TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6,2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5A
The final frontier
NASA, JPL-Caltech, Cornell/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
IRAO
This 360-degree composite photo was compiled from images taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars exploration vehicle, Spirit, between Aug. 24 and Aug. 27. Nearly two years after NASA's twin rovers parachuted to Mars, a Jekyll-and-Hyde picture is emerging about the planet and whether it could have supported life.
Officer cleared of all charges
BY JOHN MILBURN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Anderson was a platoon leader in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment in August 2004. Four men in his 36-member platoon were convicted of murdering unarmed Iraqi during operations near Sadr City. Two of the soldiers said Anderson had given them the go-ahead to kill civilians, including one incident that was
Second Lt. Erick J. Anderson, of Twinsburg, Ohio, had been charged with two counts of murder, two counts of conspiracy, making a false statement, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming of an officer for allegedly authorizing the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians by soldiers under his command. All the charges were dropped after an Army investigator who presided over a two-day hearing at Fort Riley last month recommended that Anderson not face a court martial.
TOPEKA — The Army on Monday dropped murder charges against an infantry officer accused of giving soldiers in his command permission to kill two Iraqi civilians.
"Right now, shock and awe is pretty much still in effect," Anderson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "It's been a long 18 months that this has all been going on. The reality of it still hasn't hit that it's done and over with."
Four men in his 36-member platoon were convicted of mudering unarmed Iraqis ... Two of the soldiers said Anderson had given them the go-ahead to kill civilians, including one incident that was described as a "mercy killing."
Prosecutors in Iraq had dropped charges against Anderson in January, saying there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute him, but left the investigation open and the case was transferred back to Fort Riley for further review. New charges were filed in October. If convicted, Anderson, 26, could have faced life in prison.
described as a "mercy killing."
"The convening authority has dismissed the charges and unless any new significant and substantially credible information comes to light there will be no further investigation. The case is closed," said Lt. Col. David Velloney, deputy staff judge advocate at Fort Riley,
▼ COURTS
DeLay's conspiracy charge dismissed
Texas Judge Pat Priest, who is presiding over the case against the Republican, issued the ruling after a hearing late last month in which DeLay's attorney argued that the indictment was fatally
BY APRIL CASTRO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out the far more serious allegations of money-laundering, dashing the congressman's hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader.
The ruling means the case will move toward a trial next year, though other defense objections to the indictments remain to be heard by the judge.
"The court's decision to dismiss Ronnie Earle's numerous charges against Mr. DeLay underscores just how baseless and
"Mr. DeLay is very encouraged by the swift progress of the legal proceedings and looks forward to his eventual and absolute exoneration based on the facts and the law."
politically motivated the charges were, DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said, referring to the Democratic district attorney who brought the case.
After the judge's decision, DeLay declined to speak with reporters as he entered a Houston hotel for a campaign fundraiser.
In a written statement, Earle's office said prosecutors were studying the ruling and had
made no decision about whether to appeal. Prosecutors have 15 days to challenge the decision.
flawed.
DeLay, 58, and two GOP fundraisers, John Colaryandro and Jim Ellis, are accused of illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate donations to 2002 Republican candidates for the Texas Legislature.
In asking that the case be thrown out, DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin argued that one of the charges — conspiracy to violate the Texas election code
While Monday's ruling was a partial victory for DeLay, he cannot reclaim his post.
When he was indicted in September, DeLay was required under House rules to relinquish the leadership post he had held since 2003.
— did not even take effect until September 2003, a year after the alleged offenses occurred.
Post Deep Throat
Elise Amendola/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Journalists Carl Bernstein, left, and Bob Woodward, who broke the story of the 1972 Watergate conspiracy through the use of perhaps the most famous anonymous source in journalistic history, speak at a forum entitled "Anonymous Sources: Lessons Learned" Monday at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
SAN FRANCISCO — Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute, is tightening submission rules after a prominent journalist complained that an article falsely implicated him in the Kennedy assassinations.
POLICY
Wikipedia will now require users to register before they can create articles, Jimmy Wales, founder of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site, said Monday. People who modify existing articles will still be able to do so without registering.
Online encyclopedia to regulate entries
BY DAN GOODIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The change comes less than
a week after John Seigenthaler, a one-time administrative assistant to Robert Kennedy, complained in an op-ed published in USA Today that a biography of him on Wikipedia claimed he had been suspected in the assassinations of the former attorney general and his brother, President John F. Kennedy.
Wikipedia, often cited as a prime example of the type of collective knowledge-pooling that the Internet enables, has some 850,000 articles in English as well as entries in at least eight other languages, including Italian, French, German and Portuguese.
ATTENTION UNDERGRADUATES
Have you ever had an outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant? Nominate a GTA for a Graduate Teaching Assistant Award!
1. Get a "Student Nomination Form" from the Graduate School (300 Strong Hall). Forms are also available on-line at: www.graduate.ku.edu
2. Encourage your classmates to nominate. Only those GTAs with at least 5 or more student nominations will be forwarded to the department for consideration.
All student nominations must be submitted by Friday, February 17 2006.
Make a New Year's Resolution...