Barricaded airman surrenders at Colorado's Schriever base

An armed member of the military who had barricaded himself inside a building at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado for hours surrendered Monday night, officials said.

The man, whose name was not released, is a member of the base’s 50th Security Forces Squadron.

Officials told the Associated Press the situation was “resolved” as of 8 p.m. local time. It had begun about 10 a.m. No injuries were reported.

The man had holed up inside the deployment processing building armed with a handgun, Staff Sgt. Patrice Clarke of the base’s public affairs office said in a telephone interview with The Times earlier Monday.

Schriever is near Colorado Springs in El Paso County.

It is home to Air Force Space Command's 50th Space Wing, which provides command and control for various U.S. navigational and communications satellites.

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Texas judge won't face charges in beating, police say

A Texas judge who was secretly videotaped lashing his teenage daughter with a belt 17 times won't face charges because the beating took place too long ago, the Rockport Police Department told the Associated Press on Thursday. 

Aransas County Court-at-law Judge William Adams could have been charged with causing injury to a child or assault if the video had come out within the 5-year statute of limitations, Rockport Police Chief Tim Jayroe told the AP. But the video, made in 2004, is seven years old. 

His daughter, Hillary Adams, uploaded the video to YouTube days ago, where it has generated nearly 2.7 million page views and more than 87,000 comments -- most of them condemning his conduct. 

Adams, 51, has temporarily stepped aside from his post  -- which includes hearing child-abuse cases -- while authorities conduct an investigation. He told local media that the beating is "not as bad as it looks on tape" and added: "In my mind, I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing."

Late in the day, he issued a statement in which he accused his daughter, now 23, of posting the video because he was reducing her financial support and taking away her Mercedes, the AP reported. 

Hillary Adams said Thursday morning that she had released the video now because she'd finally had enough. In an interview with Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, she said that "the disputes and the harassment were escalating, and finally it was just the straw that broke the camel's back." She added: "I told him I had the video and he brushed it off. ... He didn't seem to think anything of it, and basically dared me to post it."

The video has gone viral, eliciting outrage from around the globe and sparking debate about when corporal punishment and discipline go too far.

In the video, William Adams is cursing at his then-16-year-old daughter and using a belt to whip her for illegally downloading music and games.

Hillary Adams told Lauer that she had set up the video camera on her dresser to capture the discipline that routinely occurred in the household.

"It did happen regularly," she said. "I waited seven years [to release it] because back then I was still a minor and living under his roof, and releasing it then, I don't know what would have happened to me, my mother, my little sister. So waiting until today, seven years later, has allowed me pull away and distance myself from the consequences."

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Photo: Aransas County Judge William Adams in an undated handout image. Credit: Aransas County / Associated Press

 

Poll: New Yorkers are bullish on Occupy Wall Street

It’s not surprising that New York — a state dominated by Democrats — favors the Occupy Wall Street movement more than the tea party. But when it comes to political influence, nearly half of the state's voters say the tea party will have a greater impact on the outcome of next year’s presidential election.

A NY1-Marist Poll released Tuesday found that more than twice the number of voters statewide describe themselves as Occupy Wall Street supporters than supporters of the tea party — 44% versus 21%.

The results of the poll of 1,030 adults surveyed last week also showed that New York is in step with the rest of the country. (New Yorkers being New Yorkers, they'd probably say that the rest of the country is in step with New York.)

PHOTOS: Occupy protests around the nation 

Several national polls have found overwhelming support for the anti-greed demonstrators who in mid-September began occupying a park a block from Wall Street. In a CBS-New York Times poll last week, 43% of Americans agreed with the views of the Occupy Wall Street movement; that poll also found widespread belief that money and wealth should be distributed more evenly in America.

In the New York poll, younger and more liberal voters were more likely to back the demonstrators than older, more conservative ones. As well, although there are many agendas driving the movement, three in four New York voters cited too much corporate greed as the main catalyst.

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Photo: An Occupy Wall Street protester in New York. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times 

 

President Obama implies he will rule on Keystone XL pipeline

President Obama inserted himself into the increasingly contentious fight over building the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, implying in a television interview that the ultimate decision about the pipeline’s fate would be his.

Keystone XL needs a so-called presidential permit from the State Department because it crosses a national border. Until now, the administration has said the department would decide whether to grant the permit, based in large part on an environmental impact statement and public comment.

But in an interview at the White House with Omaha’s KETV, the president said: "The State Department's in charge of analyzing this, because there's a pipeline coming in from Canada. They'll be giving me a report over the next several months, and, you know, my general attitude is, what is best for the American people? What’s best for our economy both short term and long term? But also, what's best for the health of the American people?”

As recently as Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney tried to distance Obama from the decision-making on Keystone. “This is a decision that will be made by the State Department, or is housed within the State Department,” Carney said. 

The White House had no official comment on Obama’s remarks Tuesday. 

Environmentalists praised him for taking ownership of an issue that has increasingly alienated his base and for acknowledging their concerns about the pipeline.

For more than a year, Keystone XL has been mired in controversy. TransCanada, the oil industry and several labor unions have said the project would create thousands of jobs in the United States and reduce the country’s dependence on oil from hostile or unstable countries.

Environmentalists, including many Obama supporters, have argued that the extraction of the crude in Alberta lays waste to the land and increases greenhouse gas emissions. They caution that the proposed route would take the pipeline over the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska, the main source of drinking and irrigation water in the High Plains states, and argue that the number of jobs created would be far fewer than the project's backers project.

 

Military policeman arrested in Alaska on suspicion of spying

A young military policeman stationed in Alaska has been arrested on suspicion of espionage, but military officials disclosed no details in their announcement Tuesday.

Specialist William Colton Millay, 22, was taken into custody Friday in Anchorage, where he is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the Army said in a brief statement.

"The investigation is being conducted right now, and I don't have anything else to add," Lt. Col. Bill Coppernoll, public affairs office for the Army in Alaska, told The Times.

Millay, of Owensboro, Ky., is a military policeman assigned to the 164th Military Police Company, 793rd Military Police Battalion, 2nd Engineer Brigade -- known as the "Arctic Enforcers."

The arrest followed a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Army Counterintelligence and the Army's criminal investigative division, officials said, and will be prosecuted in the military court system.

"Today's arrest was the result of the close working relationship between the FBI and its military partners in Alaska. Through this ongoing partnership, we are better able to protect our nation," Mary Frances Rook, special agent in charge of the FBI in Alaska, said in a statement.

The Army Times broke the story of the arrest over the weekend but had few substantive details. It quoted a friend of Millay's, Janssen Payne, as saying the young MP was "as loyal to his country as he is to his best friends."

"He was really patriotic and really loved his country," Payne said. "I just don't see the motivation for him to do it."

Millay's company has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq over the past five years and last spring redeployed to Afghanistan to train Afghan police. Millay remained in Alaska as part of the company's rear detachment during the current deployment. The battalion's headquarters were moved from Germany to Alaska in 2010.

 

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Photo: Guards at the former Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. The base merged last year with Ft. Richardson to form Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Credit: Al Grillo/Associated Press

 

More than 3 million without power after East Coast storm [updated]

Heavy rain, snow and winds walloped the northeast this weekend, leaving 3.2 million people without power from Virginia to Maine and many more wondering: What happened to fall?

“It’s only October,” said Melissa Mack, a resident of Hartford, Conn. “We haven’t even finished the kids’ soccer season.”

Trees with their leaves colored by autumnal glory turned white from snow and became dangerous. The leaves gave the wet snow a landing pad, making branches so heavy that many of them came crashing down, bringing down tens of thousands of power lines with them.

The storm is being blamed for five deaths, including that of a Bronx grandmother who relied on an oxygen machine that shut down when her house lost power.

15-year-old girl struck by bullet at North Carolina school [updated]

Just as two children wounded by stray bullets came home from a hospital in one North Carolina city midday Monday, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the neck in an unrelated incident at a high school in another city.

The girl, Caitlyn Ambercrombie, was in stable condition at a hospital in Fayetteville, N.C., after being shot while standing outside the school near a cafeteria breezeway, police said. The shot may have been fired from off-campus, Frank Till, superintendent of the Cumberland County Schools, told the Fayetteville Observer.

Caitlyn was reportedly standing near a school resource officer and an assistant principal about 1:30 p.m. when she was shot. Neither saw anyone approach the girl or fire a weapon, according to the story. Students told authorities they heard a pop and saw the girl fall to the ground.

Caitlyn was conscious at the hospital and able to answer questions, a spokeswoman for the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office told the newspaper.

Cape Fear High School was locked down as police searched the campus and nearby areas. Students were later searched and scanned with metal detectors before they were allowed to leave the school. Local TV coverage showed students leaving the school with their hands on their heads, escorted by police.

On Sunday, a 3-year-old boy and his year-old sister were wounded by stray bullets while playing in their living room in Durham, N.C. Police said the shots were fired by a drive-by gunman shooting at an unidentified man about  50 yards from the children’s home.

Three-year-old Anaryiion Hagans was shot in the left hand, and a bullet grazed his stomach, his mother, Dominque Hagans, told the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. One-year-old Aunehstii Hagans was shot in the arm, and a bullet grazed her back.

The children were treated at a hospital overnight and released Monday.

Two teenagers were arrested in the Fayetteville shooting Monday night, the Associated Press reported. No arrests were reported in the Durham shootings.

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Photo: A Cumberland County sheriff's deputy rolls crime scene tape around the scene after a shooting at Cape Fear High School east of Fayetteville, N.C., on Monday afternoon. Credit: Jim Halpin / Fayetteville Observer

 

Supreme Court doesn't explain Troy Davis delay

 
The U.S. Supreme Court gave no explanation for its highly unusual, four-hour delay in acting on a last-minute stay of execution request from convicted killer Troy Davis.

It takes five of the nine justices to order a halt to a state execution. And few legal experts expected a majority of the high court to stop the Davis execution since the justices had denied his final substantive appeals earlier this year.

However, several of the liberal justices have filed dissents in recent executions. In late June, for example, the court cleared the way for a Mexican national to be executed in Texas over the objections of the State Department, but the decision came on a 5-4 vote. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan disagreed.

No dissents were recorded in the Davis case. About 10:20 p.m., the court released a one-line order saying that the “application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied.”

Justice Clarence Thomas is the justice for the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Georgia, Florida and Alabama. Although emergency appeals are sent first to the justice who oversees the circuit, all nine justices decide the issue.

Davis was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m., about four hours after his scheduled execution. He was convicted of the 1989 murder of Savannah, Ga., police officer Mark MacPhail, who was off-duty at the time, but maintained his innocence until the end.

While strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, Davis told MacPhail's relatives that the incident that August night 22 years ago was not his fault, according to media witnesses. He said he did not even have a gun.

“I personally did not kill your son, father and brother,” he said. “I am innocent.”

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Photo: Minister Lynn Hopkins, left, comforts her partner, Carolyn Bond, in Jackson, Ga., after hearing that the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected a last-minute stay of execution for Troy Davis. Credit: Stephen Morton / Associated Press

 

U.S. Supreme Court refuses to halt Troy Davis' execution

 

Convicted killer Troy Davis faced imminent execution as the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his attorneys' last-minute petition for a stay.

Davis was scheduled to die at the Georgia prison in Jackson for the 1989 slaying of Savannah police Officer Mark MacPhail. Davis maintains he is innocent. His execution had been set for 7 p.m. EDT, but was delayed more than three hours as the high court considered his petition.

Earlier in the day, the Georgia Supreme Court refused to intervene.

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Photo: Law enforcement officers at the Georgia state prison in Jackson, where convicted killer Troy Davis is set to be executed by lethal injection. Credit: Tami Chappell / Reuters

 

World waits to hear whether Troy Davis will be executed

 
Convicted murderer Troy Davis waited at a Georgia state prison in Jackson to learn whether he would die Wednesday night.

His supporters waited outside the prison, as did some of his detractors.

Relatives of murder victim Mark MacPhail waited too.

UPDATE: Troy Davis executed in Georgia as pleas for clemency fail

And so did the world, judging from the above Twitter map.

Meantime, the U.S. Supreme Court was examining Davis' attorneys' last-ditch appeal to halt the execution, which had been scheduled for 7 p.m. EDT.

More than three hours after that, the execution remained on hold, with no word from the court.

Davis, convicted of the 1989 murder of Savannah police Officer MacPhail, maintains his innocence. His supporters include former President Carter, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Pope Benedict XVI and former FBI Director William Sessions.

Several witnesses have recanted the testimony that put Davis on death row. But a federal judge who held a new evidentiary hearing last year, at the Supreme Court's behest, called the defense's new evidence "largely smoke and mirrors."

The execution warrant is good for a week -- until noon Sept. 28.

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An image from Trendsmap shows the #TroyDavis hashtag trending around the world.