VIA THE WASHINGTON POST:

ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. – Prosecutors and local sheriffs said Wednesday that the investigation of the alleged cocaine drug ring they broke up last week remains very active.

Two hundred federal and local law enforcement personnel participated in raids at 20 locations on September 10, according to U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod Rosenstein, who disclosed that $200,000 in cash was seized. Cars, motorcycles, and jewelry were also seized.

An indictment accuses 12 men of participating in a criminal conspiracy to distribute powdered and crack cocaine. In court on Tuesday, prosecutors told a federal judge that one of the accused is a former D.C. police officer. They said Darrell Alphonso Carter ran a high-stakes gambling operation for drug dealers — gambling where up to $80,000 would be on the table.

A friend of Carter scoffed at the charges, calling them “bogus”, and pointing out that Carter’s home on Abell Road in St. Mary’s County is quite modest.

Prosecutors are also asking the court to okay the forfeiture of a home in Mechanicsville, although U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein declined to specify how the home was used to further the conspiracy because of the ongoing probe.

More will likely be revealed about the government’s case in the next week or two. Prosecutors expect the courts to then release affidavits in support of search warrants.

VIA THE WASHINGTON POST:

In their quest to fortify themselves against the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, Matsunaga and other schools across the Washington region are building up chemical stockpiles and barraging students with lessons on how to wash their hands and cough into their elbows. There haven’t been any cases of H1N1 at Matsunaga, the largest elementary school in Montgomery County, and Judy K. Brubaker, its principal, would like to keep it that way.

“When I buy it, I buy it at 400 bucks a pop,” Brubaker said recently while giving a tour of her school’s defenses. At least twice now, she has purchased 70 40-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer.

Each classroom has multiple defenses. In Philip D’Agnese’s second-grade class in a temporary trailer, there were no fewer than six bottles of soap, one at each of the classroom’s hotspots — the computers, the pencil sharpener, the homework baskets — and that wasn’t counting the box of “antiviral” tissues.

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(Washington, DC) — One person is dead and another is hospitalized in stable condition after a double stabbing in Northwest, Washington yesterday afternoon. The stabbing happened in broad daylight in the 200-block of Q Street, Northwest. Both victims are said to be transgendered males and Chris Farris with Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence says his group is watching the investigation closely. Police are continuing to search for a suspect and have not released a motive for the stabbing. There’s a 25-thousand-dollar reward for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case.

Copyright © 2009 Metro Networks Communications Inc., A Westwood One Company

VIA WJLA:

LINTHICUM, Md. – Customs officials say agents at BWI Airport found more than 2½ pounds of cocaine in the bra of a Washington, D.C., woman arriving from Jamaica.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Steve Sapp says officers at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall

International Airport became suspicious when the woman answered some of her questions inconsistently.

Sapp says when two female inspectors patted the woman down in a private room, they felt a hard substance in the bra area.

Authorities say the bra padding had been replaced with cocaine packages molded into shape and colored with a marker to match the material.

Police say 35-year-old Sophia Williams was arrested early Tuesday, but did not provide details of what charges she is facing.

Read more here.

VIA CHRISTIAN POST:

Despite the efforts of President Obama, the White House and Democratic leaders to change opinions, many pro-life groups are convinced that the health care bill does allow federal funds to cover abortion procedures.

Several large pro-life organizations on Monday pointed to a recent article by Factcheck.org entitled, “Abortion: Which Side is Fabricating?” as support for their argument.

The Factcheck.org article asserts that the current House bill “would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.”

Factcheck.org is a project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. It takes no position on whether the health care bill should or should not allow coverage for abortions.

The article, by the site’s director Brooks Jackson, was in response to the statement released by the National Right to Life Committee following President Obama’s address to religious leaders last Wednesday.

Douglas Johnson, the NRLC’s legislative director, had said, “President Obama today brazenly misrepresented the abortion-related component of the health care legislation…the bill backed by the White House (H.R. 3200) explicitly authorizes the government plan to cover all elective abortions.”

According to Factcheck.org, Johnson is correct in that federal funds will be used to cover abortions.

“As for the House bill as it stands now, it’s a matter of fact that it would allow both a ‘public plan’ and newly subsidized private plans to cover all abortions,” Jackson wrote.

Though the proposed plan does not require federal funds to be used to support abortion coverage, the analyst explained, it does allow an optional “public” insurance plan to cover abortions.

People with low to moderate income can qualify for federal subsidies to purchase both the public and private plans that cover abortion.

NRLC explained in more detail on Monday that the House bill contains language that allows the federal agency managing the “public option” to collect an additional amount of premium funds to cover the costs of elective abortions. No one would be allowed to enroll in the “public option” without paying the abortion surcharge.

The pro-life group asserts that once the government collects these funds, they are considered public or federal funds.

“When the government uses those funds to write payment checks to abortionists, that is government funding of abortion,” the NRLC arguedR.

Read more here.

VIA WUSA:

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA)–The Metropolitan Police Department is seeking the assistance of the public in attempting to locate a 13-year-old juvenile male.

Prince Ronald Williams was reportedly last seen at approximately 3 pm on Saturday, August 15, 2009, leaving his residence located in the 4500 block of B Street, SE. As of this time, Prince has not returned home.

Prince is described as a 13-year-old black male, standing approximately 5 feet tall and weighing between 100 and 110 pounds. He is further described as having a medium complexion with hair described as black dreadlocks. He was reportedly last observed wearing a white shirt and blue pants, possibly blue jeans.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Prince Ronald Williams is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099.

Read more here.

VIA MSNBC:

HOUSTON – The Los Angeles County coroner ruled Michael Jackson’s death a homicide Monday after a search warrant affidavit revealed that Jackson had lethal levels of the powerful anesthetic propofol in his system when he died.

The document unsealed Monday allowed officials to raid the Houston offices and storage facility of Dr. Conrad Murray last month.

According to the warrant, Murray, Jackson’s personal physician, had been treating the singer for insomnia with the sedative for six weeks. According to the document, Murray said he had been trying to wean Jackson off the powerful sedative by using smaller doses in combination with the sedatives lorazepam and midazolam.

On the morning Jackson died, Murray said he tried to induce sleep without using propofol, starting first with valium at 1:30 a.m. When he was still awake at 2 a.m., Murray injected Jackson with lorazepam, then injected him with midazolam at 3 a.m. Murray told police he administered several other drugs over the next few hours.

By 10:40 a.m., Jackson, still unable to sleep, urged Murray to give him propofol. Murray said in court documents that he administered 25 milligrams of the drug at that time, then left Jackson alone under the influence of the drug to make phone calls to his Houston office. When he returned, Jackson was not breathing. He performed CPR while a member of Jackson’s staff called 911. The singer was rushed to UCLA Medical Center where he was declared dead sometime later.

The affidavit says , while Murray acknowledged to police that he administered propofol, authorities said they could find no evidence that he had purchased, ordered or obtained the medication under his medical license or Drug Enforcement Administration tracking number. The newspaper also reported that police detectives found about eight bottles of the aneesthetic in Jackson’s house along with other vials and pills that had been prescribed to Jackson by Dr. Murray, Dr. Arnold Klein and Dr. Allan Metzger.

Valium, lorazepam, clonazepam, tamsulosin and other drugs also were confiscated in the search, and propofol was found in Murray’s medical bag. According to the warrant, Murray told police he was not the first doctor to administer propofol to the singer.

Read more here.

VIA CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Obama has approved the establishment of a special unit of terrorist interrogators based out of the FBI, senior administration officials said Monday.

The move comes in the wake of criticism of questionable CIA interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding and the transfer of detainees to countries where torture is common.

A 2004 CIA report detailing the use of unauthorized interrogation methods — including the threatened use of a gun and an electric drill — is expected to be made public Monday.

The decision to place the FBI, rather than the CIA, in charge of the interrogations of suspected terrorists represents a major shift in U.S. national security policy.

The change is based on the recommendation of an interrogation task force established by Obama shortly after taking office in January.

The interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group will be overseen by the National Security Council and “draw on interrogators from defense, intelligence and law enforcement,” a senior administration official said.

The group will be tasked in part with ensuring that future interrogations comply with restrictions outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual.

The manual provides “adequate and effective means” of conducting interrogations, the administration officials said, though they left open the possibility of adding new methods based on the latest scientific research regarding “best practices” for interrogation.

“There will be full transparency” regarding any new techniques that might be allowed as a result of such research, one of the officials said.

Read more here.

VIA CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — President Obama announced Tuesday that he plans to nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as head of the Federal Reserve.

“Ben Bernanke, has led the Fed through the one of the worst financial crises that this nation and this world have ever faced,” Obama said from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., as Bernanke stood by his side. “As an expert on the causes of the Great Depression, I’m sure Ben never imagined that he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another.”

Obama said that Bernanke’s “background, temperament, his courage, and his creativity” helped him to prevent another Great Depression.

Bernanke, a Republican, has played a central role in the government’s extraordinary response to the recession and 2008 banking panic.

Bernanke will have to be confirmed by the Senate. His term ends on Jan. 31. Fed chairmen serve four-year terms.

The question of Bernanke’s reappointment had been the focus of much speculation. Recently many economists and insiders had said they believed that he would more than likely keep his job.

The Fed has drawn criticism for not taking a stronger hand earlier in the crisis and for their part in inflating the housing bubble by keeping interest rates low for so long.

“The Federal Reserve like other economic policymakers has been challenged by the unprecedented events of the past few years,” Bernanke said Tuesday. “We have been bold or deliberate as the circumstances demanded, but our objective remains constant to restore a more stable financial, and economic environment in which opportunity can again flourish and Americans’ hard work and creativity can receive their proper rewards.”

The Fed is charged with examining bank soundness, as well as checking the cost and availability of money and credit in the economy. Given the more than $1 trillion the Fed has printed to get the credit markets moving, there’s a renewed focus on watching for signs of inflation.

Over the past three decades, the country has had only three Fed chairmen. New presidents have tended to keep Fed chiefs in place regardless of political party to maintain continuity in monetary policy and confidence in the markets.

Read more here.

Prince George’s County Public Schools encourages parents and community members to get involved in the education process! Kick off the school year on August 24 by being a role model in the lives of children. Escort children to school that day, meet them at school as they exit their bus, or visit them in class. Find out from your neighborhood school about volunteer or mentoring opportunities, as well as other ways you can continue to stay involved throughout the school year.

For more information, contact the Office of Family and Community Outreach at 301-925-2536.

Read more here.