A man accused of running an illegal contractor spy ring in Afghanistan has resigned from the Air Force, still maintaining his innocence, and still facing possible criminal charges.
Two investigations continue in a case that has tested the definition of what contractors are allowed to do in war zones.
Air Force civilian employee Michael Furlong, together with his boss, Mark Johnson, resigned in July after the Air Force inspector general told the men they’d face official censure for how they ran an information gathering network in Afghanistan.
“After 17 months of DOD investigations and an FBI investigation, it was determined that no criminal laws were broken,” Furlong wrote in his August 12 resignation letter, obtained by the Associated Press.
But inquiries continue by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, a senior defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters still under legal review.
Analysis: Republicans keep pounding on Obamacare as Democrats change the subject to Medicare
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are hitting the reset button on health care for next year’s elections.
Weary of getting pounded over the new health overhaul law, President Barack Obama and his party are changing the subject to Medicare.
Obama signaled last week he’s on board with the shift. His latest debt plan for Congress omitted an increase in the Medicare eligibility age, a proposal he’d put on the table in earlier discussions with House Speaker John Boehner. Gone was the consensus-seeking compromiser as Obama threatened to veto Medicare beneficiary cuts unless Congress also raises taxes on the rich.
Publicly, Republicans say bring it on. While they were nervous over the skeptical public reaction to their Medicare privatization plan this spring, they now insist they can hold their own in a debate. After all, Obama himself has publicly acknowledged Medicare is headed toward insolvency.
It’s hard to see anything but the economy mattering to voters in 2012, but
State Dept.’s series of oil pipeline hearings continues with likely fierce debate in Nebraska
PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) — After a largely amicable first round of public hearings into a proposed Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, officials from the U.S. State Department could encounter much fiercer resistance Tuesday during a listening session in Nebraska.
Environmentalists and some landowners planned to rally outside the Pershing Center near the state Capitol in Lincoln. There is growing concern in the deeply conservative state about the pipeline’s effect on the Ogallala Aquifer, a vast subterranean reservoir that spans a large swath of the Great Plains and provides water to eight states.
Labor unions and business groups in Nebraska were lining up advocates to speak in favor of the project.
More than 500 people packed a meeting Monday evening in the Southeast Texas refinery town of Port Arthur to discuss the project. Most of the more than 100 speakers spoke in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline, arguing it would create thousands of much needed jobs, increase national security by lessening the country’s demand on oil from countries that may not be friendly to the U.S.
Many at the meeting wore T-shirts with slogans in favor of the pipeline. Slogans included, “Keystone XL Pipeline Means Jobs” and “Build Keystone XL Now.” Supporters of the pipeline often cheered after one of them spoke and sometimes booed those who spoke against it.
Troy Davis execution in Ga. fuels debate over eyewitness testimony, especially in death cases
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Before he was executed in Georgia last week, Troy Davis brought worldwide attention to his case by challenging the trustworthiness of bystanders who said they saw him shoot a police officer. Davis lost the battle to spare his life, but experts say his case adds fuel to an already-simmering debate over how much weight courts should give to eyewitness testimony.
Last month, New Jersey’s top court made it easier for criminal defendants to challenge the credibility of eyewitnesses, while the U.S. Supreme Court is set in November to hear its first case dealing with eyewitness evidence in 34 years. Such issues also played a role in the abolition of Illinois’ death penalty earlier this year and a 2009 law narrowing when capital punishment can be sought in Maryland.
Davis’ execution outraged hundreds of thousands of people who said they feared an innocent man was being put to death, based on his defense attorneys’ assertion that witnesses who had identified Davis in court as a killer two decades ago had tried years later to take it all back. Dorothy Ferrell was one of those witnesses.
“Well, I’m real sure, positive sure, that that is him, and you know, it’s not a mistaken identity,” Ferrell told a Savannah jury in 1991. “I did see him and you know, on the fact of what happened and how it happened, you know, I’m pretty sure it’s him.”
Nine years later, Ferrell signed an affidavit saying she didn’t actually see the 1989 shooting of off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, but pointed at Davis to tell police what they wanted to hear.
‘L-Word’ actress escorted from Southwest flight after kissing girlfriend while a mile high.
A lesbian actress who starred in “The L-Word” says she kissed a girl — and got escorted off of a Southwest Airlines flight for doing it.
Leisha Hailey took to Twitter on Monday to call for a boycott of the carrier after a flight attendant told them other passengers had complained after witnessing the affection.
Her first tweet said: “I have been discriminated against.” She later added, “Since when is showing affection to someone you love illegal?”
Southwest Airlines Co. responded on its website that Hailey was approached “based solely on behavior and not gender.” The airline’s four-sentence response said passengers were characterizing the behavior as excessive.
A discussion followed on the flight, and the airline said it “escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground.”
Romo jokes that wife pushed him to play with broken rib; QB leads Cowboys over Redskins 18-16
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Tony Romo had no choice. He had to play, broken rib and all.
His new bride wouldn’t have tolerated anything less.
“She said, ‘Are you kidding? You’re playing. I can’t have a weak husband lying around the house here,”‘ Romo said — smiling and wincing after leading the Dallas Cowboys to an 18-16 victory over the Washington Redskins on Monday night.
Romo had a mostly forgettable night except for the fact Dallas won.
He was hurting so much he needed two pain-killing injections. His center had a tendency to snap the ball too soon or to the wrong spot. And he couldn’t get into the end zone no matter what, not even with a first down on the 2-yard line.
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