Florida

Feeding tube removal delayed for hearing

The case of a severely brain-damaged woman remained locked in a legal stalemate Tuesday after an appeals court cleared the way for her husband to remove her feeding tube only to see a judge promptly block the removal for at least another day.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal offered no specific instructions in a one-page mandate issued in the case of Terri Schiavo, who was left brain-damaged 15 years ago. That meant her husband, Michael Schiavo, could order his wife’s tube be removed.

But Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer later issued an emergency stay about an hour later blocking removal of the feeding tube until 4 p.m. CST today. Greer, who has been overseeing the long-standing dispute, scheduled a hearing on the case today.

New York City

FBI informant who set self afire testifies

An FBI informant testified Tuesday that he wanted to put “the world on notice” when he set himself on fire outside the White House, an act that threw the terror-funding case against a Yemeni sheik into turmoil.

Testifying for the second day as a hostile witness for the defense, Mohamed Alanssi said he had not intended to kill himself, even though he sent suicide notes to the FBI.

“I did not have the intention but I wanted to put the government and the world on notice,” Alanssi said.

Alanssi acknowledged that he was broke and trying to get more money from the government, which already had paid him $100,000 for helping build its case against Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad.

“Wasn’t this a desperate attempt to get more money from the FBI?” defense attorney Howard Jacobs asked.

“It is my right to get as much money as I can from the FBI,” Alanssi said.

Georgia

Military investigating death notice hoax

Military police are investigating a hoax in which a man wearing an Army dress uniform falsely told the wife of a soldier that her husband had been killed in Iraq.

Investigators are trying to determine why the man delivered the false death notice and whether he was a soldier or a civilian wearing a military uniform.

“We’re taking it extremely seriously. Whatever motivation was behind it, it was a sick thing to do,” said Fort Stewart spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Whetstone.

Last month, 19,000 soldiers from the Fort Stewart-based 3rd Infantry Division deployed for their second tour of duty in Iraq. At least eight division soldiers have been killed since then.

Fort Stewart officials would not identify the Army wife who reported to military police that a man posing as a casualty assistance officer came to her door Feb. 10.