The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don’t think there’s any question that the flawed launch of the website put a damper on people’s

enthusiasm about early sign-up.”

Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Department secretary, who called for an investigation into what went wrong with the debut of the federal health-care exchange Article, 1A

Zimmerman case dropped as weak

MIAMI - George Zimmerman will not face domestic-violence charges because his girlfriend did not wish to pursue the case, and there was scant evidence of a crime, a state prosecutor said Wednesday.

Samantha Scheibe’s decision not to cooperate and the lack of other corroborating evidence would have made the case difficult to prove, state attorney Phil Archer in Seminole County said in a statement.

Zimmerman, 30, had faced charges of aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief after a Nov. 18 confrontation at the central Florida house he shared with Scheibe. She initially told police that Zimmerman pointed a shotgun at her face during an argument, smashed her coffee table and pushed her out of the house.

She recanted much of that in an affidavit filed this week in which she referred to Zimmerman as “my boyfriend.”

The arrest was one of a string of legal problems for Zimmerman since he was acquitted this summer of murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Senator fires aide over porn inquiry

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has replaced his chief of staff after learning that the aide’s home was being searched as part of a child-pornography investigation.

Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said in a statement Wednesday that it’ll be up to the courts to judge Ryan Loskarn, but “under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff.”

Alexander named his legislative director, David Cleary, as his new chief of staff.

U.S. Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement that Loskarn was arrested based on probable cause for possession and distribution of child-pornography charges.

Several messages left for Loskarn were not immediately returned.

Jurors stall; killer to get a life term

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A federal jury deliberating the sentence for Arizona inmate John McCluskey failed to reach a unanimous verdict Wednesday, meaning the judge will sentence him to life in prison for slaying a retired Oklahoma couple.

Identified by a fellow fugitive and accomplice fiancee as the triggerman, McCluskey was the only suspect to face the death penalty for the August 2010 slayings of Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla., high school sweethearts and recent retirees who had the misfortune of crossing the fugitives’ paths on a New Mexico highway.

During the four-month trial, the defense argued that McCluskey not be executed because brain damage, abuse and addictions made him incapable of controlling his impulses and of making reasoned decisions when he shot the Haases for a more comfortable ride.

Prosecutors asserted that the only fitting punishment was death because he was dangerous and remorseless, a coldblooded killer.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/12/2013

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