|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Walter Reed Hearing to Put Spotlight on Kiley's Leadership (U.S., 21 articles)
|
Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley agreed to step down from his position after weeks of intense public criticism stemming from revelations about poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, defense officials said yesterday. A Pentagon review board investigating conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center heard testimony yesterday from injured soldiers and their families describing continued bureaucratic missteps and problems with patient treatment more than three weeks after such problems were disclosed in the news media. WASHINGTON Injured soldiers returning home for medical treatment face an unacceptable maze of paperwork and bureaucracy, leaders of a presidential commission on veterans' health care said Saturday. Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years. Speaking from experience, the soldiers and veterans described the military healthcare system as a labyrinth, said their families had been swamped with paperwork, and complained that some care providers lacked compassion. Speaking to reporters during a visit to the Army hospital in Northwest Washington, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates also warned that senior military leaders could be disciplined based on the findings of the review group.
|
|
|
|
White House, Senators to Confer on E-Mail Expert (U.S., 9 articles)
|
The admission has thrust the Democrats' nemesis back into the center of attention and poses a fresh political challenge for President Bush . WASHINGTON, April 12-The White House said Thursday that missing e-mail messages sent on Republican Party accounts may include some relating to the firing of eight United States attorneys. The disclosure became a fresh political problem for the White House, as Democrats stepped up their inquiry into whether Karl Rove and other top aides to Bush used the e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee to circumvent record-keeping requirements.
|
Other stories about mails, Gonzales and Rove:
| |
In U.S. Illegally, But Still Paying Taxes, Controversy Swirls Over IRS' Acceptance Of Illegal Immigrants' Tax Returns (U.S., 13 articles) [UPDATE]
|
With the tax deadline approaching, illegal immigrants are sending in federal returns in what appear to be record numbers despite fears heightened by recent immigration raids around the country. The alternative tax is supposed to apply to multimillionaires whose high-end tax shelters would otherwise reduce their tax bills to a pittance. In the last decade, lawmakers have willfully undermined the tax's intent, mainly with overly generous tax breaks for investment income that enable many of the richest Americans to escape the alternative tax.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
N.J. Governor Breaks Bones in Highway Crash (U.S., 11 articles) [UPDATE]
|
His three adult children are spending much of their time in a small conference room at Cooper University Hospital here, talking on their cellphones or reading get-well notes from all over the country. CAMDEN, N.J., April 12 New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) was critically injured Thursday when his motorcade crashed en route to a meeting between radio personality Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team, a doctor said. CAMDEN, N.J. - Gov. Jon Corzine remained in critical condition Sunday after doctors performed what was described as a "routine procedure" to remove fluid that had collected outside his left lung.
|
| |
Cheney Steers Clear Of Libby Mess, VP Says Some Democrats Have Been "Irresponsible" On Iraq In Pushing For Withdrawal Timetable (U.S., 11 articles) [UPDATE]
|
In a sharp-edged speech, Vice President Dick Cheney escalated the President George Bush administration attack on Congress for passing war spending legislation that would mandate withdrawing at least some U.S. troops from Iraq. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush and congressional Democrats accused each other on Saturday failing to support U.S. troops, showing no signs of backing down in their fight over funding for the Iraq war. Democrats want to attach a date for a withdrawal from Iraq to a $100 billion funding bill but Bush insists he would veto such a measure, setting up a battle of wills over control of the unpopular war.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Military Sharpens Focus on Climate Change (U.S., 7 articles)
|
For the second time in a month, private consultants to the government are warning that human-driven warming of the climate poses risks to the national security of the United States. A report, scheduled to be published on Monday but distributed to some reporters yesterday, said issues usually associated with the environment - like rising ocean levels, droughts and violent weather caused by global warming - were also national security concerns. The effects of global warming, the study said, could lead to large-scale migrations, increased border tensions, the spread of disease and conflicts over food and water.
|
| |
British military fatalities in Iraq (U.S., 6 articles)
|
The total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq has risen to 142 after the death of two military personnel in an apparent mid-air collision between two UK helicopters. Of those who died, 108 are classed as having been killed after hostile action, while 34 have died from illness, non-combat injuries or accidents, or the cause of their death is still unknown. Two Maryland soldiers, including a Frostburg State University graduate who dreamed of being a doctor, died a day apart last week in the Middle East, the Department of Defense announced yesterday.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Storm Pounds Northeast With Rain, Snow (U.S., 6 articles)
|
NEW YORK A nor'easter battered the East with strong wind and pouring rain Sunday, grounding hundreds of airline flights, downing power lines and threatening severe coastal flooding overnight. The storm, already blamed for five deaths on the Plains, also flooded people out of their homes in the middle of the night in West Virginia. ALBANY, N.Y. The Northeast on Saturday braced for a hard-blowing nor'easter that could bring severe coastal flooding, power outages and more than a foot of snow in some places.
|
| |
ABC News: Hillary Clinton Raises $26 Million to Set Record (U.S., 9 articles)
|
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have come out on top in the battle to raise funds for the bid to become US president. These and other illuminating, cold, hard facts about the campaigns of those contending to be the 44th president of the United States were revealed this weekend as campaigns posted their first quarterly reports with the FEC. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clinton has $31 million in the bank to finance her bid for the White House in 2008, far more than her rivals for the Democratic nomination, according to campaign fund-raising reports filed on Sunday.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
'Titanic' fans make trek to the ship's birthplace (U.S., 4 articles)
|
The giant ocean liner Titanic, on its maiden voyage to New York, had collided with an iceberg off the Grand Banks in the Atlantic and sunk, killing 1,500 passengers. The intervening years have not dimmed interest in the Titanic, which has been the subject of many books, including former Baltimorean Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, first published in 1955 and never out of print. The luxury liner, built in Belfast's Harland and Wolff's shipyard, sank on its maiden voyage in 1912, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
|
| |
ABC News: Column: Tory Johnson Explains How She Became Her Own Boss (U.S., 8 articles)
|
Why Doesn't the Devil Wear Brooks Bros.? Female Bosses Are Often Demonized for Behavior Considered Normal for Male Managers. Johnson Transformed from Hot Shot Moving Up the Corporate Ladder to Founder and CEO of Women for Hire.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
LA loses bid but backs Chicago for 2016 Olympics (U.S., 7 articles)
|
Chicago on Saturday won the first leg of the marathon contest to host the 2016 Olympic Games, beating Los Angeles for the right to represent the United States against cities around the world. Next up for Chicago: convincing the International Olympic Committee, which will choose among cities that could include Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo in October 2009. The third most-populous U.S. city beat rival Los Angeles in a "very, very close" vote, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth said after opening a sealed envelope and announcing the selection.
|
| |
Nathaniel Williams: Local educator, Scout leader (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Grand Prairie native sets his sights on the 400 record 09:39 PM CDT on Friday, April 13, 2007.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Lenders Sought Edge Against U.S. in Student Loans (U.S., 5 articles)
|
" The same kind of lending practices have taken place in many different parts of the country said Mark Zandi who has reviewed the Philadelphia study. The fund found that the likelihood of becoming victimized by predatory lenders is one in seven for borrowers who have refinanced their homes multiple times. The companies have offered money to universities to pull out of the federal direct loan program, which was championed by the Clinton administration .
|
| |
Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84 (U.S., 6 articles)
|
The mystery of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., who died Wednesday at the age of 84, isn't that his novels of the 1960s and 70s held such appeal for the young. Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five or Breakfast of Champions, the world could never again seem like a safe, dependable place, if it ever had. Even in the Vietnam-era counterculture, Kurt Vonnegut's popularity with many young readers was tested by his profoundly pessimistic vision, so lacking in hope that it bordered on nihilism.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Speed demons haunt responsible drivers (U.S., 5 articles)
|
Quite a few wrote in to support the suggestion in this space two weeks ago that folks who drive at triple-digit speeds on public roads deserve a more severe response than a traffic ticket. They are among the most reviled figures driving our roads: those who clog the left lanes of our highways and get in the way of red-blooded Americans who just want to get somewhere fast. So how is that behavior any more homicidal or suicidal than driving at 120 mph in a 55-mph zone on the Baltimore Beltway? That's what police charged Patrick T. Britton-Harr with doing Oct. 8 along with negligent driving and alcohol offenses.
|
| |
ABC News: Giuliani Accused of Pandering on Confederate Flag (U.S., 5 articles)
|
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, currently the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, has in the past seemed to voice personal opposition to the flag, which to many African-Americans is an offensive symbol of bigotry and slavery. Edward Vaughn who was in Montgomery that day, told ABC News that Giuliani's remarks disappointed him. Giuliani is posturing himself to try to get the conservative, right-wing, Southern white vote in Vaughn said.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
CBC News In Depth: Conrad Black (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Conrad Black , who famously renounced his Canadian citizenship so he could assume the British peerage as Black of Crossharbour, now wants to call Canada his home, according to news reports. While Black is an accepted honour in the U.K., bestowed in fact by an act of the British Parliament, that is not the case in Canada. Since passing the Nickle Resolution in 1919, Canada has prohibited the British, or any foreign government for that matter, from conferring "any title of honour or titular distinction" upon any Canadian citizen.
|
| |
Community garden a stump issue (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Volunteers attacked weeds and bramble with shovels and rakes at the community garden that had provided over the last decade some 5,000 pounds of vegetables to the homeless. While Longwood is a great formal garden, Winterthur, just 14 miles down the road, is primarily a great museum of 17th - to 19th -century American decorative arts. A LITTLE RED grocery store that was turned into a home and studio for an accomplished artist and his master-gardener wife has the aura of urban myth.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Va.'s Webb Offers a Blunt Challenge to Bush (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Sen. James Webb (D-Va) delivered a forceful nine-minute response to President Bush's State of the Union address last night, promising an aggressive challenge to Bush's Iraq and economic policies from the newly empowered Democratic majority in Congress. Speaking live from a historic Capitol Hill meeting room, Webb displayed the same blunt manner that won over Virginia voters in November and later generated headlines after a face-to-face exchange with Bush at the White House. Webb, trends and exterior color designer for General Motors, has the daunting task of developing colors for all G.M. vehicles.
|
| |
Tunnel at Tysons Would Be Costly Risk, Study Says (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Virginia transit officials announced an agreement yesterday with a private group to design and build the first phase of a Metrorail extension between West Falls Church and Reston. Here's how the estimated $2.4 billion to $2.7 billion first phase would be divided: · $1.1 billion for construction, guideway (tracks), stations and a 2,100-foot tunnel through a section of Tysons Corner. The subcontractors are to be selected through competitive bidding · $800 million to $1.1 billion in agency costs such as project management, rail cars, start-up and testing.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
If You're Worried About Insecticides' Effects, Tell Your Landlord (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Q: Can the landlord keep my deposit if I was depending on a Section 8 rental assistance voucher that did not go through? I never moved in. According to Cymando Henley, communications coordinator for the D.C. Housing Authority, which runs the District's housing voucher program, the Section 8 program is not involved with agreements between landlords and tenants. Q: With all the recent talk in your column and Web chats about bedbugs and cockroaches, I wonder what the regulations are regarding insecticide use in apartments.
|
| |
Book takes a richly nuanced look at man who symbolized 'genius' (U.S., 4 articles)
|
Is there a relationship between space and time? The result was an unprecedented set of contributions to theoretical physics that changed our understanding of the world and universe. If you 're one of the millions more who didn't get past the preface, Walter Isaacson's biography will be challenging. Isaacson is blithely unconcerned with the unsettling impact of Albert Einstein's work and that's one of the great strengths of this biography.
|
|
|
blaster@cs.columbia.edu
|
