Senator: Bergdahl deal sealed day before Taliban swap, US told pickup location hour before ADVERTISING Senator: Bergdahl deal sealed day before Taliban swap, US told pickup location hour before WASHINGTON — The Obama administration only finalized the exchange of the
Senator: Bergdahl deal sealed day before Taliban swap, US told pickup location hour before
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration only finalized the exchange of the last remaining U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo a day before the swap, a top Democratic lawmaker said Tuesday. He said American officials didn’t learn the pickup location for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl until an hour ahead of time.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s No. 2-ranked Democrat, presented the timeline as an explanation for why President Barack Obama didn’t inform Congress 30 days before the May 31 prisoner trade. Republicans and some Democrats have sharply criticized the president for failing to notify them and contend he broke the law. Obama says he acted legally.
Durbin spoke as a House panel overwhelmingly backed a measure barring U.S. funds for the transfer of detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid the congressional outcry over the swap.
On a bipartisan 33-13 vote, the Appropriations Committee added the provision to a $570 billion defense spending bill. The measure bars 85 percent of the funds in the account for overseas conflicts until Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reassures Congress that congressional notification on Guantanamo transfers will be respected.
Judge strikes down teacher tenure in Calif., rules that the system protects bad educators
LOS ANGELES — A judge struck down tenure and other job protections for California’s public school teachers as unconstitutional Tuesday, saying such laws harm students — especially poor and minority ones — by saddling them with bad teachers who are almost impossible to fire.
In a landmark decision that could influence the gathering debate over tenure across the country, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu cited the historic case of Brown v. Board of Education in ruling that students have a fundamental right to equal education.
Siding with the nine students who brought the lawsuit, he ruled that California’s laws on hiring and firing in schools have resulted in “a significant number of grossly ineffective teachers currently active in California classrooms.”
He agreed, too, that a disproportionate number of these teachers are in schools that have mostly minority and low-income students.
The judge stayed the ruling pending appeals. The case involves 6 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Police: Teen gunman who killed student, wounded teacher at Ore. school likely took own life
TROUTDALE, Ore. — A teen gunman armed with a rifle shot and killed a student Tuesday and injured a teacher before he likely killed himself at a high school in a quiet Columbia River town in Oregon, authorities said.
After the shooting stopped, police spotted the suspect slumped on a toilet in a bathroom but couldn’t see what was happening with him.
Officers used a robot with a camera to investigate and discovered the suspect was dead and that he had likely killed himself, Troutdale police spokesman Sgt. Carey Kaer said.
Authorities have tentatively identified the gunman and the slain student, who was found in a locker room at Reynolds High School, but the names were being withheld until their families were notified, police Chief Scott Anderson said.
The teacher’s injuries weren’t life-threatening, and he was treated at the scene. He was identified as Todd Rispler, a 50-year-old physical education instructor and former track coach and quarterback at the school.
Air Force to launch
fixes to nuclear missile program, including
bonuses, modernization
WASHINGTON — The Air Force is launching an ambitious campaign to repair flaws in its nuclear missile corps, after recent training failures, security missteps, leadership lapses, morale problems and stunning breakdowns in discipline prompted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to demand action to restore public confidence in the nuclear force.
Air Force leaders are planning to offer bonus pay to missile force members, fill gaps in their ranks, offer a nuclear service medal and put more money into modernizing what in some respects has become a decrepit Minuteman 3 missile force that few airmen want to join and even fewer view as a career-enhancing mission.
The potential impact of these and other planned changes is unclear. They do not appear to address comprehensively what some see as the core issue: a flagging sense of purpose in a force that atrophied after the Cold War ended two decades ago as the military’s focus turned to countering terrorism and other threats.
By wire sources
