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From the Los Angeles Times

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Marijuana confiscated in raid on Tijuana-to-San Diego tunnel

Authorities discover a tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana. Seizures from the tunnel and elsewhere yield about 17 tons of marijuana.

by Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times

November 17, 2011

Reporting from San Diego

The discovery of a major drug tunnel linking San Diego and Tijuana warehouses led to the seizure of about 17 tons of marijuana as well as a large pot-growing operation east of San Diego, U.S. and Mexican authorities announced Wednesday.

The tunnel, uncovered Tuesday night, ran the length of four football fields and was equipped with lights and a ventilation system. It was in the light-industrial area of Otay Mesa where several other large tunnels have been found in recent years, and demonstrates the continuing efforts of Mexican organized crime groups to circumvent border defenses with underground passageways capable of handling enormous drug shipments.

The opening in Tijuana was found in an unfinished industrial building near the airport, where Mexican soldiers on Wednesday morning stood guard in front of some eight tons of neatly stacked marijuana bundles. Many were labeled with pictures of Captain America, the symbol used by a major operator of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Tijuana, Mexican General Gilberto Landeros Briseno said in an interview with the Mexican media.

The Sinaloa drug cartel is Mexico's most powerful organized crime group and has a long history of constructing drug tunnels in San Diego. Anti-drug agents in the U.S. didn't provide details on the source of the drugs but said the investigation is ongoing and involves coordination with the Mexican military.

"The drug cartels mistakenly believe they can elude detection by taking their contraband underground, but again and again, we've been able to find these tunnels and shut them down," said Derek Benner, special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which heads the San Diego-based, multiagency tunnel task force.

Task force agents, who were keeping the warehouse in San Diego under surveillance, watched an unmarked white truck leave the building Tuesday evening and notified a CHP officer, who pulled the vehicle over on a nearby highway.

A search of the truck yielded three tons of marijuana, and agents later obtained a search warrant for the warehouse, where they found another six tons near the two-by-three-foot opening in the concrete floor.

Agents, in a related search, raided a building in Lakeside, where they found 204 marijuana plants. Two people at the building were arrested, as well as the driver and a passenger in the truck stopped by the CHP officer.

There were no arrests in the warehouse on Kerns Street, and agents said they are investigating whether the tenants or owners of the building were involved in the drug tunnel operation.

Last year, two large tunnels were discovered in the same neighborhood, resulting in the seizure of more than 45 tons of marijuana. The tunnel-smuggling activity in the bustling area prompted an outreach effort by agents who have gone door to door asking business owners and truckers to report suspicious activity.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1117-drug-tunnel-20111117,0,7083551.story

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Man arrested in White House shooting has 'interest' in Obama

A man arrested in connection with a shooting incident near the White House -- which could be the source of a bullet that hit a White House window -- might have been targeting President Obama.

The president was never in any danger. He and the first lady were actually in California on Friday when the incident occurred.

But the shooting unleashed a multi-agency manhunt involving the Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, FBI, U.S. Park Police, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department and others to track down Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, shown above. Officials suspect the shooting may be the source of two bullets discovered Tuesday outside the White House, one of which hit a window.

Ortega-Hernandez was arrested Wednesday by Pennsylvania state troopers at an Indiana, Pa., hotel shortly after noon, local time, according to a statement released to the media.

Sources with the Secret Service told CNN that interviews with those who know Ortega-Hernandez concluded that he has a " direction of interest toward the president and the White House " - - a description that stops short of a direct threat.

Details are still emerging, but here's the known timeline so far:

On Friday morning, Ortega-Hernandez caught the attention of authorities as he was reportedly "circling" the area. They made contact with him, but he was later sent on his way.

That night, law enforcement officials investigated a spattering of gunfire heard on Constitution Avenue, about 700 yards south of the White House. While investigating that incident, they found a car containing items that led them to Ortega-Hernandez. During the course of the query, authorities recovered an assault rifle.

Fast forward to Tuesday, when authorities discovered two bullets outside the White House, including one that struck historic exterior glass in a window above the Truman Balcony on the South Portico. (So far, authorities have not said what kind of bullets were found outside the White House.)

It all raises questions about whether the bullets found on Tuesday were actually fired Friday night, whether the two incidents are in any way related. Moreover: Does Ortega-Hernandez have anything to do with any of this, and, if so, was he targeting the president?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Legendary astronauts awarded Congressional Gold Medals

With congressional leaders accustomed to seeing VIPs including world leaders and Hollywood celebrities at the Capitol, Wednesday's visitors drew a special declaration from House Speaker John Boehner:

"This is pretty cool."

Such was the case when space legends John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were awarded Congressional Gold Medals, the nation's highest civilian honor.

" 'Hero' is an overused word, but I think that all who are assembled here today would not hesitate to describe our honorees as genuine national heroes," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, top Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

She said the astronauts have "continued to inspire young and old, even though their path-breaking missions occurred more than four decades ago."

"Walk up to virtually anyone on the street and they'll be able to tell you the names of our first president, our current president, the first American to orbit the Earth, and the first Americans to land on the Moon," added Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), chairman of the House committee that oversees the space program.

The Capitol Rotunda ceremony was attended by Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, NASA administrator Charles Bolden Jr., retired space shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in Tucson in January, and five members of the most recent astronaut candidate class.

It was a bittersweet moment for supporters of the space program, coming as Congress takes up a spending bill that would cut NASA's budget by $648 million.

“America urgently needs to reassert its pre-eminence in manned space flight," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, top Republican on the Senate committee that oversees the space program, said, alluding to the budget challenges.

In accepting the medal, Glenn, 90, reprised a closing line from a speech he delivered to Congress nearly 50 years ago after his flight in Friendship 7: "As our knowledge of the universe in which we live increases, may God grant us the wisdom and guidance to use it wisely."

Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. Aldrin, pilot of the lunar module, was the second to step foot on the moon. Collins piloted Apollo 11's command module. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth.

Recipients of the Congressional Gold Medal include Wilbur and Orville Wright, Charles A. Lindbergh, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Walt Disney.

The presentation ceremony came more than two years after President Obama signed legislation to award the medals to the NASA legends. It was passed by Congress in 2009, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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From Google News

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Manson follower Charles 'Tex' Watson denied parole

The self-described right-hand man of cult leader Charles Manson was denied parole Wednesday for the 14th time after decades behind bars. He will be considered for another parole review in five years.

Charles "Tex" Watson, 65, appeared before a parole panel at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, southeast of Sacramento, seeking to be released some 42 years after the Manson Family killings.

Relatives of Watson's victims requested that the panel again deny his parole for killing actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months' pregnant, and four others at her Beverly Hills home on Aug. 9, 1969. The next night, Watson helped kill grocery owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

Watson was given the death penalty for his role in the murders, but that sentence was later overturned.

While in prison, he married and divorced and fathered four children. He also started a prison ministry and became an author and ordained minister.

On Watson's ministry website, he says he believed Manson "offered utopia, but in reality, he had a destructive world view, which Charles ended up believing in and acting upon. His participation in the 1969 Manson murders is a part of history that [Watson] deeply regrets."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/charles-manson-follower-charles-tex-watson-denied-parole.html

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Virginia

Manassas bulks up police force

The City of Manassas has 17 new police officers on the streets — a lot of fresh blood for a small department looking to emphasize relationships and community policing in city neighborhoods.

Although the new faces aren't all in new positions — they've replaced retiring, resigned or promoted officers — the influx is significant for a department of about 70 officers who handle 55,000 calls per year, according to a city police report.

There are also more newcomers on the way. Manassas police have 10 officers scheduled to finish the academy next month, and they will then have several months of “in-house” training, during which they are required to ride along with more experienced officers.

The city has added seven officers in fiscal 2011 and 2012, according to planning documents and the city. Six positions have been added to the city's patrol unit, and one will start a boat patrol on Lake Manassas. The lake officer cost about $88,000, and four officers added this year came at a cost of about $480,000. The two officers added in the fiscal 2011 budget cost about $140,000, according to the city.

The city has often had shortages in responding to calls and has had to authorize overtime for overstretched beat cops, said Sgt. Eddie Rivera. Each squad has internal mandates for staffing, and it was often hard to meet the numbers requirement. New positions coming along next year will help the department run smoother, Rivera said.

But Manassas residents should also expect to see more police in their neighborhoods, Rivera said, as the city looks to build relationships and promote safe neighborhoods.

“I'm from New York and I'm used to having the old beat cop on the street,” Rivera said. “We're trying to take that fear away. .?.?. You don't see a machine in uniform; you see a human being.”

Latinos are particularly targeted for crime, police officials said, often because they carry a lot of cash and are sometimes reluctant to speak to officers because of their immigration status or fear of police.

“We're trying to break those barriers,” Rivera said. “[We tell them], ‘You still have rights once you get here.' ”

Police Capt. Trey Lawler said the influx of officers from the police academy combined with new officers arriving is “the largest number of new hires I've experienced in 23 years.”

The new officers are the most the police department plan to add in the next several years and will allow the department to be “proactive,” Lawler said.

“The most important thing for us is the additional manpower,” Lawler said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/manassas-bulks-up-police-force/2011/11/15/gIQAVHAfRN_story.html

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New Jersey

COPS program worth keeping

THE MATH is simple: More cops on the street means less crime on the street. That much, as Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said earlier this week outside City Hall in Clifton, "should be a no-brainer."

Yet support for the idea has not come easily, especially in Washington. But it should.

That's why Menendez and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D- Paterson, surrounded by local police and public officials, spoke Monday in Clifton on the need to keep a vital federally supported community policing program intact. The legislators know what people like Clifton Police Chief Gary Giardina know: Community Oriented Policing Services, known as COPS, has been a godsend to municipalities looking to keep law enforcement staffing up in the face of dwindling local revenues.

COPS, which had seen its funding zeroed out in an earlier version of a Justice Department appropriations bill, may be making a comeback. The Senate has passed a multi-department funding bill that keeps $232 million for COPS. Time is running out on the House to follow suit, though, and we urge members to do so before the Thanksgiving recess. Pascrell, for one, has been passionate about keeping the program going. As a former mayor of Paterson, he understands the need cities have to be able to put force to action at a moment's notice.

"The federal government needs to step in and help municipalities like Clifton, which are suffering through no fault of their own," Pascrell said Monday.

The COPS program operates through a competitive grant process, peer-reviewed by other police, enabling towns across the country to fill vacancies brought on by cutbacks in force due to retirement or layoffs. One more cop on the beat can make a difference in increasing response times, and in helping to combat the influence of gangs and narcotics, areas that tend to suffer when downsizing begins.

Clifton, like so many municipalities across New Jersey, has seen a reduction in its force. The city's roster is down to 128, 30 fewer than it had last year, a reduction brought about largely through retirements. Roughly 4,000 officers have been lost statewide over the past two years, due to layoffs and retirements induced by pension reform.

This bleaker landscape in manpower is exactly where the COPS program can help.

Not perhaps, over a long period, but in the next two to three years, as the economy continues to stall and austerity measures in Trenton and at the local level continue to play out.

In the end, getting police back on the streets, to serve and protect, especially in lean times, should be a priority for any governing body. It should be a no-brainer, and it should be bipartisan.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/134020338_COPS_program_is_well_worth_keeping_.html

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