CIA nominee addresses concerns from lawmakers

CIA nominee addressesconcerns from lawmakers
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's CIA nominee, Gen. Michael Hayden, canvassed Capitol Hill on Tuesday addressing Republican and Democratic concerns about a military officer running the civilian agency and about his close ties to the warrantless surveillance program. In a break with the White House, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said he was surprised by the nomination and concerned about Hayden's background. "I don't think a military guy should be head of CIA, frankly," Hastert said. "I don't know anything about him." During the 36 hours since Hayden's nomination was announced, the White House said the general had called more than 25 members of Congress and was meeting with others this week. Several Republicans and a greater number of Democrats have expressed discomfort with Bush's decision to choose a military man to run the CIA.
Emotional testimony leavesdefendant, others in tears
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After listening to two days of grief-stricken testimony, the band manager who started a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people broke down for the first time Tuesday as the father of the youngest victim spoke of forgiveness. David Kane, standing just a few feet from band manager Daniel Biechele, spoke of his 18-year-old son, Nicholas O'Neill -- "our gentle, loving, funny, sincere, spiritual son." Kane said his son would have wanted the family to accept Biechele's apology for setting off the pyrotechnics that started the blaze. "That's the kind of boy Nicky is," Kane said. Biechele wept openly, his body heaving with sobs. The father's comments came near the end of two days of testimony from relatives of the people killed in the blaze at The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The day's testimony was painful even to some of those in the courtroom who are used to hearing difficult things. As one speaker stood at the podium, Biechele's lawyer, Peter DiBiase, cupped his face in his hands and wept. At another point, the judge's clerk became so overwhelmed that she could not announce the name of the next speaker, and the judge had to do it for her.
12 boys accused insexual assault of girl
ST. LOUIS -- Twelve boys in the first and second grade at a St. Louis elementary school are accused of sexually assaulting a second-grade girl during recess, authorities said Tuesday. One teacher who was supposed to be supervising the recess has been fired, and another suspended with pay, school superintendent Creg Williams said. Ten of the boys, ages 6 to 8, were suspended for the rest of the school year, and the other two received five-day, in-school suspensions. No names were released. The girl, who is 8, was unharmed physically but will not return for the rest of the school year. "We don't know what type of emotional scars it will have on the young lady," Williams said. During the recess shortly after lunch, a student saw several boys huddled around the girl who was on the ground, and alerted a teacher. A court official said the boys could face misdemeanor counts of sexual misconduct and assault.
Minutemen plan to buildborder fences in Arizona
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A civilian border-patrol group said Tuesday that it plans to build two short security fences on a ranch in southern Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point on the U.S.-Mexico border. Chris Simcox, a leader in the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said last month that the group would break ground on the fence unless the White House deployed U.S. troops to the border by May 25 and endorsed more secure fencing. "We are not anticipating that the White House will make any effort in the next 21/2 weeks as far as putting troops on the border," Minutemen spokeswoman Connie Hair said. The group initially plans to erect two parallel 15-foot steel-mesh fences, which will be from 50 to 150 feet long. An unpaved road will run between the fences.
No Child Left Behind
WASHINGTON -- Falling short of requirements under President Bush's education law, about 1,750 U.S. schools have been ordered into radical "restructuring," subject to mass firings, closure, state takeover or other moves aimed at wiping their slates clean. Many are finding resolutions short of such drastic measures. But there is growing concern that the number of schools in serious trouble under the No Child Left Behind law is rising sharply -- up 44 percent over the past year alone -- and is expected to swell by thousands in the next few years. Schools make the list by falling short in math or reading for at least five straight years. In perspective, the total amounts to 3 percent of roughly 53,000 schools that get federal poverty aid and face penalties under the No Child Left Behind law.
Associated Press