~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Los Angeles Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chile rejoices as all 33 miners are rescued

'You brought your shift out like a good captain,' Chilean President Sebastian Pinera tells Luis Urzua, who was the last miner to surface, ending a 69-day ordeal. The six rescuers who descended are also out.

By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times

October 14, 2010

Reporting from Copiapo, Chile

Chile freed the last of 33 miners from imprisonment nearly half a mile underground late Wednesday, the miracle of a second chance at life made real by the methodical shuttle of a battered red, white and blue rescue capsule willed on by a joyful nation and global audience of hundreds of millions.

When 54-year-old foreman Luis Urzua emerged at 9:55 p.m. from the 28-inch-diameter hole that curved deep into the San Jose mine, it had been 69 days since the miners were trapped, 52 days since they were able to declare to the world that they were still alive — but less than 22 hours since the first miner had resurfaced.

"You brought your shift out like a good captain," Chilean President Sebastian Pinera told Urzua, beaming as he gripped the arms of the burly miner who had organized his men for survival during the first crucial hours after they were trapped. "All of Chile shared your anguish and hope."

The president, the foreman and rescue workers then joined in a rousing rendition of Chile's national anthem. With all of the miners safe, jubilation also broke out in the main square of Copiapo, the state capital 40 miles from the mine and home to most of the miners. More than 3,000 people crowded the plaza to watch the final rescue on giant TV monitors.

Just a couple of hours after Urzua reached the surface, the last of six medics and engineers who had descended into the shaft to assist the miners was seen on video from below, waving and taking a bow before being lifted out. He left the lights on.

Much of the world had been transfixed by the rescue. Two thousand news reporters had crammed into the mining camp. The government used earthmovers to create parking spaces for the cars, campers and satellite trucks that converged on this desolate spot about 500 miles north of the Chilean capital, Santiago, to cover each rescue, one after the other, in what turned out to be a seamless operation captured from every angle on state television.

The first miners were pulled to safety just after midnight Tuesday, delivered into the waiting arms of ecstatic family members, engineers and officials.

"We have lived a magical night, a night we will remember throughout our lives, a night in which life defeated death," Pinera said early Wednesday.

As daylight broke, the pace quickened — each miner's emergence unleashing a new wave of raw emotion. What only hours earlier seemed magical, however, also became routine.

One after another, ordinary men, united in an incredible tale of survival and distinguished by each one's unique skills and story, returned.

The 55-year-old miner who led a prayer group followed the 26-year-old former security guard who helped manage packages sent down to the miners. The one who while trapped asked his wife of 25 years to renew their wedding vows was followed by the one who went underground to pay for his son's medical school. The miner colleagues referred to as "Dr. House" after the TV character preceded the one who monitored gas levels in the pit and sent readings to the surface.

Officials said initial indications were that the men were in remarkably good health.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said that only one of the 17 miners who had reached the Copiapo Regional Hospital by that point showed any symptoms of a serious illness.

That miner, who was not identified, was suffering from pneumonia, a condition that had been diagnosed remotely while he was still underground. Doctors were prepared and had already begun to treat him, Manalich said.

Ophthalmologist Luis Salinas said that initial examinations showed no apparent eye damage from weeks of no sunlight, contrary to the fears of medical experts.

Otherwise, the miners' health so far was "more than satisfactory," Manalich said, adding that the first ones to be rescued would probably be discharged from the hospital starting Thursday afternoon.

He said there were tentative plans for a news conference with most, if not all, of the miners in a few days to share their experiences.

"I think it would be good for them that the entire nation sees them at the start of this new phase of life that they are starting," Manalich said.

As the full dimension of the unprecedented accomplishment of pulling the trapped miners to safety hit home, national pride and joy swept the nation.

On a barren desert hillside a short distance from the winch that hauled the miners up, the 33 Chilean flags placed there soon after the Aug. 5 mining accident fluttered against an azure sky, transformed into symbols of nationalism by the rescue of the miners.

While his countrymen celebrated the emergence of each miner, Pinera took congratulatory calls from other heads of state. President Obama said the rescue "is a tribute not only to the determination of the rescue workers and the Chilean government, but also the unity and resolve of the Chilean people, who have inspired the world."

Obama also singled out the Americans who manufactured and operated the drill that reached the miners, and the NASA team that helped design the rescue capsule.

Alicia Campos, whose 27-year-old son, Daniel Herrera Campos, was the 16th to be lifted out of the mine early Wednesday afternoon, said her first order of business was to take him home to southern Chile and say a Mass of thanksgiving.

Before leaving to greet her son, Campos likened the rescue to a " cesarean section done on Mother Earth."

"Daniel will truly be born again. But before I hug him and tell him how much I love him, I will thank God for allowing it to happen," Campos said. Later, TV coverage of her son's rescue showed their tearful reunion.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chile-miner-rescues-20101014,0,6631857,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Survivors of Ft. Hood shootings testify

A victim shot five times is among a handful who testify at a hearing to determine whether Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at the Texas military base, will face court-martial.

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

October 14, 2010

Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas

Just after lunch on Nov. 5, an Army psychiatrist inside the medical processing center at Ft. Hood did something that Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, the non-commissioned officer in charge at the center that day, said mystified him.

He said Maj. Nidal Hasan, the psychiatrist, suddenly stood up, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — Arabic for "God is great" — and reached under his uniform top.

"I was wondering why he would say 'Allahu Akhbar.' " Lunsford recalled Wednesday at a hearing for Hasan, who is charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others that day.

As Lunsford struggled to make sense of what the psychiatrist was doing, he said, Hasan pulled out a handgun and opened fire on soldiers awaiting medical processing. A physician's assistant, Michael Grant Cahill, tried to smack Hasan with a chair, but Hasan shot him, Lunsford said.

As Lunsford crouched behind a counter, Hasan spotted him. He and Hasan locked eyes. A red beam from the sighting laser on Hasan's weapon flashed across Lunsford's face.

"I close my eyes and I get hit in the head," Lunsford testified.

He went down.

"The left side of my face is to the floor," Lunsford said. "Maj. Hasan, he's still firing. Blood is pooling under my face."

Lunsford lifted his head and saw Hasan approach, gun in hand.

"I think to myself: 'Dead men don't sweat. I'm too big to play dead.' I lift my face up and look at the back door."

As Lunsford testified, Hasan sat a few feet away in court, a pale, uniformed figure in a wheelchair, a blanket pulled tight around his shoulders and a knit cap warming his head. It was the first time Hasan has been confronted by the testimony of a victim of the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military base. He betrayed no emotion.

Lunsford was the first of 32 survivors expected to testify at the Article 32 hearing, which will determine whether Hasan is tried at a court-martial. The hearing is scheduled to last several weeks, past the one-year anniversary of the shootings.

The shock and terror of that day registered again Wednesday in the cramped courtroom, where relatives of the dead and wounded sat just behind Hasan, 40, an American-born Muslim. Eight witnesses, six of them soldiers who survived bullet wounds, described panic and confusion as some soldiers took cover and others tried to stop the gunman.

Several witnesses identified Hasan as the man who shot fleeing soldiers in the back and fired at wounded soldiers sprawled on the floor.

"The worst horror movie you could ever see," said Spec. James Armstrong, who was shot in the leg and back. "Blood everywhere … bloody handprints smeared on walls where people tried to get up … bodies on the floor."

Armstrong said the gunman shot a captain from a few feet away.

"He stood up and said, 'Oh, Jesus Christ,' " Armstrong said of the victim. "He was shot in the side of the head and fell straight to the floor."

Pfc. George Stratton, who was shot in the shoulder, said Hasan had "a piercing gaze in his eyes" as he took aim.

Spc. Amber Bahr, who was shot in the back, described "absolute chaos."

"There were people trying to hide behind barriers and lifting up and throwing chairs" at Hasan, she said.

To soldiers like Sgt. Lunsford, a combat medic, it seemed incomprehensible not only that something close to combat was erupting on post, but that a fellow soldier was killing his own.

"He's one of ours! He's one of ours!" a female lieutenant screamed as the uniformed gunman fired at least 100 rounds from two handguns before he was wounded by police gunfire, according to testimony. Hasan was paralyzed from the chest down.

Michelle Harper, a civilian lab technician, described hiding under a desk with soldiers piled on top of her as Hasan methodically fired shot after shot at soldiers scrambling for cover inside the crowded center.

Harper said she managed to reach a 911 operator on her cellphone. In a 911 recording, played in court as Harper wept on the witness stand, Harper screamed, "Oh my God, everybody's shot!"

On the tape, Harper could be heard sobbing as wounded soldiers moaned and the steady "pop, pop, pop" of gunfire echoed in the background.

"Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!" Harper cried as the 911 operator pleaded with her to take a deep breath and calm down.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, please!" Harper told the operator, begging for police help.

In court, Harper fought back tears as she described running toward a doorway to escape, only to have the gunman fire at a soldier next to her, hitting him three times.

"He fell to the ground.... I went back under the desk," she testified.

Harper listened to the gunman's slow footfalls as he made his way to where she and several soldiers were hiding.

"It was firing again," she said of the gun.

She said she managed to get up and run out a door to a parking lot, followed by the gunman. On a walkway, Harper said, she watched him engage in a gun battle with a female police officer.

"I see Hasan shoot the officer and she falls to the ground," Harper testified.

Still connected to the 911 operator, Harper ran to her car and drove away in a panic, crying and wailing as her car careened across a grassy area and over a ditch.

"They're on their way, sweetheart," the 911 operator assured her, referring to police and ambulance crews.

Harper was not shot, but said she suffered knee and back injuries from the soldiers who piled on top of her. She and other survivors have undergone medical treatment and psychiatric counseling, according to testimony.

Other witnesses described long bursts of gunfire, followed by a brief interlude as the gunman reloaded. Several said they thought it was a training exercise, but realized moments later that it was real when they saw fallen soldiers smeared with blood.

"Is this a drill?" Latoya Williams, a data entry clerk, recalled thinking. "It's pretty elaborate if it is."

Stratton said he saw Hasan reload his weapon and point it at him.

"He looked straight down at me and I looked at him," Stratton said. "We made eye contact....I knew he was going to shoot me, and I turned on him and tried to get as low to the ground as I could."

Stratton was shot through the left shoulder, the bullet exiting through his chest.

Spc. Matthew Cooke, who was at the center to prepare for deployment to Afghanistan, said he helped wounded soldiers get out of the building without realizing he had been shot himself. One bullet grazed his head. Two more struck him in the back, and another tore through his groin near his buttocks.

Lunsford said he lost most of the vision in his left eye and underwent surgery to rebuild the left side of his face. He said he still sees a psychiatrist and social worker, and is undergoing physical therapy.

"I'm a wounded warrior," he said.

Lunsford didn't realize that in the chaotic moments after he was first shot, he was hit four more times before he stumbled outside and was treated by a nurse. In court, he stood up —a towering man of 6 feet 9 — and pointed out his wounds: One round through his left eye and out his left ear. Two rounds in his upper body, just under his left armpit. A round to the right of his spine. A final round through his lower back and out his stomach.

From the witnesses table, Hasan stared intently at Lunsford, impassive in his wheelchair.

Another wounded soldier, Staff Sgt. Alvin Howard, now retired, described how the gunman stared directly at him and then opened fire.

"We looked eye to eye, and he just shot me," Howard testified.

Howard was asked if he saw the gunman in the courtroom.

"He's sitting right there," Howard said, gesturing toward Hasan. "Eye to eye — I'll never forget his face."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fort-hood-web-20101014,0,1858086,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fighting the bullies

The recent suicides of five gay teenagers who were harassed were horrific, and highlight the need for stepped-up efforts to protect all children.

EDITORIAL

October 14, 2010

In "Lord of the Flies," William Golding's famous allegory about a group of English schoolchildren stranded on a deserted island, the boys gradually begin to bully, hunt and even kill their weaker peers. In the book, however, it is the boys' isolation from civilization that causes standards of decency to be overwhelmed by primitive group think. The implication is that the students would not have lost their moral bearings if they had been at home in the suburbs, in their dormitories or in school classrooms.

If only that were so. The recent suicides of five gay teenagers who were isolated only metaphorically — by the abuse they suffered — demonstrate the flaw in that theory. Their tragic deaths have cast a light on the abuse and bullying suffered by many young gay students on a regular basis right here in the midst of society; a 2009 report from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that nine out of 10 lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual students say they are harassed during a given year.

Horrendous as that is, it is important to remember that gays are not the only young people being "bullied to death." The phenomenon is part of a broader problem. Fifteen-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley, Mass., for instance, is one of several straight teens who have recently taken their own lives after being bullied on and off school grounds. Thirteen-year-old Hope Witsell of Florida, for example, hanged herself last year after a topless photo she sent to a boy was electronically "sexted" throughout her school. The suicide last month of Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, falls into two categories — gay-bashing and cyber-bullying. Clementi killed himself after two classmates allegedly streamed a video of a sexual encounter he had in his dorm room with another man.

These cases are the most sensational ones, but the reality is that bullying goes on every day. And in many cases, when it is uncovered, school officials fail to deliver the necessary strong statements of outrage, followed by meaningful action. Instead, too often bullying students are allowed to remain on sports teams, go to dances and participate in class.

Good anti-bullying programs have a track record of curbing bad behavior. The best ones engage the entire school community and rely on a system of rewards and punishments (not just prosecutions) to change a culture. Parents too must sign on.

In the end, it is the behavior of the bullies that must be addressed, not the gender, race, weight or sexual orientation of their targets. People from different cultures, backgrounds and religions are not always going to like one another. But bullies must be taught two lessons: that the pain their victims feel can be life-threatening, and that their actions will not be tolerated.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bullies-20101014,0,5930645,print.story

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the New York Times

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mexican Investigator of American's Killing Is Beheaded

HOUSTON — An investigation into a reported shooting of an American on a border reservoir took a bizarre turn this week when the Mexican police chief overseeing the search was murdered and his head was left in a suitcase outside a military base, the Zapata County Sheriff's Office said.

Mexican officials said it remained unclear on Wednesday whether the killing of Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, commander of the Tamaulipas State police in Ciudad Miguel Alemán, was related to the search for David M. Hartley, a manager with an oil well services company who, his wife reported, was fatally shot on Sept. 30 while touring Falcon Lake on a Jet Ski.

Just before his death, Commander Flores had given the names of two suspects in Mr. Hartley's case to a reporter at KRGV-TV in Brownsville, Tex., lending credence to the theory that the police commander's killing was related to the inquiry.

But Rubén Darío Ríos, a spokesman for the Tamaulipas State prosecutor, said Commander Flores was involved in several inquiries that might have given someone a motive to kill him.

The chief was one of the senior police officials overseeing about 100 officers searching the lake for a trace of the missing man, Mr. Dario said. The search has proved fruitless so far, and hope has faded of finding Mr. Hartley, who was reportedly wearing a life vest when he was shot in the head, or his missing watercraft.

Commander Flores told the Brownsville television station that the Mexican police were searching for two brothers, Juan Pedro Zaldívar Farias and José Manuel Zaldívar Farías, who are reputed members of the Zeta organized crime group. Another police official in Miguel Alemán, Juan Carlos Ballesteros, had given the same information to the newspaper El Universal on Saturday.

Yet Mr. Darío denied Tuesday that state investigators were seeking anyone. “We have no suspects,” he said.

Family members of Mr. Hartley said they met last week with Commander Flores to discuss the search, and for them, his killing appeared to be a message. “I'm pretty sure they are trying to make a statement that you guys better back off or else,” said Bob Young, the missing man's father-in-law.

Mr. Hartley was shot by a group of armed men in fishing boats after he and his wife crossed the lake on Jet Skis to photograph a half-submerged church near the Mexican town of Guerrero Viejo, according to his wife, Tiffany Hartley. She fled after trying unsuccessfully to retrieve her husband's body.

The region has seen years of gangland war between the Gulf cartel, the Zetas and the Sinaloan cartel, all vying for control of lucrative border crossings, among them the lake itself, with the Mexican Army intervening regularly. As the drug violence has dragged into its fourth year, lawlessness has risen generally, and cartel hit men now regularly single out officials who cross them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/us/14border.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

High Court Weighs Death Row Inmate's DNA Query

WASHINGTON — In the course of an hourlong argument at the Supreme Court on Wednesday about a death row inmate's quest to test DNA evidence , the justices asked neither of the questions that people without legal training might have thought crucial: Why won't Texas prosecutors consent to the testing? And could the results show that the inmate, Henry W. Skinner, is innocent of the triple murder that sent him to death row?

The justices focused instead on whether Mr. Skinner had located a path through a thicket of legal doctrines meant to limit postconviction challenges.

Last year, in District Attorney's Office v. Osborne, No.08-6 , the court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that inmates have no freestanding right under the Constitution's due process clause to test evidence that could prove their innocence in states without laws on DNA testing. The court and Congress have, moreover, severely limited habeas corpus challenges to convictions and sentences.

Mr. Skinner chose a third route, suing under a federal civil rights law known as Section 1983 and saying a Texas law that allows DNA testing in only some circumstances violated his rights.

That position required Mr. Skinner's lawyer, Robert C. Owen, to maintain that his client's goal, at least for now, was not to challenge his conviction or death sentence, as such challenges would have to be brought through a habeas petition, but simply to test the evidence.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was skeptical. “In the real world,” he said, “a prisoner who wants access to DNA evidence is interested in overturning his conviction.”

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wondered whether the Supreme Court erred in staying Mr. Skinner's execution in March, less than hour before he was to be put to death, in light of his position that he was not currently challenging his death sentence.

“You are telling us that your attack doesn't go to the sentence,” Justice Kennedy told Mr. Owen. “I don't see why we don't just lift the stay, under your view of the case.”

Mr. Skinner maintains that he was sleeping on a sofa in a vodka-and-codeine haze when his girlfriend and her two sons were killed on New Year's Eve in 1993. Prosecutors have blocked his requests to test blood, fingernail scrapings and hair found at the scene.

Prosecutors said in their briefs that Mr. Skinner was playing games with the system, dragging out his case and seeking to impose unacceptable burdens on government resources and the victims' dignity. They added that testing would be pointless because “no item of evidence exists that would conclusively prove that Skinner did not commit the murder.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that Mr. Skinner had not sought DNA testing of the contested materials in preparation for his trial. “DNA testing was available then,” she told Mr. Owen. “You could have gotten it. Strategically your trial attorney chose not to, and so that disqualifies you from seeking it now.”

Gregory S. Coleman, a lawyer representing Lynn Switzer, the district attorney in Pampa, Tex., said Mr. Skinner should not be allowed to split his challenge in two by seeking evidence under the civil rights law and then attacking his conviction and sentence through habeas corpus.

That did not seem to trouble Justice Stephen G. Breyer . “What he wants is the DNA,” Justice Breyer said of Mr. Skinner. “He thinks it's going to be exculpatory. He doesn't know that till he gets it.”

Justice Breyer quoted with evident pleasure from a 2005 concurrence by Justice Antonin Scalia in Wilkinson v. Dotson , which allowed challenges to parole procedure to be brought under the civil rights law rather than habeas corpus.

“Dotson says that you go into habeas if winning — i.e., getting the DNA — would necessarily spell speedier release,” Justice Breyer said. “End of the matter. I'm reading to you from Justice Scalia's concurrence, where he quotes my majority with great praise.”

Justice Scalia seemed to agree that the court's earlier decisions tended to support Mr. Skinner's use of the civil rights law in the case, Skinner v. Switzer, No. 09-9000. “We've never had a case like this,” he said, “and it's conceivable to me that we have to expand what we said.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/us/14scotus.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. to Let Insurers Raise Fees for Sick Children

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, aiming to encourage health insurance companies to offer child-only policies, said Wednesday that they could charge higher premiums for coverage of children with serious medical problems, if state law allowed it.

Earlier this year, major insurers, faced with an unprofitable business, stopped issuing new child-only policies. They said that the Obama administration's interpretation of the new health care law would allow families to buy such coverage at the last minute, when children became ill and were headed to the hospital.

In September, the administration said that insurers could establish open-enrollment periods — for example, one month a year — during which they would accept all children.

Now, on Wednesday, the administration, answering a question raised by many insurers, said they could charge higher premiums to sick children outside the open-enrollment period, if state laws allowed such underwriting, as many do.

Insurers “can adjust their rates based on health status until 2014, to the extent state law allows,” said Jay Angoff, director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the Department of Health and Human Services .

The difficulty in preserving access to child-only insurance policies is the latest example of unintended consequences of the new law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The problem may be solved in 2014. If Democrats can beat back Republican efforts to dismantle the law, most Americans will be required to carry health insurance, starting in 2014, and insurers will be required to accept all applicants, regardless of pre-existing conditions.

The new policy statement, issued Wednesday by Kathleen Sebelius , the secretary of health and human services, came with a fresh blast of criticism of the insurance industry.

“Unfortunately,” Ms. Sebelius said, “some insurers have decided to stop writing new business in the child-only insurance market, reneging on a previous commitment made in a March letter to ‘make pre-existing condition exclusions a thing of the past.' ”

The White House has been tussling with insurers for months, trying to get them to provide coverage for children with cancer , autism , heart defects and other conditions.

In a letter Wednesday to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Ms. Sebelius said the decision of some insurers to stop issuing child-only policies was “extremely disappointing.”

But Ms. Sebelius acknowledged, “Nothing in the Affordable Care Act, or any other existing federal law, allows us to require insurance companies to offer a particular type of policy at this time.”

Insurance industry lobbyists say Ms. Sebelius mischaracterized their commitment. They denied that they had promised to continue offering child-only policies.

In a series of questions and answers intended to clarify its reading of the law, the administration said Wednesday that insurers had two options. They can enroll all children year-round, or decline to enroll all children outside the open-enrollment period.

Federal officials specifically rejected an option proposed by many insurers, which wanted to be able to accept healthy children and reject sick children outside the open-enrollment period. This option is “inconsistent with the language and intent” of the law, Ms. Sebelius said.

Insurers said they needed to bring additional healthy children into their broader insurance pools, or else premiums would go up.

Parents may seek child-only policies if they cannot afford family coverage or if they work for employers that do not offer coverage of dependents.

The administration encouraged states to set uniform open-enrollment periods for all insurers in the children's market.

In its policy statement, the administration said, “States may set one or more open-enrollment periods for coverage for children under age 19, but cannot allow insurers to selectively deny enrollment for children with a pre-existing condition while accepting enrollment from other children outside of the open-enrollment period.”

Mr. Angoff, the Health and Human Services official, said the federal government could, by regulation, establish a uniform nationwide open-enrollment period for child-only policies. “That could get more carriers back into the market,” he said.

But Mr. Angoff said states could act faster than the federal government. “Some states, including California, Colorado, Ohio, Oregon and Washington, have already established open-enrollment periods,” he said.

On March 29, six days after President Obama signed the health care bill, Ms. Sebelius sent a sternly worded letter to insurers, saying, “Children with pre-existing conditions may not be denied access to their parents' health insurance plan.”

Karen M. Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, sent an immediate response, accepting the administration's demand.

Robert E. Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the trade group, said Wednesday, “Health plans have upheld the commitment” by Ms. Ignagni. “Children with pre-existing conditions are able to obtain coverage on their parents' policies,” he said.

Neither the Sebelius letter nor Ms. Ignagni's response referred to the marketplace for child-only coverage, Mr. Zirkelbach said.

Insurers agree that if they provide insurance for a child, they cannot refuse to help pay for the treatment of pre-existing conditions. But Mr. Zirkelbach said the law “does not mandate that health plans offer coverage to all children” before 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/health/policy/14health.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All 50 States Start Inquiry Into Foreclosures

As the nation's attorneys general announced a joint investigation into flawed paperwork filed to support home foreclosures, federal housing regulators urged lenders Wednesday to vet their foreclosure procedures and fix them.

The regulatory body, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, made it clear that the foreclosure process should “proceed without delay” if no problems were found, even though some Democratic lawmakers have called for a nationwide moratorium.

“The country's housing finance system remains fragile, and I intend to maintain our focus on addressing this issue in a manner that is fair to delinquent households, but also fair to servicers, mortgage investors, neighborhoods and most of all, is in the best interest of taxpayers,” Edward J. DeMarco, the agency's acting director, said.

The agency is the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the mortgage holding companies that were taken over by the government after they collapsed in the financial crisis. Big banks sell their mortgages to Fannie and Freddie and then service them.

In its guidance, the agency urged mortgage servicing companies to work with lawyers to “take appropriate remedial actions” where paperwork was not filled out properly. Those actions depend on the status of the foreclosure case and may involve filing a motion in court to substitute a properly prepared and executed document for the flawed one.

Some of the nation's largest home lenders are already heeding the agency's advice and have said that they would halt some, if not all, of their foreclosures while they review the paperwork.

On Wednesday, the nation's attorneys general vowed to do their own inquiry into whether mortgage servicers filed flawed paperwork to justify foreclosures. Attorneys general from all 50 states will participate, with state bank and mortgage regulators.

The inquiry will focus on signed affidavits that mortgage loan servicers have filed with the court without confirming their accuracy, a practice known as robo-signing. Some were signed without a notary public present, in violation of state law. Others were signed by employees who spend their day signing one affidavit after another, raising questions about whether they could possibly attest to knowing the facts claimed in each document.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading the joint investigation, said the inquiry was not a “silver bullet” to keep delinquent homeowners in their homes. Rather, he said, “this is a chance to right the law and get the process right.”

Previously, several attorneys general announced their own inquiries into the use of robo-signers. Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray went beyond that last week. He sued MAC Mortgage, saying that it had filed fraudulent affidavits against Ohio homeowners.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/business/14foreclosure.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five Public Colleges in Georgia Ban Illegal-Immigrant Students

ATLANTA — Education officials in Georgia voted Wednesday to bar illegal immigrants from attending the state's five most selective public colleges, a decision that immigrant rights groups threatened to challenge in court.

Georgia is the second state, after South Carolina, to enact such a ban. The policy requires colleges to check the legal residency of all applicants and prohibits illegal immigrants from enrolling at any college with a selective admissions process. The ban takes effect next fall and applies to the University of Georgia , the Georgia Institute of Technology and three other colleges.

The ban comes as lawmakers across the country grapple with whether illegal immigrants who attend high school in the United States should be permitted to continue to public colleges — and whether they should be granted discounted in-state tuition. The California Supreme Court heard arguments last week in a case over whether giving in-state tuition to illegal immigrants violated federal immigration law.

“The higher-education issue is hot everywhere,” said Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council , a policy group in Washington. “It's a backdoor way of making immigration policy.”

Georgia's policy was approved in a 14-to-2 vote by the state's top educational policy makers, the Board of Regents. It follows a high-profile case in which a 21-year-old college student in suburban Atlanta, Jessica Colotl, faced deportation after confessing to the police that she was an illegal immigrant. She has been allowed to finish her degree, but her case caused controversy after the college, Kennesaw State University , acknowledged that she received in-state tuition. (Kennesaw State is not one of the colleges affected by the ban.)

On Wednesday, immigrant-rights groups protested the board's decision.

“Let's not go back to an era when we deny education to a certain group of people,” said Eva Cardeles, 23, a sociology student.

But D. A. King, a Georgia-based anti-immigration activist, said the ban was only the first step. Republican state lawmakers are expected to introduce bills next session to extend the ban to all state colleges and to institute an anti-immigration policy similar to one in Arizona.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/us/14georgia.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the White House

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Health Reform Means for African Americans

Health care is very personal for me.

I was born with a heart murmur, my mother is a breast cancer survivor but lost her mom at the age of 3, an aunt who lost her life due to cancer, and my dad cleaned hospital rooms for 29 years.   But because of having access to health care, my family's dreams were not deferred.  I am sure that I am not the only African-American who has received a second, third and fourth chance of realizing my dreams due to being healthy enough to realize them.

But for too many African-Americans, lack of access and unaffordable health care meant that their dreams were not realized.

Now, due to President Barack Obama, Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Democratic Members of Congress, health care is no longer an unmet promise for African-Americans and all Americans, it is now the law of the land.

But, you ask – how does health care help me? How does it help my family? I am glad that you asked.

Dr. Garth Graham from the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Minority Health has posted a new video on WhiteHouse.gov/HealthReform that discusses some of the many benefits of the Affordable Care Act for African Americans.  Before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, the African American community struggled more than most as a result of our broken health care system.  As Dr. Graham points out, African Americans are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured than the rest of country and are consequently more likely to experience serious issues with medical bills and medical debt. 

But since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law just over six months ago, several patient protections have taken effect, putting a stop to insurance companies' worst practices and giving African Americans more control over their health care. And in the years ahead, the Affordable Care Act will continue to improve the health care system for the African American community and all Americans. Under the new law:

• Coverage will be extended to 32 million people, and many individuals and families will have receive tax credits to make it easier to purchase insurance. This will help reduce disparities in accessing high-quality health care for African Americans who are roughly twice as likely to be uninsured as the rest of the population.
  
  
• Today, if you're uninsured because of a pre-existing condition, you can get insurance through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. In 2014, insurance companies will be prohibited from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions, a new rule that that will greatly benefit minority communities that have a higher rate of chronic illness.
  
  
• If you join a new insurance plan, insurance companies will be required to provide preventive services like tests that can help identify and stop breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease and other diseases that disproportionally impact African American communities without charging you any additional out of pocket costs.
  
  
• If you're a young adult, you may be able to remain on your parent's insurance plan up until your 26th birthday. Up to 2.4 million young adults could gain coverage through this provision of the new law.
  
  
• For seniors, you should know that the Affordable Care Act continues to protect your guaranteed Medicare benefits, while taking important steps to fight waste, fraud and abuse. The new law will also close the coverage gap known as the “donut hole” completely by 2020. This year, seniors who fall into the “donut hole” will receive $250 rebate checks. In 2011, seniors in the donut hole will receive a 50 percent discount on their brand name prescription drugs.

Check out the video. 

You can read more about how the Affordable Care Act will affect you and our current insurance options at healthcare.gov, and you should check out this fact sheet on how the law directly benefits the African American community.

Health care is a personal thing for me.  I am sure that it is very personal to you as well.

Michael Blake is Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement coordinating African-American outreach.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/13/what-health-reform-means-african-americans

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Homeland Security

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joint Statement by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on Enhancing Coordination to Secure America's Cyber Networks

Memorandum of Agreement Between The Department of Homeland Security and The Department of Defense Regarding Cybersecurity (PDF, 5 pages - 2.5 MB)

“Reflecting President Obama's strong commitment to building an administration-wide approach to combating threats to our cyber networks and infrastructure, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have signed a memorandum of agreement that will align and enhance America's capabilities to protect against threats to our critical civilian and military computer systems and networks.

Effective cybersecurity means protecting critical networks against a wide range of state and non-state actors that do not adhere to physical borders.

With this memorandum of agreement, effective immediately, we are building a new framework between our Departments to enhance operational coordination and joint program planning. It formalizes processes in which we work together to protect our nation's cyber networks and critical infrastructure, and increases the clarity and focus of our respective roles and responsibilities. The agreement embeds DoD cyber analysts within DHS to better support the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and sends a full-time senior DHS leader to DoD's National Security Agency, along with a support team comprised of DHS privacy, civil liberties and legal personnel. The agreement will ensure both agencies' priorities and requests for support are clearly communicated and met.

This structure is designed to put the full weight of our combined capabilities and expertise behind every action taken to protect our vital cyber networks, without altering the authorities or oversight of our separate but complementary missions. We will improve economy and efficiency by better leveraging vital technologies and personnel to serve both Departments' missions in full adherence to U.S. laws and regulation. This memorandum of agreement furthers our strong commitment to protecting civil liberties and privacy.

We look forward to building on this vitally important step toward greater collaboration as we continue to work together on new and better ways to protect our economy and critical networks against evolving threats by those who seek to harm the United States.”

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1286984200944.shtm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Department of Justice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justice Department Concludes No Federal Criminal Violation in the Death of Imam Abdullah in Dearborn

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that the evidence does not reveal a violation of the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute or warrant further federal criminal investigation in the death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a Detroit Muslim cleric, who was shot during an Oct. 28, 2009, arrest by FBI agents in Dearborn, Mich.

The department conducted a complete, thorough, and independent review of this matter. The review included examining all documents witness accounts, forensic evidence and reports, and operational plans and procedures that were generated by an FBI Inspection Division inquiry, a Dearborn Police Department investigation, and the Wayne County Medical Examiner's office. Additionally, a senior Civil Rights Division prosecutor consulted with Dearborn detectives and forensic experts and interviewed critical witnesses, including the FBI agents who shot Imam Abdullah and who voluntarily agreed to be interviewed.

To establish a violation of 18 U.S.C., Section 242, the applicable federal statute, the government must prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that an official, acting under color of law, willfully deprived a person of a right protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. In prosecuting a Section 242 case, the government must show that the official used unnecessary and unreasonable force that was not warranted to achieve a legitimate law enforcement purpose. The government must also prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the official acted willfully, that is, with the specific intent to do something the law forbids.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas E. Perez met in Detroit today with members of Imam Abdullah's family and later with representatives of interested local groups. Assistant Attorney General Perez explained based on a thorough review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have determined that the evidence does not reveal a violation of Section 242.

The attached summary of the findings regarding the shooting incident provides detailed information and legal analysis to support the department's conclusion. This matter is being returned to the FBI to complete its administrative inquiry of the incident.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/October/10-crt-1143.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

73 Members and Associates of Organized Crime Enterprise, Others Indicted for Health Care Fraud Crimes Involving More Than $163 Million Indictments in Five States – California, Georgia, New Mexico, New York and Ohio

WASHINGTON – Seventy-three defendants, including a number of alleged members and associates of an Armenian-American organized crime enterprise, were charged in indictments unsealed today in five judicial districts with various health care fraud-related crimes involving more than $163 million in fraudulent billing, announced Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler, FBI Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division Kevin Perkins and Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson.

In this national, multi-agency investigation, 52 were arrested today by FBI agents in the largest Medicare fraud scheme ever perpetrated by a single criminal enterprise and charged by the Department of Justice.

The defendants are charged with engaging in numerous fraud activities, including highly-organized, multi-million dollar schemes to defraud Medicare and insurance companies by submitting fraudulent bills for medically unnecessary treatments or treatments that were never performed. According to the indictments, the defendants allegedly stole the identities of doctors and thousands of Medicare beneficiaries and operated at least 118 different phony clinics in 25 states for the purposes of submitting Medicare reimbursements.

“The emergence of international organized crime in domestic health care fraud schemes signals a dangerous expansion that poses a serious threat to consumers as these syndicates are willing to exploit almost any program, business or individual to earn an illegal profit,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grinder. “The Department of Justice is confronting this evolving threat here and abroad through a number of initiatives including a strengthened Attorney General's Organized Crime Council and the creation of the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) to ensure that we are focused and coordinated in our efforts to combat international organized crime.”

“The international organized crime enterprise known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian, fleeced the health care system through a wide-range of money making criminal fraud schemes.  The members and associates located throughout the United States and in Armenia, perpetrated a large-scale, nationwide Medicare scam that fraudulently billed Medicare for more than $100 million of unnecessary medical treatments using a series of phantom clinics,” said Kevin Perkins, FBI Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division.  “We want to restore the confidence in the nation's health care system and assure practitioners we will not stand by and let their identities be used for criminal gain.”  

“Today, special agents of the Office of Inspector General working in tight coordination with our federal law enforcement partners made 52 arrests across the nation—from New York to Los Angeles—on charges including Medicare fraud and medical identity theft totaling more than $163 million,” said Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. “Criminals stealing from Medicare needn't look over their shoulders to know that we are in hot pursuit.”

Forty-four defendants were charged in two indictments unsealed today in the Southern District of New York with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit the following acts: health care fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, fraud in connection with identity theft, credit card fraud and immigration fraud. In addition, seven defendants were charged in the District of New Mexico with health care fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, forfeiture and aggravated identity theft. Six defendants were charged in the Southern District of Georgia with health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Six defendants were charged in the Northern District of Ohio with health care fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft. Lastly, 10 defendants were charged in two indictments in the Central District of California with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, criminal forfeiture, aggravated identity theft, aiding and abetting, and causing an act to be done.

According to the charges filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization is named for its principal leaders, Davit Mirzoyan and Robert Terdjanian. The leadership of the organization is based in Los Angeles and New York, and its operations extend throughout the United States and internationally. Among the defendants charged with racketeering is Armen Kazarian, who is alleged to be a “Vor,” a term translated as “Thief-in-Law” and refers to a member of a select group of high-level criminals from Russia and the countries that has been part of the former Soviet Union, including Armenia. This is the first time a Vor has ever been charged for a racketeering offense, and the first time since 1996 that a known Vor has been arrested on any federal charge.

The racketeering charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. The health care fraud and conspiracy to commit health care fraud charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy to commit bank fraud charges each carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. The conspiracy to commit money laundering charges each carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The conspiracy to commit money laundering charges each carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with identity theft charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The aggravated identity theft charges each carry a required two-year consecutive prison sentence to any other sentence imposed, the conspiracy to commit credit card fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy to commit immigration fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The charges announced today are merely allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

The defendants charged in each district will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys from each of the respective districts in which the cases were charged. The cases were investigated by special agents from the FBI's Los Angeles and New York field offices.

Today's arrests are an example of the FBI's ability to conduct cross-program, multi-divisional investigations targeting a national level threat. In recent years, the department has undertaken a series of steps to modernize its organized crime program and enable federal law enforcement to take a unified approach to combating international organized crime. The Attorney General's Organized Crime Council brings together the leadership of the FBI and eight other federal law enforcement agencies or offices with the department's prosecutors, focusing high-level attention on these issues. The IOC-2 provides support in the form of information and intelligence to the member agencies that enhance efforts to identify, penetrate and dismantle the most dangerous organized crime groups through investigations and prosecutions. The creation of the International Organized Crime Targeting Committee and the Top International Criminal Organizations Target (TICOT) List, directs investigators and prosecutors to concentrate their limited resources on those international organized crime groups that pose the greatest threat to the United States. The department's Criminal Division, through the Health Care Fraud Unit, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, has created new training programs to educate investigators and prosecutors on the intricacies of international organized crime and financial investigations.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/October/10-dag-1140.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the FBI

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex Odeh Murder Investigation

On October 11, 1985, Alexander Michel Odeh was killed when a bomb exploded at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) office at 1905 East 17th Street in Santa Ana, California. Odeh was the Western Regional Director of ADC. In addition to killing Odeh, the bomb injured several other people and caused massive damage to the building. Twenty-five years later, Odeh's murder continues to be an active, ongoing priority investigation of the FBI. We are offering a $1 million dollar reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the murder. We remain committed to pursuing this investigation until all who may have been involved are brought to justice. If you have any information on this case, please contact your local FBI field office or submit a tip online.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the DEA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DEA Statement Regarding President Obama's Signing of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act

By signing the "Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act" into law today, the President has taken an important step in addressing the alarming rise in prescription drug abuse.  This bill will help reduce the diversion of prescription drugs that often sit in our own medicine cabinets far too long.  In fact, on September 25, the Drug Enforcement Administration, working with our state and local law enforcement partners, urged the public to turn in their unused, unwanted, or expired medications.  On just that one day alone, people from communities all across the nation removed more than 121 tons of pills from their family medicine cabinets.  The DEA will now work diligently to develop regulations that will allow people to dispose of their prescription medications in a responsible and safe manner, not just on one day, but every day.

Michele M. Leonhart

Acting Administrator

http://www.justice.gov/dea/speeches/s101310.html

.