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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: General to review Stryker Brigade

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – The Army has appointed a brigadier general to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Washington-state based 5th Stryker Brigade, after some of its members were charged this year with rampant drug use, mutilating corpses and slaughtering Afghan civilians for kicks.

Maj. Kathleen Turner, a spokeswoman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, confirmed the investigation Monday. She said the review is focusing on “all aspects potentially related to the allegations of murder, assault and drug use … to include individual and leader accountability.”

Five soldiers are charged with murder and conspiracy in the deaths of three civilians during patrols this year. Seven more face charges including drug use and beating an informant in a drug investigation.

Face shield urged for U.S. helmets

WASHINGTON – The much-maligned combat helmet worn by U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan sustained another blow Monday as engineers from MIT reported that the headgear does little to protect troops from blast-related brain injury.

But the research team identified a design change that could substantially improve the helmet’s ability to reduce the risk of concussion: a face shield capable of deflecting the rippling force of an explosion from the soft tissues of the face.

With a shield in place, “you actually do mitigate the effects of the blast quite significantly,” said Raul Radovitzky, lead author of a study published Monday in the online version of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Miller challenges vote in state court

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska’s bitterly contested Senate election went to state court Monday when Republican Joe Miller sued the state over the way write-in ballots for his GOP rival have been counted.

Miller is trying to stop the state from using discretion in determining voter intent on write-in ballots cast for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The Associated Press last week called the race for Murkowski, who had a 10,328-vote lead over Miller. Her total includes 8,159 ballots contested by Miller observers. Excluding those, she had a 2,169-vote lead.

State law stipulates that write-in ballots must have the provided oval filled in and the candidate’s last name or name written as it appears on their declaration of candidacy.

“Defendants nevertheless have decided to ignore the statute and create ‘exceptions’ to count ballots that do not satisfy these clear requirements,” the 21-page lawsuit filed in Fairbanks states. “By so doing the defendants have violated the mandatory legislative requirements and fundamentally altered the election.”

Boy, 2, falls from arena luxury box

LOS ANGELES – The family of a 2-year-old boy was posing for pictures in a luxury suite high inside Staples Center when he managed to scale a clear safety barrier and fell about 30 feet to his death, police said on Monday.

Lucas Anthony Tang suffered head injuries Sunday when he landed on rows of seats minutes after the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 117-89, police said. The boy later died at a hospital.