Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Digest

Jury is seated to hear case against Libby

By TIMES WIRES
Published January 23, 2007

A jury that includes four critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policies was seated Monday to try former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges of lying about what he told reporters about the wife of a prominent war opponent. The jury of nine women and three men was seated after a nearly hourlong court session that was as silent as a professional chess match. Prosecutors and defense attorneys consulted in whispers, then handed papers to the clerk to exercise their 20 unexplained strikes of potential jurors. Six potential jurors who had criticized war policy or the Bush administration were struck, as was one woman who said she had voted for Bush. Libby is charged with obstructing an investigation into the leaking of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity in 2003 and lying to the FBI and a grand jury.

CHICAGO

Depression pills tied to bone breaks

The most popular pills for depression might substantially raise the risk for bone breaks in older people, a drawback that should be considered when the drugs are prescribed, Canadian researchers say. People aged 50 and older who took antidepressants, including Zoloft, Prozac and other top sellers, faced double the risk of broken bones during five years of followup, compared with those who didn't use the drugs, the study found. Still, few of 5,008 people studied - 137 of whom reported using antidepressants daily - used the drugs and had fractures.

Elsewhere

Frankfort, Ky.: Fearing a dam break that could cause catastrophic flooding in Kentucky and Tennessee, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began lowering the water level on Lake Cumberland to reduce pressure. Water has been seeping under the nearly mile-long Wolf Creek Dam and eroding the limestone on which the concrete rests.

El Dorado, Ark.: In one of the most generous programs of its kind anywhere in the country, Murphy Oil Co. announced that it is putting up $50-million for college scholarships for nearly all high school graduates in its working-class hometown over the next 20 years.

[Last modified January 23, 2007, 01:20:00]