Washington, D.C.

House panel seeks ban of Internet access taxes

A House committee acted Wednesday to permanently bar states from taxing Internet service and access and to require the few states that currently tax those services to end their levies.

The bill, which must be passed by the full House and Senate before becoming law, would extend a moratorium on the taxes that will expire Nov. 1. The moratorium has been in place since 1998.

Supporters told the House Judiciary Committee said a continued ban would promote innovation and make Internet access more affordable. The ban also covers taxes that single out the Internet.

Separately, America Online Inc. Vice Chairman Joseph Ripp told Congress that taxing the basic dial-up subscription for their average member would increase monthly costs $2 to $3. The monthly rate for faster and more expensive broadband services could become $5 to $10 more costly.

Illinois

State to require taping of police interrogations

The governor of Illinois is expected today to sign the nation’s first law requiring that interrogations and confessions be tape-recorded, a move that experts said likely would prompt other states to adopt similar rules as they seek to deter police misconduct.

The law, which will apply to most homicide investigations in the state, was spurred by a series of cases in which inmates on death row were freed after evidence surfaced that they were innocent and that their confessions had been coerced.

“It is our moral duty to restore the integrity of the criminal justice system as we know it today in Illinois and we must work to make it more transparent and truthful,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Wednesday.

While a large police union in Chicago opposes mandatory taping, a wide array of criminal justice experts praised the new law.

Miami

Coast Guard takes 15 into custody

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a 36-foot Cuban boat Wednesday and took 15 people into custody, a day after the government-owned vessel was taken from the island and chased by Cuban authorities.

The Coast Guard had been tracking the government-owned vessel before boarding it Wednesday in international waters in the Straits of Florida, Coast Guard spokeswoman Danielle DeMarino said.

DeMarino said the Cubans would remain aboard the cutter until immigration officials could interview them, at least until today. None of the Cubans was injured, she said.

Usually, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to remain in the country, while those found at sea are generally returned to Cuba.

Philadelphia

Parents charged in death of starved son

A couple was charged Wednesday with third-degree murder in the death last month of their 4-year-old quadruplet son Shawn, who starved in a squalid home filled with food and well-fed pets, authorities said.

James and Tamra Seymore of Towamencin Township also were charged with endangering the lives of all five of their malnourished children. A Philadelphia forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy called Shawn’s death one of the worst cases of child neglect he had ever seen.

Informed by a doctor in May 2000 that their son needed special medical attention, the Seymores chose to wait, detectives said. On June 5, Shawn — too weak to walk, talk, eat or move his bowels — stopped breathing and died, without ever having seen another doctor.

The five dogs and three cats the family kept as pets were hearty and healthy, with the exception of a Maltese puppy who was underweight.