(Continued from page 24)

gineering company called to assess the sinkhole, said of the home. He described the earth below as a "very large, very fluid mass."
• "This is not your typical sinkhole," said Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill. "This is a chasm. For that reason, we're being very deliberate."
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Homeland Security Department released from its jails more than 2,000 illegal immigrants facing deportation in recent weeks due to looming budget cuts and planned to release 3,000 more during March, The Associated Press has learned.
• The newly disclosed figures, cited in internal budget documents reviewed by the AP, are significantly higher than the "few hundred" illegal immigrants the Obama administration acknowledged this week had been released under the budget-savings process.
• The government documents show that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement released roughly 1,000 illegal immigrants from its jails around the U.S. each week since at least Feb. 15. The agency's field offices have reported more than 2,000 immigrants released before intense criticism this week led to a temporary shutdown of the plan, according to the documents.
• The states where immigrants were released include Arizona, California, Georgia and Texas.
• The White House has said it was not consulted about the releases, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has acknowledged they occurred in a manner she regrets.
• ___

• BOSTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is stepping back onto the national stage -- if only briefly.
• The former Republican presidential candidate criticized President Barack Obama's leadership in an interview aired Friday night on Fox News, his first public comments after nearly four months in seclusion at his home in Southern California. He was scheduled to deliver his first postelection speech later in the month at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

(Continued on page 26)