San Diego

Jury deliberations begin for Navy lieutenant

A military jury began deliberations Friday in the case of a Navy SEAL lieutenant accused of joining his men as they beat a hooded and handcuffed Iraqi who was suspected of a major role in the insurgency.

Lt. Andrew K. Ledford, 32, faces up to 11 years in military prison if convicted on charges of assault, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming an officer and making false statements.

Ledford is accused in the November 2003 beating of Manadel al-Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing of Red Cross offices in Baghdad that killed 12 people.

Members of Ledford’s SEAL platoon testified that they punched, kicked and struck al-Jamadi with muzzles of their rifles. Instead of ordering his men to halt the beating, Ledford accepted a subordinate’s invitation to punch the prisoner in the arm, military authorities said.

The platoon handed al-Jamadi over to the CIA, and he died a short time later during interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison.

Chicago

Crowd gets partial peek at Bean unveiling

Bean there, not done yet.

Plans to complete Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate sculpture – popularly known as the Bean – by Memorial Day have stalled because buffing the seams of the stainless steel sculpture is taking longer than expected.

A crowd gathers around Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago's Millennium Park. City officials partially unveiled the giant sculpture, tented and hidden from view since January, on Friday.

The city partially unveiled the sculpture, pictured at right, Friday. The tent covering the rest of it will be removed gradually as sections are polished, officials said.

The 110-ton stainless steel sculpture has been hidden from the public’s view since January so workers can polish and grind the seams in its 168 plates to a mirrorlike finish.

The delay “will allow us to bring the finish on the sculpture to the ‘absolute perfection’ that it needs,” said Anish Kapoor, the work’s sculptor.

The sculpture’s north end – or about 20 percent of its length – was unveiled Friday.

During the work, visitors will be able to watch through clear plastic windows as crews polish the Bean. Some workers will be suspended from harnesses and others will lie on their backs polishing the sculpture’s lower portions.

Washington, D.C.

Al-Qaida-linked terror group member deported

A member of a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida has been deported to Pakistan after being detained for more than a year, Homeland Security investigators said Friday.

Pakistani native Khamal Muhammad told authorities he was an armed guard and cook for Harakat ul-Mujahidin – designated by the State Department as a terrorism organization associated with al-Qaida.

Muhammad, 23, was living in the San Francisco area when he was arrested in January 2004 for overstaying his visa by eight months, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of the Homeland Security Department.

He entered the United States in 2001, a year after ICE officials said he trained to use pistols, rifles and grenades in a Harakat ul-Mujahidin camp in Afghanistan. The leader of Harakat ul-Mujahidin is believed to be a close ally to Osama bin Laden, ICE officials said.

The Justice Department did not pursue criminal charges against Muhammad. He was held on immigration charges for 15 months before being sent back to Pakistan last week, ICE officials said.

Boston

Governor vetoes stem cell expansion bill

Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed a bill Friday to expand stem cell experiments in Massachusetts because it would allow the cloning of human embryos – a practice he has called morally wrong.

However, the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the bill by large enough margins to override his veto when lawmakers take up the measure again next week.

Romney, a Republican, supports research using either adult stem cells or cells extracted from leftover frozen embryos from fertility clinics. But he has urged lawmakers to ban cloning, because extracting the stem cells destroys the embryos. He has said that amounts to creating human life only to destroy it.

Romney, often mentioned as a potential candidate for president in 2008, also had urged lawmakers to include language defining the beginning of life as the moment of conception, banning the production of embryos for other research purposes and limiting compensation to women who donate their eggs. The Legislature rejected all four amendments.

Washington, D.C.

Medicare benefit test has limited reach

If an early test run is any indication, only two out of five Medicare recipients eligible for extra help with their prescription drug costs next year will apply for that help.

Federal officials say they hope to improve on the 40 percent return rate when the applications go out nationwide during the next 12 weeks.

Advocates for the elderly were more wary. They said the success rate would have been much lower if the government had not intervened with telephone calls.

“It’s clear from these results that multiple one-on-one interventions are needed to ensure that millions of individuals eligible for this benefit actually do benefit,” said Diane Archer, founder of the Medicare Rights Center, a consumer advocacy group. “What’s not clear is the government’s commitment to undertaking this massive and extremely costly outreach.”

Under the Medicare Modernization Act, low-income Medicare recipients will be eligible to enroll in a private plan that will significantly subsidize their prescription drug costs next year. Officials value the benefit near $2,300 per recipient.

Washington, D.C.

Government seeks access to online data

The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court Friday to restore its ability to compel Internet service providers to turn over information about their customers or subscribers as part of its fight against terrorism.

The legal filing with the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York comes amid a debate in Congress over renewal of the Patriot Act and whether to expand the FBI’s power to seek records without the approval of a judge or grand jury.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero of New York last year blocked the government from conducting secret searches of communications records, saying the law that authorized them wrongly barred legal challenges and imposed a gag order on affected businesses.

The ruling came in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and an Internet access firm that received a national security letter from the FBI demanding records.

The identity of the firm remains secret.

Atlanta

Homicide suspect on crane now in custody

A homicide suspect who spent 56 hours perched on an 18-story construction crane was in custody early today after police climbed the structure and arrested him, authorities said.

“Apparently, he was thirsty,” said Atlanta police Sgt. John Quigley.

The man, identified as Carl Edward Roland, got onto the crane around 5 p.m. Wednesday and told police he was thinking of killing himself by jumping, police spokesman Sgt. John Quigley said.

Roland is wanted by the Pinellas County, Fla., sheriff’s department in the death of ex-girlfriend Jennifer L. Gonzalez, 36, whose body found Tuesday.

An arrest warrant affidavit accuses Roland of strangling Gonzalez and dumping her body in a pond behind the apartment complex where she lived.

Two days earlier, Roland told acquaintances he believed Gonzalez was cheating on him and asked them if they could get him a firearm so he could kill her, according to the affidavit.

Washington, D.C.

FDA recall affects firm’s generic drugs

People taking generic drugs made by Able Laboratories Inc. should seek replacements because the company has recalled all of its products, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

However, the FDA advised people to keep taking the drugs until they talk with their doctor or pharmacist.

Able recalled three medicines earlier this year and sought the return of the rest of its products last week after an internal investigation found problems with its testing procedures. The Cranbury, N.J.-based maker of generic medicines also withdrew seven drug applications that had been pending with FDA.

Able makes generic versions of the attention-deficit disorder drug Ritalin and the painkiller Vicodin.

It also makes nitroglycerin, lithium and generic Tylenol.

The FDA posted a full listing of the recalled drugs on its Web site, www.fda.gov.

Consumers also may call the FDA for more information at (888) 463-6332.

Tennessee

Judge puts senator on house arrest

A judge ordered that a state senator be placed under house arrest Friday over the objections of prosecutors, who played a video of the lawmaker watching an undercover agent count out $10,000 and an audiotape of him threatening a potential witness.

The tapes were played at a bond hearing a day after Sen. John Ford was charged as part of a two-year FBI sting operation. Ford and four other current and former state lawmakers are charged with taking payoffs, but he alone is accused of threatening to kill witnesses.

U.S. Magistrate Diane Vescovo set bond at $20,000 and ordered Ford to be placed under house arrest until his trial.

Prosecutors, saying Ford should remain in federal custody, appealed before the paperwork needed to release him could be processed, but a district court denied their request for a stay.

A new hearing was scheduled for Tuesday before another federal judge, who could uphold Vescovo’s decision, modify it or send Ford back to jail.