Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/154345116?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Prosecutor: Woman shot neighbor to keep him quiet (AP)
FORT DODGE, Iowa ? A woman forced a 20-year-old neighbor to write a diary framing her ex-husband in a murder-for-hire scheme and then killed him because she didn't think he could keep his role a secret, a prosecutor said Wednesday at her first-degree murder trial.
Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand told jurors in an opening statement that Tracey Richter invited Dustin Wehde to her home on Dec. 13, 2001 and forced him to create a diary claiming he had been hired by her first husband, John Pitman, to kill her and her 11-year-old son Bert.
Hammerand said the writing was interrupted mid-sentence when a friend who was planning to spend the night came to a side door, and Richter had Wehde leave out the front. But Richter canceled on the friend, saying she had to pick up her son from basketball practice, when in reality she planned to set up what looked like a burglary and home invasion involving Pitman, Hammerand.
The prosecutor said as part of the plan, Richter had Wehde, a loner who had spent time hanging out with her husband, back later that night and shot him nine times from two guns. Three shots that went through the back of Wehde's head would have been instantly fatal, he said.
Richter, 45, of Omaha, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting at her former home in Early, a small town 100 miles northwest of Des Moines. She claims she acted in self-defense and was hailed as a hero after the shooting by some gun rights advocates and TV personality Montel Williams, who applauded her story on national television.
She blew a kiss at her fiancee, who sat in the front row, as she entered the Fort Dodge courtroom. But she appeared to fight back tears as defense attorney Scott Bandstra shared her version of events ? that Wehde and another man broke into her home and strangled her with pantyhose before she was able to break free, unlock her gun safe and shoot Wehde. When he tried to get up, she shot him the last time with the second gun, the attorney said.
"On that day, her worst nightmare occurred," Bandstra said.
He said the evidence will show Wehde had a history of mental health issues and aggressive behavior. He also said law enforcement failed to investigate a man who could have been the second intruder and then ignored evidence that backs up his Richter's story.
The first Sac County sheriff's deputy to arrive on the scene, Daniel Bruscher, testified that Richter initially told him that two intruders fled the house on foot and "the one she shot was upstairs." She said that one of those who fled had "black curly hair," and she didn't see the other one.
When her 11-year-old son, Bert, told Bruscher the dead man was Wehde, Richter corrected him and said they did not know that yet, Bruscher said. He said he found Wehde slumped over on the upstairs bedroom floor. The air was hazy from gun smoke, and a blood splatter was on the wall.
Hammerand, an assistant attorney general, started his opening statement with dramatic flair: "The pink spiral notebook contained information only someone involved in the crime would know."
The details included the name of Pitman's divorce attorney, but the plastic surgeon from Virginia will testify he never met Wehde, the prosecutor said.
Hammerand said Richter worried she would lose custody of her son and child support payments if Wehde told police that he wrote the journal. Richter and Pitman divorced in 1996 but were still fighting over custody and visitation at the time of the shooting.
The first witness, Marie Friedman, testified she was friends with Richter because their husbands worked together. She said she showed up at Richter's home Dec. 13 planning to spend the night because their husbands were travelling on business.
Friedman said Richter told her after Wehde left that he was there asking about work, and she was glad he left because he creeped her out. She said she was surprised Richter cancelled their stay-over. She left after the two had tea and chatted.
Her husband, Ray Friedman, recalled how he and Richter's husband at the time, Michael Roberts, were driving home from Minneapolis when they heard about a shooting at Roberts' home. He said he let Roberts drive his car home because he could navigate dirt roads faster.
Both Friedmans, who now live in Florida, said they saw Richter at the hospital and she was distraught over the alleged home invasion and had red marks on her neck.
"Everything Tracey told me, it appeared to be that way to me," Marie Friedman said. "There was no question in my mind that she would not be telling the truth."
A defense lawyer noted Michael Roberts, who was investigated in connection with the shooting but is not a suspect, planned the business trip and gave Ray Friedman a $5,000 bonus and a $20,000 raise afterward.
Ray Friedman bristled at the suggestion that he was paid off, saying he was bringing the company $1 million in sales and asked for a raise to match his previous job's salary. He said he later left after he grew tired of the Roberts' antics.
"You just never knew what was going on," he said. "I didn't like the rollercoaster ride there. I live a very peaceful life and I don't want to be involved in other people's issues or chaos."
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Libya rulers plan trial for Gaddafi killers: TV (Reuters)
CAIRO (Reuters) ? Libya's ruling National Transition Council pledged on Thursday to bring the killers of deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi to trial, news channel Al Arabiya reported in a brief screen caption.
(Reporting by Omar Fahmy)
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Friday, October 28, 2011
PFT: Cowher, Gruden linked to Dolphins job
On November 1, 2001, I busted a bottle of Boone?s Farm against my Commodore 64, and Profootballtalk.com was born.
There was no mission statement, no business plan, no bucket list.? I had done nine months of unpaid freelance work for the long-defunct NFLtalk.com, which was purchased along with the other Sportstalk.com sites in early 2001 after the tech bubble burst.? I then spent six months working from home for ESPN.com?s subscription-based Insider service, while also practicing law full time.
In October 2001, I was offered a one-year deal with ESPN.com, effective November 1.? (I still have the contract.)? I decided, for a variety of reasons that I won?t bore you with now (but might bore you with later), to launch an independent site (the word blog hadn?t been coined yet, and I have always despised it) that covered the NFL a bit more loosely, with entertainment being as important as information.
PFT launched November 1 of that year, we generated little or no revenue for at least three years, and then the snowball started to roll down the hill, a bit.? The watershed moment came in early 2006, when Ted Moon of Sprint reached out with a desire to explore an advertising relationship.? One thing led to another, we struck a deal, real money was flowing, and I knew at that point that, eventually, I wouldn?t be practicing law at all.
On July 1, 2009, it finally happened, and the two-plus years since then have been an exciting, fulfilling, challenging, and almost entirely enjoyable blur.
I?m not sure what we?ll do to commemorate the 10-year anniversary.? It would be nice if all of PFT Planet shows up next Tuesday and check in, if only to see if the hamsters powering the NBC servers will explode.? Maybe we?ll do something special for PFT Live.? Beyond that, I?m not looking for the day to be ensconced in self-congratulation.? It?s more about reflection and gratitude ? primarily to each of you ? and given the content of this post, the reflection already has started.
Actually, the reflection happens pretty much continuously.? I don?t know how or why this thing has grown, I don?t know how or why 90 percent of the people connected to the NFL read the site (the other 10 percent are lying), and I don?t know where this thing is going and how it will get there.? I?ve been enjoying the ride since Day One, and I?ll keep doing it as long as I can say that.
Hopefully, you?ve enjoyed it, too.? Hopefully, you?ll continue to do that.
If you have any suggestions on how we best should celebrate an unlikely 10-year anniversary, feel free to add them to the comments.? And be sure to check back next Tuesday to see what we do.? And every day between now and then.? And every day after that.? Until I either drop dead or decide to move on, or move out.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/25/cowher-gruden-linked-to-dolphins-job/related/
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Interest groups flex clout in judicial elections (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Interest groups pumped millions of dollars into state judicial elections at unprecedented levels around the country in the last election cycle, a trend that threatens to undermine the impartiality of judges, a report issued Thursday said.
Political parties and advocacy groups working independently from the candidates are accounting for a greater share of spending on judicial elections. Such independent expenditures accounted for $11.5 million, or nearly 30 percent, of the money spent in the 2009-2010 election cycle. That's up more than 60 percent from the 2005-06 election cycle.
That growth helps explain the nasty tone of some judicial elections. While candidates ran mostly positive advertisements, interest groups accounted for three out of every four attack ads, said the report, which was compiled by three organizations, including the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
"The story of the 2009-10 elections, and their aftermath in state legislatures in 2011, reveals a coalescing national campaign that seeks to intimidate America's state judges into becoming accountable to money and ideologies instead of the constitution and the law," said the report.
High-court candidates across the U.S. spent $38.4 million during the 2009-2010 election cycle. Retention races in four states ? Illinois, Iowa, Alaska and Colorado ? cost nearly $4.9 million, more than double the $2.2 million for all retention elections nationwide for the entire decade.
The most expensive high-court elections took place in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois, where the courts were closely divided along party lines.
The nation's costliest retention election in a quarter century took place last year when Illinois Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride faced a simple up-or-down vote to keep his seat. Business groups sought his ouster after he helped overturn a state law capping damages in medical malpractice cases. Kilbride raised $2.8 million while business groups drew $688,000 in their campaign.
In Michigan, the state GOP spent an estimated $4 million and the Michigan Democratic Party spent $1.6 million. The report said the independent spending dwarfed that of the candidates, to the point that the candidates "seemed like bystanders in their own elections." The judicial elections in Michigan were the most expensive in the country.
Perhaps the most abrupt change took place in Iowa where not a single penny was spent in state high-court elections from 2000 to 2009. That changed when the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a state law banning same-sex marriage. National groups, led by the National Organization for Marriage, spent nearly $1 million to vote out three state justices trying to retain their seats. A group called Fair Courts for Us, led by former governor Robert Ray, also spent about $400,000 in an unsuccessful bid to support the incumbents.
The report described the results of the Iowa election as chilling because the campaign was intended to send a warning to judges in all states.
But Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, said he believes talk of intimidation by interest groups is just incorrect. Rather, he said, that the groups are putting their trust in voters.
"Is it intimidation when someone says to a politician you've gone too far. I can't vote for you again?" Brown said. "That's not intimidation. That's democracy at work."
The report also noted that a patchwork of disclosure laws can leave the public in the doubt about who funds the independent expenditure efforts to elect or remove judicial candidates. In Iowa, the laws made it clear who was supporting the effort to remove three justices. But in Michigan, the report said it was impossible to confirm who bankrolled the two party's spending in the judicial elections.
The Brennan Center worked with the National Institute on Money in State Politics and the Justice at Stake Campaign to compile the report. The latter is an advocacy group that describes its mission as keeping special interests out of the courtroom.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
HP will not spin off PC business
After announcing this past August that it was considering a spin off of its PC business, HP confirmed on Thursday that it would keep its PC division.??HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It?s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,? said HP CEO Meg Whitman in a statement. ?HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.? The initial announcement, which was delivered alongside news that HP was discontinuing its two-moth-old TouchPad tablet and putting an end to its webOS hardware efforts, caused the company?s stock to tumble. Shares of HP are up 1% in after-hours trading following today?s announcement.
HP to Keep PC Division
Continued combination of HP and its Personal Systems Group expected to deliver greater customer and shareholder value
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 27, 2011
HP today announced that it has completed its evaluation of strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group (PSG) and has decided the unit will remain part of the company.
?HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It?s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,? said?Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. ?HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.?
The strategic review involved subject matter experts from across the businesses and functions. The data-driven evaluation revealed the depth of the integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. It also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP?s solutions portfolio and overall brand value. Finally, it also showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation.
The outcome of this exercise reaffirms HP?s model and the value for its customers and shareholders. PSG is a key component of HP?s strategy to deliver higher value, lasting relationships with consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers. The HP board of directors is confident that PSG can drive profitable growth as part of the larger entity and accelerate solutions from other parts of HP?s business.
PSG has a history of innovation and technological leadership as well as an established record of industry-leading profitability. It is the No. 1 manufacturer of personal computers in the world with revenues totaling $40.7 billion for fiscal year 2010.
?As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry?s broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more,? said?Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. ?We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better.?
More information is available at?www.hp.com/investor/PSG-Decision.
Source: http://www.bgr.com/2011/10/27/hp-will-not-spin-off-pc-business/
Analysis: How to get your piece of Obama's student loan relief (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama's new student loan relief plan may be less than meets the eye: It will not do anything to alleviate the pain for the millions of borrowers who have private student loans, and its centerpiece merely accelerates by two years a program to lighten the load for low-earning federal borrowers.
While it may not solve all troubles related to the almost $1 trillion in education indebtedness now burdening graduates and dropouts alike, it does have the potential to help millions of federal borrowers lower their payments or their interest rates -- if they play their cards right. And it may be as far as a president is able to go without congressional action.
"This is an important positive step," says Lauren Asher, president of the College Access and Success, an advocacy organization. To make the most of the program, borrowers have to take the right steps for themselves. Here's what you should do, depending on your circumstances:
--If you are out of school and have a lot of different federal loans.
Your loans might be a mix of direct federal loans and loans that were issued by private lenders but guaranteed by the federal government. (Those are called Federal Family Education Loan Program, or FFELP loans). Beginning on January 1, you can consolidate all of those loans into a single direct federal loan -- and get a discount off of your interest rate.
It works like this: You can already consolidate FFELP and direct loans at an interest rate that is the average of the rates on your loans, rounded up to the nearest eighth of a percent. The new program will offer additional rate cuts of 0.25 percentage points on your FFELP rates and an additional 0.25 percentage points on the entire loan, if you agree to an automated payment from your checking account.
But, move quickly in 2012, counsels Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid (http://www.Finaid.org) and a financial aid expert. The Budget Control Act of 2011 eliminates discounts like this from the student loan program, beginning July 1. It wouldn't raise rates for those who lock in these consolidated loans, but could close the window for new consolidators.
Not everyone will want to jump on this offer. If you have a mix of direct and FFELP loans with a broad range of interest rates -- say from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent -- and you are paying off the higher rate loans at an accelerated pace, you may end up picking up more interest rate costs if you roll them all together and take a blended rate, even with the discounts.
--If you are still a student, or about to enroll
Obama sweetened the existing income-based repayment plan for some 1.6 million current student borrowers. Once they leave school, they will be able to limit their repayments to 10 percent of their discretionary income if they are in low-paying occupations.
If they still have loan balances after 20 years of paying, the remainder of their loan would be forgiven. That offers some financial solace to people who choose typically low-paying service or artistic work. Those changes were scheduled to go into effect in 2014; now they will be accelerated into 2012.
Folks who have already left school and begun working can already opt into an income-based repayment plan, but it is somewhat less generous. Payments are limited to 15 percent of discretionary income, not 10 percent. And it takes 25 years before loan balances are forgiven.
Is this a good deal? Maybe. Stretching out payments over a longer period of time does allow more household income to go toward real life needs like mortgages and groceries. And stretching out a very low-interest rate loan as long as possible, when you believe rates will rise in the future, can make sound financial sense. But so does paying of a loan faster, especially if you can afford to make the payments.
--If you have private loans
Sorry, you're on your own. Without any authority to compel private lenders to lower their rates or forgive big balances, the White House hasn't addressed these loans, estimated by Kantrowitz to make up almost 1 in 6 of every student loan dollar. Private loans tend to be costlier than federal loans and issued at variable rates that can go sky high. They are also lacking in some advantages, such as access to the federal income-based repayment programs, says Asher, who recommends new borrowers limit their private loans.
Former students who are having trouble repaying their private loans should reach out to the lenders and see if they can get any forbearance. But those decisions are typically subjective and based on the goodwill of the lender.
The newly-formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking a closer look at those loans, and has recently published a tool that can help borrowers figure out how to organize and repay their student loans. The student debt repayment assistant tool (http://www.consumerfinance.gov/students/repay) can help you figure out which of your loans are direct, FFELP and private and then link you to a variety of repayment plans. Once that's organized, you'll have time for all those grad school applications.
(Editing by Beth Gladstone and Walden Siew)
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