by James Oliphant

Need a quick break from political coverage? Here's an item from the Star-Tribune in Minnesota that qualifies as the bizarre story of the day.

Man punches woman thinking she's a man messin' with his woman

A man who mistook the gender of someone hugging his girlfriend punched the woman and threw her down, police in Blaine said.

According to police:

Last week, Amanda Christianson was being dropped off at her home in Blaine by her friend Alyssa Smith of Fridley. Christianson's boyfriend, Alexander Wald, came out from the residence in the 9500 block of NE. Able Street and saw the two women hugging.

Thinking that his girlfriend was being affectionate with another man, he started punching Smith several times and threw her to the floor.

Once Wald, 22, realized that Smith was a woman, he walked away.

Wald was cited by mail with fifth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

There's a country song in here somewhere.

Posted by Jim Oliphant at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

by James Oliphant

It's New Year's Eve, Amateur Night for much of America, but just another reason for revelry in New Orleans.

But the residents of the Crescent City can be forgiven if they want to move on to next year, as 2007 was among the bloodiest in the city's history given its shrunken post-Katrina population. More than 200 people were murdered, giving New Orleans a sky-high homicide rate that triples other cities.

Some blame a lack of economic opportunities, which was exacerbated by the hurricane. Others the overwhelmed and troubled criminal justice system. And those who remain bullish on the city's recovery say the murders are largely confined to certain neighborhoods, and are largely over the drug trade.

Here's the story in today's Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Jim Oliphant at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

by James Oliphant

During its late-night session yesterday, the Senate passed a bill aimed at ensuring the safety of the nation’s judges.

The Senate’s version of the Court Security Improvement Act follows a similar bill passed earlier this year by the House. The legislation now goes back to the House today to be reconciled with the Senate bill. Once that happens, it will go to the White House for the president’s signature.

The bill is a direct response to the murders of the family of Chicago federal judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow in 2005 and comes on the heels of a government report released earlier this year that said the U.S. Marshals Service wasn’t doing enough to assess threats against judges and courthouse personnel.

The bill authorizes the appropriation of $200 million over four years to provide additional staff to the Marshals Service and to provide grants to state and local governments to improve court security and protect victims and witnesses. The legislation also authorizes the appropriation of $100 million over that period to states to assess domestic terrorism (which, for some reason, has been lumped into a court security bill).

Continue reading "Court security bill to go to president" »

Posted by Jim Oliphant at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

by Gabrielle Russon

It's a crime that Marisa Garcia said she's being punished for twice.

Seven years ago, police found a pipe with marijuana residue in her car. "I went to the court, pled guilty and figured I'd pay my fine and that would be done," said Garcia, who was then a freshman at California State University at Fullerton.

Instead her financial aid form was returned, and Garcia, hailing from a single parent household, was stripped of her federal funding because of the drug conviction. To keep Garcia in school, her mother refinanced their family home and charged her textbooks on a credit card.

On Wednesday, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) announced an amendment for the reauthorization of Higher Education Act that would allow college students with drug convictions to keep their financial aid. It was later withdrawn.

Continue reading "Second chance for collegians with drug offenses?" »

Posted by Frank James at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Arthur H. Bremer being restrained after shooting Ala. Gov. George C. Wallace, May 15, 1972, following a campaign speech in Laurel, Md. (AP Photo/File)

by Matthew Hay Brown

The release today of the man who shot and paralyzed presidential candidate George Wallace during a campaign stop in Maryland 35 years ago is drawing criticism from the Wallace family.

“He hurt a lot of people,” Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of the former Alabama governor, told The Baltimore Sun this week. “My father suffered for 25 years after that and his children suffered right along with him. His physical pain was our emotional pain.”

Arthur H. Bremer – the aggrieved loner whose 1972 assassination attempt inspired the Robert De Niro character Taxi Driver, which inspired John Hinckley’s 1981 attack on President Ronald Reagan – was released from the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown this morning after serving two thirds of a 53-year sentence.

“It is an affront to justice, it is an affront to the Wallace family and it is an affront to the citizens of Alabama that this man could escape the small measure of justice that remained, by being released before serving every day of the sentence he earned and should be required to complete in full,” Alabama Attorney General Troy King said in a statement.

Corrections officials say Bremer’s clean prison record qualified him for the mandatory early release. The 57-year-old is to remain in Maryland, where he will be required to maintain contact with parole and probation agents until his sentence ends in 2025.

“The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services believes the public’s interest, safety and security is best served by allowing Arthur Bremer to become acclimated to today's world at his own pace and with as much anonymity as possible,” the agency said today in a statement.

Continue reading "Wallace shooter out; late guv's family unhappy" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

by James Oliphant

Ever since the Supreme Court decided to rule on the legality of the method that most states used to execute prisoners, the question has been whether states would halt their scheduled executions to await the court’s decision.

An increasing number of federal and state judges appear to be doing just that, although it hasn’t been uniform. This week, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta stopped the execution of an Alabama man so the entire complement of judges on the court can take up the issue of whether to allow it to proceed.

In September, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Kentucky action that argues the three-drug cocktail used in lethal injection is unconstitutional because it causes unnecessary pain and suffering before death, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Since then, several judges have interpreted the move as imposing a de facto moratorium on executions, although the court never issued such an order. However, the court did block the scheduled execution of a Virginia man, Christopher Scott Emmett, Oct. 17, pending disposition of his lethal injection challenge in the federal appeals court in Richmond.

Continue reading "Halting lethal injections in their tracks" »

Posted by Jim Oliphant at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

by James Oliphant

Ever since the Supreme Court decided to rule on the legality of the method that most states used to execute prisoners, the question has been whether states would halt their scheduled executions to await the court’s decision.

An increasing number of federal and state judges appear to be doing just that, although it hasn’t been uniform. This week, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta stopped the execution of an Alabama man so the entire complement of judges on the court can take up the issue of whether to allow it to proceed.

In September, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Kentucky action that argues the three-drug cocktail used in lethal injection is unconstitutional because it causes unnecessary pain and suffering before death, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Since then, several judges have interpreted the move as imposing a de facto moratorium on executions, although the court never issued such an order. However, the court did block the scheduled execution of a Virginia man, Christopher Scott Emmett, Oct. 17, pending disposition of his lethal injection challenge in the federal appeals court in Richmond.

Continue reading "Halting lethal injections in their tracks" »

Posted by Jim Oliphant at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

by Frank James

These are good days to be a white-collar criminal or a corrupt public official, apparently.

According to an analysis of Justice Department data, federal prosecutions of white collar criminals are down significantly since the period before President Bush took office, as are prosecutions of corrupt public officials.

A non-partisan research organization with an ungainly name, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse which is associated with Syracuse University, looked at the numbers and found that prosecutions of white-collar criminals have fallen 27 percent between fiscal year 2000 and 2007.

Meanwhile, public corruption prosecutions have fallen 14 percent in that same time period.

It’s possible that there’s less white-collar crime and public corruption in the nation which would explain the drop but that’s rather unlikely.

Continue reading "White-collar and other prosecutions fall under Bush" »

Posted by Frank James at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)

by Mark Silva

The Drug Enforcement Agency, the only American agency committed solely to fighting a war against drugs, may be viewed as a domestic operation, but its leader says it is deeply involved in a global fight against a drug trade estimated at $320 billion a year.

In Pakistan – now “nearly poppy-free’’ – the DEA administrator delivered an address today that touts gains the agency and allies are making in neighboring Afghanistan, where a flourishing poppy trade is financing the operations of terrorists.

“You live in the shadow of a monster – the Afghan opium trade,’’ Karen Tandy, the DEA administrator (pictured at right in a DEA photo) told the Pakistanis today. She flew in from Afghanistan this morning to deliver her message in Islamabad. She was touting successes in the Afghan arena:

 “Arresting two of the world’s most wanted drug lords— Haji Bashir Noorzai and Haji Baz Mohammad, both connected to the Taliban—resulting in the disruption of their large-scale drug enterprises and the first ever extradition from Afghanistan to the United States.

 “Last year’s Afghan convictions and sentencing of three long-time, significant traffickers (Misri Khan, Haji Bahram, and Noor Ullah) to lengthy prison terms under the new Afghan narcotics laws.

 “This spring’s arrest of Mohammad Essa, a known terrorist and large-scale drug trafficker.

 “The arrests in June of Babah and Salam Khan—significant opium and heroin traffickers.

Continue reading "DEA, fighting a 'monster,' touts Afghan drug busts" »

Posted by Mark Silva at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

by Mark Silva

The hemispheric summit of President Bush, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may be coming up short on specifics, but leaders say they have found clear accord on their commitment to fighting drugs and enhancing security.

Calderon's own trip to Canada could be cut short by the onslaught of Hurricane Dean, but the Mexican leader will leave the log-cabin lodge of the Montebello resort where the three are meeting with a resolve to press a war against drug-smuggling, the White House says.

"The conversation really does go to how do we, the United States and Mexico, build a common strategy to address a common problem -- recognizing that we have -- we feel the effects of the illegal drug trade in certain ways; in fact, some of those ways are similar in terms of the drug violence that has occurred in both American and Mexican communities,'' said Dan Fisk, senior director for Western Hemispheric Affairs at the National Security Council.

"The two leaders did not get into the details or get into the widgets, as I put it, but clearly reaffirmed their commitment that we do have a shared responsibility,'' Fisk said last night. "We have to recognize that each country is going to have a unique contribution and role to play. We understand that the Mexicans are developing their own strategy. There are things we need to be doing on our side that are good for our country, but they also will be good for Mexico.

"And so it's a matter of how to move that process forward,'' Fisk told reporters assembled in Canada. "And I think the important point out of today's conversation is the reaffirmation of that... So what comes out of today's meeting in a lot of ways, is that this is going to give more momentum to this process and these set of discussions.''

For more on the Canada talks, see the White House's briefing:

Continue reading "U.S. and Mexico drug fight: Short on specifics" »

Posted by Mark Silva at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)

by William Neikirk

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he is "sickened" that President Bush and Congress went on vacation "while young Americans in our cities are massacred by people who should not be here."

In a newsletter released today, Gingrich cited the recent execution-style murders of three college-bound students in Newark as evidence that "there is a war here at home, and it is even more deadly than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan." Another student survived a gunshot wound.

Two of four suspects in that case are illegal immigrants "or aliens," as Gingrich called them, who had been charged with other crimes in the U.S. but yet were not detained by authorities. One is from Peru, the other from Nicaragua.

The Georgia Republican, now with a conservative think tank in Washington who still has his eye on the presidency, called on Bush and Congress to come back to town in a special session for three days to deal with the problem by passing a bill to identify illegal immigrants who have committed crimes. He first mentioned this case in Ames, Iowa, where he spoke at a Republican gathering Saturday night.

Continue reading "Gingrich: Take action on illegal immigrants' crimes" »

Posted by Bill Neikirk at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (36)

by William Neikirk

Top members of the House Ways and Means Committee from both parties want to limit the use of your Social Security number by government and business in order to crack down on identity theft, a growing scourge in society.

A bill they introduced Monday falls short of an outright ban on using the number for governmental or business purposes, but its sponsors say it would help reduce the amount of identity theft. The question is whether the exceptions allowed under the bill would still give identity thieves enough room to operate. Time will tell, as they say.

But by permitting some exceptions, the sponsors do tacitly concede that your SSN is still a mighty handy universal identifier for many government and business purposes. It would still be possible to use it for credit purposes, for example. And I know a lot of people nervous about mentioning their SSN in public when applying for credit in a store.

Continue reading "Bipartisan bill to limit use of Social Security numbers" »

Posted by Bill Neikirk at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

by William Neikirk

The first president named George--Washington, that is--issued the first pardon. He did it for the non-indicted participants in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. It helped quell passions over his government's decision to crush a protest over whiskey taxes.

Now the current president named George--Bush, that is--is holding the door open to pardoning a close aide (Scooter Libby) for lying to government investigators in a probe about leaking the name of a CIA operative whose husband had openly challenged the president's Iraqi war policy.

The prospect of a pardon for Libby, whose sentence has already been commuted by Bush, is not quelling passions. It is doing the opposite. Indeed, the president's constitutional power to pardon individuals has had a checkered past, and often has spurred more controversy than healing.

Continue reading "The politics of pardons including, possibly, Libby's" »

Posted by Bill Neikirk at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)

Posted by Frank James at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

by William Neikirk

There is a lot of pain here in the nation's capital over Paris Hilton.

She's getting all the attention. And that puts the politicians in this city in a funk. On a day that the defense secretary named a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a Louisiana congressman pleaded not guilty to corruption charges, no one cared. On a day that the president of the United States got sick at the Group of Eight conference in Germany, no one cared. On a day that Ted Kennedy talked about his plan for winning passage of the immigration bill, no one cared.

Continue reading "Paris Hilton and the death of privilege" »

Posted by Bill Neikirk at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)

by William Neikirk

Among my friends at the swimming pool, there's a real debate raging. Who should serve the longer sentence: Scooter Libby or Paris Hilton?

Party-girl Hilton got out of jail today for medical reasons, but was confined to her home with an electronic ankle bracelet for the next 40 days. She reportedly has a rash on her body.

Libby, meantime, is still free while he awaits a decision by President Bush over whether to pardon him. He has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation involving Valerie Plame.

Continue reading "Should Scooter or Paris serve the longer sentence?" »

Posted by Bill Neikirk at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Wednesday, May 23, 2007 as collected by the Associated Press.

President Bush is delivering the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. 11:15 a.m.

The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on the firing of U.S. attorneys with the key witness Monica Goodling, the former Justice Department liaison to the White House. 10:15 a.m.

Continue reading "Swamp Sunrise" »

Posted by at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by David Lerman at 8:06 a.m. CDT

If his doctors have their way, presidential assailant John W. Hinckley Jr. will begin making regular two-week visits to his parents’ home near Williamsburg and look for volunteer work.

Twenty-six years after shooting President Reagan and three others outside a Washington hotel, Hinckley could become a part-time resident of the Williamsburg community—possibly even volunteering at the local public library.

The proposal by St. Elizabeth’s Hospital— Hinckley’s home for the past quarter-century—would mark the next phase of a treatment plan aimed at helping Hinckley transition to life outside the confines of a mental institution. He has already completed about a dozen multi-day trips to his parents’ home in James City County, which by all accounts were successful.

Continue reading "Docs say Hinckley should have more freedom" »

Posted by at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Posted by David Lightman at 4:25 pm CDT

College campuses are among the safer places in America - yet they are also among the most vulnerable terrorist targets, senators were told today.

“It's no secret that campuses have many elements that make them attractive targets for terrorism,” said Steven J. Healy, president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. Yet at the same time, he said, “campuses are reasonably safe when compared to the larger communities in which they exist.”

Healy's message was repeated by other experts at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on campus security. Lawmakers heard testimony as students at Virginia Tech, scene of last week's massacre of 32 people, returned to classes.

Continue reading "American campuses 'reasonably' safe" »

Posted by at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by Karoun Demirjian at 11:12 am CDT

As the dust barely settles around the newest and worst shooting in U.S. history, an age-old dispute is resurfacing over the smoking guns.

Strangely enough, the impetus for rehashing of the Second Amendment is not coming in the form of a call for tighter rules around gun purchases that may have prevented Cho Seung-Hui from buying a 9-millimeter and a .22-caliber in the last month; nor is it a defensive “guns don’t kill people – people kill people” retort.

Instead, Second Amendment activists have begun to go the offensive, adopting an “I told you so” attitude about the Virginia Tech slayings, and arguing that if more schools and colleges allowed students and faculty to carry firearms on campus, incidents like the tragedies that transpired Monday – or at least the sweeping scale of them – could be avoided.

Continue reading "Campus safety: More guns the answer?" »

Posted by at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (64)

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:25 a.m. CDT

Steven Janosik is a leading expert on the Clery Act, a law requiring colleges and universities to issue annual reports on campus crime and their security measures to deal with it.

He also happens to be a professor at Virginia Tech, where his extensive research went from abstract to real in one violent rampage by a single gunman on Monday.

Janosik is no fan of the law, first passed by Congress in 1990 and amended several times in the wake of rising campus violence. He said parents and students do not, as a rule, read the reports. And students are more likely to respond to personal appeals and warnings about their safety than a long report on a website, he added.

Continue reading "Campus safety law couldn't stop killer" »

Posted by at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

Posted by Mark Silva at 9:36 am CDT

President Bush, ordering the nation's flags flown at half-staff in honor of the 32 people slain by a student gunman at Virginia Tech, will speak of a day of mourning today -- saving political debates for later.

"The president and Mrs. Bush are going to Virginia Tech today as representatives for the entire nation… on a day that is full of sorrow for every American,'' said Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, calling the tone of the five or six minute address that the president plans to deliver at a campus convocation today similar to the regrets about the violence that has disrupted a sanctuary of learning that he voiced on Monday – "the tone is similar to yesterday, as you would expect, given the tragedy and everyone's heavy hearts.''

And, while acknowledging that the shooting spree at Virginia Tech is certain to spur a new national debate about gun control, the White House says it is too early to say what direction that dialog might take.

"We understand that there is going to be, and there has been, an ongoing national conversation about gun control… We are going to be participants,'' Perino said, calling it premature to discuss where it may lead. "Everyone has been shaken to the core by this event,'' she said, suggesting the nation should ''allow the facts of the case to unfold as we talk any more about policies…The facts of this case need to unfold…We will participate in that (conversation), but today is not the day.''

Continue reading "White House: Mourning today, gun-control 'conversation' later" »

Posted by at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (112)

Posted by the Washington Bureau at 9:25 a.m. CDT

Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech student identified as the campus shooter responsible for the largest, gun-related mass murder in U.S. history, was a troubled 23-year-old legal permanent resident from South Korea who investigators believe left an invective-filled note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances and died with the words "Ismail Ax" in red ink on the inside of one of his arms.

And he had shown recent signs of violent, aberrant behavior, according to an investigative source, including setting a fire in a dorm room and allegedly stalking some women. A note believed to have been written by Cho was found in his dorm room that railed against "rich kids," "debauchery" and "deceitful charlatans" on campus.

Continue reading "Va. Tech shooter left note" »

Posted by at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (165)

Posted by Jim Tankersley at 7:25 am CDT

The dean of Virginia Tech's Engineering Science and Mechanics department said in an e-mail this morning that two of the department's professors were among the 31 people killed by a gunman at Norris Hall on Monday.

The dean, Ishwar K. Puri, offered this eulogy of Professors Liviu Librescu - whom students described on Monday as attempting to barricade his classroom door while they jumped from a window to safety - and Kevin Granata. Both, the dean wrote, were killed "while serving Virginia Tech."

Read the dean's remarks:

Continue reading "Va. Tech dean grieves for dead colleagues" »

Posted by at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Jim Tankersley at 3:33 pm, updated 4 pm CDT

The morning shootings that shocked the Virginia Tech campus have left students with a screaming question: Why weren't they warned earlier that a gunman was loose on their campus?

"A lot of us were just questioning why someone was shot at 7 a.m. and the school wasn’t in lockdown," said Max Davis, a 19-year-old freshman and one of several students interviewed this afternoon by Tribune reporters.

The shooting shortly after 7 a.m. EDT at a dormitory and subsequent shooting after 9 a.m. in an academic building have left a reported 31 people dead, at least. Many students say they didn't hear about either of them until they received this e-mail just before 9:30 a.m. EDT.

Campus police believed, at first, that they were dealing with a "domestic'' shooting at 7:15 am, when two were killed in a dormitory, the police chief said at a news conference just now. The university president said they believed the situation was under control -- until the second shooting spree began. At a school of 26,000 students, the president said, just 9,000 live on campus. And by 8 am, they were heading to class.

Judge the urgency of the campus email dispatched at 9:26 am EDT for yourself:

Continue reading "Va. Tech students question delays" »

Posted by at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)

Posted by Mark Silva at 3:20 pm CDT

"Our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech today,'' President Bush said this afternoon, in a brief, somber statement delivered from the White House on the day of the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history. "The exact total has not yet been confirmed, but it appears that more than 30 people were killed and many more were wounded.''

The president, who had spoken with Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Virginia Tech President Charles Steger, appeared before television cameras in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.

"Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning,'' the president said. "When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community.

Continue reading "Bush: A 'sanctuary' violated" »

Posted by at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)

Posted by Mark Silva at 2:52 pm, updated 8:38 pm CDT

"This is a very sad moment for all of us here at Va. Tech and we need your prayers,'' writes a student from the remote Virginia college campus that has suffered the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history.

"If everyone had guns at the school, maybe the shooter would never have showed up but then what kind of society would that be - we would all be scared of each other at school,'' writes the student, echoing only one of the many thoughts that are running through peoples' minds today, people on and off campus.

What follows comes from the campus and families of Virginia Tech, from contributors to the Swamp, on this disturbing day:

Continue reading "Notes from the campus of Va. Tech." »

Posted by at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:04 a.m. CST

The Anna Nicole Smith story came along at a time when most Americans were focused on more important matters--the Iraqi war, the Iranian nuclear weapons controversy, and the budding presidential campaign

Yet when "serious" people were tuning out oppressive tabloid-style coverage of her death, a significant portion of the American population couldn't get enough of it. Roughly a third of the population followed the Smith story closely, according to the Pew Research Center.

And they gave the press (and by this we mean mostly cable television) high marks for their coverage, even higher than coverage of Iraq, Iran, and the presidential candidates racing around the country in search of donors.

Continue reading "The press and Anna Nicole Smith" »

Posted by at 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)

Posted by Frank James at 9:01 am CST

Who knew the rising violence on the streets of Iraq and increasing violence on the streets of the U.S. were connected?

That's a link that can be drawn from stories in today's newspapers.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported yesterday that violent crime in the U.S. has risen for the second year in a row.

Continue reading "Your taxes at work-rising U.S. and Iraq violence" »

Posted by at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)