QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws.”
Lois Lerner, the official who first disclosed the IRS had targeted conservative groups, just before invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to testify about the case Article, 1A
Man arrested in Washington ricin case
SPOKANE, Wash. - A 37-year-old man was arrested Wednesday in connection with a case in which a pair of letters containing the deadly poison ricin were discovered in Washington state last week.
A grand jury indictment accused Matthew Ryan Buquet of mailing a death threat to U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle at the federal courthouse on May 14.
A search of federal court records turned up no indication that Buquet had ever appeared before Van Sickle, or had any connection to the judge.
The indictment did not mention ricin. However, the U.S.
Postal Service said last week that two letters were intercepted - one addressed to the courthouse and the other to the downtown post office - and they contained ricin in a crude form that did not immediately pose a threat to workers.
Buquet pleaded innocent in federal court in Spokane after the FBI said agents arrested him Wednesday afternoon. U.S.
Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno ordered him held without bail until a hearing Tuesday.
Ricin is a highly toxic substance made from castor beans.
There were no reports of illness connected to the Spokane letters.
House GOP urges 20-week abortion ban
WASHINGTON - House Republicans who oppose abortion promoted legislation Wednesday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Arizona’s Rep. Trent Franks, joined by 10 other Republicans and anti-abortion advocates at a news conference, said there was a “good chance” that his bill would see action in the full House this year.
Franks and others said the legislation would gain momentum from the recent conviction of a Philadelphia abortion provider, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, for killing three babies born alive at his clinic.
Franks’ bill, which originally would have imposed the 20-week ban only in the District of Columbia, over which Congress has some jurisdiction, was expanded after the Gosnell case.
The news conference came a day after a federal court struck down a 20-week abortion ban in Arizona.
Pentagon seeks records system for vets
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has decided to buy a new computerized health-records system to be able to better share and merge its data with the Department of Veterans Affairs, but officials cautioned that it was part of a “long-term modernization” effort and would not help ease the current backlog in VA disability claims.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered the Defense Department to get bids for development of the new system, the department said in a statement Wednesday.
Frustrated by the continuing backlog, members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs wrote to President Barack Obama on Wednesday asking him to help end “the bureaucratic back and forth” between the Pentagon and VA regarding health records. The letter said the VA can’t keep a promise to shorten the claims review period because of the length of time it takes to get records from the Pentagon.
Senate rejects state-run food stamps
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Wednesday rejected a Republican bid to turn the federal food stamp program over to the states.
Known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the food stamp program is administered by the Agriculture Department and federal dollars are unlimited as long as recipients qualify. The program cost $78 billion last year, more than double the price in 2008.
A proposal by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., to a wide-ranging farm bill would have converted the program into grants to states, which could decide how to use the money, with certain restrictions. The Senate rejected the amendment 60-36. Sen. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican, voted for the Inhofe amendment, while Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor, also of Arkansas, opposed it.
The total amount of the grants would have been capped at between $46 billion and $54 billion a year over 10 years.
Inhofe said the change would make the farm bill, which long has set policy for domestic food aid as well as agriculture programs, “into a farm bill and not a charity bill.”
Front Section, Pages 4 on 05/23/2013