledging the need for greater study and, in some cases, oversight.

"(Fracking technology) is perfectly capable of being clean," Jackson said in February. "It requires smart regulation, smart rules of the road."

Jackson's successor may now be charged with refining those rules, and both energy companies and fracking critics are anxious about the outcome.

Industry body Independent Petroleum Association of America said the EPA has "hindered development" of oil and gas for four years, and looks forward to a new chief who will promote energy drilling "hand in hand" with environmental regulation.

Executive director of the Sierra Club environmental group Michael Brune says the EPA has "unfinished business" in addressing things such as the release of methane emissions during fracking.

APPETITE TO REGULATE

Some analysts say Obama will not risk the economic stimulus of cheaper, domestic energy by pushing for tougher regulations. The oil sector is one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy; natural gas prices are near their lowest in a decade, a boon for manufacturers, and U.S. oil output is the highest in 18 years.

"Even before (Jackson's resignation) there didn't seem to be much of an appetite in the White House to regulate shale drilling on a federal level in the next couple of years," says Nitzan Goldberger, U.S. energy policy analyst with Eurasia Group.

But big drillers such as ExxonMobil and Chesapeake who have plowed billions of dollars into shale fields are watching carefully for any sign of new rules or oversight.

Mark P. Fitzsimmons, a former lawyer in the Department of Justice's environmental division, and now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Wash DC, says there is "a risk of overregulation." Some drilling activity has already slowed sharply this year due to the slump in natural gas prices.

"Regulatory overlays that add to the cost of production will further slow down development" but won't stop it, he said.

While fracking technology has been around for decades, it has only gained widespread use across dozens of states in recent years. The EPA, like many groups, has struggled to keep up with the expansion, according to Government Accountability Office reports released earlier this year.

After years in which states were mostly responsible for regulating onshore drilling, the new EPA administrator will be pressed to take a more central role.

A year ago, in the first U.S. government report of its kind, the EPA drew a potential link between water contamination in rural Pavillion, Wyoming and fracking, based on samples of ground water from the area. That study has been contested, and subsequent research has been inconclusive.

A firmer word on the impact may not emerge until 2014, when the EPA is expected to release the first exhaustive in-depth government study on the long-term effects of fracking on drinking water, commissioned by Congress over two years.

While climate change issues and air pollution may remain larger agency priorities, fracking is moving up the agenda.

"I don't think they would be capable of ignoring something that Matt Damon makes a movie about," said Fitzsimmons.

Damon and John Krasinski star in "Promised Land," a new film that opened on Friday exploring the social impact of fracking. It received mixed reviews from critics, but is being closely watched by an energy industry that fears it could further antagonize public opinion over domestic drilling.

A Gallup poll this year showed drinking water contamination is the leading environmental concern among Americans.

DIESEL, WASTEWATER AND FLARING

The debate rages over a diverse range of issues.

While fracking was exempted from the Federal Clean Water Act in 2005, operations that used diesel fuel, which contains a number of toxic chemical compounds, were not exempted.

However, what exactly constitutes "diesel" has been a bone of contention among oil firms and environmental groups.

"The question is how to define "diesel" - broadly or narrowly," says consultant McNally.

"It's a big issue especially for Bakken producers," he said, referring to the region of North Dakota where crude oil output has more than tripled in two years.

The EPA published a draft definition in May, which met with criticism from the industry and some legislators, but it will fall to the new administrator to set a final definition.

Under Jackson, the EPA also said it would begin to regulate the millions of gallons a day of wastewater that is withdrawn from wells after the fracking process, probably in 2014. This is usually trucked offsite and sometimes re-injected elsewhere, although increasingly it is being reprocessed for further use.

And eventually, the EPA could face pressure to backtrack on previous initiatives. In April, the agency relented to pressure from the industry, giving drillers until January 2015 to end the practice of "flaring" excess natural gas from wells that were not connected to pipelines. It had initially proposed that firms cease almost immediately.

For Jackson's successor, a central question is whether the EPA takes a broader role in the industry, or, as Jackson hinted a year ago, allows state officials to call most the shots when it comes to drilling:

"It's not to say that there isn't a federal role, but you can't start to talk about a federal role without acknowledging the very strong state role."

(Additional reporting by Selam Gebrekidan and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Joseph Radford and Andrew Hay)

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, speaks during a news conference in Rio de Janeiro June 20, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:54pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, who spearheaded the Obama administration's crackdown on carbon emissions, said on Thursday she will step down after almost four years of battles with Republican lawmakers and industry over proposed regulations.

Under her leadership, the agency declared for the first time that carbon dioxide was a danger to human health and could be regulated under the Clean Air Act, leading the EPA to develop a new regulatory regime to limit carbon emissions.

Industry groups and Republican lawmakers opposed Jackson's efforts to fight climate change, hauling her in for numerous hearings in Congress, and she faced some pushback from within the administration too.

She won praise from many environmental groups, while others complained her EPA was too timid. It was unclear what direction the administration will take on climate change during President Barack Obama's second term.

Obama thanked Jackson for her service, praising her work on mercury pollution limits, fighting climate change and helping set new fuel economy standards for vehicles.

"Under her leadership, the EPA has taken sensible and important steps to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink," Obama said in a statement.

Jackson, the first black administrator of the 17,000-strong EPA, said in a statement she was "confident the (EPA) ship is sailing in the right direction."

Jackson, 50, is expected to leave her cabinet position after Obama's State of the Union address in early 2013. Leading the list of potential replacements are Bob Perciasepe, deputy EPA administrator, who will take over the agency on an interim basis; and Kathleen McGinty, a former head of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection and a protégé of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Also said to be in the mix are Gina McCarthy, the EPA's assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation; and Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board.

Jackson's departure was not a surprise. Analysts had not expected her to stay for Obama's second term.

The administration is expected to face a tough fight to get any potential nominee confirmed by the Senate -- especially any candidate seen as being in the mold of Jackson.

"Secretary Jackson played the environmental ‘bad cop' to President Obama's more moderate ‘good cop,' but the result of their tag-team effort has been a huge expansion of the EPA's power. That's the exact opposite of what is needed," said S. T. Karnick, research director at the Heartland Institute, a Chicago group that is skeptical of man-made climate change.

Jackson is the first major energy policy official to step aside since Obama's re-election last month. Some have speculated that Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel prize-winning physicist who has also clashed with industry, will also depart, as may Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

BRUISING ENCOUNTERS

Republican lawmakers accused Jackson's EPA of massive government overreach that choked economic growth, and passed numerous bills aimed at undoing the regulations. Obama did not sign their bills into law, but the White House did begin to pull back or delay rules in the face of the relentless onslaught.

Some speculated Jackson would step down in 2011, when Obama decided to delay rules to restrict emissions of smog-forming chemicals from power plants.

"From an energy and consumer perspective, it has to be said that the Jackson EPA presided over some of the most expensive and controversial rules in agency history," said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, which lobbied against many of the EPA's proposed regulations.

States and governors fought Jackson's rules in the courts, scoring a win in August when a U.S. appeals court overturned the EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, aimed at reducing harmful emissions from coal-burning power plants.

On Thursday, many environmentalists and public health advocates hailed Jackson, saying she leaves a legacy of cleaner air.

"Administrator Jackson has been one of the most effective leaders in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency," Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation.

Jackson is a chemical engineer by training, and reports in recent weeks suggested she might be under consideration for the post of president of Princeton University. She is also a one-time chief of staff of New Jersey Governor John Corzine, and other media reports say she may be mulling a run for governor of that state.

Despite contentious dealings with Congress, Jackson maintained a cordial relationship with one of her biggest critics, Senator Jim Inhofe. She even kept a photo of the Oklahoma Republican and his grandchildren in her office.

"Lisa Jackson and I disagreed on many issues and regulations while she headed the EPA, however, I have always appreciated her receptivity to my concerns, her accessibility and her honesty," said Inhofe, who has called climate change a hoax, chided the Obama administration for a "far left green agenda" and vigorously opposed carbon regulations.

Inhofe said Jackson's departure offers the White House the chance to appoint someone "who appreciates the needs of our economy."

UNFINISHED AGENDA INCLUDES FRACKING

A self-described pragmatist, Jackson passionately fought to limit air pollution. She often described her two sons' struggles with asthma when discussing the importance of clean air.

Jackson also rejected her critics' complaints that stronger environmental rules were incompatible with a robust economy.

When broad climate change legislation sputtered in Congress in 2010, the EPA became the White House's main vehicle for addressing carbon emissions.

Since then, the agency has finalized rules outlining restrictions on carbon emissions for new power plants, effectively prohibiting the construction of new coal-fired plants without carbon-capture and storage technology.

Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke said Jackson's successor "will inherit an unfinished agenda that begins with the issuance of new health protections against carbon pollution from existing power plants - the largest remaining driver of climate change that needs to be controlled."

The EPA also will help decide whether the federal government will regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The drilling technique has sparked a boom in U.S. energy production but opponents have linked it to water pollution and other problems.

Most regulation of fracking has fallen to the states, but the EPA has said it plans to propose standards on wastewater from gas wells by 2014 and is considering rules that would require more disclosure about the chemicals used in fracking.

U.S. oil and gas production has reached record levels in recent years. Even so, drillers have complained that EPA has taken too heavy a hand in regulating energy production and warn that onerous rules could crimp oil and gas output.

"In the past four years, EPA has hindered development of our nation's oil and natural gas resources by making it difficult for America's independent producers to overcome the enormous regulatory obstacles to operate," said Julia Bell, spokeswoman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

(Additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Ros Krasny, Will Dunham, Mohammad Zargham and David Gregorio)

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A portrait of the late pop star Michael Jackson is displayed on a slot machine at Gaming Expo Asia in Macau May 22, 2012.

NEW YORK | Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:54pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Jackson was the ultimate entertainer, who oversaw all the details of his shows, from the slick choreography to the rhinestones and pearls carefully hand sewn onto his elaborate costumes, his longtime costume designer says.

As much as music and dance characterized the pop superstar, the late Jackson was also known for his style, from military outfits and regalia, to jewel-encrusted gloves, fedora hats and intricately beaded jackets.

In a new book, "The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson," Michael Bush, the man who designed and made Jackson's stage costumes for 25 years until the pop star's death in 2009, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar and the development of his signature style.

"The clothes had to work around the way he was performing," Bush told Reuters in a telephone interview. "He wanted his outfits, or his costumes, to be as entertaining on a hanger as they were on him. It was an added layer of refinement and detail that he was projecting to his audience."

Everything Jackson wore had a focus and was an extension of what he was doing on stage, with dance playing a pivotal role in the designs. He favored rhinestones and beading because they reflected the stage lighting.

Function, fitness and comfort were essential, with neckties and fringes forbidden because they could be grabbed by fans.

"It was very contrived. It was very thought out," said Bush, adding that as the stadiums got bigger, Jackson's pants got shorter and shorter, the better to see his rhinestone socks.

"Michael was concerned that the people in the back row paid just as much to see him perform as the people in the front, so no one got cheated out of the entertainment he was projecting, because everyone could see what he was doing," Bush said.

MAN OF PARADOXES

Each of the 800 to 900 costumes Bush and his partner Dennis Tompkins, who died last year, made for Jackson were over-the-top, skin tight, flashy pop-star creations. Many are shown in detailed photographs in the book, along with sketches and performance photos.

Still, away from the spotlight, Jackson preferred more casual, loose-fitting corduroy shirts, black cotton pants with front pleats, and loafers.

And despite all his fame and wealth, and gifts of expensive designer shoes, Jackson always performed in Florsheim shoes, which can be purchased in most U.S. malls.

"He taught himself to dance in Florsheims. They were comfortable and were what he had worn as a child star," Bush explained in the book, to be published October 23.

Jackson's style evolved from his military outfits, featuring taut lines and embellishments and designed with his female audience in mind. These were followed by a more rebellious, edgy look with leather jackets, including one with small spoons and forks dangling, like military medals, across the front.

"The first layer was the jacket, then we put the zipper underneath that and the buckles from the "Bad" album look, and then we asked: 'How can we make this larger than life on stage?'"

Strobe lights and electric jackets were the next step. Each album had its own look, which evolved from the look preceding it.

Perhaps Bush and Tompkins's greatest achievement was Jackson's "lean shoes," which were eventually patented. He first performed his "lean move," leaning forward at a 45-degree angle in the short film "Smooth Criminal" in 1987, thanks to behind-the-scenes magic.

Bush and Tompkins were tasked with developing shoes that would allow Jackson to perform the move before a live audience, without falling over. It took Tompkins a month but he devised shoes that bolted to the floor and worked perfectly on stage.

Although Jackson claimed not to have a favorite costume, Bush said the one the pop star liked the most, and in which he was laid to rest, was the pearl and bead encrusted white military jacket that he wore when his sister Janet handed him a Grammy award in 1993.

There wasn't time to track down the original jacket when the Jackson family contacted Bush and Tompkins and asked them to choose his final outfit, so they made a copy.

"Michael was a man of many paradoxes, most of which we were able to represent in the clothes we designed: Rigid military cuts that were also elastic and moveable; rebellious regalia, fit for army commanders, worn over the heart of a gentle man; bedazzled embellishments adorning a man blessed with a quiet humility; one of a kind, handcrafted clothes worn with aged, scuffed Florsheim shoes," Bush said in the book.

Jackson, 50, died in Los Angeles in June 2009 from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, which he was taking to help him sleep. His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is serving a four-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bernadette Baum)

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