Pot smoker accused of trying to bribe urine tester

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - A pot-smoking parolee in Colorado faces criminal charges for allegedly offering a cash bribe to try to pass a drug test. Police said a 34-year-old man tried Jan. 3 to bribe a state worker to allow him to use a device called a "Whizzinator" to pass a drug test he had to take while on parole. The man allegedly said he had a medical marijuana card, though officials couldn't confirm whether that was true.

Colorado's medical marijuana law allows convicted criminals to get cards, but those on parole still must pass drug tests. State lawmakers are currently weighing new marijuana rules that would prevent people on parole from having the cards.

Prosecutors said the man offered a state worker $300 after the worker found him with the "Whizzinator," a device of tubing and heater packs attached to a prosthetic penis sold to cheat drug tests.

An arrest warrant affidavit reported by The (Grand Junction) Daily Sentinel Thursday said a caseworker became suspicious about his urine sample after he tried to block the worker's view while he was providing his sample.

When asked to raise his shirt and lower his pants, the man was seen wearing the "Whizzinator." The man allegedly offered the state worker $300, then $500, to throw away the device. The worker refused.

The caseworker took the device, and the man left.

That same day, the man called state parole officials and said he had panicked after smoking marijuana on New Year's Day, the anniversary of his father's death, saying he was "having a very hard time dealing with it."

The man now faces felony bribery charges and is being held in the Mesa County Jail. He was on parole for a 2007 menacing conviction.

LINK TO PHOTO AND ORIGINAL STORY 

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/police_man_tried_to_bribe_work

Last Edited: Today, 7:14 am

Latinos say their votes could tip 40 congressional races

WASHINGTON — Failing to overhaul the nation's immigration system, currently a backburner issue for Congress and President Barack Obama , could play a pivotal role in key mid-term election races in November, according to a new study on Latino voting patterns.

The report by America's Voice, which supports comprehensive new immigration policies, says that revising the laws is the defining issue for Latino voters. The report says that progress — or the lack thereof — in revamping immigration laws and regulations could affect as many as 40 congressional races in areas with sizeable Latino populations, including the re-election bids of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D- Nev. , and Sen. John McCain , R- Ariz. , just two years ago his party's presidential candidate.

"Immigration reform is a litmus test in the Latino community," Eliseo Medina , the president of the Service Employees International Union , said during a conference call about the study. "To us, this is a policy issue, but it is also an issue about respect."

The study says that Obama and Democrats who campaigned in 2008 on the promise of revamping immigration laws benefitted from a 54 percent growth in registered Latino voters between 2000 and 2008.

Some 10 million Latinos voted in the 2008 presidential election. Obama received 75 percent of the Latino vote while McCain received 25 percent.

Since the election, several Latino organizations and leaders have expressed frustration with Obama and congressional Democrats for not aggressively pushing a comprehensive immigration bill. The complaints grew louder after Obama barely mentioned immigration in his State of the Union address last month.

Latino leaders and groups are similarly frustrated with Republicans. They feel that the GOP is promoting and campaigning on an anti-immigration agenda in hopes of attracting so-called "tea party" voters who prefer stricter policing of the U.S. border to a comprehensive policy, which they consider to be amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the country.

"The president did make a promise to the Latino community, and it has not been forgotten," said Janet Murguia , president and chief executive officer of the National Council of La Raza , a leading Hispanic lobby. "We're also looking to Congress — Democrats and Republicans — particularly Republicans, who can't just continue to say 'no' . . . we'll hold all these elected officials accountable."

Increases in Latino population and voter registration in several key states could make Latinos players in this year's mid-term elections, according to the study. The report points to 12 states where registered Latino voters account for between 3.2 and 32 percent of the electorate.

The competitive races include Arizona , where McCain is facing his first serious primary challenge from former Republican Rep. J.D. Hayworth and two other anti-illegal immigration candidates: Chris Simcox , a founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps , and Jim Deakin , a businessman and Navy veteran.

Obama captured the Latino vote in Arizona by 56 to 41 percent. Latinos make up 14.8 percent of the state's voting population.

The study also singles out Nevada , where a politically vulnerable Reid has a crowded field of Republicans lining up to run against him. Latinos, who make up 12.8 percent of Nevada's registered voters "will play an important role in the Senate campaign and could be a decisive factor in whether the Senate majority leader returns for his fifth term," the study said.

However, comprehensive immigration advocates warn that the Latino community's vote isn't automatic and must be earned.

"If anybody thinks that somehow not acting is going to work to the advantage of depressing turnout . . . . I think anybody who believes they have a lock on this community because they don't have anywhere to go is also mistaken," Medina said. "This is a constituency that's highly motivated and will participate."

Child 'Waterboarded' By Dad Over Her ABCs

12:03pm UK, Monday February 08, 2010

Adam Arnold

Sky News Online

A US soldier has been accused of "waterboarding" his four-year-old daughter because she would not recite the alphabet.

Joshua Tabor, 27, allegedly pushed the child's head under water face-up in the kitchen sink at his house.

Tabor told a police officer he and his girlfriend "held her down on the counter and submerged her head into the water three or four times until the water came around her forehead and jawline", according to court documents.

The suspect said that he handed out this punishment to the youngster for "refusing to say her letters".

Tabor, a soldier at the Lewis-McChord base in Tacoma, Washington, has been charged with second-degree assault of a child and is due to appear in court on February 16.

The suspect told police his daughter was afraid of water "and was squirming around trying to get away from the water". The reports said: "Joshua did not act as though he felt there was anything wrong with this form of punishment."

He was irate, intoxicated, and walking around the neighbourhood with his Kevlar helmet threatening to break windows.  Joshua Tabor's girlfriend talks to police

The controversial practice of waterboarding was used by the CIA to break al Qaeda suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Detainees had water poured over their face until they feared they would drown - but President Barack Obama has since banned the practice.

Police went to Tabor's house in the Tacoma suburb of Yelm after his girlfriend reported he "was irate, intoxicated, and walking around the neighbourhood with his Kevlar helmet threatening to break windows".

She told officers that Tabor beat the child. The youngster's back was reportedly covered in bruises.

The girlfriend also claimed the child had locked herself in a cupboard because she was afraid of her father.

Police Sergeant Rob Carlson confirmed the alleged abuse happened because the little girl would not recite her "ABCs", according to police reports.

Tabor has now been released from jail after posting $10,000 (about £6,400) bail.

He is restricted to the base at Lewis-McChord as a condition of his release and cannot have any contact with his girlfriend or children.

The youngster has been taken into custody by Child Protective Services, a police report said.

Last Edited: Yesterday, 8:25 pm

Man reports armed robbery after attempting to buy crack with credit card

Laura Angus

Flint Journal

February 08, 2010, 7:52AM

FLINT, Michigan — A man was arrested after reported to police he was robbed at gunpoint when he allegedly attempted to buy crack with a credit card before midnight Thursday at Wolcott Street and University Avenue.

The victim reported a 2003 Chevy Malibu had been stolen, and the vehicle was listed as stolen out of Lapeer, according to police reports.

The victim was listed as the alleged suspect in the stolen vehicle complaint in Lapeer, and he was lodged in the Genesee County Jail.

Prosecutors on Monday charged Michael Jackson’s personal physician with involuntary manslaughter in connection with administering a combination of surgical anesthetic and sedatives blamed in the music legend’s death last summer.

The complaint filed in Superior Court accused Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist caring for the 50-year-old pop icon during an ambitious comeback attempt, of causing Jackson's June 25 death by acting “without due caution and circumspection.” 

The criminal case comes after a seven-month investigation that stretched from the master bedroom of Jackson’s Holmby Hills mansion to the heart clinic Murray ran in a poor neighborhood of Houston. The focus, however, rarely left Murray.

Within weeks of Jackson’s death, detectives described the doctor as a manslaughter suspect in court papers that said he admitted leaving the singer alone and under the influence of propofol – a powerful anesthetic used to render surgical patients unconscious – in a bedroom of the sprawling home. 

The coroner’s office ruled Jackson’s death a homicide and said the cause was “acute propofol intoxication” in conjunction with the effect of other sedatives Murray acknowledged providing.

Despite the almost immediate focus on Murray – authorities first questioned him in the hospital where doctors were working in vain to revive Jackson – the multi-agency probe that included federal and local investigators progressed slowly, and the doctor was not formally accused of wrongdoing until the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed its complaint.

Involuntary manslaughter is the least serious homicide charge available to prosecutors, its maximum punishment of four years in prison far less than the life sentence for murder or the 11 years for voluntary manslaughter. The charge, which applies to an unlawful killing committed without malice or intent to kill, turns on Murray’s possible negligence in allegedly giving Jackson propofol for an unapproved purpose – the treatment of insomnia – and outside of the normal operating room setting.

The drug, one of the most widely used general anesthetics in the nation, is so dangerous that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says only those trained in anesthesia should administer it.

Murray told police that he had been giving Jackson nightly intravenous doses of propofol for six weeks, about the time he began working for the performer, according to police affidavits filed in court. Murray, who was in debt and behind on child-support payments, earned $150,000 a month treating Jackson and closed practices he operated in Las Vegas, where he lived, and Houston to join the performer in Los Angeles for rehearsals.

According to the affidavits, Jackson told the physician that for years other doctors had treated his chronic insomnia with doses of propofol, a white liquid the singer called “milk.”

Murray eventually became concerned that the singer was addicted and tried to wean him off the anesthetic, according to the affidavits. On the day Jackson died, Murray tried to get the performer to sleep using Valium and, later, two other sedatives, according to the affidavits. But Jackson remained awake for 10 hours, demanding propofol.

According to the affidavits, Murray said he relented and sat next to Jackson’s bed as the propofol took effect. He told police he left for two minutes to use the restroom, and cellphone records indicate he also talked on the phone for 45 minutes, according to the affidavits. When he returned, Jackson was not breathing.

Through his attorney, Murray has maintained his innocence and said he did nothing that should have caused Jackson’s death. In his only public comment – a one-minute video released in August through his lawyer – a somber-looking Murray expressed confidence that he would be exonerated. “I told the truth, and I have faith the truth will prevail,” he said.

 LINK TO LIVE COVERAGE OF DR. MURRAY ENTERING PLEA

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22500861/

-- Harriet Ryan and Victoria Kim in Los Angeles, Jack Leonard and Richard Winton at the LAX courthouse.

LINK TO COMPLETE COVERAGE OF LIFE AND DEATH OF JACKSON

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/michael-jacksons-doctor-charged-with-involuntary-manslaughter-in-pop-stars-death.html

Last Edited: Yesterday, 4:31 pm

Explorers Also Found 2 Cases Of Brandy

LINK TO VIDEO

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22495205/

Last Edited: Yesterday, 7:29 am

Saints 31, Colts 17

Easy does it: Saints stun Colts

New Orleans defense stymies Manning, rallies to win Super Bowl XLIV

The Associated Press 9:55 p.m. EST, February 7, 2010

Last Edited: February 7, 2010, 11:34 pm

Feb 6, 2010 1:57 pm US/Eastern

N.J. Teacher Admits Cash-For-Grades Scheme

TRENTON (CBS) ?A former social studies teacher in New Jersey has admitted pocketing "charitable donations" from students looking to improve their grades.

Megan Laboy of Howell pleaded guilty Friday to theft by deception, admitting she received between $200 and $500 in donations from her Colts Neck High School students during the 2008-2009 school year.

The youths were told they would receive extra credit for the donations and that the cash would go to charities. But the 30-year-old Laboy instead kept the money for herself.

The school is located at 59 5 Points Road, Colts Neck, NJ 07722-1781.

Under a plea deal with Monmouth County prosecutors, Laboy will likely get probation when she's sentenced May 14. She'll also be barred from holding public employment or office in New Jersey.

Laboy had worked for the Freehold Regional High School District since 2001, but has since resigned.

Megan Laboy

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/02/exclusive-tiger-woods-leaving-rehab-end-week-wife-picking-him

The flight of angels: saving lives in Afghanistan's airborne A&E

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1248526/The-flight-angels-saving-lives-Afghanistans-airborne-A-E.html

Sarah Palin assails Obama at 'tea party' gathering

LIZ SIDOTI

AP National Political Writer

Sunday, February 7, 2010

(02-07) 04:17 PST Nashville, Tenn. (AP) --

Sarah Palin, in a speech that was short on ideas but big on enthusiasm, took aim at President Barack Obama and the Democrats, telling a gathering of "tea party" activists that America is ripe for another revolution.

Noting his party's dismal showing in elections since Obama moved into the White House a year ago with talk of hope and promises of change, Palin asked the gathering: "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for you?"

Her audience waved flags and erupted in cheers during multiple standing ovations as the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee gave the keynote address Saturday at the first national convention of the "tea party" coalition. It's an antiestablishment, grass-roots network motivated by anger over the growth of government, budget-busting spending and Obama's policies.

Palin's 45-minute talk was filled with her trademark folksy jokes and amounted to a pep talk for the coalition and promotion of its principles.

The speech also was rife with criticism for Obama and the Democrats who control Congress, but delivered with a light touch. Aside from broad conservative principles like lower taxes and a strong national defense, the speech was short on Palin's own policy ideas that typically indicate someone is seriously laying the groundwork to run for the White House.

Indeed, Republican observers say she's seemingly done more lately to establish herself as a political celebrity focused on publicity rather than a political candidate focused on policy.

Catering to her crowd, Palin talked of limited government, strict adherence to the Constitution, and the "God-given right" of freedom. She said the "fresh, young and fragile" movement is the future of American politics because it's "a ground-up call to action" to both major political parties to change how they do business.

"America is ready for another revolution!" she told the gathering.

Palin suggested the movement should remain leaderless and cautioned against allowing it to be defined by any one person.

"Let us not get bogged down in the small squabbles. Let us get caught up in the big ideas," she said, though she offered few of her own.

The former Alaska governor, who resigned from office last summer before completing her first term, didn't indicate whether her political future would extend beyond cable news punditry and paid speeches to an actual presidential candidacy.

All she offered was a smile when a moderator asking her questions used the phrase "President Palin." That prompted most in the audience to stand up and chant "Run, Sarah, Run!"

But, given the plethora of attacks that Palin leveled at Obama, she seemed like she was already running against him. And, perhaps, as an independent.

She talked little about the Republican Party and encouraged "tea party"-aligned candidates to compete in GOP primaries.

Palin ri bbed Obama for Democratic losses in New Jersey and Virginia governor's races last fall and in a Massachusetts Senate race last month, saying: "When you're 0-3 you'd better stop lecturing and start listening."

On foreign policy and national security, Palin said he had "misguided thinking" and a pre-Sept. 11 mindset.

Her fee was $100,000 for the appearance at the for-profit event.

LINKS TO VARIOUS ACCOUNTS OF SARAH PALIN AT TEA PARTY

http://www.bing.com/videos/?FORM=MFEVID&publ=2BE19A43-506C-4905-B386-894988BC18EB&crea=STND_MFEVID_core_HuffPo_CustomVidLink_1x1&q=Palin+Tea+Party+Convention&docid=1668761976969#

February 4, 2010 at midnight

Robbery investigators are looking for a mumbling would-be bandit who has a problem getting her message across.

 

The suspect tried to rob the First South Credit Union, 3731 Austin Peay, on Tuesday afternoon before leaving the bank, where she fell and dropped her gun.

The woman is believed to be responsible for trying to hold up two credit unions Tuesday in the Raleigh area, but she fled empty-handed, one time stumbling outside as her gun clattered to the sidewalk.

The bumbling bandit struck out the first time at the Southern Security Federal Credit Union, 3616 Austin Peay, just before 10 a.m.

In a twist worthy of the 1969 Woody Allen movie "Take the Money and Run," the teller couldn't understand the suspect's mumbling demands.

The suspect then produced a holdup note, which she flung at the teller before running from the building.

In "Take the Money and Run," Allen's character tries to rob a bank but is stymied by his indecipherable handwriting, as tellers ponder whether he has written "gun" or "gub" on his holdup note.

Later Tuesday, a woman arrived at the First South Credit Union, 3731 Austin Peay, at about 1:40 p.m. She fumbled with her purse, then approached the counter after a teller asked several times if she needed help.

The woman handed the teller a note, but the teller retreated when the woman pulled a gun.

The woman then ran from the bank, tumbling on the sidewalk and dropping her weapon before leaving southbound on Austin Peay in a gold, two-door vehicle.

The woman's failure rate belies the norm, said a local FBI spokesman.

"Most bank robbers are successful, in that they get money," said Joel Siskovic of the FBI.

But, he added, "Our solve rate is pretty high. If people paid attention, you'd think (robbing a bank) is the last thing they'd want to do. We tend to catch everybody."

The suspect was described as a black or Hispanic woman, about 5-3 to 5-4 with a thin build. She wore a black hat, a long black leather jacket, black gloves, a red scarf, black shoes and dark pants. 

Last Edited: February 7, 2010, 7:53 am

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22478026/

Feb. 6, 2010

Police officer suspended on charges of overtime fraud

AMBER HUNT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 Police spokesman John Roach confirmed that a 23-year veteran of the department's 10th precinct is suspended with pay after an internal investigation determined the officer regularly signed in at courthouses on his off days when he had no court business, then put in for overtime pay.

"Of 73 cases he had signed in for in 2009, we found that 55 were fraud and he had no business being there," said Roach, who cited personnel issues in declining to release the officer's name for a story first reported Friday on freep.com.

The department is investigating whether the officer had been signing in fraudulently for court business before last year as well, Roach said. The department began the investigation after a commander within the precinct noticed the officer was going to court too often, given his job assignment.

The officer marks the fourth suspension in recent weeks. Last month, an Eastern District officer was suspended without pay on accusations that he regularly left his police job early to moonlight as a security guard at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit. His reported ruse also is believed to have cost the city about $15,000.

Another Eastern District officer was accused of submitting fraudulent activity logs while on vacation out of the country, meaning she got paid her normal salary for what should have been vacation days. A sergeant with the Eastern District also has been suspended for approving both of his subordinates' fraudulent logs, Roach said.

Next week, the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners is to weigh Chief Warren Evans' recommendation that the two officers and sergeant currently suspended with pay also be stripped of their pay.

Oops! Wrong way
Leslie Stratmoen

KVOW/KTAK

News Director

Originally published February 4, 2010, 06:03 p.m. EST.

Updated February 5, 2010, 09:13 a.m. EST

RIVERTON, Wyo. – OK. If you’re going to steal a bottle of schnapps from a grocery store, it’s probably a good idea to have an escape plan.

A Riverton man apparently forgot that detail when he grabbed the bottle of booze from the Riverton Safeway shelf Wednesday afternoon, along with a package of cough drops. He ran out of the store in a panic and into a nearby building to hide. But his chosen place of refuge just happened to be the police station.

Upon realizing his mistake, he turned tail and ran back outside, but the dispatcher had already spied him on the station’s surveillance camera and alerted officers. One of those officers caught him, not far away, and identified the thief as 26-year-old Jason Antelope.

So, along with shoplifting, Antelope was charged with resisting arrest for running. His flight could be attributed to the fact that he already had a warrant out for his arrest. Or maybe, it was just because he was drunk. He blew a BAC of .298.

Last Edited: February 6, 2010, 3:21 pm