Obama defends choice for Treasury chief

Obama defends choice for Treasury chief

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama labeled the tax problems of his choice for Treasury chief an embarrassment Wednesday, but said Timothy Geithner’s “innocent mistake” shouldn’t bar him from the post leading urgent efforts to revive the economy. Despite the controversy, Geithner’s confirmation seemed all but sure — though not by Inauguration Day.

Revelations that Geithner had failed to pay $34,000 in taxes several years ago derailed Senate Democrats’ plans to speed him to approval as treasury secretary by the time Obama is sworn in. Bipartisan backing was still strong, but the delay in his confirmation hearing opened the possibility that opposition could build.

Mayor charged in child sex

RACINE, Wis. — The mayor of this southeastern Wisconsin city was arrested on charges of attempting to sexually assault a child and other counts, but authorities were not releasing details of the allegations against him Wednesday.

Mayor Gary Becker, 51, was arrested Tuesday and freed Wednesday evening on a $165,000 cash bond. He is tentatively charged with attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement, possession of child pornography, exposing a child to harmful materials, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and misconduct in public office.

Ex-officer charged with murder in transit shooting

OAKLAND, Calif. — A former transit police officer has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed and reportedly restrained black man in a racially charged case that has outraged residents and community leaders and set off violent protests.

Newly released court documents allege that Johannes Mehserle, 27, who was charged Tuesday, shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant while Grant had his hands behind his back and another officer was kneeling on his neck.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff made the rare decision to file a murder charge against a police officer for an on-duty incident.

Witnesses said Grant was lying face down on a train platform at a station in Oakland when the 27-year-old white officer shot him in the back. Grant and others had been pulled off a train after reports of fighting, as New Year’s Eve revelers were shuttling home after midnight.

New Ill. Senate convenes

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Hours after impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich convened a new Illinois Senate and urged lawmakers to “find the truth,” senators took the first steps Wednesday toward a trial to determine whether the governor is ousted from office for corruption and abuse of power.

The Democratic governor presided over the first meeting of a Senate whose most urgent task is putting him on trial. He was greeted by silence as he entered the Senate chamber through a back entrance, took the podium without introduction and banged a gavel to call the session to order.

Court rethinks ruling

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court pulled back on the so-called “exclusionary rule” Wednesday and ruled that evidence from an illegal search can be used if a police officer made an innocent mistake.

The 5-4 opinion signals the court is ready to rethink this key rule in the criminal law and restricts its reach. It will also give prosecutors and judges nationwide more leeway to make use of evidence that might have been seen as questionable before.

Chief John G. Roberts Jr. said the guilty should not “go free” just because a computer error or a misunderstanding between police officers led to a wrongful arrest or search.

He said good evidence, even if obtained in a bad search, can be used against a suspect unless the police deliberately or recklessly violated his rights.

The exclusionary rule was applied to state and local police in 1961, and its aim was to deter officers from conducting unconstitutional searches of homes, cars and pedestrians.

Prostitution-ring arrests

ST. LOUIS — A former federal worker in Kansas City used her computer at the Department of Agriculture to run an online prostitution business in the St. Louis area, according to an indictment announced Wednesday.

Laurie Lynn McConnell, 26, was a statistician for the department’s risk management agency from August 2003 to April 2008, authorities said, when she and John O. Miller, 35, operated two online prostitution businesses, called Darc Phoenix and USA Honies.

Combined dispatches