Daily news digest 4/14-16/2007
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Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/041607.htm
TOP STORIES
Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041301932.html
The Bush administration yesterday asked Congress to make more non-citizens subject to intelligence surveillance and to authorize the interception of foreign communications routed through the United States. Currently, under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, individuals have to be associated with a foreign terrorism suspect or a foreign power to fall under the auspices of the FISA court, which can grant the authority to institute federal surveillance. The White House proposes expanding potential targets to include non-citizens believed to possess, transmit or receive important foreign intelligence information, as well as those engaged in the United States in activities related to the purchase or development of weapons of mass destruction. The proposed revisions to FISA would also allow the government to keep information obtained "unintentionally," unrelated to the purpose of the surveillance, if it "contains significant foreign intelligence." Currently such information is destroyed unless it indicates threat of death or serious bodily harm.
Marines Killed Civilians, U.S. Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041400603.html
A preliminary U.S. military investigation indicates that more than 40 Afghans killed or wounded by Marines after a suicide bombing in a village near Jalalabad last month were civilians, the U.S. commander who ordered the probe said yesterday. Maj. Gen. Frank H. Kearney III, head of Special Operations Command Central, also said there is no evidence that the Marine Special Operations platoon came under small-arms fire after the bombing, although the Marines reported taking enemy fire and seeing people with weapons. The troops continued shooting at perceived threats as they traveled miles from the site of the March 4 attack, he said. They hit several vehicles, killing at least 10 people and wounding 33, among them children and elderly villagers.
RELATED: Afghans find Marines acted illegally
RELATED: Marines’ Actions in Afghanistan Called Excessive
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?ref=world
Iraq Militants Dominate City, and Attacks Surge
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/world/middleeast/16insurgency.html?ref=world
It is impossible to say how many insurgents are in Baquba now. Using a broad definition that comprises not just those who actively fight, but also those who place bombs and others paid by insurgents, some military officials put the number around 2,000. It is a nasty stew that includes former members of the Saddam Hussein army and paramilitary forces, the Fedayeen; angry and impoverished Sunni men; criminal gangs; Wahhabi Islamists; and foreigners. While most insurgents here are not as hardened, that is similar to the numbers in Falluja in 2004, before a bloody Marine offensive to retake the city, says Lt. Col. Scott Jackson, deputy head of the provincial reconstruction team in Diyala, who fought in Falluja. As the insurgent ranks have swelled, attacks on American troops have soared. The 5,000-strong brigade that patrols Diyala Province has had 44 soldiers killed in five months, more than twice the number who died in the preceding year.
Gonzales to insist attorney firings were appropriate
When Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales faces angry Senate Democrats on Tuesday, he will acknowledge that he made a broad range of mistakes in the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys last year and will apologize to them and their families, but he also will insist that even though the White House was originally behind the terminations, none of the prosecutors were fired for political reasons. In what has been described as a make-or-break appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the nation's top federal law enforcement officer will say: "I know that I did not, and would not, ask for a resignation of any individual in order to interfere with or influence a particular prosecution for partisan political gain. I also have no basis to believe that anyone involved in this process sought the removal of a U.S. attorney for an improper reason." He also will tell the committee: "I firmly believe that these dismissals were appropriate." In an unusual move, the Justice Department released Gonzales' prepared testimony Sunday, two days prior to the hearing. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has been leading the Judiciary Committee's investigation of the controversy, reacted quickly to the attorney general's 24-page statement, saying it "does not advance his cause at all."
RELATED: Ex-Justice Official's Statements Contradict Gonzales on Firings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500548.html
RELATED: Gonzales offers an apology
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-04-15-gonzales_N.htm
RELATED: ‘Nothing to Hide,’ Gonzales Insists Before Senate Hearing
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/washington/16attorneys.html
RELATED: E-Mail Identified G.O.P. Candidates for Justice Jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/us/14attorneys.html
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Foreclosures increase 30 percent
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5483865,00.html
More than 6,200 real estate foreclosures have been filed in the seven-county Denver area in the first three months of the year, a 30 percent jump from the record pace in the first quarter of 2006. The huge jump surprised some experts who were expecting a more modest increase. "Our forecast was anticipating maybe a 5 percent to 10 percent increase over last year," said Patty Silverstein, chief economist for the Metro Denver Economic Development Center and president of Development Research Partners. A Rocky Mountain News survey of public trustee offices in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties found that the offices received a total of 6,213 foreclosures filed in the first quarter, compared with 4,781 foreclosures last year. There were a record 19,425 foreclosures filed in the Denver area last year, and Silverstein was projecting about 20,000 for 2007. But the number could end up in the 25,000 range this year if they don't level off.
Ritter says roadless petition won’t supersede current protections
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/15/4_15_1b_Ritter_on_Roadless.html
Gov. Bill Ritter on Saturday reiterated his support for broad protections now in place for Colorado’s roadless areas. Ritter said the intent of a letter he sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week was to ensure the areas remain protected if the 2001 Roadless Rule gets struck down in federal court. Ritter sent a petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week asking the agency to protect Colorado’s roadless areas while also honoring the work of the Colorado Roadless Area Review Task Force, which recommended last year that some exceptions be made to some roadless protections, allowing for some coal mining, wildfire prevention and some other activities. The 2001 Roadless Rule, which now protects all of the nation’s 58.5 million acres of roadless land, is being challenged in federal court.
Pace of fix perturbs Amend. 41 coalition
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5670682
Time is running out on the much ballyhooed compromise for fixing Amendment 41. Friday is the deadline for filing 2007 ballot proposals, and leaders of a coalition of people who both supported and opposed the ethics-in-government measure say they stand ready to put the issue back to voters in the form of a lobbyist tax if the Senate doesn't get moving. At issue is House Joint Resolution 1029, which was pushed through the House quickly after leaders from both houses and both parties announced agreement on how to narrow the amendment's broad reach. The resolution asks the state Supreme Court for guidance in determining the gift ban's scope - including whether it affects inheritances, scholarships and gifts for rank-and-file government workers. The resolution passed out of the House the day after it was introduced on April 2. But it was not introduced in the Senate until Tuesday. It was then referred to the Senate state affairs committee, which has not scheduled a hearing. Senate President pro tem Peter Groff, who chairs the panel, said he thinks the committee will hear the bill Wednesday. House Minority Leader Mike May has accused the Senate of stalling, and Speaker Andrew Romanoff questioned why a committee hearing was even necessary.
'Backdoor' crime bill progresses in House
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/apr/14/death-penalty-backdoor-crime-bill-progresses-in/
Colorado would shift money from prosecuting death-penalty cases to cracking unsolved murders under a Louisville legislator's bill that won initial House approval this week. Critics, however, said House Bill 1094 is a backdoor attempt to obstruct — if not kill — capital punishment in Colorado by "strangling" funding for the state attorney general's capital crimes unit.
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/041607.htm
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