A radical enviornmentalist who took three hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters while wearing what police may be explosives was shot and killed by officers, police said.
The gunman, identified as James Lee, was killed by police following four hours of negotiations but the hostages are all safe, said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.
Manger said the suspect had “metalic canisters” strapped to his chest and back. When Lee was struck by police bullets, one of the canisters “popped.” Police have not confirmed if the canisters were a bomb, but Manger said the “device may have gone off” when he was shot.
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Militant environmentalist killed by police at Discovery Channel headquarters
Sebelius: Time for ‘reeducation’ on Obamacare
With a number of polls showing a sustained level of opposition to the Democrats’ health care reform efforts more than five months after passage, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration has “a lot of reeducation to do” heading into the midterms.
While some surveys – namely the Kaiser Family Foundation monthly tracking poll – have suggested an uptick in support for the reforms, most other surveys continue to show a steady level of opposition to the new law that remains higher than the favorable opinions of it.
“Unfortunately, there still is a great deal of confusion about what is in [the reform law] and what isn’t,” Sebelius told ABC News Radio in an interview Monday.
With several vulnerable House Democrats touting their votes against the bill, and Republicans running on repeal, Sebelius said “misinformation given on a 24/7 basis” has led to the enduring opposition nearly six months after the lengthy debate ended in Congress.
“So, we have a lot of reeducation to do,” Sebelius said.
Two on United Flight from Chicago arrested in Amsterdam, ‘preparation of a terrorist attack’
Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.
U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed “mock bombs” in their luggage. “This was almost certainly a dry run, a test,” said one senior law enforcement official.
A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said “the investigation is ongoing.” He said the arrests were made “at the request of American authorities.”
The two were allowed to board the flight at O’Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.
GDP revised 1.6 percent
The sputtering economy may be headed for a double-dip recession after the government revised the nation’s gross domestic product downward for the second quarter to 1.6 percent from an initial estimate of 2.4 percent.
The first quarter grew at a 3.7 percent annual rate, the second quarter 1.6 percent, and this quarter is not likely to be anything worth bragging about, with economists forecasting growth of only 1.7 percent. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. and it’s the key indicator of the nation’s economic health.
The numbers are numbing — not nearly strong enough to give the recovery enough stride so that employers will want to hire, consumers will have the confidence to spend, or for businesses to invest robustly in equipment.
Clean-up crews having trouble finding oil in the Gulf
The numbers don’t lie: two weeks ago, skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water. Last Thursday, they gathered just 200 barrels.
Still, it doesn’t mean that all the oil that gushed for weeks is gone. Thousands of small oil patches remain below the surface, but experts say an astonishing amount has disappeared, reabsorbed into the environment.
“[It's] mother nature doing her job,” said Ed Overton, a professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University.
Provision expands 1099 reporting to include “purchase of all goods and services exceeding $600″
Starting Jan. 1, 2012, Form 1099s will become a means of reporting to the Internal Revenue Service the purchases of all goods and services by small businesses and self-employed people that exceed $600 during a calendar year. Precious metals such as coins and bullion fall into this category and coin dealers have been among those most rankled by the change.
This provision, intended to mine what the IRS deems a vast reservoir of uncollected income tax, was included in the health care legislation ostensibly as a way to pay for it. The tax code tweak is expected to raise $17 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Taking an early and vociferous role in opposing the measure is the precious metal and coin industry, according to Diane Piret, industry affairs director for the Industry Council for Tangible Assets. The ICTA, based in Severna Park, Md., is a trade association representing an estimated 5,000 coin and bullion dealers in the United States.
Specter wants a White House job — in exchange for his vote?
Sources tell ABC News that Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania, has informed the White House that he would like to consider remaining in public service after his Senate term ends at the end of this session, and White House officials are keeping an open mind about possible job openings for him.
Specter, who was defeated in his March primary by Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pennsylvania, is a close friend of Vice President Joe Biden and someone praised for his leadership in pushing for greater funding for the National Institutes of Health.
Sources said the job discussions are far from anything other than preliminary, and were not part of any “deal” when Specter switched parties and began supporting President Obama’s agenda in earnest. Neither the White House nor Specter had any comment.
Talk of such a job, however, has raised eyebrows among Specter’s Republican Senate colleagues, who are now eyeing his votes with added scrutiny. For instance, Specter seemed not particularly impressed with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, whose nomination as solicitor general Specter opposed last year. This week, he announced support for her Supreme Court nomination.
Gingrich considering presidential run
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday he’s seriously considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination and will announce his decision early next year.
Gingrich, 67, told The Associated Press that he would focus on helping Republican candidates through the midterm elections in November, then decide in February or March whether to seek the GOP nomination.
“I’ve never been this serious,” Gingrich said.
“It’s fair to say that by February the groundwork will have been laid to consider seriously whether or not to run,” he said.
Containment cap installed on leak
BP has successfully lowered a new containment cap onto its leaking well, its latest attempt to control the gushing oil since the start of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico 84 days ago.
Underwater video of the well showed the new 18-foot, 150,000-pound cap being placed onto the wellhead. The company will soon begin the process of testing the fit that could finally contain all of the leaking oil.
But even with that sign of success, anger continued to bubble across the Gulf Coast today over unfulfilled damage claims.
Labor Dept. estimates $7.1 billion in overpayments to unemployed
While many Americans are feeling the pain of expired unemployment benefits, some have gotten a good chunk more than they were legally eligible for.
Preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Department of Labor find that, in 2009, states made more than $7.1 billion in overpayments in unemployment insurance, up from $4.2 billion the year before. The total amount of unemployment benefits paid in 2009 was $76.8 billion, compared to $41.6 billion in 2008.
Fraud accounted for $1.55 billion in estimated overpayments last year, while errors by state agencies were blamed for $2.27 billion, according to the Labor Department. The department’s final report will be released next month.
Some of the overpayments likely can be traced back to the overwhelming workloads facing state employment agencies during the recession, said George Wentworth, a policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project.
Coast guard delays cleanup barges
ABC News, “BP Oil Spill: Against Gov. Jindal’s Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard”
by David Muir and Bradley Blackburn
“The Coast Guard came and shut them down,” Jindal said. “You got men on the barges in the oil, and they have been told by the Coast Guard, ‘Cease and desist. Stop sucking up that oil.’”
A Coast Guard representative told ABC News that it shares the same goal as the governor.
“We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer.
But the Coast Guard ordered the stoppage because of reasons that Jindal found frustrating. The Coast Guard needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.
ABC News article continues here.
Independent review finds Packgen boom superior
ABC News, “Engineering Professor Gives Maine Boom Thumbs Up”
by Jake Tapper
“I have never directly looked at boom before,” says Ian T. Durham of the Department of Physics and Cooperative Engineering at Saint Anselm College.
That said, Durham says, analyzing boom “is a fairly standard, pretty simple mechanical engineering problem.”
Durham was recently hired by Packgen — the Maine packaging company that manufactured roughly 80,000 feet of boom that the US Coast Guard says failed an initial BP quality control test. Packgen president John Lapoint III has expressed frustration at BP/Coast Guard bureaucracy, insisting that the boom he’s making will work well in the Gulf, where boom is desperately needed.
Durham would not say how much he was paid, but he says he’s generally paid $100 an hour for consulting, and his analysis of Packgen boom took rougly 40-45 hours.
He says Packgen’s boom is superior to other boom. Its woven polypropelene is “practically indestructible,” he says. “Packgen uses it to make toxic waste disposal containers.”
ABC News article continues here.
Jindal takes matters into own hands: Orders barrier wall to be built
ABC News, “Gov. Bobby Jindal Orders National Guard to Build Barrier Wall Off Louisiana Shore”
by David Muir
Eight weeks into the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of the Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has told the National Guard that there’s no time left to wait for BP, so they’re taking matters into their own hands.
In Fort Jackson, La., Jindal has ordered the Guard to start building barrier walls right in the middle of the ocean. The barriers, built nine miles off shore, are intended to keep the oil from reaching the coast by filling the gaps between barrier islands.
Watch ‘World News’ for more on this story tonight on your ABC station.
ABC News article continues here.
U.S. to join South Korean military exercise off North Korea coast
ABC News, “U.S. to Join South Korean Military Exercise Off North Korea Coast”
by Luis Martinez
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS George Washington will participate in a joint naval exercise with South Korea next week in the Yellow Sea, the same waters west of the Korean peninsula where North Korea is accused of sinking a South Korean warship last March, ABC News has learned.
A U.S. official said the carrier, which operates from its home port in Japan, “will be sent to the waters off South Korea within coming days to participate in joint exercises” with the South Korean navy.
Slated to begin June 8, the official said this exercise will be “separate and distinct” from an upcoming anti-submarine warfare exercise that Pentagon officials had said recently would be occurring “in the near future.” The upcoming exercise was first reported by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.
ABC News article continues here.
Muslims to build two Mosques near Ground Zero, one opening on the anniversary of 9-11
ABC News, “Plans For Mosque Near Ground Zero Draw Outrage in New York”
by Ray Sanchez
Known as Cordoba House, the Islamic center will have a mosque for up to 1,500 worshippers on Fridays, Khan said. The complex would also include a swimming pool, performance space and a basketball court. It will be open to non-Muslims. Some 500 worshipers already use the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory for Friday prayers. Khan said her group is open to suggestions from the community, and its members are reaching out to families opposed to the project in hopes of gaining their support. The plan for the mosque and cultural center was unanimously endorsed earlier this month by Community Board 1′s financial district committee. “It is definitely not part of the World Trade Center site,” she said. “It’s two blocks away. It’s not even in front of the site, but on a side street. We already have a presence in the neighborhood & and we want to build a peaceful future. This center will give a platform to the silent majority of Muslims whose voices get drowned out by the actions of extremists.”
The group hopes to unveil its full plans for the project by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2011. “Extremism can only be defeated when Muslims and non-Muslims come together,” Khan said.
Fox News, “Muslims in NYC Planning to Build Second, Smaller Mosque Near Ground Zero”
by Ed Barnes
As controversy surrounds the construction of a 13-story mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero, FOX News has learned that an effort to place a second mosque close to the hallowed site in New York City is in its advanced stages.
The Masjid Mosque has raised $8.5 million and is seeking an additional $2.5 million to begin construction. While it apparently has not settled on a final location, it has told donors it plans to build very close to where 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 terror attacks.
In fact, the website appealing for donations boldly states that it plans to “build the ‘House of Allah’ next to the World Trade Center. Help us raise the flag of ‘LA ILLAH ILLA ALLAH’ in downtown Manhattan.”
Sources: Shahzad had contact with Awlaki, Taliban chief, and Mumbai massacre mastermind
ABC News, “Sources: Shahzad Had Contact With Awlaki, Taliban Chief, and Mumbai Massacre Mastermind”
by Richard Esposito, Chris Vlasto, and Chris Cuomo
Accused Times Square Bomber Faisal Shahzad linked up with the Pakistani Taliban through the internet, ABC News has been told by law enforcement and intelligence sources close to the investigation. Once the Taliban identified him as more valuable in the U.S. than in Pakistan, they trained him to return to execute his bomb attack.
But according to these sources, Shahzad also had a web of jihadist contacts that included big names tied to terror attacks in the U.S. and abroad, including the figure who has emerged as a central figure in many recent domestic terror attempts – radical American-born Muslim cleric Anwar Awlaki.
Besides Awlaki, sources say Shahzad was also linked to a key figure in the Pakistani Taliban, its Emir Beitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a drone missile strike in 2009. The Mehsuds had been family friends of Shahzad, who is the son of a former high-ranking Pakistani military officer.
ABC News article continues here.