The details are sketchy, but why was this story buried on the web equivalent of page 12?

Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor. [...]

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately run prisons.

Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a written statement, "This is obviously a bogus charge on its face, as any good prosecutor can recognize." He said he hoped Texas authorities would take steps to stop "this abuse of the criminal justice system."

Another indictment released Tuesday accuses Lucio of profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies. Guerra announced his intention to investigate Lucio's prison consulting early last year.

All else aside: by what ethical or legal standard is the Vice President allowed to hold a personal financial stake in a company that profits from the federal prison system? They're damn right it's a conflict of interest. What about his stakes (past as CEO, present (?), or future as options) in Halliburton, which profited massively from the Iraq War?
No administration has the guts to prosecute its predecessors, so we'll never see any Bush administration officials indicted on federal charges. But state prosecutors might not be so encumbered... anyway this indictment has yet to be signed. God knows the judge is probably coming under all kinds of "pressure" right now.