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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2000170/Blundering-Barclays-bank-staff-home--FORGET-lock-set-alarms.html

Man guilty in $298,000 gas fraud case

Couple bilked government by using gas cards designed for fleet of cars at Fort Monroe

Peter Dujardin

Daily Press

7:40 PM EDT, June 6, 2011

NEWPORT NEWS — A Hampton man was found guilty Monday of bilking the government out of $298,000 by fraudulently using gas cards designed for a fleet of government-owned vehicles at Fort Monroe.

After deliberating for about three hours, the jury found Lanaire E. White, 38, guilty of all 16 charges he faced: conspiracy to commit wire fraud; nine counts of wire fraud; theft of government property; unauthorized access to a device; and felon in possession of a firearm.

Surveillance video shot in June 2010 showed White using cards to gas up several people's vehicles at a Hampton gas station. Witnesses said they'd pay a cut rate for the gas — $1.50 a gallon in cash — with White pocketing the money. Prosecutors said the scheme went on for more than two years.

Eight people — just a fraction of the actual number, prosecutors say — said they bought gas from White, often at a gas station on Hardy Cash Drive. One trucker testified he bought 80 tanks of diesel fuel at the cut rate. Another man said he bought about 50 tank loads for his Hummer.

Another key witness: White's ex-wife. Colleen Newton-White, 36, once the gatekeeper for 68 base vehicles at Fort Monroe, was originally charged in the scheme along with White. But she pleaded guilty on May 4, saying she took the cards from the base. She testified last week against her ex.

The three-day trial at U.S. District Court in Newport News was not without some theater, with White saying he's a member of the Moorish National Republic, a separatist group claiming not to be bound by U.S. law.

White had previously planned to represent himself, before a judge ruled he wasn't up to the task. White also refused to wear street clothes at the trial, preferring to appear in his bright orange jail jump suit. Then, he refused to acknowledge that he was even a "person," instead calling himself a "sovereign." U.S. District Judge Mark Davis referred to White as "Sovereign" on a few occasions in court last week.

On Monday, White told Davis he wanted to address the jury to tell them "who he was."

"Who are you?" Davis asked, telling him that it was already determined that he was Lanaire White. White cut Davis off, asking him if he ever took an oath. Davis replied that White is to answer the judge's questions, not the other way around.

"You are the public servant," White responded.

Davis, saying that judge determines the law and the jury is the fact finder, again asked White if he would stick to factual elements of the case if he took the stand. "If you're not going to tell me, then you're not going to testify," Davis told him.

White still wouldn't give a straight answer, saying both the law and the facts were in the jury's purview, so Davis denied him the right to address the jury. Later, as the jury left the courtroom for deliberations, White held up a file and demanded to address them, but Davis had the federal marshals restrain him.

Each of the 68 vehicles in Fort Monroe's motor pool had a credit card, to be used for gas and repairs. Newton-White testified that she would secretly remove the cards from the base, returning them in time for the next workday.

The users of the gas card were required to enter the vehicle's correct mileage into the gas pump. Another monitoring mechanism was to compare the gas going into a tank with the tank's capacity. Newton-White would attach post-it notes so White would know what to enter at the pump.

The scheme went on for two years, before the anomalies caught up with the couple. White will be sentenced on Sept. 27.

On Monday, a man named Chuck Stewart testified that White — whom he met through a mechanic friend — filled up Stewart's hummer for $1.50 per gallon about 50 times.

The first day, Stewart said, he asked White if what he was doing was "legit." "He said it was legit, that everything is fine."

Then, Stewart said, he saw a line of people waiting to get gas from White, and thought it must be legitimate "because there's so many other people involved."

Over the course of the next year, Stewart said, he would call and text message White to meet him at gas stations, most often one on Hardy Cash Drive.

Memphis Man Brings Gun To Party After Kids Miss Ice Cream, Cake

         

Staff Writer

1:01 p.m. CDT, June 6, 2011

(Memphis 6/6/2011) Instead of a present, a Memphis, TN man brought a gun to a child's birthday party.

Joseph Hayes, 48, is charged with aggravated assault.

Police say Hayes brought a gun to the party because his children didn't get any ice cream or cake

A police affidavit says Hayes became upset and began yelling at the victim.

Police say he went to his apartment and returned a short time later with a small black handgun tucked into the back of his pants.

Hayes approached the host, lifted up his shirt and said, "I ain't scared to go to jail, just take care of my kids."

Hayes' bond is set at $30,000.

 

No bond for man accused of beating wife at divorce hearing

Paul Henry Gonzalez moves to the defense table for his bond hearing on Thursday, June 2, 2011, at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. Gonzalez, A former Marine accused of attacking his wife at a final divorce hearing, has been in jail since the April 15 beating on charges of battery, domestic violence and resisting arrest. Amy Beth Bennett, Sun Sentinel (Amy Beth Bennett, Sun Sentinel / June 2, 2011)

8:22 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2011

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/05/michelle-obama-white-house-rebel.html

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2076102_2075965,00.html?iid=moreontime

http://www.trutv.com/dumb_as_a_blog/gallery/25-dumb-wastes-of-money.all.html?link=DCF

Police: Drunken Driver Punched Himself In The Face To Bolster Bogus Assault Tale

Daniel Vagnini (Courtesy Farmington Police Department / June 6, 2011)

HILDA MUÑOZ

The Hartford Courant

11:25 a.m. EDT, June 6, 2011

FARMINGTON—

Police say a 22-year-old drunken driver punched himself in the face, tore his shirt and threw his wallet and keys in a river in an attempt to convince police he had been assaulted.

Daniel Vagnini, of 10 Butternut Drive, sped through a stop sign at the intersection of New Britain Avenue and Red Oak Hill around midnight Saturday, according to an officer who said he witnessed it. Vagnini nearly crashed into a car that had already entered the intersection.

Police said they found his car on Indian Hill Road and heard Vagnini in the woods. As police searched for him, Vagnini called 911 to report that he was lost in the woods. Vagnini was found near the Farmington River.

He told police he had been drinking in Hartford and was physically assaulted as he got into his car to go home. The beating had caused him to black out, Vagnini said. When he regained consciousness he was in the woods, his clothes were torn and his wallet, keys and ring were missing, police said.

But the story was made up. Vagnini admitted he had punched himself in the face, causing minor facial injuries. He also tore his shirt and tossed his belongings in the Farmington River to bolster his story, police said.

Vagnini was charged with reckless driving, evading responsibility and driving under the influence. He was released on a non-surety bond.

 

Lynne Terry/AP

 

Karen Butler insists she sounded all-American until she underwent dental surgery in 2009.

"I don't feel different inside at all. I'm the same old me I ever was," said Karen Butler, 56, of Toledo, Ore.

Butler, who was born in Illinois and moved to Oregon at the age of 1, insists she sounded all-American until she underwent dental surgery in November 2009.

Gingivitis prompted her to have all her top teeth and her front bottom teeth extracted. She was left with dentures and sounding like a Brit, despite never having visited England.

"There's nothing wrong with having an accent," said Butler, who has become a media sensation in her town of 3,500 people, even appearing on the "Today" show to discuss her new voice.

After looking up her condition on the Internet, Butler said she believes she has Foreign Accent syndrome, a medical condition with only a few dozen documented cases.

"We don't know exactly how or why it happens, but it simply affects rhythm of language," said Dr. Helmi Lutsep, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Oregon Health & Science University.

He said neurologists will see at least one case in their career.

Four Roman Catholic women ordained as priests in Catonsville

Defying Vatican, group holds ceremony at Protestant church

Dan Rodricks

The Baltimore Sun

8:35 PM EDT, June 5, 2011

Defying canon law and a Vatican decree that promised excommunication, four Roman Catholic women took vows as priests Saturday during an elaborate ordination ceremony full of song and messages of inclusiveness at a Protestant church in Catonsville.

Andrea Johnson, presiding as bishop, ordained two women from Maryland, Ann Penick and Marellen Mayers, one from Pennsylvania and one from New York in the sanctuary of St. John's United Church of Christ. The church was filled with family members — including husbands of three of the ordinands — and friends, including some who are employed by the Archdiocese of Baltimore but who support the ordination of women. Photography was limited to protect the privacy of those attending the ceremony.

In 1994, Pope John Paul II said the church has no authority to ordain women, "and this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." In 2008, the Vatican further decreed that women who seek ordination or any bishop who attempts it immediately excommunicate themselves from the Roman Catholic Church.

But the organization that arranged Saturday's ordinations, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, believes Canon Law 1024, which limits priesthood to men, is unjust and self-defeating.

"And we don't believe we can excommunicate ourselves," said Mayers, who was employed as a campus minister and religion instructor at a Catholic high school until her superiors learned of her affiliation with RCWP last year. By then, she was well on her way toward the priesthood. "We are still Catholic. We do not choose to separate ourselves from the church."

Mayers, who grew up in Chicago and Baltimore, worked for more than two decades in campus ministry. "About 10 years ago," she said, "I became very conscious and aware of a new calling — to be in full ministry alongside my brothers as a priest."

Mayers considered converting to the Episcopal Church, which permits the ordination of women. "But the more I thought about it, I could not bring myself to leave the Catholic Church," she said. "I was raised in the Catholic Church, and I wanted to remain faithful to the traditions and the way my parents brought me up. I was a child of Vatican II and Pope John XXIII."

Mayers, whose parents are deceased, said her siblings and other relatives "had a lot of questions" but were "very supportive" of her decision to seek the priesthood.

Roman Catholic Womenpriests traces its origins to the so-called Danube Seven, a group of women who were ordained aboard a ship in the river in 2002 by three male bishops. Two of those bishops were never publicly identified, while the third, an Argentine named Romulo Braschi, was called a "founder of a schismatic community" by the Vatican. The seven women were excommunicated, but RCWP believes their ordinations were legitimate, providing the "apostolic succession" that made all subsequent ordinations legitimate.

Andrea Johnson, the woman who presided at Saturday's ordination, was ordained a bishop by a woman who traces her legitimacy to the Danube Seven. RCWP claims more than 40 ordained priests and four ordained bishops in the United States, and more in Canada and Europe.

Asked for comment, Sean Caine, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, did not specifically address RCWP or Saturday's ordination. "Women have long held positions of leadership and authority in the archdiocese," he said. "They serve as Catholic school administrators, directors of centers of charitable outreach, as well as diocesan and parish leaders. Their dedicated and able service remains and will continue to be an integral component of our ministry to the people of this Archdiocese."

Gloria Carpeneto, a grandmother and leader of a Baltimore spiritual community who was ordained three years ago, says the RCWP mission is less about protest than about establishing "a renewed vision of church" and "a renewed vision of priestly ministry." It's an inclusive vision of what a church should be.

The women who've been ordained through RCWP have day jobs and families, husbands or partners; they are out in the community and not confined to a building or parish, Carpeneto said. They are teachers, social workers, spiritual directors. They do all the things Catholic priests do, and they celebrate Mass twice a month — usually once at St. John's, once at someone's house — and with anyone who wishes to attend.

 

Jacksonville Police Dept.

 

Cristian Fernandez, 12, could face life in prison without parole if convicted of murdering his 2-year-old half brother.

 

 

Biannela Susana gave birth to Fernandez when she was 12.

 

A "baby-faced" 12-year-old in Florida may spend the rest of his life in jail for the murder of his 2-year-old half brother.

Cristian Fernandez allegedly killed the toddler in March. Last week, the boy was indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder, the first time someone so young has faced such a serious charge in Jacksonville.

If convicted, he would be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

"It is disturbing, but when you know you have to balance the safety of other children in the home and in the community, it is not so disturbing," State Attorney Angela Corey said Thursday, according to The Florida Times-Union.

The harsh charge is a reflection of the brutal murder, authorities said.

The 2-year-old, David Galarriago, was hospitalized on March 14 after being "physically battered" by his older sibling, according to a police report.

The child suffered "a skull fracture, subdural hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, bruising on the left eye, and bruising on the bridge of his nose."

While the toddler was in the hospital, police said Fernandez confessed to beating him. He also allegedly admitted to having broken his younger brother's leg in January.

Two days after he was savagely attacked, David died.

"It's a tragic set of events to say the least," Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel told The Times-Union.

Fernandez's mother, Biannela Susana, also faces charges for allegedly trying to cover up the beating.

The 25-year-old initially told authorities she was at home when the incident occurred, according to a police report. She later admitted she was not there at the time, and was told the toddler fell from a bunk bed.

Susana told police she tried to help the 2-year-old. She claimed she "changed his clothing, wiped him off, and put ice on his head," police said.

The young mother did not call 911, but drove the toddler to the hospital some two hours after the incident, police said.

The lawyer tasked with defending Cristian Fernandez said the 12-year-old is "clearly a victim."

"The whole system has failed him," Assistant Public Defender Rob Mason said, according to The Times-Union.

Fernandez's mother was only 12 years old when she gave birth to him, Mason said. The two ended up in foster care together, and his grandmother was a drug addict.

The boy was also the victim of child abuse at the hands of his stepfather, who shot and killed himself in front of the boy last year, Mason said.

"It is a complex case," he said.

Cash-strapped states look to roll back tax credits

John Wisely

USA TODAY

June 4, 2011

Tough budget times are forcing state governments to rethink the tax breaks they grant.

Michigan last week eliminated several tax credits, including those for small donations made to universities, food banks, museums and public television. The state also capped at $25 million a year the tax incentives it gives the film industry, which has been lured to the state since 2008 by some of the more generous incentives in the nation. The changes were part of a tax overhaul that Republican Gov. Rick Snyder says will spur job growth.

The Oklahoma Legislature has set up a special committee to review tax incentives there. A report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission in October 2010 listed the cost of hundreds of credits and incentives.

"It's like a big Christmas tree," says Larkin Warner, emeritus professor of economics at Oklahoma State University, who serves on the committee. "The legislators ought to take a hard look."

Economists generally favor more uniform taxation but acknowledge that incentives can advance policy goals such as capital investment, cleaner energy use or job creation, says Dana Johnson, recently retired chief economist at Comerica Bank.

"Taxes can be used, just like direct subsidies, to (encourage) certain behavior," Johnson says. "The question you always have to ask is: Is it worth the revenue?"

Three Ohio think tanks have called for a review of tax credits to help solve that state's $8 billion budget shortfall.

"It's holding Ohio back," says Levea Brachman, executive director of the Greater Ohio Policy Center, a progressive think tank that has joined with the libertarian-leaning Buckeye Institute and the centrist Center for Community Solutions in calling for a review of the state's tax policies. Greater Ohio estimates that such tax breaks cost state government $300 million a year.

One of the breaks that Michigan eliminated had allowed taxpayers to get a 50% refund of some charitable donations when they filed their state tax returns. About 550,000 people claimed it in recent years. Without it, Michigan will save $47 million a year, according to state budget estimates.

Eliminating tax breaks isn't easy because each has a constituency, Warner says.

The Montana Legislature earlier this year voted to repeal a host of clean-energy tax credits, although Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the changes last month. "To repeal these credits would be to subtract jobs in Montana's energy, construction, and agriculture sectors," Schweitzer said in his veto message.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/among-gop-an-ironclad-anti-tax-orthodoxy/2011/06/02/AG90SgJH_story.html