Ex-Blagojevich aide gets 10 days in jail

Ex-Blagojevich aide gets 10 days in jail

CHICAGO

Although Rod Blagojevich is in Colorado serving a 14-year prison sentence, his presence was felt more than 900 miles away Wednesday as his top aide was sentenced to just 10 days behind bars for helping the former Illinois governor try to sell President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

At the Chicago sentencing hearing, Blagojevich’s last chief of staff, John Harris, received leniency from the same judge who imposed the stiff sentence on the corrupt former governor. U.S. District Judge James Zagel noted that Harris had been forced to cope with a boss who bristled at staff who dared tell him “no” and whose manic management style and constant telephone calls at all hours of the day wore subordinates down.

Pope demands freedom in Cuba

HAVANA

Pope Benedict XVI demanded more freedom for the Catholic Church in communist-run Cuba and preached against “fanaticism” in an unusually political sermon Wednesday before hundreds of thousands at Revolution Plaza, with President Raul Castro in the front row.

Before the pope’s departure, he met with the president’s brother, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. Castro grilled the pontiff on changes in church liturgy and his role as spiritual leader of the world’s Catholics, a Vatican spokesman said.

Increased security ordered for troops

WASHINGTON

U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan have assigned “guardian angels” — troops that watch over their comrades even as they sleep — and have ordered a series of other increased security measures to protect troops against possible attacks by rogue Afghans. The added protections are part of a directive issued in recent weeks by Marine Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to guard against insider threats, according to a senior military official. And they come in the wake of a spike in attacks on U.S. and coalition forces by Afghans, including the point-blank shooting deaths of two U.S. advisers in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior.

Lawmaker scolded for wearing hoodie

WASHINGTON

Rep. Bobby Rush donned a hoodie during a speech on the House floor Wednesday deploring the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, receiving a reprimand for violating rules on wearing hats in the House chamber. The Illinois Democrat spoke out against racial profiling and, as he removed his suit coat and pulled the hood on the sweat shirt he was wearing underneath over his head, said, “Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum.”

Documents: JetBlue pilot grew erratic

RICHMOND HILL, Ga.

JetBlue Airways captain Clayton Osbon showed up unusually late to fly Flight 191 to Las Vegas. The plane was in midair when he eerily told his co-pilot they wouldn’t make it there.

Osbon started rambling about religion. He scolded air traffic controllers to quiet down, then turned off the radios altogether and dimmed the monitors in the cockpit. He said aloud that “things just don’t matter” and encouraged his co-pilot that they take a leap of faith.

“We’re not going to Vegas,” Osbon said.

What unfolded next, according to court documents released Wednesday, was a dramatic chase and struggle in the cabin that ended with passengers tackling Osbon, 49, and holding him down until the co-pilot could make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas. He was charged Wednesday with interfering with a flight crew.

Associated Press