Homeless in Arizona

Legalization's opening of medical pot research is dream and nightmare

Legalization's opening of medical pot research is dream and nightmare

By Michael Booth

The Denver Post

Posted: 12/15/2013 12:01:00 AM MST

Desperate parents are flocking to Colorado in search of pot-derived medical treatments they consider a last resort, yet many researchers are alarmed by parallels to past miracle-cure manias later proved false.

Accelerating legalization sentiment across the nation could open doors to legitimate medical research, testing marijuana products blocked for decades by federal law.

But the movement also opens the way for bad medicine, researchers said, through treatments at best giving hope to the hysterical and at worst delivering damaging side effects.

Is legalization a scientist's dream or a doctor's nightmare?

"Yes to both," said Dr. Edward Maa, a neurologist and epilepsy researcher at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, who supports some of the freelance marijuana efforts in health care but also says derivatives should be studied more rigorously.

Some of the children coming to Colorado suffer new stresses and seizures from the altitude, from parents changing jobs or losing hometown social-service support.

"They're ending up at the Children's Hospital ICU and other places," Maa said.

"The mania needs to calm down. I've never seen this level of frenzy," said Dr. Orrin Devinsky, director of the epilepsy center at New York University's Langone Medical Center. Devinsky has one of the few clinical trials ever approved in the U.S. for a marijuana derivative, cannabidiol, and receives hundreds of calls from beseeching parents after publicity about Colorado epilepsy cases.

Longtime researchers are struck by the openness of current parents to marijuana derivative treatments, Devinsky said.

"There's a comfort level" among those who have used or been around marijuana for a generation, he said.

By contrast, Devinsky said, "There's a group of medical leaders that are appalled by what's going on."

Colorado's status as "ground zero" for new, unauthorized research went national in recent months with news coverage of a few hundred children with untreatable seizures taking cannabidiol made by a Colorado Springs dispensary.

Doctors agree with parents such as Paige Figi that their children were suffering crippling, life-threatening seizures by the dozens, a regressive condition proved untreatable by current medicine. Paige and Matt Figi heard of cannabidiol's proven ability to bind with key brain receptors and tried it on daughter Charlotte.

The refined and dosage-tested oil has low THC and therefore no psychoactive effects. In Web videos, on national TV and in local interviews, Paige Figi describes how 7-year-old Charlotte has gone from suffering 1,200 seizures a month and a devastating regression from walking and eating, to resuming happy childhood moments on a park playground in north Colorado Springs.

"I literally couldn't watch another minute of her suffering," Paige Figi said of the moment two years ago when they first tried the oil. Now she is among volunteer parent advocates pushing for medical marijuana legalization in New York and other states as part of an effort to broaden the experiments.

Figi acknowledges and agrees with doctor precautions about unproven medicines, and says she always calls for rigorous testing. Yet she quickly adds a doctor's standard is different from the judgment of a parent whose child is dying a slow and violent death.

On a recent sunny afternoon in Fox Run Regional Park, Charlotte sat on a sled and ate grapes while her fraternal twin sister and her brother played nearby. The back of the car had grocery bags with eggs and paper towels from an errand along the way.

Two years ago, Paige said, the family's run to the store would have ended with Charlotte seizing on the ground amid broken eggs and terrified store managers dialing an ambulance.

"I do believe in a (Food and Drug Administration) clinical trial model," Figi said. "I just didn't have time to wait for that."

Remarkable progress

Interest in cannabidiol increased last week with the release of a scientific study abstract by Maa and Colorado Springs physician Dr. Margaret Gedde, who advises many of the epilepsy patients using it in Colorado.

Gedde and Maa's research showed parents of a handful of traumatic-seizure children reporting remarkable improvement on cannabidiol, or CBD. Eight of 11 families had "sharp reduction patterns in intractable seizures," Gedde said in an interview.

Maa is taking the results to a Colorado medical research review board to gauge the plausibility and the interest in supporting safety and clinical trials in the state.

The waiting list grows daily for hard-to-produce CBD, now called Charlotte's Web, produced by a legal dispensary run by the Stanley family in Colorado Springs. Parents who move here to get it can't return to their home states, as the substance is illegal across most state borders.

The FDA has approved only a couple of marijuana derivatives for prescription drug use, including tablets for treating nausea and lack of appetite in cancer patients and those with other wasting diseases. Proponents of marijuana medications, with the support of some mainstream lab research, say promising applications for derivatives include immune disorders, inflammation and psychotic mental illnesses.

But researchers warn that without loosened federal restrictions and then years of sanctioned clinical trials, there are few ways to prove those claims. Studies also need to isolate which of many compounds produced by marijuana plants are the key ingredients to medical treatment.

In the scientific and medical worlds, a parent and a doctor claiming to observe success is vastly different from the high standards of a clinical trial. In such stringent, FDA-controlled tests, neither the patients nor their treating doctors know who is given CBD, for example, and who is given a placebo.

"Observational data is regarded as fairly low quality in the hierarchy of things," said Dr. J. Michael Bostwick, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist who has written a survey of research into medical marijuana claims titled "Blurred Boundaries."

Major placebo effect

Clinical researchers are wary of the heightened placebo effect in treatments involving children, when reports of progress depend on the view of parents — and even their family physicians — desperate for hope.

Justin and Annie Koozer uprooted their family from Tennessee to pursue cannabidiol in Colorado for their 2-year-old daughter, Piper. Yet Justin Koozer, too, worries about trying to see too much progress in Piper's intense seizures since she started taking the oil in late October.

Piper suffers from Aicardi syndrome, missing a crucial bundle of fibers attaching the brain hemispheres. After trying every other recommended drug with little impact, the most Koozer will say about CBD is that Piper has improvements that are "unquantifiable." She's having seizures, but fewer of them; she sleeps through many nights, a huge change.

"She can tolerate exercising and playing with toys much longer," Koozer said.

Still, he knows the risk of the placebo effect in experimental treatments.

"You've pulled up stakes and moved out here, and people around you are saying it's working, and you want to be part of that," he said. "We have to be careful of that."

Those urging caution on cannabidiol note the evocative reputations of past frenzy-driven treatments such as "laetrile" and "Lorenzo's oil." Both allegedly miraculous treatments caught the American fancy, in part from their "natural" components, only to have their effectiveness and safety dismantled by clinical research.

Gedde said she comes from a pharmacological research background herself and is committed to pushing derivatives toward clinical trials.

The FDA, she said, has approved many medications that proved safe and effective, before scientists knew exactly what mechanism made them effective.

"People like to believe we know everything about approved drugs, but that's just not the case," she said.

Licensing special strain

Gedde, Maa and other doctors worry that dispensaries less careful than the Stanley brothers' Indispensary and Realm of Caring are promoting marijuana products with widely varied dosages of CBD. The Stanleys have theirs tested to calibrated milligrams in labs, Maa said.

Joel Stanley said publicity over Charlotte's Web adds to their waiting lists for the oil every day. They get requests from marijuana adventurers who want to try the oil for nonmedical reasons, Stanley said, but they restrict their limited supply to seizure patients.

The next step is licensing their special strain of high-CBD marijuana varieties to responsible growers in other states and countries, he said.

The Stanleys say they produce the oil at a loss, which they are willing to absorb. Joel Stanley sounds more exhausted by keeping up with production than worries over hyped medical claims.

"We're very objective. We're not a bunch of potheads. We're not making claims," he said. "We're simply sharing what we're seeing."

Michael Booth: 303-954-1686, mbooth@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mboothdp

Denver pot shops won't have cops working security

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Denver pot shops won't have cops working security

By Sadie Gurman, The Denver Post

Posted: 12/15/2013 08:12:40 AM PST

When recreational-marijuana shops open in Colorado in January, Denver police officers will stand outside for crowd control but won't be allowed to step inside to provide off-duty security from within.

A departmental order issued this month bars Denver officers from moonlighting as security guards at marijuana shops while police officials observe how the burgeoning industry develops.

The legalization of recreational marijuana is posing many challenges for the police department as it drafts internal policy to deal with an industry that is still illegal on the federal level.

“We're going to do everything we can to make sure those businesses are safe, but we're not going to work inside those businesses,” said Sonny Jackson, a department spokesman. “It's a new industry, and we're not sure what it's going to entail.”

Denver officers earned about $10.6 million dollars between 2009 and 2012 working off-duty security jobs at venues such as bars, sporting events and even many liquor stores. Private businesses pay uniformed officers about $45 an hour to stand armed guard, offering a police presence without draining on-duty resources. But department policy prohibits them from providing off-duty protection to “any establishment which constitutes a threat to the status of dignity of the police as a professional occupation,” including porn stores, strip clubs and nuisance bars.

“This restriction prohibits officers from providing security at any such location and from providing security for the transportation of financial proceeds from any marijuana-related business,” the Dec. 6 memo to all sworn personnel reads. “Officers can expect future revisions regarding policies pertaining to marijuana as the laws are developed and finalized.”

Marijuana shop owners have said officers' training, skills and uniforms would be particularly effective in protecting their cash-only businesses, which are a prime target for thieves.

“Not only are they trained law enforcement, but they give an air of legitimacy to what we are doing,” said Norton Arbelaez, an owner of the medical-marijuana dispensary RiverRock, who inquired about hiring officers about four years ago and was denied. “We're drawing a fine line between the illegal and the legal market and what better way to do that.”

Since recreational marijuana was legalized a year ago, marijuana advocates have urged the city and state to treat it the same as alcohol. Denver has about the same number of marijuana dispensaries as liquor stores.

But pot's status as an illegal federal drug and its stigma for some continue to make that difficult if not impossible for police.

Until last week, Denver police had no written policy about secondary employment at medical-marijuana businesses, but officers never provided such security, Jackson said.

State law prohibits law enforcement officers from owning pot shops, and the department has a zero-tolerance policy on drug use, including marijuana.

The city and its police department are still struggling to decide how strictly to enforce laws against public consumption of marijuana. Earlier this week, the City Council approved rules banning the display or distribution of marijuana on the 16th Street Mall or streets around it and in city parks.

Police Chief Robert White promised the City Council that his department would revamp its marijuana enforcement training.

In recent marijuana demonstrations, police officers have stood by with a hands-off approach.

On-duty officers were called on last month to provide cover when federal agents raided more than a dozen medical-marijuana businesses , investigating possible ties to Colombian drug cartels.

“Can you imagine a Denver cop in full uniform working at a marijuana dispensary store when the feds come and serve a search warrant?” police union president Nick Rogers said.

The state is under pressure from the federal government to show that it is strictly regulating marijuana — in particular, keeping it out of the hands of children and criminals.

Without police protection, dispensary owners have relied on private security guards, cameras, alarm systems and high-end locks.

“I would hope that the private market would be able to fill this void,” said Denver Councilman Charlie Brown, who led a council committee on recreational marijuana and still has concerns about crime and safety at pot shops.

“This is what I call the fear of the unknown,” he said.

Police say extra officers will be on hand for crowd and traffic control near pot shops opening on Jan. 1.

“If, in fact, a bus shows up with 200 people, there will be a presence there,” White said.

Michael Elliott, director of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group, said police will have to adjust to the new realities surrounding pot.

“These businesses are here, and they're here to stay. Now the police department should get on board with how best to protect these businesses,” he said. “Moonlighting is one additional way to do so.”

Sadie Gurman: sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurman

Congress: Remote voting sought to ease coast-to-coast commute

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Congress: Remote voting sought to ease coast-to-coast commute

By Bryan Steele

California News Service

Posted: 12/14/2013 09:52:02 AM PST

WASHINGTON -- Since he began his new job in January, Rep. Eric Swalwell, a freshman Democrat from Pleasanton, has commuted roughly 250,000 miles between California and Washington.

That's equivalent to flying around the planet 10 times -- and it's not an unusual commute for Californian representatives.

Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, didn't mind the three-hour drive from Fresno to Sacramento when he served in the Assembly. But add a six-hour flight across country, and the commute begins to take a serious toll. Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, calls the repeated trips the hardest part of his job.

The long commute inspired Swalwell to introduce a measure that would let members vote remotely on noncontroversial bills.

Under HR287, which Swalwell introduced in late June, representatives could vote on low-priority issues via secure computers on the road or from home. They would also be able to use video conferencing to join committee hearings.

It's one thing to fly coast-to-coast for a major piece of legislation. It's another to cast a vote for a routine amendment or a measure to name a post office.

"If I've learned anything from traveling about 2,500 miles each trip, members from all over the country put in a lot of air miles for this job, and there's a lot of work we can do remotely," he said in an interview.

Only a few dozen members from Alaska, Hawaii or the upper Northwest have longer ones than the 39-member California delegation.

"We spend so much time in Congress voting on bills that pass with 400-plus votes for lower priority issues -- naming post offices and letting people use Capitol grounds for XYZ," Swalwell said. "This would let us spend more time in the House doing the substantial, meaty stuff that our constituents want us to do." [Translation - accepting bribes, oops, I mean campaign contributions and running for re-election]

Remote voting and video conferencing would be the House's biggest voting change since 1970, when it replaced voice votes with an electronic system that shows votes on a giant screen above the gallery.

"We're already on our iPads and iPhones," Swalwell said. "Let's start using them to perform these perfunctory tasks."

Co-sponsored by Lowenthal and two Western state Republicans, the resolution would amend House rules to allow remote votes on noncontroversial measures passed under a procedure known as "suspension of the rules."

Two-thirds of the members present must agree to suspend the rules, allowing for speedy approval of routine matters.

No opponents to the resolution have surfaced.

Swalwell calls the bill MOBILE: Members Operating to Be Innovative and Link Everyone Resolution.

"One of my goals here in Congress, being the youngest member of the California delegation, is to really try and get the institution to upgrade the way it communicates with its constituents," said Swalwell, 32.

In an era of partisan divide, the desire to be home is something that representatives from both parties agree on.

"If you don't do what's best for your district, you won't be here for very long," said Rep. David Valadao, R-Fresno.

"It's six hours just flying time," he said.

"From door to door, the best-case scenario is nine hours. It usually runs closer to 10," Valadao said before yawning.

But not everyone minds the commute.

It can be valuable, said Rep. John Garamendi, D—Fairfield. "Quiet time and five hours with no phone calls -- you learn to appreciate it," he said.

That could soon change, however, if airlines allow passengers to chatter away on cellphones in flight. [What's that got to do with this!!! Our royal members of Congress frequently commandier military jets for their trips or charter private planes so they don't have to share the skies with the rift raft they rule over!!!!]

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who has logged well over a million miles between coasts, often uses the time to answer constituent mail. Former Rep. Ellen Tauscher from Contra Costa County married the pilot she met on her flights.

Swalwell, who has been active on Twitter and recently posted videos of a vote on Vine, represents a new generation in Congress comfortable with technology and social media.

He said that the proposal was not an attempt to limit working hours or do away with a full-time Congress, as has been proposed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry. [Limit working hours??? They already do that!!! They work hectic 3 days weeks, putting in at least 1 or 2 hours a day for their measly $174,000 yearly salary]

"It's not one of those ... let's-go-to-a-part-time legislature ideas," he said. [Yea, because they already are part time legislators that make $174,000 a year!]

Instead, he added, it's a matter of taking lessons from the high-tech companies in his own district and applying them to the ways of Washington.

"I've seen how they communicate," Swalwell said, "and we could learn a thing or two from the private sector.''

The California News Service-Washington is a journalism project of the University of California's Washington Center and UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. Contact the CNS at cns@ucdc.edu.

F*ck the First Amendment you can't answer these questions!!!!

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Push to ban crime box on job applications expands

Marisa Lagos

Updated 11:45 am, Tuesday, December 10, 2013

San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim wants to make this question virtually obsolete on job applications in San Francisco: Have you been convicted of a crime?

Kim is proposing to expand the city's existing ban by having it include most private employers, publicly funded housing providers and city contractors.

Ten states and more than 50 cities have adopted some version of "ban the box," and a growing number of private employers are also jumping on board - earlier this year, Target announced it would strip the question from its applications. The federal government recommends that step as a best practice for all employers.

In a nation where an estimated 65 million people have a criminal history - 7 million in California alone - supporters see the proposal, dubbed the Fair Chance ordinance, as a win for not only former offenders but also society at large.

San Francisco has banned most city agencies from asking that hiring question since 2006. This year, the state of California did the same. Movement began here

"This started in San Francisco," said Jesse Stout, policy director for the nonprofit Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, whose All of Us or None campaign has helped push "ban the box" laws across the country.

"Now that we've banned the box for public employment in so many places, we are back to fight to expand this to include private employment and public housing. ... If we want our communities to be safe, that requires everyone having a fair shot at the necessities of life like housing and employment."

The question still gets asked on applications for jobs, such as law enforcement, where a criminal history is relevant, and those potential employers are not barred from inquiring; they may simply reserve that question for later in the hiring process.

The latest San Francisco proposal will be introduced Tuesday by Kim, along with Supervisor Malia Cohen, whose districts are home to the highest number of former offenders in the city. Their offices have worked alongside business leaders for 11 months to craft the proposal. Getting past mistakes

"There's a growing awareness that it makes no sense to keep people out of job opportunities just because of a mistake in their past," said Michelle Natividad Rodriguez, a staff attorney with the National Employment Law Project, which works for employment rights of lower-wage workers.

"Why do we want people with a record employed? It leads to a stronger economy, it helps public safety. ... People get disillusioned if they are turned down again and again for something they did 10 years ago," she said. "All the expectations around (rehabilitation) are that you need to get a job, make sure you support your family - of course people want to do that, but if they are not even given a chance to interview, how do you get there?" A forgotten arrest

Donel Fuller, a Tenderloin resident, is wondering the same thing. Fuller was fired from a janitorial job this year after his employer discovered that he had failed to note a 1974 arrest for misdemeanor trespassing on his job application - even though he had noted his actual convictions, including felony welfare fraud.

"I was surprised when I got the call," said Fuller, a soft-spoken man. "I didn't even remember that (arrest). ... I put all the most recent things I remembered."

He has been looking for work ever since and believes his criminal past is the reason he can't find work. The criminal history question, said Mathew Martenyi, a former lawyer who spent three years in federal prison on a marijuana conviction, creates a conundrum for ex-offenders.

"If you are qualified for a job, and can do a job, you don't want to lie, but if you don't, there's no assurance you can get the job. What the ordinance is trying to do is say, 'Let's all be up front,' " said Martenyi, an organizer with All of Us or None. "We're not asking for anything other than to be judged by our skill set, experience and qualifications."

Employers who have hired former offenders say they are often the hardest-working, most honest employees.

"My first company was a parking business, and they were the best people I ever employed," said William Ortiz-Cartagena, who sits on the city's Small Business Commission. "It's funny, (valet) parking has a stigma, that something is always going to get stolen, and our reputation was immaculate. That made me feel good."

Ortiz-Cartagena knows both sides: He spent more than two years in federal prison on drug charges as a teenager but, after his release, got a chance from Joie de Vivre Hotels founder Chip Conley. He started as a valet and worked his way up into management, then went on to found numerous businesses.

He was one of a number of business leaders who worked with Kim to ensure that her proposal wouldn't be too big of a burden on businesses. Ordinance evolves

Kim said the ordinance has changed significantly from its original version because of that input. It now will only apply to those with 20 or more employees, it will allow businesses to conduct background checks after a live interview instead of after a conditional offer of employment, and it does not allow applicants to sue.

Ultimately, the legislation will allow applicants to at least explain their past and what they've done to overcome it, said Meredith Desautels, a staff attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, which runs a monthly clinic in the Fillmore to assist people who have a criminal history find housing and jobs.

The rise of online applications has made that nearly impossible, she said.

"As soon as they check that box and hit 'next,' it says, 'Thanks, you won't be considered.' Back in the day, you could say, 'Let's discuss this,' but if it's online, there's no chance," she said. "Once there's a box on an application, it closes doors in ways that don't make sense."

Marisa Lagos is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mlagos@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mlagos

xxx

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A Utah Law Prohibiting Polygamy Is Weakened

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

Published: December 14, 2013

A federal judge has struck down parts of Utah’s anti-polygamy law as unconstitutional in a case brought by a polygamous star of a reality television series. Months after the Supreme Court bolstered rights of same-sex couples, the Utah case could open a new frontier in the nation’s recognition of once-prohibited relationships.

Judge Clark Waddoups of United States District Court in Utah ruled late Friday that part of the state’s law prohibiting “cohabitation” — the language used in the law to restrict polygamous relationships — violates the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion, as well as constitutional due process. He left standing the state’s ability to prohibit multiple marriages “in the literal sense” of having two or more valid marriage licenses.

Judge Waddoups, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote a 91-page decision that reflects — and reflects upon — the nation’s changing attitude toward government regulation of personal affairs and unpopular groups. The Supreme Court supported the power of states to restrict polygamy in an 1879 decision, Reynolds v. United States.

Judge Waddoups made clear that the Brown case was not an easy one for him, writing, “The proper outcome of this issue has weighed heavily on the court for many months.” He noted the shifts in the way the Constitution has been interpreted over the past century to increase protection for groups and individuals spurned by the majority.

“To state the obvious,” Judge Waddoups wrote, “the intervening years have witnessed a significant strengthening of numerous provisions of the Bill of Rights.” They include, he wrote, enhancements of the right to privacy and a shift in the Supreme Court’s posture “that is less inclined to allow majoritarian coercion of unpopular or disliked minority groups,” especially when “religious prejudice,” racism or “some other constitutionally suspect motivation can be discovered behind such legislation.”

The challenge to the law was brought by Kody Brown, who, along with his four wives and 17 children, stars in “Sister Wives,” the reality television show. The family argued that the state’s prohibition on cohabitation violated its rights to privacy and religious freedom. The Browns are members of the Apostolic United Brethren Church, a fundamentalist offshoot of the Mormon Church, which gave up polygamy around 1890 as Utah was seeking statehood.

The judge cited the decision in Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court case that struck down laws prohibiting sodomy. He quoted the majority opinion by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy that stated the Constitution protects people from “unwarranted government intrusions into a dwelling or other private places” and “an autonomy of self that includes freedom of thought, belief, expression and certain intimate conduct.”

In a statement, Mr. Brown said he and his family were “humbled and grateful for this historical ruling from the court today.” He noted that “many people do not approve of plural families,” but “we hope that in time all of our neighbors and fellow citizens will come to respect our own choices as part of this wonderful country of different faiths and beliefs.”

As same-sex marriage has gained popular approval and legal status in recent years, some have hoped — and some feared — that other forms of cohabitation might follow. Justice Antonin Scalia, in his bitter and famous dissent from the 2003 Lawrence case, said the nation was on the verge of the end of legislation based on morality, and was opening the door to legalizing “bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality and obscenity.”

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University who represented the Browns in this case, disagreed with Justice Scalia’s reasoning and said in an exchange of emails that the case “is about privacy rather than polygamy.” He added, “Homosexuals and polygamists do have a common interest: the right to be left alone as consenting adults. There is no spectrum of private consensual relations — there is just a right of privacy that protects all people so long as they do not harm others.”

Utah’s attorney general’s office has suggested in the past that it would appeal any decision that struck down the polygamy law. Attorney General John Swallow resigned last month under a cloud of multiple investigations, and his replacement has not been named.

Mr. Turley said an appeal by the state would be unwise, adding, “Utah has been on the wrong side of history in fighting privacy, and they would now be on the wrong side of the law as well.”

Pennsylvania police find marijuana wrapped as Christmas presents

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Pennsylvania police find marijuana wrapped as Christmas presents

Reuters

7:29 p.m. CST, December 14, 2013

(Reuters) - A peek inside some gift-wrapped Christmas parcels in a minivan this week revealed an unlikely present - 20 pounds (9 kg) of marijuana, police in Pennsylvania said.

Randy Jesus Valdivia, 38, of Surfside, Florida, was arrested after the boxes were opened and police discovered 40 packages of marijuana valued at $160,000, Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement on Friday.

An officer had searched Valdivia's van with his permission after observing indications of criminal activity during a traffic stop on Thursday on Interstate 80 in Centre County, police said.

Valdivia faces a felony charge of possession with intent to deliver, police said. Jail records show he has been released. (Reporting by Kevin Murphy; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Eric Walsh)

Obama marks Newtown anniversary with call for action on gun control

Obama marks Newtown anniversary with call for action on gun control

By Josh Hicks

December 14 at 12:59 pm

President Obama on Saturday marked the first anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shootings with calls for stricter gun control and more support for mental health, as well as by lighting candles for each of the victims.

"We haven’t yet done enough to make our communities and our country safer," Obama said in his weekly address. "We have to do more to keep dangerous people from getting their hands on a gun so easily. We have to do more to heal troubled minds."

The president and first lady lit 26 candles in the White House Map Room on Saturday morning to remember each of the victims, many of them children, who died in the Newtown school shooting last year. They also observed a moment of silence.

Newtown officials have asked news outlets not to descend on their city for the anniversary, and many media organizations have agreed to respect the request. In a statement last week, Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra said journalists should allow residents “the time to be alone and quiet, with time for personal and communal reflection.”

The major television networks and newspapers have agreed not to send journalists to the town, although the Associated Press is expected to be there. News outlets are largely expected to rely on the wire service for coverage.

In Washington, the National Cathedral held a vigil on Thursday to remember the victims, with religious leaders from various faiths calling for greater legislative efforts to stem gun violence.

The Newtown Foundation, a gun-control advocacy group, organized the vigil along with the Episcopal Church, whose leaders this year have called for action to address gun violence and racism.

Obama has repeatedly urged lawmakers to pass stricter gun laws, but Congress missed its last opportunity to do so in April, when legislation to strengthen background checks and ban military-style assault rifles and high-capacity magazines failed in the Senate.

The only other effort at federal gun legislation under the current Congress came in the form of a renewed ban on manufacturing plastic firearms that are not detectable by security-screening devices. The House and Senate approved that measure this month.

On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Obama administration would dedicate $100 million toward mental health services, with the funding evenly divided between rural mental-health centers and helping community centers hire providers and boost services.

White House delayed enacting rules ahead of 2012 election to avoid controversy

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White House delayed enacting rules ahead of 2012 election to avoid controversy

By Juliet Eilperin, Published: December 14 E-mail the writer

The White House systematically delayed enacting a series of rules on the environment, worker safety and health care to prevent them from becoming points of contention before the 2012 election, according to documents and interviews with current and former administration officials.

Some agency officials were instructed to hold off submitting proposals to the White House for up to a year to ensure that they would not be issued before voters went to the polls, the current and former officials said.

The delays meant that rules were postponed or never issued. The stalled regulations included crucial elements of the Affordable Care Act, what bodies of water deserved federal protection, pollution controls for industrial boilers and limits on dangerous silica exposure in the workplace.

The Obama administration has repeatedly said that any delays until after the election were coincidental and that such decisions were made without regard to politics. But seven current and former administration officials told The Washington Post that the motives behind many of the delays were clearly political, as Obama’s top aides focused on avoiding controversy before his reelection.

The number and scope of delays under Obama went well beyond those of his predecessors, who helped shape rules but did not have the same formalized controls, said current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

Those findings are bolstered by a new report from the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), an independent agency that advises the federal government on regulatory issues. The report is based on anonymous interviews with more than a dozen senior agency officials who worked with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which oversees the implementation of federal rules.

The report said internal reviews of proposed regulatory changes “took longer in 2011 and 2012 because of concerns about the agencies issuing costly or controversial rules prior to the November 2012 election.”

Emily Cain, spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement that the administration’s “approach to regulatory review is consistent with long-standing precedent across previous administrations and fully adheres” to federal rules.

Administration officials noted that they issued a number of controversial rules during Obama’s first term, including limits on mercury emissions for power plants and Medicaid eligibility criteria under the Affordable Care Act.

“OMB works as expeditiously as possible to review rules, but when it comes to complex rules with significant potential impact, we take the time needed to get them right,” Cain said.

But Ronald White, who directs regulatory policy at the advocacy group Center for Effective Government, said the “overt manipulation of the regulatory review process by a small White House office” raises questions about how the government writes regulations. He said the amount of time it took the White House to review proposed rules was “particularly egregious over the past two years.”

Previous White House operations have weighed in on major rules before they were officially submitted for review. But Jeffrey Holmstead, who headed the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation in the George W. Bush administration, said the effort was not as extensive as the Obama administration’s approach.

“There was no formalized process by which you had to get permission to send them over,” Holmstead said, referring to rules being submitted to the White House.

The recent decision to bring on Democratic strategist John Podesta as a senior White House adviser is likely to accelerate the number of new rules and executive orders, given Podesta’s long-standing support for using executive action to achieve the president’s goals despite congressional opposition.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights and Agency Action, said he’s concerned about the real-world impact of the postponements in the first term.

“Legal protection delayed is protection denied,” Blumenthal said. “I’ve spoken to officials at the top rungs of the White House power structure and at OIRA and we’re going to hold their feet to the fire, and we’re going to make sure they’re held accountable in a series of hearings.”

The officials interviewed for the ACUS report, whose names were withheld from publication by the study authors, said that starting in 2012 they had to meet with an OIRA desk officer before submitting each significant rule for formal review. They called the sessions “Mother-may-I” meetings, according to the study.

The accounts were echoed by four Obama administration political appointees and three career officials interviewed by The Post.

At the Environmental Protection Agency, for example, a former official said that only two managers had the authority to request a major rule in 2012: then-administrator Lisa P. Jackson and deputy administrator Bob Perciasepe. Perciasepe and OIRA’s director at the time, Cass Sunstein, would have “weekly and sometimes semi-weekly discussions” to discuss rules that affected the economy, one said, because they had political consequences, the person said.

“As we entered the run-up to the election, the word went out the White House was not anxious to review new rules,” the former official said.

Sunstein, who has returned to his post as a Harvard Law School professor, declined to comment.

Several significant EPA proposals were withheld as a result of those meetings, officials said, including a proposal requiring cleaner gasoline and lower-pollution vehicles that had won the support of automakers but angered the oil industry.

That regulation, which would reduce the amount of sulfur in U.S. gasoline by two-thirds and impose fleetwide pollution limits on new vehicles by 2017, was ready in December 2011, said three officials familiar with the proposal. But agency officials were told to wait a year to submit it for review because critics could use it to suggest that the administration was raising gas prices, they said. The EPA issued the proposed rule in March.

Other EPA regulations that were delayed beyond the 2012 election included rules on coal ash disposal, water pollution rules for streams and wetlands, air emissions from industrial boilers and cement kilns, and carbon dioxide limits for existing power plants.

Ross Eisenberg, who serves as vice president of energy and resources policy at the National Association for Manufacturers and has criticized several EPA regulations, noted that in the past year the administration moved ahead with proposals such as the rules on greenhouse gas emissions and boilers.

“The agenda certainly did slow down, but it doesn’t change,” he said.

The administration also was slow to handle rules pertaining to its health-care law. Several key regulations did not come out until after the 2012 election, including one defining what constitutes “essential health benefits” under a health plan and which Americans could qualify for federal subsidies if they opted to enroll in a state or a federal marketplace plan.

The latter focused on what constitutes “affordable.” Treasury proposed a regulation in August 2011 saying an employer plan was affordable as long as the premium for an individual was no more than 9.5 percent of the taxpayer’s household income. Several groups — including labor unions — argued that the proposal did not take into account that the premium for a family plan might be much higher than that standard.

Unions represent a vital part of the Democratic coalition, in part because they help mobilize voters during elections.

The Treasury Department held the proposal back while finalizing all the other tax-credit rules on May 23, 2012. Treasury officials later told those working on the regulation that it could not be published before the election, according to a government official familiar with the decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of its sensitive nature. The department made the rule on Feb. 1.

OMB has reduced the length of time that rules are pending this year. The agency has cut the number of rules that were under review for more than 200 days by more than half.

But while the administration is pressing ahead, activists say the delays took a toll. Peg Seminario, director of safety and health for the AFL-CIO, points to an update of the nation’s silica standards proposed Sept. 12 after a long delay. The rule, which would prevent an estimated 688 deaths and 1,585 silica-related illnesses each year, won’t be finalized until 2016.

Jon Devine, a senior lawyer in the Natural Resources Defense Council’s water program, said small streams and wetlands remain vulnerable because of the administration’s foot-dragging. The EPA recently withdrew a proposal to outline what kind of water bodies deserve federal protection that had been pending since February 2012 and announced it would issue a legally binding rule instead.

“What’s disappointing is it leaves waters subject to the existing, weak state of affairs until they get the rule over the final hurdle,” Devine said.

Expert panel urges US government to measure Americans’ happiness

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Expert panel urges US government to measure Americans’ happiness

BY Seth Borenstein THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON

December 09, 2013 10:08am

WASHINGTON—A panel of experts thinks the U.S. government should be more in touch with Americans’ feelings.

By gauging happiness, there would be more to consider than cold hard cash when deciding matters that affect daily lives, according to a report this week from the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the government.

The panel of economists, psychologists and other experts assembled by the academy recommended that federal statistics and surveys, which normally deal with income, spending, health and housing, include a few extra questions on happiness.

“You want to know how people are doing?” said panel chairman Arthur Stone, a professor of psychology at New York’s Stony Brook University. “One of things you may want to do is ask them.”

Asking how people feel can be as important as how much they are spending, Stone said.

For example, economists have something they call the “misery index” which adds the unemployment and inflation rates, but doesn’t include how people feel. If you want to know misery, the question to ask is “how much suffering is going on,” he said.

The panel suggests a series of questions to measure daily happiness and general well-being, asking how often you smiled, were stressed, laughed or were in pain. Example questions ranged from a simple yes-no “Yesterday, did you spend time with friends or family?” to a more complex 1-10 rating for “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?”

Over the past decade, these types of questions have shown to be valid scientifically, said Carol Graham, a Brookings Institution economist who was on the panel.

The report said the answers can help governments shape policy on basic benefits, such as retirement age and pensions, care for the chronic and terminally ill, unemployment and working conditions. It cited a study by one of the Nobel Prize-winning panelists that showed people’s feelings about commuting problems helped officials decided whether or not to create commuter toll lanes on highways.

In terms of collecting happiness data, the United States government “is a bit of a laggard” behind other industrial nations, said John Helliwell, an economist who co-directs an institute that studies well-being at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

In one of the few surveys where the government does ask, the U.S. is a pretty happy nation. Last year, about 87 per cent of Americans considered themselves very happy or pretty happy.

But it’s far behind No. 1 Denmark, a host of northern European countries, Canada, Israel and Mexico. The United States ranked 17th in a world happiness ranking report directed by Helliwell, which was based on international surveys and came out in September.

When governments and academics study happiness they find that money isn’t everything. Many of the richest countries, including the United States, weren’t in the Top 10 in self-reported happiness in the report.

“Having no money is terrible for everything,” said Graham, author of several books on the economics and measuring of happiness. But after people make “a comfortable amount of money,” it doesn’t add too much to happiness, she said.

That’s what a study last week in the journal PLoS One found. It used worldwide surveys and found that as people made more money worldwide they got happier—but only to a point. That point is just shy of $36,000 a year per person, or $144,000 for a family of four.

Effect of recreational pot on ski biz remains hazy in Colorado

Effect of recreational pot on ski biz remains hazy in Colorado

By Kristen Wyatt Associated Press Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:06 AM

DENVER — Colorado's ski resorts are taking the offensive in ensuring the multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry isn't hurt by recreational marijuana stores that are set to open at about the same time many families begin planning their winter vacations.

For some skiers and snowboarders, hitting the slopes with a joint or pipe tucked into a winter coat has long been commonplace. But with the stores set to open Jan. 1 near resorts across the state — and a handful of companies offering cannabis-themed ski trips — the future is a bit hazy. Will a pot tourism industry flourish or will families decide to go to resorts in states where marijuana is outlawed?

For an industry already worrying about global warming, avalanches or simply a bad snow season, the stakes are high.

Jennifer Rudolph of Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade association that represents 21 resorts in the state, says the ski industry generates about $3 billion in tourism revenue annually and Colorado had more than 11 million skier visits last year, more than any other state.

"We are being proactive in educating the public in what to expect when they come to Colorado to ski," she said.

She added: "We're getting the word out that we have a lot of things to offer guests, but smoking marijuana is not one of them. ... We have so much to offer our guests that outweigh the legality of possession of marijuana."

Rudolph says her organization is informing visitors through social media and its blog about the new pot laws, which were passed last year and legalize marijuana possession in small amounts for adults over 21, including out-of-state visitors. Some resorts also are addressing the issue with their respective towns and chambers of commerce.

Rudolph said she hasn't heard of anyone deciding not to come to Colorado because of the new pot laws, and it's too early to tell what resorts can expect to see after Jan. 1.

"That's why we're doing some education now to let people know what they can and can't do," she said. "The bottom line is guests should not expect to smoke marijuana in public at a ski resort."

But that expectation may not be realized in the Colorado counties that are home to some of the state's most popular resorts. In those counties, the measure to legalize pot passed by overwhelming margins.

Aspen's home county approved the measure by margin of more than 3 to 1, and more than two-thirds of voters also approved marijuana in the home county of Colorado's largest ski resort, Vail. A whopping eight in 10 voters in the home county of Telluride ski resort favored marijuana legalization.

It's also relatively easy to smoke marijuana at resorts without getting caught. Wooded areas off some of Colorado's slopes already are dotted with "smoke shacks," old mining cabins that have been illicitly repurposed as places to use the drug out of the cold and wind.

Still, industry officials hope visitors will respect that it is still illegal to smoke marijuana in public and on federal land, where 90 percent of the state's ski resorts are located. Anyone who is caught risks having their pass taken away.

Peter Johnson with Colorado Green Tours, a Denver-based travel agency that plans custom cannabis-themed tours to ski areas and other destinations, insists his company and contracted guides will respect those laws.

"It would certainly be done in private. We obey the law," the 39-year-old entrepreneur said. "We don't give people the opportunity to flout it."

Johnson, who founded the company in March, said he is dealing with "a large backlog" of mostly out-of-staters who are interested in booking a cannabis-themed ski trip this winter. But he doesn't think the new laws will change much of anything at resorts.

"I think most people are pretty considerate. I think most cannabis users are pretty considerate," he said.

One other issue that put Colorado in the news this year aside from the new marijuana laws was flooding, but skiers don't need to give that a second thought: No major resorts were affected.

Royal Rulers of Tempe refuse to talk to the press!!!!

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Scarp: It's not a 'meeting' if you're just speaking your mind

Mark J. Scarp is a contributing columnist for the Tribune. Reach him at mscarp1@cox.net.

Posted: Sunday, December 15, 2013 7:44 am

By Mark Scarp, contributing columnist

Today is the 222nd anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution that guarantee so many freedoms from government excess that we often take for granted.

In Tempe this past week a Valley newspaper reported that members of the City Council refused to answer questions about public business. More on that in a minute.

The first 10 amendments protect the basic exercise of liberty through free speech and press, freedom to worship, bear arms, trial by impartial jury, freedom from wrongful search and seizure, and so on.

While there is no stated “right to know,” U.S. Supreme Court decisions since our nation’s founding have combined to determine that without an informed citizenry, the people cannot exercise their power as the ultimate authority, to whom even the President of the United States must answer.

We learn about our government through a variety of sources, starting with the government itself, through the investigations and questions of an independent news media, and through the inquiries of the people themselves.

We ask our leaders questions and demand answers.

The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday that, on the advice of their city attorney, six of the seven Tempe City Council members refused to answer a reporter’s questions about whether they would postpone a vote on the General Plan, a city’s guiding document on matters such as city planning and zoning for new and rebuilding projects.

The reason? According to the Republic story, it was that answering a reporter’s questions about the possible General Plan postponement might violate the Arizona Open Meetings Law.

Now, an attitude of compliance with a law requiring elected officials’ debate of a matter to be conducted in public is to be applauded, and I’m sure that’s in compliance with what the city attorney was trying to advise the council to do. But stating how you feel about an issue — even saying how you plan to vote on that issue — is hardly an exercise in trying to persuade your fellow officials to vote a certain way.

We all know how polls of voters taken days, weeks, months ahead of any election vary widely from the actual election results, because polls can only tell how respondents feel about something on the day they were asked. The same thing applies here.

The actual vote isn’t taken until the officials are gathered in public session. A City Council member, for example, can tell a reporter a week before he or she is to vote on a matter that he or she plans to vote for it, then after hearing testimony and fellow council members’ arguments at the public meeting a week later, can legally decide to vote against it and do so.

What the Open Meetings Law does forbid is a sort of meeting of the minds, a collegial situation, either in person or electronically, where members can have access to others’ views, respond to them and seek to convince colleagues of something, and so on. A 2005 legal opinion by then-Attorney General Terry Goddard warned about officials’ use of email to talk about issues as it could indeed create that kind of electronic roundtable.

But there’s no justification for citing the Arizona Open Meetings Law as the reason for declining to speak to a reporter, or any member of the public, for that matter.

If these were isolated incidents, this wouldn’t be so disconcerting, but right here in the East Valley, the majority of another public body, on the advice of its attorney, agreed to the same mum’s-the-word act based on this weird interpretation of the Open Meetings Law.

In February 2007, the Tribune reported members of the Scottsdale school board received similar advice from their lawyer. No particular proposal was at issue; the advice came at the board’s annual brush-up workshop on the Open Meetings Law.

Even though most of us would say we’d rather hear less talk from politicians, when elected officials don’t talk, it’s only natural to think they have something they don’t want to say, whether that’s actually the case or not.

News media are there to ask public officials questions the rest of us wish we could be there to ask them. Trying to make a statement of how one official feels into some sort of discussion among all of them is not only taking a big leap, it frustrates the public’s right to know what those they elect are thinking.

Empowered with that knowledge, you never know what the public might do: Oh, I don’t know, try to tell their representatives why they should change their minds?

• Read Tribune contributing columnist Mark J. Scarp’s opinions here on Sundays. Reach him at mscarp1@cox.net.

Ohio police chief's wife jailed for shoplifting

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Ohio police chief's wife jailed for shoplifting

Associated Press Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:08 AM

AVON LAKE, Ohio — The wife of a police chief in northeast Ohio is serving a 10-day jail sentence for shoplifting.

Elaine Freeman — wife of North Ridgeville Police Chief Mike Freeman — was sent to jail for 10 days Tuesday for shoplifting at a Kohl's department store in nearby Avon.

Her attorney said she pleaded no-contest to petty theft. She'll be on house arrest for another 30 days after she finishes the jail sentence. The attorney said she's undergoing counseling and "feels terrible for what she put her family through." [Yea, sure!!! But I bet she feels real bad about getting caught twice!!!]

It was the second time she has been convicted of shoplifting.

Her husband was reprimanded by the city after he became angry over his wife's September arrest.

Deadly border agent incidents cloaked in silence

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Deadly border agent incidents cloaked in silence

Republic investigation finds little public accountability in Southwest Border killings

By Bob Ortega and Rob O'Dell The Republic | azcentral Sun Dec 15, 2013 12:59 AM

A ghost is haunting Nogales.

His face stares out from shop windows. It is plastered on handbills and painted on walls under the shadow of the U.S.-Mexican border fence here. Candles and doves are stenciled onto steel posts of the fence itself in his memory, each a promise not to forget the night, 14 months ago, when teenager Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez was shot 10 times in the back and head by one or more Border Patrol agents firing through the fence into Mexico.

Similar specters haunt other border towns in Arizona, Texas and California, with the families of the dead charging that Border Patrol agents time and again have killed Mexicans and U.S. citizens with impunity.

An Arizona Republic investigation has found Border Patrol agents who use deadly force face few, if any, public repercussions, even in cases in which the justification for the shooting seems dubious.

Since 2005, on-duty Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers have killed at least 42 people, including at least 13 Americans.

These deaths, all but four of which occurred along or near the southwest border, vary from strongly justifiable to highly questionable. CBP officials say agents who use excessive force are disciplined. But they won’t say who, when, or what discipline, with the exception of a short administrative leave. In none of the 42 deaths is any agent or officer publicly known to have faced consequences — not from the Border Patrol, not from Customs and Border Protection or Homeland Security, not from the Department of Justice, and not, ultimately, from criminal or civil courts.

Internal discipline is a black hole. There have been no publicly disclosed repercussions — even when, as has happened at least three times, agents shot unarmed teenagers in the back.

That appearance of a lack of accountability has been fed by a culture of secrecy about agents’ use of deadly force.

CBP leaders refuse to release their policies, calling them law-enforcement sensitive. They won’t disclose the names of agents who use deadly force. They won’t say, in any instance, whether deadly force was justified. The lack of transparency goes against the “best practices” that national police organizations recommend for dealing with deadly-force incidents.

The Republic found the vast majority of Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers respond to conflict with restraint. Even when facing potentially deadly force, most agents and officers don’t turn to their firearms. But agents who killed mostly did so under circumstances virtually identical to hundreds of encounters that other agents resolved without lethal force and without serious injuries to either side.

In the last four years, rock-throwing incidents accounted for eight of the 24 instances in which agents killed people. The Border Patrol considers rocks deadly weapons that justify lethal force, even though it is rare for agents to be injured in “rockings,” as they call them, and even though, as agents’ reports showed, several less-lethal long-distance weapons are highly effective against rock-throwers, The Republic found.

The vast majority of rockings take place in a few, well-known, mostly urban spots along the border. But the Border Patrol doesn’t require agents working in those areas to carry or use less-lethal alternatives.

And when agents use deadly force, investigations by CBP and the FBI can take years to be released, yet can be perfunctory, and are typically opaque.

The Republic reviewed nearly 1,600 use-of-force cases by the Border Patrol and CBP between 2010 and May 2012 — some 12,000 pages of documents that it took the agency nearly a year to release. The Republic also examined many other documents relating to use-of-force deaths and use of firearms by agents since 2005. (CBP includes both Border Patrol agents, who work between ports of entry, and Customs and Border Protection officers, who work at ports of entry.)

The investigation offers the most comprehensive look to date into the use of force by CBP and the Border Patrol, which, with roughly 43,000 agents and officers, comprise the country’s largest law-enforcement body.

Border Patrol agents do face dangers. Of the 22 who died in the line of duty in the last nine years, most died in vehicle or training accidents. Four died in direct conflicts with aggressors – including one case in which Border Patrol agents fired on one another.

Of the 42 use-of-force fatalities, some — such as the five cases in which agents shot and killed people who fired at them first — provoked little dispute.

But in nine of the 24 use-of-force deaths since 2010, agents’ accounts were contradicted by other witnesses or by other law-enforcement officers. In three cases, widely distributed videos conflicted with agents’ reports of what happened.

In reviewing these incidents, The Republic filed more than 120 Freedom of Information Act and public-records requests (and many appeals) with six federal departments or agencies and seven states.

Often, records were heavily redacted and incomplete. For example, The Republic documented, through other sources, four deaths at the hands of agents that were not included in CBP’s nearly 1,600 use-of-force incident reports. In many reports, the information is so incomplete that it’s impossible to determine what happened.

Because of that lack of transparency, it can be difficult to determine the truth when agents’ accounts differ from witnesses.

Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, in a recent report requested by members of Congress, found that many agents don’t understand their use-of-force policy. Before the report was publicly released, DHS and CBP officials blacked out recommendations that agents being assaulted with rocks should respond with less-lethal alternatives.

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher insisted agents will continue to use deadly force against rock throwers, because rocks are potentially deadly weapons.

CBP, Homeland Security and Border Patrol officials declined repeated interview requests, agreeing only to a limited, off-the-record discussion from which the agency would approve a few limited statements. CBP officials declined to discuss the agency’s lack of transparency on the record.

But Acting Deputy CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said CBP doesn’t control the release of information or pace of investigations, pointing to the FBI and Homeland Security.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., one of the architects of a immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate that would increase the size of the Border Patrol, said border agents have “a tough job.”

The senator added: “Any loss of life incurred in the course of Border Patrol duties, as with any other government agency, should be given a close look."

On the night he died, Oct. 10, 2012, Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez told his grandmother, Taide Elena, that he was going to walk to the nearby Oxxo convenience store where his brother Diego worked, off Calle Internacional. That street runs below the border fence between Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Ariz.

“It’s our neighborhood,” said Elena, sitting on the couch of her cinder-block home, her hands balled together, two days after her grandson was shot. “He was a good boy; he’d come and go. I didn’t think much about it.”

Elena had been minding the boys for several months. Their father died three years earlier; their mother, Araceli Rodriguez, was trying to get the bank where she worked to transfer her to Nogales.

Jose Antonio, 16, had taken the separation hard, she said. He’d had to suspend school when they ran short of money for his tuition, but he was excited about starting classes again the next week.

That night, as the boy neared Calle Internacional, police and Border Patrol agents across the border responded to a 911 call about men hoisting bundles of marijuana over the fence.

Nogales Police K-9 officer John Zuniga spotted two men trying to climb back into Mexico. Agents yelled at the men to come down, Zuniga wrote in his report. He “heard several rocks start hitting the ground, and I looked up and could see the rocks flying through the air.”

As he took his dog back to his car, Zuniga heard gunfire. He looked up and saw an agent at the fence. Based on ballistics reports from Sonora state police, at least one agent fired 14 hollow-point bullets from a standard-issue .40-caliber Heckler & Koch pistol through the fence, killing Elena Rodriguez.

The Border Patrol hasn’t released the incident report. It hasn’t identified the agent or agents involved. In an initial statement, officials said agents were assaulted with rocks.

“After verbal commands from agents to cease were ignored, one agent then discharged his service firearm. One of the subjects appeared to have been hit,” the statement said. Subsequently, the agency has declined to confirm whether more than one agent opened fire.

But neither Zuniga nor another Nogales police officer there reported hearing any shouted orders. Three witnesses on the Mexican side said they heard no shouts before the gunfire. Isidro Alvarado, a security guard, said Elena Rodriguez was walking about 20 feet ahead of him when two youths ran past them away from the fence. Then he heard gunshots and saw Elena Rodriguez fall.

CBP won’t make public its use-of-force policy. Agency officials have said agents are authorized to fire when they face potentially deadly force, including rocks. However, if they can do so safely, agents must issue a verbal warning before firing, a Homeland Security memo states.

Where Elena Rodriguez died, the Mexican side of the fence is about 25 feet lower than the U.S. side. Due to the arc that rocks thrown over the fence there would have to follow, it would be all but impossible for a rock thrown from Mexico to hit someone near the fence on the U.S. side. And the agent (or agents) would have had to be standing at the fence to fire through the 3 and 1/2-inch gaps between the bars.

Araceli Rodriguez, who now lives in Nogales, said that, when the FBI interviewed her, she believed that “they’re looking for some way to blame my son, some way to make it his fault.” She asked why CBP hasn’t released or let her attorney see video from a border-fence camera less than 50 yards from where her son was killed.

“Do you think … that if they had a video of my son throwing rocks, they wouldn’t have produced it by now? They wouldn’t have spread it for all the world to see? Of course they would have,” she said.

CBP officials declined to discuss the case, citing an ongoing FBI investigation.

Whether Elena Rodriguez was simply walking by or was throwing rocks, the circumstances under which he was shot were similar to those in scores of other alleged “rocking” incidents that agents resolved without firearms.

Incident reports suggest that lookouts in Mexico often throw rocks at agents to try to help drug mules or undocumented migrants get away. In 2012, rockings accounted for nearly half of the 555 assaults on agents reported by CBP.

On the whole, agents rarely turn to deadly force. In the nearly 1,600 use-of-force incident reports reviewed by The Republic, agents resorted to gunfire about 4 percent of the time, and killed people less than 1 percent of the time from 2010 through May 2012.

Eight times since 2010, Border Patrol agents killed people whom they said were throwing rocks at them, including six across the border. But in at least 160 other reported cases, agents resolved cross-border rock-throwing with less-lethal weapons that can fire, for example, balls filled with pepper spray. In those cases, no one died and almost no one was seriously hurt — including the agents.

No agent has died from being hit with a rock; agents reported injuries in two of those 160 cross-border rockings.

CBP agents and officers can carry two categories of weapons: Lethal weapons include the H&K pistols issued to all agents and optional firearms such as shotguns and M-4 rifles. “Less lethal” weapons include close and long-range options.

For close range, agents must carry either cans of pepper spray or collapsible steel batons (which look like narrow baseball bats); most carry both.

Photo by Nick Oza/The Republic

Supporters from Arizona human-rights groups protest at the border fence in Nogales, Sonora, on Nov. 2, 2012.

Of the long-range less-lethal weapons, agents most commonly use two: The pepper-spray balls launching system, essentially a modified paintball gun, can fire more than 10 balls a second filled with pepper spray, letting agents saturate an area with irritating vapors. The longer-range FN-303, a rifle-style weapon, uses compressed air to shoot “kinetic impact” projectiles, which are meant to incapacitate people without killing them.

Agents who used those less-lethal weapons reported they were usually highly effective at stopping rock throwers.

On Sept. 10, 2010, an agent being assaulted with rocks from the same street where Elena Rodriguez would be killed wrote that he used his pepper-spray ball launcher to saturate the area, firing “volleys of four to six rounds each near where the assailants were throwing the rocks. The rock throwers retreated from the area without further incident.”

On April 5, 2011, another agent in the same area was trying to catch someone, “when I felt a rock strike me on my right shoulder blade. I immediately turned and started saturating the area with my pepper ball launching system as several more rocks were thrown at me … the situation was put under control. There were no injuries.”

The Border Patrol doesn’t require agents to be trained in, to carry or to use any of the long-range less-lethal devices. They are strictly optional. McAleenan said CBP is looking at giving agents more “less-lethal options in high risk areas,” among other possible changes.

Carlos LaMadrid, a 19-year-old American, was smuggling marijuana when he was killed on March 21, 2011.

LaMadrid fled toward the Mexican border as Douglas police tried to pull over his Chevy Avalanche pickup truck. Douglas Police Officer Mark Gonzales, behind him, reported that LaMadrid jammed the truck to a stop as a Border Patrol Chevy Tahoe pulled up, colliding alongside. LaMadrid and a passenger leaped out and ran to a ladder. Someone already on top of the fence began hurling rocks at the Border Patrol vehicle.

As LaMadrid climbed the ladder, Border Patrol Agent Lucas Tidwell fired his handgun through the Tahoe’s windshield, then opened the door and fired four more shots, hitting LaMadrid four times in the back and thigh. LaMadrid died that afternoon at a Sierra Vista hospital.

Two and a half years later, LaMadrid’s mother, Guadalupe Guerrero, says that her son’s actions didn’t justify killing him.

“If they’d arrested him, charged him, taken him to court, that wouldn’t have mattered,” Guerrero said. “But the Border Patrol took matters into their own hands.... The badge isn’t a license to kill.”

Immediately after the shooting, the Border Patrol whisked Tidwell back to the Douglas station. They declined to allow him to be interviewed by the Douglas police or the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, noted a sheriff’s report. Under the Border Patrol’s union contract, agents must be allowed to meet with union representatives and attorneys before deciding whether to speak with investigators.

That afternoon, FBI Agents Jeremy Nielsen and Kyle Fisher met with the Border Patrol, the county sheriff and Douglas police, the sheriff’s report noted. The agents said the bureau would look into whether any crimes were committed against Tidwell. The bureau left it to the sheriff’s office to investigate whether the shooting of LaMadrid was justified. Douglas Price, the agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix Division, said that in joint investigations the local sheriff’s office typically handles homicides.

But the Cochise detectives had to do so without any access to Tidwell. Based on their findings – which included a video from a border camera that showed someone on the fence making a throwing motion – Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer decided not to prosecute. The DOJ held the case open for more than two years before announcing last August that it wouldn’t pursue charges against Tidwell. The FBI said cases are often open two years or more; Justice officials wouldn’t comment on why this case was open so long.

Tidwell “followed appropriate protocols; he defended himself; he wasn’t disciplined or anything for it,” by the Border Patrol, said Tidwell’s attorney, Sean Chapman. In a press release, the Justice Department said “LaMadrid was in the line of fire,” and that “there is insufficient evidence ... to disprove that the agent was acting in self-defense when he fired at the rock thrower and mistakenly struck the victim.”

Border Patrol agents or CBP officers are rarely charged with using excessive use of force or violating someone’s civil rights by killing them. In part, that’s because agents, like other law-enforcement officers, tend to be given the benefit of the doubt by federal investigators.

The Department of Justice has not been able to show any cases in which it recommended civil or criminal charges against a CBP agent or officer who killed in the line of duty in at least the past six years. An extensive review by The Republic also found no instances.

The public, too, tends to give agents the benefit of the doubt.

In 2005, two Border Patrol agents in Texas, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, shot, but didn’t kill, an unarmed drug smuggler who was fleeing. They tried to cover up the incident by falsifying reports, destroying evidence and lying to investigators.

They were convicted in 2006 on various charges and sentenced to more than a decade each in federal prison, but a swell of public pressure led President George W. Bush to commute their sentences on his last day in office.

In 2007, Rheinheimer, the Cochise County attorney, charged Border Patrol Agent Nicholas Corbett with second-degree murder after Corbett shot to death Francisco Dominguez Rivera, 22, an undocumented migrant. Corbett maintained that Dominguez Rivera had thrown rocks at him; after two trials ended in hung juries, Rheinheimer opted not to to try Corbett a third time.

In some cases, the investigations have been perfunctory.

On Jan. 4, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Miguel Torres Vasquez shot to death Jorge Alfredo Solis Palma, an undocumented migrant, on a trail east of Douglas. Solis Palma, 28, had thrown rocks at Agent Neil Hamby and his dog, and other agents. Torres Vasquez chased him for 600 yards, then shot him, a Cochise County Sheriff’s report states.

By the next afternoon, the Border Patrol’s critical incident team decided the shooting was justified, citing two agents saying that Solis Palma was in the motion of throwing a rock. That same day, the FBI’s Fisher and Nielsen (also the agents in the LaMadrid case), cited the incident team’s report and recommended no further FBI investigation. Price said such determinations can be made quickly by investigators on the scene.

The FBI held the case open for more than two years; but documents obtained by The Republic show no updates to the FBI’s Solis Palma file from the day after the shooting through Aug. 13, 2013, when the heavily redacted file was disclosed.

But was the case so open-and-shut? Cochise County detectives interviewed the Border Patrol witnesses. Agent Leon Shaw, said he saw Solis raise his hand, the nearest witness, Agent Adrian Suazo, said that Solis Palma had his hands and arms cradled in front of him, as though he were holding rocks. But he wasn’t making a throwing motion, nor had he raised his hands, when Torres Vasquez shot him.

Nevertheless, Cochise County, too, closed its investigation without charges.

In use-of-force investigations, CBP and the Border Patrol decline to identify the agents involved, often fighting in court to block the release of names even of agents being sued by the families of those killed. (Those named here were identified in court files or in documents obtained from state investigations.) The FBI also redacts agents’ names from any documents it releases. It can be very difficult for the families to find out what happened or why.

Officials at CBP and at the agents’ union said agents have been disciplined for using excessive force. But they won’t say who, how many or when. “Agents are subjected to incredible scrutiny,” union attorney Jim Calle said. “But the process is exceedingly opaque.”

This lack of transparency is not the norm at many law-enforcement agencies.

The same month as the shooting of Elena Rodriguez, Texas State Trooper Miguel Avila killed two undocumented migrants hidden under a tarp in the bed of a fleeing pickup; Avila hit them while trying, from a helicopter, to shoot out the truck’s tires as it sped toward a school zone near the town of La Joya.

Within a week, the Texas Department of Public Safety released Avila’s identity and numerous details, including maps showing the truck’s route and where it was fired on. The department also said Avila was being reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation.

Texas DPS announced an internal review of its policies on firing from aircraft. In February, the department changed its policy, barring shooting from the sky unless the aircraft had been fired upon or agents believed a deadly weapon – apart from the vehicle – was about to be used.

DPS’s findings were presented to a Hidalgo County grand jury; it declined to indict Avila, saying he had been following DPS policy.

Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, for several recent years was among the deadliest cities in the world, as drug cartels battled for control of a key smuggling route.

But Maria Guadalupe Guereca never worried about letting her son Sergio, 15, accompany his older brother Omar to the Paso del Norte border crossing. It seemed a safe place for Sergio to play or hang out with friends while his brother worked in maintenance on the bridge connecting the border towns.

Then, on June 7, 2010, Sergio was shot to death by Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. Sergio and other youths had been running back and forth across the dry bed of the Rio Grande to the metal fence on the U.S. side. The FBI and CBP, without naming Mesa, said an agent fired in self-defense after he was surrounded by rock throwers.

But several cellphone videos taken from the nearby bridge later surfaced. They appear to show a different story.

Mesa wasn’t surrounded. He had tried to intercept four youths running back to Mexico across the river bed, grabbing one as the others fled. In one video, some youths can clearly be seen making throwing motions. But Guereca isn’t among them. He’s visible, peeping out from behind a pillar beneath a train trestle. He sticks his head out; Mesa fires; and the boy falls to the ground, dead.

“Why kill him? What had he done?” asked Maria Guadalupe Guereca, looking down at the spot where her son died.

The Department of Justice said last year there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mesa on criminal or civil charges.

Attorney Cristobal Galindo, who represents Guareca’s family, said he believes three separate videos show the agent wasn’t surrounded and that a Department of Justice inquiry indicated Sergio Guereca didn’t throw any rocks. The family’s suit was dismissed by a federal district court judge in Texas, who said the court lacked jurisdiction since the victim wasn’t a U.S. citizen and his death took place on foreign soil. The case is now on appeal.

The family’s attorneys argue that the district court’s decision would in effect create a zone along the border where neither Mexican nor U.S. law would apply to any agent who fired across the border.

“Such a dangerous, implausible decision – giving the Executive the unreviewable discretion to take wholly innocent, civilian life – would be literally unprecedented,” wrote family attorney Bob Hilliard. The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of groups have joined in that appeal.

Shootings near the border fence near urban areas are the likeliest to be taped on CBP cameras. Not so in remote areas.

Jesus Castro Romo was among 12 undocumented migrants caught in a remote part of Arizona on Nov. 16, 2010. Romo ran, but couldn’t evade Border Patrol Agent Abel Canales, who was on horseback. He shot Romo in the side.

Canales’ incident report lacks any explanation for why he opened fire. Canales told the FBI Romo threatened him with a rock. Romo, who now is disabled and lives in Nogales, Sonora, tells a different story.

“As we were walking back to the others, he kept hitting me with his lariat. He wouldn’t stop hitting me, so I ran again. And that’s when he shot me,” said Romo, sitting in a wheelchair. “He said, ‘Yeah, how’d it have been if you’d hit me in the head with a rock? I said, ‘Who grabbed a rock? I didn’t grab any rock.’ ”

Romo sued the U.S. government in January 2012. That case continues. Government attorneys deny any wrongdoing by the agent. Canales, meanwhile, was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2011 — not for shooting Romo, but for corruption, accused of taking bribes to let vehicles carrying drugs or undocumented migrants pass the Interstate 19 checkpoint south of Tucson. In August 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

To date, the fiercest criticism for the disconnect between agents’ versions of what happened came after the May 28, 2010, death of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas at the San Ysidro border crossing south of San Diego. Officers said he was aggressive, even after being shocked with a Taser; but cellphone videos showed him begging for help, facedown on the ground, as a dozen agents shocked and struck him.

Sixteen members of Congress demanded that Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General investigate excessive force by CBP and the Border Patrol in this and other cases.

Hernandez’s widow, Maria Pugo, filed a wrongful-death suit. Her attorney, Eugene Iredale, demanded to see the videos from CBP’s cameras.

“San Ysidro is the busiest land crossing in the world; they have millions of crossings a year, and there are video cameras throughout the facility,” Iredale said. “But somehow, the video cameras weren’t turned on, or they were facing the other way. I could say something cynical, but I don’t need to. We have no video from any of the government cameras at the border.”

The FBI’s investigation remains open. The family’s lawsuit is moving toward trial.

Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released its redacted findings on CBP’s use of force in September.

The review concluded that many CBP officers and Border Patrol agents don’t understand when and how much force they’re allowed to use. Inspectors said they couldn’t figure out how many allegations of excessive force there have been, or how many CBP investigated, because CBP doesn’t directly track such allegations or its own investigations. Hundreds of records had so little information that inspectors couldn’t determine what happened.

The Republic’s review of incident reports found similar issues. The report for the Carlos LaMadrid shooting, for example, has no narrative at all. Nor is there any narrative in one of the most notorious incidents — the December 2010 death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. He was shot to death in Arizona’s Peck Canyon by a suspected “rip” crew (bandits who prey on drug smugglers).

Two of the weapons found at the scene were later linked to the “Fast and Furious” gun-walking operation, in which the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed guns to be sold to known criminals in an effort to trace the flow of weapons to Mexican drug cartels. The incident report is so incomplete that it would be impossible to tell, merely from the report itself, that an agent died.

As part of the OIG review, the DHS asked the Police Executive Research Forum, a non-profit police chiefs’ research association, to look at how the CBP reviews use-of-force incidents. At the agency’s insistence, all the forum’s recommendations were redacted before the report was released. CBP Southwest Border Chief Bill Brooks would only say: “It is CBP’s standard practice to provide a short period of administrative leave to personnel involved in serious use-of-force incidents.”

The report didn’t discuss specific incidents or whether they were properly investigated. It called on CBP to improve how it identifies and tracks information, and to begin using that information to train agents and figure out how its policies are working.

In November, Border Patrol Chief Fisher told the Associated Press that, any recommendations notwithstanding, agents will continue to use deadly force against rock-throwers.

Many prominent law-enforcement agencies, including the New York and Los Angeles police departments and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office make their use-of-force policies public.

By contrast, even though CBP officials insist that their use-of-force policies follow federal guidelines, the agency refuses to disclose any copies. Several years ago, in response to a lawsuit by the ACLU, CBP released a copy of its policies — with nearly every single word redacted. CBP officials wouldn’t discuss, on the record, their reasons for withholding the policy.

The Republic obtained a 2004 copy of CBP’s use-of-force policy handbook, along with limited information about revisions made in 2010.

The current policy allows agents to use deadly force when they believe there is imminent danger of death or serious injury to themselves or another person, Border Patrol Chief Fisher has said. The 2004 policy stated agents may shoot fleeing suspects only if there is probable cause to believe the person committed a felony causing serious injury or death and poses an imminent danger of death to another person. The policy doesn’t specifically address if rocks are considered deadly weapons.

In general, officers are supposed to use the minimum force necessary.

Officials at the Police Executive Research Forum said their CBP contract prevents them from discussing their redacted recommendations.

But the police forum has published two guides on use of force “best practices.” The Republic’s review found that CBP policies are often nearly the opposite of these recommendations, which are in italics.

Collect and analyze use of force data to identify trends and patterns; act on that data. CBP tracks use of force incidents; but reports often lack key information that would be necessary to identify trends and patterns. OIG noted CBP doesn’t track allegations of excessive force or assaults on agents that don’t result in use of force. CBP declined to discuss whether and how it analyzes the data but provided a statement that it is “working to improve the reporting system.”

Officers should articulate and document their reasons for a particular use of force in a given situation. One-fifth of the nearly 1,600 incident reports included no description whatsoever about the incident; hundreds more fail to say why they used force.

Demonstrate to the community that the agency is accountable to the public when force is used. Provide as much information as possible to the public as soon as possible. Inform the public about the outcome of investigations into use of force. CBP typically issues brief press releases after deadly incident, but families of those killed consistently said it was difficult or impossible to get more information. CBP doesn’t release outcomes of internal investigations.

When force is used inappropriately, acknowledge the mistake as soon as possible. CBP officials couldn’t provide, nor could The Republic find, an example in which CBP acknowledged excessive use of force.

Be as open and transparent as possible. As noted, CBP officials won’t even discuss transparency on the record.

“The Border Patrol is a very paramilitary, very top-down, authoritarian institution, internally,” said Josiah Heyman, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso who has conducted field research with the agency. “DHS cloaks itself with the mantle of national security and holds a lot of information back from the public. We’re not actually talking about issues or tactics, intelligence or surveillance … how do you justify holding back use-of-force guidelines and training materials from the public?”

The National Border Patrol Council, the agents’ union, has argued vehemently against any changes in use-of-force policies. Before CBP updated its policies in 2010, it took three years to negotiate the changes with the council and the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CBP officers.

After CBP officials said recently they’ll test dashboard-mounted video cameras (and possibly lapel cameras) to reduce the use of force and protect agents against false accusations, the union condemned the idea. Union Vice President Shawn Moran said the use of lapel cameras “would result in more injured and murdered agents.”

The union also condemned any new limits on the use of deadly force, saying agents “work in a unique environment and encounter threats that are not often seen by police and sheriff’s departments.”

Statistically, it’s safer to be a Border Patrol agent than a police officer. Much safer. In 2012, local police and sheriff’s deputies in Arizona were more than five times likelier than Border Patrol agents on the Southwest border to be assaulted, and four times likelier to be assaulted with deadly weapons, based on CBP and FBI data.

There is limited pressure for change.

“Mexico wants to know what measures will be taken so these incidents don’t happen,” said Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Jose Antonio Meade Kuribreña. Mexico delivers a diplomatic complaint each time a Mexican citizen is killed by border agents. Mexico notes cross-border shootings violate an agreement between the countries.

But Mexico’s complaints have had no apparent impact. In the U.S., a coalition of border and human-rights groups took family members of some of those killed to Capitol Hill in late November to push lawmakers for reforms.

“Authorities need to understand that this is not a case of a bad apple or two, it’s a systemic problem,” said Andrea Guerrero, co-chair of the Southern Border Communities Coalition. “This agency has a problem with accountability and transparency, and they don’t see it.”

Historically, the Border Patrol and CBP have come under less public pressure over use-of-force than local police forces, said Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina, “because you don’t have the same kind of local constituency, the layer of citizen response, that local police forces have.”

But that’s changing, Alpert said. With the growing use of technology, it will be harder for questionable incidents to slip through, he said. “But the numbers I’ve seen, even more than it protects the suspect, it protects the officer from false complaints.”

On Nov. 25, three days after meeting with Guadalupe Guerrero and other family members, 20 members of Congress asked to meet with acting CBP Commissioner Thomas Winkowski to discuss how to make the agency more transparent and accountable. That meeting is pending.

In Ciudad Juarez, Maria Guadalupe Guereca has low expectations that U.S. courts will hold agents accountable in her son’s death.

“I don’t think we’ll see justice,” she said, “just because we’re Mexican.”

Photo by Bob Ortega/The Republic

Maria Guadalupe Guereca has low expectations that U.S. courts will hold agents accountable in her son’s death. "I don't think we'll see justice," she said, "just because we're Mexican."

In Nogales, Araceli Rodriguez’s job takes her downtown, near the border fence, every morning. Each time she sees a Border Patrol car or an agent on the U.S. side, she says, she asks herself if that might be the one who killed her son.

“If my son had been the shooter, if he had been the one who killed them, would they have waited a year in demanding justice against him? Would he still be free?” Rodriguez asked, on the first anniversary of her son’s death. “Of course not. Of course not. The Mexican government would have extradited him immediately.

“They killed a child,” she said, her voice trembling. “And they’ve done nothing about it… I don’t want excuses. I want to know who killed my son. I want justice.”

That evening, several hundred protesters joined her and her family in a march to the border fence. They wore t-shirts calling for “Justicia!” They held white balloons and candles. Some waved hand-shaped signs, in Spanish, saying, “Not one more death.”

As they marched, shopkeepers and customers came out; some joined the marchers. Outside a barber shop, one man asked what the demonstration was about.

“The boy who was killed by La Migra,” said a marcher. The man nodded. “Oh, yes,” he said. “Everyone here knows about that.”

Later than night, when everyone had gone home, if you looked through the fence, only the ghostly image of Jose Antonio painted on a wall, half-hidden by the shadows of the fence’s bars, remained.

Republic photographer Nick Oza contributed reporting to this story.

Milan orders removal of naughty Christmas tree

Source

Milan orders removal of naughty Christmas tree

Associated Press Fri Dec 13, 2013 9:11 AM

MILAN — A provocatively adorned outdoor Christmas tree in central Milan was just too naughty for city officials, who have ordered it denuded of its racy red sex toys.

The city said in an order that the Christmas season, "qualifying as a holiday for children and families, requires sobriety in urban decorations," in particular when using "traditional symbols that distinguish Christmas."

Norma Rossetti, who launched an Italian sex toy e-commerce website this year, said Friday she complied immediately with the order. But she defended the so-called "Tree of Pleasure," saying the objects chosen were elegant and not obviously X-rated. She said her goal is to break down taboos by making sex toys "completely normal everyday objects. "

Rossetti acknowledged some complaints, but said most passers-by during the one-day display were enthusiastic.

FBI creates terrorist plots???

Source

Undercover stings used to fight domestic terrorism

Associated Press

By ROXANA HEGEMAN

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The arrest of a Kansas man accused of trying to bring what he thought was a car bomb into a Wichita airport marked the culmination of a months-long undercover sting in what has become a successful and widely used domestic counterterrorism tactic.

Court documents detail Terry Lee Loewen's alleged conversations with undercover FBI agents over six months. The discussions began with vague sentiments about his desire to commit "violent jihad" against the U.S. before turning into a detailed, concrete plot in which the agents recruited him to use his airport access to plant a bomb in a martyrdom operation.

Loewen, a 58-year-old avionics technician who worked at the airport for Hawker Beechcraft, was arrested Friday on charges including providing support to al-Qaida and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He remains jailed, and prosecutors expect to take their case to a grand jury Wednesday.

The case resembles a string of investigations conducted by the FBI since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that have prompted controversy over whether law enforcement's tactics involve entrapment and violate civil liberties.

One such case involved an undercover agent pretending to be a terrorist who provided a teenager with a phony car bomb, then watched him plant it in downtown Chicago. In Boston, a man was sentenced to 17 years in prison for plotting with undercover agents to fly remote-controlled planes packed with explosives into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.

The FBI insists the stings are a vital, legal tool for averting potentially deadly terrorist attacks — and juries have returned tough sentences.

Dan Monnat, a prominent Kansas defense attorney who isn't representing Loewen, said the 21-page criminal complaint against Loewen doesn't contain enough information to find his guilt or evidence of FBI entrapment. But he questioned the FBI's tactics.

"If the fragile mental state of an otherwise upstanding individual is exploited to commit a crime that the individual otherwise would not have taken steps to commit, how does that make us safe and why spend taxpayer money on prosecution?" Monnat said Saturday.

"If that is what happened here, we have to ask ourselves is grooming terrorists the best use of our taxpayer money for security if the person otherwise would never have taken further steps in furtherance of terrorism. What is the point?"

But entrapment defenses have failed in various cases. In a 2009 case in New York, a federal judge said she was not proud of the government's role in nurturing an alleged conspiracy in which four men were convicted in a plot to bomb synagogues and shoot down military planes with missiles. The men were each sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In an unsuccessful appeal, the defense argued the men were harmless dupes led astray by an FBI informant who infiltrated a mosque. With the encouragement of the informant, one of the men hatched the scheme to blow up the synagogues in the Bronx and to shoot down military cargo planes with missiles.

The appeals court found the government's tactics didn't rise to the level of "outrageous misconduct."

Court documents don't specify what initially led investigators to Loewen, though he allegedly told an undercover agent during one online exchange: "hey I read Inspire magazine; I believe in staying informed." Inspire, an English-language online magazine, is produced by al-Qaida affiliates. It includes such things as bomb-making instructions and endorsements of lone-wolf terror attacks.

He also allegedly told the undercover agent he'd downloaded tens of thousands of pages about jihad, martyrdom operations and Sharia law, and printed out an al-Qaida manual — online activity that often draws law enforcement's attention.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom declined to discuss the case Saturday. But in May, he told students during an event at Wichita State University that authorities monitor extremists groups' websites, including Inspire magazine.

"Do not go to this website," Grissom said. "You will be on our list."

In Loewen's case, court documents paint an undercover operation in which Loewen and two FBI agents posing as conspirators ultimately hatched a plot to place a vehicle full of explosives at the Wichita airport. He allegedly timed it to cause "maximum carnage" and death, according to an FBI affidavit.

In early October, one undercover agent told Loewen he'd just returned from overseas after meeting with individuals connected with al-Qaida, and that the "brothers" were excited to hear about his access to the airport. When the agent asked if he'd be willing to plant a bomb, Loewen allegedly told him the plans were "like a dream come true for me, and I never expect things this good to occur in my life."

Over the coming months, he allegedly conspired with the agents. Loewen, who once claimed to know nothing about explosives, assisted an undercover agent assemble a bomb — but with inert explosives — using components he took from his employer. Two days later, an undercover agent picked Loewen up at a local hotel, went to another location to get the fake bomb and drove to Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

Loewen was arrested early Friday as he twice tried to use his badge to gain entry to the tarmac.

In a letter dated Wednesday that prosecutors say Loewen left for a family member, Loewen said he expected to be martyred for Allah by the time the letter was read. He wrote that his only explanation was that he believed in jihad for the sake of Allah and his Muslim brothers and sisters, though he said most Muslims in the U.S. would condemn him.

"I expect to be called a terrorist (which I am), a psychopath, and a homicidal maniac," the letter said.

The Wichita Eagle newspaper, citing police, reported Saturday that Loewen has had at least one brush with the law, a concealed-carry violation at the airport in 2009.

Loewen has been described by a relative and a neighbor as a good person who largely kept to himself. His wife attended his initial court appearance Friday but refused to talk with reporters, as did his attorney.

'Lie of the Year': Why Obama's healthcare claim is a 'winner'

'Lie of the Year': Why Obama's healthcare claim is a 'winner'

Christian Science Monitor

By David Clark Scott 2 hours ago

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep it," President Barack Obama said.

He said it not just once, but at least 37 times in recent years, according to PolitiFact.com.

That statement eventually earned Obama a "Pants on Fire" rating from the political fact-checking site.

Now, Obama has garnered PolitiFact's annual "Lie of the Year" award. And its readers agreed.

In a poll, 59 percent rated Obama's claim as the biggest political fib of the year. The runner up, according to the poll, was also a healthcare whopper:

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, "President Obama just granted all of Congress an exception" to Obamacare during an August speech in Iowa. But only 8 percent of PolitiFact readers voted for that as the year's biggest fabrication.

In fact, in four of the past five years, falsehoods about healthcare have earned the PolitiFact "Lie of the Year" award.

While only a small percentage of Americans (about 2 percent out of the total insured population of 262 million) have seen their healthcare insurance policies canceled due to the Affordable Care Act, that group has gotten plenty of media attention.

As PolitiFact notes, Obama made the original mistake of oversimplifying a complex change, and then compounded the mistake.

Boiling down the complicated health care law to a soundbite proved treacherous, even for its promoter-in-chief. Obama and his team made matters worse, suggesting they had been misunderstood all along. The stunning political uproar led to this: a rare presidential apology....

Obama’s ideas on health care were first offered as general outlines then grew into specific legislation over the course of his presidency. Yet Obama never adjusted his rhetoric to give people a more accurate sense of the law’s real-world repercussions, even as fact-checkers flagged his statements as exaggerated at best.

The combination of the repeated oversimplification and mishandling of this lie, on top of a botched roll out of healthcare.gov, have pushed Obama's popularity ratings into the basement.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported in early November:

All the stumbles are likely behind Obama’s sinking job approval ratings. The RealClearPolitics.com average of major polls shows him at 43.9 percent. The latest Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll shows Obama’s Presidential Leadership Index – which combines job approval, leadership, and favorability ratings – is at an all-time low of 43 (where a score of 50 is neutral).

The calamitous launch of HealthCare.gov may have damaged Obama’s image the most. After all, he ran two presidential campaigns featuring cutting-edge technology. Obviously, hiring people to build state-of-the-art technology for a presidential campaign is wholly different from presiding over a vast executive branch that includes an agency tasked with building a complex computer system, heavily staffed by contractors and subject to all the rules of government procurement. Still, analysts say, Obama should have had an early-warning system in place to let him – or more precisely, a top White House aide – know that the rollout of HealthCare.gov should possibly be delayed.

By December, the polls showed that Obama's approval ratings – and perhaps more importantly, his party's ratings – continued to sink. In his last two years in office, the ability of the Democrats to maintain control of the Senate and perhaps the White House in coming elections, may depend on the public's perception of the success - or failure - of the Affordable Care Act.

Tempe officer arrested in police standoff in Gilbert

Tempe officer arrested in police standoff in Gilbert

By D.S. Woodfill The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:48 AM

A Tempe police officer barricaded himself in his vehicle following a police pursuit that ended in Gilbert early Saturday, authorities said.

Garrett Peterson, a member of the Tempe Police Department since 2007, was arrested shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday, said department spokesman Mike Pooley. Peterson, 30, is a patrol officer and was placed on administrative leave following the incident.

Jesse Sanger, a Gilbert Police Department spokesman, said Peterson’s wife called police at about 10 p.m. and said that he was making threatening phone calls and sending threatening text messages to her.

After police arrived to take the woman’s statement, Peterson approached the residence driving a vehicle with a female passenger inside.

Sanger said officers tried to pull over Peterson’s vehicle near Val Vista Drive and the Loop 202 but he refused to stop.

Police initiated a pursuit but called it off in the area of Cooper Road and the 202 after they lost track of Peterson, Sanger said.

Sanger did not say what speeds Peterson’s vehicle reached.

“A short time later DPS advised they located the vehicle on the westbound 202 on (a) ramp and had initiated a high risk stop,” he said.

Pooley said multiple agencies responded to the scene at Alma School Road and Loop 202.

According to Sanger, Peterson showed a pistol and refused to get out of the vehicle. A SWAT team was called.

Peterson eventually dropped the pistol out of the window at surrendered at about 12:45 a.m., Sanger said.

Peterson was arrested on suspicion of felony endangerment, threatening and intimidating, driving under the influence, felony flight and reckless driving.

He was booked into the Maricopa County Fourth Avenue Jail.

In 2 States, Corner Cannabis Store Nears Reality

In 2 States, Corner Cannabis Store Nears Reality

By JACK HEALY and KIRK JOHNSON

Published: December 13, 2013 55 Comments

DENVER — Starting early next year, any adult with a craving or curiosity will be able to stroll into a strip mall or downtown shop in Colorado or Washington State and do what has long been forbidden: buy a zip-lock bag of legal marijuana.

After landmark votes made marijuana legal for recreational consumption, users in these two states will no longer need doctors’ notes or medical reasons to buy the drug. Instead, they will simply show identification to prove they are at least 21, and with the cautious blessing of state and federal officials, they will be able to buy as much as an ounce of marijuana and smoke it in their living rooms.

It is a new frontier of drug legalization, one that marks a stark turn away from the eras of “Reefer Madness,” zero tolerance and Just Say No warnings about the dangers of marijuana. But it also raises questions about whether these pioneering states will be able to regulate and contain a drug that is still outlawed across most of the country — although medical marijuana can be sold legally in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The end of the prohibition of alcohol in the 1930s, by contrast, to which some historians and legal scholars are comparing this moment, came all at once across the nation.

On this never-traveled road, the outcome on many fronts is uncertain: Supporters predict an economic boom in new business activity, cannabis tourism and reduced public expense with fewer low-level drug offenders clogging jails and courtrooms.

Elected officials, parents’ groups and police chiefs worry that drug traffickers will exploit the new markets, that more teenagers will take up marijuana, and that two places with reputations for fresh air and clean living will become known as America’s stoner states. [Yea, in Arizona here we have had thousands of middle aged old farts who are medical marijuana patients mugging teenagers to get enough money for their medical marijuana habits. Just joking. The only real crimes here in Arizona are crooked cops angry that the drug war is ending who are falsely arresting medical marijuana patients on bogus DUI charges and possession of hashish charges. And of course elected officials filing frivolous lawsuits to stop the vote approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act]

Other states flirting with legalization are watching closely too, not least for the expected windfall in state revenue in stiffly taxing something that has never been taxed at all.

Referendum drives modeled on Colorado and Washington are already underway for next year in Arizona, California, Oregon and Alaska, and others are expected to follow in 2016. So the pressures to get it right the first time, local and state officials said, are immense.

“We are floating in uncharted waters here,” said Mayor Michael B. Hancock of Denver, where 149 businesses have applied to sell or grow retail marijuana.

Consider, for example, the strangely altered new role of the police, who in Washington are required to make sure all marijuana is of the legal, state-licensed variety. That could make for more crackdowns on illegal grow-and-sale operations, not fewer, a fact highlighted when federal agents raided several dispensaries in Colorado last month, smashing glass and hauling away hundreds of plants. [Not much new with those laws. Now you will be paying the government black market prices for your marijuana instead of paying a dope dealer black market prices!!!]

Practical questions about the legal, workaday drug trade have required reams of rules and regulations to answer: Should it be specifically taxed? Voters said yes, and in Washington even specified where the tax money should be spent, with specific apportionments including the funding of academic research about marijuana.

Can people give it away in public parks? No. Where can retailers set up shop, and how can they advertise? Nowhere near schools, and not to children. In Washington, even the size of a retailer’s storefront name is regulated: 1,600 square inches.

But most important, Colorado and Washington must show skeptical federal authorities that they can control this new world of regulated marijuana, and keep it from flowing to underage consumers, into other states or into the grip of drug traffickers and violent cartels. Even as the Justice Department announced in August that it would not block states from regulating marijuana, it also warned that their enforcement rules “must be tough in practice, not just on paper.”

“We’re already seeing a worst-case scenario emerging,” said Kevin A. Sabet, an opponent of legalization and the co-founder of Project SAM, Smart Approaches to Marijuana. He said marijuana was already flowing from dispensaries into the hands of teenage users, and he predicted the social costs would only mount in the months ahead.

One corner of this new frontier is emerging in an industrial park on the eastern fringes of Denver, where the Medicine Man dispensary is working to be among the first wave of new retailers. The business, housed in a converted spice factory, is expanding its growing operation from 5,000 plants to 11,000, sketching out plans to remodel the interior and placing advertisements in golfing magazines, to appeal to potential customers. Even the countercultural names of its marijuana — Cat Piss Romulan, for example — will be softened.

“That’s not something you want to take home,” said Andy Williams, who owns Medicine Man with his brother and mother. “Maybe we’ll call it Midnight Dream.”

Under Colorado’s rules, some shops will have to build separate entrances and new walls to separate their medical business from their recreational business. Medical customers — there are about 112,000 statewide — will pay a lower sales tax than recreational buyers. And businesses will be required to keep separate records and inventories.

Matthew Staver for The New York Times

Marijuana on a scale. Soon, all adult Coloradans will be able to buy the drug.

Colorado residents will be able to buy an ounce at a time. Visitors will be allowed a quarter-ounce. (Prices now range from $25 to $50 for an eighth of an ounce.) Both legalizing states will allow adult out-of-state visitors to buy and consume, but neither allows consumption in public, and both bar transporting legal marijuana across state lines.

So far, no dispensaries in Colorado have cleared the final inspections and obtained the final licenses to begin selling recreational marijuana. Licenses in Washington will be issued as early as January, but the first retail marijuana to sell will not be available until spring.

But even the wait itself underscores what is perhaps the biggest, yet subtlest implication of legalization: What once seemed wild, dangerous and radical to most Americans has become the stuff of state and local bureaucracy.

Although the governors of Colorado and Washington both opposed legalizing marijuana, once the voters had spoken, they and other state officials threw themselves into setting up shop to make marijuana work. In Washington, the State Liquor Control Board is in charge. In Colorado a commission presented plans to the Legislature, and state and city agencies are now sifting through applications.

“We know that we are under the microscope of experimentation here,” said Jack Finlaw, chief legal counsel to Colorado’s governor, who helped develop the state’s new marijuana regulations. “Now the challenge is rolling it out and making sure the rules are properly enforced.”

That mainstream momentum, and its message that marijuana is part of ordinary life, like a drink after work, is in turn spilling over into other states. In October, a Gallup survey found that 58 percent of Americans favored making marijuana legal, the strongest support in the poll’s history.

“Those victories in Washington and Colorado transformed the legalization and regulation of marijuana from an abstraction into a political reality,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supports legal marijuana. “How do we morally justify arresting people and locking them up when just across the border, or a few hundred miles away, it’s being treated more or less like alcohol?”

In Arizona, where people are gathering signatures to put legalization on 2014 ballots, organizers said a transplant from Washington who worked on the initiative there, came with a resonant message of practical, proven strategy: lose the tie dye and any green leafy symbols that might remind anyone, anywhere, of Cheech and Chong or Bob Marley, and then, dressed well and speaking politely, expand at every opportunity the constituency beyond college students.

“Present a normal-type atmosphere, instead of a drug-use-type atmosphere,” said John Howlett, 58, a former airline mechanic who volunteered in Washington and has been working with Safer Arizona on its referendum drive since his retirement there last year.

The mainstreaming extends to economics too. In Washington, about 1,700 applicants have filed for state licenses to grow, process or sell marijuana since the application process began last month. In many cases — if only to gauge by the names of applicants like Killer Grown Bud and Holy Smokes Farms — the new entrepreneurs are marijuana enthusiasts whose interests predate legalization.

But there are also people like Donald Burks. He’s a 70-year-old farmer in western Washington who said he has never tried marijuana and has no interest in doing so now. He applied for a grower’s license because he saw a market for specialty seeds and starter plants — an agricultural niche he knows well after 30 years farming.

“Every farmer I know is on the lookout for a new crop,” he said. Mr. Burks said he never imagined that marijuana would one day become an agricultural crop, legal as parsnips, but he admits he’s been wrong before.

“I didn’t expect I’d see broccoli become a popular product either, and it has,” he said.

Those gay marijuana sellers in Colorado???

Zonker & Zipper are now gay and selling marijuana legally in Colorado???

War - A government welfare program for the military industrial complex

Rizzo to plead guilty to tax charges

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Rizzo to plead guilty to tax charges

By Jeff Gottlieb

December 12, 2013, 9:59 p.m.

As Robert Rizzo's salary as Bell's city manager crept ever higher, eventually hitting an unheard-of $1.18 million a year, he still wasn't satisfied.

So from 2005 through 2010, the year he was ousted from his job after his salary was revealed, Rizzo claimed more than $770,000 in phantom losses on his tax returns, further inflating his take-home pay.

Rizzo, who is already facing 10 to 12 years in prison for his role in the corruption scandal, agreed Thursday to plead guilty to conspiracy to file false tax returns and to cooperate with federal authorities.

The bogus losses "operated to substantially offset the increasing wages defendant received from his employment with the city of Bell," according to the plea agreement.

Angela Spaccia, Rizzo's second in command in Bell, who was convicted on 11 counts of corruption earlier this week, has not been charged. However, she is referred to in the charging documents as "A.S.," along with her company, Sheffield Management Corp.

Rizzo's plea agreement says the two of them cost the IRS more than $300,000.

James Spertus, Rizzo's attorney, said Spaccia will eventually be indicted and that Rizzo will testify against her.

When Rizzo pleaded no contest to 69 counts of corruption in October, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy said she would allow him to serve his sentence in federal prison concurrently with the time he receives on the tax charges. He faces a maximum of eight years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the federal charges.

Spertus said he has no deal with federal prosecutors for Rizzo's sentence. Serving time in a minimum-security federal prison is vastly preferable for white-collar criminals to being in a state prison or county jail where they mix with violent felons.

"Mr. Rizzo's sentencing in state and federal court reflect his desire to accept responsibility, pay restitution and make things right," Spertus said.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles would not say why Spaccia had not been charged. He said the investigation is continuing.

Rizzo, 59, was charged Thursday. He will appear in federal court Dec. 23.

Spertus said evidence will show that Spaccia was the one driving the tax crimes. "That's a story Spertus has been trying to promote," said Spaccia's attorney, Harland Braun.

The accountant in the scheme, Robert J. Melcher of Calabasas, pleaded guilty in February to aiding and abetting the filing of a false tax return. He is scheduled to be sentenced next year.

According to the charges against Rizzo, Melcher's firm created what are known as "S" corporations for Rizzo and Spaccia in 2002. Hers was Sheffield Management and Rizzo's was R.A.R Inc.

Rizzo and Spaccia would "create bogus losses that they could include on their Form 1040 individual tax returns in order to fraudulently reduce their personal tax liability," according to the charges.

From 2006 through 2009, Rizzo claimed illegal losses of $571,530 on his horse ranch outside Seattle, which he falsely said was rental property, according to the charges.

In 2009 and 2010, according to the plea agreement, Rizzo illegally paid more than $200,000 from his corporation for personal expenses, including more than $120,000 he paid for work in his Huntington Beach home.

Spertus has been saying his client and Spaccia were facing imminent tax charges since Rizzo surprised prosecutors and pleaded in the Bell case. The U.S. attorney apparently decided to wait until Spaccia's trial was concluded before filing the case.

Spaccia is in the county jail awaiting sentencing Jan. 22. Rizzo's formal sentencing for the Bell corruption charges is set for March 12, although the judge has said she will give him 10 to 12 years.

During Spaccia's trial, Los Angeles County Assistant Dist. Atty. Sean Hassett said Spaccia and Rizzo exchanged emails in which they discussed "falsifying their [tax] returns."

Braun said that his client would fight tax charges. "From what I know, there is no income tax evasion, and all this is a promotion by Rizzo to get to federal prison and to do that he has decided to deliver Angela."

jeff.gottlieb@latimes.com

Delbert Tibbs dies at 74; exonerated man's life defined by time on death row

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Delbert Tibbs dies at 74; exonerated man's life defined by time on death row

By Bettina Boxall

December 12, 2013, 8:14 p.m.

After Delbert Tibbs dropped out of a Chicago seminary in 1972, he went on the road, walking, hopping freight trains and taking odd jobs across the U.S.

One day in early 1974, police stopped him near Ocala, Fla., and questioned him about a crime 220 miles to the south. The officers took some Polaroid snapshots of Tibbs and then, satisfied he wasn't involved, sent him on his way.

About a month later, in Lee County, Miss., a highway patrolman stopped him again and arrested him for rape and murder. Tibbs was hauled off to jail in handcuffs. At first, he wasn't worried. He had an alibi and didn't match the description of the killer.

"I don't do anything 'cause I figure they're going to let me out of here, so I don't even bother my family," Tibbs told oral historian Studs Terkel in an interview published in the 2001 book, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith."

But less than a year after his arrest, an all-white jury convicted Tibbs, an African American, of raping a white teenage girl and murdering her white male hitchhiking companion. Tibbs was sentenced to death in Florida's electric chair for the murder and to life in prison for the rape.

The case was a cause celebre. During the trial, family and supporters packed the courtroom. Folk singer Pete Seeger wrote a song about Tibbs and activist Angela Davis raised money for his defense. The conviction was overturned on appeal and Tibbs walked out of prison in 1977.

But his time on death row shaped the rest of his life, helped inspire a star-studded play decades later and joined the annals of justice-gone-awry that have propelled the movement to abolish capital punishment.

"I can't imagine what my life would have been if I hadn't gone to death row. Because it's so much a part of my life now," Tibbs said in a video posted online by a group opposed to the death penalty.

Delbert Lee Tibbs died Nov. 23 at his home in Chicago, said David Love, executive director of Witness to Innocence, where Tibbs had worked since 2011 as assistant director of membership and training. Tibbs was 74 and had been battling cancer.

A poet and lifelong reader, Tibbs was a thoughtful and articulate spokesman who campaigned against the death penalty without bitterness or anger. "He managed to rise above that," Love said. "He was the most peaceful person I'd ever met. Despite all the turmoil he was able to remain calm."

Tibbs was born in Shelby, Miss., on June 19, 1939, the youngest of tenant farmer Lillie Bryant's dozen children. His father was Pete Johnson, a traveling salesman. Bryant raised Delbert with her husband, Frank Tibbs, and when Delbert was 12, brought him to Chicago.

As a young husband and father, Tibbs worked for a firm that printed magazines and catalogs (he told Terkel "it was one of the most racist places that ever existed") and then got a job as a claims adjuster for a cab company. In 1970, divorced and looking to further his education, he enrolled in the Chicago Theological Seminary.

But "there was an agitation within my spirit," Tibbs told Terkel. He dropped out of seminary and began his cross-country travels, winding up in Florida that fateful winter.

Tibbs' accuser initially told police that the man who raped her and fatally shot her 27-year-old companion was dark-skinned, about 5-foot-6 and sporting a large Afro. She identified Tibbs as the assailant even though he was light-skinned, had a short Afro and was 6-foot-3. A jailhouse informant who claimed Tibbs had confessed to the crime later recanted.

On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court concluded the evidence in the case didn't support a conviction but said Tibbs could be retried, a finding that the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in 1982. But the prosecutor dropped all charges after deciding it was too risky to put the victim back on the witness stand given her history of drug and alcohol abuse.

Tibbs' tale of injustice was one of six accounts of inmates released from death row in ''The Exonerated," a 2002 play that had a long run off-Broadway, was staged around the country with celebrity casts and was made into a film shown on Court TV.

Over the decades, Tibbs worked a variety of jobs, including car-wash manager, school security guard and youth counselor.

He is survived by a son, Delbert Jr., daughters Mahalia Abeo Tibbs and Afrika Rouselle and three grandchildren.

"Sometimes, I tell myself, 'Wow, if they hadn't done this, I could have been a best-selling author.... I could have traveled all over the world,' " Tibbs said in a 2002 interview published in the Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald. "But you know, in reality, life isn't like that. Who knows what might have happened to me? I'm not much of a what-if guy."

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Suit alleges deputies pepper-sprayed couple at Redwood City train station and beat up husban

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Suit alleges deputies pepper-sprayed couple at Redwood City train station and beat up husband

By Bonnie Eslinger

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted: 12/13/2013 06:15:15 AM PST | Updated: 85 min. ago

A man who claims he and his wife were pepper-sprayed and he was beaten after holding the train doors open for her at the Redwood City Caltrain station has filed federal civil rights lawsuits against San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks and two sheriff's deputies.

Jeremy Ford and his wife Denise sued Munks and Deputy Irfan Zaidi on Feb. 6, and on Wednesday Jeremy Ford also sued Deputy Michael Baron.

One of Ford's lawyers, DeWitt Lacy of the Law Offices of John L. Burris -- which is widely known for handling police misconduct cases -- said Thursday that the second complaint was filed after a judge ruled it was too late to amend the first complaint to add Baron's name.

The February suit seeks $1 million in general damages plus additional damages and attorneys' fees. Lacy said Ford's nose was damaged after getting punched several times.

County Counsel John Beiers wrote in an email Thursday that county attorneys have been defending the original lawsuit "vigorously."

On Dec. 15, 2011 at about 10 p.m., Jeremy Ford slid his hands between closing Caltrain doors to allow his wife to board, according to the February lawsuit. As they were trying to find seats, a Caltrain employee told the couple they had to get off because he delayed the train by holding the doors. Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Office had been contacted.

According to the suit filed this week, Jeremy Ford refused to get off the train and got into a verbal argument with the sheriff's deputies. He alleged they then grabbed him, threw him into the stairwell and forced him onto the ground. Zaidi then punched him several times, Ford contends.

The suit alleges that Zaidi also pushed Denise Ford to the ground and that when Jeremy Ford tried to stand up to stop the abuse, Baron punched him several times in the face and pepper-sprayed him. When Denise Ford picked herself up off the ground, Zaidi pepper-sprayed her too, the suit states.

"The conduct of defendants was malicious, wanton, and oppressive," according to the suit, which notes that the Fords are African-American.

Jeremy Ford might have been "running his mouth," Lacy said, but he didn't say anything that should have resulted in the officers escalating the situation and getting physically violent with the couple.

According to County Counsel Beiers, the couple had been drinking that night and Jeremy Ford "physically resisted" verbal requests to walk off the train. The deputies had to struggle to handcuff him but did not "punch or otherwise use excessive force in restraining Mr. Ford."

When Baron tried to stand up from sitting on a bench, Ford clamped his teeth on the deputy's forearm. That forced Baron to hit Ford to stop him from biting, Beiers said, adding that Zaidi pepper-sprayed Ford after he tried to grab Baron's Taser and baton. Then when Denise Ford tried to defend her husband, "swinging her arms with closed fists," Zaidi pepper-sprayed her too.

The couple were arrested and both later pleaded no contest to charges of resisting arrest.

Both deputies still work for the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, a department spokesperson said Thursday.

Email Bonnie Eslinger at beslinger@dailynewsgroup.com; follow her at twitter.com/bonnieeslinger.

World drugs body calls Uruguay marijuana move 'illegal'

World drugs body calls Uruguay marijuana move 'illegal'

AFP

December 11, 2013 12:39 PM

Vienna (AFP) - Uruguay's move to legalise the production and sale of marijuana breaks international law, the world drugs body said Wednesday, warning it would encourage addiction.

"Uruguay is breaking the international conventions on drug control with the cannabis legislation approved by its congress," said the International Narcotics Control Board, a UN body that oversees the implementation of international treaties on drugs.

INCB president Raymond Yans added he was "surprised" that Montevideo had "knowingly decided to break the universally agreed and internationally endorsed legal provisions of the treaty."

He accused the country's lawmakers of ignoring scientific evidence on the health risks of marijuana, and said claims the law would help reduce crime relied on "rather precarious and unsubstantiated assumptions." [Yea, when they showed us "Reefer Madness" in high school I found out that if a Black man smokes one marijuana cigarette it will cause him to go out and rape 6 White woman. Marijuana is really a dangerous drug!!! Well at least that's what the cops and prosecutors who make big buck putting people in prison for the victimless crime of marijuana smoking want us to think]

The move "will not protect young people, but rather have the perverse effect of encouraging early experimentation, lowering the age of first use, and thus contributing to... earlier onset of addiction and other disorders," said Yans. [Well I would rather have them hooked on harmless marijuana then a really dangerous drug like alchol or tobacco!!!!]

Uruguay's parliament voted on Tuesday to legalise marijuana, becoming the first nation in the world to oversee the production and sale of the drug.

"The war against drugs has failed," said Senator Roberto Conde as he presented the bill on behalf of the ruling leftist Broad Front, calling it an "unavoidable response" to that failure. [You right on that. Now we have to convince the morons in the UN and in the American government of that. Of course they almost certainly know the truth. The problem is those jerks love the war on drugs because they benefit financially every time somebody is thrown in prison for the victimless crime of using or selling marijuana]

The law not only authorises the production, distribution and sale of cannabis, but also allows individuals to grow their own on a small scale, and creates consumer clubs -- all under state supervision and control.

The UN office on drugs and crime on Wednesday said it agreed with the INCB statement and implicitly criticised Uruguay's unilateral move in the global war on drugs.

"Just as illicit drugs are everyone's shared responsibility, there is a need for each country to work closely together and to jointly agree on the way forward for dealing with this global challenge," it said in a statement.

Detective in Milke case due in court

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Detective in Milke case due in court

Saldate plans to try to invoke Fifth Amendment rights

By Michael Kiefer The Republic | azcentral.com Fri Dec 13, 2013 6:26 AM

Debra Milke spent 23 years on death row before her conviction was tossed by a federal appeals court and her case sent back to Maricopa County prosecutors because her trial lawyers had been denied access to the personnel record of the detective who claimed she confessed to having her 4-year-old son murdered.

That detective, Armando Saldate, will be in Maricopa County Superior Court today with Milke, trying to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. Prosecutors want Saldate to testify; he does not want to. Prosecutors say he will not be charged with federal civil-rights violations. His lawyer and Milke’s say he could be, and that he’s still at risk of being charged with perjury.

Judge Rosa Mroz has already said that if Saldate does not testify, then prosecutors cannot introduce the questioned confession into evidence. Milke denies confessing, Saldate did not tape-record the supposed confession and there were no witnesses who can say that it ever took place.

Without the confession, the prosecution has a weak case.

In a news conference Tuesday, County Attorney Bill Montgomery told reporters that he could not comment on the status of the case. He hinted, however, that he had new information from the U.S. Department of Justice that would bolster his view that Saldate could and should testify.

The Justice Department had sent him a letter saying they did not intend to investigate or prosecute Saldate for federal civil-rights crimes related to the Milke case.

Milke’s and Saldate’s lawyers say that Saldate is still at risk of committing perjury if he testifies.

In 1991, Milke, now 49, was sentenced to death for helping to plan the murder of her son Christopher in December 1989. The boy thought he was going to the mall to see Santa Claus, but instead, Milke’s roommate and another man took him to the desert and shot him in the head. Milke’s conviction was based largely on a confession, supposedly obtained by Saldate.

But at trial, the state refused to turn over Saldate’s personnel record, which contained information about misconduct that could have been used to challenge his credibility.

In March of this year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that Milke be released or given a new trial. The panel of judges cited several cases in which lower courts had made judicial findings of Saldate’s misconduct. The confession could only be used, according to the opinion, if Saldate’s personnel record was also disclosed.

The 9th Circuit judges also wrote that if Saldate admits having lied in other cases, he will be discredited, and if he sticks to his original stories, he will risk committing perjury.

And the judges also forwarded the ruling to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix and the U.S. Department of Justice “for possible investigation into whether Det. Saldate’s conduct, and that of his supervisors and other state and local officials, amounts to a pattern of violating the federally protected rights of Arizona residents.”

Then, over the objection of prosecutors, Milke was released on a $500,000 bond when Mroz ruled: “The existing information does not make it ‘plain and clear’ ... that the defendant committed the crimes.”

In light of the menacing language of the 9th Circuit opinion, Saldate asked for a lawyer, and Mroz appointed one who advised him not to testify lest he risk incriminating himself.

Montgomery and the case prosecutor, Vince Imbordino, have stated publicly and in court filings that the 9th Circuit was wrong in its analysis of cases in which Saldate was supposedly found by judges to have committed misconduct.

In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said that it did not intend to investigate Saldate for civil-rights violations, and on Dec. 6, the Justice Department likewise sent a note to Montgomery that “concluded that the evidence does not support a prosecutable violation of the applicable federal criminal civil rights statutes.”

That was the information Montgomery alluded to on Tuesday.

Saldate’s attorney, Larry Debus, filed a response that the Justice Department letter was vague, and both he and Milke’s attorneys note that it does not protect Saldate from the other warning by the 9th Circuit that Saldate risks perjury.

Judge Mroz will have to sort out those arguments in court today. Whether Milke is retried may depend on the judge’s decision.

North Korea executes Kim Jong Un’s uncle

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North Korea executes Kim Jong Un’s uncle

Associated Press Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:32 PM

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea said Friday that it has executed Kim Jong Un’s uncle, calling the leader’s former mentor a traitor who tried to seize power and overthrow the state.

The stunning announcement came only days after Jang Song Thaek — long considered the country’s No. 2 power — was removed from all his posts because of a long list of allegations, including corruption, drug use, gambling and womanizing.

In an unusually detailed announcement, the official news agency KCNA said Jang had been tried for “such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state.”

It called him a “traitor to the nation for all ages” and “worse than a dog.”

Kim Jong Un has overseen other high-profile purges since taking after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, two years ago. But none of the purges have been as public — or as close to home — as the downfall of Jang, who was seen as helping the younger Kim consolidate power.

Analysts have said that Kim Jong Un has acted swiftly and ruthlessly to bolster his own power and show strength, but there has been fear in Seoul that the removal of Jang and his followers could lead to instability or lead to a miscalculation or attack on the South. Jang had been seen by outsiders as the leading supporter of Chinese-style economic reforms.

North Korea has recently turned to attempts at diplomacy with South Korea and the United States. But tensions have remained high since Pyongyang threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington last spring, and warn that it would restart nuclear bomb fuel production.

There was no immediate word about the fate of Jang’s wife, Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of Kim Jong Il. She was also seen as a key mentor to Kim Jong Un after her brother’s December 2011 death.

The White House said it could not independently confirm reports of Jang’s execution but it has “no reason to doubt” the report from the official Korean Central News Agency that it took place.

Patrick Ventrell, a National Security Council spokesman, said, “if confirmed, this is another example of the extreme brutality of the North Korean regime.”

Ventrell said the U.S. was following developments in North Korea closely and consulting with allies and partners in the region.

The KCNA report called Jang a “despicable political careerist and trickster” and “despicable human scum.”

It was also unusually specific and chilling in its allegations. For instance, the report said that at one point, Jang didn’t rise and applaud his nephew’s appointment to a senior position because he “thought that if Kim Jong Un’s base and system for leading the army were consolidated, this would lay a stumbling block in the way of grabbing the power.”

Jang was described earlier this week by state media as “abusing his power,” being “engrossed in irregularities and corruption,” and taking drugs and squandering money at casinos while undergoing medical treatment in a foreign country.

Delays by hospitals hinder blood screening of newborns for rare diseases

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Delays by hospitals hinder blood screening of newborns for rare diseases

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee The Republic | azcentral.com Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:21 PM

Landon Heise’s newborn blood test came back abnormal about a week after his birth.

His pediatrician immediately ordered a series of new tests, and at 12 weeks, Landon was diagnosed with a rare form of metabolic disorder that prevents his body from converting certain fats to energy. He was put on medication and a strict diet, averting permanent damage or even death.

Landon, a healthy boy with ginger hair and piercing blue eyes, turns 5 next month. Despite his disorder, he is plenty energetic. He wants to become Batman when he grows up — preferably at 17, after he gets his driver’s license for the Batmobile.

Because Landon had a false negative in a later test, the result from his blood screening administered as a newborn was the first and only sign in his first two weeks of life that something was wrong. Any delays in detecting his disorder could have damaged his brain and organs — or killed him.

“We would’ve had no idea,” said Regan Goodman, Landon’s mother. “We’re lucky it came back abnormal.”

Yet not all babies born in Arizona get swift results from newborn screenings like Landon did. Nearly a quarter of all newborn blood samples taken in Arizona over the past five years sat untested at the hospital for five or more days — about the time it took Landon’s family to receive the first indication of his genetic disease, known as very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase.

Some Arizona hospitals have among the highest rates of delays in the U.S.

Within 24 to 48 hours of birth, babies are pricked on their heels for a blood sample. Hospitals are required by Arizona administrative code to submit each baby’s blood sample within 24 hours or the next working day after the sample is collected. The effectiveness relies on how quickly the sample is tested. Although the diseases tested for are rare, they can be severe, even deadly, if not diagnosed quickly.

The state pays for FedEx courier service for hospitals to submit samples to the lab. State health officials consider it acceptable for lab samples to take up to four days to deliver.

But because the state has not strictly enforced delivery deadlines, hospitals across the state for years have taken up to 14 days to mail newborn blood samples to the state lab. In rare cases — less than 1 percent — samples arrived at the lab more than 15 days later, beyond the legal time limit in which the lab can analyze the samples.

Some Arizona hospitals in 2012 were among the worst across the nation in delays of samples arriving at the state lab, according to an analysis published last month by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A subsequent Arizona Republic analysis of data for the past five years found that at least 33 percent of blood samples collected at 17 of 42 Arizona hospitals took five days or longer to arrive at the state lab.

All hospitals that offer perinatal services are required to have their own policies and procedures on how and when samples are sent and how to follow up on results. Hospitals also are required to comply with all local, city and state rules and laws, including the state requirement to send newborn blood samples to the lab within 24 hours.

State health officials concede that the rule has been virtually unenforceable.

“I’ve always known that it (state administrative code) didn’t have much teeth,” said Will Humble, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. “What I didn’t know is, I hadn’t seen these numbers recently for how many hospitals were missing the mark, especially getting over that three-day (mark).”

Hospital delays

The state’s Office of Newborn Screening has been aware of delays at hospitals since at least 2008. It has one health educator on staff who offers training and walk-throughs at hospitals that have slow turnaround times.

Ward Jacox, chief of the Office of Newborn Screening, said he has noticed two key issues when samples are delayed from the hospitals: Hospitals are not aware of the state’s courier service and send samples by regular mail, and they “batch” samples, meaning they wait until enough samples are available to send in one large shipment and save money rather than sending individual samples as collected.

There often also is a disconnect among hospital staffers. Nurses are pricking babies immediately after birth, but samples are handled by several staff members who may not be aware how long it takes to mail samples out, Humble said.

The number of samples that took five or more days to arrive at the state lab has consistently decreased from 2008 to 2013. But several hospitals have a bad track record of delays over the past five years. The Little Colorado Medical Center in Winslow had the highest percentage of delayed samples, at 61 percent, since 2008.

Maryvale Hospital and West Valley Hospital, both under the Abrazo Health Care system, had the second- and third-worst rates over five years, respectively.

In 2012, Maryvale Hospital and Little Colorado Medical Center had the two worst rates of delays among all Arizona hospitals. Both have a low number of births each year, compared with larger hospital systems, especially in the Valley.

Gene Maronde, clinical laboratory director at Little Colorado Medical Center, said the hospital was unaware of its delays until contacted by The Republic. Hospital staffers were batching samples and mailing them out once a week, especially given the infrequency of births there, Maronde said.

When asked why the hospital was sending samples in batches, the medical center’s chief executive, Jeff Hamblen, said: “Because the FedEx stuff was costing money, and we didn’t want to send one damn card when we got it.”

Both Maronde and Hamblen said that they were not aware of the state’s courier service and that the hospital would start sending blood samples daily.

Maryvale Hospital Chief Executive Crystal Hamilton gave a written statement to The Republic in response to a request for interviews with officials there. It said: “Approximately five months ago, Maryvale Hospital became aware of an issue with the timeliness of submissions to the state. Upon learning this, we took immediate corrective action and now submit specimens to the Arizona State Lab on a daily basis.”

Requests for follow-up questions were denied.

Maricopa Medical Center at 24th and Roosevelt streets in Phoenix is among the hospitals that consistently had low delay rates.

Each baby born at Maricopa Medical Center has an order for a newborn screening so that nurses can do the test as soon as the baby arrives. Staff members are designated to track samples to make sure they’re being sent out on time, said Dr. David Brodkin, the center’s pediatric hospitalist and medical director of newborn nursery.

State makes fixes

Humble, the state health director, has set a goal: By July 1, he wants 95 percent of newborn-screening samples to arrive at the state lab within three days.

ADHS and the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association plan to hold education and training sessions for hospitals regarding requirements of the newborn-screening program and to remind them of the daily overnight shipping service that is included in the hospitals’ newborn-screening fees.

Cara Christ, assistant director of licensing services for ADHS, has notified Arizona hospitals that those that do not follow requirements for timely sample submissions may be subject to a complaint investigation by state health-licensing surveyors.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that state labs in 27 states do not process newborn-screening samples on weekends — many because they’re closed all weekend — potentially creating critical issues for rare but life-threatening diseases in infants.

Arizona does not operate its state lab on weekends, and the FedEx service runs only on weekdays. ADHS is running a pilot program for a Saturday pickup service for newborn-screening samples and asking some lab staff to work Saturdays on three-day weekends to test newborn-screening samples.

Humble said he does not believe that a two-day weekend delay at the lab is critical to screening samples, but he is concerned that three-day holiday-weekend delays may pose problems.

Opening the state lab seven days a week would require a 15 to 20 percent fee increase for hospitals, he said, and the costs would need to be weighed against potential dangers of weekend delays.

“At this point, I’m comfortable that we’re very unlikely to have bad outcomes because of a two-day weekend,” Humble said.

Gov. Jan Brewer’s spokesman, Andrew Wilder, said Brewer supports ADHS’ plan to have hospitals comply with state regulations.

Tests can save lives

Lauren Houk was born full term, a healthy girl of 8 pounds, 4 ounces, in 1988. She learned to walk at 6 months and was a normal baby.

When Lauren was 19 months old, she and her older sister both caught the stomach flu and were vomiting. Their parents got them to sleep, but the next morning, Lauren’s father found her body limp, lifeless and blue.

Through a series of tests and coincidental events, Lauren’s family later found out the child who died had medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, or MCAD, a disorder that now is included in the newborn-screening panel. It wasn’t included in 1988.

MCAD is a metabolic disease, as is very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, or VLCADD, the fatty-acid oxidation disorder that Landon Heise is battling.

When the Houks’ third child, Austin, was born a few years later, his parents sent his blood sample out of state to be screened for MCAD. Like Lauren, he tested positive. The Houks took immediate action, and Austin learned how to cope with the disease. Next weekend, he graduates from the University of Arizona.

Debbie Houk, the children’s mother, now serves on the state’s Newborn Screening Advisory Committee, which worked to expand the state’s screening panel from eight disorders to 28 disorders, plus a hearing test.

“Although these are rare disorders, if it’s your child, it’s suddenly not so rare,” Houk said.

ADHS now is working to add two more disorders to the newborn-screening panel: critical congenital heart defects and severe combined immune deficiencies, which is common among certain Native populations.

“Newborn screening is one of the major positive public-health efforts in the last 10, 20 years. It’s just been lifesaving and brain-saving for many, many children,” said Dr. Kirk Aleck, chief of genetics at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. “The problem is the logistics of getting the specimen to the laboratory. ... Sometimes, it just doesn’t happen right, and it should happen right.”

13 killed by U.S drone strike in Yemen, officials say

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13 killed by U.S drone strike in Yemen, officials say

Associated Press Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:48 AM

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni officials say a U.S. drone strike has hit a convoy heading to wedding party, killing at least 13 people.

The officials say Thursday’s attack took place in the Yemeni city of Radda, the capital of Bayda province. The city is known as a stronghold of al-Qaida militants.

They said the convoy was heading to a wedding in the village of Qaifa when it was hit by the drone, and that the strike left charred bodies in the road and vehicles on fire.

One official said that al-Qaida militants are suspected to have been traveling with the wedding convoy.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The U.S. considers Yemen’s al-Qaida branch to be among the most active in the world.

California prostitutes win right to victim compensation

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California prostitutes win right to victim compensation

By Don Thompson, The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Spurred by emotional testimony from sex workers, California officials voted Thursday to change a 1990s-era anti-crime regulation and allow prostitutes to receive money from a victim compensation fund if they're raped or beaten.

Under the current system, those harmed in violent crimes can be paid for medical costs and related expenses, but prostitutes are excluded because their activities are illegal.

Marybel Batjer, chairwoman of the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, called the rule "repugnant," adding in a later interview that, "Rape is rape, period."

The three-member board voted unanimously to end California's status as the only state with such a prohibition, though it will take several months to formally repeal the regulation. The change does not affect the illegality of prostitution. Advertise | AdChoices

The board acted after hearing what Batjer and fellow board member Michael Ramos called passionate and compelling testimony from several sex workers who said they have been assaulted.

Carol Leigh, a representative of the Bay Area Sex Workers Advocacy Network, said she was raped by two men who entered the massage parlor where she worked.

The men "took a knife to my throat and demanded sex and money," she told the board. "I realized that, as a sex worker, I was a sitting duck, that the system, basically, was set up so that I felt that I couldn't go to the police. ... The rapists know, and they see us as targets."

Ramos, the district attorney in San Bernardino County, said law enforcement generally has been trying to change perceptions and practices involving sexual assault victims, and in particular those victimized by human trafficking.

"I think we sent a big message today from this board for the state of California, that we are now going to mirror some of our other states that feel the same way. It's a national issue," Ramos said in an interview after the board's vote.

The program gets its money from fines and restitution paid by criminals, along with federal matching funds. It reimburses victims of violent crimes for expenses including medical care, counseling, lost income and increasing home security.

Though victims can be reimbursed for up to $62,000 in expenses, the average compensation is just under $2,000. Last year, the board denied 28 claims because the victims were deemed to have been involved in prostitution-related activities.

Jon Myers, the board's deputy executive officer, said the current rule was enacted in 1999 during an era when the state was generally getting tough on crime.

The American Civil Liberties Union and organizations representing sex trade workers asked for the regulation change.

Kristen DiAngelo, who identified herself as a sex worker, testified that she was raped, beaten, repeatedly choked, robbed and held captive overnight in downtown Sacramento in 1983.

"I was told that if I prosecuted this guy, by the police, that I would be the one going to go to jail," she said. "What happens when we have a regulation like this, it segregates us from the normal population. It makes us inhuman, non-helpable. You allow predators to hone their skills.

"These are hate crimes, and they need to be stopped," she added later.

Changing the rule had the support of district attorneys in Alameda, Santa Clara and Sutter counties, along with the victim-witness program director for Santa Barbara County's district attorney's office. They say sex workers often are coerced into their trade and so should not be denied benefits if they are harmed.

The conservative Criminal Justice Legal Foundation says its goal is to "assure that crime does not pay," but in this case agrees with changing the rules.

"Prostitution is a crime, but it's a minor one," said Kent Scheidegger, the foundation's legal director. "If someone's been a victim of a major crime like rape or battery, it shouldn't disqualify them from restitution."

There was no opposition at Thursday's hearing, or at previous public hearings on the proposed rule change, which applies to any activity related to prostitution, including pimping or soliciting.

California created the nation's first victim compensation program in 1965, and formal rules barring payments to those involved in criminal activity have been in place since 1999. Such rules also bar reimbursement for those injured as a result of their involvement with illegal drugs, gang activities or consensual fights.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Legal weed sales will be spotty in Colo.

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Legal weed sales will be spotty in Colo.

DENVER — Legal marijuana sales in Colorado are set to start on Jan. 1, or so the law says. Knowing when the recreational pot shops will actually open, however, is anyone’s guess.

The state’s 160 hopeful pot shops are so mired in red tape and confusion that no one knows yet when or if they’ll be allowed to open. Not a single shop will clear state and local licensing requirements until about Dec. 27.

“There’s a perception that come Jan. 1, Colorado’s going to be like Wal-Mart on Black Friday, people pouring through the doors. Not going to happen,” said Mike Elliott, spokesman for the state’s Medical Marijuana Industry Group.

Even as so-called ganjapreneurs are expanding operations, pouring concrete and planning tentative grand openings, they’re still navigating a maze of regulations. Many of the applicants are still waiting on inspections, local zoning hearings and background checks before finding out whether they’ve been approved to open their doors to adults over 21.

“There might be a lot of disappointed people on New Year’s Day,” Elliott said.

Some of the largest potential new retail pot towns — Aspen, Aurora and Boulder — have already announced they won’t have permitting red tape cleared by Jan. 1. Marijuana tourism companies that already lead bring-your-own pot tours in Colorado are putting off new trips, unsure where they’d bring tourists looking to buy legal pot, not just smoke it.

Even in towns hoping to have at least a shop or two open, such as Breckenridge and Telluride, there will be no 12:01 a.m. pot sales. Like liquor stores, marijuana shops have mandated opening hours, not before 8 a.m. anywhere in Colorado.

The regulatory delays are testing the patience of many in the industry.

Ryan Cook, general manager of one of the state’s largest marijuana businesses, a chain of stores called The Clinic, is spending his days not prepping a grand opening plan but going to Denver’s zoning, planning and fire departments to check on permits.

Cook recently counted out more than $1,400 in cash for some permits from the Denver Fire Department. He was then told he needs another permit for a new machine he acquired to produce marijuana extracts, a $50,000 contraption obtained specifically to comply with new safety guidance from the Fire Department itself.

“You guys have put me through the ringer,” Cook joked after picking up the permits, just part of some $300,000 in various permit and license fees The Clinic’s six shops will pay to various state and local agencies this year.

“It would be sad for us to see only one or two shops open in the entire state on Jan. 1, but I can see that happening,” Cook said.

Julie Postlethwait, spokeswoman for the state Marijuana Enforcement Division, said state pot licenses can’t be issued until local governments sign off on potential stores. Cities and counties have in some cases changed fire codes for pot operations, added new signage or zoning requirements or instituted new fees they say they’ll need to regulate the industry.

Colorado’s marijuana law also allows local governments to opt out of retail pot sales entirely. Even some towns with medical marijuana dispensaries may not be allowing recreational sales, such as Colorado Springs.

Colorado has more than 500 medical marijuana dispensaries, all of which require medical clearance before shoppers can purchase pot. Only 160 of those stores have applied to sell recreational pot, a change that would require them to either ban customers under 21 or keep separate entrances and inventories for patients under 21 and adult recreational users.

The small number of recreational dispensaries, and the last-minute uncertainty on whether they’ll be allowed to open, has some in the industry warning of pot shortages and spiraling prices for recreational shoppers.

Several retailers declined to share opening-day pricing, but they warned prices could be much higher than what medical patients are paying.

Cook said supply may be so tight that his four potential Denver shops may cap individual purchases below the state-mandated limits of an ounce a day for residents, or a quarter-ounce a day for visitors.

“We’re doing everything we can to get ready. But supply’s going to be a problem,” Cook said.

In Steamboat Springs, Rocky Mountain Remedies owner Kevin Fisher said local permitting delays mean his shop won’t be ready for recreational pot sales until Jan. 8. He said he’s hoping the small delay will be quickly forgotten.

“I don’t think anyone is too upset about waiting to do everything right,” Fisher said. “So we open Jan. 8, 2014. That’s a lot sooner than Jan 8, 2035, when I thought this might happen.”

Tech giants call for controls on gov’t snooping

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Tech giants call for controls on gov’t snooping

By Danica Kirka / Associated Press | Mon, Dec 9, 2013

Major technology companies, stung by poor publicity for having helped the U.S. government access personal data, on Monday issued an open letter to President Barack Obama asking for tighter controls on surveillance.

As part of a global campaign to reform data collection, Google, Facebook, Apple and others said that concerns over national security should be weighed against individual rights.

“The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in our Constitution,” the letter said. “This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.”

The letter follows this summer’s revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details of the secret programs that critics argue violate privacy rights. Intelligence officials argue that the NSA’s tactics have helped to disrupt terror attacks and that they’ve taken care not to routinely look at the content of conversations or messages by American citizens.

But the technology companies argue that officials should codify “sensible limitations on their ability to compel service providers to disclose user data” and to ensure that law enforcement and intelligence efforts should be transparent and accountable. It makes an appeal for respecting the free flow of information across borders, describing it as “essential to a robust 21st century global economy.”

Though the campaign was directed internationally, a letter on its website and published in U.S. newspapers struck particularly at the United States government, whose exploitation of Silicon Valley firms has attracted particular scrutiny. CEOs and senior leaders of the companies weighed in, making it clear they were personally behind reform.

“Reports about government surveillance have shown there is a real need for greater disclosure and new limits on how governments collect information,” said Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook. “The U.S. government should take this opportunity to lead this reform effort and make things right.”

Marissa Meyer, the chief executive at Yahoo, said the disclosures had “shaken the trust of our users.”

The letter was signed by AOL Inc., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc., LinkedIn Corp., Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.

Obama has asked a panel of hand-picked advisers to report on the issue this month and recently said he’ll propose the NSA use “some self-restraint” in handling data. He maintains, however, that the NSA isn’t interested in reading people’s emails and text messages.

The technology companies have good reason to band together to pressure the government to set limits — the free flow of information is fundamental to their business models. Information on consumers is critical to the advertisers that want to reach them. But consumers need to be able to trust that their privacy concerns are safeguarded, said Joss Wright, a research fellow of the Oxford Internet Institute.

The technology companies are also concerned that governments outside the U.S., such as the European Union, might set tougher rules for businesses to protect the privacy of their citizens, Wright says.

“It’s potentially huge,” Wright said. “Other countries around the world could make it harder for (the companies) to carry on with unrestricted data gluttony.”

That data is not just from browsing the web or cellphones — the latest reports showed U.S. and British intelligence officers have even been spying on gamers by trawling data from popular online games such as World of Warcraft.

Privacy International, a U.K.-based charity, praised the industry effort and described it as a reminder that there are gross violations of the right to privacy as governments access and share bulk metadata records.

“It is time for drastic changes to how intelligence is regulated, conducted and overseen, and we welcome these companies’ contribution to this debate,” it said in a statement.

Others, however, noted Silicon Valley’s stance probably had more to do with profit than principle.

“It sure would have been nice if the tech companies had been loudly supporting intelligence reform before Snowden’s disclosures,” said Chris Soghoian, a senior analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union.

——

Associated Press Writer Raphael Satter contributed to this story

—-

Online: http://ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com

NSA monitored ‘World of Warcraft’ players

NSA monitored ‘World of Warcraft’ players

By Shaun Waterman

The Washington Times

Monday, December 9, 2013

Eight U.S. technology firms called for an end to online mass snooping by U.S. intelligence agencies Monday as new revelations emerged that the National Security Agency has even monitored Americans playing online computer games like “World of Warcraft.”

Citing concerns about civil liberties, top executives from AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo said in an open letter to President Obama and Congress that the bulk collection of online communications by intelligence agencies should cease.

“The United States [must] take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight,” the executives wrote. “The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in our Constitution … It’s time for a change.”

Concerns about privacy and civil liberties have harried the Obama administration in its attempt to manage fallout from leaks about NSA activities by former contractor Edward Snowden, whose latest revelations were of the agency’s surveillance of online gamers.

But technology firms also have financial — if unspoken — concerns about the surveillance because they provide the online communication, data storage and now game platforms that are subject to mass snooping that frightens their clients. Most of them have cooperated quietly with government requests for clients’ data, cooperation that is required of them by law.

In a set of principles expanding on the letter’s themes and published online (ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com), the companies demand for the first time an end to the huge-scale vacuuming-up of the communications of millions of people not even suspected of any wrongdoing.

“Governments should limit surveillance to specific, known users for lawful purposes, and should not undertake bulk data collection of Internet communications,” they said.

U.S. officials say bulk-collection programs are authorized domestically under the 2001 USA Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended in 2008. For foreigners’ communications abroad, a presidential order gives the NSA broad powers.

In addition, administration officials have said that such activities have thwarted several terrorist plots, and that analysts take great pains to avoid accessing unauthorized information.

Silicon Valley has been fighting back in the courts and in Congress as companies seek reforms that would allow them to disclose more information about secret court orders. Several of the companies also are introducing more encryption technology to shield their users’ data from government spies and other prying eyes.

Monday’s letter and the new anti-snooping website represent the technology industry’s latest salvo to counter perceptions that they voluntarily give the government access to users’ email and other sensitive information.

Critics of NSA programs welcomed the move by the eight companies.

“We are incredibly pleased to see these companies stepping up to support broad surveillance reforms, including an end to bulk data collection,” said Kevin Bankston, policy director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute in Washington.

Although the companies previously have asked for the right to be more transparent with their customers about how they cooperate with law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Monday’s letter is first time they have called for an end to bulk collection, Mr. Bankston said.

By doing so, he added, they have placed themselves firmly behind congressional efforts to reign in the NSA, adding pressure on the president.

Last week, Mr. Obama promised reforms to restore Americans’ trust in the nation’s intelligence agencies, but the administration has yet to offer any details.

Neither an independent review by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, nor an inquiry by Mr. Obama’s own outside advisers is expected to report before January.

Congress, meanwhile, is moving forward with legislation.

One bill, the USA Freedom Act, seeks to end any collection of Americans’ data unless they are under suspicion of criminal conduct. It is backed by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and a member of the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Other bills would give tech companies the right to reveal to their customers the number of times they were compelled by law enforcement or intelligence agencies to hand over data.

Currently, recipients of the bulk-collection orders are generally prohibited from even disclosing that they have been ordered to turn over customers’ communications.

By contrast, bills backed by the leaders of the intelligence committees in both chambers seek to codify in law the government’s authority to continue bulk collection.

The Silicon Valley companies also are waging an attack in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where they are fighting to be allowed to reveal more details about how frequently the NSA has been seeking user data. U.S. law prevents the recipients of national security orders from breaking down the number of demands they get under the Patriot Act. The companies contend that restriction fuels the erroneous perception that the government has a direct pipeline to their users’ data.

The government countered with a motion Friday arguing that it should be able to redact, or withhold from publication, parts of its justifications to the courts for barring such detailed reporting by the companies.

Technology companies also are concerned that governments outside the U.S. might set tougher rules for businesses to protect the privacy of their citizens, according to Joss Wright, a research fellow of the Oxford Internet Institute.

“It’s potentially huge,” Mr. Wright said. “Other countries around the world could make it harder for [the companies] to carry on with unrestricted data gluttony.”

This article is based in part on wire service reports.

Congress renews ban on plastic, undetectable guns for decade

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Congress renews ban on plastic, undetectable guns for decade

Published December 09, 2013

FoxNews.com

Congress has voted to renew a ban on plastic firearms that could evade detection machines after an effort to pass tougher restrictions was blocked by Republicans.

The Senate approved a 10-year extension of the prohibition against guns that can slip past metal detectors and X-ray machines by voice vote Monday night, narrowly beating a midnight deadline.

The House voted last week for an identical, decade-long renewal of the ban, and the measure now goes to President Obama for his signature.

However, GOP senators rejected an effort led by Sen. Chuck Schumer to make the ban tougher by requiring such weapons contain undetachable metal parts. Some plastic guns meet the letter of the current law with a metal piece that can be removed, meaning they could potentially be slipped past security screeners at schools, airports and elsewhere.

In a press conference after the vote, Schumer said he is happy the renewal passed but believes it is "bad news" that the security screener loophole was not addressed. He said he hopes to work with his colleagues to get to a compromise to address the security issue, saying he is worried it could be a weak spot terrorists could exploit.

The National Rifle Association expressed no opposition to renewing the law, but said it would fight any expanded requirements, including Schumer's, "that would infringe on our Second Amendment rights" to bear arms.

Underscoring the issue's political sensitivity, both of Monday's votes were by voice only, meaning no individual senator's vote was recorded. For a handful of Democratic senators seeking re-election next year in GOP-leaning states, the day's votes could have been difficult.

The rejection of stricter curbs highlighted the repeated setbacks for gun-control advocates in Congress since last Dec. 14. On that day, a gunman fatally shot 20 first-graders and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself.

Despite that -- and other recent mass shootings, including at the Washington Navy Yard just blocks from the Capitol -- supporters of expanded gun control are nearing the end of a year in which they have been unable to push any new firearms restrictions through Congress.

"We're several decades behind the NRA," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. "This is a long game, and it's going to take us some time to build up the resources necessary to compete."

Congressional Republicans have resisted tightening the restrictions against undetectable guns, but those lawmakers -- as well as the NRA -- have not opposed renewing the current prohibition. The House approved a 10-year extension last week.

Plastic guns were in their infancy when President Ronald Reagan and Congress first enacted the ban against undetectable firearms, and when it was renewed in 1998 and 2003. But such weapons have become a growing threat and can now be produced by 3-D printers, which are becoming better and more affordable.

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says that with the law's expiration at hand, Congress should extend it for a decade and study Schumer's more restrictive plan later.

Supporters of tightening the rules say the 10-year renewal helps the gun lobby because it reduces Democrats' ability to revisit the issue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Congress renews ban on plastic, undetectable guns for decade

Source

Congress renews ban on plastic, undetectable guns for decade

Published December 09, 2013

FoxNews.com

Congress has voted to renew a ban on plastic firearms that could evade detection machines after an effort to pass tougher restrictions was blocked by Republicans.

The Senate approved a 10-year extension of the prohibition against guns that can slip past metal detectors and X-ray machines by voice vote Monday night, narrowly beating a midnight deadline.

The House voted last week for an identical, decade-long renewal of the ban, and the measure now goes to President Obama for his signature.

However, GOP senators rejected an effort led by Sen. Chuck Schumer to make the ban tougher by requiring such weapons contain undetachable metal parts. Some plastic guns meet the letter of the current law with a metal piece that can be removed, meaning they could potentially be slipped past security screeners at schools, airports and elsewhere.

In a press conference after the vote, Schumer said he is happy the renewal passed but believes it is "bad news" that the security screener loophole was not addressed. He said he hopes to work with his colleagues to get to a compromise to address the security issue, saying he is worried it could be a weak spot terrorists could exploit.

The National Rifle Association expressed no opposition to renewing the law, but said it would fight any expanded requirements, including Schumer's, "that would infringe on our Second Amendment rights" to bear arms.

Underscoring the issue's political sensitivity, both of Monday's votes were by voice only, meaning no individual senator's vote was recorded. For a handful of Democratic senators seeking re-election next year in GOP-leaning states, the day's votes could have been difficult.

The rejection of stricter curbs highlighted the repeated setbacks for gun-control advocates in Congress since last Dec. 14. On that day, a gunman fatally shot 20 first-graders and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School before killing himself.

Despite that -- and other recent mass shootings, including at the Washington Navy Yard just blocks from the Capitol -- supporters of expanded gun control are nearing the end of a year in which they have been unable to push any new firearms restrictions through Congress.

"We're several decades behind the NRA," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. "This is a long game, and it's going to take us some time to build up the resources necessary to compete."

Congressional Republicans have resisted tightening the restrictions against undetectable guns, but those lawmakers -- as well as the NRA -- have not opposed renewing the current prohibition. The House approved a 10-year extension last week.

Plastic guns were in their infancy when President Ronald Reagan and Congress first enacted the ban against undetectable firearms, and when it was renewed in 1998 and 2003. But such weapons have become a growing threat and can now be produced by 3-D printers, which are becoming better and more affordable.

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says that with the law's expiration at hand, Congress should extend it for a decade and study Schumer's more restrictive plan later.

Supporters of tightening the rules say the 10-year renewal helps the gun lobby because it reduces Democrats' ability to revisit the issue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Ex-FBI agent who disappeared in Iran was on rogue mission for CIA

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Ex-FBI agent who disappeared in Iran was on rogue mission for CIA

By Adam Goldman, Published: December 12 E-mail the writer

An American man who disappeared in Iran more than six years ago had been working for the CIA in what U.S. intelligence officials describe as a rogue operation that led to a major shake-up in the spy agency.

Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent, traveled to the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007 to investigate corruption at a time when he was discussing the renewal of a CIA contract he had held for several years. He also inquired about getting re­imbursed for the Iran trip by the agency before he departed, according to former and current U.S. intelligence officials.

After he vanished, CIA officials told Congress in closed hearings as well as the FBI that Levinson did not have a current relationship with the agency and played down its ties with him. Agency officials said Levinson did not go to Iran for the CIA.

But months after Levinson’s abduction, e-mails and other documents surfaced that suggested he had gone to Iran at the direction of certain CIA analysts who had no authority to run operations overseas. That revelation prompted a major internal investigation that had wide-ranging repercussions, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The CIA leadership disciplined 10 employees, including three veteran analysts who were forced out of their jobs, the officials said.

The agency changed the rules outlining how analysts conduct business with contractors, including academics and other subject-matter experts who don’t work at the CIA, making it harder for agency employees to have such relationships.

The CIA ultimately concluded that it was responsible for Levinson while he was in Iran and paid $2.5 million to his wife, Christine, former U.S. intelligence officials said. The agency also paid the family an additional $120,000, the cost of renewing Levinson’s contract.

Levinson’s whereabouts remian unknown. Investigators can’t even say for certain whether he’s still alive. The last proof of life came about three years ago when the Levinson family received a video of him and later pictures of him shackled and dressed in an orange jumpsuit similar to those worn by detainees at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“I have been held here for 3 1 / 2 years,” he says in the video. “I am not in good health.”

U.S. intelligence officials concede that if he is alive, Levinson, who would be 65, probably would have told his captors about his work for the CIA, as he was likely subjected to harsh interrogation.

The National Security Council declined to comment on any ties Levinson has to the U.S. government. “The investigation into Mr. Levinson’s disappearance continues, and we all remain committed to finding him and bringing him home safely to his family,” said spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

In a statement released Thursday, Levinson’s family said the U.S. government has failed to make saving his life a priority. “It is time for the U.S. government to step up and take care of one of its own. After nearly 7 years, our family should not be struggling to get through each day without this wonderful, caring, man that we love so much,” the statement said.

Levinson joined the FBI’s New York Field Office in 1978 after spending six years with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He was an expert on the New York mob’s five families. Eventually, he moved to the Miami office, where he tracked Russian organized-crime figures and developed a reputation for developing sources.

While in the FBI, Levinson attended a conference where he met a well-respected CIA analyst named Anne Jablonski, one of the agency’s experts on Russia. The two formed a friendship.

When Levinson retired from the FBI in 1998, he went to work as a private investigator.

Jablonski continued at the agency and, among her other duties after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, was to brief FBI Director Robert S. Mueller and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft. By 2005, she was in the Office of Transnational Issues (OTI), the CIA unit that tracks money transfers, weapons smuggling and organized crime.

Jablonski brought Levinson to the CIA for discussions on money laundering with her colleagues. In 2006, Tim Sampson, then the head of the Illicit Finance Group, which was part of OTI, hired Levinson. The unclassified contract was then worth $85,000.

Academic reports

Levinson was supposed to provide academic reports but was operating more like a spy, gathering intelligence for the CIA and producing numerous well- received reports, officials said. While working for the CIA, he passed on details about the Colombian rebels, then-President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Iran’s nuclear program.

Levinson hopscotched the globe. He went to Turkey and Canada, among other countries, to interview potential sources, sometimes using a fake name. But CIA station chiefs in those countries were never notified of Levinson’s activities overseas even though the agency reimbursed him for his travel, a violation of the rules.

On March 8, 2007, Levinson flew from Dubai to the Iranian island of Kish and checked into a hotel. He met with Dawud Salahuddin, a fugitive wanted for the murder of an Iranian dissident and diplomat who was shot at his house in Bethesda, Md. Levinson thought Salahuddin could supply details about the Iranian regime, perhaps ones that could interest the CIA, according to officials who have reconstructed some of his movements.

Levinson spent hours talking to Salahuddin. The next morning, he checked out of his hotel and vanished, officials said. The United States suspected the Iranian security services were behind his abduction, according to a diplomatic cable disclosed by WikiLeaks.

The U.S. government insisted that Levinson was a private citizen making a private trip. The State Department, in a cable to U.S. embassies in May 2007, said much the same thing. “Levinson was not working for the United States government,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote.

The CIA told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Levinson had done some minor work for the agency but that his contract had run out and the spy agency had nothing to do with him going to Iran. Agency analysts also spoke with the FBI and said they hadn’t sent him to Iran. The CIA’s involvement seemed to end there. The FBI, which investigates crimes against Americans, did not push the CIA to open its files and take a deeper look at Levinson’s relationship with the agency.

But Levinson’s family and friends refused to accept that he was a lost tourist. A former federal prosecutor in Florida named David McGee, a friend of Levinson’s, and McGee’s paralegal, Sonya Dobbs, thought the government wasn’t being truthful about who employed Levinson.

Dobbs managed to access Levinson’s e-mail accounts. There she found e-mails between Jablonski and Levinson and other material suggesting that he had worked with the CIA in what appeared to be a continuing relationship.

One of the e-mails instructed Levinson not to worry about getting paid for going to Iran shortly before he made the trip. Jablonski said she would take care of it. She advised him not to contact the agency’s contract office. “Keep talk about the additional money among us girls,” she said by e-mail.

The e-mails also suggested that Levinson was operating at Ja­blonski’s behest, according to officials who have reviewed the communications between the two. Jablonski adamantly denied in an interview that she oversaw what Levinson was doing.

With the newly discovered information, McGee got the attention of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who serves on the intelligence panel and is from Levinson’s home state. At the CIA, agency investigators began to scrutinize Levinson’s relationship with Jablonski and her boss, Sampson, and discovered more problems in the handling of his work.

Instead of mailing reports to the CIA, where they would be properly screened and processed, Jablonski had Levinson send them to her house, according to officials. She said she could review them faster that way.

They used private e-mail accounts to communicate — one reason the CIA was slow to learn of the relationship. The arrangement led CIA investigators to think Jablonski was trying to obscure their ties, according to current and former U.S. officials.

Jablonski never disclosed those details and others to investigators when Levinson disappeared. While the FBI and CIA knew about Levinson’s previous contract, answers she provided “didn’t square with the e-mails,” said a former senior agency official with knowledge of the events.

To CIA officials, it appeared that she was running a source and collecting intelligence, a job for trained operatives in the clandestine service and not analysts. In fact, the CIA’s clandestine arm never knew that Levinson was on the payroll or his activities when he traveled abroad, officials said.

By 2008, the CIA’s deputy director at the time, Stephen Kappes, conceded to Nelson and other senators that there was more to the Levinson story than the agency had acknowledged the previous year. Some on the committee said they had been misled by the CIA.

Jablonski said in an interview that she wasn’t hiding anything from CIA officials and that they knew about the arrangement with Levinson. Jablonksi said she would never put Levinson, a friend, in harm’s way.

Nevertheless, Jablonski and Sampson could face criminal charges, law enforcement officials say. Both veteran analysts resigned from the CIA in 2008 along with a third senior manager. Jablonski now works in the private sector. Sampson took a job with the Department of Homeland Security. He declined to comment for this report.

He told the Associated Press: “I didn’t even know he was working on Iran. As far as I knew he was a Latin America, money-laundering and Russian-organized-crime guy. I would never have directed him to do that.”

A break in 2010

For years, Levinson’s family had no word on the fate of the former FBI agent. A break came in November 2010 when an unknown source sent the family a 54-second video of Levinson, who appeared haggard but otherwise unharmed. They are unsure who sent the video, or why. The FBI is also unsure when the video was made.

“Please help me get home,” he says in the video. “Thirty-three years of service to the United States deserves something. Please help me.”

Levinson spent only 28 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI, suggesting that he was including his time on a CIA contract as part of his government service.

A few months later, the family received a series of pictures: Levinson, his hands chained and his hair long and unruly, dressed in an orange jumpsuit. The family received them in April 2011. The FBI determined that they were sent from Afghanistan but was unsure when they were taken.

The photographs and videos turned into a dead end. And a recent FBI media blitz and $1 million reward haven’t revealed his whereabouts. Secret FBI meetings with the Iranians in Europe also have proved fruitless, officials said.

After the video and pictures of Levinson emerged, American officials concocted a story that he was being held in Pakistan or Afghanistan in an effort to provide the Iranians some cover to release him, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put out a statement in March 2011 that Levinson might be in southwest Asia. Officials hoped Levinson would turn up in one of those two countries and give the Iranians plausible deniability, officials said.

The ruse failed.

U.S. intelligence officials say that if there was a moment for his return, it was when they received the video. They can’t explain why Iran has freed other captives, such as a trio of U.S. hikers, but not Levinson. And other U.S. citizens being held by Iran — pastor Saeed Abedini and former Marine Amir Hekmati — are known to be alive, unlike Levinson.

The Iranians have steadfastly denied holding Levinson. Even as the relationship between the United States and Iran has thawed with the recent election of President Hassan Rouhani and a temporary deal that freezes parts of the country’s nuclear program, there has been no progress on securing Levinson or information about his fate.

“We don’t know where he is, who he is,” Rouhani told CNN in September during the United Nations General Assembly. “He is an American who has disappeared. We have no news of him.”

U.S. intelligence officials remain skeptical. They suspect Iran did snatch Levinson, but they can’t prove it. Officials surmise that only a professional intelligence service such as Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security could have taken Levinson and thwarted American efforts to find him for so many years.

U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge it’s very possible Levinson, who was in poor health, died under questioning at some point. They say there is no upside for the Iranians to admit he died in their custody.

Former officials familiar with the case said releasing the information about his CIA ties won’t make his situation any worse.

Levinson’s family refuses to believe he is dead and remains hopeful he will return home.

In November, Levinson became the longest-held hostage in U.S. history, surpassing the 2,454 days that Terry Anderson spent in captivity in Lebanon in the 1970s.

“No one would have predicted this terrible moment more than 61 / 2 years ago when Bob disappeared,” Christine Levinson said in a statement last month. “Our family will soon gather for our seventh Thanksgiving without Bob, and the pain will be almost impossible to bear. Yet, as we endure this terrible nightmare from which we cannot wake, we know that we must bear it for Bob, the most extraordinary man we have ever known.”

This article was reported beginning in 2010 while Goldman worked at the Associated Press. Goldman, whose byline also appears on an AP story on this subject, is now a Post staff writer.

McCain, Obama share “Hitler” handshakes

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McCain, Obama share “Hitler” handshakes

It’s tough to get away with stuff as a public figure in a world filled with press clippings, video tape, Twitter and so on.

Sen. John McCain should know that.

Or maybe he just doesn’t care.

McCain this week criticized President Barack Obama for shaking hands with a man the senator described as a “Hitler.”

To which McCain could have added, “Just like I once did.”

The senator knocked President Obama for shaking hands with Cuban leader Raul Castro at the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela.

“It gives Raul some propaganda to continue to prop up his dictatorial, brutal regime, that’s all,” McCain said, adding, “Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.”

McCain was making reference to a pre-World War II handshake between the British prime minister and the German dictator.

It’s a notorious reference. A politician should be ashamed of cozying up to a dictator compared to Hitler, right?

Then again, there was the time McCain visited the “ranch” of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi and tweeted about his meeting with an “interesting man.” There are videos and photographs. It was all very friendly. Including handshakes.

Of course, McCain himself would later say that he would like Gaddafi to be tried for war crimes, comparing him to a “Hitler.”

Hmmm.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow enjoyed pointing all this out on national television recently.

The Obama-Castro handshake also engendered outrage from some Republican members of congress, like Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon, who sent out a press release that begins, “President Obama’s handshake with Cuban dictator, Raul Castro, represents the first time in over 13 years a U.S. President has publically greeted a dictator of Cuba. It was an insult to the people of Cuba who are denied liberty and oppressed daily by the Cuban dictator.”

Funny (or not) but I don’t recall Salmon or any of the Republicans who were in Congress at the time trashing McCain for glad-handing Moammar.

I guess, in politics, all “Hitlers” aren’t equally … “Hitler.”

City should let gun activist shoot off his mouth

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City should let gun activist shoot off his mouth

If you happen to drive north on Seventh Avenue you may notice an advertisement on a bus stop just north of Osborn Road that reads “Guns Stop Crime.”

I didn’t notice it, and I drive north on that particular street just about every day. But it’s there. It was pointed out to me by an angry reader who said that I must write something condemning the ad.

I told her that would be difficult, since I have no problem with the ad.

I’m not talking about the message, but the rights of the person paying for it.

The ad is the work of Arizona author, consultant, entrepreneur and gun-rights activist Alan Korwin. It has spurred a lawsuit by Korwin against the city of Phoenix, which forced Korwin to alter his original ad, which read: “Guns Save Lives.”

The city believes it can censor certain speech when selling ads in what it calls a “non-public forum.” Korwin, the Goldwater Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union disagree. So do I.

A superior court judge sided with the city, which forced Korwin to alter his original ad from “Guns Save Lives” to “Guns Stop Crime.” (I know what you’re thinking. I can’t figure out why one is more acceptable than the other, either.) The case is now in the appellate court.

Of his dilemma Korwin wrote in an e-mail, “The hubris and malignant attitudes of those in a position of authority, to deign to tell us what we can and cannot say in public (short of fraud or indecency) so offends the sense of freedom in this country it is grounds for punishment against the offenders in my opinion.”

He’s right.

He’s often right — just ask him.

Korwin will tell you, as he has told me, that it is impossible to have a rational conversation with those who do not share his opinions on gun rights.

“I enjoy having conversations with the quote-unquote other side,” he said. “But I find that the other side can’t do it. They get infuriated. They start calling me names instead of rationally discussing the issue.”

How might that happen?

Well, for example, in 2011, after then Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others were shot by a crazed assailant in Tucson, there were nationwide calls for limiting the sale of extended magazines like the one used by the shooter.

Korwin told me at the time, “By focusing on the magazine rather than the person who goes berserk you’re endangering everybody else. It’s not about the magazine… This proposal has nothing to do with addressing the problem but is all about infringement and denial of rights incrementally.”

See what I mean?

He is not shy. He is always certain. And, in ways that make a lot of people uncomfortable — including me — he is occasionally correct.

His advertising campaign is one of those times.

The fight started in 2010 when city officials removed 50 “Guns Save Lives” ads from its bus stops. The initial gun ad also included, in large lettering, the words “Arizona Says: Educate Your Kids” and the name of a weapons training and firearms information website with which Korwin is affiliated: TrainMeAZ.com. (The new ads still include the website’s name.)

Korwin is a big proponent of firearms training, particularly since the 2010 lessening of restrictions on concealed carry laws in Arizona.

But he is steadfastly against any kind of mandatory requirement.

“I believe in the free enterprise approach,” he told me. “Making training ‘mandatory’ is all government bureaucracy, rules and regulations. It would be a mess. The government will ruin it.”

That’s an argument for another day.

The bus stop advertisements are different story. Government censorship is wrong. Phoenix officials should allow the gun activist to shoot off his mouth.

Then again, it’s difficult — if not impossible — to dispute an argument made against the ads by a reader who attached this online comment to an Arizona Republic news article about Korwin’s campaign:

“I don’t want political ads on public transit because the only thing worse than having someone talk to you on the bus, is having someone talk to you about politics on the bus.”

Leaders let us down all the time

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Leaders let us down all the time

Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:01 PM

I can’t help but be amused by Arizona House Minority Leader Chad Campbell’s comments that Department of Economic Security Director Clarence Carter, who oversees Child Protective Services, should be removed because he let down the people of Arizona.

If letting down the people of Arizona is a basis for being removed from one’s position, I’m pretty sure the offices under our copper dome would forever remain vacant.

— Michael Tierney, Glendale

Illinois inmate who claimed torture to leave prison

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Mar. 17, 2011 07:15 AM

Associated Press

CHICAGO - A man who claims Chicago police tortured him into giving a false confession to a double murder is set to leave prison for the first time in more than 25 years.

Eric Caine is scheduled to leave Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a Cook County judge dismissed the charges against Caine and ordered his release.

Earlier in the day, the former Chicago police lieutenant who Caine says tortured him into confessing in 1986 reported to federal prison on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

Former Lt. Jon Burge was convicted last year of lying about the torture of suspects. He's serving a 4�-year sentence.

Caine's co-defendant, Aaron Patterson, was one of four men pardoned from death row by then-Gov. George Ryan in 2003.

Interpreter for deaf at Mandela memorial service was a fake

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Interpreter for deaf at Mandela memorial service was a fake, advocates for deaf say

By Steven Mufson, Published: December 11 | Updated: Thursday, December 12, 3:17 AM E-mail the writer

JOHANNESBURG — He made waves with his arms, touched his forehead and reached out with an embracing motion. And as the official interpreter for the deaf watching the Nelson Mandela memorial event Tuesday, he stood right behind the world’s most powerful leaders, including President Obama.

And he was a fake, advocates for the deaf say.

Web sites and radio shows here were flooded with condemnations of the African National Congress-led government and the organizers of the memorial at FNB Stadium in Soweto for failing to figure out whether the man was simply waving his arms around.

“Please get RID of this CLOWN interpreter, please!” Bruno Peter Druchen, head of the Deaf Federation of South Africa, tweeted during the memorial.

“ANC linked interpreter on stage is causing embarrassment amongst deaf ANC supporters. Please get him off,” added Wilma Newhoudt, a deaf member of the South African Parliament and vice president of the World Federation of the Deaf.

But the man remained on stage, and on Wednesday, his performance became the focus of a new storm of criticism. People who phoned an afternoon radio call-in show said the situation showed inept hiring, insensitivity to the deaf and a serious security lapse on the part of event organizers. And, they said, it marred the solemn event by distracting attention from Mandela and the world leaders who came to pay tribute to him.

On Thursday, the Johannesburg Star said that the man, Thamsanqa Jantjie, said in an interview that he was suffering from schizophrenia and that he had lost concentration and started hearing voices during the event. He said that made it hard to hear the speeches and interpret but that he couldn’t just leave so he stayed on. “There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation. I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry, it’s the situation I found myself in,” Jantjie, 34, told the Star.

He said he works for a company called SA Interpreters and that they told him on Monday that he would interpret at the memorial service. “Life is unfair. This illness is unfair. Anyone who doesn’t understand this illness will think that I’m just making this up,” Jantjie told the Star.

According to the Associated Press, Collins Chabane, one of South Africa’s two presidency ministers, said the government was investigating and “will report publicly on any information it may establish.”

White House officials directed questions about the interpreter to the South African government but gave no indication that there were concerns about Obama’s security arising from the discovery.

“I think the point is that he apparently was not translating him into anything but was enjoying the opportunity to be on the stage,” Josh Earnest, the principal deputy White House press secretary, said Wednesday at the daily briefing. “It would be a shame if a distraction about an individual who’s on stage in any way detracted from the importance of that event and the importance of President Mandela’s legacy.”

It was the latest controversy in a week devoted to remembering Mandela. President Jacob Zuma was booed by the crowd at the stadium, rain kept “overflow” stadiums largely empty, and lines of people waiting to see Mandela’s body in state Wednesday snaked their way through a hot, jam-packed parking lot while a single security checkpoint slowed progress.

Many viewers of Tuesday’s event noticed that the man was using the same gestures over and over again. Druchen tweeted that the man “is not using sign language at all.”

Sign language interpreter Francois Deysel tweeted, “please can someone ask the interpreter to step down from stage, it is embarrassing and making a mockery of our profession.”

Video clips show that this wasn’t the man’s first performance. He was the interpreter at the ANC’s Mangaung policy conference in the Free State last year. He interpreted the controversial song “Shoot the Boer” led by Zuma during his election campaign. When Zuma said people would run, the man pumped his arms up and down. Often, the man’s gestures were the same as Zuma’s. (Boer is a term for white Afrikaners.)

Druchen observed that the phony interpreter “knows that the deaf cannot vocally boo him off. Shame on him!”

Interpreters are not unusual in multilingual South Africa, where large groups of people speak English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa or other African languages. Druchen recommended that signing be made the country’s 12th official language.

Sign language interpreters and others in the United States and around the world also expressed outrage at the incident.

“We, along with many other organizations, are disappointed with the process that selected the interpreter that was shown on camera for the Mandela service, and feel that a great disservice was done to both the South African signing community, and the international signing community,” the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, based in Alexandria, Va., said in a statement.

The World Association of Sign Language Interpreters, based in Australia, said: “This situation stresses the need for continued public education about the formal training required to be a qualified sign language interpreter and the need for interpreter and deaf associations to collaborate on pressing governments for standards.”

The National Association of the Deaf, based in Silver Spring, Md., said interpreters must be vetted.

“Each country has its own national sign language and sometimes even regional sign languages,” the association said. “In the United States, we use American Sign Language (ASL) while in South Africa, most people use South African Sign Language (SASL), which is distinct and uses different signs than ASL. We, at the NAD, cannot assess the qualifications or fluency or lack thereof of the interpreter in this video, but are informed by the South African deaf and hard of hearing community that this interpreter is not legitimately interpreting in SASL.”

One expert in the United States who reviewed a video of the event said problems with the purported interpretation were easy to see.

“When I watch him, he appears to be doing a lot of repetitive hand motion. It doesn’t look like any natural sign language to me,” said Melanie Metzger, head of the department of interpretation at Gallaudet University, a prominent school for the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C. “What he’s doing is not matching the speaker. He’s not interpreting the speaker.”

Metzger said another tipoff was that the man onstage used minimal facial expressions. Authentic interpreters around the world, she said, make extensive use of their eyebrows, cheeks and other parts of the face to communicate in sign language.

Nick Anderson and Scott Wilson contributed to this report from Washington.

San Jose medical marijuana crackdown begins after council vote on regulations

San Jose medical marijuana crackdown begins after council vote on regulations

By Mike Rosenberg

mrosenberg@mercurynews.com

Posted: 12/11/2013 01:04:58 PM PST

SAN JOSE -- City officials on Wednesday began the process of shutting down medical marijuana shops next to homes as part of strict new regulations to be rolled out next year.

A minute before midnight, the San Jose City Council late Tuesday ended an hours-long discussion and voted 8-3 to support a package of pot shop laws that they expect to take a final vote on in March.

The regulations would limit the city's 82 medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in less than 1 percent of the city -- mostly in the industrial northern tip of San Jose, away from homes, schools and drug rehab centers. Those new rules could take effect next spring or summer. Marijuana at the A2C2 - All American Cannabis Club in San Jose, Calif., 2013. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Marijuana at the A2C2 - All American Cannabis Club in San Jose, Calif., 2013. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) ( Nhat V. Meyer )

In the meantime, the council told city code officials to begin sending letters to pot shops situated next to homes, telling them that they are illegal and need to shut down, and expect all of those dispensaries to be closed within a month or two. Even though San Jose has no laws expressly banning pot shops, it has no laws allowing them, either -- meaning city officials have the authority to shut them down. While the city has gone after clubs that drew complaints, it is now broadening enforcement.

The council's decision comes after complaints from youth groups, neighborhood leaders, schools and local government agencies who said kids are getting their weed from the pot shops. The Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office said drug-related suspensions were up 243 percent at east San Jose schools since the pot shops began multiplying a few years ago.

Councilwoman Rose Herrera led the charge at the meeting to ban the pot shops altogether, but that effort failed by a 7-4 vote, with only Councilmen Xavier Campos, Kansen Chu and Pete Constant joining Herrera.

On the other end were pot shop owners who have promised to once again gather signatures to put strict regulations on the ballot, as they did when council members tried passing new rules in 2011. They said the dispensaries create jobs, produce more than $5 million annually in tax revenue for the city and try to work with neighborhoods, and that it was wrong to blame the shop owners.

"What happened to parents taking responsibilities for their children and their children's actions?" Doug Chloupek, co-founder of the MedMar Healing Center pot shop in downtown San Jose.

Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at Twitter.com/RosenbergMerc.

Lamar Alexander’s chief of staff arrested on child pornography charges

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Lamar Alexander’s chief of staff arrested on child pornography charges

By Ed O’Keefe and Matt Zapotosky, Published: December 11 E-mail the writers

The chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was arrested Wednesday on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography and was swiftly fired by the senator.

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, 35, was arrested at his D.C. home Wednesday afternoon by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Thursday to face charges, the Justice Department said.

Word of the investigation was first revealed in a statement issued by Alexander, who said he was “stunned, surprised and disappointed” by the news and would be placing Loskarn on unpaid administrative leave. The news spread quickly across Capitol Hill among Loskarn’s colleagues and friends in the close-knit worlds of congressional staffers and Capitol Hill reporters with whom he worked for years.

Alexander later announced that he had “removed” Loskarn from his staff and replaced him with another longtime aide, David Cleary.

Like many longtime congressional staffers, Loskarn climbed the ranks on the House side of Capitol Hill before moving to senior positions in the Senate. He began as an aide to then-Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.), moved to the press staff of the House Rules Committee and spent four years as a spokesman for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

He moved next to the Senate Republican Conference — the messaging shop for GOP senators — and became staff director when Alexander assumed control of the office in 2009. He later became the chief of staff of Alexander’s personal office when the senator stepped down from his leadership perch, announcing that he hoped to work on building more bipartisanship in the Senate.

Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.

Lamar Alexander’s chief of staff arrested on child pornography charges

Source

Lamar Alexander’s chief of staff arrested on child pornography charges

By Ed O’Keefe and Matt Zapotosky, Published: December 11 E-mail the writers

The chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was arrested Wednesday on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography and was swiftly fired by the senator.

Jesse Ryan Loskarn, 35, was arrested at his D.C. home Wednesday afternoon by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Thursday to face charges, the Justice Department said.

Word of the investigation was first revealed in a statement issued by Alexander, who said he was “stunned, surprised and disappointed” by the news and would be placing Loskarn on unpaid administrative leave. The news spread quickly across Capitol Hill among Loskarn’s colleagues and friends in the close-knit worlds of congressional staffers and Capitol Hill reporters with whom he worked for years.

Alexander later announced that he had “removed” Loskarn from his staff and replaced him with another longtime aide, David Cleary.

Like many longtime congressional staffers, Loskarn climbed the ranks on the House side of Capitol Hill before moving to senior positions in the Senate. He began as an aide to then-Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.), moved to the press staff of the House Rules Committee and spent four years as a spokesman for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

He moved next to the Senate Republican Conference — the messaging shop for GOP senators — and became staff director when Alexander assumed control of the office in 2009. He later became the chief of staff of Alexander’s personal office when the senator stepped down from his leadership perch, announcing that he hoped to work on building more bipartisanship in the Senate.

Sean Sullivan contributed to this report.

Legal pot states banking on Thursday secret panel meeting

Legal pot states banking on Thursday secret panel meeting

National Constitution Center

By Scott Bomboy 27 minutes ago

Aspiring legal marijuana producers and vendors in Colorado and Washington state have a lot riding on a closed-door meeting today held by an obscure Treasury Department group, which faces some interesting constitutional issues about a “growing” industry.

The meeting in Washington, D.C., involves the Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group, an advisory panel first set up by then Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen in 1994. The panel, known as BSAAG, evaluates issues related to money laundering.

In August, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department wouldn’t criminally prosecute recreational marijuana users and state-approved growers and vendors in Colorado and Washington, after the two states passed legalization referendums in 2012.

However, marijuana is still illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. Holder, in his memo, established new guidelines for federal prosecutors in all states to follow for federal marijuana cases.

His decision averted one constitutional issue for now, about states that pass laws that seemingly contradict federal laws. But another one remains unresolved.

BSAAG is involved because approved marijuana cultivators, producers and vendors in Colorado and Washington can’t set up legal bank accounts, because banks believe they could be implicated as money launders, since marijuana sales are still illegal nationally. And pot vendors can’t process retail credit and debit card transactions, for the same reason.

Legalized pot sales are set to become a reality next month in two states. Since the legally approved growers and vendors are forced to do business on a cash-only basis, some politicians believe criminal elements will enter the states’ marijuana business.

“Forcing legitimate businesses to operate on a cash-only basis without bank accounts is an invitation for robbery, tax evasion and organized crime. With 21 states and D.C. now allowing for some form of legal adult marijuana usage, federal law needs to be updated to reflect the reality of the situation in the states,” said two Representatives, Denny Heck and Earl Perlmutter, in July, when they introduced banking legislation to protect legal marijuana growers from federal charges.

The Seattle Times says the Thursday meeting is behind closed doors and not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, so some frank talk is expected.

In November, a top federal fraud enforcement official said in a public speech that the state-federal law conflict about marijuana would be discussed at Thursday’s meeting.

“We understand that [the banking] industry is calling for additional clarity on how DOJ’s policy pertains to the federal regulatory oversight of depository institutions providing banking services to duly operating, state regulated marijuana dispensaries,” said Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the director of the federal Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (or FinCEN).

“The issue is a complicated one given that federal law still applies in those states. We have already initiated discussions with our DOJ colleagues,” she said.

What happens after Thursday’s meeting is a guessing game at this point.

The Seattle Times says the banking industry wants Congress to amend the Controlled Substances Act to make it clear that banks can’t be punished for doing business with marijuana producers who are operating under state laws.

But Congress is unlikely to act in the short term, and with the majority of states not allowing legalized marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, it could be some time before the Controlled Substances Act comes up for debate.

Marijuana supporters have pointed out that the President also has the power under the Controlled Substance Act to change the law, and remove pot from the Schedule 1 list of drugs, without consulting Congress.

Under the Federal Code, under Section 811 of Title 21, the U.S. attorney general, after a lengthy petition and consultation process with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, can move a drug to a less-restrictive schedule. It would need to approve a review petition first. But efforts to get the Obama administration to consider a petition have gained little traction in five years.

That puts the ball back in the Treasury Department’s court with BSAAG, which could issue favorable guidelines to banks, or possibly work with the Justice Department to issue guidelines in the way Holder approached the problem in August.

FinCEN’s Shasky Calvery told Reuters in November that she might ask the Justice Department to clarify how its policies about marijuana and banking would work in the context of Holder’s memo about prosecution.

Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole told a Senate committee in September that the Justice Department was working on the issue of banks and marijuana producers.

“Obviously there is a public safety concern when businesses have a lot of cash sitting around,” Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole told a Senate subcommittee. “There is a tendency that there are guns associated with that, so it’s important to deal with that issue.”

But for now, without public assurances from the federal government, industry observers believe bank will remain in a wait-and-see mode.

Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

Smaller government is better

Smaller government is better

Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:02 PM

Regarding the letter to the editor Tuesday calling for “better government, not less”:

That’s like asking for a cancer that is a little less malignant than the one you are already living with. Smaller government is better government.

— Michael Taft, Phoenix

Sheriff’s Office housing veterans in custody together

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Sheriff’s Office housing veterans in custody together

By D.S. Woodfill The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Wed Dec 11, 2013 8:23 PM

Veterans in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office are now being housed under one roof.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Wednesday announced the opening of a new veterans-only section at the Towers Jail near 35th Avenue and Durango Street in Phoenix.

The thought is that housing veterans in one place makes it easier for the Sheriff’s Office to provide services that will help ease the inmates’ eventual transition back into the community.

“I believe we have to do everything we can for our veterans,” Arpaio told a group of veterans being held on suspicion of charges including driving under the influence, robbery and burglary. “Many of you who have fought for our country are here. Some of you, unfortunately, have some medical-mental problems I want to make sure that’s rectified. I want to make sure we do everything we can to find a job for you when you leave this jail.”

Arpaio said many of the county’s approximately 250 veterans in detainment have post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental-health issues. Housing veterans in a common area will allow them to support one another and make it easier to provide counseling, job training and other services from the county and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, officials said.

The facility is festooned with painted red, white and blue stripes, and decorated with emblems and flags from the various branches of the military. A large mural painted by an inmate depicts an American soldier on one knee with his head bowed in prayer.

Sgt. Jennifer Perks, who supervises the jail’s outpatient substance abuse program and inmate transition services, said, “While they’re here we’re going to make the best use of their (as) we can. Our intention is for them to be successful when they leave the jail.”

Perks said officials hope having the inmates separated from the general population will help them stay on the straight-and-narrow.

“We’re hoping that they motivate each other to continue to be successful.”

Being able to live around other vets was an “unbelievable gift,” said inmate Justin MacGregor, a former Navy petty officer from Phoenix.

Inmate Jesus Garcia, a Chandler resident and former Army specialist who worked as a mechanic, said vets with emotional or mental scars can relate to each other in ways that no one else can.

“We can talk to each other,” he said. “It’s a bond.”

Most Tempe council members are silent on General Plan vote

Most Tempe council members are silent on General Plan vote

By Dianna M. Náñez The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:00 PM

Most Tempe City Council members are mum on whether they will postpone Thursday night’s vote on the proposed General Plan 2040 to allow more public input on recent changes.

The changes include lowering the allowable density for development along a strip of Apache Boulevard, which has seen a slew of apartments after the light-rail line opened.

Tempe officials have been updating the city’s General Plan, a road map for future development that must go before voters, for about a year. The city held forums in August to gather feedback, sought online feedback in September and held two public hearings in November. A third public hearing is right ahead of the vote.

However, some residents were concerned that the council changed the plan after the first public hearing on Nov. 7. Some supported the changes, but others asked that the revised plan go back to a community meeting before the council approved it and placed it on the ballot.

The council delayed a scheduled vote Nov. 21 but appears slated to vote on it tonight despite not holding the additional community meeting some residents sought.

If the council approves the item, it is expected next month to set a special-election for May 20 for residents to vote on the General Plan.

The city would have until Jan. 20 to notify Maricopa County election officials of the special election and until Feb. 4 to provide the ballot language, according to Tempe City Clerk Brigitta Kuiper.

However, with approval tonight, the council would be set to call the election and approve the ballot language all on Jan. 9, Kuiper said.

The Arizona Republic reached out to the city’s elected officials to ask if another community meeting was an option, as some residents requested.

Only Councilman Kolby Granville responded, saying he’d be willing to delay the vote again if residents wanted to further discuss the changes.

Mayor Mark Mitchell and the five other council members remained silent. The city attorney advised them that responding to The Republic’s questions could violate the state’s Open Meeting Law.

“Without disclosing legal advice that I provided, I can tell you that Arizona Open Meeting Law generally prohibits more than a quorum of council proposing legal action outside of a public meeting,” City Attorney Judi Baumann told The Republic.

Granville, an attorney who works as a teacher, scoffed and called that a “misinterpretation of the Open Meeting Law.”

The state Open Meeting Law does not ban elected officials from answering e-mailed questions from the newspaper, said Dan Barr, an attorney for the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, which advocates for open government and access to public records.

“The Open Meeting Law prohibits a quorum of the people serving on a public body getting together to discuss something; it doesn’t prevent people from answering questions,” Barr said. “It becomes a far stretch that they are talking to each other by answering a reporter’s questions.”

However, elected officials may decline to answer questions that they do not want to address, he added.

“There’s nothing in the law that compels public officials to answer questions, but when elections come around they may have wished they had,” Barr said.

Baumann said city staff answered the questions instead. They noted the vote would move forward as the city has held several public meetings over the past year and involved hundreds of residents and business owners in drafting the plan. They added that the statute governing General Plans requires only one public hearing; the council is holding two more than required by law.

The General Plan change that riled some residents was reversing plans for high-density development on Apache Boulevard. In recent years, the push has been to create high-density areas that would attract multifamily housing, such as apartments, near the light-rail stations on Apache.

The change, which council made ahead of the Nov. 21 public hearing, suited several homeowners who live in nearby single-family neighborhoods. The residents had balked at the string of massive apartments so close to their houses. The homeowners had said that they were OK with some high-density development on Apache, but they pleaded with the council to create buffer zones around single-family neighborhoods.

Other changes ahead of the Nov. 21 hearing that did not stir public comment included shifting land designated as private open space, such as parks within homeowners associations, to residential. City officials said the change was because they would have needed written approval from property owners to maintain the open-space designation. Still, an HOA would have to go through the city’s development review process if it opted to put houses in the open space, according to Tempe Community Development Director Dave Nakagawara.

The city has revised the plan again since the Nov. 21 hearing, according to public documents drafted for tonight’s meeting. These changes include an emphasis on historic preservation of cultural resources; the labeling of certain regions as “first-tier hubs” for development and activity; and strategies to improve the amenities at Papago Park.

Council approval of the General Plan requires at least a two-thirds vote, or five of seven members. From there, the plan must go before voters.

Such civic-planning efforts typically are approved by voters. The economic downturn, however, has made many residents more critical of municipal development, spending and budget decisions. In 2012, Scottsdale voters rejected the city’s General Plan update, sending city leaders back to the drawing board.

Officials: Arizona DPS worker living in U.S. illegally resigns

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Officials: Arizona DPS worker living in U.S. illegally resigns

By Kirsten Kraklio The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:29 PM

An Arizona Department of Public Safety detective resigned Monday after federal and local authorities determined she was living in the country illegally, officials said Wednesday.

Carmen Figueroa, a 10-year veteran of DPS, was placed on paid administrative leave on Sept. 4 after the department learned that Figueroa may not have residency status, said Bart Graves, an agency spokesman.

An internal investigation by the DPS determined Figueroa “should be terminated for fraud, misrepresentation for securing employment, and incompetency,” Graves said.

Attempts to reach Figueroa on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Figueroa’s legal status came into question when her brother, who is in the Air Force, applied for a passport and was flagged by the State Department.

Officials believe the siblings were told by their mother that they had been born in the U.S. It wasn’t until the State Department investigation began that Figueroa learned she was actually born in Sinaloa, Mexico, and wasn’t a legal resident, Graves said.

Figueroa produced what seemed to be legitimate documents —including a Social Security card, birth certificate and high school diploma — when DPS hired her in 2003, Graves said. While at DPS, Figueroa was promoted to detective and worked as the DPS spokesperson in Tucson for several years.

Under the Arizona Revised Statutes, Figueroa doesn’t meet the requirements to act as a police officer because she is not a U.S. citizen, according to Graves.

DPS detectives are working with State Department investigators to determine if state charges are applicable, he said.

Jury acquits ex-cop in fatal post-Katrina shooting

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Jury acquits ex-cop in fatal post-Katrina shooting

Associated Press Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:57 PM

NEW ORLEANS — A former New Orleans police officer whose 2010 manslaughter conviction was touted as a milestone in the city’s healing after Hurricane Katrina was acquitted Wednesday by a different jury of charges he fatally shot a man without justification during the storm’s chaotic aftermath.

David Warren spent more than three years behind bars after he was charged in the September 2005 death of 31-year-old Henry Glover, whose body was burned in a car by a different officer after a good Samaritan drove the dying man to a makeshift police compound.

Leaving the courthouse a free man, Warren, 50, was reunited with his wife and five children after jurors acquitted him of a civil rights violation and a firearm charge.

Warren told reporters that he “took the action that I had to take” when he shot Glover once with a rifle from a second-story balcony at a strip mall he was guarding.

“We have spent years talking about something that lasted seconds,” he said.

Warren’s trembling relatives wept and embraced each other after the verdict, which jurors delivered less than two hours after they informed a judge they were struggling to reach a unanimous decision.

“Oh my gosh, I can’t even get it in my head,” his wife, Kathy Warren, told a supporter. Her husband had been in custody since June 2010, when he surrendered to authorities following his indictment.

On the other side of the courtroom, Glover’s sister, Patrice, slumped over and wailed so loudly that U.S. District Judge Lance Africk paused as he spoke to jurors. After a man carried Patrice Glover out of the room, several jurors wiped away tears as they filed out.

Friends and relatives tried to console Patrice Glover as she sat in a chair in the lobby of the courthouse.

“He was a good child,” she said of her brother. “That was my baby.”

U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. said in a statement that prosecutors were disappointed by the verdict but thanked jurors for their “attentive service.”

His predecessor, Jim Letten, said after the 2010 verdict that it marked a “critical phase in the recovery and healing of this city, of the people of this region.”

Africk had sentenced Warren to nearly 26 years in prison after the jury in his first trial convicted him and two other former officers of charges stemming from Glover’s death.

But an appeals court overturned Warren’s convictions and ordered a new trial last year. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit ruled that Warren should have been tried separately from four other former officers charged in an alleged cover-up of Glover’s death. The panel agreed with Warren’s lawyers that the “spillover effect” of evidence about the cover-up, including testimony about the burning of Glover’s body and photos of his charred remains, denied him a fair trial.

A different officer, Gregory McRae, was convicted in 2010 of burning Glover’s body. The 5th Circuit upheld McRae’s convictions.

The jury for Warren’s retrial was barred from hearing any testimony about what happened to Glover in the aftermath of the shooting.

On Monday, Warren testified that he feared for his life when he shot Glover because he thought he saw a gun in his hand as he and another man ran toward the building he was guarding. Prosecutors, however, said Glover wasn’t armed and didn’t pose a threat.

Defense attorney Richard Simmons said the case was always about “a policeman’s worst nightmare, that split-second decision.”

“The benefit of the doubt has to go to the officer,” Simmons said, adding that “there’s no winners or losers, there’s just survivors.”

Warren and another officer, Linda Howard, were guarding a police substation at the strip mall on the morning of Sept. 2, 2005, when Glover and another man pulled up in a truck. Warren said he screamed, “Police, get back!” twice after Glover and his friend, Bernard Calloway, exited the truck and started to run toward a gate that would have given them access to the building he was guarding.

Calloway, however, testified that Glover was standing next to the truck and lighting a cigarette when Warren shot him. Howard testified Glover and Calloway were running in different directions when Warren opened fire.

Jurors also heard testimony from a former officer, Alec Brown, who said Warren told him shortly after the shooting that he believed looters were “animals” who deserved to be shot. Warren denied saying that.

Earlier on the same morning as Glover’s shooting, Warren had fired what he called a warning shot at a man who had been riding a bike near the mall. Warren said he knew officers aren’t allowed to fire warning shots, but was worried the man intended to do “something stupid” because he had circled the mall several times.

Warren was one of 20 officers charged in a series of federal investigations of alleged police misconduct in New Orleans. His December 2010 conviction was touted as a major milestone in the Justice Department’s ambitious efforts to clean up the city’s troubled police department.

The same jury that convicted Warren and McRae also convicted a third former officer, Travis McCabe, of writing a false report on the shooting. Africk later ordered a new trial for McCabe based on new evidence that surfaced after the trial: a different copy of the report that McCabe is accused of doctoring.

The jury at the first trial also acquitted two other former officers of charges related to the alleged cover-up.

———

Associated Press Writer Kevin McGill contributed to this report.

Council supports light-rail alignment

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Council supports light-rail alignment

By Dustin Gardiner The Republic | azcentral.com

Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:02 PM

Phoenix leaders voted this week to support a proposed light-rail alignment running south of downtown along Central Avenue to Baseline Road, an area where many low-income residents have pushed for better access to public transit.

The 5-mile line would be the city’s first light-rail extension beyond the list of projects in the original Proposition 400 plan, which created a half-cent-per-dollar sales tax in Maricopa County to pay for transportation upgrades.

But don’t expect to see trains running south along the route for at least eight to 10 years. Planners from the city and Valley Metro, the agency that runs the light-rail system, are just beginning the planning process and face the difficult task of securing a funding source for the line, expected to cost millions of dollars.

The vote, however, is significant because it indicates that city leaders have settled on a transit mode and route for improving the corridor on Central Avenue south of downtown. Officials said the area is prime for a rail line given its large population of transit-dependent residents.

“It will reach a lot of people who don’t have a good alternative to get to work, who don’t have cars,” said City Councilwoman-elect Kate Gallego, who takes office in January and will represent part of the area to be covered by the rail line. “This is a line that could really give people great opportunities.”

Phoenix and Valley Metro are near the end of a more than two-year evaluation to determine the best transit mode and alignment for improving the area. The $1.75 million effort, funded by federal earmarks and city dollars, reviewed the feasibility and public support for various transit options, such as light rail, streetcar or rapid bus lines. Planners studied 11 potential routes between downtown and Baseline Road in south Phoenix.

The recommended route, which would run south along First Avenue out of downtown before cutting over to Central Avenue, must now be adopted into regional transportation plans by several groups, including Valley Metro’s rail board and the regional council of the Maricopa Association of Governments.

Albert Santana, Phoenix’s light-rail project administrator, said rail was selected as the preferred mode because it’s the most cost-effective per rider and is expected to add nearly 15,000 additional mass-transit users.

“Because this is not in the regional plan, the next critical step is that we need to identify the funding sources,” Santana told city leaders recently.

City and Valley Metro officials expect to seek federal funding for the project, which would require a match from the city or countywide transit-tax funds. Congressman Ed Pastor has been a vocal supporter of the south-Phoenix extension and was key in securing federal funding for the feasibility and route and mode studies.

Santana said it was clear from the outset of the study, which included numerous community meetings, that residents preferred a route along Central Avenue. Plus, the city said the line could help revitalize the blighted corridor and fill vacant lots with new commercial development.

Proposed stations recommended for further study include Lincoln Street, Buckeye Road, Watkins Street, Roeser Road, Southern Avenue and Baseline Road. The city and Valley Metro also plan to study the potential for transit upgrades heading east and west on Baseline and connecting the rail line to South Mountain Park.

City Council members voted 8-1 on Tuesday to support the proposed plan. Councilman Jim Waring cast the lone dissenting vote, citing concerns about the impact on nearby business owners, including an auto-repair shop owner who told the council he’s worried construction could cut off access to his business.

“I definitely understand that if you put a small-business owner out of business, they’re crushed. That’s their world,” Waring said. “I probably would have rather invested the money in our bus system.”

Phoenix is holding meetings with business owners in the area in an attempt to address concerns about access during construction. With other light-rail projects, the city has helped provide signage and marketing for affected businesses.

Report cites frequent abuse of migrants who are in U.S. custody

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Report cites frequent abuse of migrants who are in U.S. custody

By Daniel González The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:16 PM

Mexican immigrants are frequently subjected to physical abuse and verbal mistreatment while in the custody of U.S. border authorities, according to research by the University of Arizona and others.

Migrants also frequently have possessions taken from them while in U.S. custody that are not returned, according to a study released Tuesday by the Immigration Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank. The study was conducted jointly with researchers at UA, Georgetown University and the University of Texas-El Paso.

The study comes as Congress considers immigration reforms including bills calling for the addition of thousands of new Border Patrol agents.

Researchers said the frequency of abuses suggests systemic problems resulting from the lack of transparency and accountability within the Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They recommended that Congress pass legislation that creates stronger oversight and accountability when abuses occur.

“It’s crucial that Customs and Border Protection admit there are problems,” said Josiah Heyman, a report co-author and chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Texas-El Paso.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection, did not respond to a request for comment.

The findings are based on interviews with more than 1,100 migrants from 2009 to 2012 in six Mexican cities shortly after the migrants had been deported from the U.S.

Of those interviewed, 120, or about one in 10, said they had been subjected to some sort of physical abuse, most commonly being pushed, pulled, dragged or lifted in a way that caused stress or pain, according to the report.

About one-third of those claiming physical abuse said they had been hit, kicked, pushed or thrown down while restrained, the report said.

A small number said they received lasting injuries or felt they had been sexually abused while in U.S. custody.

“This type of repetitive, consistent abuse of one in 10 people is really disturbing. What it suggests is these are not isolated incidents. This is institutional-level problems,” said Jeremy Slack, a researcher at the University of Arizona who oversaw the interviews for the study.

About 23 percent of the migrants interviewed said they had been subjected to verbal abuse.

Those who reported verbal abuse said it most commonly consisted of them being cursed at or yelled at in an angry tone.

Nearly 40 percent of those who complained about verbal abuse said they were victims of nationalistic or racist slurs.

About one in three migrants interviewed said at least one of the possessions taken from them while in custody had not been returned, the report said. The items not returned included food, jewelry, clothing, money, cellphones and, most important, Mexican identification cards, because those documents are difficult to replace. Without them, migrants are often left stranded in unfamiliar or dangerous regions of the border.

For the study, teams of researchers from the United States and Mexico interviewed migrants at shelters in five Mexican border cities: Nogales, Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, Juarez and Mexicali. They also interviewed migrants at a bus stop in Mexico City, where recently repatriated migrants are dropped off after being flown from the U.S. to Mexico.

The interviewed migrants were selected randomly. All of them had been deported within a month of being interviewed.

One migrant told researchers that Border Patrol agents pushed him and deprived him of sleep inside a processing center after he was caught trying to cross illegally near Nogales.

“They pushed me around. And they didn’t let us sleep,” said the migrant, identified as Javier, 35, in a summary provided by researchers. “Every time we started to sleep they forced us to get up and march or clean the room. We didn’t sleep the entire night.”

NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking

NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking

By Ashkan Soltani, Andrea Peterson, and Barton Gellman

December 10 at 8:50 pm

The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using "cookies" and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.

The agency's internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the Internet to better serve them advertising, the technique opens the door for similar tracking by the government. The slides also suggest that the agency is using these tracking techniques to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations.

For years, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the use of commercial tracking tools to identify and target consumers with advertisements. The online ad industry has said its practices are innocuous and benefit consumers by serving them ads that are more likely to be of interest to them.

The revelation that the NSA is piggybacking on these commercial technologies could shift that debate, handing privacy advocates a new argument for reining in commercial surveillance.

According to the documents, the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ, are using the small tracking files or "cookies" that advertising networks place on computers to identify people browsing the Internet. The intelligence agencies have found particular use for a part of a Google-specific tracking mechanism known as the “PREF” cookie. These cookies typically don't contain personal information, such as someone's name or e-mail address, but they do contain numeric codes that enable Web sites to uniquely identify a person's browser.

In addition to tracking Web visits, this cookie allows NSA to single out an individual's communications among the sea of Internet data in order to send out software that can hack that person's computer. The slides say the cookies are used to "enable remote exploitation," although the specific attacks used by the NSA against targets are not addressed in these documents.

The NSA's use of cookies isn't a technique for sifting through vast amounts of information to find suspicious behavior; rather, it lets NSA home in on someone already under suspicion - akin to when soldiers shine laser pointers on a target to identify it for laser-guided bombs.

Separately, the NSA is also using commercially gathered information to help it locate mobile devices around the world, the documents show. Many smartphone apps running on iPhones and Android devices, and the Apple and Google operating systems themselves, track the location of each device, often without a clear warning to the phone's owner. This information is more specific than the broader location data the government is collecting from cellular phone networks, as reported by the Post last week.

"On a macro level, 'we need to track everyone everywhere for advertising' translates into 'the government being able to track everyone everywhere,'" says Chris Hoofnagle, a lecturer in residence at UC Berkeley Law. "It's hard to avoid."

These specific slides do not indicate how the NSA obtains Google PREF cookies or whether the company cooperates in these programs, but other documents reviewed by the Post indicate that cookie information is among the data NSA can obtain with a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act order. If the NSA gets the data that way, the companies know and are legally compelled to assist.

The NSA declined to comment on the specific tactics outlined in this story, but an NSA spokesman sent the Post a statement: "As we've said before, NSA, within its lawful mission to collect foreign intelligence to protect the United States, uses intelligence tools to understand the intent of foreign adversaries and prevent them from bringing harm to innocent Americans."

Google declined to comment for this article, but chief executive Larry Page joined the leaders of other technology companies earlier this week in calling for an end to bulk collection of user data and for new limits on court-approved surveillance requests. "The security of users' data is critical, which is why we've invested so much in encryption and fight for transparency around government requests for information," Page said in a statement on the coalition's Web site. "This is undermined by the apparent wholesale collection of data, in secret and without independent oversight, by many governments around the world."

How consumers are tracked online

Internet companies store small files called cookies on users' computers to uniquely identify them for ad-targeting and other purposes across many different Web sites. This advertising-driven business model pays for many of the services, like e-mail accounts, that consumers have come to expect to have for free. Yet few are aware of the full extent to which advertisers, services and Web sites track their activities across the Web and mobile devices. These data collection mechanisms are invisible to all but the most sophisticated users -- and the tools to opt-out or block them have limited effectiveness.

Privacy advocates have pushed to create a "Do Not Track" system allowing consumers to opt out of such tracking. But Jonathan Mayer of Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, who has been active in that push, says "Do Not Track efforts are stalled out." They ground to a halt when the Digital Advertising Alliance, a trade group representing online ad companies, abandoned the effort in September after clashes over the proposed policy. One of the primary issues of contention was whether consumers would be able to opt out of all tracking, or just not be served advertisements based on tracking.

Some browsers, such as Apple's Safari, automatically block a type of code known as "third-party cookies," which are often placed by companies that advertise on the site being visited. Other browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox are also experimenting with that idea. But such settings won't prevent users from receiving cookies directly from the primary sites they visit or services they use.

Google's PREF Cookie

Google assigns a unique PREF cookie anytime someone's browser makes a connection to any of the company's Web properties or services. This can occur when consumers directly use Google services such as Search or Maps, or when they visit Web sites that contain embedded "widgets" for the company's social media platform Google Plus. That cookie contains a code that allows Google to uniquely track users to "personalize ads" and measure how they use other Google products.

Given the widespread use of Google services and widgets, most Web users are likely to have a Google PREF cookie even if they've never visited a Google property directly.

That PREF cookie is specifically mentioned in an internal NSA slide, which reference the NSA using GooglePREFID, their shorthand for the unique numeric identifier contained within Google's PREF cookie. Special Source Operations (SSO) is an NSA division that works with private companies to scoop up data as it flows over the Internet's backbone and from technology companies' own systems. The slide indicates that SSO was sharing information containing "logins, cookies, and GooglePREFID" with another NSA division called Tailored Access Operations, which engages in offensive hacking operations. SSO also shares the information with the British intelligence agency GCHQ.

"This shows a link between the sort of tracking that's done by Web sites for analytics and advertising and NSA exploitation activities," says Ed Felten, a computer scientist at Princeton University. "By allowing themselves to be tracked for analytic or advertising at least some users are making themselves more vulnerable to exploitation."

This isn't the first time Google cookies have been highlighted in the NSA's attempts to identify targets to hack. A presentation released in October by the Guardian called "Tor Stinks" indicates that the agency was using cookies for DoubleClick.net, Google's third-party advertising service, in an attempt to identify users of the Internet anonymization tool Tor when they switched to regular browsing. "It's similar in the sense that you see the use of an unique ID in the cookie to allow an eavesdropper to connect the activities of a user over time," says Felten. This snippet of an internal NSA presentation reveals the existence of a program that utilizes leaked location-based information from mobile apps and services. (Washington Post)

This snippet of an internal NSA presentation reveals the existence of a program that utilizes leaked location-based information from mobile apps and services. (Washington Post)

Leaked location data

Another slide indicates that the NSA is collecting location data transmitted by mobile apps to support ad-targeting efforts in bulk. The NSA program, code-named HAPPYFOOT, helps the NSA to map Internet addresses to physical locations more precisely than is possible with traditional Internet geolocation services.

Many mobile apps and operating systems use location-based services to help users find restaurants or establishments nearby. In fact, even when GPS is disabled, most smart phones silently determine their location in the background using signals from Wi-Fi networks or cellular towers.

And apps that do not need geo-location data may still collect it anyway to share with third-party advertisers. Just last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement for a seemingly innocuous flashlight app that allegedly leaked user location information to advertisers without consumers' knowledge.

Apps transmit their locations to Google and other Internet companies because ads tied to a precise physical location can be more lucrative than generic ads. But in the process, they appear to tip off the NSA to a mobile device's precise physical location. That makes it easier for the spy agency to engage in the sophisticated tracking techniques the Post described in a story Dec. 4.

Implications for privacy

The disclosures about NSA practices reveal the dilemma facing online companies, which have faced a backlash against tracking for commercial purposes and their role in government surveillance.

"If data is used and it stops the next 9/11 our fellow citizens wouldn't have any problem with it no matter what it is," says Stuart P. Ingis, General Counsel at the Digital Advertising Association. But he says that it is a balancing act to pursue those bad actors "while at the same time preserving the civil liberties."

Other defenders of online advertising companies have argued it is unfair to conflate private companies' ad-tracking activities with the NSA activities revealed in the Snowden leaks. Marvin Ammori, a lawyer who advises technology companies including Google on surveillance issues, wrote in USA Today that "limiting bulk data collection by private companies - whether they advertise or not - would do little or nothing to limit the NSA."

Felten disagrees, noting that the latest documents show that "the unique identifiers that are being placed on users' computers are not only being used by analytic and advertising companies, but also being used by the NSA for targeting." He also says that there are things those companies could do to protect their users from the type of attacks described in the slides, like "not sending tracking IDs, or at least not sending them in the clear" without a layer of encryption.

Similarly, he says, "browser makers can help by giving users better control over the use of third-party tracking cookies and by making sure that their browsers are not sending unique IDs as a side effect of their safe-browsing behavior."

Stanford's Mayer says the revelations suggest the need for limits on the data that companies collect about consumers. "There's increasingly a sense that giving consumers control over the information they share with companies is all the more important," he says, "because you're also giving them control over the information they share with government."

Soltani is an independent security researcher and consultant.

DC cop charged with making child porn!!!!

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Man who died after being found in Potomac is D.C. officer charged in sex case, police say

By Peter Hermann, Updated: Wednesday, December 11, 5:24 AM E-mail the writer

A man who died after being pulled from the Potomac River Tuesday night has been identified as a D.C. police officer who was arrested and charged last week with producing child pornography, according to a department statement issued Wednesday morning.

Marc Washington, 32, of Waldorf, had been freed from jail on Monday after his lawyer fought with prosecutors for two days over whether the officer should be released pending trial. A federal judge had given the seven-year veteran a 24-hour curfew in his father’s southern Maryland home and forced his father to surrender the deed to ensure that his son would return to court.

D.C. police officer linked to prostitution ring arrested

Peter Hermann 7:29 AM ET

Police say 47-year-old is charged with pandering and could appear in court later Wednesday. Man pulled from Potomac has died and is D.C. officer, police say

Peter Hermann 5:24 AM ET

Man has been identified as Marc Washington, a 7-year veteran of the force. Man pulled from water off Hains Point in ‘serious condition’

Police said that they got a 911 call at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday from a man. The U.S. Park Police responded to the first block of Ohio Drive SW, at Hains Point, and found an empty car with clothing located nearby.

Police and Fire Department dive teams found a man in the cold river shortly before 9:30 p.m. He was rushed to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to Gwendolyn Crump, the D.C. police department’s chief spokeswoman. Authorities would only say that the investigation was continuing. The police statement did not say how Washington died.

Washington was charged with showing up at the home of a 15-year-old girl in Southeast Washington who had gone missing and returned. Police said he went into her bedroom the night of Dec. 1, told her to undress and took partially nude pictures of her. The mother later called police, who arrested him a short time later.

Police have put another officer on desk duty as they investigate whether he tipped off Washington about his impending arrest. A police dispatcher had also inadvertently sent text of the mother’s complaint to computer screens of officers throughout the 7th District, where Washington was assigned.

Court charging documents allege that Washington deleted pictures of the girl and others before police arrested him, but that investigators were able to retrieve most of the images. Police also said they found pictures of other females, including two who appeared to be minors, and were urging people to call with information.

Prosecutors argued that Washington posed a threat to the community because his alleged actions occurred while he was on duty and armed. His attorney said that without his gun and badge, Washington posed no danger. He faced up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted.

Days after Washington was arrested, police searched the apartment of another 7th District officer and linked him to a child pornography ring. That also involved a teenage runaway and other women, according to a search warrant affidavit. That officer has been placed on desk duty. He has not been arrested or charged, and police officials have said they do not believe the two cases are connected.

Last week, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the allegations tarnish the 4,000-member department, and she called the charges against Washington the most egregious because the alleged offenses occurred while he was on-duty.

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Fallout of scandal for Sheriff Lee Baca is unclear

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Fallout of scandal for Sheriff Lee Baca is unclear

By Seema Mehta

December 10, 2013, 8:54 p.m.

Only hours after FBI agents swept up 18 deputies and supervisors in a jail abuse and corruption case, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was being lauded at a $1,500-a-head downtown campaign fundraiser co-hosted by a former governor and a former L.A. city attorney.

The contrasting images Monday — Baca somberly telling a crowded news conference it was a "sad day" for the agency he's led for 15 years and later celebrating his chances of winning a fifth term — captured both the increased vulnerability and time-tested resiliency of the county's top lawman at the threshold of another run for office.

Baca, 71, has faced a drumbeat of investigations and a blue-ribbon commission report attacking his management of the nation's largest sheriff's department. But analysts say the sheriff's political baggage grew heavier with Monday's charges against current and former members of his department for allegedly abusing jail inmates and obstructing justice. The U.S. attorney pointedly declared that the problems had become "institutionalized" at the agency.

"There is no coronation in his future," said veteran Democratic political consultant Darry Sragow.

Baca may well recover. He remains in effect the police chief in dozens of communities his department patrols and can point to sharp drops in serious crime. And, as Monday's fundraiser demonstrated, he's still a draw in the political establishment. In the end, campaign strategists say, the election may hinge on how much voters care about alleged mistreatment of jail inmates.

Nonetheless, the risk confronting Baca this political season is a dramatic change for one of Southern California's most enduring elected leaders. He won office fortuitously in 1998 when his rival, incumbent Sheriff Sherman Block, died days before the election.

In the next three elections, he easily won in primaries against fields of lesser-known candidates, avoiding head-to-head runoff elections. By 2010, no one bothered to challenge him.

This election was going to be different, even before the news broke that federal charges were filed against 13 current and former deputies, three sergeants and two lieutenants. Among the allegations were the beating of prisoners and visitors, filing false reports to cover up misconduct and attempting to block FBI access to a jail informant.

Baca already was coping not just with the FBI probe but criticism of his leadership from members of the county Board of Supervisors and a special commission on jail violence. The Times also reported that the department had hired dozens of officers in 2010 despite background investigations that found significant misconduct.

The only political consolation for Baca as he gears up for the June election may be that two of his rivals — former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and former Sheriff's Cmdr. Bob Olmsted — also could be put on the defensive by the continuing criminal probe of alleged misconduct in the department.

Baca forced out Tanaka earlier this year amid criticism over the jail abuse scandal. And the special county commission tasked with examining inmate abuse in the jails found that Tanaka helped foster a culture of abuse through his management style, as well as through remarks he made to rank-and-file deputies. Though he was not directly responsible for overseeing the jails, the commission concluded he did influence their operation.

Tanaka says he was focused on reducing crime and the department's budget and wasn't in the jail system chain of command during the period of alleged problems.

Olmsted oversaw the sheriff's most troubled lockups at one time, and Baca has asserted that he should have done more to correct problems.

But Olmsted insists he was a "whistleblower," commissioning internal audits of deputies' use of force, trying to alert top brass to abuse and eventually taking his concerns to the media and FBI.

Tanaka has declined to comment. However, Olmsted has pounded Baca and Tanaka since Monday, garnering the most media attention of his campaign.

"Today's arrests underscore the high level of corruption that has plagued the Sheriff's Department under the failed leadership of Sheriff Lee Baca and former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka," he said in a statement immediately after the arrests were announced.

"This correlates directly to the race, and that's the reason I'm in it — because it's your duty to report all this stuff and have this out in the open," he added in an interview.

John Shallman, Olmsted's political advisor, is drawing parallels to another county election in the wake of a law enforcement abuse scandal. In 2000, underdog Steve Cooley handily defeated incumbent Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti after the LAPD's Rampart corruption case. Cooley, a Shallman client, hammered Garcetti for not doing enough to investigate cops and prevent the alleged abuse of suspects in the police division west of downtown.

But another campaign reality could limit the damage for Baca, said Sragow, the political consultant. Polls show that many voters, he said, place a low priority on the treatment of jail inmates.

Indeed, unseating a well-established incumbent in a county of 10 million residents is an immense challenge, experts note. Baca has strong name recognition and a reported $240,000 in 2014 campaign cash available as of June 30, the most recent report available. Tanaka and Olmsted haven't had to file financial disclosure reports yet.

Baca's war chest has grown since June, including what appeared to be thousands raised Monday evening alone. Former Gov. Gray Davis, former L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich and high-profile defense attorney Mark Geragos co-hosted the event at Geragos' Engine Co. No 28 restaurant in the financial district.

Baca entered the restaurant through a rear alley, away from news cameras. Davis didn't attend because of a previous commitment but remains committed to Baca's reelection and plans to host another fundraiser for him next year, a spokesman said.

Trutanich and Geragos acknowledged the difficulties facing Baca but praised his handling of the scandal.

"The buck does stop with him.... He's the one who I think has taken control of it," Geragos said. "I don't see him running away from any of these things, I don't see him making excuses."

Baca also has nurtured ties with diverse communities across the county, work that could pay dividends in a tight race.

"Sweet" Alice Harris, a Watts-based community organizer and supporter of Baca, said she believed subordinates kept many of the issues in the jails from reaching Baca's ears. "The majority of stuff that happens never gets to the top because you don't tell on family," she said.

Baca's support of job training programs for young people and openness to input from community organizations are likely to be remembered, she said.

"We need that good man," she said. Critics are "so worried about the sheriff, but ain't nobody worried about these young men with no jobs."

Political analysts expect the sheriff's campaign to be defined by two questions: how Baca reacts to the scandal going forward and how effectively his opponents can capitalize on it to boost their appeal to voters.

"This type of thing can hurt — I don't see how it can't," said Allan Hoffenblum, a former GOP strategist and publisher of the nonpartisan California Target Book. "The question is: Will one of his opponents be able to credibly position themselves to do something about it?"

seema.mehta@latimes.com

Times staff writers Steve Lopez, Abby Sewell and Robert Faturechi contributed to this report.

Ambulance driver charged with DUI after crash

Ambulance driver charged with DUI after crash

By Rosemary Regina Sobol Tribune reporter

6:53 a.m. CST, December 11, 2013

Police say a suburban ambulance driver was three times over the legal limit for alcohol when he ran a red light, his emergency lights and sirens on, and crashed into a pickup truck in the Sheridan Park neighborhood on the North Side.

John P. Lara, 31, has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence causing an accident resulting in bodily harm, disobeying red light, failing to reduce speed, negligent driving, and failing to carry or display a driver's license, according to authorities.

Lara was traveling south on Clark Street in a Care 1 ambulance around 10:45 a.m. Monday when he hit the truck going west on Montrose, according to the police report. Responding officers approached the ambulance and found Lara still behind the wheel and the engire running, the report said.

One of the officers smelled a “very strong odor of alcoholic beverage,’’ and noticed that his eyes were glassy and his speech slurred, the report said.

When the officer asked what happened, Lara said he was on his way to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center to pick up a patient, according to the report. When they asked him where his partner was, he told them he was alone in the ambulance and was going to pick up his partner at the hospital, the report said.

But when Chicago Fire Department paramedics were treating him, Lara was “unable to explain where he was going or why he was using his emergency equipment when there wasn’t a patient in the ambulance,’’ the report said. One paramedic told officers the driver “repeatedly covered his mouth in an apparent attempt to hide the strong odor of alcoholic beverage,’’ the report said.

The paramedic told police said the ambulance driver became “very uncooperative’’ and belligerent with her. Lara was taken into custody and treated at Illinois Masonic, where his blood alcohol level was found to be .271, more than three times the legal limit for driving, .08, the report said.

Evanston chiropractor Nick Mendez said he was headed to his Lakeview home to walk his dog while on a break from work when he saw the ambulance in front of him as they were both headed south on Clark Street approaching Montrose Avenue.

“He was full lights and sirens,’’ Mendez said. “He came up to the intersection with cars that were westbound and eastbound continuously on Montrose. I just watched and the ambulance didn’t slow down at all. It was as if he had a death wish.’’

Mendez said the ambulance hit the passenger side of the pickup truck. “I pulled around and I kind of aided the victim out of the pickup truck. He was kind of going in and out of consciousness. He was able to walk and I just helped him in my car, where we warmed up,’’ Mendez said.

The man, who was 43 and appeared to be a construction worker driving a company vehicle, told Mendez he felt as if he was going to pass out.

“He thanked me, oh absolutely,’’ Mendez said. “We sat in my car for a little bit and spoke. He asked me, ‘What happened? What happened?’ ’’

When Mendez told him an ambulance hit him, the man said, “It seems like it came out of nowhere,’’ Mendez said.

Mendez called 911 and the dispatcher told him help was already on the way. Paramedics arrived and began treating the truck driver and talking to the ambulance driver.

Joseph Baron, director of Care 1 Ambulance in Arlington Heights, said it was “too early” in the investigation to comment. “It’s premature...I haven’t seen the police report yet,’’ he said.

With the NSA looking for terrorists on video games, it's now time to be afraid

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Quinn: With the NSA looking for terrorists on video games, it's now time to be afraid

By Michelle Quinn

mquinn@mercurynews.com

Posted: 12/10/2013 03:31:49 PM PST

The expanding digital net of our nation's security agencies appears to have stretched to the point of absurdity.

What else are we to make of the news that our spies infiltrated online games like "World of Warcraft" and "Second Life" to hunt for terrorist plots -- without any evidence that's where the terrorists were plotting?

It makes the National Security Agency and the other three-letter outfits look ridiculous and frankly scarier.

I appreciate that these people are charged with the grave duty of protecting us, and that means looking under digital stones for bad actors plotting the next assault.

In this Thursday, June 6, 2013, file photo, a sign stands outside the National Security Administration (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. In this Thursday, June 6, 2013, file photo, a sign stands outside the National Security Administration (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)

But spying on the world of avatars, elves and gnomes makes me think that in our post-9-11 world, spies feel entitled to look everywhere and at anyone, and they are doing so with little oversight.

"It shares a pattern with other NSA revelations," said Linda Lye, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. "The agency has a propensity for engaging in surveillance that is not well calculated to the goal of apprehending terrorists. It is both overreaching and ineffective."

The virtual world initiative appears to have been nutty right from the beginning. The NSA and its British counterpart launched their efforts on what appears to be a hunch that terrorists were using "Second Life" and the other sites, according to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to the New York Times, The Guardian and ProPublica.

The agents pretended to be players, tried to recruit informers and collected data and conversations.

But according to the Snowden documents, there were so many agents from American intelligence agencies on "Second Life" that the bosses worried that spy avatars were colliding into each other -- and maybe spying on each other. A "deconfliction" group was created to keep avatars and identities straight.

The Snowden documents provide no indication that the probes into "World of Warcraft" and "Second Life" resulted in any valuable information. And experts on terrorism offer a good explanation why: Companies that run the games typically have a person's credit card and track their movements, creating a difficult environment for clandestine activity.

"If there is evidence that a terrorist is using an online game to communicate with co-conspirators, the NSA should be watching those terrorists," said Gregory T. Nojeim, senior counsel with the Center for Democracy & Technology. "But without a tip tying the terrorists to the gaming session, it's just more mass surveillance -- watching everyone, just in case someone might do something wrong."

So far, the Snowden documents have revealed an agency that is technically adept.

But they also reveal an agency that is politically tone-deaf, with each revelation of the surveillance agency's powers offering critics ammunition to argue that the NSA's activities have skirted the law.

Probably like many Americans, I had been worn down by the drip-drip of the Snowden revelations. But the video game spying is both surprising and revelatory.

The foray into gaming is the most solid evidence we have that there are few controls on what our security agencies do. They can go on a digital fishing expedition with no real target in mind. The documents make scant mention of people's rights to privacy or legal constraints such as getting a warrant. There is no weighing of risks and benefits. It's all about what interesting games spies can play, not whether they should.

Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, agrees. "This shows that the NSA wants a world in which there is no privacy, no spaces outside the watchful eye of the government, and without oversight," he told me.

It's time for President Obama to rein in these agencies and make major surveillance program changes -- as much as he can without an act of Congress. He should do it soon, before we are hit with the next Snowden revelation that further damages the public's confidence.

Contact Michelle Quinn at 510-394-4196 and mquinn@mercurynews.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/michellequinn.

Patterson: Obamacare can't possibly succeed

Patterson: Obamacare can't possibly succeed

East Valley resident Tom Patterson (pattersontomc@cox.net) is a retired physician and former state senator.

Posted: Monday, December 9, 2013 11:41 am

By Tom Patterson, contributing columnist

What exactly is an “inadequate” health insurance policy? It turns out that the answer to a seemingly innocuous question is key to our health care future, to what happens when Obamacare goes down.

Obama’s folks claim that the millions of cancelled policies Americans suffered recently were inadequate anyway. Yet it has become obvious to most of us that Obamacare can’t possibly succeed.

It’s not just the technical failures of the exchanges nor the preposterous lies the President had to tell to get it passed. It’s not that Obamacare’s provisions have been manipulated three times now to prevent its unpopularity from upsetting an election cycle.

No, the fatal flaw of Obamacare is the same as it was from the start. It is based on the discredited notion that complex economic structures can be more productively ordered by bureaucratic fiat then by the countless interactions of free providers and consumers. As we used to say during the Cold War, if this stuff worked we would all be speaking Russian.

The designers of Obamacare seem to have been especially ham-handed in constructing their scheme. For example, the point of the individual mandate, a linchpin to the deal, is to force healthy young people to subsidize the elderly and the chronically ill. Of course, by separating risk from premium, this ignores the basic principle of insurance underwriting.

But the Obamacare architects made their own job harder by providing that individuals, until the age of 26, can stay on their parent’s policy, thus assuring that a large part of the target population has zero incentive to enter the individual market on their own.

Then, to make matters worse, Obamacare assures guaranteed issue for all comers. An insurance company can’t turn you down or charge you a higher premium based on a pre-existing health condition. This negates the one reason a healthy, young person might buy insurance — to protect against future calamity. If something unexpected comes up, you can always buy the insurance then.

Young people aren’t a good choice to do the financial heavy lifting anyway. The Obama economy has been particularly hard on them. High unemployment rates, difficult job markets and large student loan balances all make it hard for them to come up big to save Obamacare. They can’t and they won’t.

The impending demise of Obamacare is a great opportunity for us to redefine how we want to pay for our health care, to create a patient-centered system based on free-market principles. So here’s where the question about inadequate insurance kicks in.

We can agree that health insurance with low annual or lifetime limits that doesn’t protect you from bankruptcy is truly inadequate. But the Obama folks insist that insurance policies with high deductibles and co-pays are also inadequate. Unfortunately, others have unwittingly bought into the notion.

But if you, the consumer, get to keep the premium savings, insurance with high deductibles and co-pays is not only adequate, it’s smart. Why pay an insurance company to pay you back for services you know you will need anyway, like checkups, preventive services and minor illnesses? It’s like buying car insurance for oil changes.

The bigger point is that by paying for services directly, we can take charge of our own medical expenses. We can shop for value and bring down cost by working with our doctors on the most efficient way to avoid unnecessary expenses while still protecting our health.

A couple of caveats: this analysis assumes a free and open market for medical care. That’s why price transparency and buying insurance across state lines, avoiding costly state mandates, is important.

Also, if your employer or government is providing first dollar insurance coverage, your incentive to save is gone. But there is no good reason why your boss should get the tax break that’s not available to you for buying your medical insurance. Government could provide its subsidies through a market-based system where even program beneficiaries have “skin in the game.”

We could be on the verge of a patient-owned health insurance system that saves money and works for all of us. There is nothing “inadequate” about being in charge

Uruguay's move to legalize marijuana breaks treaty: INCB

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Uruguay's move to legalize marijuana breaks treaty: INCB

Reuters

By Fredrik Dahl

VIENNA (Reuters) - Uruguay's legalization of marijuana violates an international drug control convention and fails to consider a negative health impact, a body set up to monitor compliance with the five-decade-old treaty said on Wednesday.

The president of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Raymond Yans, said the change would not protect young people but would rather have the "perverse effect of encouraging early experimentation" and lowering the age of first use.

Adding weight to the criticism of Tuesday's move by Uruguay - the first country to take such a step - the U.N. anti-drugs office said it agreed with the INCB and that states should work closely together to deal with the global drugs challenge.

"It is unfortunate that, at a time when the world is engaged in an ongoing discussion on the world drug problem, Uruguay has acted ahead of the special session of the U.N. General Assembly planned for 2016," David Dadge, spokesman for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said.

In an experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization, Uruguay became the first country to legalize the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana,

A government-sponsored bill approved in the Senate provides for regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from criminals in the small South American nation.

But the Vienna-based INCB said the legislation contravenes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, to which it said Uruguay is a party.

The convention requires states to limit the use of cannabis to medical and scientific purposes, due to its dependence-producing potential, Yans said in a statement.

He was surprised that Uruguay's legislature and government "knowingly decided to break the universally agreed and internationally endorsed legal provisions of the treaty".

The INCB describes itself as an independent, quasi-judicial body charged with promoting and monitoring compliance with the three international drug control conventions.

URUGUAY'S MOVE CLOSELY WATCHED

It called on Uruguay "to engage with the board with a view to ensure that Uruguay continues to respect and implement the treaties to which it is a party". But the statement did not say whether it envisages any further action on the issue.

Uruguay's attempt to quell drug trafficking is being followed closely in Latin America, where the legalization of some narcotics is being increasingly seen by regional leaders as a possible way to end the violence spawned by the cocaine trade.

Rich countries debating legalization of pot are also watching the bill, which philanthropist George Soros has supported as an "experiment" that could provide an alternative to the failed U.S.-led policies of the long "war on drugs".

Other countries have decriminalized marijuana possession and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops, but Uruguay will be the first nation to legalize the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves.

"Just as illicit drugs are everyone's shared responsibility, there is a need for each country to work closely together and to jointly agree on the way forward for dealing with this global challenge," UNODC's Dadge said.

Yans, the INCB president, said Uruguay's decision "fails to consider its negative impacts on health since scientific studies confirm that cannabis is an addictive substance with serious consequences for people's health".

"Cannabis is not only addictive but may also affect some fundamental brain functions, IQ potential, and academic and job performance and impair driving skills. Smoking cannabis is more carcinogenic than smoking tobacco," the INCB statement said.

It Is Legal To Smoke Marijuana On Your Front Porch In Denver

It Is Legal To Smoke Marijuana On Your Front Porch In Denver

Posted: 12/10/2013 11:35 am EST | Updated: 12/11/2013 11:23 am EST

The Denver City Council overwhelmingly voted to allow adults to smoke marijuana on their front porches and private property -- even if the pot smoking is in clear public view.

In a resounding 10-3 final vote Monday evening, City Council finally approved the measure eliminating a controversial front-yard pot smoking ban introduced in November, which previously appeared poised to pass with a 7-5 vote.

"Fortunately, common sense ultimately prevailed," said Mason Tvert, communications director of Marijuana Policy Project and key backer of Colorado's marijuana legalizing Amendment 64, to The Huffington Post. "If adults are able to consume alcohol -- and even smoke cigarettes -- outside on their private property, there's no logical reason why they should be prohibited from using a less harmful substance."

"City officials need to move on and focus their time and attention on getting the necessary regulations in place to ensure these businesses are able to open on January 1," Tvert added. "There is no need for further proposals designed to prevent adults from being able to use marijuana responsibly."

For weeks, officials has been trying to come up with an ordinance that defines "open" and "public" consumption of marijuana in Mile High City after an overreaching first draft of the law called for the smell of marijuana, or even just the sight of someone smoking marijuana, to be illegal if it can be smelled or seen by others.

“I just don’t think it should be wrong for someone to smoke on their own private property,” Councilman Paul D. Lopez said to KDVR.

Debbie Ortega, Chris Herndon and Jeanne Faatz were the only members who voted to keep the front porch pot ban in place.

Looks like the Nasal Ranger smelloscope will get some rest in 2014.

Colorado voters passed Amendment 64 last year, making the limited sale, possession and growing of marijuana for recreational purposes legal for adults 21 and over. Adults can possess up to an ounce of pot and grow as many as 12 marijuana plants in their homes, but that home-grown marijuana can only be for personal use and cannot be sold. However, adults can gift one another up to an ounce of pot.

Council supports light-rail alignment

Council supports light-rail alignment By Dustin Gardiner The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:02 PM Phoenix leaders voted this week to support a proposed light-rail alignment running south of downtown along Central Avenue to Baseline Road, an area where many low-income residents have pushed for better access to public transit. The 5-mile line would be the city’s first light-rail extension beyond the list of projects in the original Proposition 400 plan, which created a half-cent-per-dollar sales tax in Maricopa County to pay for transportation upgrades. But don’t expect to see trains running south along the route for at least eight to 10 years. Planners from the city and Valley Metro, the agency that runs the light-rail system, are just beginning the planning process and face the difficult task of securing a funding source for the line, expected to cost millions of dollars. The vote, however, is significant because it indicates that city leaders have settled on a transit mode and route for improving the corridor on Central Avenue south of downtown. Officials said the area is prime for a rail line given its large population of transit-dependent residents. “It will reach a lot of people who don’t have a good alternative to get to work, who don’t have cars,” said City Councilwoman-elect Kate Gallego, who takes office in January and will represent part of the area to be covered by the rail line. “This is a line that could really give people great opportunities.” Phoenix and Valley Metro are near the end of a more than two-year evaluation to determine the best transit mode and alignment for improving the area. The $1.75 million effort, funded by federal earmarks and city dollars, reviewed the feasibility and public support for various transit options, such as light rail, streetcar or rapid bus lines. Planners studied 11 potential routes between downtown and Baseline Road in south Phoenix. The recommended route, which would run south along First Avenue out of downtown before cutting over to Central Avenue, must now be adopted into regional transportation plans by several groups, including Valley Metro’s rail board and the regional council of the Maricopa Association of Governments. Albert Santana, Phoenix’s light-rail project administrator, said rail was selected as the preferred mode because it’s the most cost-effective per rider and is expected to add nearly 15,000 additional mass-transit users. “Because this is not in the regional plan, the next critical step is that we need to identify the funding sources,” Santana told city leaders recently. City and Valley Metro officials expect to seek federal funding for the project, which would require a match from the city or countywide transit-tax funds. Congressman Ed Pastor has been a vocal supporter of the south-Phoenix extension and was key in securing federal funding for the feasibility and route and mode studies. Santana said it was clear from the outset of the study, which included numerous community meetings, that residents preferred a route along Central Avenue. Plus, the city said the line could help revitalize the blighted corridor and fill vacant lots with new commercial development. Proposed stations recommended for further study include Lincoln Street, Buckeye Road, Watkins Street, Roeser Road, Southern Avenue and Baseline Road. The city and Valley Metro also plan to study the potential for transit upgrades heading east and west on Baseline and connecting the rail line to South Mountain Park. City Council members voted 8-1 on Tuesday to support the proposed plan. Councilman Jim Waring cast the lone dissenting vote, citing concerns about the impact on nearby business owners, including an auto-repair shop owner who told the council he’s worried construction could cut off access to his business. “I definitely understand that if you put a small-business owner out of business, they’re crushed. That’s their world,” Waring said. “I probably would have rather invested the money in our bus system.” Phoenix is holding meetings with business owners in the area in an attempt to address concerns about access during construction. With other light-rail projects, the city has helped provide signage and marketing for affected businesses.

Arpaio’s office schedules community meetings

Arpaio’s office schedules community meetings Associated Press Thu Dec 12, 2013 6:18 AM PHOENIX — The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office will hold a series of community meetings on Dec. 21 in connection with a court case in which the agency was found to have systematically racially profiled Latinos during its patrols. The meetings were ordered by U.S. District Judge Murray Snow in what the judge said was an effort to rebuild public confidence in the agency. Snow ruled in late May that the agency systematically singled out Latinos in its regular traffic and special immigration patrols. Snow later ordered the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure that the agency isn’t making unconstitutional arrests. The agency says it’s not yet known whether Sheriff Joe Arpaio will attend the meetings in Sun Lakes, Avondale, Sun City, Cave Creek, Queen Creek, Fountain Hills and Mesa.

Surprise officer says he forgot to pay for donuts

Surprise officer says he forgot to pay for donuts By Laurie Merrill The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:45 AM A Surprise police lieutenant was issued a written reprimand for taking donuts from a QuikTrip without paying for them, police said this week. The lieutenant, Frank Caldwell, was “mentally distracted” and didn’t mean to take three sprinkled donuts at 1:30 a.m. June 22 from the store at 14007 W. Grand Ave., according to the “notice of corrective action” he was issued. But Caldwell’s inattentiveness, and the fact that a store clerk witnessed him remove the pastries without paying, reflected badly on the department, according to the notice. “The evidence in this incident ... clearly supports that this was not done intentionally, but was the result of ... inattention,” said the notice issued in October. “However, the consequence remains that a civilian store clerk watched a City of Surprise police lieutenant, in full uniform, obtain merchandise from the store and walk out without paying.” Caldwell was found to have violated the department’s “conduct unbecoming” policy. He was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in an investigation that was launched the same morning after the store clerk mentioned the donut incident to another Surprise officer, who was frequenting the 24-hour establishment, Surprise Police Commander Terry Young said. “Regardless of rank,” Surprise police officers undergo the same procedure after possible wrongdoing, Young said. Caldwell was placed on paid administrative leave as police began a criminal investigation into the possible shoplifting, Young said. Findings were forwarded to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which concluded it didn’t rise to the level of a crime, Young said. An administrative investigation followed the “turndown,” Young said. Investigators studied store surveillance tape, Caldwell’s bank statements and conducted interviews of the clerk and Caldwell, Young said. In a polygraph test Caldwell took voluntarily, he said he “absolutely” did not intend to steal the donuts, which cost $1 each, Young said. The polygraph detected “absolutely no deception,” Young said. In an interview, the store clerk said that Caldwell, “walked to the (donut) case, ‘grabbed’ (the donuts) ... and then walked out,” according to a report released by Young. The lieutenant made no attempt to hide the pastries, which he put in a bag, as he left the shop, Young said. Caldwell told police he didn’t realize he hadn’t paid for the snacks until he saw the videotape, according to the report. “He was shocked,” Young said. Caldwell said he typically buys a jug of water and three donuts at the QuikTrip and pays with a card, the report says. “Every shift I’ve been going in there and getting donuts,” Caldwell said, according to a professional standards report. “I put my card down and I ... pay for them.” Records confirmed Caldwell had purchased items in other visits to the store and had more than enough money in his account to cover the three sprinkled donuts on June 22, Young said. Caldwell told criminal investigators that he “felt like crap” that night because his blood pressure had been up recently, according to the incident report. After learning the results of Caldwell’s polygraph and hearing he was “embarrassed’’ by the incident, the QuikTrip manager “no longer desired prosecution in the case,” according to the report. [The way the systems works it doesn't matter if the victim of the crime doesn't want to prosecute the criminal. The county attorney makes that decision.] Attempts to reach the clerk and manager, who no longer work at the West Grand Avenue QuikTrip in Surprise, were unsuccessful.

California deputy in teen shooting to resume duty

California deputy in teen shooting to resume duty Associated Press Mon Dec 9, 2013 7:24 AM SANTA ROSA, Calif. — A Northern California sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a 13-year-old boy is returning to duty. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/1hI00PJ) Deputy Erick Gelhaus will be on a desk assignment while the Sonoma County district attorney reviews an investigative report and determines whether he committed criminal wrongdoing. Gelhaus has been off patrol since shooting Andy Lopez seven times on Oct. 22 after mistaking a BB gun the boy was carrying for an assault rifle. Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas said Friday that Gelhaus underwent mental health screening and was cleared to come back to duty this week. The shooting has led to numerous protests, and Duenas says Gelhaus has received threats. Lopez’s family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking damages. Their lawyer didn’t return calls Friday seeking comment. ——— Information from: The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, http://www.pressdemocrat.com

To kill a mockinbird — or squirt at it, anyway — is just plain wrong

To kill a mockinbird — or squirt at it, anyway — is just plain wrong Today’s question: Is shooting mockingbirds with high-powered water guns a new sport in Arizona? I have a neighbor who walks her dog and searches the skies for these birds and shoots at them. If she finds a nest she will try to shoot it out of the tree with the water gun. I find this behavior despicable. Is there an organization that I can contact who will help to stop this behavior? Your neighbor goes out of her way to shoot mockingbirds with a water gun? I know mockingbirds can be kind of annoying when they sing all night during the mating season or when they dive-bomb your dog or cat or even set after you while protecting a nest, but if what you say about your neighbor is true, she’s weird. Weird or maybe even just plain nuts. Have you ever asked her what her problem about mockingbirds is? Is she worried a mockingbird is going to kill her precious dog? As far as I can tell, there is no record of a mockingbird pecking a dog to death, even if the dog had it coming. It’s one thing to chase away a pigeon or woodpecker or some other avian pest. But if she is bothering to scan the skies for targets even if the bird isn’t bothering her dog she’s a whack-o. Mockingbirds are protected under federal law by the Migratory Bird Act. I don’t know if that law includes harassing the birds by soaking them, but I’m pretty sure state and federal wildlife authorities would take a pretty dim view of destroying a nest and chicks. Your neighbor needs help.

In 2014, Pot States Will Be Growing Like Weeds

In 2014, Pot States Will Be Growing Like Weeds BY Debra Borchardt | 12/09/13 - 04:02 PM EST NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The economics of legalizing marijuana for recreational use has several states watching Colorado and Washington to see if revenue can grow like a weed. The latest member of the club is Portland, Maine, which just legalized pot within the city limits. A city ordinance went into effect on Friday, Dec. 6 that allows possession up to 2.5 ounces. It's the first city on the East Coast to legalize recreational use of marijuana. "It's like the onset of casino gambling," says Alan Bochstein, founder of the 420 Investor. Colorado and Washington are the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana and the money is as green as the weed. Colorado's Amendment 64 was expected to save $12 million a year for reduced criminal costs and generate $32 million in new revenue. Washington state says it can save $23 million a year on criminal costs, but thinks the business could deliver up to $530 million, a much higher number than the other states partly because it includes marijuana tourism estimates. All in all, it's no wonder other states are jonesing for this new found revenue. The states are approaching legalization from two different angles: medicinal use and recreational use. States using the medicinal marijuana approach employ varying degrees of enforcement. Illinois passed a medical marijuana bill that is one of the strictest in the country. Patients can't just go to a "doc in a box" for a patient card, they have to be a long time patient of a doctor to receive their card. California is known for its very lax medicinal enforcement where a headache qualifies you as a patient. Quite a few states are entering the medicinal arena, including: Minnesota -- This state had several bills introduced this year. Senate Bill 1641 permits medical marijuana and authorizes cities to enact zoning regulations to address dispensaries. House Bill 1818 also permits medical marijuana use and authorizes rulemaking and fees. A separate measure, House File 508, doesn't legalize marijuana, but instead gives a defense for medicinal use. New York -- Where you can smell the chiba wafting as you walk down the city streets. Newly elected New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio is in favor of legalization. Two Senate Bills and one Assembly Bill were filed this year. SB 1682 legalizes pot possession of up to eight ounces and is mostly concerned with organizations, while SB 4406 and Assembly Bill 6357 deals with the patients. Pennsylvania -- The Keystone state may become the Key Stoned state. It has both a Senate Bill 770 and a House Bill 1181 that provide for the medical use of marijuana. Meanwhile, other states are skipping the medicinal route altogether and jumping right into recreational. Here are the next states expected to say "don't bogart that joint." Alaska -- John Davis, founder of the Northwest Patient Center says the polling is there to support it, with 54% in favor. Alaska removed the penalties for possessing pot in 1975, so they were ahead of the game. But then in the 1990s an anti-cannabis law was passed, but it wasn't enforced. The Marijuana Policy Project is gathering signatures in Alaska to qualify an initiative for the August 2014 primary election that would make possession legal and regulate it in a similar fashion to alcohol. "A lot of people just realize the writing's on the wall," said Davis. Arizona -- This conservative state only has 37% of the population opposing decriminalization, with 56% in favor. It was the 15th state to approve marijuana for medicinal purposes. Initially Gov. Jan Brewer opposed it, but then relented. Arizona politician and former marine Ruben Gallego announced he will introduce legislation to legalize marijuana for those 21 and older next year. Davis said most supporters prefer the legislation to land in a presidential election year, because they believe this brings out the youth vote. However, in states where the polling more heavily favors legalizing recreational use, they are pushing to get into the 2014 elections. California -- A new poll by San Francisco-based Tulchin Research shows a majority want to relax laws against marijuana use and tax it, with 65% in favor of legalization and regulation. This state shows how quickly the public is accepting the idea because in 2010 only 53% felt that way. California has already benefited financially from medicinal marijuana which has potentially raised more than $100 million a year in tax revenue for the state, according to th California Board of equalization. The ACLU announced a new panel headed by California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to draft a possible 2016 ballot measure, preferring to wait for the presidential election year. Oregon -- In November, Oregon's Senate Judiciary Chairman Floyd Prozanski presented legislation that would ask voters if they wanted to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and over. There was already an initiative filed with the elections division that would skip the step of having to gain signatures to qualify the issue for a voting ballot. If the state goes the legislative route, it would cover rules and regulations, like oversight and taxation. Either way, it looks like Oregon is moving full steam ahead. There are a few states bucking the trend. Montana, for instance, remains a question mark. Davis believes Montana will follow its western brothers, but the state is actually passing very strict driver impairment laws. Davis said that a majority of voters support decriminalization; however the legislators are actively working against easing its strict medicinal laws. Illinois passed a medical marijuana bill that is one of the strictest in the country, issuing cards only to those who are longstanding patients of the prescribing doctor. Reversing course entirely, Ohio introduced House Bill 153 that actually repeals the medical use of marijuana. Once more states go recreational, the next big hurdle for the green revolution will banking. Most marijuana growers and dispensaries can't currently take standard business deductions for a cannabis company according to tax provision 280e. Then, there's the simple issue of daily banking. Marijuana is still considered a controlled substance by the Federal government. Banks aren't morally opposed to dealing with these customers says Davis, but its small potatoes to them and they don't want to anger their regulators for a miniscule piece of business. That may begin to change since Bank of America (BAC_) said it would take pot revenue in Washington. They just said "yes." The first country to join in the legal pot business looks to be Uruguay. This country is set to vote on a measure establishing a national regulatory body and official controls for the legal use and sale of marijuana on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Uruguay President Jose Mujica believes that if the government regulates the business of marijuana it will reduce the crime associated with the illegal aspects of the drug. If the bill passes, it will take another 120 days for the government to write regulations ahead of implementation. Other countries have decriminalized the use of marijuana but Uruguay is the first to create a regulated national industry. Of course the country stands to reap tourism dollars for those traveling to the country, even though the government insists only Uruguay citizens will have access to the drug. However, if Amsterdam is any indication of what Uruguay can expect, then the tourists will come. Ninety percent of the people that smoke marijuana in cafes in Amsterdam are foreign tourists. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. -- Written by Debra Borchardt in New York.

Uruguay government aims to legalise marijuana

21 June 2012 Last updated at 01:19 ET Uruguay government aims to legalise marijuana Uruguay has unveiled a plan to allow state-controlled sales of marijuana to fight a rise in drug-related crime. Under the bill, only the government would be allowed to sell marijuana to adults registered on a database. Defence Minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro said this was part of a plan to remove profits from drug dealers and divert users from harder drugs. He said that the recent increase in murder rates was a clear symptom of a rise in drug trafficking crimes. Ground-breaking bill "We believe that the prohibition of certain drugs is creating more problems for society than the drugs themselves... with disastrous consequences," Mr Fernandez Huidobro said, presenting the bill. "Homicides related to settling scores have increased, and that's a clear sign that certain phenomena are appearing in Uruguay that didn't exist before," he said. The authorities blame the rise in crime in Uruguay on hard drugs, specifically crack cocaine. The new bill envisages that some shops would be allowed to sell marijuana cigarettes at a price fixed by the authorities. The government also wants to create a user database to supervise consumption. BBC regional correspondent Vladimir Hernandez says the move is seen as groundbreaking in South America. Several Central American leaders - including the presidents of Guatemala and Costa Rica - have spoken of the need to consider decriminalising some drugs in an attempt to undermine cartels. In Uruguay alone, the illegal marijuana market is estimated to be worth about $75m (£48m) a year. But the new bill has already proved controversial, and the debate in Congress could take several months, our correspondent says.

County leader calls for more oversight of L.A. Sheriff's Department

County leader calls for more oversight of L.A. Sheriff's Department By Seema Mehta December 10, 2013, 3:00 a.m. Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas called for the county to take a greater oversight role over the Sheriff’s Department in the wake of Monday’s indictment of 18 former and current deputies on charges of abusing inmates and jail visitors. “Ultimately, the next step in this process of reform is oversight and this should not be taken lightly because of the need to make sure that we are building a culture where no one operates under the impression they are above the law,” he said in an interview. Ridley-Thomas said the mechanism would be a blue-ribbon panel that he and Supervisor Gloria Molina proposed earlier this year that has stalled for the lack of a third vote on the five-member Board of Supervisors. They will revisit the proposal in January. Ridley-Thomas acknowledged that Sheriff Lee Baca would have to consent to increased oversight, but argued that it is in Baca’s “best interest” given the emerging controversy. He said he would model such an effort after the commission that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department, which was rocked by major misconduct convictions in an anti-gang unit during the so-called Rampart scandal in the 1990s. “There is a model that has made that Police Department better. It would seem to some that the county of Los Angeles would be anxious to do something similar if not better, particularly in light of today’s revelations,” Ridley-Thomas said. “This is a cultural problem, fundamentally so, and this is tantamount in some ways to the stench of Rampart, without the same levels of brutality in this particular instance," the supervisor said. "But the corruption that it speaks to is most unsettling.” The board has no official power over Baca because he is an elected official, aside from its control over the Sheriff’s Department budget. But supervisors have moved recently to take a more active role, most recently hiring an inspector general as a watchdog over the department. The remaining supervisors declined or did not respond to requests for interviews, but most put out statements on the indictments. The most biting came from Molina, who has long been critical of Baca and said the acts by the U.S. Department of Justice were “disappointing but not surprising.” “Reform starts at the top, and strong leaders don’t simply embrace reform — they initiate it,” Molina said. "Unfortunately, strong management has been absent from the Sheriff’s Department for years. These indictments taint Los Angeles County and the many hard-working, honest and dedicated sheriff’s deputies of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.” Candidates vying for a seat on the board also weighed in, though they declined to say whether they supported Baca’s reelection. Former state lawmaker Sheila Kuehl said she would look into using the power of the purse strings to force reform. “The difficult thing for the supervisors is they really don’t have direct authority over the jails,” she said. “They do not have budget authority to say to the sheriff, ‘You must spend this money we’re giving you in certain ways’ so it’s been very limiting to them.” But she said the board could theoretically set aside money for certain programs aimed at reducing jail violence within the county chief executive officer’s office, and require the Sheriff’s Department to bill the county for work. “At least you would have some budget oversight that way,” Kuehl said. West Hollywood Councilman John Duran called for the board to create an oversight commission for sheriff’s employees who work in countrywide positions — in jails, courts and probation — and allow the cities that contract with the department to create local oversight commissions for complaints within their boundaries. “Smaller government is better. Local government I think is more effective and efficient,” he said. “Unfortunately I think the county has become so large, massive, unwieldy, it’s impossible to do so many different things. "I think the county supervisors should give up some power and authority and push it down to the 89 cities in Los Angeles County.”

Uruguay set to become first country to legalize marijuana trade

Uruguay set to become first country to legalize marijuana trade Reuters By Malena Castaldi MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguay's Senate is expected to pass a law on Tuesday making the small South American nation the world's first to allow its citizens to grow, buy and smoke marijuana. The pioneering government-sponsored bill establishes state regulation of the cultivation, distribution and consumption of marijuana and is aimed at wresting the business from criminals. Cannabis consumers would be allowed to buy a maximum of 40 grams (1.4 ounces) each month from state-regulated pharmacies as long as they are over the age of 18 and registered on a government database that will monitor their monthly purchases. Uruguayans would also be allowed to grow up to six plants of marijuana in their homes a year, or as much as 480 grams (about 17 ounces). They could also set up smoking clubs of 15 to 45 members that could grow up to 99 plants per year. The bill, which opinion polls show is unpopular, passed the lower chamber of Congress in July and is expected to easily pass the Senate on the strength of the ruling coalition's majority. Uruguay's attempt to undo drug trafficking is being followed closely in Latin America where the legalization of some narcotics is being increasingly seen by regional leaders as a possible way to end the violence spawned by the cocaine trade. "Our country can't wait for international consensus on this issue," Senator Roberto Conde of the governing Broad Front left-wing coalition said as Senate debate opened. He said organized crime had turned Uruguay into a transit country for drugs, such as marijuana from Paraguay and cocaine from Bolivia. Rich countries debating legalization of pot are also watching the bill, which philanthropist George Soros has supported as an "experiment" that could provide an alternative to the failed U.S.-led policies of the long "war on drugs." The bill gives authorities 120 days to set up a drug control board that will regulate cultivation standards, fix the price and monitor consumption. The use of marijuana is legal in Uruguay, a country of 3.3 million that is one of the most liberal in Latin America, but cultivation and sale of the drug are not. Other countries have decriminalized marijuana possession and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops, but Uruguay will be the first nation to legalize the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves. Several countries such as Canada, the Netherlands and Israel have legal programs for growing medical cannabis but do not allow cultivation of marijuana for recreational use. Last year, the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington passed ballot initiatives that legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Uruguay's leftist president, Jose Mujica, defends his initiative as a bid to regulate and tax a market that already exists but is run by criminals. "We've given this market as a gift to the drug traffickers and that is more destructive socially than the drug itself, because it rots the whole of society," the 78-year-old former guerrilla fighter told Argentine news agency Telam. NOT ALL CONVINCED Uruguay is one of the safest Latin American countries with little of the drug violence or other violence seen in countries such as Colombia and Mexico. Yet one-third of Uruguay's prison inmates are serving time on charges related to narcotics trafficking. Even though it is set to clear the Senate, the legislation faces fierce opposition from conservatives and Mujica has yet to convince a majority of Uruguayans that it is a good idea. According to a recent opinion poll by Equipos Consultores, 58 percent of Uruguayans oppose legalizing pot, although that is down from 68 percent in a previous survey in June. Critics say legalization will not only increase consumption but open the door to the use of harder drugs than marijuana, which according to government statistics is used by 8 percent of Uruguayans on a regular basis. "Competing with drug traffickers by offering marijuana at a lower price will just increase the market for a drug that has negative effects on public health," said Senator Alfredo Solari of the conservative Colorado Party. If it works, the legislation is expected to fuel momentum for wider legalization of marijuana elsewhere, including the United States and in Europe. Decriminalization of all drug possession by Portugal in 2001 is held up as a success for reducing drug violence while not increasing drug use. "This development in Uruguay is of historic significance," said Ethan Nadelmann, founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, a leading sponsor of drug policy reform partially funded by Soros through his Open Society Foundation. "Uruguay is presenting an innovative model for cannabis that will better protect public health and public safety than does the prohibitionist approach," Nadelmann said. (Reporting by Malena Castaldi; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Kieran Murray, Paul Simao and Eric Beech)

MCSO to allow video jail visits – for a price

MCSO to allow video jail visits – for a price By JJ Hensley The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:58 PM Maricopa County jails are installing a new video system that will allow inmates to have virtual visits with family, while earning the county Sheriff’s Office hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but make it harder for some relatives to see loved ones. The high-tech system, which will be the largest of its kind in the country, according to the manufacturer, will let family and friends anywhere in the world talk with inmates via video, so long as they have access to a computer with a camera and a credit card to pay $12.99 for a 20-minute conversation. The system, which is expected to be in place early next summer, is meant to make visits easier and improve security at the county jails, which book 100,000 people every year. But as work begins on installing the Internet-based system, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office cut regular visiting time from three hours per week to 30 minutes. Although sheriff’s officials say the system will make visiting inmates easier, it’s not being welcomed by prisoner-rights advocates. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona criticized MCSO for planning to eliminate face-to-face visits at its Towers, Estrella and Durango jails because it could mean fewer people have access to inmates. Visitors to the county’s other three jails communicate with inmates through closed-circuit video accessible at terminals inside jail lobbies. ACLU senior staff attorney Kelly Flood said the need for people to have access to a video-enabled computer to visit with an inmate would make it harder for some families and prevent people like Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who eschews technology and relies on a typewriter, from having a virtual visit with an inmate in his jails. The vast majority of jail inmates have not been sentenced for their crimes, she said, and many remain in custody because their friends and family members cannot afford to bail them out. “They’re making it harder and harder. It seems particularly unjust and unfortunate when we’re talking about pre-sentence detainees,” Flood said. “For those folks to be completely deprived of their families’ visitation, it’s unjust and unfortunate and dehumanizing.” The $2.6 million system, which the manufacturer is installing at no cost to Maricopa County, will also turn into a money maker for the Sheriff’s Office once it gets paid off and the agency starts to receive a 10 percent cut of the fee paid for every conversation. The sheriff’s share, which would average more than $300,000 each year if the agency maintained its current visitation rate, is designated to go into the Inmate Services Fund, a pool earmarked for drug-rehabilitation programs and other services for inmates. The Sheriff’s Office has come under scrutiny in the past for using the inmate funds, which topped $12 million in fiscal 2012, to pay for deputies who didn’t work in the jails, a violation of county policy. State leaders have also swept those funds in the past to help balance the budget. Both the Sheriff’s Office and the system’s manufacturer expect jail visits to increase once the system is in place, because friends and family will have virtually unlimited access to inmates from anywhere with a reliable Internet connection. “You can use this system in China, Russia, on the moon, wherever they have an Internet system, including airplanes,” Arpaio said. Other agencies in Arizona that have converted to video-visitation systems have seen an increase in visitors after inmates’ friends and family members became familiar with navigating the software and comfortable with paying a fee for each visit. Pinal County opened its video-visitation system in April, and inmates have received more than 15,000 video visits in the first eight months. The agency still allows on-site visits and averages slightly more than 1,500 each month. Apache County used the same company installing Maricopa County’s system and launched video visitation about six weeks ago. The jails have seen an increase in visitation, in addition to providing an opportunity for out-of-state inmates who were arrested for motor-vehicle violations on Interstate 40 to see family members from their home states and countries, Apache County sheriff’s Cmdr. Michael Cirivello said. The system has allowed the jail to expand visiting hours from one day per week, with a maximum of 30 minutes, to five days a week with inmates receiving as many visits as their friends and relatives are willing to pay for, he said. Apache County, which stretches 200 miles, also has inmates whose relatives find it cheaper to pay the $20 fee for a 20-minute video conversation than to drive to the facility in St. Johns, Cirivello said. “I had one guy in here who got a visit from Okinawa (Japan),” he said. “And the people that get visited a lot, they’re getting visits every day now, sometimes a couple times a day.” Three of the six Maricopa County jail facilities have used video systems for several years that allow visitors to meet with inmates through kiosks set up in the jail lobby and mobile units that detention officers move around to inmates’ cells. The other three jails still offer face-to-face visits, but the visiting hours were reduced systemwide in an attempt to be fair, sheriff’s Deputy Chief Mike Olson said. Once the new system is installed, visitors will have to register through Securus Technologies’ website and wait for sheriff’s investigators to conduct a background check to ensure the visitors are not felons. After the visitor is approved, he or she can schedule a visit with an inmate 24 hours in advance and engage in the virtual visitation from any computer with a camera. The virtual visitation system will present some hurdles for detention officers intent on keeping felons from visiting inmates, which is possible if a non-felon registers for a visit and a felon sits down in his place, but sheriff’s officials said visitors would be barred if they were discovered attempting to game the system. A Securus representative said he hoped the prospects of easy virtual visitation would dissuade criminals from engaging in any illicit activity. “We believe $12.95 and their visitation rights to visit in the future are on the line, and they’re not going to game the system,” said Darrin Hays, a Securus account manager. “We believe they’re going to say, ‘There’s value in this, and we just want to get our visits.’ ” But the advent of virtual visitation also means the Sheriff’s Office will likely have to abandon its long-standing and highly promoted policy that prohibits undocumented immigrants from visiting inmates in Maricopa County jails. As the system is accessible from anywhere in the world, Hays said, the visitor’s residency status in the United States or any other country should become irrelevant. “What this really does is promote the relationship with the community,” Hays said. “If I’m here illegally, I don’t think I want to step into the jail, and famously, Arpaio’s jail. So, what can I do? I can actually get online, and I can at least apply. If I’m denied, I’m denied. They can’t find me, I’m on an Internet connection. “You don’t know where they’re visiting from, so you really can’t say they’re here illegally.”

Milke case: Feds decline civil-rights charges vs. detective

Milke case: Feds decline civil-rights charges vs. detective By Brian Skoloff Associated Press Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:43 PM A former Arizona detective under fire for wrongdoing and whose testimony was the crux of a conviction against a woman recently released from death row in the 1989 killing of her 4-year-old son won’t face federal charges himself, authorities said Tuesday. Debra Milke was accused of having two men shoot her son in the desert outside Phoenix, and she was found guilty in 1990. She spent 24 years on death row before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned her conviction in March. The panel cited the prosecution’s failure to turn over evidence, saying that deprived her attorneys the chance to question the credibility of the state’s key witness — a detective who told jurors she confessed. The appeals court lambasted prosecutors for not revealing to Milke’s lawyers during her original trial that former Phoenix police Detective Armando Saldate committed misconduct in previous cases, including lying under oath and violating suspects’ rights. Saldate did not record his interrogation of Milke, so jurors were left with his word alone that she confessed. Milke has maintained her innocence and denied she ever told Saldate she had any part in the killing. A retrial is set for 2015 after her release on bond in September, but since the appeals court’s allegations against Saldate, he is now trying to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and not testify at her retrial. While county prosecutors had assured Saldate he would not face state charges based on the appeals court’s assertions, the ruling was sent to the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division for review. In a statement emailed to The Associated Press on Tuesday, the Justice Department said investigators “reviewed this matter and concluded that the evidence does not indicate a prosecutable violation of the applicable federal criminal civil rights statutes.” Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has dismissed the appeals court’s findings of misconduct by Saldate as “grandiose mischaracterizations.” Montgomery has been trying to persuade Saldate to testify again at Milke’s retrial, since the judge made it clear that if he doesn’t, the purported confession can’t be used, and there is very little other evidence linking her to the crime. The two men convicted in the killing did not testify at her trial and remain on death row. Saldate has not returned telephone messages from the AP. His lawyer, Larry Debus, also did not return a telephone message Tuesday. In a motion filed earlier this month, Debus noted prosecutors were merely “trying to save a murder prosecution” with little regard for what happens to his client, citing the then-outstanding probe being conducted by the Justice Department as reasonable fear for Saldate wanting to assert his Fifth Amendment right. A hearing in the case is set for Friday, during which a judge will determine whether Saldate indeed has a reasonable fear of future prosecution should he testify again.

Officials: Pot bust at border lands $943K in drugs

Officials: Pot bust at border lands $943K in drugs By Courtland Jeffrey The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Tue Dec 10, 2013 7:39 PM Border officials uncovered approximately $943,000 worth of marijuana that a man was attempting to smuggle into Nogales, Ariz., on a produce truck Monday, authorities said. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at the Port of Nogales pulled aside a 40-year-old resident of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to receive an additional inspection on his semi truck. A narcotics detection dog was brought over to check the man’s shipment of Mexican squash, and the dog alerted authorities to a drug presence, officials said. Agents seized three pallets of marijuana with a cumulative weight of about 1,900 pounds. The man was given over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, authorities said.

Uruguay approves first national market for legal pot

Uruguay approves first national market for legal pot Associated Press Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:19 PM MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay’s Senate gave final congressional approval Tuesday to create the world’s first national marketplace for legal marijuana, an audacious experiment that will have the government oversee production, sales and consumption of a drug illegal almost everywhere else. The vote was 16 to 13, with the governing Broad Front majority united in favor. The plan now awaits the signature of President Jose Mujica, who wants the market to begin operating next year. Two-thirds of Uruguayans oppose a government-run marijuana industry, according to opinion polls. [I suspect they want a marijuana industry run by the free market, not government buraucrats] But Mujica said he’s convinced the global drug war is a failure and feels bureaucrats can do a better job of containing addictions and beating organized crime than police, soldiers and prison guards. “Today is an historic day. Many countries of Latin America, and many governments, will take this law as an example,” cheered Sen. Constanza Moreira, voting with the Broad Front majority. Uruguay’s drug control agency will have 120 days, until mid-April, to draft regulations imposing state control over the entire market for marijuana, from seed to smoke. Everyone involved must be licensed and registered, with government monitors enforcing limits such as the 40 grams a month any adult will be able to buy at pharmacies for any reason or the six marijuana plants that license-holders will be allowed to grow at home. Congress’ lower house approved the bill in late July, and senators rejected all proposed amendments, enforcing party discipline before Tuesday’s debate to assure the outcome. Former Health Minister Alfredo Solari, a Colorado Party senator, warned Tuesday that children and adolescents will more easily get their hands on pot and that “the effects of this policy on public health will be terrible.” [Yea, they gave us that line of BS when we legalized marijuana in Arizona for medical use] But Sen. Roberto Conde, a former deputy foreign minister with the Broad Front, said marijuana “is already established in Uruguay. It’s a drug that is already seen as very low risk and enormously easy to get.” Mujica, a 78-year-old former leftist guerrilla who spent years in jail while many others experimented with marijuana, said the goal is to reduce drug use. A government ad campaign launched Friday makes the same point, warning of pot smoking’s dangers to human health. [The main ones are laughing to much, and perhaps eating too much. You have heard of those marijuana munchies] “This is not liberalization of marijuana. It can be consumed within certain parameters established by law. I think it will reduce consumption,” Sen. Luis Gallo, a retired doctor who favored the bill, told The Associated Press. The government got help from a national TV campaign and other lobbying efforts supporting by billionaire currency speculator and philanthropist George Soros and his Open Society Foundation and Drug Policy Alliance. In September, Mujica met with Soros and billionaire David Rockefeller in New York to explain his “experiment.” These deep-pocketed connections drew criticism from Mujica’s opponents. “I would say to Mr. Soros, to Mr. Rockefeller, and to the president of the republic that you don’t experiment with the Uruguayans. We are not guinea pigs,” Colorado Party Sen. Pedro Bordaberry said Tuesday. Hannah Hetzer, a lobbyist for the Alliance who moved to Montevideo for the campaign, watched closely from the Senate gallery. “Uruguay is seeking an alternative to a failed model. I think that this is the beginning of the end of a prohibitionist model and the beginning of a more intelligent focus,” she said. ——— Associated Press writer Michael Warren in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.

18 current, former L.A. County sheriff's deputies face federal charges

18 current, former L.A. County sheriff's deputies face federal charges By Robert Faturechi and Jack Leonard December 9, 2013, 9:28 p.m. Federal authorities announced charges Monday against 18 current and former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies accused of beating jail inmates and visitors, trying to intimidate an FBI agent and other crimes following an investigation of corruption inside the nation's largest jail system. Prosecutors said they found a "wide scope of illegal conduct" by deputies and their supervisors that went beyond mistreating inmates to actively attempting to hinder an FBI investigation into jail misconduct. The actions of federal authorities marked the largest mass arrest of sheriff's officials in more than two decades and represents another blow to a department that recently has been accused of racially biased policing, hiring officers with tainted backgrounds and cronyism. "These incidents did not take place in a vacuum — in fact, they demonstrated behavior that had become institutionalized," U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte Jr. said in a statement. "Some members of the Sheriff's Department considered themselves to be above the law." The indictments allege two assaults on inmates and three on people who visited the jail. They also include claims that deputies wrote false reports to justify using force and conducted illegal arrests and searches of jail visitors. A sergeant who supervised deputies in the visiting area of Men's Central Jail was accused of encouraging violence and reprimanding employees "for not using force on visitors ... if the visitors had supposedly 'disrespected'" jail deputies, according to an indictment. In one case, prosecutors say, an Austrian consul official trying to visit an Austrian inmate was arrested and handcuffed even though she had committed no crime and would have been immune from prosecution, the indictment said. Sheriff Lee Baca said at a Monterey Park news conference that he respected the findings of federal authorities but was saddened by them. "Please know that I respect the criminal justice system and no one is above the law," Baca said. Still, he defended his agency, saying "99.9% of our employees are on the right track.... There is no institutional problem within the Sheriff's Department when it comes to correcting itself." Baca's remarks came as his deputies were being arraigned at the federal courthouse in downtown L.A. Sixteen appeared in court, with at least some handcuffed and chained at the waist. Some pleaded not guilty. Others are expected to enter their pleas at a later date. All were released on bond, a U.S. attorney's office spokesman said. The two who did not appear are expected to surrender in the future, he said. In all, 13 deputies, three sergeants and two lieutenants were charged. Among the allegations are conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements and civil rights violations. Federal authorities said the investigation is ongoing. Monday's charges mark the biggest corruption scandal the Sheriff's Department has faced since the late 1980s, when federal authorities accused deputies in an elite drug team of conspiring to steal from drug traffickers and money launderers. That investigation led to the convictions of more than two dozen deputies. The latest indictments include allegations, first made public by The Times, against a deputy responsible for training new recruits in the jail. Deputy Bryan Brunsting was the supervisor for a sheriff's rookie who graduated at the top of his recruit class but resigned after a few weeks on the job. The rookie said Brunsting forced him and others to beat up a mentally ill inmate and then cover up their actions, according to interviews and law enforcement records. Sheriff's officials determined that no misconduct had occurred. After The Times' report, however, the rookie deputy was contacted by FBI agents. Federal prosecutors accused Brunsting of assaulting inmates on two occasions and using deputies he trained to write false reports to cover up the abuse. The indictment did not identify the rookie deputy by name, but the date and circumstances of one incident detailed in the indictment match those reported in The Times. According to the indictment, Brunsting told a training deputy that they needed to teach a lesson to an inmate who had been disrespectful to another jailer. Brunsting, the trainee and a third deputy, Jason Branum, struck, kicked and pepper-sprayed the man, the indictment said. Brunsting and the others then allegedly covered up the incident, "discussing how to keep their stories straight and coordinating the writing of reports" so they could subject the inmate to be falsely prosecuted for assault, prosecutors allege. Brunsting's attorney said he wasn't prepared to address the allegations. Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, dismissed any suggestion that excessive force was the fault of a few bad apples. "The federal indictments today ... suggest the entire tree may be rotten," he said. Seven of the sheriff's officials indicted Monday were accused of trying to hamper the federal investigation into alleged misconduct. The Sheriff's Department learned about the FBI probe in August 2011 when deputies discovered that a corrupt jailer had smuggled a phone to an inmate, not realizing the inmate was working as an informant for the FBI. After the discovery, sheriff's officials moved the inmate — identified only as "AB" in the indictment — and changed his name. They then altered the department's internal inmate database to falsely say he had been released, prosecutors allege. Deputies continued to isolate the inmate even after federal authorities had told sheriff's officials that a judge had ordered the inmate's appearance before a grand jury, the indictment states. The indictment accused Lt. Gregory Thompson of instructing a sheriff's employee not to allow "outside" law enforcement to meet with the inmate and sent an email to employees saying that the FBI would need approval before interviewing any inmate. Indicted along with Thompson were Deputies Gerard Smith, Mickey Manzo and James Sexton. According to a sheriff's memo earlier reported by The Times, the handling of the inmate informant was internally dubbed "Operation Pandora's Box." Stephen Leavins, a lieutenant in the unit that handles allegations of criminal misconduct against sheriff's employees, was accused of directing two sergeants to confront an FBI agent working on the investigation outside her home. The sergeants — Scott Craig and Maricella Long — falsely told the agent that a warrant was being prepared for her arrest, prosecutors said in court records. Another indictment alleges that Sgt. Eric Gonzalez encouraged deputies he supervised at the visiting area of Men's Central Jail to use excessive force. Three visitors were taken to a deputy break room, which could not be seen by the public, and beaten by sheriff's officials, the indictment said. One visitor's arm was fractured. The indictment names Deputies Sussie Ayala, Pantamitr Zunggeemoge and Noel Womack as preparing false and misleading reports to show that the use of force was justified. Although prosecutors did not identify alleged victims by name, one incident matches the Feb. 26, 2011, date on which Gabriel Carrillo was arrested while attempting to visit his brother in the jail. Carrillo accused deputies of beating him while he was handcuffed. He was initially charged with battery against the deputies after the incident, but prosecutors later dropped the case. Also charged in that incident was Deputy Fernando Luviano. "I feel like now people are starting to believe the cops aren't always telling the truth," Carrillo said Monday. "Don't just take their word because they have a badge. Look at the facts." Two of the cases announced by federal investigators Monday appeared to have no connection to misconduct in the jails. In one, Deputy Richard Piquette was charged with illegally building and possessing an assault rifle. In another case, three deputies, all brothers, were charged with conspiracy to make false statements to two banks in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. Billy, Benny and Johnny Khounthavong allegedly avoided more than $340,000 of unpaid mortgage debt. robert.faturechi@latimes.com jack.leonard@latimes.com Times staff writer Victoria Kim contributed to this report.

Supreme Court won’t rule on state Internet sales taxes

Supreme Court won’t rule on state Internet sales taxes By Richard Wolf USA Today Mon Dec 2, 2013 7:37 PM WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court won’t referee the fight between states and online retailers over taxing Internet sales, leaving states free to tax remote sellers and increasing pressure on Congress to resolve the long-running dispute. The high court’s decision Monday left intact a New York appeals court ruling that Amazon.com and most other online retailers must collect state sales taxes when they pay affiliates to promote links to their products. By refusing to hear Amazon’s case, the justices sent reverberations to a dozen states with similar laws: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. The Illinois and Colorado laws are tied up in court. In seeking Supreme Court review, Amazon and another online retailer, Overstock.com, had argued that the New York court’s ruling “provides a road map for other state legislatures to enact similarly burdensome legislation.” Other states may not follow suit, however, at least not immediately. That’s because online and other remote retailers, including those that rely on phones and catalogs, usually cut ties to local affiliates in order to avoid collecting sales taxes. The issue of Internet sales taxes has vexed lawmakers for nearly two decades. They are caught between serving Main Street “brick-and-mortar” businesses that pay taxes their online rivals sidestep, and their political desire to avoid being seen as raising or creating new taxes. Sales taxes are a crucial source of revenue in the 45 states that collect them, particularly in the wake of the 2009 recession. They are even more important in seven of nine states that have no state income tax, including Florida and Texas. (Two states, Alaska and New Hampshire, have neither tax.) States stood to lose about $23 billion last year because they could not collect sales taxes from most online, phone and catalog purchases, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The actual figure may have been lower because Amazon, the nation’s leading online retailer, has begun building warehouses and collecting sales taxes in many states. By turning down the case, the justices served notice that any possible solution to the dispute is likely to come from Congress. The Senate in May passed the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would let states collect sales and use taxes from online retailers without any physical presence in their states. The measure, which would apply to retailers with at least $1 million in annual sales in those states, is bottled up in the House. “At some point, this will be solved by either Congress or court action,” says Max Behlke, manager of state-federal relations for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “Sales tax revenue is so vital to states.”

Health-care enrollment on Web plagued by bugs

Health-care enrollment on Web plagued by bugs By Amy Goldstein and Juliet Eilperin, Published: December 2 E-mail the writers The enrollment records for a significant portion of the Americans who have chosen health plans through the online federal insurance marketplace contain errors — generated by the computer system — that mean they might not get the coverage they’re expecting next month. The errors cumulatively have affected roughly one-third of the people who have signed up for health plans since Oct. 1, according to two government and health-care industry officials. The White House disputed the figure but declined to provide its own. The mistakes include failure to notify insurers about new customers, duplicate enrollments or cancellation notices for the same person, incorrect information about family members, and mistakes involving federal subsidies. The errors have been accumulating since HealthCare.gov opened two months ago, even as the Obama administration has been working to make it easier for consumers to sign up for coverage, the government and industry officials said. Figuring out how to clean up the backlog of errors and prevent similar ones in the future is emerging as the new imperative if the federal insurance exchange is to work as intended. The problems were the subject of a meeting Monday between administration officials and a new “Payer Exchange Performance Team” made up of insurance industry leaders. The idea that one-third of the enrollment records are flawed “doesn’t accurately reflect the picture of what’s happening right now,” White House senior communications adviser Tara Mc­Guinness said. “We’ve got a team of experts already working closely with issuers to make sure that every past and future 834 is accurate. We’re confident they’ll succeed,” Mc­Guin­ness said. The 834s are nightly enrollment forms sent to insurers to tell them who their new customers are. Some of the errors in the past forms were generated by the way people were using the system, another senior official on the project said, such as clicking twice on the confirmation button or moving backward and forward on the site. Through more than a dozen bug fixes over the past week, the team has managed to reduce the instances of when data was not generated on 834 forms from 3 percent last week to 0.5 percent now, according to senior officials. The heightened attention to enrollment errors follows a five-week technical blitz to improve consumers’ ability to use the site. Federal health officials announced Sunday that they had met that goal. By 6 p.m. Monday, the Web site had had close to 800,000 unique visitors — one of the administration’s targets for the site’s performance — and was set to pass that mark by the end of the day, according to administration officials. And the site processed 18,000 enrollments in the most recent 24-hour period, nearly double the previous record. Still, not all was smooth. By mid-morning Monday, some Americans trying to use the Web site were running into a logjam. And by late morning, when the number of people on the site was roughly 35,000 — or 15,000 fewer than administration officials had said it could handle — some consumers encountered a “queue,” a new feature intended for times when the site was too crowded. The feature limits the number of people on the site and notifies others by e-mail when it’s a better time to log in. According to a government official with knowledge of the federal exchange, an internal report Monday showed that nearly 149,000 individuals have completed the enrollment process through the new online system. Insurers have been fretting about the problems involving the enrollment records for weeks, both publicly and in private conversations with the White House. The figures provided to The Washington Post suggesting that a variety of errors affect at least one-third of all enrollments so far are the first public indication of the magnitude of the problem. The errors, if not corrected, mean that tens of thousands of consumers are at risk of not having coverage when the insurance goes into effect Jan. 1, because the health plans they picked do not yet have accurate information needed to send them a bill. Under the 2010 law designed to reshape the health-care system, consumers are not considered to have coverage unless they have paid at least the first monthly insurance premium. Of the various errors generated by the online system, a top priority for insurers is to correct what are called “orphan reports,” in which a new customer is inexplicably excluded from reports sent to each health plan early every evening listing their new enrollees from that day. Starting in October, five insurance carriers began to work closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services staff, periodically trading their lists of known customers. “When plans have checked this, they realize there is a good number there is no record of,” said an insurance industry official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the problem. Last week, the official said, the online system sent one health plan a cancellation notice for a customer for whom the plan had never received an enrollment report. The trading of enrollment records between a small number of insurers and CMS, which is overseeing the Web site, is a precursor to a monthly comparison that is scheduled to begin in mid-December. The part of the online system that is supposed to perform this comparison, known as “reconciliation,” is not yet built, according to government officials. On Monday, Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for CMS, recommended that insurance seekers who choose a health plan through the site contact the insurer afterward to make certain they are actually enrolled. “Consumers should absolutely call their selected plan and confirm that they have paid their first month’s premium, and coverage will be available January 1,” she said. In a call with reporters Monday, Bataille said that about 80 percent of the errors with 834 forms — the enrollment data — stemmed from “one bug that prevented a Social Security number from being included. That caused the system not to generate an 834.” “That bug has now been fixed and [that part] is now working properly,” Bataille said. She said that CMS also has addressed smaller bugs, including one that caused family relationships to be coded inaccurately (a child, for example, might show up as a spouse). Sarah Kliff contributed to this report.

Lawyers offer different views of video in Fullerton police trial

Lawyers offer different views of video in Fullerton police trial By Paloma Esquivel and Adolfo Flores December 2, 2013, 8:27 p.m. The trial of two Fullerton police officers accused of killing a mentally ill homeless man began in dramatic fashion Monday with the Orange County district attorney taking the rare step of arguing the case personally, at one point holding a wooden baton to recreate the deadly confrontation. "The conduct of these two officers who are on trial here went far beyond what is acceptable in a free society," Tony Rackauckas told jurors in a packed Santa Ana courtroom. The death of Kelly Thomas in 2011 generated national attention, marking a rare instance in which police officers are being criminally charged for an on-duty fatality. The centerpiece of the case is a grainy black and white video synched with audio from the officers' recorders that captures the policemen hitting Thomas with a baton and the butt of a stun gun as he calls out for his father and repeatedly says, "I can't breathe." But attorneys for former officers Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli offered the jury a starkly different interpretation of what happened in those 33 minutes of video. The tape, said Ramos' attorney John Barnett, actually shows that officers were dealing with a man so violent and out of control that they were forced to repeatedly call for backup. The officers who struggled with Thomas that night never resorted to excessive force and, at one point, probably "weren't using enough force," Barnett argued. "They wouldn't be calling the whole Police Department to come and help us beat down some homeless, helpless, harmless guy," Barnett said. "They're losing the fight." Thomas' family watched the proceedings, seated not far from the defendants' own families. Members of the loosely organized group known as Kelly's Army, which held protests demanding the officers' prosecution, were in the audience wearing yellow ribbons. The trial is expected to last weeks. Rackauckas, who is trying a criminal case for the first time since 1999, told jurors that Thomas tried but was unable to comply with officer's commands. As officers beat him, Rackauckas said, Thomas repeatedly said "that he was sorry, like a young boy begging for the punishment to stop." "His last words were, 'Dad, they're killing me. Dad, they're killing me' … you'll hear his voice drop to this deep low drone as he just barely pushed out the words 'Daddy, Daddy,'" Rackauckas said. At one point, Thomas unsuccessfully tried to move away from Ramos and another policeman, but the officers dog-piled on the homeless man as he complained that he couldn't breathe, Rackauckas said. He clutched the wooden baton with both of his hands to re-create the scene for jurors. The district attorney described Ramos as a bully who had repeated run-ins with Thomas, encounters that "fell well below the conduct that's expected of police officers." Ramos is charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter. On one occasion in 2009, Ramos asked Thomas, "Have you ever been hit with one of these things?" apparently referring to his baton, Rackauckas said. Barnett described Ramos as "a good cop," "a patient cop" who managed during various encounters with Thomas to deal with the homeless man without resorting to violence. Thomas used methamphetamines as a teenager and into adulthood, which made him prone to violent episodes, Barnett said. He described Thomas' criminal history, including a 1995 incident in which he was convicted of assault for attacking his grandfather with a fireplace poker. He held up a fireplace poker as a prop while he spoke. "This case is not about a homeless, helpless, harmless mentally ill guy, this case is about a man who made choices in his life, bad choices that led to his tragic death," Barnett said. The video tape will show officers simply couldn't control Thomas and had to call for backup three different times, he said. Cicinelli, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force, arrived at the scene a few minutes after Ramos and another officer, Joseph Wolfe, began struggling with Thomas. Wolfe was charged with involuntary manslaughter and will be tried separately. "Cicinelli decided to use his Taser as an impact weapon," Rackauckas said, a photo of the bloodied yellow Taser projected behind him. "Cicinelli pummeled Kelly in the face without mercy; in his own words he said that he 'smashed his face to hell.'" While Barnett and Rackauckas used video stills and transcripts of the audio in their opening statements, Michael Schwartz, Cicinelli's attorney, was the first to play parts of the video for the jury. At one point, he played a clip of the video and said it showed Thomas reaching for Cicinelli's Taser. "The evidence will show that what Jay Cicinelli encountered that night was a combative, uncontrollable subject who grabbed his weapon," Schwartz said. He said the audio of Thomas screaming is a sign, not that the officers were being excessive, but that he could breathe, contrary to what he was saying. Defense experts will testify that Thomas died not because his chest was compressed during the struggle, as a coroner's report said, but because he had a bad heart due to his drug use, Schwartz said. "There's one conclusion you can come to," he told the jury. "There was not a crime here. Sometimes tragedies happen in this world. They're not always crimes. This case is a perfect example." paloma.esquivel@latimes.com adolfo.flores@latimes.com

Convicted political boss Al Sanchez running for Cook County board

Convicted political boss Al Sanchez running for Cook County board By Rick Pearson and John Byrne, Chicago Tribune reporters 7:19 a.m. CST, December 3, 2013 Former Chicago Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez, convicted on federal charges of rigging hiring to benefit political foot soldiers, filed Monday to run for the Cook County Board seat previously held by William Beavers — who is headed for prison. Sanchez was among the last-day filers on the deadline for submitting candidacy petitions for the March 18 primary ballot. More than 130 candidates filed for Cook County offices. At the state level, more than 500 candidates filed for federal and state government offices and judgeships during a shortened weeklong filing period interrupted by the Thanksgiving holiday. The last-day filers included Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates. For some Cook County voters, the Democratic primary could become known as the election of second chances. Another convicted felon, former Chicago Ald. Issac "Ike" Carothers, also filed for a primary bid for the County Board. Sanchez, the former head of the Streets and Sanitation Department under Mayor Richard M. Daley, also formerly headed the once-powerful pro-Daley Hispanic Democratic Organization. He was the highest-ranking Daley appointee sent to prison following a lengthy federal investigation into hiring at City Hall. He was convicted in a scheme to steer city jobs and promotions to HDO members. Sanchez said he took the fall for following the well-established Chicago political tradition of hiring people who came recommended by political benefactors. "I was a scapegoat for a system that was in place for decades, and it's still in place," he said. "Yeah, I spent some time in a federal facility, but I think my record is pretty clear when you look at how I ran that department," he said. Sanchez is among four Democrats who filed to run against Commissioner Stanley Moore, who was appointed in April to replace Beavers in the South Side and south suburban 4th District. Beavers was convicted of federal tax evasion and was scheduled to report to prison Monday. Carothers was an alderman for 11 years until he resigned in 2010, around the same time he pleaded guilty to bribery and tax fraud. He admitted to backing a zoning change in exchange for $40,000 in work at his home and was sentenced to 28 months in prison. Carothers was among six Democrats filing for the West Side and west suburban County Board seat being given up by Earlean Collins. On the state level, the final-day filings set up already anticipated Republican statewide primaries, though objections can be filed to try to strike contenders from the primary ballot. Four Republicans — state Sens. Bill Brady of Bloomington and Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford of Chenoa and Winnetka businessman Bruce Rauner — will face a lottery for the top primary ballot spot in their bid to challenge Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's re-election. Former CeaseFire director Tio Hardiman filed for a primary challenge to Quinn. Another statewide GOP primary contest is brewing to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, who is seeking a fourth term. State Sen. Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove and newcomer Doug Truax of Downers Grove were joined in the GOP primary by two unknowns, William Lee of Rockton and Armen Alvarez of Chicago. State Rep. Tom Cross of Oswego and DuPage County Auditor Bob Grogan of Downers Grove also are competing in the GOP primary for the nomination for state treasurer, a post Rutherford is giving up to run for governor. State Sen. Michael Frerichs of Champaign is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Republicans on the last day also filled their statewide slate by filing candidacy petitions for Michael Webster of Willowbrook to challenge Democratic Secretary of State Jesse White in the fall. Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan will face Republican Paul Schimpf of Waterloo in the November general election. Quinn's current lieutenant governor, Sheila Simon, used the deadline day to file for state comptroller. She is unopposed in the primary in seeking to take on Republican Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka in the fall. In local congressional contests, two Republicans — Manju Goel of Aurora and Larry Kaifesh of Carpentersville — are vying for the right to challenge Duckworth in the northwest suburban 8th District. In the far west suburban 11th District, five Republicans filed to challenge Democratic Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville, whose victory last year returned him to Congress. The Republican field includes state Rep. Darlene Senger of Naperville, Bert Miller of Hinsdale, Chris Balkema of Channahon, Ian Bayne of Aurora and Craig Robbins of Lisle. Among Downstate congressional contests, two Republicans and four Democrats filed primary bids for the seat of freshman GOP Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville in central Illinois. Davis is seeking re-election and his primary opponents include Erika Harold of Urbana, the 2003 Miss America. rap30@aol.com jebyrne@tribune.com

Benedictine in Mesa hosting open house

Benedictine in Mesa hosting open house Posted: Wednesday, December 4, 2013 5:45 am Tribune Benedictine University’s campus in Mesa will host an open house on Dec. 19 that doubles as a holiday celebration. From 5 to 7 p.m., community members can share their history with what used to be the Southside Hospital and is now Gillett Hall. District 4 Councilmember Chris Glover will be on hand to host the event. “We want the community to again experience the historical and personal connection this location has to them,” said Michael Carroll, Mesa branch campus president, in a press release. “We want to show them what of that history we have retained within our academic building, Gillett Hall, and what improvements we have made toward educating their children and perhaps their children’s children as we work together to prepare the next generation of learners and leaders.” Gillett Hall is located at 225 E. Main Street in Mesa, and more information is available by visiting ben.edu/mesa or calling (602) 888-5533.

Not just the NSA; local police tap U.S. citizens' cellphone data

Not just the NSA; local police tap U.S. citizens' cellphone data By John Kelly USA Today Sun Dec 8, 2013 10:39 PM The National Security Agency isn't the only government entity secretly collecting data from people's cellphones. Local police are increasingly scooping it up, too. Armed with new technologies, including mobile devices that tap into cellphone data in real time, dozens of local and state police agencies are capturing information about thousands of cellphone users at a time, whether they are targets of an investigation or not, according to public records obtained by USA TODAY and Gannett newspapers and TV stations. The records, from more than 125 police agencies in 33 states, reveal: About one in four law-enforcement agencies have used a tactic known as a "tower dump," which gives police data about the identity, activity and location of any phone that connects to the targeted cellphone towers over a set span of time, usually an hour or two. A typical dump covers multiple towers, and wireless providers, and can net information from thousands of phones. At least 25 police departments own a Stingray, a suitcase-size device that costs as much as $400,000 and acts as a fake cell tower. The system, typically installed in a vehicle so it can be moved into any neighborhood, tricks all nearby phones into connecting to it and feeding data to police. In some states, the devices are available to any local police department via state surveillance units. The federal government funds most of the purchases, via anti-terror grants. Thirty-six more police agencies refused to say whether they've used either tactic. Most denied public records requests, arguing that criminals or terrorists could use the information to thwart important crime-fighting and surveillance techniques. Police maintain that cellphone data can help solve crimes, track fugitives or abducted children or even foil a terror attack. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Privacy Information Center say the swelling ability by even small-town police departments to easily and quickly obtain large amounts of cellphone data raises questions about the erosion of people's privacy as well as their Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. "I don't think that these devices should never be used, but at the same time, you should clearly be getting a warrant," said Alan Butler of EPIC. In most states, police can get many kinds of cellphone data without obtaining a warrant, which they'd need to search someone's house or car. Privacy advocates, legislators and courts are debating the legal standards with increasing intensity as technology — and the amount of sensitive information people entrust to their devices — evolves. Vast data net Many people aren't aware that a smartphone is an adept location-tracking device. It's constantly sending signals to nearby cell towers, even when it's not being used. And wireless carriers store data about your device, from where it's been to whom you've called and texted, some of it for years. The power for police is alluring: a vast data net that can be a cutting-edge crime-fighting tool. Last fall, in Colorado, a 10-year-old girl vanished while she walked to school. Volunteers scoured Westminster looking for Jessica Ridgeway. Local police took a clandestine tack. They got a court order for data about every cellphone that connected to five providers' towers on the girl's route. Later, they asked for 15 more cellphone site data dumps. Colorado authorities won't divulge how many people's data they obtained, but testimony in other cases indicates it was at least several thousand people's phones. The court orders in the Colorado case show police got "cellular telephone numbers, including the date, time and duration of any calls," as well as numbers and location data for all phones that connected to the towers searched, whether calls were being made or not. Police and court records obtained by USA TODAY about cases across the country show that's standard for a tower dump. The tower dump data helped police choose about 500 people who were asked to submit DNA samples. The broad cell-data sweep and DNA samples didn't solve the crime, though the information aided in the prosecution. A 17-year-old man's mother tipped off the cops, and the man confessed to kidnapping and dismembering the girl, hiding some of her remains in a crawl space in his mother's house. He pleaded guilty and last month was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. Not every use of the tower dumps involved stakes so high. A South Carolina sheriff ordered up four cell-data dumps from two towers in a 2011 investigation into a rash of car break-ins near Columbia, including the theft of Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott's collection of guns and rifles from his police-issued SUV, parked at his home. "We were looking at someone who was breaking into a lot of vehicles and was not going to stop," the sheriff said. "So, we had to find out as much information as we could." The sheriff's office says it has used a tower dump in at least one prior case, to help solve a murder. Law-enforcement records show police can use initial data from a tower dump to ask for another court order for more information, including addresses, billing records and logs of calls, texts and locations. Cellphone data sweeps fit into a broadening effort by police to collect and mine information about people's activities and movements. Police can harvest data about motorists by mining toll-road payments, red-light cameras and license-plate readers. Cities are installing cameras in public areas, some with facial-recognition capabilities, as well as Wi-Fi networks that can record the location and other details about any connecting device. Secret Stingrays Local and state police, from Florida to Alaska, are buying Stingrays with federal grants aimed at protecting cities from terror attacks, but using them for far broader police work. With the mobile Stingray, police can get a court order to grab some of the same data available via a tower dump with two added benefits. The Stingray can grab some data from cellphones in real time and without going through the wireless service providers involved. Neither tactic — tower dumps or the Stingray devices — captures the content of calls or other communication, according to police. Typically used to hunt a single phone's location, the system intercepts data from all phones within a mile, or farther, depending on terrain and antennas. The cell-tracking systems cost as much as $400,000, depending on when they were bought and what add-ons they have. The latest upgrade, code-named "Hailstorm," is spurring a wave of upgrade requests. Initially developed for military and spy agencies, the Stingrays remain a guarded secret by law enforcement and the manufacturer, Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla. The company would not answer questions about the systems, referring reporters to police agencies. Most police aren't talking, either, partly because Harris requires buyers to sign a non-disclosure agreement. "Any idea of having adequate oversight of the use of these devices is hampered by secrecy," says Butler, who sued the FBI for records about its Stingray systems. Under court order, the FBI released thousands of pages, though most of the text is blacked out. "When this technology disseminates down to local government and local police, there are not the same accountability mechanisms in place. You can see incredible potential for abuses," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Catherine Crump says. Privacy concerns Crump and other privacy advocates pose questions such as "Is data about people who are not police targets saved or shared with other government agencies?" and "What if a tower dump or Stingray swept up cell numbers and identities of people at a political protest?" When Miami-Dade police bought their Stingray device, they told the City Council the agency needed to monitor protesters at an upcoming world trade conference, according to purchasing records. Most of the police agencies that would talk about the tactics said they're not being used for intelligence gathering, only in search of specific targets. Lott, the sheriff in the South Carolina gun-theft case, said police weren't interested in seeing data about the other residents whose information was collected as a byproduct of his agency's tower dumps. "We're not infringing on their rights," Lott said. "When they use that phone, they understand that information is going to go to a tower. We're not taking that information and using it for any means whatsoever, unless they're the bad guy or unless they're the victim." Brian Owsley, a former magistrate who reviewed many police requests for bulk cellphone data, grew skeptical because authorities were not always forthcoming about the technology or what happened with "collateral data" of innocent bystanders. "What is the government doing with the data?" asks Owsley, now a law professor at Texas Tech University. Surveillance regulation is being tinkered with piecemeal by courts and legislators. This year, Montana and Maine passed laws requiring police to show probable cause and get a search warrant to access some cellphone data, as they would to search a car or home. State and federal courts have handed down seemingly contradictory rulings about which cellphone data is private or not. Seattle's City Council requires police to notify the council of new surveillance technology deployed in the city. "We have to be careful because Americans deserve an expectation of privacy, and the courts are mixed right now as to what is an expectation of privacy when using a cellphone," says U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., who says Congress needs to clarify the law. "More and more, we're seeing an invasion of what we would expect to be private parts of our lives." Legislative and judicial guidance is needed to match police surveillance rules to today's technology, says Wayne Holmes, a prosecutor for two Central Florida counties. He has weighed frequent local police requests for tower dumps and Stingray surveillance. "The clearer the law, the better the law is." Americans "are sensitized right now" to cellphone surveillance because of reports about potential abuses by the NSA, said Washoe County Sheriff Michael Haley of Reno. He is opting not to use the Stingray. "I'm being cautious about how I access information, because at the end of the day I know that I will be in court if I access information using systems and techniques that are not constitutionally vetted," Haley said. Contributing: Clark Fouraker, Nicole Vap, Martha Bellisle and Noah Pransky

Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA

Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA law enforcement using methods from nsa playbook Local police are increasingly able to scoop up large amounts of cellphone data using new technologies, including cell tower dumps and secret mobile devices known as Stingrays. Here's a closer look at how police do it. Police maintain that cellphone data can help solve crimes, track fugitives or abducted children — or even foil a terror attack. [If that is true, and I am sure it is, why not just make it illegal breath!!! That would make it easy for the cops to arrest anybody they suspect of a crime. And the good news for everybody, but the cops is that it would be assumed that you are guilty of what ever crime the cops accuse you of if you are still breathing!!!] The National Security Agency isn't the only government entity secretly collecting data from people's cellphones. Local police are increasingly scooping it up, too. Armed with new technologies, including mobile devices that tap into cellphone data in real time, dozens of local and state police agencies are capturing information about thousands of cellphone users at a time, whether they are targets of an investigation or not, according to public records obtained by USA TODAY and Gannett newspapers and TV stations. The records, from more than 125 police agencies in 33 states, reveal: • About one in four law-enforcement agencies have used a tactic known as a "tower dump," which gives police data about the identity, activity and location of any phone that connects to the targeted cellphone towers over a set span of time, usually an hour or two. A typical dump covers multiple towers, and wireless providers, and can net information from thousands of phones. • At least 25 police departments own a Stingray, a suitcase-size device that costs as much as $400,000 and acts as a fake cell tower. The system, typically installed in a vehicle so it can be moved into any neighborhood, tricks all nearby phones into connecting to it and feeding data to police. In some states, the devices are available to any local police department via state surveillance units. The federal government funds most of the purchases, via anti-terror grants. [But less then 1 percent of the arrests are for terrorist type crimes. Most arrests are for victimless drug war crimes!!!] • Thirty-six more police agencies refused to say whether they've used either tactic. Most denied public records requests, arguing that criminals or terrorists could use the information to thwart important crime-fighting and surveillance techniques. Police maintain that cellphone data can help solve crimes, track fugitives or abducted children or even foil a terror attack. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) say the swelling ability by even small-town police departments to easily and quickly obtain large amounts of cellphone data raises questions about the erosion of people's privacy as well as their Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. "I don't think that these devices should never be used, but at the same time, you should clearly be getting a warrant," said Alan Butler of EPIC. In most states, police can get many kinds of cellphone data without obtaining a warrant, which they'd need to search someone's house or car. Privacy advocates, legislators and courts are debating the legal standards with increasing intensity as technology — and the amount of sensitive information people entrust to their devices — evolves. VAST DATA NET Many people aren't aware that a smartphone is an adept location-tracking device. It's constantly sending signals to nearby cell towers, even when it's not being used. [That's true for ANY cell phone, even dumb cellphones] And wireless carriers store data about your device, from where it's been to whom you've called and texted, some of it for years. The power for police is alluring: a vast data net that can be a cutting-edge crime-fighting tool. In October 2012, in Colorado, a 10-year-old girl vanished while she walked to school. Volunteers scoured Westminster looking for Jessica Ridgeway. Local police took a clandestine tack. They got a court order for data about every cellphone that connected to five providers' towers on the girl's route. Later, they asked for 15 more cellphone site data dumps. Colorado authorities won't divulge how many people's data they obtained, but testimony in other cases indicates it was at least several thousand people's phones. [Searching several thousand cell phone because one of them might have committed a crime isn't any different then the police breaking into several thousand homes and searching them because one of them might have committed a crime.] The court orders in the Colorado case show police got "cellular telephone numbers, including the date, time and duration of any calls," as well as numbers and location data for all phones that connected to the towers searched, whether calls were being made or not. Police and court records obtained by USA TODAY about cases across the country show that's standard for a tower dump. The tower dump data helped police choose about 500 people who were asked to submit DNA samples. The broad cell-data sweep and DNA samples didn't solve the crime, though the information aided in the prosecution. A 17-year-old man's mother tipped off the cops, and the man confessed to kidnapping and dismembering the girl, hiding some of her remains in a crawl space in his mother's house. He pleaded guilty and last month was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. Not every use of the tower dumps involved stakes so high. Richland County (S.C) Sheriff Leon Lott ordered four cell-data dumps from two towers in a 2011 investigation into a rash of car break-ins near Columbia, including the theft of collection of guns and rifles from his police-issued SUV, parked at his home. "We were looking at someone who was breaking into a lot of vehicles and was not going to stop," Lott said. "So, we had to find out as much information as we could." The sheriff's office says it has used a tower dump in at least one prior case, to help solve a murder. Law-enforcement records show police can use initial data from a tower dump to ask for another court order for more information, including addresses, billing records and logs of calls, texts and locations. Cellphone data sweeps fit into a broadening effort by police to collect and mine information about people's activities and movements. Police can harvest data about motorists by mining toll-road payments, red-light cameras and license-plate readers. Cities are installing cameras in public areas, some with facial-recognition capabilities, as well as Wi-Fi networks that can record the location and other details about any connecting device. SECRET STINGRAYS Local and state police, from Florida to Alaska, are buying Stingrays with federal grants aimed at protecting cities from terror attacks, but using them for far broader police work. With the mobile Stingray, police can get a court order to grab some of the same data available via a tower dump with two added benefits. The Stingray can grab some data from cellphones in real time and without going through the wireless service providers involved. Neither tactic — tower dumps or the Stingray devices — captures the content of calls or other communication, according to police. Typically used to hunt a single phone's location, the system intercepts data from all phones within a mile, or farther, depending on terrain and antennas. The cell-tracking systems cost as much as $400,000, depending on when they were bought and what add-ons they have. The latest upgrade, code-named "Hailstorm," is spurring a wave of upgrade requests. Initially developed for military and spy agencies, the Stingrays remain a guarded secret by law enforcement and the manufacturer, Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla. The company would not answer questions about the systems, referring reporters to police agencies. Most police aren't talking, either, partly because Harris requires buyers to sign a non-disclosure agreement. "Any idea of having adequate oversight of the use of these devices is hampered by secrecy," says Butler, who sued the FBI for records about its Stingray systems. Under court order, the FBI released thousands of pages, though most of the text is blacked out. "When this technology disseminates down to local government and local police, there are not the same accountability mechanisms in place. You can see incredible potential for abuses," American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Catherine Crump says. PRIVACY CONCERNS Crump and other privacy advocates pose questions such as "Is data about people who are not police targets saved or shared with other government agencies?" and "What if a tower dump or Stingray swept up cell numbers and identities of people at a political protest?" When Miami-Dade police bought their Stingray device, they told the City Council the agency needed to monitor protesters at an upcoming world trade conference, according to purchasing records. Most of the police agencies that would talk about the tactics said they're not being used for intelligence gathering, only in search of specific targets. Lott, the sheriff in the South Carolina gun-theft case, said police weren't interested in seeing data about the other residents whose information was collected as a byproduct of his agency's tower dumps. "We're not infringing on their rights," Lott said. "When they use that phone, they understand that information is going to go to a tower. We're not taking that information and using it for any means whatsoever, unless they're the bad guy or unless they're the victim." Brian Owsley, a former magistrate who reviewed many police requests for bulk cellphone data, grew skeptical because authorities were not always forthcoming about the technology or what happened with "collateral data" of innocent bystanders. “What is the government doing with the data?” — Brian Owsley, law professor at Texas Tech University Surveillance regulation is being tinkered with piecemeal by courts and legislators. This year, Montana and Maine passed laws requiring police to show probable cause and get a search warrant to access some cellphone data, as they would to search a car or home. State and federal courts have handed down seemingly contradictory rulings about which cellphone data is private or not. Seattle's City Council requires police to notify the council of new surveillance technology deployed in the city. "We have to be careful because Americans deserve an expectation of privacy, and the courts are mixed right now as to what is an expectation of privacy when using a cellphone," says U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., who says Congress needs to clarify the law. "More and more, we're seeing an invasion of what we would expect to be private parts of our lives." Legislative and judicial guidance is needed to match police surveillance rules to today's technology, says Wayne Holmes, a prosecutor for two Central Florida counties. He has weighed frequent local police requests for tower dumps and Stingray surveillance. "The clearer the law, the better the law is." Americans "are sensitized right now" to cellphone surveillance because of reports about potential abuses by the NSA, said Washoe County Sheriff Michael Haley of Reno. He is opting not to use the Stingray. "I'm being cautious about how I access information, because at the end of the day I know that I will be in court if I access information using systems and techniques that are not constitutionally vetted," Haley said. Contributing: Clark Fouraker, Nicole Vap, Martha Bellisle and Noah Pransky Source

Tech giants band together in anti-snooping coalition Jon Swartz, USA TODAY 3:33 a.m. EST December 9, 2013 SAN MATEO, Calif. — Torched by disclosures the National Security Agency tapped into its data and spied on people and businesses, some of tech's biggest names have banded together to form what is essentially an anti-NSA coalition. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo lead the Reform Government Surveillance coalition, announced late tonight, to rein in the vast tentacles of the NSA and — perhaps — salve the worries of privacy-conscious consumers. The coalition hopes to limit the federal government's authority to collect user information, protect citizens' privacy, and impose more legislative oversight and accountability of organizations like the NSA. Each of the participating companies — which also include LinkedIn and AOL — have taken technological, legal and PR steps to assure customers that their personal information is safe, in hopes of preserving their brand names and not losing business in the U.S. and abroad. "The undersigned companies believe that it is time for the world's governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information," the coalition website says, "We strongly believe that current laws and practices need to be reformed." Underscoring the group's sentiment, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Larry Page and Twitter CEO Dick Costolo wrote an open letter to Washington, D.C., in which they "urge the U.S. to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law." Source

Report: Spy agencies targeting online gaming worlds Brett Molina, USATODAY 8:13 a.m. EST December 9, 2013 Spy organizations including the National Security Agency have reportedly set their sights on a new target: online video games. According to a report from The Guardian, agents have covertly joined games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life to find terrorists hiding within the games' virtual worlds as well as recruit potential informants. Citing documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the report also says agencies "have built mass-collection capabilities" against Microsoft's Xbox Live online network. Microsoft and Second Life operator Linden Lab declined comment, while a spokesperson for WoW studio Blizzard says no agency requested permission to gather information from within the game. The Guardian also notes the documents did not say whether terror groups were using these communities, or that any plots had been thwarted. The new finding is the latest in a series of reports detailing online spying by the NSA. Most recently, a Washington Post report claims the NSA tracks and stores 5 billion cellphone records every day. The online spying allegations have prompted tech companies including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo to create a Reform Government Surveillance coalition to limit the government's ability to collect online data.

Obama to soon propose NSA surveillance changes

Obama to soon propose NSA surveillance changes By David Jackson USA TODAY Sun Dec 8, 2013 2:49 PM President Obama's proposed changes to National Security Agency surveillance rules are likely to come this month. During his recent appearance on MSNBC's Hardball, Obama said that "I'll be proposing some self-restraint on the NSA," and initiating "some reforms that can give people more confidence." While the NSA has been criticized for programs that can touch on domestic phone calls and e-mails, Obama defended the agency's efforts to block terrorist attacks. "The people at the NSA, generally, are looking out for the safety of the American people," Obama told a group of college students at the MSNBC taping. "They are not interested in reading your e-mails. They're not interested in reading your text messages. ... And we've got a big system of checks and balances, including the courts and Congress, who have the capacity to prevent that from happening." The changes, Obama said, would be designed to build public confidence in the NSA and its surveillance efforts. From Bloomberg News: "The president is scheduled to get a report next week from a five-member panel of lawyers and former security officials that's reviewing the spy agency's sweeping collection of communications data worldwide. It was created after the leaks of secret government documents by former government security contractor Edward Snowden. ... "Obama's action on recommendations from the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications may have consequences for Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Facebook Inc. (FB) and Apple Inc. (AAPL) Technology companies are facing the loss of billions of dollars in overseas business, stricter regulations and erosion of consumer trust as a result of revelations that the NSA gained access to private networks to conduct surveillance."

Satanists seek spot on Oklahoma Statehouse steps

Satanists seek spot on Oklahoma Statehouse steps Associated Press Sun Dec 8, 2013 11:08 AM OKLAHOMA CITY — In their zeal to tout their faith in the public square, conservatives in Oklahoma may have unwittingly opened the door to a wide range of religious groups, including Satanists who are seeking to put their own statue next to a Ten Commandments monument outside the Statehouse. The Republican-controlled Legislature in this state known as the buckle of the Bible Belt authorized the privately funded Ten Commandments monument in 2009, and it was placed on the Capitol grounds last year despite criticism from legal experts who questioned its constitutionality. The Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking its removal. But the New York-based Satanic Temple saw an opportunity. It notified the state’s Capitol Preservation Commission that it wants to donate a monument and plans to submit one of several possible designs this month, said Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the temple. “We believe that all monuments should be in good taste and consistent with community standards,” Greaves wrote in letter to state officials. “Our proposed monument, as an homage to the historic/literary Satan, will certainly abide by these guidelines.” Greaves said one potential design involves a pentagram, a satanic symbol, while another is meant to be an interactive display for children. He said he expects the monument, if approved by Oklahoma officials, would cost about $20,000. Republican state Rep. Mike Ritze, who spearheaded the push for the Ten Commandments monument and whose family helped pay the $10,000 for its construction, declined to comment on the Satanic Temple’s effort, but Greaves credited Ritze for opening the door to the group’s proposal. “He’s helping a satanic agenda grow more than any of us possibly could,” Greaves said. “You don’t walk around and see too many satanic temples around, but when you open the door to public spaces for us, that’s when you’re going to see us.” The Oklahoma Legislature has taken other steps that many believe blur the line that divides church and state. The House speaker said he wants to build a chapel inside the Capitol to celebrate Oklahoma’s “Judeo-Christian heritage.” Several lawmakers have said they want to allow nativity scenes and other religious-themed symbols in public schools. Republican Rep. Bobby Cleveland, who plans to introduce one such bill next year, said many Christians feel they are under attack as a result of political correctness. He dismissed the notion of Satanists erecting a monument at the Capitol. “I think these Satanists are a different group,” Cleveland said. “You put them under the nut category.” Brady Henderson, legal director for ACLU Oklahoma, said if state officials allow one type of religious expression, they must allow alternative forms of expression, although he said a better solution might be to allow none at all on state property. “We would prefer to see Oklahoma’s government officials work to faithfully serve our communities and improve the lives of Oklahomans instead of erecting granite monuments to show us all how righteous they are,” Henderson said. “But if the Ten Commandments, with its overtly Christian message, is allowed to stay at the Capitol, the Satanic Temple’s proposed monument cannot be rejected because of its different religious viewpoint.”

4 more accused of misusing Navajo tribal funds

4 more accused of misusing Navajo tribal funds Associated Press Fri Dec 6, 2013 4:42 PM FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Two leaders of the Navajo Nation’s legislative branch have been charged with misusing tribal funds intended for Navajos in need. Prosecutors filed bribery and conspiracy charges this week against former Tribal Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan, his successor, Johnny Naize, and former council Delegates Lena Manheimer and George Arthur. Criminal complaints in Window Rock District Court allege that the families of the four defendants benefited by nearly $93,000. Navajo law prohibits nepotism. Some 20 people now face criminal or ethics charges in the case. Arthur did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. A spokesman for Naize says the speaker hasn’t been served, and an attorney for Morgan in a related civil case declined comment. A legal advocate representing Manheimer in that civil case says the criminal allegations are far-fetched.

4 more accused of misusing Navajo tribal funds

4 more accused of misusing Navajo tribal funds Associated Press Fri Dec 6, 2013 4:42 PM FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Two leaders of the Navajo Nation’s legislative branch have been charged with misusing tribal funds intended for Navajos in need. Prosecutors filed bribery and conspiracy charges this week against former Tribal Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan, his successor, Johnny Naize, and former council Delegates Lena Manheimer and George Arthur. Criminal complaints in Window Rock District Court allege that the families of the four defendants benefited by nearly $93,000. Navajo law prohibits nepotism. Some 20 people now face criminal or ethics charges in the case. Arthur did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. A spokesman for Naize says the speaker hasn’t been served, and an attorney for Morgan in a related civil case declined comment. A legal advocate representing Manheimer in that civil case says the criminal allegations are far-fetched.

Lack of pot for research no myth

Lack of pot for research no myth Sun Dec 8, 2013 6:47 PM Regarding “Busting medical-pot study myth” (Opinions, Dec. 2): Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk echoed a misleading statement from the National Institute on Drug Abuse website that NIDA “permits or funds studies on therapeutic benefits of marijuana.” A 1999 Health and Human Services Department guidance forbids NIDA from selling marijuana for research seeking to develop it into an Food and Drug Administration-approved medicine. NIDA is the sole legal provider of marijuana for research in the U.S. NIDA has denied marijuana to all three FDA-approved studies seeking to develop the whole plant into a prescription medicine, preventing them from happening. The National Cancer Institute study cited by Ms. Polk was on isolated cannabinoids, not the marijuana plant. Our study of marijuana for post-traumatic stress disorder in U.S. veterans was approved by the FDA but has been frozen for two years due to NIDA’s refusal to sell us marijuana. We resubmitted the protocol on Oct. 24, after also receiving approval from the University of Arizona Institutional Review Board. We are waiting for a response. — Dr. Sue Sisley, Scottsdale

2 abuse cases vs. Phoenix diocese advance

2 abuse cases vs. Phoenix diocese advance By Michael Clancy The Republic | azcentral.com Sun Dec 8, 2013 9:44 PM Two cases alleging sexual abuse by clergy members in the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix are slowly working their way through Arizona courts. One case, filed in 2010, is scheduled to go to trial in March in Yavapai County Superior Court. It was filed on behalf of a Cottonwood woman whose son allegedly was abused by a Catholic deacon, Maxwell Rollin Pelton, who worked at Immaculate Conception Parish in Cottonwood. The other is in Maricopa County Superior Court while the diocese awaits a Vatican determination in the case against the Rev. John Spaulding, who served in several local parishes. In the Yavapai case, Pelton was awaiting final criminal charges when he died of natural causes in police custody. In the lawsuit, the Cottonwood woman said Pelton abused her son multiple times starting when he was 10 years old in 2009, according to her lawyer, Mike Shaw. Pelton was a longtime family friend whom the woman had known since she was a child. He was ordained as a deacon in 1991. After Pelton was arrested, the diocese suspended him and revoked his faculties, the bishop’s permission to serve as a deacon. A diocese statement at the time said Pelton was retired and inactive as of late 2000 and was not involved in any church activities after that. The diocese statement said it had received no complaints or reports of sexual misconduct regarding Pelton. Shaw said the case has taken so long because of pretrial motions, depositions and court arguments. On Jan. 7, he said, the court will hold a hearing on the diocese’s motion for summary judgment in its favor, arguing that Pelton was not under the supervision of the diocese when the alleged abuse took place. Shaw said his argument is that the diocese was negligent in placing Pelton in a position of responsibility. He said an evaluation of Pelton conducted during his deacon training showed him to be a possible abuser. Shaw said the diocese initially covered the costs of counseling for the woman, her son and two other children but has since withdrawn the support. He added that a settlement conference was not successful. In the other case, it has been two years since the diocese sent the case against Spaulding to the Vatican for evaluation. Diocese spokesman Rob DeFrancesco declined to say whether two years was a long time to wait for a resolution. He also declined to discuss other cases the diocese has sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles abuse issues, or how long they took. Instead, he sent a link to the diocese’s published list of accused abusers. “There is a process at the local level that if a case is to be referred to the CDF, we inform the community as part of that process,” DeFrancesco said. “We make the accusations public, and the person is removed from public ministry until the case has been definitively concluded. Each case is different, and there is no way to determine length of time.” David Michael Pain Sr. filed suit in Maricopa County Superior Court last year. Pain said last week that a settlement conference is set for next month. Pain alleges that his son, David Jr., was abused by Spaulding. David died of a gunshot wound after a confrontation with his father in 2010. Previously, the elder Pain said that his attorney was conducting discovery, the process of compiling evidence, and that was holding up the case. Spaulding was suspended in June 2011 after a diocese review board determined Pain’s allegation was credible. A community-notification statement was posted on the diocese website in October 2011 after three new allegations were leveled against the priest, who served at numerous parishes in the diocese and was at St. Timothy in Mesa at the time of the suspension. Patrick Wall, an abuse expert who works with a law firm in Minneapolis researching and investigating abuse cases, said that all abuse cases have been referred to the CDF since 2001 but that there is no time frame within which the church is required to make a determination.

There shouldn't be a fee for viewing a public record

Scarp: There shouldn't be a fee for viewing a public record Mark J. Scarp is a contributing columnist for the Tribune. Reach him at mscarp1@cox.net. Posted: Sunday, December 8, 2013 7:36 am By Mark Scarp, contributing columnist We have traditionally had two inescapable realities in life: death and taxes. Well, you can add to that list: death, taxes and fees. Fortunately, this past week at least one kind of fee was said to be improperly levied. It’s one charged to you for keeping tabs on your government. The state attorney general issued a legal opinion on Monday that struck deep in the heart of a fee that, for important reasons, shouldn’t be paid in the first place. If you believe that your taxes paid to set up your government also pay for the documentation of what said government does with those dollars, well, then you should have a problem paying a fee to see that documentation. And yet, that’s what government does at all levels: federal, state, local. You want to see a copy of something that says how much and where your government is spending those tax dollars and often there’s a per-page fee. These fees vary. Some agencies have had a history of charging you not only to take a copy of the document you want with you, but also just for looking at it and giving it back to them there at the counter. The argument that many public agencies make in defense of this practice goes like this: It costs money to go and get documents for the public to examine and we need to recoup those costs. So we charge fees. But in a democracy, the role of the citizen in monitoring his or her government as a check on its vast power is inherent, because an ignorant electorate is incapable of properly engaging that check on government authority. It shouldn’t cost the boss to check on what the employees are doing with the boss’ money. Attorney General Tom Horne’s opinion states that if you only wish to look at a public record and not take the government’s copy with you — even if the agency had to make a copy in order to show it to you — you may not be charged a fee. Fees charged in some agencies have amounted to 25 or 50 cents or even as much as a $1 a page, which adds up to quite a sum if there are many documents you want to examine. Moreover, Horne stated, if you want to take photos of records with your smartphone, small camera or portable scanner, you may do so without fees being charged so long as your copying does not interfere with the course of business in that office. Some agencies have been charging requesters for using their phones to photograph documents, as if it somehow is a cost they are bearing. Fees may still be charged for copies you want to take with you, but the Legislature and the courts should evaluate those fees in relation to the actual cost of the copies for which they are charged. David Cuillier, national president of the Society of Professional Journalists and director of the University of Arizona’s School of Journalism, wrote a column for SPJ’s magazine, Quill, in 2009 in which he calculated the cost of a government-produced 8 11/2- by 11-inch page. Cuillier factored in the price of a heavy-duty copier, ink and toner, paper and electricity and concluded that the cost was no more than 1 1/2 cents per page. Paying the employees and for the public building they work in doesn’t count; our taxes are paying for those anyway for all the other things government workers do. “That’s why the copy store down the street from my office can charge 3 cents a page for black and white copies and still make a profit,” Cuillier told me Wednesday in an email. “Of course, letting someone take a picture of a document costs nothing.” If the copy place in Cuillier’s Tucson neighborhood can do it for 3 cents, why should government charge any more than a nickel for the take-home version of public records? “The people’s records should be available at little or no cost,” Cuillier said. “We paid for their creation and it’s immoral to price poor people out of their government.” You don’t have to be poor to feel gouged by fees that shouldn’t be charged, particularly when they are being charged to someone – you – who has every right to know what the government is doing with her or her taxes, and through them has already paid for the privilege of knowing that. Horne’s opinion, though legally non-binding, is persuasive to those who can enact and interpret law, and is a refreshing step forward. Our lawmakers and courts need to take the next step in reducing or, it is hoped, eliminating requiring cash payments of people who exercise a vital function of citizenship. Read Mark J. Scarp’s opinions here on Sundays. Watch his video commentaries at eastvalleytribune.com. Reach him at mscarp1@cox.net.

Agencies collected data on Americans’ cellphone use in thousands of ‘tower dumps’

Agencies collected data on Americans’ cellphone use in thousands of ‘tower dumps’ By Ellen Nakashima, Published: December 8 E-mail the writer Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies conducting criminal investigations collected data on cellphone activity thousands of times last year, with each request to a phone company yielding hundreds or thousands of phone numbers of innocent Americans along with those of potential suspects. Law enforcement made more than 9,000 requests last year for what are called “tower dumps,” information on all the calls that bounced off a cellphone tower within a certain period of time, usually two or more hours, a congressional inquiry has revealed. The little-known practice has raised concerns among federal judges, lawmakers and privacy advocates who question the harvesting of massive amounts of data on people suspected of no crime in order to try to locate a criminal. Data linked to specific cell towers can be used to track people’s movements. The inquiry, by Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), into law enforcement’s use of cellphone data comes amid growing scrutiny of the bulk collection of geolocation data overseas and of Americans’ phone records in the United States by the National Security Agency. Tower dumps raise in the law enforcement context some of the same concerns presented by the NSA’s mass collection of phone records without a warrant, when large amounts of data on law-abiding citizens are gathered to find clues about a small number of suspects, privacy advocates and some industry lawyers say. But unlike the NSA collection, which is bound by court-imposed rules on retention and use, the standards for obtaining tower data and the limits on its use by a plethora of agencies are inconsistent and unclear. “This isn’t the NSA asking for information,” said Markey, who is planning to introduce legislation this month to restrict law enforcement’s use of consumers’ phone data, including ensuring that tower dumps are narrowly focused. “It’s your neighborhood police department requesting your mobile phone data. So there are serious questions about how law enforcement handles the information of innocent people swept up in these digital dragnets.” Markey’s investigation, based on a survey of eight U.S. phone companies, has also revealed that carriers, following requests from law enforcement agencies, are providing a range of other records as well. Those include GPS location data, Web site addresses and, in some cases, the search terms Americans have entered into their cellphones. Markey’s legislation, which does not focus on NSA or other intelligence agencies’ programs, would require a warrant to obtain GPS location data, impose limits on how long carriers can keep customers’ phone data, and mandate routine disclosures by law enforcement agencies on the nature and volume of requests they make of carriers. The proposal would not require a warrant for tower dumps. Markey is pushing for standardized rules on law enforcement’s use of cellphone data, which has come under question in the courts. One federal judge this year, in a rare public ruling, required a warrant for tower dumps. The judge also ordered the prosecutor to destroy non- relevant data and — in an unprecedented move — to notify all non-suspects that their records had been collected. Some companies Markey surveyed did not provide full responses. But in general, the survey reflects a greater reliance on cellphone data of all types, including text messages and call histories, by law enforcement. “The industry as a whole in recent years experienced a substantial increase in these demands: the number of requests to Verizon Wireless has approximately doubled in the last five years, a trend that appears to be consistent with the industry in general,” the company’s general counsel, William B. Petersen, said in a letter to Markey. According to the industry, there are 330 million cellphones in use in the United States. Americans are texting, calling and moving about with devices that track their locations and enable them to surf the Internet. Those actions leave digital trails that companies log for business or technical reasons — and that can be invaluable for investigators on the trail of a murderer or a bank robber. “Location information is a vital component of law enforcement investigations at the federal, state and local levels,” FBI spokesman Christopher Allen said. A senior Justice Department official, who was not authorized to talk on the record and so spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “The data is useful if you think about the need to identify the location of drug traffickers — where are they at various points in their criminal dealings? It would be useful if you have a shooting by gang members. How do you figure who was at the scene of the shooting?” In one notable instance, the FBI in 2010 located two bank robbers in Arizona, whom prosecutors had dubbed the “High Country Bandits,” through the use of tower dumps. The men had robbed 16 banks at gunpoint in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Investigators traced the trail of the robbers by analyzing cellphone records from the towers closest to four of the more remote Arizona banks. “Investigators believed it would be extremely unusual for a cellphone number to appear on two or more” of the towers servicing the areas of the banks on the robbery dates, according to an FBI special agent in a March 2010 criminal complaint. The FBI received more than 150,000 phone numbers in the dump, according to the complaint. Its analysis turned up only one number that bounced off the towers on the dates of three of the robberies. That number belonged to one of the robbers. One former federal prosecutor familiar with the practice said federal agents make requests “a few dozen” times a year, typically in bank robbery cases. The vast majority of requests are made by state and local police agencies. Sprint, for instance, reported that it had provided tower dumps to agencies 6,000 times last year. Some companies have fought to narrow the requests. One industry lawyer said his company fought an order that sought dumps from “any cell towers” that served a particular address for a 13-hour period. “We’re worried that we’re being asked a lot to give away all this data,” said the lawyer, who was not authorized to speak on the record and so talked on the condition of anonymity. “We just think the law is being exploited.” Warrants not always needed They add that they are surprised President Obama has not visited the agency to show his support. Tech companies unite to call for new limits on surveillance In general, the data may be obtained with a showing to a judge that it is relevant and material to a criminal investigation based on a 1986 statute, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. That is a lower standard than for a warrant, which is based on probable cause that the data will yield evidence of a crime. The senior Justice Department official said a warrant is not required because the Supreme Court has held that Americans have no expectation of privacy in “dialing” data, such as the phone numbers they called. That is information given to the phone company by the customer, and the court has held that it is not protected by the Fourth Amendment, he said. But privacy advocates and some industry lawyers are increasingly questioning the applicability of court rulings that predate the digital explosion, which has enabled mass collection of data. In May, a federal magistrate judge in Texas insisted on a warrant for a tower dump that he said would have applied to 77 towers in a four-mile radius in a five-minute period, yielding “hundreds or even thousands of telephone numbers.” “The cell-site location records at issue here currently enable the tracking of the vast majority of Americans,” wrote Brian L. Owsley, a federal magistrate judge in the Southern District of Texas, in an opinion denying the original request. “Thus, the collection of cell-site location records effectively enables ‘mass’ or ‘wholesale’ electronic surveillance, and raises greater Fourth Amendment concerns than a single electronically surveilled car trip.” Another concern is how long the data are kept. Allen, the FBI spokesman, said that “the FBI only collects and maintains information that has investigative value and relevance to a case.” That could be indefinitely, former U.S. officials said. The D.C. police department said it sometimes uses such data but does not keep them. Other jurisdictions, including Fairfax and Prince George’s counties, declined to comment on their retention practices. According to industry officials, prosecutors are asking more often for groups of Internet protocol, or IP, addresses for people who have viewed a video or a photo or logged into a Web site. According to Markey’s investigation, AT&T and T-Mobile are providing Web site addresses, which can include search-term data, to law enforcement. AT&T says it requires a court order. T-Mobile says it requires a warrant. Verizon Wireless reported that it does not provide real-time GPS location data to law enforcement agencies but that it does provide near-real-time data on calls and text messages once they’re made, spokeswoman Debra Lewis said. Cecilia Kang contributed to this report.

Arizona police agencies use controversial tracking tool to locate cellphones

Arizona police agencies use controversial tracking tool to locate cellphones By Jim Walsh and JJ Hensley The Republic | azcentral.com Tue Dec 10, 2013 12:14 AM A Yuma woman and her children had been kidnapped from a safe house in October. Her estranged husband had sexually assaulted her and fled with their children, leaving her behind at a motel, according to officials. The estranged husband was using his cellphone to call her, threatening to kill the children and himself. It is hard to imagine a better time for Gilbert police to use a Stingray to track the cellphone and help another police department prevent a possible murder-suicide. Police tracked him and the children to the Globe/Miami area using Stingray technology, and he surrendered without incident. They said he was armed. “If that were your kids or your grandkids, you would expect that kind of service,” Gilbert Detective Sy Ray said. “To me, it’s a disservice if we don’t do that.” But rarely has there been a more controversial police weapon than the Stingray, with civil libertarians worried about widespread police tracking of cellphones and violations of innocent people’s privacy. Stingray is a brand name for an International Mobile Subscriber Identity tracking device. While the company keeps the details of how the device works under wraps, it essentially mimics a cellphone tower, tricking phones into sending a signal that police can then use to identify the serial number of the phone and track the subscriber. Ray, a trained expert who teaches a class on the Stingray, said the device is vastly misunderstood and is used by police only in life-threatening scenarios such as the Yuma case or as sort of a police version of a Hail Mary pass in football when nothing else seems to work. “When we turn on the equipment, I feel there is an expectation that most of our residents would agree with using it,” Ray said. “A family or a loved one is in a dire situation and we need to get someone off the street. There’s a potential loss of life.” Sgt. Tony Landato, a Mesa police spokesman, said he considers the device an investigative technique used in real time to save lives. He said it can also be used in long-term investigations such as homicides to develop a time line by tracing the movements of a suspect. Ray said police intervened in the Yuma case in a relatively simple manner, tracking the estranged husband’s cellphone through the provider after obtaining an emergency 48-hour order from the phone company. When that special pass expires, detectives need to get a search warrant to continue tracing the phone. But most of the time, police are filing search warrants to obtain the serial number of a suspect’s phone. “If the general public saw the hoops we jump through in a criminal situation, they would be amazed,” Ray said. “There are tons of checks and balances that people don’t know about.” Ray acknowledged there are some privacy concerns because the device picks up serial numbers of all phones in the area in which it is being used, including those of people not connected to a crime. But he said there is no point to recording irrelevant serial numbers that have nothing to do with the investigation. He said police are generally given a large range of where the phone might be located, such as 500, 1,000 or even 6,000 meters where they need to search for the right serial number and signal strength. “There are times when your serial number could come up and it could be eliminated as not our target,” Ray said. He said police have no access to text messages, voice mail or any other content. “It’s only a location device,” Ray said. “It’s not an interception device. We can’t intercept content at all.” Police are hesitant to discuss the technology, and several Valley agencies, including the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, refused to acknowledge its existence. Phoenix police have had technology that allows officers to identify and locate cellphones since 2001, and while every investigative bureau has access to the systems, they are primarily used by the drug-enforcement bureau, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a department spokesman. The agency’s policies require a court order to use the technology and dictate that investigators can only use the systems as part of a criminal case. Information gathered can be stored as evidence in a criminal-case file until the cases are adjudicated or dismissed, Crump said, but Phoenix police can also share that information with other law-enforcement agencies. Phoenix keeps no logs about the system’s use outside of those criminal-case files, he said. “Phone records have been a vital part of criminal investigations for years. It became quite a bit more complicated for law enforcement with the abundance of cell phones, which are what are typically used by criminals” Crump said. “If the game is avoiding a landline and a possible court order for wire taps, then law enforcement has to keep up with the technology that criminals use.” Because the Stingray was bought with grant money, Gilbert police are required to help other agencies in the state and have done so about 50 or 60 times since they started using the device in late 2007 or early 2008. Only recently, police started keeping a log of the cases in which they use the Stingray in the interest of transparency, Ray said. He blames police for the misconceptions surrounding the device, saying detectives have been so careful to protect their investigations that they have not adequately explained the Stingray to the public. One of the most controversial techniques does not involve the Stingray. The so-called Tower Dump is where police request serial numbers of all phones using a tower during a range of hours when a crime was committed. This technique is rarely used because carriers might charge $5,000 and the bill could reach $15,000 or $20,000 without pinpointing a suspect. “We don’t use it unless we have a violent offender where we can’t get a break,” Ray said. “There’s a very low success rate and it is very expensive to do.” He recalled a case in 2008 in which police were investigating a series of armed robberies at convenience stores and were able to use the Stingray to find the same phone number present at four of six incidents. Hopes of an arrest were dashed, however, when detectives realized the phone number belonged to a night-time cleaning crew hired to clean offices in the area. “We don’t rely on the box. It is just another tool” that is coupled with old fashioned police work, such as learning that the suspect in the Yuma sexual-assault case had relatives living in the house where the cellphone eventually was traced, Ray said.

Ex-recruiter gets jail for sex with Tucson girl

Ex-recruiter gets jail for sex with Tucson girl Associated Press Mon Dec 9, 2013 4:43 PM TUCSON — A former Army recruiter who worked in Tucson-area high schools has been sentenced to a year in jail for having sexual contact with a student. Pima County prosecutors say 30-year-old Matthew Troy Roberts also was sentenced Monday to six years of probation. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 18. The Arizona Daily Star (http://bit.ly/1bSpwiG) reports that a judge told Roberts that he could face prison if he violates the terms of his release following the jail sentence. Police and prosecutors built much of the case against Roberts on text exchanges he had with the 16-year-old girl. The victim’s stepmother says Roberts’ actions caused emotional harm to her stepdaughter and wrecked their familial relations.

NSA spying on virtual worlds, online games

Report: NSA spying on virtual worlds, online games Associated Press Mon Dec 9, 2013 3:15 PM LONDON — American and British intelligence operations have been spying on gamers across the world, media outlets reported, saying that the world’s most powerful espionage agencies sent undercover agents into virtual universes to monitor activity in online fantasy games such as “World of Warcraft.” Stories carried Monday by The New York Times, the Guardian, and ProPublica said U.S. and U.K. spies have spent years trawling online games for terrorists or informants. The stories, based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, offer an unusual take on America’s world-spanning surveillance campaign, suggesting that even the fantasy worlds popular with children, teens, and escapists of all ages aren’t beyond the attention of the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ. Virtual universes like “World of Warcraft” can be massively popular, drawing in millions of players who log months’ worth of real-world time competing with other players for online glory, virtual treasure, and magical loot. At its height, “World of Warcraft” boasted some 12 million paying subscribers, more than the population of Greece. Other virtual worlds, like Linden Labs’ “Second Life” or the various games hosted by Microsoft’s Xbox — home to the popular science fiction-themed shoot-em-up “Halo” — host millions more. Spy agencies have long worried that such games serve as a good cover for terrorists or other evildoers who could use in-game messaging systems to swap information. In one of the documents cited Monday by media outlets, the NSA warned that the games could give intelligence targets a place to “hide in plain sight.” Linden Labs and Microsoft Inc. did not immediately return messages seeking comment. In a statement, Blizzard Entertainment said that it is “unaware of any surveillance taking place. If it was, it would have been done without our knowledge or permission.” Microsoft issued a similar statement, saying it is “not aware of any surveillance activity. If it has occurred as reported, it certainly wasn’t done with our consent.” The 82-page-document, published on The New York Times’ website, also noted that opponents could use video games to recruit other users or carry out virtual weapons training — pointing to the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers as examples of terrorists who had used flight simulation software to hone their skills. Important details — such as how the agencies secured access to gamers’ data, how many players’ information was compromised, or whether Americans were swept up in the spying — were not clear, the Times and ProPublica said, but the reports point to a determined effort to infiltrate a world many people associate with adolescents and shut-ins. At the request of GCHQ, the NSA began extracting “World of Warcraft” data from its global intelligence haul, trying to tie specific accounts and characters to Islamic extremism and arms dealing efforts, the Guardian reported. Intelligence on the fantasy world could eventually translate to real-world espionage success, one of the documents suggested, noting that “World of Warcraft” subscribers included “telecom engineers, embassy drivers, scientists, the military and other intelligence agencies.” “World of Warcraft” wasn’t the only target. Another memo noted that GCHQ had “successfully been able to get the discussions between different game players on Xbox Live.” Meanwhile, so many U.S. spies were roaming around “Second Life” that a special “deconfliction” unit was set up to prevent them from stepping on each other’s toes. Blizzard Entertainment is part of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision Blizzard Inc.

7 LA sheriff’s deputies arrested in jail probe

7 LA sheriff’s deputies arrested in jail probe Associated Press Mon Dec 9, 2013 12:40 PM LOS ANGELES — At least seven current and former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were arrested Monday by the FBI as part of an ongoing investigation of inmate abuse in the nation’s largest jail system. A law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the arrests who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity confirmed the arrests of lower to mid-ranking deputies by federal agents. The official said no assistant sheriffs or undersheriff had been arrested. Federal authorities called a news conference Monday afternoon to announce criminal corruption and civil rights charges filed in the case. The FBI has been investigating allegations of excessive force and other misconduct at the county’s jails since at least 2011. The official said the arrests were related to the abuse of individuals in the jail system and also allegations that sheriff’s officials moved an FBI informant in the jails possibly to thwart their probe. Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said he was aware of an indictment but referred calls to the FBI. He said Sheriff Lee Baca would provide a comment later Monday afternoon. “We’ve cooperated fully with the FBI in their investigation and we’ll continue to do so,” Whitmore said. Baca has acknowledged mistakes to a county commission reviewing reports of brutality, but he has also defended his department and distanced himself personally from the allegations. He said he’s made improvements including creating a database to track inmate complaints. Baca has also hired a new head of custody and rearranged his command staff. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Sheriff’s Department in 2012 claiming the sheriff and his top commanders had condoned violence against inmates. The organization released a report documenting more than 70 cases of misconduct by deputies. Last month the county announced the appointment of veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor Max Huntsman to head a new office of inspector general that will oversee the Sheriff’s Department.

NM police officer in van shooting to appeal firing

NM police officer in van shooting to appeal firing Associated PressMon Dec 9, 2013 7:24 AM TAOS FE, N.M. — A New Mexico State Police officer who fired shots at a minivan full of children during a chaotic October traffic stop in Taos plans to appeal his firing. Attorneys for Elias Montoya say the veteran officer intends to file an appeal for wrongful termination. State Police Chief Pete Kassetas fired Montoya on Friday, one day after a disciplinary hearing. Video from a police cruiser’s dashboard camera taken during the Oct. 28 traffic stop has drawn national attention. It showed Montoya shooting at the minivan as a Memphis, Tenn., woman drove away from a traffic stop after an officer knocked out her van’s window with a baton. The motorist, 39-year-old Oriana Farrell, had been stopped by another State Police officer for speeding. She fled twice after that officer tried to give her a ticket and then arrest her.

The cops are listening to your encrypted phone calls????

By cracking cellphone code, NSA has capacity for decoding private conversations By Craig Timberg and Ashkan Soltani, Published: December 13 E-mail the writer The cellphone encryption technology used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public airwaves every day. While the military and law enforcement agencies long have been able to hack into individual cellphones, the NSA’s capability appears to be far more sweeping because of the agency’s global signals collection operation. The agency’s ability to crack encryption used by the majority of cellphones in the world offers it wide-ranging powers to listen in on private conversations. A look at how the NSA collects cell phone data and uses it to track individual suspects. A look at how the NSA collects cell phone data and uses it to track individual suspects. Snowden documents show agency is collecting billions of records on whereabouts of mobile devices. Click here to subscribe. U.S. law prohibits the NSA from collecting the content of conversations between Americans without a court order. But experts say that if the NSA has developed the capacity to easily decode encrypted cellphone conversations, then other nations likely can do the same through their own intelligence services, potentially to Americans’ calls, as well. Encryption experts have complained for years that the most commonly used technology, known as A5/1, is vulnerable and have urged providers to upgrade to newer systems that are much harder to crack. Most companies worldwide have not done so, even as controversy has intensified in recent months over NSA collection of cellphone traffic, including of such world leaders as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The extent of the NSA’s collection of cellphone signals and its use of tools to decode encryption are not clear from a top-secret document provided by former contractor Edward Snowden. But it states that the agency “can process encrypted A5/1” even when the agency has not acquired an encryption key, which unscrambles communications so that they are readable. Experts say the agency may also be able to decode newer forms of encryption, but only with a much heavier investment in time and computing power, making mass surveillance of cellphone conversations less practical. “At that point, you can still listen to any [individual person’s] phone call, but not everybody’s,” said Karsten Nohl, chief scientist at Security Research Labs in Berlin. The vulnerability outlined in the NSA document concerns encryption developed in the 1980s but still used widely by cellphones that rely on technology called second-generation (2G) GSM. It is dominant in most of the world but less so in the wealthiest nations, including the United States, where newer networks such as 3G and 4G increasingly provide faster speeds and better encryption, industry officials say. But even where such updated networks are available, they are not always used, because many phones often still rely on 2G networks to make or receive calls. More than 80 percent of cellphones worldwide use weak or no encryption for at least some of their calls, Nohl said. Hackers also can trick phones into using these less-secure networks, even when better ones are available. When a phone indicates a 3G or 4G network, a voice call might actually be carried over an older frequency and susceptible to decoding by the NSA. The document does not make clear if the encryption in another major cellphone technology — called CDMA and used by Verizon, Sprint and a small number of foreign companies — has been broken by the NSA as well. The document also does not specify whether the NSA can decode data flows from cellular devices, which typically are encrypted using different technology. The NSA has repeatedly stressed that its data collection efforts are aimed at overseas targets, whose legal protections are much lower than U.S. citizens’. When questioned for this story, the agency issued a statement, saying: “Throughout history nations have used encryption to protect their secrets, and today terrorists, cyber criminals, human traffickers and others also use technology to hide their activities. The Intelligence Community tries to counter that in order to understand the intent of foreign adversaries and prevent them from bringing harm to Americans and allies.” German news magazine Der Spiegel reported in October that a listening station atop the U.S. Embassy in Berlin allowed the NSA to spy on Merkel’s cellphone calls. It also reported that the NSA’s Special Collection Service runs similar operations from 80 U.S. embassies and other government facilities worldwide. These revelations — and especially reports about eavesdropping on the calls of friendly foreign leaders — have caused serious diplomatic fallouts for the Obama administration. Cellphone conversations long have been much easier to intercept than ones conducted on traditional telephones because the signals are broadcast through the air, making for easy collection. Police scanners and even some older televisions once were able to routinely pick up people talking on their cellphones, as a Florida couple did in 1996 when they recorded an overheard conversation involving then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Digital transmission and encryption have become almost universally available in the United States, and they are now standard throughout much of the world. Governments typically dictate what kind of encryption technology, if any, can be deployed by cellphone service providers. As a result, cellular communications in some nations, including China, feature weak encryption or none at all. A5/1 has been repeatedly cracked by researchers in demonstration projects for more than a decade. The encryption technology “was designed 30 years ago, and you wouldn’t expect a 30-year-old car to have the latest safety mechanisms,” said David Wagner, a computer scientist at the University of California at Berkeley. Collecting cellphone signals has become such a common tactic for intelligence, military and law enforcement work worldwide that several companies market devices specifically for that purpose. Some are capable of mimicking cell towers to trick individual phones into directing all communications to the interception devices in a way that automatically defeats encryption. USA Today reported Monday that at least 25 police departments in the United States own such devices, the most popular of which go by the brand name Harris StingRay. Experts say they are in widespread use by governments overseas, as well. Even more common, however, are what experts call “passive” collection devices, in which cell signals are secretly gathered by antennas that do not mimic cellphone towers or connect directly with individual phones. These systems collect signals that are then decoded in order for the content of the calls or texts to be understood by analysts. Matthew Blaze, a University of Pennsylvania cryptology expert, said the weakness of A5/1 encryption is “a pretty sweeping, large vulnerability” that helps the NSA listen to cellphone calls overseas and likely also allows foreign governments to listen to the calls of Americans. “If the NSA knows how to do this, presumably other intelligence agencies, which may be more hostile to the United States, have discovered how to do this, too,” he said. Journalists Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady reported in their 2013 book “Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry” that the FBI “has quietly removed from several Washington, D.C.- area cell phone towers, transmitters that fed all data to wire rooms at foreign embassies.” The FBI declined to comment on that report. Upgrading an entire network to better encryption provides substantially more privacy for users. Nohl, the German cryptographer, said that breaking a newer form of encryption, called A5/3, requires 100,000 times more computing power than breaking A5/1. But upgrading entire networks is an expensive, time-consuming undertaking that likely would cause interruptions in service for some customers as individual phones would be forced to switch to the new technology. Amid the uproar over NSA’s eavesdropping on Merkel’s phone, two of the leading German cellphone service providers have announced that they are adopting the newer, stronger A5/3 encryption for their 2G networks. They “are now doing it after not doing so for 10 years,” said Nohl, who long had urged such a move. “So, thank you, NSA.” One of those companies, Deutsche Telekom, is the majority shareholder of T-Mobile. T-Mobile said in a statement this week that it was “continuously implementing advanced security technologies in accordance with worldwide recognized and trusted standards” but declined to say whether it uses A5/3 technology or plans to do so for its 2G networks in the United States. AT&T, the largest provider of GSM cellphone services in the country, said it was deploying A5/3 encryption for parts of its network. “AT&T always protects its customers with the best encryption possible in line with what their device will support,” it said in a statement. The company already deploys stronger encryption on its 3G and 4G networks, but customers may still wind up using 2G networks in congested areas or places where fewer cell towers are available. Even with strong encryption, the protection exists only from a phone to the cell tower, after which point the communications are decrypted for transmission on a company’s internal data network. Interception is possible on those internal links, as The Washington Post reported last week. Leading technology companies, including Google and Microsoft, have announced plans in recent months to encrypt the links between their data centers to better protect their users from government surveillance and criminal hackers. Soltani is an independent security researcher and consultant. Follow The Post’s new tech blog, The Switch, where technology and policy connect.

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