QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Blah, blah, blah, blah. Listen, there’s a conversation that needs to begin. This is the beginning of the conversation.”

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, when asked about the details of a GOP plan that would wipe out many popular tax breaks to help pay for lower overall tax rates Article, this page

YouTube told to quash anti-Muslim film

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court ordered YouTube on Wednesday to take down an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in many parts of the Middle East.

The decision by a divided three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reinstated a lawsuit filed against YouTube by an actress who appeared in the video. The 9th Circuit said the YouTube posting infringed on actress Cindy Lee Garcia’s copyright to her role, and she, not just the filmmaker, could demand its removal.

“Garcia’s performance was used in a way that she found abhorrent and her appearance in the film subjected her to threats of physical harm and even death,” Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote for the majority court. “Despite these harms, and despite Garcia’s viable copyright claim, Google refused to remove the film from YouTube.”

Garcia said she was duped into appearing in the film by the man behind it, Mark Basseley Youssef. She said the script she saw referred neither to Muslims nor Muhammad, and her voice was dubbed over after filming.

The 14-minute film, Innocence of Muslims, depicts Muhammad as a religious fraud, pedophile and womanizer.

College chain sued over student loans

WASHINGTON - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed suit Wednesday against a large, for-profit college chain alleging that it pushed students into high cost private student loans knowing they would likely end in default.

ITT Educational Services Inc. projected a default rate of 64 percent on the loans it provided, some of which had interest rates as high as 16 percent, the bureau said. The Carmel, Ind.-based company has about 150 institutions in nearly 40 states, including Arkansas, operating as ITT Tech, Daniel Webster College and other entities.

Tuition at the chain’s colleges can go as high as $88,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $44,000 for an associate degree, according to the bureau.

Nicole Elam, a vice president with ITT, said in an email that the bureau’s claims are without merit, but she wouldn’t comment further on pending litigation.

Ruling goes against anti-war activist

WASHINGTON - A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday against an anti-war activist who was barred from a protest area near the main gate at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The justices threw out an appeals court ruling that overturned the trespassing conviction of John Dennis Apel under a law giving commanding officers authority to prevent people from entering military installations.

Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court that the law clearly puts the area under the authority of the base commander, even though the public is allowed to use the highway and other nearby land.

588 found unsuitable for their Army jobs

WASHINGTON - The Army removed 588 soldiers from sensitive jobs such as sexual-assault counselors and recruiters after finding that they had committed infractions such as sexual assault, child abuse and drunken driving, officials said Wednesday.

The move resulted from orders by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last year that all the services review the qualifications of people holding those jobs as part of an effort to stem a rising number of sexual assaults.

The Army said it reviewed the qualifications and records of 20,000 soldiers and found 588 unsuitable for their jobs as recruiters, drill sergeants, training school instructors, and staff members for sexual-assault prevention and response programs.

The Army said 79 soldiers were leaving the service and “others could face further actions from their commands.” It did not say whether the 79 were leaving voluntarily.

The Navy looked at some 11,000 employees and found five unqualified. The Air Force said that of about 2,500 sexual-assault-victim advocates and assault-response coordinators, two were removed from their jobs. The Marine Corps did not respond to requests for information about their reviews.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 02/27/2014