Saturday, March 30, 2013

Ex-Schools Chief in Atlanta Is Indicted in Testing Scandal

Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times
After a 2½-year investigation, Beverly L. Hall, a former district superintendent who won fame and fortune for her performance, was charged with racketeering, theft and other crimes in the doctoring of students' test answers.
During his 35 years as a Georgia state investigator, Richard Hyde has persuaded all sorts of criminals — corrupt judges, drug dealers, money launderers, racketeers — to turn state’s evidence, but until Jackie Parks, he had never tried to flip an elementary school teacher. 

It worked. 

In the fall of 2010, Ms. Parks, a third-grade teacher at Venetian Hills Elementary School in southwest Atlanta, agreed to become Witness No. 1 for Mr. Hyde, in what would develop into the most widespread public school cheating scandal in memory. 

Ms. Parks admitted to Mr. Hyde that she was one of seven teachers — nicknamed “the chosen” — who sat in a locked windowless room every afternoon during the week of state testing, raising students’ scores by erasing wrong answers and making them right. She then agreed to wear a hidden electronic wire to school, and for weeks she secretly recorded the conversations of her fellow teachers for Mr. Hyde. 

In the two and a half years since, the state’s investigation reached from Ms. Parks’s third-grade classroom all the way to the district superintendent at the time, Beverly L. Hall, who was one of 35 Atlanta educators indicted Friday by a Fulton County grand jury. 

Dr. Hall, who retired in 2011, was charged with racketeering, theft, influencing witnesses, conspiracy and making false statements. Prosecutors recommended a $7.5 million bond for her; she could face up to 45 years in prison. 

During the decade she led the district of 52,000 children, many of them poor and African-American, Atlanta students often outperformed wealthier suburban districts on state tests. 

Those test scores brought her fame — in 2009, the American Association of School Administrators named her superintendent of the year and Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, hosted her at the White House.
And fortune — she earned more than $500,000 in performance bonuses while superintendent
.
On Friday, prosecutors essentially said it really was too good to be true. Dr. Hall and the 34 teachers, principals and administrators “conspired to either cheat, conceal cheating or retaliate against whistle-blowers in an effort to bolster C.R.C.T. scores for the benefit of financial rewards associated with high test scores,” the indictment said, referring to the state’s Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. 

Reached late Friday, Richard Deane, Dr. Hall’s lawyer, said they were digesting the indictment and making arrangements for bond. “We’re pretty busy,” he said. 

As she has since the beginning, Mr. Deane said, Dr. Hall has denied the charges and any involvement in cheating or any other wrongdoing and expected to be vindicated. “We note that as far as has been disclosed, despite the thousands of interviews that were reportedly done by the governor’s investigators and others, not a single person reported that Dr. Hall participated in or directed them to cheat on the C.R.C.T.,” he said later in a statement. 

In a 2011 interview with The New York Times, Dr. Hall said that people under her had allowed cheating but that she never had. “I can’t accept that there is a culture of cheating,” she said. 

Paul L. Howard Jr., the district attorney, said that under Dr. Hall’s leadership, there was “a single-minded purpose, and that is to cheat.” 

“She is a full participant in that conspiracy,” he said. “Without her, this conspiracy could not have taken place, particularly in the degree it took place.” 

Longstanding Rumors
 
For years there had been reports of widespread cheating in Atlanta, but Dr. Hall was feared by teachers and principals, and few dared to speak out. “Principals and teachers were frequently told by Beverly Hall and her subordinates that excuses for not meeting targets would not be tolerated,” the indictment said. 

Reporters for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and state education officials repeatedly found strong indications of cheating — extraordinary increases in test scores from one year to the next, along with a high number of erasures on answering sheets from wrong to right. 

But they were not able to find anyone who would confess to it. 

That is until August 2010, when Gov. Sonny Perdue named two special prosecutors — Michael Bowers, a Republican former attorney general, and Robert E. Wilson, a Democratic former district attorney — along with Mr. Hyde to conduct a criminal investigation. 

For weeks that fall, Mr. Hyde had been stonewalled and lied to by teachers at Venetian Hills including Ms. Parks, who at one point, stood in her classroom doorway and blocked him from entering.
But day after day he returned to question people, and eventually his presence weighed so heavily on Ms. Parks that she said she felt a terrible need to confess her sins. “I wanted to repent,” she recalled in an interview. “I wanted to clear my conscience.” 

Ms. Parks told Mr. Hyde that the cheating had been going on at least since 2004 and was overseen by the principal, who wore gloves so as not to leave her fingerprints on the answer sheets. 

Children who scored 1 on the state test out of a possible 4 became 2s, she said; 2s became 3s. 

“The cheating had been going on so long,” Ms. Parks said. “We considered it part of our jobs.” 

She said teachers were under constant pressure from principals who feared they would be fired if they did not meet the testing targets set by the superintendent. 

Dr. Hall was known to rule by fear. She gave principals three years to meet their testing goals. Few did; in her decade as superintendent, she replaced 90 percent of the principals. 

Teachers and principals whose students had high test scores received tenure and thousands of dollars in performance bonuses. Otherwise, as one teacher explained, it was “low score out the door.” 

Ms. Parks, a 17-year veteran, said a reason she had kept silent so long was that as a single mother, she could not afford to lose her job. 

When asked during an interview if she was surprised that out of Atlanta’s 100 schools, Mr. Hyde turned up at hers first, Ms. Parks said no. “I had a dream about it a few weeks before,” she said. “I saw people walking down the hall with yellow notepads. From time to time, God reveals things to me in dreams.”
“I think God led Mr. Hyde to Venetian Hills,” she said. 

Whatever delivered Mr. Hyde (he said he picked the school because he knew the area from patrolling it as a young police officer), 10 months after his arrival, on June 30, 2011, state investigators issued an 800-page report implicating 178 teachers and principals — including 82 who confessed to cheating. 

By now, almost all are gone. Like Ms. Parks, they have resigned or were fired or lost their teaching licenses at administrative hearings. 

Higher Scores, Less Aid
 
Some losses are harder to measure, like the impact on the children in schools where cheating was prevalent. At Parks Middle School, which investigators say was the site of the city’s worst cheating, test scores soared right after the arrival of a new principal, Christopher Waller — who was one of the 35 named in Friday’s indictment. 

His first year at Parks, 2005, 86 percent of eighth graders scored proficient in math compared with 24 percent the year before; 78 percent passed the state reading test versus 35 percent the previous year.

The falsified test scores were so high that Parks Middle was no longer classified as a school in need of improvement and, as a result, lost $750,000 in state and federal aid, according to investigators. That money could have been used to give struggling children extra academic support. Stacey Johnson, a Parks teacher, told investigators that she had students in her class who had scored proficient on state tests in previous years but were actually reading on the first-grade level. Cheating masked the deficiencies and skewed the diagnosis. 

When Erroll Davis Jr. succeeded Dr. Hall in July 2011, one of his first acts as superintendent was to create remedial classes in hopes of helping thousands of these students catch up. 

It is not just an Atlanta problem. Cheating has grown at school districts around the country as standardized testing has become a primary means of evaluating teachers, principals and schools. In El Paso, a superintendent went to prison recently after removing low-performing children from classes to improve the district’s test scores. In Ohio, state officials are investigating whether several urban districts intentionally listed low-performing students as having withdrawn even though they were still in school. 

But no state has come close to Georgia in appropriating the resources needed to root it out.
And that is because of former Governor Perdue. 

“The more we were stonewalled, the more we wanted to know why,” he said in an interview. 

In August 2010, after yet another blue-ribbon commission of Atlanta officials found no serious cheating, Mr. Perdue appointed the two special prosecutors and gave them subpoena powers and a budget substantial enough to hire more than 50 state investigators who were overseen by Mr. Hyde. 

Mr. Bowers, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Hyde had spent most of their careers putting criminals in prison, and almost as important, they could write. They produced an investigative report with a narrative that read more like a crime thriller than a sleepy legal document and placed Dr. Hall center stage in a drama of mind-boggling dysfunction. 

She had praised Mr. Waller of Parks Middle as one of the finest principals in the city, while Mr. Wilson, the special prosecutor, called him “the worst of the worst.” 

According to the report, Mr. Waller held “changing parties” where he stood guarding the door as teachers gathered to erase wrong answers and make them right. “I need the numbers,” he would urge the teachers. “Do what you do.” 

(When questioned by investigators, Mr. Waller cited his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.) 

Dr. Hall arrived in Atlanta in 1999, the final step in a long upward climb. She had advanced through the ranks of the New York City schools, from teacher to principal to deputy superintendent, and then in 1995, became the superintendent in Newark. 

In Atlanta, she built a reputation as a person who got results, understood the needs of poor children and had a strong relationship with the business elite. 

Her focus on test scores made her a favorite of the national education reform movement, nearly as prominent as the schools chancellors Joel I. Klein of New York City and Michelle Rhee of Washington. Like them, she was a fearsome presence who would accept no excuses when it came to educating poor children. She held yearly rallies at the Georgia Dome, rewarding principals and teachers from schools with high test scores by seating them up front, close to her, while low scorers were shunted aside to the bleachers. 

But she was also known as someone who held herself aloof from parents, teachers and principals. The district spent $100,000 a year for a security detail to drive her around the city. At public meetings, questions had to be submitted beforehand for screening. 

In contrast, her successor, Mr. Davis, drives himself and his home phone number is listed. 

As long ago as 2001, Journal-Constitution reporters were writing articles questioning test scores under Dr. Hall, but when they requested interviews they were rebuffed. Heather Vogell, an investigative reporter, said officials took months responding to her public information requests — if they did at all. “I’d call, leave a message, call again, no one would pick up,” she said. 

Community Pressure
 
What made Dr. Hall just about untouchable was her strong ties to local business leaders. Atlanta prides itself in being a progressive Southern city when it comes to education, entrepreneurship and race — and Dr. Hall’s rising test scores were good news on all those fronts. She is an African-American woman who had turned around a mainly poor African-American school district, which would make Atlanta an even more desirable destination for businesses. 

And so when Mr. Perdue challenged the test results that underpinned everything — even though he was a conservative Republican businessman — he met strong resistance from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. 

“There was extensive subtle pressure,” Mr. Perdue said. “They’d say, ‘Do you really think there is anything there? We have to make sure we don’t hurt the city.’ Good friends broke with me over this.” 

“I was dumbfounded that the business community would not want the truth,” he said. “These would be the next generation of employees, and companies would be looking at them and wondering why they had graduated and could not do simple skills. Business was insisting on accountability, but they didn’t want real accountability.” 

Once the special prosecutors’ report was made public, it did not matter what the business community wanted; the findings were so sensational, there was no turning back. 

Ms. Parks of Venetian Hills was one of many who wore a concealed wire for Mr. Hyde. 

As he listened to the hours of secretly recorded conversations of cheating teachers and principals, he was surprised. “I heard them in unguarded moments,” Mr. Hyde said. “You listen, they’re good people. Their tone was of men and women who cared about kids.”

“Every time I play those tapes, I get furious about the way Beverly Hall treated these people,” he said.
Another important source for him at Venetian Hills was Milagros Moner, the testing coordinator. “A really fine person,” Mr. Hyde said. “Another single mom under terrible pressure.”
Ms. Moner told Mr. Hyde that she carried the tests in a tote bag to the principal, Clarietta Davis, who put on gloves before touching them. 

After school, on Oct. 18, 2010, the two women sat in the principal’s car in the parking lot of a McDonald’s. Inside Ms. Moner’s purse was a tape recorder Mr. Hyde had given her. Thirty yards away, he sat in his pickup truck videotaping as they talked about how the investigation and media coverage had taken over their lives. 

Ms. Moner: I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, my kids want to talk to me, I ignore them. ... I don’t have the mental energy. ...
Ms. Davis: You wouldn’t believe how people just look at you. People you know.
Ms. Moner: You feel isolated.
Ms. Davis: There’s no one to talk to. ... See how red my eyes are? And I’m not a drinking woman.
Ms. Moner: It has taken over my life. I don’t even want to go to work. I pray day and night, I pray at work.
Ms. Davis: You just have to pray for everybody. 

Later, when investigators tried to question Ms. Davis about her reasons for wearing the gloves, she invoked the Fifth Amendment. On Friday, she was one of the 35 indicted.

North Korea says enters "state of war" against South

SEOUL | Sat Mar 30, 2013 8:41am EDT
 
(Reuters) - North Korea said on Saturday it was entering a "state of war" with South Korea, its latest bout of angry rhetoric directed at Seoul and Washington, but the South brushed off the statement as little more than tough talk.

The North also threatened to shut down an industrial zone it operates jointly with the South near the heavily armed border between the two sides if Seoul continued to say the complex was being kept running for money.

 
The two Koreas have been technically in a state of war for six decades under a truce that ended their 1950-53 conflict. Despite its threats, few people see any indication Pyongyang will risk a near-certain defeat by re-starting full-scale war.

"From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly," a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency said.

KCNA said the statement was issued jointly by the North's government, ruling party and other organizations.
There was no sign of unusual activity in the North's military to suggest an imminent aggression, a South Korean defense ministry official said.

The North has been threatening to attack the South and U.S. military bases almost on a daily basis since the beginning of March, when U.S. and South Korean militaries started routine drills that have been conducted for decades without incident.

Many in the South have regarded the North's willingness to keep open the Kaesong industrial zone, located just a few miles (km) north of the border, as a sign that Pyongyang will not risk losing a lucrative source of foreign currency by mounting a real act of aggression.

The Kaesong zone is a vital source of hard currency for the impoverished state and hundreds of South Korean workers and vehicles enter daily after crossing the armed border.

"If the puppet traitor group continues to mention the Kaesong industrial zone is being kept operating and damages our dignity, it will be mercilessly shut off and shut down," KCNA quoted an agency that operates Kaesong as saying in a statement.

The threat to shut it down could sharply escalate tensions because it would suspend a symbolic joint project run by the rivals. It could also trap hundreds of South Korean workers and managers of the 123 firms that have factories there.

The North has previously suspended operations at the factory zone at the height of political tensions with the South, only to let it resume operations later.

The project has been kept running despite the North's move on Wednesday to cut off a military hotline used to process the hundreds of workers and vehicles that cross the Demilitarized Zone border.

"We have been exercising extreme restraint considering the plight of medium and small companies whose livelihood depends on the Kaesong industrial project as an immediate shutdown will drive them to bankruptcy and people jobless," KCNA quoted the agency as saying.

The South's Unification Ministry, which handles political ties with the North, said earlier in the day that the Kaesong industrial park was operating as normal with workers and vehicles crossing the border both says.
"North Korea's statement today (on entering a state of war) ... is not a new threat but is the continuation of provocative threats," a ministry statement said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday signed off on an order putting its missile units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in the South and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force.

U.S. officials said the B-2 bombers were on a diplomatic sortie aimed at reassuring allies South Korea and Japan and were also aimed at trying to nudge Pyongyang back to dialogue, although there was no guarantee Kim would get the message as intended.

The South Korean government brushed off the North's latest statement on entering a state of war, saying there was nothing fresh in it to cause greater alarm. South Koreans went about with daily lives as they have done through March under the North's constant threat of attack.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Teeing Off at Edge of the Arctic? A Chinese Plan Baffles Iceland

Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times
Bragi Benediktsson, a sheep farmer, at his weather station in Grimsstadir, Iceland. A Chinese billionaire wants his land to put up a golf course and a luxury hotel.
GRIMSSTADIR, Iceland — Struggling to stand upright against a howling wind, Bragi Benediktsson looked out over his family’s land — a barren expanse of snow and ice that a Chinese billionaire wants to turn into a golf course — and laughed. “Golf here is difficult,” said Mr. Benediktsson, a 75-year-old sheep farmer.

An airstrip close to Grimsstadir, a village in northeastern Iceland. 
The New York Times
In Grimsstadir, snow often falls from September to May.
Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times
Mr. Benediktsson located Grimsstadir on a map. Even for Icelanders used to harsh weather, Grimsstadir is a desolate spot. 

“Golf here is difficult,” said Mr. Benediktsson, who is 75. He has been seesawing on whether to sell his land, but is mindful of his age. “When the hotel goes up, I’ll be down in the ground.” 

It was 11 a.m., and a pale sun had only just crawled sluggishly into the sky. The snow, which began falling in September, will probably continue until May. Even for Icelanders accustomed to harsh weather and isolation, Grimsstadir is a particularly desolate spot. 

But thanks to a poetry-loving Chinese tycoon with a thing for snow, it has become the setting for a bizarre Icelandic saga featuring geopolitical intrigue, tens of millions of dollars and a swarm of dark conspiracy theories. At the center of the drama is Huang Nubo, a former official in the Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department who, now a property developer in Beijing, wants to build a luxury hotel and an “eco golf course” for wealthy Chinese seeking clean air and solitude. 

“It never seemed a very convincing business plan,” said Iceland’s interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson, who last year rejected a request that Mr. Huang be exempted from Icelandic laws that restrict foreign ownership of land. “I put many questions and got no answers,” the minister added. 

Prodded by diplomats from the United States and other countries to take a hard look at Mr. Huang’s intentions, Mr. Jonasson questioned what might lie behind China’s curious interest in Grimsstadir. “One has to look at this from a geopolitical perspective and ask about motivations,” Mr. Jonasson said. 

Rebuffed in an initial attempt to buy a vast area of wilderness covering more than 100 square miles, Mr. Huang’s Beijing-based company, the Zhongkun Group, is now pushing for a long-term lease arrangement instead — and counting on the prospect that elections in Iceland next month will lead to a new, and perhaps more welcoming, government. 

The current government in Reykjavik, a left-of-center coalition, has mostly given Mr. Huang the cold shoulder. Even ministers who favor Chinese investment wonder what is really going on. 

Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said that he saw no reason to block Mr. Huang’s hotel venture, which is expected to cost more than $100 million, but that he was puzzled by Mr. Huang’s desire to build a high-end resort in a place so isolated that “you can almost hear ghosts dancing in the snow.” As for playing golf, Mr. Skarphedinsson added, “that doesn’t seem very sensible.” 

Such bafflement has stirred much speculation about what the Chinese tycoon and perhaps the Chinese authorities are up to. A proposal by the Zhongkun Group to renovate a small landing strip in the Grimsstadir area and buy 10 aircraft led to anxious talk of a Chinese air base. The area’s relative proximity to deep fjords on Iceland’s northeast coast near offshore oil reserves fueled speculation about a Chinese push for a naval facility and access to the Arctic’s bountiful supplies of natural resources. Far-fetched rumors about Chinese missiles and listening posts led to worries about military personnel pouring in disguised as hoteliers and golf caddies. 

Mr. Huang could not be reached for comment: he was off climbing a mountain, his company said. In response to written questions, Xu Hong, a vice president at the company, dismissed speculation of a military purpose or other ulterior motives as “the guesswork of post-cold-war thinking.” Ms. Xu said Grimsstadir had been chosen because “there is market demand in China” for peace and quiet. “Most Chinese now don’t like to travel to dirty, noisy places,” she said. 

Mr. Skarphedinsson scoffed at a widely held belief here that Mr. Huang is leading a plot by Beijing to secure a strategic foothold in Iceland, a NATO member that is entirely bereft of military muscle. Iceland also sits astride what will become important shipping lanes as ice-choked Arctic waters warm.
China has openly declared its interest in shipping routes through the Arctic and in using Iceland as a future transport hub, Mr. Skarphedinsson said. But these goals, he added, have been hurt, not helped, by the cloud of suspicion generated by Mr. Huang.
“One thing the Chinese Communist Party never failed at since Mao is public relations, but the P.R. in this venture has failed miserably,” Iceland’s foreign minister said. 

Beijing’s keen interest in Iceland, nearby Greenland and the wider Arctic region is well known. China is negotiating a Free Trade Area accord with Reykjavik, its first with a European nation, and last year it sent its prime minister at the time, Wen Jiabao, for a two-day visit. A Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, stopped off last year as part of a push by Beijing to gain entry as an observer to the Arctic Council, a body comprising the United States, Canada, Russia, Iceland and Nordic states in or near Arctic waters.
China has also opened what, physically at least, is the biggest foreign embassy by far in Reykjavik, even though it has only seven accredited diplomats. 

“Nobody knows what the devil they are up to,” said Einar Benediktsson, Iceland’s former ambassador to Washington and a critic of his country’s expanding ties with Beijing. “All we know is that it is very important to China to get a foothold in the Arctic, and Iceland is an easy prey.” 

Mr. Huang’s enthusiasm for Iceland at first stirred little concern. Nobody paid much attention when, in 2010, he suddenly popped up in Reykjavik to renew a long-dormant friendship with Hjorleifur Sveinbjornsson, a translator of Chinese literature he had roomed with at Peking University in the 1970s. 

Mr. Sveinbjornsson doubts his old roommate is part of an elaborate gambit by China. “If we had not shared a room he would never have even heard of Iceland,” he said. He is not sure that Grimsstadir will work as a resort: “It is not the first place I would have chosen.” But, noting that Mr. Huang “is not an idiot,” Mr. Sveinbjornsson said that “maybe it takes somebody from the outside to see the potential.” 

During his first trip to Iceland in 2010, Mr. Huang made no mention of any business plans but focused instead on poetry, announcing that he would put up $1 million to establish and finance the China-Iceland Cultural Fund. Led by his former roommate, the fund has since organized two meetings of poets, the first in Reykjavik in 2010, the second a year later in Beijing. 

A third planned in Norway for last year was scrapped after Mr. Huang’s company declared Norway unacceptable as a site. Mr. Sveinbjornsson said no reason had been given, but he linked the move to Beijing’s continuing fury at Norway over the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in Oslo, which went to Liu Xiaobo, a jailed dissident Chinese writer. 

Less than a year after his first visit, Mr. Huang returned to Iceland and offered Mr. Benediktsson, the sheep farmer, $7 million for his land and that of some relatives and a second family. A business plan submitted later to the government by the Zhongkun Group said “the location fitted perfectly with our strategic plans for developing environmentally friendly eco resorts in remote locations.” The company said it would build a 100-room five-star resort hotel, luxury villas and the golf course. 

While exotic golf courses are all the rage now, this one seemed to many here a long shot. “I’ve looked at this very closely and gone through all the documents, and I’m just aghast,” said Edward Huijbens, director of the Icelandic Tourism Research Center in Akureyri, the main town in northern Iceland. “The whole project is fundamentally not credible.” 

But Mr. Huang’s business strategy has apparently impressed the state-owned China Development Bank, which, according to the Zhongkun Group, last year reached a “cooperation agreement” with the company worth about $800 million. Ms. Xu, Zhongkun’s vice president, said the Chinese bank “will provide loans and financial support to concrete projects by Zhongkun, including, but not exclusively, in Iceland.” 

There is now talk that some local mayors will buy the Grimsstadir land — with money provided by Zhongkun — and then lease a portion of it to Mr. Huang, but Mr. Jonasson, the interior minister who refused to give a green light to Mr. Huang’s plans last year, is still suspicious. 

“There are so many loose ends,” the minister said. Changing a purchase into a lease does not change the fact that the hotel-golf complex “makes very little sense,” he added. Mr. Jonasson said Mr. Huang “is not just a simple poet wanting to find peace of mind in the mountains of Iceland.” 

Mr. Benediktsonn, the sheep farmer, has been swinging back and forth on whether he wants to sell his property. He does not like the idea that the area would be flooded with Chinese tourists and golf carts, but doubts that the resort will ever materialize, and, mindful of his own advanced age, calculates that if it does he will not be around. “When the hotel goes up, I’ll be down in the ground,” he said.

Red Panda Republic: The Bullpen Bloomberg Built: Candidates Debate Its...

Red Panda Republic: The Bullpen Bloomberg Built: Candidates Debate Its...: The Bullpen Bloomberg Built: Candidates Debate Its Future Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, center, w...

Thursday, March 21, 2013

House committee votes to fire federal workers who owe back taxes

  • irstaxes12z.jpg
    March 2, 2013: This photo shows the Internal Revenue Service building at the Federal Triangle complex in Washington. (AP)
  •  
Federal workers with tax liens may be fired under legislation approved by a House committee Wednesday.

The Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act, introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, in January, was advanced with a voice vote by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

This legislation would not only result in the termination of current tax delinquent federal employees, but would prohibit the future hiring of federal employees with tax liens.

"The very least an individual on the federal payroll can do is pay their taxes," Chaffetz said in a news release. "If you are thumbing your nose up at the American taxpayer by not paying your taxes, you should be fired or not awarded a federal contract."

The bill would require individuals applying for federal employment to "submit certification that such person does not have any seriously delinquent tax debt."

The legislation also requires federal agencies to conduct reviews of public records to determine if tax liens have been filed against current employees or applicants.

The Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2012 passed the House 263-114 but was never voted on in the Senate.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the number of federal workers and retirees who owed delinquent income taxes jumped by nearly 12 percent in 2011.

Nearly 312,000 federal workers and retirees owed more than $3.5 billion in back taxes as of Sept. 30, 2011, the agency reported earlier this month. The year before, about 279,000 workers and retirees owed $3.4 billion.

Overall, the 9.8 million workers included in the data had a delinquency rate of 3.2 percent. That's better than the general public. The IRS says the delinquency rate for the general public was 8.2 percent.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development had the highest delinquency rate, at 4.4 percent.
The Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, had the lowest, at 1.1 percent.

Among independent agencies with more than 1,000 workers, the Government Printing Office had the highest delinquency rate, at 7.6 percent. The National Credit Union Administration had the lowest, at 1 percent.

House employees had a higher delinquency rate than workers for the Senate, but not by much. House workers had a delinquency rate of 3.7 percent, while Senate workers had a delinquency rate of 3.3 percent. Federal court employees had a delinquency rate of 2.7 percent.

The IRS says most residents who owe back income taxes file returns but cannot pay the full amount at tax time. Others have their tax bills increased through audits and cannot pay the higher bill.

The statistics on federal employees do not include those who are on payment plans. The IRS doesn't publicize the data but makes it available upon request.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/21/house-committee-moves-to-fire-federal-workers-who-owe-back-taxes/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2OCI5M1Py

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Hatch: New Office Established by Obamacare Blows Taxpayer Money

Wednesday, 20 Mar 2013 03:41 PM
By Dan Weil

 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), a new entity created by the Affordable Care Act to increase efficiency, is instead frittering away money, says Sen. Orrin Hatch.

The wasted money is going to high salaries and fancy perks, the Utah Republican said Wednesday during a Finance Committee hearing, The Hill reports. Hatch said he has "heard that . . . staffers have state-of-the-art workspaces, including very expensive treadmill desks."

The CMMI has a $10 billion budget to study new methods for increasing the efficiency of the healthcare system. Much of its money goes to exploratory projects and outside research that don’t progress quickly.

But Hatch said the projects take an excessive amount of time and duplicate the work of the Medicare and Medicaid agencies.

"I hope that CMMI takes the time to really study the impact of initiatives both while they are going on and at the end of demonstrations, so that we know if they work — and how well they work — before the initiatives are offered to more providers and patients," he said.
By
Michelle Castillo /
CBS News/ March 20, 2013, 12:12 PM

Group: Kids get hands on wrong medication 500,000 times a year


Safe Kids Worldwide


Children accidentally get into the wrong medicine or receive the wrong dose about 500,000 times each year, according to a non-profit advocacy group.

"Ask any parent, and they will tell you they store medicine where children can't get them," Kate Carr, President and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide, said in a press release. "But they might not be thinking of pills stored in purses, vitamins left on counter tops or a diaper rash remedy near a changing table."
 Safe Kids Worldwide is group of organizations focused on helping parents prevent unintentional injuries to children. In a report issued Wednesday titled "An In-Depth Look at Keeping Young Children Safe Around Medicine," Safe Kids Worldwide looks at how many poisoning accidents happen to children who unintentionally take or receive the wrong medication. The information was released in conjunction with National Poison Prevention Week, which runs from March 17 through the 23.

The data was compiled from information from the U.S. consumer Product Safety Commission, as well as poison control centers and findings from several focus groups consisting of moms.
The organization discovered that each minute of the day, a poison control center receives a call about a potential medicine poisoning for a child age 5 and under. Every eight minutes, a child goes to the emergency room for medicine poisoning. Also alarming, is that the numbers have increased 30 percent over the last decade.

Safe Kids Worldwide believes that the uptick in accidents is due to the increased amount of medications at home. Eight out of 10 adults said that they took at least one medicine or vitamin in the past week, and three out of 10 said they took five more.

When it came to medication poisoning, 86 percent of the emergency room cases were due to kids taking medication that belonged to an adult. In 43 percent of the cases, the medication belonged to a relative like an aunt, uncle or grandparents, whose medications accounted for 38 percent of the poisonings. A mother's medication was the culprit in 31 percent of the cases.

In 67 percent of the overall medicine poisoning cases, the medication was within reach of the child like in a purse, on the counter or under a sofa cushion. In 27 percent of the cases, the medication that was taken was found on the floor or had been misplaced. Twenty percent came from a purse, bag or wallet, and another 20 percent had been left out on counters, dressers tables or nightstands. An additional 15 percent were in a pill box or bag of pills, 6 percent were inside a cabinet or drawer, and 12 percent were in other locations.

The number one medication that kids were able to get into was ibuprofen.
"Curious kids can get into trouble fast," Carr said. "It only takes a few seconds for children to get into medicine that could make them very sick."

Salvador Baeza, a pharmacist who directs the West Texas Regional Poison Center in El Paso, told USA Today that he was not surprised that kids were getting into medications easier because he knows of grandparents leaving their "whole pharmacy" in easy access places like the kitchen or bathroom counter.

Safe Kids Worldwide said that medication should always be put away and out of sight, even if it might be more convenient to keep it around. If relatives are visiting, put their bags and purses in places where kids can't reach them. Also, if you're the visitor, be alert to any medications that may be lying around. They also pointed out that searching for products that may be harmful that you wouldn't normally think twice about -- like rubbing alcohol, eye drops or gummy vitamins -- and putting them in harder to reach areas could prevent future scares.

Even if you suspect a child may have ingested something, Baeza emphasized that caregivers should call the Poison Help Line at 1-800-222-1222. The 24-hour service will connect the caller to a local center.

"If it's something minor, we'll let you know. And if it's something dangerous, we'll let you know," he stated.

Gore’s Al Jazeera Deal Now a Major Scandal




        
       
While the lawsuit over the sale of Al Gore’s Current TV to Al Jazeera is making headlines, a close reading of the legal complaint provides additional evidence that a congressional investigation into the curious transaction is urgently needed and necessary.

The media executive who claims to have arranged the sale says the idea was to make the Terror TV channel “palatable to U.S. lawmakers,” a formulation that suggests foreign lobbying on Capitol Hill in order to protect the $500 million payoff to Gore and other owners and investors in Current TV.
The suit says that media executive John Terenzio also proposed smoothing things over with “pro-Israel factions, cable operators and, most importantly, the American public.”

The other controversial aspect of the deal, as noted by Fox News contributor Lisa Daftari, is that “Al Jazeera America” has announced plans for bureaus in eight cities, including Detroit, Michigan, and that “Detroit, Michigan is a large ex-pat community of Muslim-Americans where [Jihadist] sleeper cells have been detected.”

Detroit has been called the Arab capital of North America.
 
Because of the danger of inciting Arabs and Muslims into anti-American violence, Accuracy in Media has called on the House Homeland Security Committee, under the chairmanship of Texas Republican Michael McCaul, to investigate the sale and look at the evidence that the channel is a foreign terrorist entity that can be outlawed on U.S. soil. He has refused to do so.

The Al Gore lawsuit constitutes another reason why Congress has to investigate. If Al Gore had paid Terenzio for his services, as the suit alleges, it is likely that the nature of the deal and the private discussions that went into it would never have been made public. Now, however, all of this is on the public record and more damaging details, if Gore doesn’t settle the lawsuit, will almost certainly come out. 
 
The revelations demonstrate how sensitive the deal was in the first place. Terenzio says one of his objectives was to develop “strategies to overcome Al Jazeera’s negative image and make Al Jazeera acceptable to American viewers.” Many members of the public associate Al Jazeera with the videos of Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America. Al Jazeera aired those videos, as well as interviews with bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders, and is today still regarded as the voice of the pro-terrorist Muslim Brotherhood.

In short, the plan was for a massive propaganda campaign to play down the channel’s ties to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and its financing by the pro-Jihadist Arab government of Qatar.

Terenzio says he came up with “Al Jazeera America,” a name obviously designed to mask the foreign and Arab nature of the propaganda channel.

The revelations in the suit follow reports that the new channel has been feverishly hiring expensive K Street lobbying firms to stop Congress from investigating the deal, and is hiring dozens of American journalists.

Terenzio says in his lawsuit that he “created a sophisticated PowerPoint presentation” describing the deal and that the structure was “based in large measure on the strategies developed by Terenzio in adapting CCTV [China Central television] for American distribution.”

CCTV is the Communist-government funded Chinese state TV channel that has also penetrated the U.S. media market, although in a more limited manner than Al Jazeera.

It appears that Terenzio is an acknowledged expert at getting media access for foreign propaganda channels. His background is quite impressive, as reflected in his official biography. A graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, he is described as “a visiting lecturer at the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications graduate program in Los Angeles, and at the Tsinghua University School of Journalism in Beijing.”

In the case of Current TV, his idea was to get Al Jazeera into 40-50 million homes through the acquisition of an existing cable channel, Current TV, an unprecedented development that Terenzio maintains he was not compensated for. It is because of this media coup and the failure of Al Gore and the other owners and investors to pay him for his services that Terenzio has launched his lawsuit demanding at least $5 million in damages.

While the suit proceeds in the courts, the legal questions about the deal provide another opportunity for Congress to exercise oversight and investigate the curious transaction. But the fact that prominent Democrats are involved makes it politically sensitive for Republicans who want to avoid confrontations.

The suit says Terenzio made his presentation to Richard Blum, husband of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, and an investor in Current TV. The suit says that Blum and others involved in Current TV were “concerned about the prospect of losing their shirts” and wanted to find a buyer for their little-watched channel.

The suit says that it was believed that Al Gore would find a sale to Al Jazeera “politically unappealing” but that Blum promised to present it to him. 
 
“Plaintiffs are informed and believe that Gore was adamant in his rejection of the proposal to sell his liberal environmentally friendly network to the oil rich Qataris who owned Al Jazeera,” it says.
Al Gore apparently changed his mind. Perhaps the $500 million price tag, with $100 million going to him personally, was a factor.

When the sale was announced, Terenzio says he was caught off-guard and that he had not been informed in advance about it, even though he devised the sale and conceived the name “Al Jazeera America.” He says Current TV “insiders” concede his role in the transaction.

Jerry Kenney, a critic of Al Jazeera, says, “I have requested a copy of that PowerPoint presentation from his lawyer. I would love to see his game plan of how to make propaganda from a country that denies free speech to its own citizens and possibly provides material support to terrorists, ‘palatable’ to Congress and the American public.”

Kenney says Congress should request a copy of this PowerPoint as well.

The new developments add impetus to the effort by Rep. Tim Murphy for answers as to what the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did or did not do regarding the deal.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

White House warns Easter Egg Roll could be canceled
March 19th, 2013
01:40 PM ET

White House warns Easter Egg Roll could be canceled

 
Washington (CNN) - Ticket holders for the upcoming White House Easter Egg Roll are being warned the annual event could be canceled if lawmakers can't agree on a measure funding the federal government.
 
As for now, the event will go on as planned – though warnings have gone out to members of Congress and ticketholders that a partial government shutdown would cause the egg roll to be scrapped.

In a memo to lawmakers, who receive tickets to the egg roll, the White House notes that "by using these tickets, guests are acknowledging that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty surrounding the Executive Office of the President and other federal agencies."

The memo adds that if the event is canceled, it would not be rescheduled.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the egg roll was still on.

"Because we distributed tickets to the Easter Egg Roll far in advance of the actual event, we alerted all ticketholders that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty, including the possibility of a government shutdown," Carney said.

"We have every expectation that the Easter Egg Roll will proceed as planned," he added later.
A partial government shutdown would occur if Congress fails to extend funding authorization by the March 27 deadline, something leaders from both parties have said they'd like to avoid.

A person familiar with the ticket confirmations said every attendee received the same cancellation warning on their ticket confirmation, including both members of Congress and those who won tickets through the lottery.

The Easter Egg Roll – an annual event featuring games, music and the egg roll - is celebrating its 135th anniversary this year. It's slated to take place April 1.

The White House announced earlier this month it was suspending public tours through September 30 as a consequence of the forced spending cuts-known as the "sequester."
The move quickly sparked controversy, with some Republicans arguing the Obama administration was using the canceled tours as a political ploy to draw up negative reaction from the American public over the cuts.

The U.S. Secret Service told CNN that the plan will help the agency save $74,000 per week – or $2 million over the next seven months, which is the scheduled length of the ongoing forced budget cuts.

That total covers the cost of paying 37 uniformed officers $50 an hour for 40 hours a week to secure the tour's route through the East Wing.

But that's just a fraction of the $84 million the Secret Service needs to cut from its $1.6 billion budget, according to the Office of Management and Budget. The officers normally assigned to the tours will be reassigned to other duties at the White House.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Reince Priebus: RNC Planning $10 Million Minority Outreach, Fewer 2016 Debates, Earlier Convention

By PHILIP ELLIOTT 03/17/13 02:49 PM ET EDT AP
WASHINGTON -- Reeling from back-to-back presidential losses and struggling to cope with the country's changing racial and ethnic makeup, the Republican National Committee plans to spend $10 million this year to send hundreds of party workers into Hispanic, black and Asian communities to promote its brand among voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in 2012.

Committee chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday also proposed shortening the presidential nominating calendar in 2016 and limiting the number of primary-season debates to avoid the self-inflicted damage from inside-party squabbling on the eventual nominee. Priebus' top-to-bottom changes include picking the moderators for the debates and then crowning the nominee as early as June so he or she could begin a general election campaign as quickly as possible.

"Mitt Romney was a sitting duck for two months over the summer," Priebus said of the 2012 GOP nominee.
To help his party ahead of the 2016 contest already in its earliest stages, Priebus said he would be hiring new staffers to build the GOP among voters in the states.

"It will include hundreds of people – paid – across the country, from coast-to-coast, in Hispanic, African American, Asian communities, talking about our party, talking about our brand, talking about what we believe in, going to community events, going to swearing-in ceremonies, being a part of the community on an ongoing basis, paid for by the Republican National Committee, to make the case for our party and our candidates," Priebus said.

That move was part of the recommendations included in a monthslong look at what went wrong in 2012. Priebus tapped a handful of respected party leaders to examine how the GOP could better talk with voters, raise money from donors and learn from Democrats' tactics. Priebus also asked the group to examine how they could work with independent groups such as super political action committees.

Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary under former president George W. Bush, and Sally Bradshaw, a veteran strategist and top adviser to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, were among those leading the inquiry. Republican National Committeeman Henry Barbour, a GOP strategist and nephew of former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, was also part of the group. RNC members Zori Fonalledas of Puerto Rico and Glenn McCall of South Carolina rounded out the five-person committee that listened to Republicans' ideas and frustrations.

Those leaders heard from 50,000 rank-and-file members about how to respond to the nation's shifting demographics.

Priebus planned a full-scale rollout of their recommendations Monday, although the proposals are far from a done deal. They would have to win the approval of the 168-member Republican National Committee and then each state's election chief would have to abide by the party's proposed calendar or face consequences, such as losing voting delegates to the nominating convention. The states previously have ignored such penalties.

Eurozone Country: Surprise! We’re Putting at Least a 6.75% Tax on Your Bank Deposits

Cyprus to Tax Bank Deposits at Up to 9.9% for Cypriots and Foreigners
An elderly man passes by a cooperative bank in Limassol, Cyprus, Saturday, March 16, 2013. (Photo: AP)

People with bank accounts in Cyprus were shocked Saturday to learn that as part of an agreement reached with international creditors, the government has imposed a tax on all deposits to help bail out the nation and its banks.

While the island nation may be small, it’s an international favorite for offshore banking– particularly for wealthy Russians.  The tax will range from 6.75% to 9.9%, depending on how much is in the account.

“This is a clear-cut robbery,” Andreas Moyseos, a former electrician who is now a pensioner in Nicosia, told the New York Times. Iliana Andreadakis, a book critic, further added: “This issue doesn’t only affect the people’s deposits, but also the prospect of the Cyprus economy. The E.U. has diminished its credibility.”
And indeed, following the massive run on banks in Cyprus, many are concerned that a minor panic could spread to the rest of the Eurozone.  After all, it has just set a precedent for taxing private bank accounts at exorbitant rates without warning.

Cyprus to Tax Bank Deposits at Up to 9.9% for Cypriots and Foreigners
People queue to use an ATM machine outside of a Laiki Bank branch in Cyprus. Many rushed to cooperative banks after learning that the terms of a bailout deal includes a one-time levy on bank deposits. (Photo: AP)
But first, here’s a little more background on the plan via the Associated Press:
As one of 17 nations that use the euro currency, Cyprus can to raise or lower taxes whenever it wants. Early Saturday, it secured a (EURO)10 billion ($13 billion) bailout from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund to save the banking sector and avoid bankruptcy. In return, the island nation has imposed the new tax, among other moves.
Banks have already acted to seal off the amount of the levy – a 6.75 percent tax on deposits under 100,000 euro and 9.9 percent on those above – so depositors can’t access it. Bank customers still can draw on the rest of their funds via ATM machines this weekend, although banks that usually open on Saturdays had limited hours and many said they were out of cash by the end of the day. No international transfers will be able to go through until Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday. Cyprus’ parliament is expected to meet Sunday to pass the required legislation. The deal also needs the approval of several eurozone parliaments; it’s unclear how fast they can act and what will happen to bank deposits in the meantime. [Emphasis added]
The really shocking aspect of the policy is that it targets “ordinary savers,” in the words of the New York Times.  In the past, banks and shareholders have been forced to take losses, but the average person’s bank account was left relatively untouched.  Italy once imposed a .06 percent tax on every bank account, but the rate was miniscule compared to what those in Cyprus are being asked to contribute.

Cyprus to Tax Bank Deposits at Up to 9.9% for Cypriots and Foreigners
Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem speaks with Managing Director of the International 

Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde at the EU headquarters in Brussels on Friday, March 15, 2013. European finance ministers are trying to complete a long-delayed bailout deal for Cyprus in a bid to keep the island nation from a bankruptcy that could rekindle the region’s debt crisis. (Photo: AP)

European officials are promising that Cyprus is a unique case and that the same tactic won’t be used elsewhere, but not everyone is convinced.

“…this is a unique situation. Just like the Greek bailout was unique;  just like the Irish and Portuguese bailouts were unique;  just like the bailout of Spanish banks was unique…” ZeroHedge wrote, noting that the problem never seems to get fixed.

ZeroHedge concludes its article with pointed criticism for the policy and a warning for the rest of Europe:
Congratulations Cyprus savers – you were just betrayed by both your politicians, and by Europe – sorry, but you are the “creeping impairments” in the game known as European bankruptcy. And so is anywhere between 6.75% and 9.9% of your money, which you were foolish enough to keep with your banks (where at least you were compensated with a savings yield of… 0%).

More importantly, as of this morning Europe has finally grasped that there is a 6.75% to 9.9% premium to holding physical cash in your mattress rather than having it stored with your local friendly insolvent bank.

Luckily Cyrpus is so “small” what just happened there will never happen anywhere else: after all in Europe nobody has ever heard of “setting an example“. Or so the thinking among Europe’s unthinking political elite goes…

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Palin Bolsters Insurgents at Conservative Retreat

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas introduced Sarah Palin on Saturday, crediting her for his election.Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press Senator Ted Cruz of Texas introduced Sarah Palin on Saturday, crediting her for his election.
 
Sarah Palin’s appearances no longer inspire speculation about her presidential aspirations, but her reception at a large gathering of conservatives on Saturday underscored her enduring popularity with the right. In a speech here, she offered zingers for the Republican base but also a strenuous defense of her Tea Party friends who are challenging the Republican establishment.

In a sweeping pep talk at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Ms. Palin, a former governor of Alaska and Republican vice-presidential nominee, attacked President Obama and the Beltway Republican groups that are promoting traditional candidates over insurgents in Republican primaries.

“More background checks?” she asked, railing against new gun control proposals offered by Democrats in Congress. “Dandy idea, Mr. President. Should’ve started with yours.” Lines like that frequently brought the crowd to its feet, as did a dramatic sip from a Big Gulp cup, to mock Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposed ban on soda cups bigger than 16 ounces in New York.

Despite her exit from electoral politics after the 2008 presidential election during which she was John McCain’s running mate, Ms. Palin has an enduring type of influence within the conservative movement. Many of its upstart office holders credit her with their success. They include Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who introduced Ms. Palin hours before he delivered the keynote address.

“She can pick winners,” said Mr. Cruz, who beat the state’s lieutenant governor in a primary last year. “I would not be in the U.S. Senate today if it were not for Gov. Sarah Palin.”

Acknowledging that “we can’t just ignore that we lost a big election,” Ms. Palin said that “the last thing we need is Washington, D.C., vetting more candidates.”

In an apparent reference to Karl Rove, who established the Conservative Victory Fund to oppose insurgent primary candidates, she added, “The architects can head on back to …“Jeers from the crowd drowned out her proposed destination.

Ms. Palin’s name was one of 23 that appeared on the ballot for the convention’s annual straw poll, an early measure of the base’s sentiments toward potential nominees for president. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky won a narrow plurality, 25 percent, of the 2,930 votes cast. (His father, Representative Ron Paul, frequently won the straw poll despite limited success in the real Republican primaries.)

Senator Marco Rubio who has also worked to find consensus on issues like immigration, came in second, with 23 percent. Their combined showings illustrate the emergence of a younger generation on the right, both among elected officials and the base. A majority of those voting in the straw poll, 52 percent were between the ages of 18 and 25, according to organizers.

Some much-discussed potential candidates, including Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who gave a prominent speech on Friday night, were not on the ballot. And 14 percent of those voting wrote in a name that did not appear.

Mr. Paul is likely to follow in his father’s footsteps and run for president, said Ron Nehring, a former chairman of the California Republican Party. “But,” he said in a Twitter message, “don’t put stock in these straw polls, which have 0 predictive value.”

On Saturday, those gathered at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on the Potomac River outside Washington heard from two other rising stars and sources of 2016 speculation. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who beat back a union-driven recall effort last year, spoke about political lessons from his state that could be applied nationally. Yet his suggestions were more modest in scope than those offered by other potential 2016 candidates, focusing more on how to reframe union fights than on how to fundamentally change the perception of the party.

A completely new face to many was that of Ben Carson, the celebrated neurosurgeon. Famous for separating conjoined twins, the once apolitical doctor quickly earned the affections of conservatives when he criticized Mr. Obama’s tax and health policies at the National Prayer Breakfast last month, as the president sat just feet away.

Red Panda Republic: Rand Paul edges Marco Rubio in CPAC straw pollMart...

Red Panda Republic: Rand Paul edges Marco Rubio in CPAC straw pollMart...: Rand Paul edges Marco Rubio in CPAC straw poll Martha T. Moore and Catalina Camia, USA TODAY 6:54p.m. EDT March 16, 2013 Tea Party ...

 

Suspect accused of NY mom’s death, child’s rape, beaten in jail, nose broken

(The Syracuse Newspapers, Dick Blume/ Associated Press ) - New York State Police lead David Renz ouof the North Syracuse state police barracks Friday, March 15, 2013. Renz, 29, abducted a school lirian and her daughter as they left a gymnastics class at a mall in the Syracuse suburb of Clay at about 9 p.m. Thursday, according to state police. Troopers said he bound both victims, raped the child and drove adistance to a spot where the girl managed to escape, possibly as her mother was being killed. She lped by a passing motorist and was being treated at a hospital. Her mother died from multiple stab s. Renz was caught by a trooper as he tried to escape into some woods, police sa
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A man accused of killing a Syracuse woman and raping her 10-year-old daughter during a carjacking was beaten and suffered a broken nose on his first day in jail, authorities said.
David Renz had a swollen face and tissues stuffed up both nostrils when he appeared in federal court Friday to face a probation violation charge.


“I have a broken nose,” he told his lawyer, according to The Post-Standard in Syracuse (http://bit.ly/15b7NLd).

His attorneys, James Greenwald and Kenneth Moynihan, said Renz was assaulted by other inmates at the Onondaga County Justice Center, where he was taken following his arrest Thursday night.

Sheriff Kevin Walsh told the newspaper he was looking into why Renz was put into a holding area with other prisoners — not the usual practice in holding someone facing such accusations.\

Walsh said Renz has been segregated from other prisoners and is being watched around the clock.
“We’re dealing with a man who is innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “He’s got to be protected.”

Renz was arraigned Friday morning at a court in East Syracuse on charges that he abducted the mother and daughter as they left a gymnastics class in the Syracuse suburb of Clay.

Police said Renz raped the girl and stabbed the mother to death before fleeing into some woods. The 10-year-old girl escaped and was found by a passing motorist, who dialed 911. Renz was captured a short time later.

At the time of the attack, Renz was awaiting trial on federal child pornography charges and was supposed to be wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet tracking his whereabouts.

Authorities said they believe Renz cut the device off before the attack. Tampering attempts with those devices are supposed to sound an alarm. Probation officials are investigating what went wrong, said Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney John Duncan.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t publish information that could identify potential sex crime victims and isn’t naming the slain woman to protect the girl’s identity.
___
Information from: The Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com