General moved after inquiry
Washington An Air Force general who oversaw the promotions and development of senior Air Force leaders has been reassigned after an inspector general’s investigation into his alleged inappropriate relationships with subordinate women.
Air Force officials confirmed Thursday that Brig. Gen. Richard Hassan has been removed from his position as director of the Air Force Senior Leader Management Office and reassigned as special assistant to the deputy chief of staff for personnel. The reassignment occurred last week, when the investigation was forwarded to a top Air Force general for the possible imposition of a punishment.
Two sources familiar with the investigation said Hassan allegedly fraternized with his subordinates and created a hostile work environment, akin to sexual harassment.
14-year-old charged in laundromat death
Chilhowie, Va. A 14-year-old boy was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of his 5-year-old half sister last month in a coin-operated washing machine.
Rebecca Hope Wagoner was found dead June 17 after her mother, Rebecca Billings Wagoner, brought the children to the coin-operated laundry in this southwestern Virginia town.
The mother stepped outside and when she returned, she found her 30-pound daughter trapped inside the triple-load washer. The machine’s wash cycle had begun.
Wagoner could not turn off the machine and had to use a rock retrieved from the parking lot to smash the door and pull the girl out.
Four to be released from Guantanamo
Washington The Pentagon has determined four more prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, no longer pose much of a threat and plans to release them, a senior official said Friday.
No information on those four was available. The State Department is making arrangements to send them to their home countries, said Rear Adm. James M. McGarrah, who oversees the reviews of prisoners and whether they should remain at Guantanamo.
Their fate was determined by a quasi-judicial process called an administrative review board, which the Pentagon created after human rights groups complained about the indefinite nature of the detentions at the U.S. naval base.
Taking the boom out of sonic
Washington NASA and industry teams are studying how to design and build an airplane that could be used to demonstrate technology to lessen the noise and window-rattling effects of supersonic flight. Each team was awarded approximately $1 million for a five-month study. NASA will use the results to define technology and design requirements for a low sonic boom demonstration aircraft. The research will determine whether it’s feasible to modify an existing aircraft or to design a new one as the quiet boom demonstrator. The Sonic Boom Mitigation Project could begin work on the research aircraft as early as this fall.
Evangelist’s daughter charged in choking
New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
Evangelist Billy Graham’s daughter was arrested and charged with domestic abuse after witnesses told police she choked her husband in a parking lot, authorities said.
Virginia Graham Foreman, 59, spent a night in jail after the July 1 confrontation outside a Kmart, police said. She was charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse and released the following day.
Three witnesses told police that Foreman pushed her husband and grabbed him by the throat.