Hutchinson

Republican attorney general candidate Kline fined

Phill Kline, the Republican nominee for Kansas attorney general, has paid an $8,100 fine for failing to properly report contributions in the days leading up to his failed 2000 Congressional bid.

The payment was made about three weeks before Kline won the Republican nod for attorney general in the Aug. 4 primary.

“Yes, it was a mistake and those reports are important, and they should have been filed,” Kline told The Hutchinson News for a story in today’s edition.

Contributions of $1,000 or more that a federal campaign receives between two and 20 days before an election must be reported to the FEC within 48 hours.

“People want to know what money is coming in right before the election,” said FEC spokeswoman Kelly Huff. “The reason we picked up on it is because he disclosed it on the next report,” which came in after the election.

Kline of Johnson County lost the 2000 race to unseat Rep. Dennis Moore, a Lenexa Democrat.

Kline faces Democratic nominee Chris Biggs in the Nov. 5 general election.

Washington

Criminal charges urged against pilots in bombing

The Air Force is recommending criminal charges against two Air National Guard pilots for their role in the fatal bombing of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, a senior defense official said Thursday.

The charges were to be announced today at the Pentagon after the U.S. Central Command and the Canadian government released additional details from a joint investigation of the April 17 tragedy.

The senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Air Force would recommend that F-16 pilot Maj. Harry Schmidt be charged with involuntary manslaughter. He dropped a 500-pound bomb on a group of Canadian soldiers, mistaking them for enemy forces. Four Canadians were killed and eight were wounded.

Maj. William Umbach, the lead pilot, would face charges of aiding and abetting Schmidt in the involuntary manslaughter, the official said.

Boston

Shoe bomb suspect says he was targeting Islam enemies

A man accused of trying to blow up an airliner with explosives in his shoes told FBI interrogators he was driven by anger over the treatment of Muslims in Israel, transcripts of the interrogations show.

Richard Reid, 29, a British citizen and convert to Islam, told investigators that he traveled in June 2001 to Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, and was angered to see “Jews with guns” inside.

“His trip to Jerusalem further emboldened him to act against the west when he witnessed the many checkpoints and travel restrictions on Muslims,” one transcript says.

Reid is charged with attempting to detonate explosives aboard American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22.