QUOTE OF THE DAY

“No smoke, no fire. It was brake dust.”

Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Melinda Drayton on a San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit train brake malfunction that sent nine to the hospital Article,this page

Kin of 1 of 12 slain at Navy Yard file suit

TAMPA, Fla. - The Florida family of a woman slain during the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard is the first to file a lawsuit against the government and defense contractors, alleging that officials ignored red flags about the killer’s deteriorating mental health.

The suit on behalf of the family of Mary DeLorenzo Knight was filed Wednesday morning in federal court in Tampa. The lawsuit named the Navy, the Department of Veterans Affairs and two defense contractors as defendants.

Knight was one of 12 people killed by Aaron Alexis on Sept. 16 before he was killed in a shootout with police.

The lawsuit said the contractor that Alexis worked for should have told the Navy about his prior, and documented, mental-health problems and that the Navy should not have given him security clearance. Navy officials have said they found no record that the company alerted the Navy about his mental health.

The lawsuit said the VA failed to treat his mental illness when Alexis went to a VA emergency room Aug. 23 for insomnia.

U.S. veils Guantanamo hunger strikes

MIAMI - The U.S. military will no longer disclose whether prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strike, a spokesman said Wednesday, eliminating what had long been an unofficial barometer of conditions at the military outpost.

Hunger strikes have been employed by men held at Guantanamo since shortly after the prison opened in January 2002, and the U.S. has long disclosed how many are refusing to eat and whether they meet military guidelines to be force-fed.

Officials have now determined that it is no longer in their interest to publicly disclose the information, said Navy Cmdr. John Fiolstrat, a spokesman for the military’s Joint Task Force-Guantanamo.

“JTF-Guantanamo allows detainees to peacefully protest, but will not further their protests by reporting the numbers to the public,” Filostrat said in an email.

Hagel details cuts in staff he controls

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday unveiled details of a plan to save at least $1 billion in personnel costs over five years through a reduction in the number of Pentagon staff members who report to him.

Civilian and military personnel in the policy, intelligence, technology and management units that fall under the Office of the Secretary of Defense number about 2,400 today. That would be reduced to fewer than 2,200 by fiscal 2019, Hagel said.

Hagel said that much of the savings under the plan, which he first announced in July, would be achieved through contractor reductions. But he warned that there would be cuts in Pentagon civilian personnel as well.

Hagel said these cuts were just “a first step,” but he also noted that some of the reductions could be achieved through normal attrition.

The Pentagon is already managing $487 billion in cuts over a decade. If Congress and President Barack Obama fail to reach a comprehensive tax and spending plan to end the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, the Defense Department could face an additional $500 billion drop over 10 years.

Fine OK’d in Arizona firefighters’ deaths

PHOENIX - An Arizona commission approved a nearly $560,000 fine Wednesday against the state Forestry Division in the deaths of 19 firefighters after an investigative agency found that officials put protection of property ahead of safety and should have pulled out crews earlier.

The vote by the state Industrial Commission came after the Arizona Occupational Safety and Health Division had proposed three citations with financial penalties in its investigation of workplace violations.

The safety agency said forestry officials managing the Yarnell Hill fire northwest of Phoenix failed to promptly remove downwind crews when suppression became ineffective, placing firefighters at risk for death, burns and smoke inhalation.

All but one member of the Granite Mountain Hotshots died June 30 when they became trapped in a brush choked bowl near Yarnell.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/05/2013