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July 29, 2010 in Nation/World
Nation in brief: Cheating in FBI test probed
WASHINGTON – FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that he does not know how many of his agents cheated on an important exam on the bureau’s policies, an embarrassing revelation that raises questions about whether the FBI knows its own rules for conducting surveillance on Americans.
The Justice Department inspector general is investigating whether hundreds of agents cheated on the test. Some took the open-book test together, violating rules that they take it alone. Others finished the lengthy exam unusually quickly, current and former officials said.
WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan picked up more GOP backing Wednesday in her drive toward near-certain confirmation next week, even as a top Republican lashed out at her as “dangerous.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, warned senators in unusually dire terms against voting for President Barack Obama’s choice, saying, “Be careful about it, because I’m afraid that we have a dangerous, progressive, political-type nominee.”
Democrats already have more than enough votes to confirm her.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday brought back furloughs for thousands of state workers until California passes a budget that addresses a $19 billion deficit.
Schwarzenegger released a new executive order requiring state workers to take three unpaid days off per month starting in August, forcing a number of state government office closures. It’s unclear how long the latest round of furloughs could last, as Schwarzenegger and lawmakers enter the fifth week of the new fiscal year without a balanced budget. Earlier this week, the governor hinted that he might not sign a budget before he leaves office next January unless it includes pension, tax and spending reforms.
Polygamist case overturned
SALT LAKE CITY – A Utah Supreme Court decision that overturns polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs’ 2007 criminal conviction won’t automatically make him a free man. Even if Utah doesn’t retry him, Texas and federal prosecutors are waiting to move forward with their own cases.
Justices on Tuesday unanimously said Jeffs should get a new trial because state attorneys overreached in their argument that performing the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin amounted to facilitating a rape.
Utah officials now have two weeks to seek a rehearing before the state’s high court and then a month to decide if they’ll retry the 54-year-old head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on charges of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice.
Meanwhile, authorities in Texas are trying to get Jeffs sent there to face charges in connection with his own alleged marriages to underage girls in 2005. A federal indictment stemming from Jeffs’ stint as a fugitive on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list is also pending.
HELENA – At least one bear rampaged through a campground Wednesday near Yellowstone National Park in the middle of the night, killing one person and injuring two others during a terrifying attack that forced people to hide in their cars as the animal tore through tents.
Three separate attacks left a male dead and a female and another male injured at the Soda Butte campground. The female suffered severe lacerations from bites on her arms, and the surviving male was bitten on his calf. Both were hospitalized in Cody, Wyo.
“We don’t know if it was one bear, two bears, a black bear or grizzly bear,” Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said. “Obviously, the bear’s gone now. Will it come back tonight? That’s the question.”
Authorities were setting traps and seeking bear hair, saliva and droppings while measuring the bite wounds of victims to determine the type and number of bears involved in the attack.
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liarsinnews on July 29 at 4:58 a.m.
Cheating by the FBI? Is it any different than the Washington State Troopers who purchased fake diplomas and were promoted and/or given salary increases?
Ninch on July 29 at 7:09 a.m.
I was thinking the same thing. There is an investigation and no one is fired.
misjustice on July 31 at 10:06 a.m.
The article states it was “open book” test. How can you really cheat on an open book test, and is that type of “test” truly a measurement of how well the material is known?