Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Nation in brief
GOP weighs plan to ease late penalty on Medicare
By TIMES WIRES
Published April 29, 2006
WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans are considering elimination of the financial penalty for seniors who miss a May 15 enrollment deadline under the new Medicare drug program.
The deadline would remain in effect, officials said Friday, meaning that most eligible seniors who do not sign up by May 15 would have to wait until Nov. 15 before they could do so.
However, a penalty equal to 1 percent of premium costs per month would be waived once enrollment reopened.
The drug program is voluntary, and individuals who don't enroll would not incur a penalty.
Watchdog: FBI didn't unfairly target protesters
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department's internal watchdog has found no evidence to support claims the FBI used terrorism investigations to intimidate political protesters at the 2004 Democratic and Republican conventions.
In particular, Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said FBI agents and prosecutors were pursuing a credible threat of violence at the Democratic National Convention in Boston when they subpoenaed three people to testify while the convention was being held.
"We concluded that the FBI's interviews of potential convention protesters and its related investigative activities were initiated and conducted for legitimate law enforcement purposes," Fine wrote in a report spurred by complaints from civil liberties groups.
Jury might not hear of Duke accuser's old claims
DURHAM, N.C. - The district attorney prosecuting two Duke University lacrosse players on rape charges said Friday that a similar complaint brought by the accuser 10 years ago may not be admissible at trial - a suggestion disputed by a defense lawyer.
"This woman will have to testify, and it's valid to ask her if she's made any false accusations," said Joe Cheshire, who represents a player who has not been charged.
According to police report, the stripper who claims she was raped by three Duke athletes at an off-campus party also told police in nearby Creedmoor in 1996 that three years earlier, she had been raped and beaten by three men when she was 14. No one was ever charged with sexual assault.
District Attorney Mike Nifong said a jury might never be allowed to hear about the prior allegations.
North Carolina's rape shield law lists narrowly defined categories under which an accuser's sexual history is allowed as evidence, Nifong said. The court must hold a hearing to determine if the evidence meets those categories.
[Last modified April 29, 2006, 01:18:13]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
