The nation in brief

Saturday, December 28, 2013

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This blunt tool only works because

it collects everything.The collection is broad, but the scope of counterterrorism investigations is unprecedented.” U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley,

who ruled that the National Security Agency’s data collection does not violate the Constitution Article, 1ALawyers to demand monsignor exit prison

PHILADELPHIA - Lawyers for a Roman Catholic Church official said Friday that they will demand his immediate release from prison Monday after an appeals court overturned his conviction in a priest-abuse case aimed squarely at the church hierarchy in Philadelphia.

Monsignor William Lynn, 62, is the first Catholic official ever prosecuted for his handling of priest sex-abuse complaints. He has served 18 months of the three- to six-year sentence handed down by a judge who said the cleric helped predators remain in ministry, endangering new victims.

But the Superior Court threw out the conviction Thursday, ruling that the state’s child-endangerment law did not apply in the late 1990s to church supervisors like Lynn.

New facility found to take brain-dead girl

OAKLAND, Calif. - A San Francisco Bay Area nursing home that had agreed to provide long-term care for a 13-year old Oakland girl declared brain dead has backed out, but the family said it has located a second nursing home willing to take her in.

The first facility, which has not been named, withdrew after the Children’s Hospital Oakland, where Jahi McMath is now on a ventilator, refused to insert the breathing and feeding tubes necessary for her long-term care.

The family’s lawyer, Christopher Dolan, said the new facility is in Southern California, but he wouldn’t provide its name.

A lawyer for Children’s Hospital Oakland said in a letter made public Friday that before the hospital would comply with the family’s request to move Jahi, it would need to speak directly with officials at any nursing home to make sure they understand her condition, “including the fact that Jahi is brain dead” - and to discuss needed preparations, including transportation. Dolan said Friday that he had held a teleconference with the director of the facility and the lawyer.

Lawyer Douglas Straus also said the Alameda County coroner needs to sign off on the move. Dolan said he has obtained that consent.

The letter was sent to Dolan after he said he was preparing a federal civil-rights lawsuit to force the hospital to outfit Jahi with breathing and feeding tubes.

Senator discloses husband’s plane deal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The company owned by Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s husband purchased an airplane that she may occasionally use, the federal lawmaker disclosed Friday.

McCaskill’s office said Joseph Shepard’s company took possession of the single-engine Pilatus PC 12/47E a week ago and that it will be used primarily for his business. The plane also will be chartered for use by others by an independent charter company.

The Democratic senator previously faced criticism about another airplane for which she and Shepard had an ownership stake. The plane was sold in 2011, after McCaskill reimbursed the federal treasury $88,000 for taxpayer-funded travel on it and later paid St. Louis County about $320,000 in back property taxes, interest and penalties related to it.

McCaskill spokesman John LaBombard said Friday that the senator was publicly and immediately disclosing the plane purchase. “Any use of the plane by Claire will never be paid with taxpayer dollars,” he said.

19.58 million visit online Santa tracker

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - The North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Santa-tracking program logged 19.58 million unique visitors to its website Christmas Eve.

NORAD said volunteers answered 117,371 calls from children seeking information on the jolly old elf’s whereabouts.

First lady Michelle Obama was among the program’s 1,200 volunteers.

An additional 146,307 followed Santa’s progress on Twitter. The program also got 1.45 million “likes” on Facebook.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/28/2013