The next U.S. ambassador to Latvia is to be a former politician from the state of Iowa, President George W. Bush announced Nov. 30. Charles W. Larson Jr. would replace Catherine Todd Bailey, who became ambassador in 2004.

Larson is a lawyer and a partner in Lincoln Strategies Group, a communications and public relations firm in West Des Moines, Iowa. He also is a major in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps.

Larson earlier served terms as state representative and as state senator in the Iowa General Assembly, representing the Cedar Rapids area.

After serving a year in Iraq from 2004-2005, Larson founded Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, a nonprofit organization that supports the U.S. military’s efforts.

Larson also is a former chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. Like Bailey, he is a Bush Ranger, meaning he raised at least USD 200,000 for the president’s reelection campaign.

He earned his bachelor’s degree and his law degree from the University of Iowa.

The president’s nomination will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A total of 75 Latvian citizens have won a chance to apply for U.S. permanent resident visas under the 2008 diversity lottery, a State Department spokesman announced Nov. 30.

In all, 96,000 people have been notified they can apply for one of the 50,000 permanent resident visas, also known as “green cards.” About 6.4 million people applied to the diversity lottery.

The number of Latvian citizens approved is the same as last year. A total of 97 Latvian applications were approved in 2006, 158 were approved in 2005 and 172 were approved in 2004.

Thirty-seven applications from Estonian citizens and 334 from Lithuanians were approved under the 2008 program.

The application period for the 2009 diversity lottery ended Dec. 2.

Further information on the program is available by visiting dvlottery.state.gov.

A year after her apparent murder-for-hire, Irish police have issued a renewed appeal for any information into the 2006 slaying of Baiba Saulīte, a Latvian mother of two.

Saulīte was gunned down Nov. 19, 2006, as she was visiting with two acquaintances at her home in the Swords neighborhood north of Dublin. Several people, including her estranged husband Hassan Hassan, have been questioned in the murder, but no charges have been filed.

The Irish police ask that any person with information about the murder, or who may have been in the Holywell area of Swords contact the Swords Garda Station. The station can be reached at +353 01-666-4700. In Ireland, persons may also call the Garda Confidential Line at 1-800-666-111 or the Crime Stoppers line at 1-800-250-025, the Garda Press Office said in a Nov. 18 statement.

Most recently police in July released two men who had been detained for questioning.

Saulīte, 28, was killed while her sons, ages 3 and 5, slept in the home’s upstairs.

Hassan, who is serving prison terms for his part in a stolen car scheme and for abducting his sons, was suspected in involvement in his wife’s murder, according to Irish media reports. Those reports also have suggested Saulīte was murdered as a result of a feud between Irish criminal gangs.