Nebraska ACLU warns authority to stop drug testing

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberty Union is warning North Platte‘s housing authority to stop testing its employees for drugs, or it faces a lawsuit. Nebraska ACLU director Amy Miller sent a letter Monday to the housing authority after reading news reports that the group has enacted a [...]

Jerry Eaves case backfires on top prosecutor

Disgraced former District Attorney Dennis Stout While local and federal authorities were investigating Supervisor Jerry Eaves in 2000, the District Attorney’s Office came under fire for top officials’ interactions with a political opponent of the embattled county supervisor.San Bernardino County District Attorney Dennis Stout and two of his top lieutenants discussed their investigation into Eaves [...]

Laid-off Victorville workers paid to remain silent

VICTORVILLE • The 47 city employees who’ve been laid off over the past week were offered 10 days’ severance pay in exchange for signing away rights to ever sue the city or say anything negative about it. Employees — both past and present — are calling the seven-page waiver a “gag order.” Spokeswoman Yvonne Hester [...]

DHS accused of abusing “no-fly” list for political purposes

Arizona’s state treasurer is not-so-subtly accusing President Obama’s Homeland Security chief of abusing America’s “no-fly” list to satisfy a personal vendetta against him. State Treasurer Dean Martin told Arizona CBS affiliate KPHO that his name suddenly appeared on the government’s list of those banned from US commercial flights after former Arizona governor Dean Martin became [...]

Vatican launches inquiry into ‘abusive’ religious order

The Vatican has launched an investigation into the Legionaries of Christ, a religious order whose secretive founder stands accused of sexually abusing numerous children over decades. While the Vatican has been rocked by numerous sex-abuse scandals in recent decades, through it all one religious order seemed immune to scrutiny: The Legionaries of Christ, also known [...]

Truth & consequences

Investigators bold enough to take on corruption in San Bernardino County have themselves seldom escaped controversy.Some have been criticized by the same leaders who hired them. For others, the stakes have been even higher. Former District Attorney Dennis Stout, 61, says his political career was upended in large part because he lost support from power [...]

Web of corruption

The county’s most extensively documented scandal, and the one that many consider to be one of the most egregious abuses of power in the county’s history, began in the 1990s and became public in 1998, when County Administrative Officer James Hlawek resigned and the Board of Supervisors announced the FBI was investigating him.Gary Ovitt, current [...]

Senate Bill Would Disclose Intel Budget Request

The Senate version of the FY2010 intelligence authorization bill (pdf) would require the President to disclose the aggregate amount requested for intelligence each year when the coming year’s budget request is submitted to Congress.  Currently, only the total appropriation for the National Intelligence Program is disclosed — not the request — and not before the [...]

Ex-captain pleads guilty to $39 million fuel theft plot

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Federal prosecutors say a former U.S. Army captain has pleaded guilty to taking part in a plot to steal $39 million worth of fuel from the Army in Iraq. Robert Young, 46, a U.S. citizen who lived in the Philippines, pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy and theft of government property. He [...]

Sunday school teacher gets one year for molesting female student

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – A former Sunday school teacher from Ontario will serve a year in jail after pleading no contest to committing a lewd act on a 12-year-old girl in his class.John Calvin Savage, 45, struck a plea bargain with prosecutors on Thursday morning in West Valley Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney Jason Anderson said. [...]

Report Finds ICE Home Raids Violate the Constitution

Constitution on ICE: A Report on Immigration Home Raid Operations The Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic has just released this report which cites widespread constitutional violations from immigration home raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent years. “This report is the first public effort to compile and analyze the available evidence regarding the [...]

Racist Web Posts Traced to Homeland Security

After federal border agents detained several Mexican immigrants in western New York in June, an article about the incident in a local newspaper drew an onslaught of vitriolic postings on its Web site. Some were racist. Others attacked farmers in the region, an apple-growing area east of Rochester, accusing them of harboring illegal workers. Still [...]

Report: U.S. Funded Religious Programs in Africa, Iraq

WASHINGTON (RNS) The federal government used taxpayer dollars to rebuild mosques in Iraq and teach Bible-based abstinence in Africa, violating a prohibition on funding “inherently religious activities,” according to a recent audit of the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID). The report by the agency’s inspector general, released Wednesday (July 22), said “some USAID funds [...]

Majority in US oppose both wars

July 24, 2009 — (AP)   -A majority of Americans oppose both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, though the war in Afghanistan is a little more popular. Here are details: OVERALL RESULTS: 34 percent favor the war in Iraq and 63 percent are opposed; 44 percent favor the war in Afghanistan and [...]

County supervisor says rumors about DA should be investigated

PDF: Read San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry’s statement Special Section: San Bernardino Co. Probe San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry on Thursday called for an independent investigation of allegations that District Attorney Mike Ramos has engaged in improper behavior. Derry said he is troubled by rumors that have been swirling in recent months that [...]

Court Rebukes Government Over “Secret Law”

“Government must operate through public laws and regulations” and not through “secret law,” a federal appellate court declared in a decision last month.  When our government attempts to do otherwise, the court said, it is emulating “totalitarian regimes.” The new ruling (pdf) overturned the conviction of a defendant who had been found guilty of exporting [...]

US to expand anti-drug missions in Colombia

Washington is closing a deal with Bogota to lead its anti-drug mission from bases in Colombia after losing its Manta regional base in Ecuador. The agreement, which both parties seek to seal soon, would let Americans lead Air Force drug interdiction missions from bases in a central valley in Colombia. The Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime [...]

US dismantling military base in Ecuador

The US military has begun to dismantle its anti-drug-and-terrorism operation base in Manta, Ecuador, as US aircraft flew their last missions. The equipment and planes appear headed to Colombia, which is negotiating with the US to take them in after Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa refused to extend a contract that allowed the US to use [...]

Switzerland & Internet

July 17, 2009 Summary These confidential documents detail information on an official program for centralized, real-time, interception of Internet traffic in Switzerland. The interception will start on August 1, 2009. The documents are those referenced yesterday by the Swiss-German weekly newspaper WOZ DOWNLOAD/VIEW FULL FILE

The spray from the spray enforcement

Whenever you use someone to catch someone else in a crime, there’s always the accusation of entrapment that can be floated. When the person you are using is a minor, things are potentially more troubling. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was sensitive to the latter item in this recent press release: As a result of [...]

Medical marijuana plans in motion

Next month, San Bernardino County will begin accepting applications from residents seeking medical marijuana cards. On Tuesday, county supervisors formally adopted an ordinance to distribute cards, which is expected to begin Aug. 14. The county plans to charge patients a $166 annual fee to cover the costs of running the program. Medi-Cal patients will pay [...]

Walter Cronkite Knew a Failed War When He Saw One: Vietnam and the War on Drugs

Everyone knows Walter Cronkite was “the most trusted man in America” and someone whose rare expressions of personal opinion — such as on the Vietnam War — could powerfully influence the views of Middle America. But fewer are aware of a passion of his that he came to relatively late in life — ending the [...]

Al-Jazeera reporter to sue Bush

An Al-Jazeera reporter who spent six years in illegal US custody is to bring legal action against the former American administration. On Friday, The Guardian quoted the former detainee Sami al-Hajj as saying that he was to sue former US president George W. Bush and other former US officials. The action is expected to be [...]

Israel, US war games due off California

Israel plans military exercises at a US naval facility using its Arrow interceptor missiles in a series of drills that also deploys American missile systems. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) will ship the required hardware for the exercise to a Pacific Ocean range off the California coast later this summer, according to Reuters, quoting the [...]

Palin Signs Alaska Sovereignty Resolution

On Friday, July 10th, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin signed House Joint Resolution 27 (HJR27), sponsored by State Rep. Mike Kelly.  The resolution “claims sovereignty for the state under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the [...]

Medical marijuana celebrated

DEVORE – Ron Downey says that because he has cysts in his back and knees that are “bone on bone,” he was on so many pills he would never have gotten out of bed. “That’s why I became a medical marijuana advocate 10 years ago,” says the Riverside resident, a 60-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran. It [...]

Anti-drug groups push for county ban on pot dispensaries

Anti-drug advocacy groups have launched a campaign admonishing San Bernardino County supervisors for considering permitting medical marijuana dispensaries. San Bernardino County, which will begin issuing medical marijuana cards in mid-August, has issued a temporary moratorium on marijuana dispensaries while a county committee studies approaches for regulating and zoning the facilities. “The focus is on trying [...]

Oakland finds peace with its pot clubs

It is a warm weekday afternoon in uptown Oakland, and all’s quiet on 17th Street, save for the steady revolution of customers in and out of the Coffeeshop Blue Sky. “Just imagine,” said Richard Lee, nodding at the familiar scene, “if you had four liquor outlets in all of Oakland. It’s ridiculous.” Blue Sky is [...]

San Bernardino supervisors are skeptical of Grand Jury reform recommendations

Members of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors weighed in Thursday on the Grand Jury’s recommendations for limits on campaign contributions and establishment of an ethics commission to help thwart corruption and the perception of it. The Grand Jury’s 2008-2009 report released Wednesday included for the first time a special section on proposed governmental [...]

California police officer admits forcing woman into oral sex

A California police officer pleaded guilty on Friday to sexual assault during a traffic stop, according to published reports. Feliciano Sanchez, 34, formerly with the Bell Police Department in southern California, admitted that after pulling over a woman in May, 2007, he drove her to a parking lot, put his hand on his firearm and [...]

NY man forcibly sedated for cavity search gets $125k settlement

A man who was forcibly injected with sedative drugs by police so a doctor could search for other drugs in his rectum will receive a handsome settlement from Albany County, New York and Albany Medical Center, a local publication reported Saturday. “The settlement stems from a federal lawsuit filed two years ago by Tunde Clement, [...]

Navy recruiter admits role in sex sting

A 32-year-old Navy recruiter from Kansas has pleaded guilty to attempted human trafficking for trying to arrange a sexual encounter with what he thought was an 11-year-old girl. Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class (SW/AW) Shane Allan Childers of Olathe entered the plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. He faces 15 years to [...]

Miramar Marine accused of stabbing wife

Police in Fresno, Calif., arrested a Marine on Thursday. Authorities said he stabbed his estranged wife and attacked two members of her family. Investigators told KFSN-TV that Sgt. Dejon Baskin, 26, drove from Miramar to Reedley that morning and stabbed his wife, Rachel Baskin, 24, in the neck. He then shot her brother and stabbed [...]

Lejeune Marine charged with murder

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — A North Carolina-based Marine has been charged in the early morning shooting deaths of two civilians. Authorities arrested Lance Cpl. Jarrell Damont Wilson, 22, of Wayne, Mich., on Friday and charged him with two counts of murder. He also faces prior charges of carrying a concealed gun and possession of a stolen [...]

Feds Declare Tennessee Gun Law Invalid

It is yet another example of the federal government running roughshod over the states. Last month, the state of Tennessee’s General Assembly passed House Bill 1796, the “Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act,” which states that any firearms or ammunition manufactured within the state and legally owned and kept within the state by citizens are “not subject [...]

NAACP Sets Up Site for Cell Videos of Police Misconduct

An innovative national program to help fight crime in American cities and towns will be unveiled Monday, July 13th at the NAACP Centennial Convention in New York City. The initiative includes a bold new online effort, the NAACP Rapid Report System (RRS), a quick, effective way for citizens to report instances of police misconduct, and [...]

Soldier suspected of sodomizing dog

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska — Army officials are investigating a claim that a Fort Wainwright soldier sodomized a dachshund that needed treatment at an animal hospital. A Fort Wainwright spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday because the investigation remains active. The soldier’s name hasn’t been released because he hasn’t been charged. The alleged incident happened during the [...]

Feds will help battle cartels

LOS ANGELES – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday the Obama administration can help area officials fight street gangs in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier. Speaking at a downtown news conference where he announced the distribution of $30 million in federal stimulus money, Holder said the federal government will continue to strengthen its [...]

San Bernardino County broadens inmate screening for deportation

Two flat-screen televisions loom large in a small booking office at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Federally trained San Bernardino County sheriff‘s employees use the screens to patch into other jails, some nearly 100 miles away, to identify inmates eligible for deportation. For the past seven months, the Sheriff’s Department has used [...]

Atheists put own stamp on summer camp in Sierra foothills

NEVADA CITY – At Camp Quest, campers may not believe in God, but they do have faith in their community. On Sunday evening, 49 children from across the western United States arrived at the camp nestled in the hills outside Nevada City. It is one of five summer camps in the country for the children [...]

School superintendent accused of raping girl, 5

Bruce Lynn Shelley, who became superintendent of Pocola Schools, in Pocola, Oklahoma on July 1st has reportedly been arrested on allegations of rape by instrumentation of a five-year-old female family member. Shelley is charged with rape by instrumentation. It is alleged that Shelley molested the girl, who was a family member, around bath time with [...]

Ethan Nadelmann Speaks at the NAACP Conference: Human Rights, Racial Justice and the Drug War

Judge: State law barring underage drinking is unconstitutional

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) – If you’re younger than 21 in South Carolina, you cannot buy alcohol. But what about having it in your possession or drinking it? A court ruling today suggests state law contains nothing that would make it illegal for many young people to own or use alcoholic beverages. “This magistrate in Richland County [...]

Students, parents sue school district over drug testing

A coalition of about 50 Goshen County students and parents have filed a 34-page lawsuit against the Goshen County School District regarding the district’s new random drug and alcohol testing policy. The suit was filed with the Goshen County District Court after the coalition claimed the policy unconstitutional. They claim that the policy, passed in [...]

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF AMERICAS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE MILITARY COUP IN HONDURAS

You can learn more about the military coup at Democracy Now!   Join the School of Americas Watch as they encourage the State Department to take action to support democracy in Honduras.

Anchorage officer accused of on-duty rape

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A decorated Anchorage Police Department officer has been accused of sexually assaulting multiple women while he was on duty. Anthony Rollins, a 13-year veteran and former department spokesman, was indicted by a grand jury and arrested Wednesday. He’s being held on a $100,000 bond. “Let me stress that Rollins’s alleged actions are [...]

House Cuts Anti-Drug Media Campaign

Last Friday, the House Appropriations Committee reduced the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign‘s yearly funding by 71% from $70 million to $20 million. The report states the remaining $20 million in funding is specifically intended for ads targeting parents, which means they recommend no more ads targeting teenagers. Since 1998, the federal government has spent [...]

Grand Terrace city councilman arrested

PDF: Read prosecutors’ news release on the arrest of Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller PDF: Read the criminal complaint against Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller PDF: Read a city letter to Councilman Jim Miller about alleged conflict of interest PDF: Read court documents in the case against Grand Terrace Councilman Jim Miller Grand Terrace City [...]

The Army denies that combat stress causes homicide

July 16, 2009 | FORT CARSON, Colo. — The harsh combat in Iraq, including potential war crimes that were witnessed by soldiers, contributed to a series of brutal murders by soldiers based at this Army post near Colorado Springs after they returned home, according to a hard-hitting Army study released Wednesday. Many of the findings [...]

Five Decades of US Behavioral Scientists Implicated in Torture

(The Intelligence Daily) — A couple of recent articles have highlighted the unseemly fact that some past presidents of the American Psychological Association (APA), the foremost professional organization for psychologists in the United States, if not the world, had links to the use of torture, or at least to military research into coercive interrogations.