A the university daily kansan
news
thursday, october 9,2003
FBI bugs Philadelphia mayor's office
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Federal law enforcement officials yesterday confirmed that listening devices found in the offices of Mayor J. F. Street were planted by the FBI, a discovery that touched off a political furor just weeks before Election Day.
Three federal law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the FBI was responsible for the bugs but refused to comment on whether the Democratic mayor is a target of an investigation or to provide any details about the nature of the probe.
Street issued a statement late yesterday saying that one of his advisers had been told by the U.S. Attorney's office that the mayor was not the target of an investigation.
"I never believed that I was the target of any investigation," Street said. "I'm happy to confirm that tonight."
The devices were found Tuesday during a routine sweep of Street's office by police. Street is locked in a bitter rematch against Republican businessman Sam Katz, and the campaign has been marked by charges of threats and race-baiting. Election Day is Nov. 4.
FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi declined to comment on the devices, other than to say they were not connected to campaign espionage.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia also did not acknowledge responsibility for the bugs but said it had been in touch with Street.
"We have stated very clearly to both Mayor Street and his attorney the mayor's status in this matter," spokesman Richard Manieri said Wednesday night.
He would not elaborate on what federal prosecutors told Street.
Throughout the day Wednesday, Street said he did not believe he was under investigation.
"I haven't done anything wrong, and I don't know that anybody in my cabinet or in my staff around me has done anything wrong." he said.
Street's campaign suggested the bugging was instigated by the U.S.Justice Department for political reasons.
"The timing of the discovery of these listening devices seems incredibly strange, seeing that we are four weeks out of the election, and we have a Democratic mayor ahead in the polls, and we are on the eve of the first mayoral
debate," Street campaign spokesman Frank Keel said.
"Do we believe that the Republican Party, both at the federal level and state level, is pulling out every stop to get Pennsylvania in 2004? Absolutely," Keel said. "Is the Republican Party capable of dirty tricks? I think that is well-documented."
U. S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, the top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, declined to say what federal agents might know about the bugs but denied politics plays any role in his office's decisions.
"The U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has a long and proud history of doing its work without regard to partisan politics. That was the practice of my predecessors, and it is my practice as well," Meehan said in a statement.
Nation
Nebraska water wells found contaminated
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Residents of a rural neighborhood have been showering in churches and drinking bottled water after tests showed their wells were contaminated with industrial solvents known to cause cancer, liver and kidney damage.
The contamination is so severe that health officials have advised residents in the 24 affected homes against coming into any contact with the water, and are considering applying for federal Superfund designation.
"We may just be scratching the edge or this may be the worst area. We don't know," said city Utilities Director Gary Mader.
The contamination has been found in the private water wells in a rural area southwest of the city, which has a population of about 44,000.
The wells showed dangerously high levels of two industrial solvents: dichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene.
Both agents have been found to cause liver and kidney damage and cancer.
Tetrachloroethylene is commonly used in dry cleaning and metal degreasing. Dicholoroethylene is used for waxes and resins.
Judge upholds fine in Wisconsin nudity case
MADISON, Wis. — A state appeals court ruled a reverend can't rude to the nude.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a $1,000 fine against a minister accused of taunting a woman in a parking lot near a nude beach in 2001.
The court said Ralph Ovadal's conduct crossed the line from constitutionally protected free speech to intimidation.
The ruling affirmed a decision by Dane County Circuit Judge
This wasn't a case about speech. It was a case about actions," said Dane County Assistant District Attorney Jason Hanson.
Ovadal said he would appeal to the state Supreme Court.
"We'll do it for the cause of Christian liberty and the First Amendment," he said.
Ovadal, pastor of Christ the King Church in Monroe, has protested nudity at Mazomanie Beach since 1998 by handing out written Bible verses, holding placards and preaching.
Nancy Erickson parked her car near the beach, and Ovalad led protesters in shouting derogatory remarks for about six minutes.
Erickson responded by swearing, threatening or pretending to threaten to pull up her shirt, dancing and sticking out her tongue.
Coca-Cola settling suit of wrongful termination ATLANTA — Coca-Cola Co.
has agreed to settle an embarrassing lawsuit for $540,000, but federal authorities are still investigating fraud allegations raised by the case.
Former finance manager Matthew Whitley sued in May for wrongful termination, accusing the world's largest beverage maker of rigging a marketing test three years ago to inflate the popularity of Frozen Coke at Burger King restaurants in Virginia.
In a joint statement Tuesday, Coke and Whitley said they had settled their disputes.
Investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission continue but Whitley, who has turned over records following a grand jury subpoena,has not appeared before the panel, according to sources familiar with the probe.
Coke and Whitley would not discuss the investigations.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Atlanta did not return a call Tuesday.
- The Associated Press
PHONES: Meant to deter crime
are functioning on campus. Five more are being installed that are not vet working.
Instead of adding more blue phones, Rachel Cloud, Lawrence sophomore, said the University should add more patrolling officers.
"It doesn't take long to get the crap beaten out of you," Cloud said. "By the time an officer gets there, it's too late. We need more cops to prevent it from happening."
There was one aggravated assault on campus property last year, according to the KU Public Safety Office Web site.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
The KU Public Safety Office has 24 patrolling officers. At any given time an average of three officers patrol the campus 24 hours a day.
Mjr. Chris Keary, an assistant director of public safety, said that when a major crime happened people always wanted to see more officers on the street.
"Given the manpower and the money the University gives us, we're putting out as many people out as we can," he said.
Keary said his office was increasing its patrol as much as possible, but the KU Public Safety Office still needed help from the community.
Edited by JJ Hensley
"It's important that everyone in the community patrols," he said. "Look out for things that are suspicious or out of the ordinary."
TICKETS: Seating could change
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
tember, the athletics director has said KU faculty and staff members would not lose their seats.
"I felt like those tickets belonged to the faculty," Perkins said. "We started doing that at Connecticut 10 years ago and it worked awesome."
Committee members still want sort out the seating issue, despite the near certainty that they will field complaints about whatever seating system they select.
"Finally, people will think that SenEx is doing something for them," said committee member and physics and astronomy professor Steve Shawl.
Other members, like Pam Houston, worried about what might happen to faculty and staff
seating if SenEx didn't take the opportunity.
If University Council allows the SenEx to work out the new system, it will have four or five weeks to form a subcommittee that will work out the details and bring them back to SenEx for approval.
The subcommittee will probably consist of Athletic Board and SenEx members.
Among the other options that SenEx wants to explore are a lottery system, a points-based system or a seniority-based system to choose seating.
The University Council meeting will take place at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Visitors' Center.
— Sportswriter John Domoney contributed to this story. Edited by JJ Hensley.
World Bush, Karzai not certain about Taliban official
KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai and president Bush's special envoy to Afghanistan said yesterday that U.S. authorities had not freed a top Taliban official, contradicting an earlier report from two Afghan officials.
Muttawakil surrendered to U.S. forces in the southern city of Kandahar on Jan. 8, 2002. He was believed to have been transferred to the Bagram base.
Two Afghan officials said earlier that former Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil had been released Monday, after 22 months of captivity, from the U.S. headquarters in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base, just north of the capital of Kabul.
The president then turned to U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilazad and asked if U.S. authorities had released Muttawakil. Khalilazad said no.
Karzai, at a news conference,
told reporters that Muttawakil
had not been released.
U. S. officials at Bagram did not respond to e-mailed questions about the matter.
Dutch prince engaged to Australian-born royalty
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Crown Prince Frederik was engaged to Mary Donaldson, the first Australian-born woman to stand in line to become a European queen, the royal palace said yesterday.
"Her Majesty and his royal highness Prince (Henrik) have the joy to announce that His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince has been engaged to Miss Mary Elizabeth Donaldson," the palace said in a statement.
At a state council meeting at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen where the royal family lives, Queen Margrethe told the Danish government that her 35-year-old son and heir to the throne of Europe's oldest ruling monarchy would marry Donaldson, a 31-year-old from Hobart, Australia.
Under the Constitution, Denmark's popular 63-year-old monarch and the government must give their formal approval for Frederik to marry.
Last month, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his government supported the engagement.
Eighthcaseofmadcow diseasereportedinTokyo
TOKYO—Japan has quarantined 604 cows to prevent the spread of mad cow disease after authorities confirmed that a 23-month-old bull had a new strain of the bovine illness, an official said yesterday.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry ordered the isolation of all cattle raised with the infected animal, the country's eighth case, ministry official Keiji Fushimi said.
Fushimi said the ministry
hasn't decided whether to destroy the cattle — from Fukushima and Tochigi states, north of Tokyo — and isn't ruling out the possibility that quarantine numbers could rise.
For now, the cows are being held on the farms where they were bred, he added.
The latest discovery raises questions about tighter screening procedures implemented since Japan's first case was diagnosed in September 2001.
Tijuana council taking action against arrests
TIJUANA, Mexico — Michael Wilson's run-in with Tijuana police is a familiar story.
The 43-year-old Las Vegas man says he and a friend were accused of having illegal drugs, then handcuffed and driven around in a squad car for hours before paying $500 to be let go.
What happened next, though, makes his experience unprecedented. The city's Honor and Justice Council — a panel of two police officials, two City Council members and two citizens — promised to investigate and punish the officers for any wrongdoing.
The tribunal began hearing complaints from American tourists in April. So far, Wilson and seven others have claimed they were victims of police shakedowns, forced to cough up between $60 and $700 apiece.
If found guilty, the officers can face any of several penalties — from unpaid leave to dismissal.
House approves ban on weapons in Syria
WASHINGTON - A House committee voted yesterday to impose weapons sanctions and other penalties on Syria after fresh allegations that the country sponsors terrorists.
The United States considers Syria a state sponsor of terrorism, and officials are concerned it may be allowing activists to cross into Iraq to take up arms against U.S. soldiers
"It has become increasingly clear which side Syria's government has chosen in the war on terror," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said.
The legislation, approved 33-2, bans the export of weapons and items that can be used in weapons programs into Syria.
President Bush also would have to choose two of the following sanctions: a ban on all U.S. exports to Syria except food or medicine; a ban on all U.S. business investment in Syria; restriction of Syrian diplomats in Washington and at the United Nations in New York City to a 25-mile radius; a ban on all Syrian-owned or controlled aircraft from taking off, landing or flying over the United States; reduction of diplomatic contact with Syria; or freezing Syrian assets in the United States.
Those sanctions can be waived for "national security" reasons.
The Associated Press
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