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At least two have been reported dead in a Portland-area workplace shooting Tuesday, MSNBC reports. The gunman fired shots at Tualatin, Oregon, drug-testing center Legacy Metro Lab, where local police say two died and several were injured. The suspected shooter is "not at large" and is believed to have acted alone. Witnesses told The Oregonian that they heard between five and eight gunshots; one man described seeing a woman in a blood-smeared lab coat fleeing the scene, then helping her tend to her wounds at a nearby Subway restaurant.
Two former Bear Stearns hedge-fund managers were acquitted Tuesday on charges of lying to investors. Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, who prosecutors say cleared out at least $1.4 billion of investors' money, became the poster boys for Wall Street corruption and the irresponsible money management that led to the global financial crisis. Cioffi raked in $17 million in bonuses in 2006, while Tannin took in $2.5 million. The two faced up to 20 years in prison, however a New York jury acquitted them based on a defense that they were victims themselves. Bear Stearns folded in 2007, an early casualty of the financial collapse.
D.C.-area sniper John Allen Muhammad was executed at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday, the long-awaited conclusion of a three-week killing spree that left 10 dead in 2002. Though Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine opposes the death penalty, he declined to commute Muhammad's sentence (requested by lawyers who claimed mental illness), saying he had a duty to abide Virginia's extant penal code. Muhammad requested a final meal but did not release the menu to the public; he declined to visit with a spiritual adviser; he also declined to choose his method of death, and died by lethal injection as a default. He reportedly "showed no emotion in the death chamber. When the curtain opened, his head was tilted to the right, and his eyes were closed. Asked whether he wanted to say anything, he did not respond." Though the sniper attacks spread across Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were prosecuted in Virginia precisely for its harsh stance on murder.
Having already seen Congress get further along with health care than it did during his administration, Bill Clinton brought a simple message to his lunch with Senate Democrats on Tuesday: “We are winning.” A source tells Politico that Clinton said, “The point I want to make is, just pass the bill, even if it’s not exactly what you want. When you try and fail, the other guys write history.” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island quoted Clinton as saying, “The reason the teabaggers are so inflamed is because we are winning.” Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey said, “He’s so brilliant in his presentation that it might leave some of us thinking, ‘This is easy, why the hell didn’t we do it?’”
Is Sen. Chris Dodd’s bite as big as his bark? No, argues an analysis from Bloomberg News, featuring one pay analyst who characterizes the new bill to restructure the financial industry as “hollow, a toothless tiger.” Under the proposed legislation, introduced by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Dodd, management wouldn't be required to follow shareholder votes on executive pay. This comes on the heels of estimates that TARP-receiving companies Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase will hand out a record $29.7 billion in bonuses—and accusations that Dodd, who is up for reelection, is too close for comfort with Wall Street’s powerbrokers. Though the bill requires that pay be cut when based on inaccurate financial statements, it also lacks penalties to ensure that companies follow the rules.
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps had to settle for only a bronze Tuesday, after the swimmer decided to leave his high-tech swimsuit at home. The 24-year-old athlete failed to qualify for the finals in two of his three races in the World Cup at Stockholm, and took home third in the 100M medley. The international governing body of competitive swimming will ban high-tech polyurethane bodysuits come January 1, and Phelps took this opportunity to adjust to the new rules. The use of the suits ushered in an unprecedented number of records at the world championships in Rome in July, and were crucial to placing in Stockholm. Phelps, who holds a record eight gold medals from last year's Beijing Olympics, said "Without the suit I've the impression of being naked."
Lisa Nowak, the former NASA astronaut accused of attempting to kidnap a romantic rival in 2007, was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty to lesser charges on Tuesday. Motivated by jealousy over a fellow astronaut paramour, Nowak drove more than 1,000 miles from Houston to Orlando to confront Colleen Shipman, an Air Force captain—but the detail most people remember about the case is that Nowak was so monomaniacally preoccupied with getting to Orlando that she armed herself with adult diapers so she wouldn’t need to pause, even for bathroom breaks en route. When she arrived, Nowak attacked Shipman with pepper spray and tried to break into her car. The object of both women’s affection was NASA space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, who now lives with Shipman in Alaska and with whom Nowak had a three-year relationship. Nowak pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and misdemeanor battery, and has been sentenced a community service and ordered to write an apology to Shipman.
President and Michelle Obama bowed their heads before the boots and photos of 13 fallen American soldiers at Fort Hood Tuesday after the president delivered an eulogy: "This is a time of war and these Americans did not die on a foreign field of battle. They were killed here on American soil ... It's the fact that makes the tragedy ever more painful, even more incomprehensible." He went on to memorialize each of the fallen servicemen and women, who ranged in age from 19 to 62. Among the three women and 10 men who died were 21-year-old Pvt. Francheska Velez, who died pregnant as she prepared to return home from Iraq deployment; 22-year-old newlywed Spc. Jason Hunt; and Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, who learned English when he immigrated to America as a teenager and went on to earn a Ph.D. and work in Ft. Hood's mental-health program. Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base's commanding general, also emphasized the heightened tragedy of military lives lost on American soil: "We will never be accustomed to losing one of our own. Never did we expect to pay such a high price at home."
Michael Jackson's funeral last September was certainly fit for a king. The king of pop was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California, which cost a whopping $1 million. That number doesn’t even include the $35,000 price tag for Jackson's eternal outfit, which was cremated along with the pop star. Court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times also show that flowers for the ceremony totaled $16,000. Jackson's remains rest among the likes of Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, and Clark Gable, who all occupy the Holy Terrace section of the cemetery's mausoleum.
OutFoxed? White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, the face of the Obama administration’s war against Fox News, will step down at the end of the month. It may appear as though this is another scalp for Glenn Beck and crew—they recently had been attacking Dunn for quoting Chairman Mao favorably—but, according to The Washington Post, Dunn was only serving on an interim basis and that this move was expected all along. She will hand power over to Dan Pfeiffer, her deputy. Dunn will return to Squier Knapp Dunn, the consulting firm where she is a partner. She will continue to consult the White House on communications and strategic matters.
A warning sign, perhaps? Major Nidal M. Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who allegedly killed 13 people at Fort Hood, told a group of physicians a year and a half ago that the military should let Muslim soldiers be released as conscientious objectors instead of making them fight other Muslims. "It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," he wrote in a presentation he delivered in June 2007 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Entitled "The Koranic World View as It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military," the final slide of the PowerPoint presentation read: ""Department of Defense should allow Muslims [sic] Soldiers the option of being released as 'Conscientious objectors' to increase troop morale and decrease adverse events." Army spokespeople told The Washington Post on Monday that they were not aware of the presentation, and that they could not comment on whether Hasan had asked to resign or avoid deployment.
Looks like the FAA has some more damage control to do. A United Airlines pilot has been arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on charges that he was drunk. Erwin Washington, a 51-year-old pilot from Colorado, had exceeded the legal alcohol limit, and authorities detained him before he had a chance to take off for Chicago. The flight was subsequently canceled, and the 124 passengers aboard were diverted to alternate flights. United Airlines said it is conducting a full-scale investigation.
Perhaps she'd like to call Carrie Prejean's lawyer? Jennifer Lopez is suing her ex-husband for $10 million dollars for shilling a honeymoon tape of the two titled "How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The J.Lo and Ojani Noa Story." The tape, which Lopez claims is in violation of a confidentiality agreement, was shot in 1997 and allegedly features a scantily-clad J.Lo being spanked by Noa, and later arguing with her mother. Noa previously tried to publish a tell-all book about their brief marriage, and said of the latest lawsuit, "I'm going to fight this."
Did Lindsay Lohan’s downward spiral begin after the death of Heath Ledger? That’s what Lindsay’s mom, Dina, says in a phone conversation with the star’s dad, Michael, a recording of which he released to Radar Online on Tuesday. In the conversation, Dina says she fears Lindsay will take an Adderall or get drunk and “do something like Heath Ledger did in a second without thinking.” She then reveals to her ex-husband that Lindsay was actually involved with Heath romantically: “And she was dating Heath when he died. I don’t know if you know that, but I know cause I would drop her off and they were friends. Very, very close, OK?” His death “f----d her up,” she continues. “She cannot be alone. When she sleeps here, she sleeps with me… she has fears from being little and what you did to us,” she said, in a reference to their very public divorce. The tape is only the latest in a string of recordings Lindsay’s father has revealed to the media in what he claims is an effort to get help for his daughter. Not surprisingly, Dina blasted Michael’s move, telling E! News that the tapes were old and that “for a father to stoop this low is unforgivable.”
Sandra Guzman, a former editor at the New York Post who was fired in October, filed a complaint in federal court on Tuesday alleging systematic racism and sexism at the paper. Guzman says that Editor in Chief Col Allan, an Australian journalist who has run the tabloid since 2001, showed her and three other female employees a "picture of a naked man lewdly and openly displaying his penis" on his BlackBerry, asking them "What do you think of this?" The lawsuit also alleges that Allan rubbed his penis against a female employee at a party, and that a senior editor offered a young female employee a promotion in exchange for oral sex. Guzman also claims that News Corp. Senior Vice President Les Goodstein gave her the sobriquet "Cha Cha #1," while some Post editors would sing snatches of West Side Story to her as she walked by their offices. Guzman was fired last month; according to the tabloid, ad sales in the section she edited, Tempo, were down, but others have alleged that Guzman was fired for objecting to a controversial cartoon by Sean Delonas.
One week after winning a hard-fought election victory over Democrat Jon Corzine, New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie is facing facts about the state’s financial crisis. The former state prosecutor is weighing the possibility of declaring a financial emergency as a way to deal with an $8 billion shortfall he must account for before presenting his first budget in March. In the event of such a declaration, Christie could theoretically suspend the no-layoff pledge negotiated between his predecessor, Jon Corzine, and the Communications Workers of America, the largest state workers union—a pledge Christie has repeatedly said he isn't "bound by." The CWA has called the possible emergency declaration, used by Corzine in 2006 to move past an impasse between himself and the legislature, "dictatorial." The CWA is due for two raises in the next budget year.
She's ba-ack. After a several-month Twitter hiatus, during which fans were forced to look elsewhere for updates from the former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has promised to return to the social network as she takes to the road to promote her new book, Going Rogue. After pledging to Tweet regularly about her upcoming projects when she resigned from the governorship of Alaska in July, she went rogue and made regular updates on Facebook instead. But in a surprise Monday announcement, Palin told friends and followers on Facebook that she would maintain her Twitter from the road; her post, which also announced new dates on the book tour, was "liked" by 3,218 people. "SarahPalinUSA," the Wasilla resident's new Twitter account, currently has 0 Tweets but over 10,000 followers.
Speaking in his first interview after his son Jett's death in January, John Travolta says that his family, including his wife, actress Kelly Preston, and his daughter, Ella Bleu, has been "working very hard every day... to heal." Despite recent rumors that the actor might be leaving his longtime faith, the Church of Scientology, daily religious counseling sessions have helped the family through the crisis. "We have our own way of doing it, and it has been helping," says Travolta. The family has come out of seclusion in part to help promote Travolta's new film, Old Dogs, and introduce his daughter, who co-stars in the movie, "to the world and give her a beautiful future in film."
Still paying off student loans? Do yourself a favor and stop reading now. 21-year-old college dropout Joe Cada became the youngest-ever World Series of Poker winner after making an astounding comeback against the second-place finisher, lumberjack Darvin Moon. His prize? $8.5 million. Playing before an audience of 1,500 people at the Rio, Cada came back from a low of two million chips out of 194.8 million on Saturday, besting Moon, who won $5.1 million, with a pair of nines. The field was whittled down from 6,494 to 9 in July, and Moon and Cada knocked out Antoine Saout on Saturday. Cada, a Detroit native, is the son of a auto parts design engineer and a blackjack dealer.
We suppose this means Glenn Beck won’t be fired anytime soon: News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch defended comments by Fox News host Glenn Beck that President Obama is “a racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” Talking to Sky News Australia, Murdoch said, “That was something which perhaps shouldn’t have been said about the president, but if you actually assess what he was talking about, he was right.”
After some silence on the issue, President Obama is finally speaking up about the abortion clause attached to the House's version of the health-care reform bill. "I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health-care bill, not an abortion bill," Obama told Jake Tapper on ABC's World News Tonight. The president stressed that the health-care bill that eventually passes shouldn't change what "has been in place for a very long time," which is a ban on federal subsidies for abortions. The controversial compromise in the House bill opposes the public option's coverage of abortions. Obama said that he wants to ensure "that the provision that emerges meets that test—that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices."
North and South Korean naval patrol boats exchanged fire on Tuesday near the island of Daecheong-do, 20 miles off the North Korean coast. No South Koreans were killed in the skirmish, which began when a North Korean patrol boat entered disputed waters claimed by South Korea and ended when it retreated after being damaged by the South Korean boat, according to Korean news agency Yonhap. The sea beyond the "northern limit line," a border set by the U.N. but never acknowledged by North Korea, was the site of clashes between the two countries' navies in 1999 and 2002. President Obama is due to visit Seoul next week as part of a trip to Asia, where North Korea's nuclear ambitions are likely to be a major part of discussions.
Looking for a unique way to show off your Mets fandom? Bernie Madoff's personalized Mets jacket is going on the auction block this weekend along with jewelry, furs, watches, and three boogie boards. The auction, which is being handled by Gaston & Sheehan, is expected to make more than $500,000 for Madoff's victims. The jacket is estimated at between $500 and $720, while the boogie boards—each marked with "Madoff" in black marker—should net about $80. For high rollers, Madoff's Monoblocco Rolex could get as much as $87,500, while a pair of Victorian diamond earrings (once belonging to Ruth, not Bernie) could sell for as much as $100,000. A spokesman for the U.S. Marshal said "there's huge interest" in Madoff's effects, in particular his duck-decoy collection. The auction will take place on Saturday at the New York Sheraton Hotel & Towers.
Should Dmitri Nabokov, son of Vladimir, have published his father’s final, unfinished work, The Original of Laura? “In many respects, the release of a rudimentary version of his last novel does a disservice to a writer who deeply cherished precision and was practiced in the art of revision,” Michiko Kakutani writes. “Yet, at the same time, these bits and pieces of Laura will beckon and beguile Nabokov fans, who will find many of the author’s perennial themes and obsessions percolating through the story of Philip.” The novel, written on Nabokov’s death bed, “explores the subjects of death and the otherworldly with contemplative urgency,” Kakutani writes.
With his final appeal rejected by the Supreme Court on Monday, the mastermind behind the D.C. sniper attacks is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, barring a last-minute commutation of his sentence from Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. John Allen Muhammad, working with his young accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, killed 10 people in the D.C. metro area in 2002 in a series of sniper attacks that terrorized the populace and garnered national interest. The two were captured on October 24 of that year at a Maryland rest stop. Some relatives of Muhammad's victims plan on watching the execution, while Virginia activist group Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has planned statewide vigils. Muhammad's lawyers have appealed to Gov. Kaine for a commutation to life in prison on grounds of mental illness.
Bill Clinton is apparently determined to make sure that President Obama’s health-care bill does not go the same way as his own effort in 1994. The former president is scheduled to address the Senate’s Democratic caucus on Tuesday. The caucus is showing signs of splintering over the abortion and public-option issues. Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska said on Monday that he wanted to make sure no federal money is put toward abortion, and approved of the House’s measure to that end. "I want to make sure something comparable ... is in there," Nelson said.
Who’s afraid of Michael Steele? When TV One’s Roland Martin said to RNC Chairman Michael Steele, “white Republicans have been scared of black folks,” Steele replied, “You’re absolutely right,” adding, “I’ve been in the room and they’ve been scared of me...I’m like, ‘I’m on your side.’” Steele said the GOP could attract black voters by focusing on education and the economy.
As authorities dig into Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan's past, one name keeps coming up: Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam Hasan worshipped under in 2001, who first fell under FBI scrutiny as a "spiritual adviser" to two 9/11 attackers—and who was born in America. The Times of London reports that al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen, was born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents. He served as an imam in Denver and San Diego before landing in the Falls Church, Virginia, mosque that Hasan and the 9/11 hijackers attended. Al-Awlaki praised Hasan as "a hero" in his blog after the Fort Hood shootings, calling him "a man of conscience who could not bear the contradiction of being a Muslim and fighting against his own people." Al-Awlaki has raised eyebrows outside of the U.S., too: Yemen held him for more than a year as part of a "secret investigation" in 2006, and British authorities banned him from addressing, by video, an East London mosque this year. The radical Islamist holds a degree in civil engineering from Colorado State and a master's in education from San Diego State.
After months of deliberation, has President Obama finally decided on a course for Afghanistan? CBS News is reporting that Obama wants about 40,000 new troops to Afghanistan—four combat brigades plus thousands more support troops, giving General Stanley McChrystal nearly all the troops he’s asked for. The White House issued a statement through National Security Advisor Jim Jones, saying CBS’ report is “absolutely false.” The Associated Press, meanwhile, is saying that Obama plans to add tens of thousands of new troops, but not quite the 40,000 McChrystal wanted.
Here’s a good way to prove you’re not in the big banks’ pocket: Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd released a 1,100-page draft of his financial-overhaul bill. More than the House version, Dodd’s bill targets the Federal Reserve. The bill would strip the Federal Reserve and other regulators of their powers and vest them in a single agency. It would also take away the Fed’s power to monitor credit cards and mortgages and hand them over to a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Republicans are so far opposed to the bill, particularly the CFPA.
