Judge turns down plea from Chelsea King's family to keep records secret

A San Diego County judge Thursday turned down a plea from the family of murdered teenager Chelsea King to seal documents involving the police investigation and autopsy of their daughter.

Superior Court Judge David Danielsen also lifted the gag order that had kept lawyers and investigators from discussing the case with reporters.

The order, issued March 9,  was meant to insure a fair trial for registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III, who pleaded guilty last week to murdering King, 17, and Amber Dubois, 14. Under a plea  bargain, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

Gardner is set to be sentenced June 1 to life in prison without the chance of parole.

Brent and Kelly King sought to have the records sealed to prevent the family from suffering further trauma.

In a court document, Brent King said he and his wife are in psychiatric counseling and that his wife is taking medication. Their 13-year-old son, Tyler, has virtually dropped out of school and quit playing baseball as he struggles with the loss of his sister, Brent King said.

"I wake up every morning not wanting to wake up," Brent King said, adding that he is fighting to keep from being overwhelmed by rage, anger and guilt.

With every news story, he added, the family is "retraumatized, re-victimized and gravely saddened beyond description."

Another judge next week will consider whether to make public the search warrants used to look for evidence at Gardner's apartment and his mother's home. News organizations have gone to court seeking access to documents from the high-profile case.

Despite the judge's decision to lift the gag order, Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis said she and her staff members will honor the request of the victims' families not to discuss the case. Dumanis said she will urge members of other law enforcement agencies to also remain silent.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/judge-turned-down-plea-from-chelsea-kings-family-to-keep-records-secret.html#more

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Man accused of killing Hollywood family may have stalked mother

A man arrested in the slaying of a Hollywood family may have been obsessed with one of his victims, according to law enforcement sources.

Alberd Tersargyan of Los Angeles was taken into custody as detectives continue to investigate the mysterious killings. He told authorities he was in his 70s, but police believe he is 59.

He initially was detained on an unrelated charge, but police said they have evidence he is involved in the slaying that shocked the Little Armenia area, law enforcement sources told The Times.

In December 2008, a gunman burst into a Hollywood apartment and shot Khachik Safaryan and his 8-year-old daughter . Safaryan's 12-year-old daughter discovered the bodies later that day.

Eighteen months later, Safaryan's widow, Karine Hakobyan, 38 , was found slumped in her car with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, blocks away from the first crime scene. The daughter, once again, discovered the body.

After the killing of her father and sister, the girl drafted -- but never sent -- a letter to President Obama and other leaders, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, asking for help in solving the case and recounting how the loss changed her family.

"I am hoping that you, Mr. President, will find time to put pressure ... to solve the hideous murder of my beloved sister and father," she wrote. "I still see the bloody bodies of my sister and my father as I found them that day."

The suspect was charged Thursday in connection with Hakobyan's slaying.

LAPD Capt. Kevin McClure said police recovered a weapon.

McClure said police do not yet have a motive in the case, but sources familiar with the investigation say Tersargyan may have been obsessed with Hakobyan and was stalking her.

The family immigrated to the U.S. in 2003. Safaryan worked as a butcher in Hollywood, and his wife worked as a patient-care service aide at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Police have said they have no evidence the victims were involved in criminal activities in Armenia or the U.S.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/suspect-may-have-been-obsessed-with-wife-killed-with-other-family-in-hollywood-murders.html#more

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Hemet police are optimistic that arrests will provide new leads on attacks on officers

Hemet police said Thursday they are confident that raids earlier this week that led to the arrests of 23 people would help in identifying those responsible for potentially deadly attacks against police.

“We are getting close,” said Hemet Police Capt. David Brown, who released the names of those arrested. During Tuesday's raids at 35 locations across the Inland Empire, he said, investigators also seized 12 handguns, three rifles, numerous martial arts weapons, gas masks and drugs.

Sources have told The Times that investigators believe the attacks – including booby-trapping local police offices – were tied to a white supremacist gang with roots in the area.

Brown said the 23 arrests were on allegations unrelated to the attacks on the department and included 17 people arrested for felonies and six for misdemeanors. Six people were booked on weapons charges and 10 others were parolees.

Law enforcement officials have been cracking down on white supremacist gangs in the area in recent years. Experts who study hate groups said there are at least a dozen such groups operating in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Four members of a local skinhead gang known as the Comrades of our Racist Struggle Family are scheduled to be tried for attempted murder next month for the beating of a Latino man in November 2008.

The raids by local and federal law enforcement officials this week are the latest effort to solve the attacks directed at police, which began last year when a utility line was redirected to fill the local gang task force's offices with gas. Officials said a spark could have triggered a devastating explosion.

In February, a “zip gun” was hidden by the gate to the task force office and rigged to fire. When a gang officer opened the gate, the weapon went off and the bullet narrowly missed him, authorities said.

In early March, police said, a “dangerous” device was found near the unmarked car of a task force member. That was followed by an arson attack on four city code enforcement trucks on March 23.

Those arrested during the raids on suspicion of a felony included Joseph Zito, James Tielens Jr., James Tielens Sr., Ronald Potter, Patrick Nugent, Ryan Stobaugh, Jessie Reynolds, Darren McGraw, Christian Lewis, Anthony Ross, Rhonda Thomas, Derrick Yates, Alfred Morris, Sheri Dillon, Kelley Jackson, Brandon Garciduenas and Christopher Felber. Those arrested for misdemeanors include: Jon Felgen, Erin Kaiser, Ryan Gray, Keith Garron, Jarett Mejia and Chris Burton.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/hemet-police-are-optimistic-that-arrests-will-result-to-new-leads-into-attacks-on-police-.html#more

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Americans entering the arena

The need for Americans to enter public life has never been greater, as the nation faces recession, high unemployment rates and a huge deficit.

OPINION

by Bob Dole and Elizabeth Dole

April 23, 2010

One hundred years ago today — April 23, 1910 — Theodore Roosevelt strode into the Sorbonne in Paris. Thirteen months had passed since Roosevelt had turned over the White House to William Howard Taft, and the then-52-year-old former president was in the midst of a triumphant tour of Europe. The New York Times reported that when he took the platform to speak, "more than 3,000 people rose and cheered him again and again."

Roosevelt's speech was titled "Citizenship in a Republic," and he reflected on what he believed were the duties associated with living in a democracy. Over the course of time, however, his remarks have become widely known as the "Man in the Arena" speech, so named for a phrase contained in the following unforgettable passage:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Roosevelt's call to action is as inspiring today as it was a century ago. And, with the understanding that the term "man" refers to women as well, we write on this anniversary to suggest that his spirit of robust citizenship should be continually renewed.

Both of us have been privileged beyond measure to devote our careers to serving "in the arena." In our case, the arena has included the military, the legislative and executive branches, and the American Red Cross. But the arena to which Roosevelt referred is not limited to Washington; rather, it can be found in countless communities, and in countless opportunities, across the country.

As the college commencement season approaches and a new generation prepares to enter the workforce, on the 100th anniversary of Roosevelt's speech we encourage Americans of all political persuasions to consider entering the arena, whether through public service or volunteerism.

The need for Americans to enter the arena has never been greater. A stubborn recession, high unemployment rates and a staggering deficit are a few of the many pressing issues facing our nation. At the same time, it is no secret that an increasing number of people are disenchanted with all levels of government. In fact, at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, when Americans were asked, "Can you trust the government to do the right thing all or most of the time?" nearly 70% agreed.

The Pew Research Center conducted a survey, released this week, asking that same question. Just 22% of Americans said that they can trust the government almost always or most of the time, among the lowest measures in half a century. The Pew survey did contain a more encouraging number: 56% of respondents said that if they had a child just getting out of school, they would like to see him or her pursue a career in government.

As we pursued our careers, we often joined forces. One of the most memorable experiences of our lives was walking through the Gdansk shipyards with Lech Walesa in the early days following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The future Polish president's Solidarity movement had led Poland to freedom and democracy. We talked of the history being written by the courageous citizens of his country. With a smile, Walesa told us the definition of a communist economic enterprise: "100 workers standing around a single shovel." Then he added, "What Poland needs is 100 shovels."

Because of the recent tragic loss of so many of Poland's leaders, including President Lech Kaczynski, we have been thinking a lot about that conversation and our work with those early Polish leaders. Walesa was talking about men and women who had no role to play in their economy or their nation, their destinies decided not by individual efforts but by an all-powerful government. In short, the arena was closed to them.

It was just a little over a century before Roosevelt's speech when we too were governed by absentee landlords who refused to allow us a voice in our own destiny. Our voice was gained and our destiny was changed by a group of patriots who met in Philadelphia in 1776.

The world has turned over many times since then. Freedom has endured because when everybody counts, individuals are inspired to strive valiantly and achieve great heights. Indeed, America has and will succeed because, not without error, men and women of great devotions and worthy causes are willing to step into the arena.

Bob Dole, the 1976 Republican nominee for vice president and the nominee for president in 1996, was a U.S. senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996. Elizabeth Dole was secretary of Transportation and a member of the White House staff in the Reagan administration, secretary of Labor in the George H.W. Bush administration, a U.S. senator from North Carolina and president of the American Red Cross.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-dole-20100423,0,1664880,print.story

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U.S. targets an American abroad

Should the executive branch be allowed to put a citizen on a CIA death list without judicial review?

OPINION

by Vicki Divoll

April 23, 2010

According to media reports, the United States has taken the apparently unprecedented step of authorizing the "targeted killing" of one of its citizens outside a war zone — though the government has not officially acknowledged it.

Unnamed intelligence and counter-terrorism sources told reporters that the Obama administration had added Anwar al Awlaki, a Muslim cleric born in New Mexico, to the CIA list of suspected terrorists who may be captured or killed. Awlaki, believed to be in hiding in Yemen, has been linked to Nidal Malik Hasan, the Ft. Hood, Texas, shooter, and to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian charged with trying to blow up an airliner in December.

The reports indicate that the administration had concluded Awlaki had taken on an operational role in terrorist attacks. His addition to the CIA list shouldn't "surprise anyone," according to one anonymous U.S. official quoted in the New York Times.

It is surprising, however. As a matter of U.S. law, had the administration wanted merely to listen to Awlaki's cellphone conversations or read his e-mails, it would have needed to check with another branch of government — the judiciary. But to target him for death, the executive branch appears to have acted alone.

It adds up to this: Awlaki's right to privacy exceeds his right to life.

Since when has the fate of an American citizen — his privacy, his liberty, his life — rested solely within the hands of the executive branch of government?

Under our Constitution, life, liberty and property cannot be taken from us without due process of law. Due process means very different things in different contexts, but it usually involves judges. If the state wants to take your land for public use, it can, but you are entitled to a judicial hearing on its value. If the government wants to listen to your phones, the police must seek a warrant from a judge. If your government detains you, you are entitled to seek a judicial hearing on the lawfulness of your detention.

And if you are to be punished for your actions by death, the decision is made in court, after a trial that determines your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and a second trial that determines that you deserve the ultimate punishment.

In our system, even if we sometimes fail, we try to get it right before we take the life of a fellow citizen. To do that we need process and we need judges.

Of course, the Constitution is primarily a territorial document. It does not apply to foreign people in foreign countries. But it protects everyone inside the United States, both citizens and foreigners, even undocumented foreigners. It is unclear, however, which of our rights as U.S. citizens travel with us when we go overseas. Because the government hasn't been in the habit of taking away the rights of its citizens while they are abroad, there haven't been a lot of legal tests of the question. And so far, the Supreme Court has never ruled on whether constitutional guarantees prevent the government from killing its citizens abroad.

But we don't have to rely solely on the high court for an answer. It has been the job of Congress for 220 years to pass laws that pick up where the Constitution leaves off in order to protect American citizens from the excesses of government. In 1978, Congress passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, going beyond the 4th Amendment by requiring the executive to seek a judicial order before conducting electronic surveillance on individuals inside the United States to collect foreign intelligence. In 2008, FISA was amended to require a judicial order for conducting surveillance on citizens when they are overseas too.

In advocating for that amendment, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) got to the heart of the issue: "No matter where an American is in the world," he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed, "it always means something to be an American."

Which brings us back to Awlaki and his right as a U.S. citizen not to be killed by his own government.

If Congress is willing to protect our cellphone conversations, it should be willing to protect our lives. The legislative branch should again step up and pass a law requiring judicial review of decisions to put Americans on a CIA death list. Even in an election year, it is not "soft" to require judges to take a hard look at whether the executive is getting it right.

Vicki Divoll is a former general counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a former assistant general counsel for the CIA. She teaches U.S. government and constitutional development at the U.S. Naval Academy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-divoll-20100423,0,4456561,print.story

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From the Daily News

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New US weapon is being planned

WASHINGTON — In coming years, President Barack Obama will decide whether to deploy a new class of weapons capable of reaching anywhere on Earth from the United States in less than an hour and with such accuracy and force that they would greatly diminish America's reliance on its nuclear arsenal.

Yet even now, concerns about the technology are so strong that the Obama administration has acceded to a demand by Russia that the United States would decommission one nuclear missile for every one of these conventional weapons fielded by the Pentagon. That provision, the White House said, is buried deep inside the New START treaty that Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed two weeks ago in Prague.

Called Prompt Global Strike, the new weapon is designed to carry out tasks like picking off Osama bin Laden in a cave, if the right one could be found; taking out a North Korean missile while it is being rolled to the launching pad; or destroying an Iranian nuclear site - all without crossing the nuclear threshold. In theory, the weapon will hurl a conventional warhead of enormous weight at high speed and with pinpoint accuracy, generating the localized destructive power of a nuclear warhead.

The idea is not new: President George W. Bush and his staff promoted the technology, imagining that this new generation of conventional weapons would replace nuclear warheads on submarines.

In face-to-face meetings with Bush, Russian leaders complained that the technology could increase the risk of a nuclear war because Russia would not know if the missiles carried nuclear warheads or conventional ones. Bush and his aides concluded that the Russians were right.

Partly as a result, the idea "really hadn't gone anywhere in the Bush administration," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has served both presidents, said recently on ABC's "This Week." But he added that it was "embraced by the new administration."

Obama alluded to the concept in a recent interview with The New York Times, saying it was part of an effort "to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons" while ensuring "that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances."

The Obama national security team scrapped the idea of putting the new conventional weapon on submarines. Instead, the White House has asked Congress for about $250 million next year to explore a new alternative, one that uses some of the most advanced technology in the military today as well as some not yet even invented.

The final price of the system remains unknown. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a hearing Thursday that Prompt Global Strike would be "essential and critical, but also costly."

It would be based, at least initially, on the West Coast, probably at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Fast and accurate missile

Under the Obama plan, the Prompt Global Strike warhead would be mounted on a long-range missile to start its journey toward a target. It would travel through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, generating so much heat that it would have to be shielded with special materials to avoid melting. (In that regard, it is akin to the problem that confronted designers of the space shuttle decades ago.)

But since the vehicle would remain within the atmosphere rather than going into space, it would be far more maneuverable than a ballistic missile, capable of avoiding the airspace of neutral countries, for example, or steering clear of hostile territory. Its designers note that it could fly straight up the middle of the Persian Gulf before making a sharp turn toward a target.

The Pentagon hopes to deploy an early version of the system by 2014 or 2015. But even under optimistic timetables, a complete array of missiles, warheads, sensors and control systems is not expected to enter the arsenal until 2017 to 2020, after Obama will have left office, even if he is elected to a second term.

The planning for Prompt Global Strike is being headed by Gen. Kevin P. Chilton of the Air Force, the top officer of the military's Strategic Command and the man in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. In the Obama era - where every administration discussion of nuclear weapons takes note of Obama's commitment to moving toward "Global Zero," the elimination of the nuclear arsenal - the new part of Chilton's job is to talk about conventional alternatives.

In an interview at his headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base, Chilton described how the conventional capability offered by the proposed system would give the president more choices.

"Today, we can present some conventional options to the president to strike a target anywhere on the globe that range from 96 hours, to several hours maybe, four, five, six hours," Chilton said.

Alleviating nuclear fears

That would simply not be fast enough, he noted, if intelligence arrived about a movement by al-Qaida terrorists or the imminent launching of a missile. "If the president wants to act on a particular target faster than that, the only thing we have that goes faster is a nuclear response," he said.

But the key to filling that gap would be to make sure that Russia and China, among other nuclear powers, understood that the missile launching they saw on their radar screens did not signal the start of a nuclear attack, officials said.

Under the administration's new concept, Russia or other nations would regularly inspect the Prompt Global Strike silos to assure themselves that the weapons were non-nuclear. And they would be placed in locations far from the strategic nuclear force.

"Who knows if we would ever deploy it?" Gary Samore, Obama's top adviser on unconventional weapons, said at a conference in Washington on Wednesday. But he noted that Russia was already so focused on the possibility that it insisted that any conventional weapon mounted on a missile that could reach it counted against the new limit on the American arsenal in the treaty.

In a follow-on treaty, he said, the Russians would certainly want to negotiate on Prompt Global Strike and ballistic missile defenses.

If Obama does decide to deploy the system, Samore said, the number of weapons would be small enough that Russia and China would not fear that they could take out their nuclear arsenals.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14940487

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Calif. bill would boost online privacy for minors

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The state Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would prohibit social networking sites from posting certain personal information about minors in California.

The bill would require the sites to remove the option allowing users to publicly post their home address or phone number if users say they are under 18. The measure passed 25-4 and now moves to the Assembly.

The bill's author, Democratic Sen. Ellen Corbett of San Leandro, says the legislation will increase protections against sexual predators and identity theft.

"Anyone with children, grandchildren or who are just concerned about a minor's well-being knows that it is all too possible for them to be victimized by information that they unknowingly allow to escape onto the Internet," Corbett said.

A 2005 study by the Polly Klaas Foundation found that young people frequently engage in risky behavior online. One in 10 children between the ages of 8 and 12 said they communicate with strangers on the Web, the study found, while more than half of teens ages 13 to 18 said they have used instant messaging features to chat with strangers.

Social networking sites that knowingly violate Corbett's bill could face fines of up to $10,000.

However, privacy advocates note that site operators can only act based on the information a user provides and cannot be sure of a user's true age.

"This is a problem that's encountered in many arenas where an individual falsely represents himself as being an adult," said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy for the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. "I don't know of any solution that currently exists."

Stephens said he believes most young people accurately state their age on sites such as Facebook and MySpace because they use those services mainly to communicate with their peers.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14937719

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From the New York Times

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One-Fourth of Nonprofits Are to Lose Tax Breaks

As many as 400,000 nonprofit organizations are weeks away from a doomsday.

At midnight on May 15, an estimated one-fifth to one-quarter of some 1.6 million charities, trade associations and membership groups will lose their tax exemptions, thanks to a provision buried in a 2006 federal bill aimed at pension reform.

“It's going to be an unholy mess once these organizations realize what's happened to them,” said Diana Aviv , president of the Independent Sector, a nonprofit trade group.

The federal legislation passed in 2006 required all nonprofits to file tax forms the following year. Previously, only organizations with revenues of $25,000 or more — or the vast majority of nonprofit groups — had to file.

The new law, embedded in the 393 pages of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, also directed the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax exemptions of groups that failed to file for three consecutive years. Three years have passed, and thus the deadline looms.

Bill Solomon, who founded Titan Youth Development in Brooklyn to provide after-school youth sports programs, first learned about the law when a reporter called to inquire about his organization's status. The charity received its tax exemption in 2005 — but it did not start operations until last year.

“It was merged with another nonprofit — or I guess more like operated under the other nonprofit,” Mr. Solomon said. “I let this one be dormant for a while.”

He said Titan had brought in about $100,000 in revenue in 2009 through fees for service and private donations, so although he did not know about the law, he has an accountant working to prepare tax forms.

The I.R.S. has long complained it lacks adequate data on nonprofit groups because so many of them did not file tax forms. Without basic facts about organizations, the agency has little chance of overseeing one of the most generous tax breaks the federal government offers.

Donors, whose appetite for information about nonprofit groups has increased exponentially in recent years, also struggle, said Robert G. Ottenhoff, who runs GuideStar , an online database of nonprofit tax forms and analysis that many donors rely on. “This is a good thing for the nonprofit sector, even though it will no doubt create a hardship for a pretty significant number of organizations,” Mr. Ottenhoff said.

Ms. Aviv agreed, though she said she wished Congress had asked the I.R.S. to suspend, rather than revoke, the exemptions of nonprofits that miss the deadline.

“We need some way of tracking organizations,” she said. “The system we have right now gives you no real idea of who's in and who's not — and how can you manage a system if you don't know who's in or out of it?”

The I.R.S. would rather not revoke exemptions, either, and it has made a Herculean effort to let organizations at risk know it. For example, in 2007, it sent 665,000 letters to nonprofit groups that fell below the $25,000 threshold and those above that level that had not filed.

Lois G. Lerner, director of the exempt organizations division of the I.R.S, said that while groups would lose their exemptions effective May 16, the I.R.S. would probably not send out notices until January to give nonprofits a chance to bring themselves into compliance with the law. Donors to affected groups will be able to take a deduction for gifts until formal notification is received by the recipient organization.

Small organizations are the most likely to be hit. Experts say it is likely that many of them are inactive and were unaware of the requirement that they inform the I.R.S. when they closed their doors.

“We are moving very cautiously,” Ms. Lerner said. “The last thing we want to do is revoke the exemption of someone who has already filed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23exempt.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Connecticut Town Grapples With Claims of Police Bias

Since 2008, officials in East Haven, Conn., a working-class suburb with a long history of toxic relations between the police and minorities, have played down Latinos' complaints of accelerating police harassment and brutality.

Local officials appeared unperturbed when the Justice Department opened a rare investigation last fall into allegations of discriminatory policing in the town and Yale law students went to court to force the release of police records. The police chief denied any bias and blamed any problems on the failure of federal immigration policy. The mayor said she was unaware of any racial discrimination and supported the police.

But in recent days, the town seemed to have turned an unexpected corner.

In an unusual step, the Justice Department warned the town attorney in a letter on April 15 that its preliminary review showed the Police Department was a shambles, with no modern rules of conduct for officers, no check on their use of force, inadequate training and no functioning citizen complaint system.

On Wednesday, the mayor, April Capone Almon, backed by a quick and unanimous vote of the police commission board, ordered the veteran police chief, Leonard Gallo, to turn in his badge and gun, placing him on administrative leave .

And on Thursday, just as the Yale students completed a damning analysis of recent traffic tickets — almost 60 percent went to people with Hispanic surnames, who make up about 6 percent of the town's population — a different revelation became an Internet sensation. Weeks earlier, the mayor had donated a kidney to Carlos Sanchez , a local office worker she barely knew.

If that gesture might someday be remembered as a turning point in the town's troubled relations with its Hispanic population, Mayor Capone Almon maintained that she had never thought of it as a way to build bridges.

“He was just a person who needed help,” said the mayor, who has recovered from the operation on April 8. She was bracing for a round of national television and radio interviews about her organ donation to Mr. Sanchez, who had posted an appeal on Facebook .

To Valarie Kaur, one of the law students who prepared the complaint to the Justice Department and battled for police documents under the Freedom of Information Act, the spotlight on the town was a chance to highlight the larger issues at stake.

“This is a promising moment for East Haven,” she said. “In the midst of a national debate on policing and immigration, East Haven has the opportunity to lead by example — to change the culture of the Police Department, enforce the law and protect all its residents.”

The mayor, who was arrested in September after she tried to stop a police officer from towing cars at the beach, would not say whether her decision to put the police chief on leave with pay was a first step in changing the department's culture.

Instead, she pointed to the statement she made when she released the Justice Department's letter: “My concern is how to prevent this from exposing the town to liability, which would ultimately cost taxpayers money.”

A Democrat who was re-elected to a second term in November, Ms. Capone Almon said she had not changed her views on the town's Hispanic community, which has nearly quadrupled in the past two decades to about 1,900 people, according to census estimates.

“I have a wonderful relationship with the Hispanic community,” she said. “The Hispanic community has concerns with other departments in town, and I have done my best to remedy that situation.”

Along Main Street on Thursday, there were conflicting opinions about her action. George Jennett, 63, a livery driver, seemed to waver between sympathy for the mayor and support for police efforts to catch drivers without licenses or registration. “I don't see it as racial profiling,” he said.

But many Hispanic residents, including citizens and legal residents with businesses on Main Street, have reported being pulled over while driving or being accosted in parked cars by police, apparently because of their appearance. And the law students' data, analyzed by statisticians at Yale, support that perception.

To combat racial profiling, Connecticut law requires police officers to report the race or ethnicity of those they ticket or arrest. But officers mischaracterized the race or ethnicity of the vast majority of those they stopped and gave tickets, the report said. They checked off “Hispanic” or “White/Hispanic” for 22 of the 373 legible tickets, but reported nearly all as “White.”

In fact, of all 376 traffic tickets issued on Main Street and Route 80 from June 2008 to February 2009, 210 — or 56 percent — were given to people with Hispanic surnames, the report found. One officer issued nearly 80 percent of his tickets to people with Hispanic surnames, yet reported that nearly 97 percent went to whites.

The Justice Department is investigating traffic stops that allegedly turned into brutal encounters , some involving the use of Tasers or pepper spray on handcuffed Latinos. It is also looking at complaints of retaliation against those who publicly complained.

Marcia Chacon, a parishioner at St. Rose of Lima Church, was one of the first to speak out last spring after her pastor, the Rev. James Manship, was arrested at her store on Main Street as he tried to videotape a police visit. Afterward, she said, patrol cars waited outside the store; officers stopped her and her husband as they tried to drive home.

Now, she feels vindicated. “I feel happy and content that justice is being done,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/nyregion/23haven.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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For Web's New Wave, Sharing Details Is the Point

SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Brooks wants the whole Web to know that he spent $41 on an iPad case at an Apple store, $24 eating at an Applebee's , and $6,450 at a Florida plastic surgery clinic for nose work.

Too much information, you say? On the Internet, there seems to be no such thing. A wave of Web start-ups aims to help people indulge their urge to divulge — from sites like Blippy , which Mr. Brooks used to broadcast news of what he bought, to Foursquare , a mobile social network that allows people to announce their precise location to the world, to Skimble , an iPhone application that people use to reveal, say, how many push-ups they are doing and how long they spend in yoga class.

Not that long ago, many were leery of using their real names on the Web, let alone sharing potentially embarrassing personal details about their shopping and lifestyle habits. But these start-ups are exploiting a mood of online openness, despite possible hidden dangers.

“People are not necessarily thinking about how long this information will stick around, or how it could be used and exploited by marketers,” said Chris Conley, a technology and civil liberties fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union .

The spirit of sharing has already run into some roadblocks. Amazon.com was so wary of the security ramifications of Blippy's idea of letting consumers post everything they bought that, for several months, it blocked the site from allowing people to publish their Amazon purchases.

In March, Blippy sidestepped Amazon by asking its customers for access to their Gmail accounts, and then took the purchase data from the receipts Amazon had e-mailed them. Blippy says thousands of its users have supplied the keys to their e-mail accounts; Amazon declined to comment.

There is no way to quantify the number of these start-ups, but they are the rage among venture capitalists. Although some doubt whether the sites will gain true mainstream popularity — and whether they will make any money — the entrepreneurs involved think they are on to something.

Blippy, which opened last fall, was the first site to introduce the notion of publishing credit card and other purchases. Last month it attracted around 125,000 visitors and closed an investment round of $11 million from venture capitalists. It hopes to one day make money by, among other things, taking a commission when people are inspired to imitate their friends' purchases posted on the site.

The people behind Swipely , a site soon to arrive and similar to Blippy, are also optimistic.

“We will help people discover a great restaurant or movie through their friends and make it easy to recommend their own purchases,” said Angus Davis, 32, a veteran of Netscape and Microsoft who is testing Swipely with a limited group of users. “I really believe that the lens of your friends is fast becoming the most powerful way to discover things on the Internet.”

Mr. Brooks, a 38-year-old consultant for online dating Web sites, seems to be a perfect customer. He publishes his travel schedule on Dopplr . His DNA profile is available on 23andMe . And on Blippy, he makes public everything he spends with his Chase Mastercard, along with his spending at Netflix , iTunes and Amazon.com .

“It's very important to me to push out my character and hopefully my good reputation as far as possible, and that means being open,” he said, dismissing any privacy concerns by adding, “I simply have nothing to hide.”

This new world owes its origin to the rampant sharing of photos, résumés and personal news bites on services like Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter , which have acclimated people to broadcasting even the most mundane aspects of their lives.

To Silicon Valley's deep thinkers, this is all part of one big trend: People are becoming more relaxed about privacy, having come to recognize that publicizing little pieces of information about themselves can result in serendipitous conversations — and little jolts of ego gratification.

DailyBooth , founded in London but moving to San Francisco, asks users to publish a photograph of themselves every day. “It's the richest and quickest way to share how you are doing and what you are feeling,” said Brian Pokorny, a Silicon Valley investor who recently became the company's chief executive.

While the over-30 set might recoil from this type of activity, young people do not seem to mind. The site, which gets around 300,000 visitors a month, according to the online research company Compete.com , appears to be largely populated with enthusiastically exhibitionist teenagers.

Still, only two years ago, Facebook members rebelled when the site introduced its notorious Beacon service, which published members' online transactions back to the site — essentially the same concept as Blippy and Swipely.

A decade ago, Dennis Crowley was trying to get people to share information about their geographic location with a service called Dodgeball. For years, he said, he faced a barrage of questions about why anyone would want an update on where someone was having a beer.

“After we sold the company to Google and they shut it down, we left those questions to Twitter, and they did a great job of answering them,” said Mr. Crowley, who went on to create Foursquare, which Silicon Valley venture capitalists are competing to finance. “This kind of sharing makes people feel connected to each other,” he said.

But there is the worry about identity theft .

“Ten years ago, people were afraid to buy stuff online. Now they're sharing everything they buy,” said Barry Borsboom, a student at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who this year created an intentionally provocative site called Please Rob Me . The site collected and published Foursquare updates that indicated when people were out socializing — and therefore away from their homes.

“Times are changing, and most people might not know where the dangers lie,” Mr. Borsboom said.

The business plans for these start-ups are no sure thing, either.

“These companies are betting they take this data, monetize it or resell it,” said John Borthwick, an entrepreneur based in New York who advises companies like DailyBooth and Hot Potato, which lets people share plans and experiences of live events. “But the assumption that every scrap of data is actually useful to individuals, or even companies, will be tested.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/technology/23share.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Immigration Statistics

New Releases

Refugees and Asylees: 2009
( PDF, 6 pages - 335 KB )
This report presents information on the number and characteristics of persons admitted as refugees or granted asylum to the United States in fiscal year 2009.

Data on Refugees and Asylees
( web page )
Access data on persons admitted as refugees or granted asylum in fiscal year 2009 by several characteristics.

Naturalizations in the United States: 2009
( PDF, 4 pages - 320 KB )
This report presents information on the number and characteristics of foreign nationals who became American citizens during fiscal year 2009.

Data on Naturalizations
( web page )
Access data on persons who became American citizens in fiscal year 2009 by country of birth, state of residence, and other characteristics.

U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2009
( PDF, 6 pages - 401 KB )
This report provides information on the number and characteristics of persons who became legal permanent residents during fiscal year 2009.

Data on Legal Permanent Residents
( web page )
Access data on immigrants who became legal permanent residents in fiscal year 2009 by class of admission, country of birth, state of residence, and other characteristics.

The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks and Overseas Travel to the United States: Initial Impacts and Longer-Run Recovery
( PDF, 13 pages - 988 KB )
This Working Paper examines whether the initial decline and eventual recovery of overseas travel to the United States during the post-9/11 period varied according to sending countries' participation in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009
( PDF, 8 pages - 292 KB )
This report provides estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population residing in the United States as of January 2009 for periods of entry and leading countries of birth and states of residence.

Estimates of the Legal Permanent Resident Population in 2008
( PDF, 4 pages – 326 KB )
This report provides estimates of the legal permanent resident population and population eligible to naturalize as of January 2008.

http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/immigration.shtm

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From ICE

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ICE agents seize $8 million helicopter planned for illegal shipment to Iran

ARLINGTON, Texas - Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday seized a Bell helicopter with an estimated value of $8 million that was destined for shipment to Iran in violation of trade sanctions.

Federal agents had first grounded the helicopter in its Arlington, Texas, hangar in December. The aircraft is owned by the Italian company Tiber Aviation.

U.S. Federal District Judge John McBryde, Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, signed the civil arrest warrant to seize the aircraft.

"This case shows how U.S. export laws help protect this country by preventing others from using our own technology against us," said John Chakwin Jr., special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Dallas. "ICE acts as one of the prime enforcers of export laws."

Exporting aircraft components and other goods to Iran without obtaining licenses from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) violates the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

This is an ongoing joint investigation by ICE and the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1004/100416arlington.htm

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From the FBI

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CRIME FROM BEHIND BARS The Case of the Con Turned Con Artist 04/22/10 He was already in jail for fraud and other crimes, yet he managed to lead a massive, two-year identity theft and bribery scheme that earned him a separate 309-year prison sentence—more than twice that of crooked financier Bernie Madoff, and reportedly the fourth-longest in the history of U.S. white-collar crime. His name is Robert Thompson, and his story is an eye-opening one for consumers and businesses who take the risk of sharing personal information over the telephone.

It began in a Louisiana state prison , where Thompson began stealing a raft of personal information—dates of birth, social security numbers, bank account numbers, credit cards numbers, etc.—from more than 61 individuals, churches, financial institutions, and businesses. That information enabled him to steal from the victims' bank accounts and use their credit to buy big-ticket items—like appliances, cell phones, and big-screen TVs. He even attempted to purchase a luxury SUV. Most of these items ended up with his partners in crime—accomplices inside and outside prison.

The ruses: Thompson used various methods to gather personal information, but one of his tried-and-true ploys involved calling a bank and pretending to be an elderly stroke victim who had been hospitalized. “I don't have my checkbook with me and need access to my bank account,” he would claim. Most banks didn't fall for it, but some did. Thompson also called individual victims directly—sometimes saying he was a state trooper who needed to verify personal details after an identity theft arrest.

The operation: Thompson initially made his calls on prison phones. Knowing he could only make collect calls—in accordance with prison rules—he had his outside accomplices obtain three-way calling services on their personal phones, accept collect calls from Thompson, and dial whatever number he wanted. Since many of the calls were long-distance, he also contacted phone companies—using a phony identity—and had those calls charged to the accounts of various churches.

Eventually, prison officials got wind from us of what Thompson was doing, and he was transferred to a special lockdown area in order to keep him away from the phones. But he paid a $10,000 bribe to a corrections officer assigned to his cell block to use the officer's personal cell phone. So his shenanigans continued.

Thompson also had his accomplices—including a former guard he met at another prison—withdraw money from the phony bank accounts he had set up, pick up merchandise he had ordered, and/or let their home addresses be the delivery points. 

The FBI entered the picture in mid-2006 after being contacted by a car dealership that had $50,000 stolen from its bank account. After an extensive investigation, we identified Thompson as the culprit. At least eight of his co-conspirators also have been charged as part of the overall investigation, which was worked closely with state and local law enforcement and corrections officials. 

But old habits die hard—after pleading guilty and expressing remorse for his crimes during a 2009 court appearance, Thompson was back working the phones the very next week. The judge had little sympathy during Thompson's sentencing.

The case is a lesson for us all.   “Be crime smart” when it comes to sharing personal information—yours or someone else's. Don't give it out over the telephone unless you have verified the identity of the caller.

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/april10/con_042210.html

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From the ATF

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Joint Investigation Results in Littleton Man's Federal Arrest for Possession of Stolen Machine Guns and for Possession of Explosives, Destructive Devices DENVER, Colo. — U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado David Gaouette, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) Special Agent in Charge Marvin G. Richardson, and Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman announced the indictment of Andrew Thomas Gunzner, age 21, of Littleton, Colo., for possession of stolen machine guns and destructive devices. Gunzner, who is in state custody, will be transferred to federal custody on a future date.

According to the indictment, on or before March 17, 2010, Gunzner did knowingly and unlawfully possess a Heckler & Koch, model MP -5, 9 mm machine gun. On March 16, 2010, Gunzner allegedly possessed an Olympic Arms .223 caliber rifle that contained a machine gun auto sear. Also on or about March 16, 2010, Gunzner stole firearms from the inventory of Prairie Arms Manufacturing, a federal firearms licensee, located in Littleton. Lastly, Gunzner did knowingly and unlawfully possess destructive devices.

Gunzner faces two counts of possession of a machine gun, which carries a penalty of not more than 10 years in federal prison, and a fine of up to $250,000. He also faces one count of theft from a federal firearms licensee, which carries a penalty of not more than 10 years imprisonment, and a fine of up to $250,000. Lastly, he faces one count of possession of a destructive device, which also carries a penalty of not more than 10 years incarceration, as well as a fine of up to $10,000.

According to state records, on March 17, 2010, at approximately 2:35 a.m., Gunzner was observed driving a silver Jeep Cherokee with red overhead emergency lights and siren activated. During the vehicle stop Denver Police officers found firearms, including a machine gun. During the investigation it was discovered that some of the firearms were stolen from Prairie Arms Manufacturing in Littleton, where Gunzner was employed. On April 7, 2010, ATF agents and Task Force Officers executed a state search warrant, recovering another machine gun and unregistered destructive devices. An ATF explosives enforcement officer responded to the scene and recovered all the explosive materials and rendered them safe.

This joint investigation illustrates how quick thinking, good police work, and strong law enforcement partnerships can bring potentially dangerous individuals to justice said Richardson praising the strong partnership between ATF and the Denver Police Department.

Our officers acted courageously and then astutely observed that this was not just a routine traffic stop. Working with our ATF task force partners critical leads were developed in which led to the recovery and removal of dangerous weapons from our community, Whitman said.

This case was investigated by the Denver Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ( ATF ) and the Denver Police Department.

Gun and explosive cases are investigated and prosecuted as a part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods ( PSN ) initiative. This coordinated initiative targets gun and gang violence in Colorado communities. The PSN Task Force in Denver includes members from the Aurora, Denver, and Lakewood Police Departments, as well as Jefferson County deputies, and ATF Special Agents who work in partnership with U.S. Attorney's Office.

Gunzner is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan T. Bergsieker. Any identified individuals that have been arrested and/or charged with a criminal violation, and the circumstances surrounding their arrests are allegations and are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/04/042110-denv-littleton-man-arrested-on-firearms-explosives.html

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