QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Of the options currently available to the Postal Service to align costs and revenues, increasing postage prices is a last resort that reflects extreme financial challenges.”
Postal Board of Governors Chairman Mickey Barnett, in a letter to customers explaining why the board is seeking a 3-cent rise in the cost of first class stamps Article, 1A
Suspect hunted after fatal N.Y. shooting
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - A disgruntled vendor walked into a suburban light-fixture company where he had done business and opened fire Wednesday, killing one employee, wounding another person and leading to the lockdown of a nearby mall, police said.
The gunman fled in a white sport utility vehicle toward the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City but didn’t go there, said Nassau County Police Department Chief Steven Skrynecki. Schools and businesses also were locked down in the area, about 30 miles east of New York City.
Skrynecki said authorities were hunting for a 63-yearold man named Sang Ho Kim but didn’t think he was on a “random shooting rampage.”
“This seems to be motivated by his association with this business,” he said.
Police said Kim once served as a vendor to the light-fixture import firm, Savenergy. It wasn’t clear what led to the shooting, but the gunman walked into a room where the owner and employees were standing and fired.
Key Ohio Republicans called in fraud trial
CLEVELAND - Leading Ohio Republicans including U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and the state attorney general have been subpoenaed to testify in a $100 million, multistate fraud trial as the defense tries to show the defendant’s GOP-leaning political donations were legal.
Court documents show subpoenas also were issued for testimony by two predecessors of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who has directed the fraud investigation.
The man who calls himself Bobby Thompson is scheduled to go on trial Monday in Cleveland on charges of defrauding people who donated to a reputed charity for Navy veterans, the United States Navy Veterans Association. He has showered politicians, often Republicans, with donations.
DeWine filed a motion late Wednesday to quash the subpoenas, saying there’s no indication that the individuals have relevant evidence that can help the defendant.
Thompson has been identified by authorities as Harvard-trained lawyer and former military intelligence officer John Donald Cody.
Benghazi-attack probe seen as unbiased
WASHINGTON - A State Department audit found Wednesday that an investigation into last year’s deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was unbiased, countering claims from GOP members of Congress that it lacked independence. But the audit says weaknesses persist in how the State Department identifies threats overseas.
The assessment by the department’s inspector general backs up the Benghazi review led by former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, who were the subjects of an examination by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee last week.
A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the oversight committee chairman, noted that the independence and effectiveness of the State Department inspector general’s office, too, has been the subject of bipartisan concern.
Ohio judge expands gay couples’ suit
CINCINNATI - A lawsuit seeking to have the out of-state marriages of two gay Ohio couples recognized on death certificates has been expanded to include all similarly situated couples, despite a statewide ban on gay marriage.
Attorneys are now asking federal Judge Timothy Black to require Ohio’s health department director to order funeral directors and coroners to list gay clients as married if they were legally wed in another state.
Black approved a request Wednesday to expand the lawsuit and is expected to issue a ruling in December.
A spokesman for Ohio Department of Health Director Theodore Wymyslo said departmental policy is not to comment on pending litigation.
John Arthur and James Obergefell, both 47, are the couple who began the lawsuit. Arthur, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Obergefell sued in July to ensure that they can be buried next to each other in Arthur’s family plot, which is in a cemetery that only allows descendants and spouses.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/26/2013