PALIN INVESTIGATION ON FAST TRACK

     An ethics investigation into US Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been put on the fast track.
     The Alaska Legislature announced at the weekend that it will work to complete its probe into the state's governor's firing of her public-safety commissioner earlier than expected.
     It will now be completed weeks before the US election in November.
     State Senator Hollis French said seven witnesses told the Legislature's investigator they will not provide depositions and cancelled their meetings.
     French, a Democrat who is overseeing the investigation into whether 44-year-old Palin abused her power, said the Legislature will subpoena witnesses.
     Lawmakers say they have put the investigation on a fast track now that Palin is Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain's running mate.
     The investigation previously was expected to end on October 31.
     But French says the probe will now be completed three weeks earlier.
     In July, a state oversight committee approved  US$100,000 for an investigation.
     The probe is focussing on whether Palin unlawfully fired public-safety commissioner Walt Monegan because he would not dismiss Mike Wooten, a state trooper who went through a messy divorce with Palin's sister before the vice presidential nominee ran for governor of Alaska.