US-bound airlines to get watch-list info

US-bound airlines to get watch-list info

WASHINGTON

All 197 airlines that fly to the U.S. are now collecting names, genders and birth dates of passengers so the government can check them against terror-watch lists before they fly, the Obama administration announced Tuesday. Getting all air carriers that travel to or through the U.S. to provide this information marks a milestone in the government’s counterterrorism efforts and completes one of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations. The program, called Secure Flight, has been delayed for years because of privacy concerns and went through three versions before it was approved.

Pet projects allowed

WASHINGTON

By a nearly 3-2 margin, the Senate voted Tuesday to let lawmakers keep sprinkling bills with home-state pet projects like roads, bridges, water treatment plants, grants to local police departments and special-interest tax breaks. Most Democrats and a handful of Republicans joined in a 56-39 majority to reject a ban on funding for home-state projects not included in the budget proposal that the president submits to Congress each year.

Prison-violence allegations probed

BOISE, Idaho

Idaho U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson says the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into allegations of criminal conduct among the staff at the state’s only private prison. The inquiry by the FBI is focused on the conduct by prison staff at the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise. The lockup is run by Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private-prison operator.

Olson told the Associated Press Tuesday the investigation is focused on whether prison staff violated the civil rights of inmates at the prison. She said the investigation covers multiple assaults between inmates, including one attack on former inmate Hanni Elabed, which was caught on surveillance video.

Wis. teen dies from self-inflicted wound

MARINETTE, Wis.

A 15-year-old student who held about two dozen students and a teacher hostage for several hours in a classroom at a Wisconsin high school died Tuesday at a hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. Sophomore Samuel Hengel shot himself after police stormed a classroom at Marinette High School on Monday night, said police Chief Jeff Skorik. Hengel, of Porterfield, had been holding most of the students and their social studies teacher hostage for several hours.

Cops: Grandma threw child to death

McLEAN, Va.

A Virginia toddler was walking out of a shopping mall with relatives when her grandmother suddenly flung her over a railing, sending the girl on a fatal plunge to the pavement several stories below, police said Tuesday. Carmela Dela Rosa, 50, of Fairfax was arrested and charged with murder, said prosecutor Ian Rodway. Authorities said interviews with witnesses and Dela Rosa led them to the conclusion that the girl’s fall Monday night was no accident.

Warrants unsealed in killing of NC girl

HICKORY, N.C.

Newly released search warrants say dismembered body parts of a 10-year-old North Carolina girl were concealed in a bed comforter and a car cover. The warrants don’t say how Zahra Baker died. The 11 warrants were released to the media Tuesday by order of Superior Court Judge Nathaniel Poovey.

The warrants detail the account of Zahra’s stepmother, Elisa Baker, whose lawyers say she led police to the girl’s remains. No one has been charged in the death. Elisa Baker is jailed on charges of obstructing the investigation. Zahra’s father, Adam Baker, is free on bond after being arrested on unrelated charges.

Associated Press