Chicago

Report questions shutdown of charities

The government’s shutdown of two Chicago-area Islamic charities after the 9-11 attacks has yet to produce a terrorism-related criminal conviction and “raises substantial civil liberty concerns,” according to the staff of the independent commission that investigated the attacks.

Authorities froze the assets of the charities — Global Relief Foundation of Bridgeview and Benevolence International Foundation of Palos Hills — before any official finding that they were aiding al-Qaida or other terrorist organizations.

The action put Global Relief and Benevolence International out of business. But since they were shuttered in December 2001, the government hasn’t proven in court that they were guilty of any terrorism-related crimes.

The commission staff examined the moves against the two charities as part of a report on U.S. efforts to combat terror funding.

Georgia

Jury selection starts for crematory operator

Jury selection began Monday in a lawsuit against the operator of a crematory where hundreds of decaying bodies were found piled up or scattered across the grounds.

Nearly 1,700 relatives of the dead are suing the Tri-State Crematory’s operator, Brent Marsh, and the estate of his late father, Ray Marsh, for unspecified damages.

This trial will determine only liability. If the jury rules against the Marshes, a second trial will take place a few months later to decide how much they should pay in damages.

Marsh sat silently during jury selection, reading from the Bible.

Brent Marsh also faces 787 charges in a criminal trial set for Oct. 11.

Massachusetts

Institution alumni want ‘moron’ off records

Fred Boyce was only 7 years old when he was warehoused with 35 other boys at Fernald State School. A single attendant harshly punished anyone who stepped out of line. As a “reward,” well-behaved students such as Boyce got to join a special Science Club, where Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers conducted experiments by feeding the children radioactive oatmeal.

But for Boyce, the worst indignity was the label of “moron” affixed to his file when he left Fernald at age 19.

Now, Boyce and six other alumni have asked Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to expunge the word moron from their records. They also want a formal apology.

“A genuine apology,” Boyce said. “Not some patronizing excuse for an apology.”

Gerald J. Morrissey Jr., commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation, said an apology was under discussion.

Washington, D.C.

Audit reports problems with reservist pay

As many as 95 percent of Army reservists called to active duty during the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have experienced problems with their military pay, according to an audit report the Government Accountability Office released Monday.

The problems included underpayments, overpayments and late payments, as well as a month’s delay or more in reservists receiving their tax-exemption benefits.

“The processes and automated system relied on to provide active duty pay, allowances and tax benefits to mobilized Army Reserve soldiers are so error-prone, cumbersome and complex that neither (Defense Department) nor, more importantly, Army Reserve soldiers themselves, could be reasonably assured of timely and accurate payments,” the GAO report said.

Michigan

Gay-marriage ban fails to make ballot

A proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Michigan failed Monday to win certification that would put the issue before voters in November.

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked along party lines on whether to certify more than 464,000 signatures in favor of the amendment. Supporters needed only 317,757 valid signatures.

Two Democrats on the board voted against certification, while two Republicans voted for it.

Eric Doster, an attorney for a group that collected the signatures, accused the Democrats of ignoring their legal duty and vowed an immediate challenge in the courts.

“We’ll let the real judges decide now,” Doster said.

California

Marine on trial for Iraqi’s death

Military authorities began their trial Monday of a Marine reserve sergeant charged with assaulting an Iraqi POW who later died, and a judge ruled the defense could present testimony that contradicts a key witness.

The court-martial of Reserve Sgt. Gary Pittman in the death of Nagem Sadoon Hatab is the first known to be connected to the death of a prisoner in Iraq.

Hatab died two days after his capture in June 2003 at Camp Whitehorse, a now-closed lockup in southern Iraq.

According to a fellow Marine who has been granted immunity, Pittman karate-kicked the handcuffed, hooded Hatab in the chest. An autopsy concluded Hatab slowly suffocated from a crushed windpipe.

But the judge in the case, Col. Robert Chester, granted a motion Monday by Pittman’s lawyer John Tranberg that will let a doctor testify that the markings on Hatab’s body weren’t consistent with a kick to the chest.

Dallas

One in 3 Americans has high blood pressure

As Americans get older and fatter, the number of adults with high blood pressure has climbed to almost one in three in the past decade, putting more people at risk of a stroke, heart attack or kidney failure, government researchers said Monday.

A little more than a decade ago, the number was closer to one in four. And two decades ago, it was falling. But then came the obesity surge in the late ’80s.

About 65 million American adults now have high blood pressure — 30 percent more than the 50 million who did in the previous decade, according to the report in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Assn.

Experts said the aging U.S. population and the growing proportion of overweight and obese Americans were probably major contributors.