Lawmakers said President Barack Obama personally should apologize for targeting tea party organizations and they challenged the tax agency's blaming of low-level workers.

"I just don't buy that this was a couple of rogue IRS employees," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "After all, groups with 'progressive' in their names were not targeted similarly."

If it were just a small number of employees, she said, "then you would think that the high-level IRS supervisors would have rushed to make this public, fired the employees involved, apologized to the American people and informed Congress. None of that happened in a timely way."

The IRS said Friday that it was sorry for what it called the "inappropriate" targeting of the conservative groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware.

But according to a draft of a watchdog's report obtained Saturday by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner, senior IRS officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011.

The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration is expected to release the results of a nearly yearlong investigation in the coming week.

Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, said last week that the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias.

But on June 29, 2011, Lerner learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to the watchdog's report. At the meeting, she was told that groups with "Tea Party," ''Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says.

The 9/12 Project is a group started by conservative TV personality Glenn Beck.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said "the conclusion that the IRS came to is that they did have agents who were engaged in intimidation of political groups is as dangerous a problem the government can have."

He added, "This should send a chill up your spine. ... I don't know where it stops or who is involved."

Congressional Republicans already are conducting several investigations and asked for more.

"This mea culpa is not an honest one," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

After the AP report Saturday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that if the inspector general "finds that there were any rules broken or that conduct of government officials did not meet the standards required of them, the president expects that swift and appropriate steps will be taken to address any misconduct."

Collins said the revelations about the nation's tax agency only contribute to "the profound distrust that the American people have in government. It is absolutely chilling that the IRS was singling out conservative groups for extra review."

She said she was disappointed that Obama "hasn't personally condemned this." The president, Collins said, "needs to make crystal clear that this is totally unacceptable."

Lerner said that about 300 groups were singled out for additional review, with about one-quarter scrutinized because they had "tea party" or "patriot" somewhere in their applications.

Lerner said 150 of the cases have been closed and no group had its tax-exempt status revoked, though some withdrew their applications.

Collins appeared on CNN's "State of the Union," Rogers was on "Fox News Sunday" and Issa spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Floyd Mayweather showed little sign of ring-rust after a year out of the sport as he used sublime defense and a steady parade of right hands to dominate fellow American Robert Guerrero and retain his WBC welterweight championship on Saturday.

One day short of 12 months since his last bout, Mayweather, who also spent two months in jail in 2012 for a domestic abuse offence, landed an astonishing 60 percent of his power punches en route to a unanimous 12-round decision.

All three judges scored the fight 117-111 in favour of the undefeated Mayweather, who admitted that a damaged hand had prevented him from ending the fight early.

"I really was looking for a knockout, but I hurt my right hand," he revealed. "After that, I just had to box smart.

"Robert Guerrero was a tough warrior. He was trying to press the attack. But I got really good work in the gym and I felt comfortable in the ring. My defense was on point."

After an opening two rounds in which the southpaw Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KOs) had some success, Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs) seemed to slip into his comfort zone from the third.

Although the challenger's game plan seemed to be to back Mayweather to the ropes with his jab and then land punches to the body, the champion repeatedly slipped under his opponent's left, landed one or more right hands and moved out of danger.

After being hit with several rights in the third, Guerrero appeared more hesitant to commit to his attack, giving Mayweather yet more time to slip in and out of range and land his key punches.

"I thought Floyd did an excellent job tonight," said the 36-year-old's father and trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr.

"There was nothing he couldn't do in there tonight. I told him to steal it with the right hand. That was a punch (Guerrero) couldn't see and wasn't expecting each time he threw it."

By the eighth round, Mayweather was stepping up his assault, landing right hands with greater force and mixing in left hooks as he opened up a cut over a clearly hurt Guerrero's left eye.

At that stage, it appeared that Mayweather would stop Guerrero inside the distance and although he continued to paint his opponent with right hands and left hooks, the champion remained content to focus on coasting toward the finish.

"Floyd was tricky with his punches," Guerrero said in a post-fight interview. "He's a great fighter. He's slick and he's quick. He's better than I thought. He was definitely on his game tonight."

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has said she wants to be called just "Sonia from the Bronx."

And on Sunday, the first Hispanic justice on the nation's highest court explained why, saying "you can't come from the world I grew up in, the South Bronx, without feeling the frenzy of exile, constantly."

She spoke at Cooper Union, a private college in Manhattan's East Village where Abraham Lincoln once gave a speech against slavery.

The justice said she wasn't "doing press" on an evening in her hometown that ended with hugs from some members of the audience who asked her to sign their copies of her memoir, "My Beloved World."The best-selling book was published earlier this year with what she called Sunday "some baring of my own heart."

She spoke on the closing night of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York City, which included her conversation with scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

It was hardly a private event.

With a wry smile, Sotomayor said she recognized that "it seems pointless today to exclude the press from any event, when any member of the audience can tweet quotations."

This year's festival has focused on looking at the idea of bravery in art and politics.

The judge's speech came as she and fellow Supreme Court justices are considering three issues dividing the nation: affirmative action, voting rights and gay marriage.

Sotomayor was careful not to reveal her personal opinions, though she conceded that "it is impossible for a homosexual couple today not to be affected by the DOMA and Proposition 8 cases in some way," adding to laughter, "just so you're all clear, I'm not predicting anything."

The federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman now being considered by the Supreme Court. The court must also rule on California's Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage.

The justice told the New York audience on Sunday that 2013 is likely to be "a turning point for those whose lives will be changed, for better or for worse, by those rulings."

Born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, Sotomayor was nominated for the Supreme Court in 2009 by President Barack Obama and sworn in later that year.

She said she needs to keep returning to the Bronx, "to the essence of my world, with love, to take strength from."

Sotomayor said that while the streets of her childhood South Bronx were portrayed as "ugly, dirty, crime- and drug-ridden" in movies, she wrote about "the hopes and struggles of the people," about "a beloved world for someone like me."

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - The Florida Senate sent Governor Rick Scott a package of capital-punishment reforms on Monday designed to prevent condemned killers from spending decades on Death Row, despite warnings that speeding up the legal appeals process could lead to innocent prisoners being executed.

The "Timely Justice Act" sets deadlines for condemned killers to file appeals, and for the state to proceed with issuing warrants after the Florida Supreme Court upholds death sentences.

It also sets competency standards for lawyers handling cases. To reduce the number of appeals alleging incompetent counsel, any attorney twice found to have provided "constitutionally deficient representation" will be suspended from handling death appeals for five years.

"Is swift justice fair justice?" asked Democratic party Senator Arthenia Joyner, a Tampa attorney who voted against the bill. "We have seen cases where, years later, convicted people were exonerated," she said.

"I don't see the reason for the swiftness, especially with DNA evidence that can exonerate," said Senator Maria Sachs, who is also an attorney and a Democrat.

But Republican Senator Rob Bradley said, "this is not about guilt or innocence, it's about timely justice." Frivolous appeals designed only for delay are not fair to victims and their families, he said.

The act also requires the state Supreme Court to make annual reports to the Legislature on how many capital appeals have been pending more than three years. Attorneys found to have provided incompetent counsel would also be reported to the Florida Bar.

"Only God can judge," Matt Gaetz, a Republican who sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives, said last week during House debate. "But we sure can set up the meeting."

The House passed Gaetz's bill 84-34 last week. Governor Scott, a conservative Republican, is expected to sign the changes into law.

Florida has 400 men and five women currently under death sentence, with the next execution set for May 29. Gaetz and backers of his bill said 155 have been on Death Row for more than 20 years and 10 have been there more than 35 years.

Staff analysis of Gaetz's bill said the average time between sentence and execution, since Florida resumed executions in 1979, has been 13 years. The state has carried out 75 warrants in that time, second only to Texas, which has executed 496 convicted killers since 1976.

Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said 33 states currently have capital punishment, but Maryland is set to abolish it when that state's governor signs a repeal law this week. Five states have repealed the death penalty in the past six years, Dieter said.

"There's been a trend away from capital punishment," said Dieter. "The number of sentences imposed in the country has declined by 75 percent since 1990 and only nine states carried out an execution last year."

State Senator Darren Soto tried on Friday to raise the required jury vote from seven to 10 for death penalties. He said Florida is the only state allowing juries to recommend death by a simple majority of 7 to 5. He said Alabama is the only other state allowing non-unanimous death recommendations, which he said require 10 votes there.

(Editing by David Adams and Nick Zieminski)

The familiar sandbag party that kicked off what city officials call "tuck it in weekend" began in 2009 when residents fought the first of three straight major floods. Students placed 700,000 sandbags in less than two days during the last flood in 2011. Officials and residents hope not nearly as many are needed this year.

The students sandbagged 134 homes throughout the city Friday and headed back to school after lunch was served by grateful residents such as Glenda Bro. About 40 students, mostly from Fargo North, laughed and sang as they tossed sandbags outside the home where Bro and her husband, a Fargo physician, have lived for 32 years.

Bro said it was a relief to have the sandbagging help, which she called "organized and calm." The singing helped.

"That's kind of contagious," Bro said. "Fear is contagious, and so is a happy spirit."

The city has reason to be optimistic.

The latest forecast calls for the Red River to reach a water level between 37 and 39 feet, down a foot from the previous crest range. Although the river begins to spill its banks at 18 feet, few structures are threatened until the water level goes above 38 feet, thanks primarily to increased flood protection efforts in recent years.

"The bottom line is we're in excellent shape to meet the crisis of 2013," said Dennis Walaker, Fargo mayor.

The river measured 21.7 feet at 2 p.m. Friday. Tim Mahoney, Fargo's deputy mayor, said the city would be buttoned up by the end of the weekend, then officials will monitor the river on an hourly basis.

"This weekend what we want to do is tuck it in, which means get all our dikes done, get all our sandbagging done, get everything done," Mahoney said. "And then we wait and watch."

Many students were happy to be outside on what was the first day where temperatures had reached into the 60s this year.

Fargo North student Ross Ashland, 17, also said he felt good about sandbagging because he was forced to evacuate his house during a record flood in 2009. He was also happy to be outside in a T-shirt for the "first time since winter started."

Another North student, Tristin Schoenwald, 16, said most of his classmate wanted to start sandbagging Thursday but weren't complaining about a lower river crest prediction.

"We're happy to help," he said. "The community has always been there for us. It's nice to return the favor."

One 13-year-old sandbagger, Brooke Peterson, is home-schooled student whose friend lives in the neighborhood.

"It's great to help. I love it," she said. "It's a great workout and I'm getting fresh air."

City worker Jim Mohr, who directed sandbag placement behind the Bro home, said the students were extremely coachable.

"They get it down pretty quickly," Mohr said. "It's great to have them."

Although workers placed down plywood in an effort to limit damage to the neighborhoods, it wasn't an issue around Bro's house because it won't be around for long. Not too long ago, the city told her the house was low on the priority list for a buyout. But last Saturday, the city agreed to take it off their hands.

"That is an answered prayer because this house wouldn't sell," Bro said. "Nobody is going to buy a house on the river in Fargo."

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Follow Dave Kolpack on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/davekolpackap .

The new research, published today (April 22) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals the historical links between carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and surface temperatures on Earth. Between about 333.5 million years ago and 34 million years ago, the climate transitioned from theclimate to the cooler, low-carbon-dioxide Oligocene epoch. Scientists estimate that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere dropped from 1,000 parts per million to about 600 to 700 parts per million in this time frame.

During this time, ice sheets emerged overand the ocean cooled by some 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). Researchers have been able to peg ocean temperatures accurately using cores of rock and mud drilled from the deep ocean. Figuring out what was happening on land has been more difficult, however.

So study researcher Michael Hren, a professor of chemistry and geosciences at the University of Connecticut, and his colleagues turned to snails. They tested fossils of a freshwater snail, Viviparus lentus, from the Isle of Wight in Great Britain, looking for variations in carbon and oxygen molecules called isotopes. []

Most important, the researchers examined how the carbon and oxygen isotopes were bound together in the fossils. These bonds are temperature-dependent, so they told researchers how chilly or warm the water was when the snails lived. From that information, the scientists could calculate how hot the air must have been.

The shells revealed that freshwater temperatures cooled by 18 degrees F (10 degrees C) during the Eocene-Oligocene transition. The water-cooling translates to about a 7.2 degree to 11 degree F (4 to 6 degrees C) drop in air temperatures over northern Europe, the scientists reported.

These findings are important because human greenhouse gas emissions could drive atmospheric carbon dioxide up to near-Eocene levels. Ice cores put pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels at about 278 parts per million from A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1800. Today, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are at about 397 parts per million and climbing. According to a 2011 study in the journal Science by researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), if carbon dioxide continues to rise as it is today, Earth's atmosphere could hitby 2100.

"We are on a path to fundamentally alter our global climate state," Hren said in a statement. "These data definitely give you pause."

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Marine Police Sgt. Finley Leonce told The Associated Press that the captain and first mate were rescued on Monday around noon by a private boat owner who was helping with the search.

"They were waving their arms," he said. "They were still swimming to shore."

The two men are employees of a local company called "Reel Irie", which owns the 31-foot (9-meter) boat that sank on Sunday off the north coast of St. Lucia while on a fishing trip. Also aboard the boat were Dan Suski, a 30-year-old business owner and information technology expert from San Francisco, and his sister, Kate Suski, a 39-year-old architect from Seattle.

Leonce said authorities picked up the Suskis on Monday near Dauphin Beach on the island's northeast coast. The Suskis told the AP that they swam for nearly 14 hours, reached shore, and then hiked for about three hours the next day until they found a farm worker who called police for help.

All four of the survivors, who had been wearing life jackets, were hospitalized and treated for dehydration and various injuries.

An unidentified man who answered the phone at the "Reel Irie" company on Friday declined to comment. He only said that captain Griffith Frederick and mate Tim Cooper are doing well and that they are not providing interviews.

The boat's make and model were not available. Leonce said police did not have those details.

Leonce said the local weather service had issued a small craft advisory the day the boat sank, meaning that all small boats should remain close to shore.

"The sea conditions were very deplorable," he said.

About four hours into Sunday's fishing trip, the boat began taking on water amid heavy swells.

When authorities received the captain's distress call, they dispatched a boat immediately, but it took 30 minutes to reach their location, Leonce said.

Police also dispatched a helicopter and a small plane, and about nine private boat owners helped in the search, which was called off Sunday night and resumed early Monday, he said.

"Visibility was very poor on Sunday," he said. "The weather conditions were not the best. It was raining intermittently, with sometimes very heavy showers."

A preliminary investigation shows that the boat's bilge system could not handle the amount of water coming in, Leonce said.

"It's a little too early for me to say definitively what happened," said Leonce, adding that foul play has been ruled out.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faced 16 hours of questioning before he was advised of his Miranda rights, and investigators say he told them of his role in the two bombings near the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15. He explained that he and his brother, Tamerlan, were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case with reporters.

He also described a spur-of-the-moment plan that the brothers hatched to drive to New York and set off their remaining explosives there, New York City officials said Thursday.

In Boston, federal agents invoked an exception to the Miranda warnings that allows for questioning when public safety may be threatened. But they knew their time with Tsarnaev in the absence of a lawyer would be limited.

On Sunday, prosecutors filed a criminal complaint charging Tsarnaev with a role in the bombings. That action led directly to the improvised court hearing in the hospital the following morning at which U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler told Tsarnaev he did not have to answer questions and could have a lawyer.

And he apparently did stop, though other cases in recent years suggest that silence won't necessarily last.

Could that first hearing on Monday have been delayed?

The hearing is supposed to take place "without unnecessary delay," according to the federal rules, sometimes within a matter of hours.

The rules governing such hearings, known as an initial appearance, require the judge to tell a defendant of his rights, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said. "The prosecutors and FBI agents in Boston were advised of the scheduled initial appearance in advance of its occurrence."

Civil liberties advocates have said a suspect should rarely be questioned without a lawyer and without being told he doesn't have to respond.

"Miranda rights are an incredibly important civil liberties safeguard," said Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The public safety exception must be read narrowly, as it has been by the courts."

But California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, said he has questions about how the court proceeding came about.

"I would have thought the public safety exception would have allowed more time for the questioning of the suspect prior to the arraignment and/or advising of rights," Schiff said.

A fellow Democrat, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, agreed that some questions remain about when the judge arrived and whether she interrupted questioning. But, Levin said, " we do know there was 16 hours of questioning and that they got very detailed information."

Withholding a criminal suspect's Miranda rights becomes a legal issue only if authorities try to use what they learned during the questioning.

In fact, prosecutors probably will want to introduce Tsarnaev's confession as evidence against him.

"Prosecutors always prefer to have a confession," said Tamar Birckhead, a former federal defender in Boston who now teaches law at the University of North Carolina. She predicted there would be a protracted legal battle over Tsarnaev's statements, if his case comes to trial and prosecutors say they intend to use them.

But other legal experts said any controversy over those early statements should not obscure the rest of the government's case.

"When you read the affidavit, it lays out the evidence the FBI gathered wholly apart from any statements he made to law enforcement. Based on my experience, that's a pretty strong case, even without statements made by the defendant to law enforcement directly," said former federal prosecutor Juliet Sorensen, a Northwestern University law professor.

Tsarnaev apparently stopped talking to investigators once Bowler appointed the Federal Public Defender's office in Boston to represent him, said a U.S. law enforcement official and three congressional officials representing both political parties. The law enforcement official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to talk about the case with reporters. The congressional officials spoke on condition of anonymity because their information came from a confidential FBI briefing.

But that may not be final. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria, convicted of trying to blow up a packed jetliner using a bomb sewn into his underwear on Christmas Day 2009, also initially answered investigators' questions and then clammed up once he was read his rights, only to start cooperating again.

"This notion that they 'lawyer up' and that's the end of getting any information is just not true," said Miami defense lawyer Neal Sonnett.

David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor, said lawyers sometimes encourage their clients to cooperate. "The government generally has a lot of evidence against the individual. The criminal sentences are harsh and the likelihood of conviction is high. Defense counsel, seeing that, will often understand that cooperating is in his client's best interests," Cole said.

TUPELO, Mississippi (Reuters) - A Mississippi martial arts instructor suspected of mailing letters containing the deadly poison ricin to President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials appeared in federal court on Monday for a brief hearing.

James Everett Dutschke, 41, was arrested on Saturday in Tupelo, Mississippi, after authorities searched his home and former business. He is charged with developing and possessing ricin and attempting to use the poison as a weapon.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Dutschke responded briefly to a judge's questions during the eight-minute hearing in Oxford, Mississippi.

The judge, S. Allan Alexander, later granted an oral motion to keep an affidavit detailing the charges against Dutschke under seal until a detention hearing set for Thursday morning.

Dutschke has denied having any involvement with the ricin letters and said he cooperated with federal officials during their searches.

He faces a possible life sentence if convicted.

Dutschke's arrest came nearly two weeks after suspicious letters intended for Obama and U.S. Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi were intercepted. Tests showed they were tainted with ricin, a highly lethal poison made from castor beans. A separate ricin-laced letter was also sent to a Mississippi judge.

Authorities initially arrested another Mississippi man, Kevin Curtis, in the case but dropped the charges last week after a search of his house failed to turn up any evidence of his involvement.

Dutschke's name surfaced at a court hearing when Curtis' attorney suggested someone framed her client and mentioned a running feud between the two men.

He also faces charges in a separate case related to an April 1 indictment for fondling three children between ages 7 and 16, from 2007 to 2013, according to court records.

The ricin-tainted letters were discovered just days after the bombings of the Boston Marathon and during the massive police manhunt for those responsible, helping to fuel anxiety in the United States, especially in the capital.

The case rekindled memories of the 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks that killed five people and puzzled investigators for years. The Justice Department later said that a U.S. scientist who committed suicide was responsible.

(Additional reporting by Kevin Gray in Miami; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)

He said the opposition would not participate in the audit because the National Electoral Council did not meet its demand for an examination of registers containing voters' signatures and fingerprints.

Capriles said the opposition would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the results of the April 14 presidential vote, which was narrowly won by Hugo Chavez's political heir, Nicolas Maduro.

The electoral council, which is dominated by Chavista loyalists, announced last week that it would allow an audit of 46 percent of the vote not already audited. It said it would compare vote tallies from each machine with individual vote receipts from that machine.

"We consider this to be a joke," said Capriles, who contends the election was stolen from him.

"If we don't have access to the registers, we are not going to participate," he said.

Capriles said he was not optimistic that the Supreme Court, which also is packed with allies of the late Chavez, would overturn the election result.

"This is a fight for the truth," he said. "This fight is not over."

Earlier, Capriles had called on the council to allow his team to also examine registers containing voters' signatures and fingerprints. It would be impossible for the opposition's technicians to pinpoint irregularities without access to the registers, he said.

Allies of Capriles have received 3,200 complaints of irregularities all by pro-government forces.

Opposition politician Diego Scharifker said a complete audit would reduce tensions on both sides of Venezuela's political divide.

"The country wants to end the election chapter, but with the truth," Scharifker, a former student leader, said in an email sent to The Associated Press.

As Capriles sought to pressure the council, Maduro's allies threatened to prosecute him over violence that erupted after the vote.

Iris Varela, an official responsible for overseeing Venezuela's penitentiary system, suggested that Capriles would soon be behind bars.

"We are preparing a cell for you because you must pay for your crimes," Varela said.

Capriles vehemently denies responsibility for isolated acts of violence committed by some of his supporters. On numerous occasions since his narrow election defeat, Capriles has said he's leading "a peaceful struggle" to force the council to agree to a complete audit.

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Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker