National News

FDA panel backs experimental new insomnia drug

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:57:36 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal panel of medical experts says that an experimental insomnia drug from Merck & Co Inc. appears safe and effective, despite evidence from company trials that the pill can cause daytime sleepiness and difficulty driving.

A majority of panelists on the Food and Drug Administration panel voted that Merck's sleeping aid, suvorexant, helped patients get to sleep and stay asleep. In a separate set of votes, the same panel voted that the drug appeared safe at the starting doses proposed by the company.

The FDA's outside advisers appeared to be somewhat at odds with the agency's own scientists, who issued a negative review of the drug earlier in the week. The agency noted on Monday that suvorexant was associated with daytime drowsiness, driving difficulties and suicidal thinking.

US Navy's unmanned ocean jet makes first flight

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:53:33 -0400

PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) — An unmanned jet built for the U.S. Navy's high-altitude maritime surveillance missions made its first flight on Wednesday, officials said.

Northrop Grumman Corp., the manufacturer of the aircraft, said the MQ-4C Triton took off from Palmdale, Calif., on Wednesday and completed a 90-minute flight.

The aircraft is designed to fly missions lasting up to 24 hours at altitudes greater than 10 miles, allowing coverage out 2,000 nautical miles.

The prime contractor says the Triton's suite of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors can detect and classify different types of ships, provide high-resolution imagery, and airborne communications and information-sharing among military units.

With a wingspan greater than 130 feet, it's expected to be able to fly 11,500 miles without refueling.

Test flights will continue in California before moving to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

Navy plans anticipate building 68 Tritons.

Judge sorry for delay in case of gov't information leak

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:12:19 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is apologizing for an 18-month delay in unsealing documents in a case involving an alleged leak of classified information to a reporter.

The documents include two warrants for the email accounts of Stephen Kim, a State Department adviser who faces charges of leaking secret information about North Korea to Fox News reporter James Rosen.

The warrants, which had originally been ordered unsealed in November 2011, were finally unsealed on Wednesday. Judge Royce Lamberth said errors by court staff caused the delay.

It was revealed this week that during the Kim investigation, an FBI agent obtained a search warrant for some of Rosen's private emails and said there was probable cause to believe the reporter broke the law.

US soldier secretly photographed women, Army says

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:08:23 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Army soldier has been charged with secretly photographing and videotaping women at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point -- including in a bathroom, officials said Wednesday.

The Army said Wednesday that Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon is facing charges of dereliction of duty, mistreatment, entering a women's bathroom without notice, and taking and possessing inappropriate photos and videos of at least a dozen women who were naked or in various states of undress.

McClendon was charged May 14, but some allegations date back to 2009.

The case is the latest in an embarrassing series of arrests and incidents of sexual misconduct across the military, and comes on the heels of a Pentagon report that estimated that as many as 26,000 service members may have been sexually assaulted last year.

Four Americans with terror ties killed since 2009

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:02:30 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Attorney General and chief law enforcement official Eric Holder said that a total of four American citizens -- who are suspected to be involved in terrorist activities -- have been killed in military drone strikes since 2009.

The attorney general said in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, that while conducting U.S. counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaida and its associated forces, the government targeted and killed one American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki.

Holder added that the U.S. is also aware of three other American citizens who were killed in similar counter-terrorism operations during the same time period.

Man who knew Boston suspect killed during FBI visit

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:54:00 -0400

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI said Wednesday that a man being questioned by authorities in the Boston bombing probe was shot to death when he allegedly lunged at an FBI agent with a knife.

The shooting incident early Wednesday took place in Orlando, Fla., where an FBI agent along with other law enforcement personnel were interviewing Ibrahim Tadoshev, who was an acquaintance of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Tadoshev was killed and the FBI agent was transported to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Officials said Tadoshev became acquainted with Tsarnaev after meeting at a mixed martial arts event, and that Tadoshev even visited him in Boston.

Tadoshev had reportedly been interviewed by the FBI on a previous occasion.

Authorities aren't sure why Tadoshev became violent with the agent, but they don't believe he had anything to do with the Boston Marathon attacks.

The FBI agent and two Massachusetts State Police officers were present during the attack. It was not immediately made clear who fired the shot that killed Tadoshev, or what type of injury the FBI agent received.

Six still unaccounted for in Oklahoma aftermath

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:45:00 -0400

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma emergency management official said Wednesday that authorities still are working to find six adults who haven't been accounted for since the devastating tornado that tore through the Oklahoma City area earlier this week.

The state emergency management director said it's not clear whether those people had left their properties, or if they might still be found in the rubble.

Officials said the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday killed at least 24 people, including 10 children -- two of whom were infants.

Survivors and first-responders to the tornado will receive a visit this weekend from President Barack Obama. His spokesman said Obama will travel to the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore and view the tornado damage first-hand.

Charges likely for couple after second child dies

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:35:12 -0400

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A couple who believe in faith healing and who were on probation for their son's pneumonia death will likely face new criminal charges over the death of a second child, the mother's lawyer said Wednesday.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible's 8-month old son, Brandon, died in April after suffering from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week.

The Schaibles, who quit school after ninth grade, have worked as teachers at their fundamentalist Christian church, First Century Gospel Church in northeast Philadelphia. They are in their mid-40s, and their oldest child will soon turn 18.

Their seven surviving children have been placed in foster care amid a parole violation hearing last month, when a judge rebuked them for failing to seek medical care for Brandon.

A jury had convicted them of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in the January 2009 death of 2-year-old Kent, who died of bacterial pneumonia. The boy's symptoms had included coughing, congestion, crankiness and a loss of appetite. His parents said he was eating and drinking until the last day, and his lawyers argued that they had thought he was getting better.

Judge Benjamin Lerner sentenced them to 10 years' probation, which included a requirement that their children receive medical care.

"I am sorry for your loss. Deeply sorry," Lerner told the couple after Brandon's death last month. "But in all honesty, I am more sorry for the fact that this innocent little child will not be able to grow up to be what he wanted to be."

Prosecutors were awaiting autopsy results on the infant before determining what charges, if any, to file.

Public defender Mythri Jayaraman, who represents Catherine Schaible, said charges are likely.

Jayaraman said Brandon had seen a doctor at least once in his life.

"When he was 10 days old, he had been taken to a doctor for a checkup, and to make sure everything was OK. We don't know beyond that," Jayaraman told The Associated Press.

Her client declined to comment when reached at her home Wednesday afternoon.

"I really don't want to discuss anything," Catherine Schaible said.

About a dozen children a year die in the U.S. when their parents choose prayer over medical care, according to Shawn Francis Peters, a University of Wisconsin lecturer who wrote "When Prayer Fails: Faith Healing, Children and the Law."

In a handful of cases, the parents later watch a second child die.

"One of the building blocks of our legal system is the idea that people will be afraid of being punished," Peters said. But people who trust in faith healing fear "a different kind of punishment," he said. "It's not an earthly punishment meted out by the state of Pennsylvania. It's punishment going to be delivered by the Almighty on Judgment Day. It's difficult to find a legal regime that can change that."

Bobby Hoof, the lawyer who represented Herbert Schaible in the earlier case, described the couple as loving parents who grieved over Kent's death.

"He's a father just like the rest of us. He loves his children, wants to see them educated," said Hoof, who does not know if he will be appointed if more charges are filed. "It's hard to indict someone for what they believe."

Appeals court allows retrial of capital murder suspect

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:28:31 -0400

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court will allow a capital murder case to proceed against an accused drug kingpin from northern Virginia.

In a 2-1 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned a federal judge in Norfolk who had ordered a halt to the prosecution of Justin Wolfe and his immediate release.

That judge said misconduct by prosecutors in Prince William County made it impossible for Wolfe to get a fair trial.

But a majority on the appellate court disagreed. The judges ruled that a new trial can be done fairly. A dissenting judge said the misconduct was so bad that freeing Wolfe was the only proper outcome.

Wolfe was sent to death row in 2002 for a drug-related murder, but his original conviction and sentence were overturned.

Ft. Hood murder suspect wants to fire lawyers, represent self

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:23:35 -0400

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas said Wednesday that he has decided to represent himself at his upcoming trial.

Fort Hood officials said Wednesday that Maj. Nidal Hasan is seeking to sever ties with his three U.S. Army attorneys.

The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, will consider his request at a hearing next week. She also delayed jury selection to June 5, about a week after it was scheduled to start.

Hasan faces the death penalty if he is convicted in the attack on the Texas Army post that killed 13 and wounded more than two dozen.

Two years ago, Hasan cut ties with his previous lead attorney, John Galligan, a civilian who is a retired Army colonel.

Galligan has never disclosed why he stopped representing Hasan.