USA
Prosecutors in Pensacola, Fla., filed charges against seven guards and a nurse at a boot camp for juveniles Tuesday in a case that has led to the state's dismantling of military-style detention facilities for young offenders. The accused face charges of aggravated man-slaughter in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, whose beating by guards was captured on a surveillance camera. The boy's body was exhumed for a second autopsy in March, following an uproar over an initial report linking his death to a pre-existing physical condition.
A federal judge in Los Angeles who invalidated portions of the USA Patriot Act two years ago has struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying Bush's post-9/11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague. In particular, the Tuesday ruling prevents the government from blocking the assets of groups backing the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and Kurds in Turkey.
Security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the nation's foremost nuclear-weapons research facility, is "seriously flawed," according to a memo released Tuesday by the Energy Department's inspector general. The discovery of security lapses was considered "especially troubling" given major efforts and expense to upgrade security in recent years. The Energy Department said it would quickly address serious deficiencies and vulnerabilities.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the Treasury Department Tuesday to come up with a way to print money so that blind people can differentiate a bill's denomination. The judge did not specify a solution for avoiding discrimination on the basis of disability, but the American Council of the Blind has suggested several options, including using raised ink and different size bills.
Amtrak, the nationwide passenger rail network, should transfer ownership of its busy Northeast Corridor to the federal government, according to a report released Tuesday by transportation researchers at Rutgers University. The government has long subsidized Amtrak.
