Starbucks puts up reward posters

Investigators are widening the net in their search for the arsonist who tossed a firebomb through the window of a Worthington, OH Starbucks on May 2.

A poster complete with color photos of the burned out coffee shop and details about the crime and reward has been prepared and will soon hang in other Starbucks stores.

“Starbucks will post them in stores at least regionally, maybe nationwide,” said Worthington Police Detective Michael Holton.

With no leads left to follow and the trail running dry for both Worthington Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Starbucks has enlisted the help of its own private investigators.

There is a $30,000 reward for information leading to the identification and prosecution of the individual or individuals responsible for the arson. (Columbus This Week)

Army foresees recruitment woes

The US Army, its numbers seriously depleted by deployments in Iraq, foresees recruiting problems in the coming year and is offering big cash incentives to induce young people to sign up.

The Army recruitment wing, based in Fort Knox, Kentucky, foresees deploying hundreds of extra recruiters throughout the country.

With the prospect of US presence in Iraq extending several years, young people who would normally be drawn to enlisting as a way of paying for their education and gaining medical coverage are now thinking twice about it.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week hailed the fact that the Army was meeting its target of 77,000 new recruits by the end of September.

Not only are personnel requirements increasing, said Loren Thompson, a defense expert with the Lexington Institute, but the Army is in the process of accelerating the mobilization of recruits who had signed up under a “delayed entry” plan that should have delayed their activation until next year. (AFP)

Guantanamo tribunals begin

A handcuffed and shackled Afghan man has denied being a Taliban fighter during an appearance before a US military tribunal reviewing the status of Guantanamo Bay detainees. For the first time, the US allowed journalists to attend the hearings.

The tribunals, which have been running since July 30, were instigated after the US Supreme Court ruled that the prisoners could challenge their detentions.

It is the first time any of the approximately 600 detainees, who have been held without trial or access to lawyers for more than two years, have been allowed any form of hearing.

The detainees do not have lawyers, but “personal representatives” because it is an administrative not a legal proceeding, said the person overseeing the prisoners’ appeal process, Gordon England.

He said detainees were being treated as enemy combatants, not prisoners of war, because “there’s no declared war between countries.”

If the tribunals, presided over by three military officers, find that a prisoner does not qualify as an enemy combatant, he may have to be freed.

England said he did not expect “a very large number” to be released. (BBC)

Wal-Marts cost state

Employment practices at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest employer with relatively lower labor costs in the retail sector, cost California taxpayers about $86 million annually in public assistance to company workers, according to a study released Aug. 9 by a UC Berkeley research institute, Berkeley Labor Center.

The study estimates that low wages force employees to accept $32 million annually in health-related services and $54 million per year in other assistance, such as subsidized school lunches, food stamps, and subsidized housing.

Wal-Mart, and its possible expansion in California, is a major topic in labor circles as negotiators for 45,000 union grocery clerks in the Bay Area begin contract talks with Safeway, Albertson’s and other major employers. (SF Chronicle)

Central figure from Attica uprising dies

Frank Smith, a central figure in the bloody Attica prison uprising, who later became a spokesman for fellow prisoners in a lawsuit against New York state – that ended in 2000 with a $12 million settlement — died after a long battle with cancer.

Smith died Aug. 7 at age 70 in Kinston NC.

Smith was appointed by fellow inmates to keep prisoners under control amid negotiations after 40 prison employees were taken hostage during a four-day standoff at Attica that began on Sept. 9, 1971.

The uprising, involving nearly 1,300 inmates, erupted after several months of complaints about conditions at the prison. It ended in the deaths of 32 inmates and 11 prison employees, most of whom died after Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ordered state troopers to storm the prison and retake control.

After the guards took over, Smith, who was serving time for armed robbery, was tortured after being falsely accused of castrating a guard. (AP)

Crime testing proved faulty

The police crime laboratory in Houston, already reeling from a scandal that has led to retesting of evidence in 360 cases, now faces a much larger crisis that could involve many thousands of cases over 25 years.

Six independent forensic scientists, in a report to be filed in a Houston state court Aug. 5, said that a crime laboratory official -- because he either lacked basic knowledge of blood typing or gave false testimony -- helped convict an innocent man of rape in 1987.

The panel concluded that crime laboratory officials might have offered “similarly false and scientifically unsound” reports and testimony in other cases. It called for a comprehensive audit spanning decades to re-examine the results of a broad array of rudimentary tests on blood, semen and other bodily fluids.

Elizabeth A. Johnson, a former director of the DNA laboratory at the Harris County medical examiner’s office in Houston, said the task would be daunting.

“A conservative number would probably be 5,000 to 10,000 cases,” Dr. Johnson said. “If you add in hair, it’s off the board.” (NYT)

3 banks robbed during Bush, Kerry visit

Three banks were robbed while President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry were speaking just blocks away from one another on Aug. 4 in Davenport, Iowa.

No one was injured in the robberies. Authorities weren’t releasing details on what weapons may have been used or how much money was taken.

“I’m sure they were counting on the fact that we were short-handed,” said Davenport police captain David Struckman, adding that the patrol was at normal levels (AP)

New Yorkers say no to Convention

A recent survey by a Manhattan public relations firm found 83 percent of New Yorkers polled do not want the Republican National Convention to come to town. When asked why, more than half, 53 percent, were worried about traffic, street closures, and security hassles. The poll also found that 70 percent are afraid to go to work the week of Aug. 30 because of security concerns. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, (R) promised the Republican National Convention: “It is not going to cost the city anything other than the $25 million in security and it’ll generate hundreds of millions in economic activity.” The Police Commissioner describes it as exciting event for the city. (ABC)

Convention a concern for homeless

Hundreds of homeless people will be moved out of New York City from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 so the Republication National Convention can take place.

Security is already high, and homeless people worry that even tougher convention security will force them to the city’s fringes — far from the outreach workers trying to help them.

It’s hard to say precisely how many homeless people sleep in midtown Manhattan, but a food pantry on West 31st Street serves 500 people a week. The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen on West 28th Street serves roughly 1,200 people every day.

Beginning the week of the convention, police will close down much of the area around the convention site, allowing in pedestrians only if they can prove they have business in the area. (AP)

ACLU advises House Committee on Intelligence

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Aug. 4 began a series of public hearings on the findings of the 9/11 Commission, inviting experts and former lawmakers to provide their input on the report. The American Civil Liberties Union testified before the Committee and while it welcomed many of the Commission’s conclusions, called upon lawmakers to enact measures that preserve civil liberties.

“The Commission’s report is a foundation but not the end-game,” said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Congress must erect meaningful safeguards to ensure that intelligence reorganization does not lead to the use of CIA-like tactics against Americans. And most importantly, we should not create the unintended consequence of building a surveillance society.”

In his testimony, Timothy H. Edgar, Legislative Counsel with the ACLU Washington Legislative Office, highlighted the recommendation for the creation of a national intelligence director, to be based in the White House. The NID would consolidate authority over the 15 agencies that make up the intelligence community into a person serving at the pleasure of the president -- raising the potential for politics, and not security, to guide American intelligence programs. (ACLU)

OutKast banned from Kansas libraries

The Kansas attorney general has withheld more than 1,600 compact discs from distribution to state libraries because officials determined the albums promote violence or illegal activity, records show.

The albums removed by Attorney General Phill Kline’s office were part of 51,000 discs given to Kansas as part of a nationwide settlement to resolve allegations of price fixing.

The confiscated CDs included recordings by 25 musicians, including rap artists such as OutKast and Notorious B.I.G., rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Stone Temple Pilots, and even older acts such as Lou Reed and the 1980s experimental group Devo.

Kansas is one of 40 states receiving the free CDs for public libraries as part of a 2002 court settlement with the music industry over claims of CD price-fixing.

Attorneys general in several other states also have screened their CDs, often removing controversial artists or albums including explicit lyrics. Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter removed 5,300 discs, or 5 percent of the 107,000 his state was scheduled to receive. (AP)

Halliburton settles probe

Halliburton Co. agreed to pay a $7.5 million penalty to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the company’s failure to disclose a change in the way it accounted for cost overruns on large construction projects.

The SEC said that while the new accounting treatment was appropriate, not disclosing the change for a year and a half, beginning in mid-1998, misled investors and prevented them from accurately assessing the company’s income.

In a statement, Halliburton said it neither admitted nor denied the findings.

The SEC didn’t address the role of Vice President Dick Cheney, who was Halliburton’s chief executive at the time. The accounting change was initiated while Cheney was at the company.

Halliburton still faces a separate SEC investigation into the purpose of more than $100 million in payments by a joint venture building a natural-gas complex in Nigeria. (Wall Street Journal)