The Chicago Tribune
Iranian military says detained British sailors "confessed" to entering its waters
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
Published March 24, 2007, 8:46 AM CDT
TEHRAN, Iran -- The Iranian military questioned 15 detained British soldiers Saturday and said they confessed to illegally entering the country's territorial waters as Iran accused Britain of "blatant aggression."
Britain has demanded the return of the sailors and denied they had strayed into Iranian waters while searching for smugglers off Iraq's coast.
The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were brought to Tehran for questioning, and a a top military official, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, said they "confessed to illegal entry into Iran's waters."
"The said personnel are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters," Afshar was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA and the semiofficial ISNA news agency. He did not say what would now be done with the sailors.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070324british-iran-story,1,3407074.story?coll=chi-news-hed
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE is showcasing the Democratic Candidates for the 2008 Presidential elections. Every candidate have unique characteristics and experiences that make them all eminently qualified to be president. The choice is simple but crucial to the outcome for our country as we continue to recover from so many years of exploitation of the American 'will' and it's people. I find Senator Obama a very interesting candidate for president. His open manner and international prowess is hugely welcome in all venues. A mother that dared love a Black man at a time when interracial marriages in the USA failed more often than succeeded. It speaks to the commitment of moral values he was exposed to as he grew into his rights as a USA citizen. Very intriguing man. Interesting family. Quite a guy.
The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama's youth
Shaped by different worlds, an outsider found ways to fit in
By Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker
Tribune correspondents
Published March 25, 2007
HONOLULU -- The life stories, when the presidential candidate tells them, have a common theme: the quest to belong.
A boy wants to find his place in a family where he is visibly different: chubby where others are thin, dark where others are light.
A youth living in a distant land searches and finds new friends, a new language and a heartbreaking lesson about his identity in the pages of an American magazine.
A young black man struggles for acceptance at an institution of privilege, where he finds himself growing so angry and disillusioned at the world around him that he turns to alcohol and drugs.
These have been the stories told about the first two character-shaping decades of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's life, a story line largely shaped by his own best-selling memoirs, political speeches and interviews.
But the reality of Obama's narrative is not that simple.
More than 40 interviews with former classmates, teachers, friends and neighbors in his childhood homes of Hawaii and Indonesia, as well as a review of public records, show the arc of Obama's personal journey took him to places and situations far removed from the experience of most Americans.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070325obama-youth-story,1,4006113.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
New files: Gonzales approved firings
Durbin seeks to stop U.S. attorney nominee
By Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau
Published March 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- New documents sent by the Justice Department to Congress on Friday night cast doubt on earlier assertions by Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales that he was not deeply involved in plans to fire U.S. attorneys.
The records show that Gonzales approved plans to fire the prosecutors at an hourlong meeting Nov. 27, less than two weeks before the dismissal of seven of the prosecutors.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703240091mar24,1,5001378.story?coll=chi-news-hed
2nd police attack alleged
Bar video reportedly shows beating of 4
By David Heinzmann
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 25, 2007
Prosecutors are investigating allegations that six off-duty Chicago cops were caught on a downtown bar's video camera beating four businessmen, the second such incident in recent months, law enforcement sources said.
In the Dec. 15 beating at the Jefferson Tap and Grille, one alleged victim required reconstructive surgery on his face and another suffered four broken ribs, said Sally Saltzberg, a lawyer for the men.
Other bar patrons called 911. But when patrol officers responded, the off-duty officers involved allegedly spoke to them and the patrol officers left without intervening, sources said.
Security cameras inside and outside the bar recorded most of the beating, said Saltzberg, who said she has not seen the tape herself.
Law enforcement sources have described the content of the video to the Tribune.
The probe began with a complaint to the Office of Professional Standards. The Cook County state's attorney's office is considering criminal charges against the officers, sources said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070325jefferson-story,1,3891028.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Suicide Truck Bomb Kills 18 in Baghdad
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
Associated Press Writer
Published March 24, 2007, 6:29 AM CDT
BAGHDAD -- A suicide truck bomber struck a police station in a mainly Sunni area in Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 18 people, police said, as insurgents apparently step up their campaign against fellow Sunnis seen as collaborating with the U.S. and the Iraqi government.
The blast, which could be heard across the city and sent up a plume of black smoke over the skyline, came a day after Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zubaie was seriously wounded in a suicide bombing during prayers at his home in Baghdad. Nine other people were killed, including al-Zubaie's brother and an aide.
Al-Zubaie was in stable condition and moved out of the intensive care unit Saturday morning, but he remained under anaesthesia at a U.S.-run hospital in the heavily guarded Green Zone, Sunni lawmaker Dhafer al-Ani said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-iraq,1,7982944.story?coll=chi-news-hed
House: End war in '08
Bush vows veto of spending bill, accuses Democrats of politics
By Aamer Madhani and Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
Published March 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- By a narrow margin reflecting deep divisions over the Iraq war, the House voted Friday to set a September 2008 deadline for withdrawing all U.S. combat troops from Iraq, confronting President Bush with his most serious challenge over the conflict and setting the president and Democratic leadership on a collision course over war powers.
Soon after the bill passed 218-212, Bush reiterated his threat to veto the legislation, which is tied to a $124 billion spending bill that includes funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush accused the Democrats of jeopardizing American troops in the field in an attempt "to score political points" against the administration.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703240103mar24,1,2183324.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Bush: Will veto war deadline
Posted by Mark Silva at 1:20 pm, updated 2:25 pm CDT
President Bush, pledging to veto the bill that the House approved today attaching a deadline for troop withdrawals from Iraq to war-spending, accused the Democrats of jeopardizing American troops in the field in an attempt “to score political points’’ against the administration.
“Today, a narrow majority in the House of Representatives abdicated its resposbility by passing a war spending bill that has no chance of becoming law and brings us no closer to bringing our troops the resources necessary to do their job,’’ the president said at the White House. “Instead, Democrats in the House, in an act of political theater, voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq.’’
The House was sharply divided: 218-212, with the vote split mainly along party lines, on a $124-billion war-spending bill padded with domestic spending as well. It requires combat operations in Iraq to cease before September 2008, or earlier if the Iraqi government does not meet certain requirements. Democrats, calling it time to heed the mandate of the electoral mandate that handed them control of Congress in November, have handed the president the sharpest rebuke to date for his Iraq war policy.
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2007/03/bush_will_veto_.html
Field rations failing soldiers
Amid reports of weight loss, troops to try meal that has more calories
By Aamer Madhani
Tribune national correspondent
Published March 25, 2007
NATICK, Mass. -- When Lt. Dave Moore visited infantry units in the remote, rugged mountains of Afghanistan late last year, the Navy medical officer was surprised to hear from many soldiers and Marines that they had lost significant weight.
After conducting more than 150 interviews with medics, officers and troops on the ground, Moore concluded that the portable rations called "Meals, Ready-to-Eat"--long derided by troops, but valued by the Pentagon for their indestructibility--were not doing the job, causing the soldiers to shed pounds that they very much needed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070325mre-story,1,2119239.story?coll=chi-news-hed
This doesn't sound like 'bribery' in the face of the fact our soldiers food supply is limited and potentially tainted as is the nation's. It sounds like a necessary step taken by the Democrats. The Republicans need to stop their funding cuts. Let's hope the grain stores in Baghdad don’t get looted along with Cheney's oil.
War bill also has funding for spinach, peanuts
It includes billions in pet-project sweeteners that Republicans call bribery.
By Joel Havemann
Times Staff Writer
Published March 24, 2007
WASHINGTON — The war spending bill passed by the House on Friday is officially called the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act. But Republicans would say that it could also be called the Spinach Growers, Peanut Storage and Dairy Farmers Rescue Act.
President Bush asked for $103 billion for expenses related to fighting the war on terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. He got that and more: not only a series of deadlines for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, but also $21 billion in additional spending, much of it unrelated to war.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-warpork24mar24,1,5504189.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Tillman's death mishandled, Pentagon says
Army officials misled the public after the football star died in a 'friendly fire' incident in Afghanistan, a report concludes.
By Julian E. Barnes
Times Staff Writer
Published March 24, 2007
WASHINGTON — A new Pentagon report found that nine officers, including a three-star general, mishandled the investigation into the "friendly fire" death in Afghanistan of Pat Tillman, the pro-football player turned Army Ranger, a senior defense official said Friday night.
The report will not mete out specific punishments to the officers, who include four generals in all. But the Army will begin its own review of what action should be taken.
"We are going to move quickly," an Army official said. "We found out mistakes were made. We've already made fixes. We are going to make more."
The investigative report by the Department of Defense Inspector General revealed few new details of the events leading to the accidental killing of Tillman by other U.S. soldiers. Instead, it investigated why it took the Army so long to reveal that Tillman was killed by friendly fire.
The two officials interviewed by The Times spoke on the condition their names not be revealed because the report has not yet been released.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-na-tillman24mar24,1,200353.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Mom Donates Laptops to Wounded Soldiers
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer
Published March 24, 2007, 4:12 AM CDT
WASHINGTON -- Laura Brown, a mother with a son who fought in the Iraq war, is trying to improve conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center -- one laptop computer at a time.
The 50-year-old from Cody, Wyo., was chatting on the Internet with the mother of a wounded soldier two years ago when the mother mentioned she had to print out her son's e-mails and take them to him at Walter Reed because there weren't enough laptop computers to go around.
Brown, whose own son had recently returned safely from the war, thought the solution to that problem seemed incredibly easy.
"It just kind of hit me," she said. "If one person needed one, then there's others. ... I mean, my son had e-mail in Iraq. I was really stunned."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-walter-reed-laptops,1,7195658.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Transgender Fla. City Manager Loses Job
By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer
Published March 24, 2007, 6:05 AM CDT
LARGO, Fla. -- City commissioners early Saturday finalized the firing of a city manager who is seeking a sex-change operation, despite pleas from dozens of impassioned supporters to save his job.
After a six-hour hearing, the commissioners decided to fire 48-year-old Steve Stanton after his announcement that he planned a new life as a woman. The move came after the commission voted 5-2 last month to suspend him with pay.
Commissioners contended Stanton was being fired because they lost confidence in him, not because he wants to be a woman.
"I think we're pretty well convinced," Commissioner Gay Gentry said. "You have to believe us, you have to trust us, it is not about transgenderism."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-official-sex-change,1,978877.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Chicago firefighters mourn loss of 'one of our own'
Tribune staff report
Published March 23, 2007, 5:13 PM CDT
A second-generation Chicago firefighter killed in a traffic crash while responding to an emergency call this morning was being remembered as a dedicated family man whose service with the department was a "labor of love."
The accident occurred shortly before 8 a.m. at 59th and Wells Streets, and involved fire Truck No. 51 and an Alltown school bus.
March 23, 2007
William Grant, 44, was part of a crew of four firefighters on the truck, which had its lights and sirens activated en route to a report of a fire in the 5600 block of South May Street that turned out to be a false alarm. Grant was pinned inside the truck and killed when it flipped onto its side.
The other firefighters and the bus driver suffered non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070223firetruck-crash,1,4611886.story?coll=chi-news-hed
350 pounds of marijuana found by cops in garage
Published March 24, 2007
CICERO -- Police discovered more than 350 pounds of marijuana in a Cicero garage Friday morning, town officials said.
Three officers found the drugs after answering a call regarding a fight near the garage in the 3100 block of South 55th Court.
No one was at the scene when police arrived, but officers searched the garage after noticing the door was open. Police found dozens of bricklike packages wrapped in plastic on a carpet and six laundry bags of packaged marijuana, said Cicero spokesman Dan Proft.
The home adjacent to the garage is vacant and being rehabbed, Proft said. Police said no one has been charged. The drugs are estimated to have a street value of $1.2 million, police officials said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0703240110mar24,1,1396664.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Zell's bid for Tribune said to be favored
The Chicago real estate mogul's $8-billion offer makes him the leading suitor for the parent of The Times, says a person familiar with the talks.
By James Rainey, Michael A. Hiltzik and Thomas S. Mulligan
Times Staff Writers
Published March 24, 2007
Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell has become the leading suitor for Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times and KTLA Channel 5, with an $8-billion bid for a company buffeted by new-media challengers, a person familiar with the talks said.
Investment bankers are working to strike a deal, but many details remain to be ironed out. The company may not be able to meet its self-imposed deadline to conclude deliberations by the end of the month, the person said.
Another person following the bidding closely said that Los Angeles billionaires Ron Burkle and Eli Broad planned as early as this weekend to present a counteroffer for the company. Tribune did not accept their previous proposal, which called for paying stockholders a $27-a-share dividend.
It's possible that Chicago-based Tribune will take yet another route: adopting a plan to reorganize the company without an outside investor and pay shareholders a large dividend.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fi-tribune24mar24,0,914058.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Vonage denied Verizon patents
Millions may face phone disruptions
By Jon Van
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 23, 2007, 9:35 PM CDT
Vonage, the pioneering Internet telephone service, suffered a major setback Friday as a judge said he will sign a permanent injunction restraining the company from using technology needed to connect many of its customers.
While Vonage Holdings Corp. said it will continue fighting the patent dispute with Verizon Communications Inc., the judicial decision sent the upstart phone company's stock to an all-time low of $3, down $1.05, or 26 percent.
In a case reminiscent of the patent woes that dogged BlackBerry users last year, Friday's action raises the possibility that millions of customers who use Vonage's service could face phone disruptions. Vonage vowed that won't happen.
"We are confident Vonage customers will not experience service interruptions or other changes as a result of this litigation," said Mike Snyder, Vonage's chief executive, in a statement issued by the company. "Our fight is far from over."
U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton, based in Alexandria, Va., said he will issue a permanent injunction sought by Verizon that would prevent the use of the disputed technology. The judge said he will sign the order in two weeks and set a hearing for April 6 to determine if the order will be delayed while Vonage pursues its appeal in a higher court.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070323vonage-story,0,3575803.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Home sales plunge a puzzle
By Mary Umberger
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 23, 2007, 10:01 PM CDT
Chicago-area home sales in the first two months of the year declined 12.1 percent from 2006, confounding analysts who were looking for the first small signs of a spring bounce but instead saw a market continuing to struggle.
The fall in Chicago seemed even more painful given that the national housing picture this year is showing some signs of life.
The results for Chicago added up to the slowest February performance since 2001, which was generally considered to mark the beginning of the housing boom.
Chicago is not performing according to expectations, said economist David Stiff, of Fiserv CSW, a housing-market analyst in Cambridge, Mass.
"It's not a market that got caught up in the bubble, and it didn't have affordability issues. I suppose buyers have gotten caught up in the general psychology and are sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see what happens," added Stiff, whose company studies home-sales data in regional markets.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070323homes-sat,0,6162661.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Delta, American boost domestic fares
By Mary Schlangenstein
Bloomberg News
Published March 23, 2007, 5:13 PM CDT
AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, and Delta Air Lines Inc. raised fares $5 each way on most U.S. flights to meet higher jet-fuel prices.
Delta initiated the increase last night, and American matched it today. It's the fourth time this year that U.S. airlines have tried to impose a widespread fare boost. Previous efforts were pulled back when competitors refused to go along.
AMR and other U.S. carriers have said first-quarter results will be been hurt by higher fuel costs, winter storms that snarled travel, and slower revenue growth. The carriers include JetBlue Airways Corp., US Airways Group Inc., Alaska Air Group Inc. and Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc.
The $5 increase has ``a slightly greater than 50 percent probability of success,'' given the revenue pressure on the industry, Jamie Baker, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, said in a report today.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070323airfares-story,0,3360883.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed
Scale it back, Governor
Published March 23, 2007
Imagine the kerfuffle in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's inner sanctum when Wednesday's Peoria Journal Star landed like a depth charge.
There was Blagojevich's lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn, opposing the gross receipts tax plan upon which the governor's massive new spending proposals rest. Quinn was in Peoria on other business when a reporter asked him about Blagojevich's tax scheme. "I don't think it's a good way to go," Quinn said. "I'm not a fan of it at all. We need to have decent health care, ... but there is more than one way to get to heaven."
That made Quinn one of three Democratic state officeholders to distance themselves from Democrat Blagojevich's plan. In a letter the Tribune printed Sunday, Comptroller Dan Hynes made a compelling case that the governor wants to initiate too much new spending without first fixing the current dysfunction in the state's finances. In a meeting with the Tribune editorial board on Tuesday, Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias suggested that Blagojevich's proposed tax haul would drive low-margin companies out of the state or out of business.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0703230301mar23,1,2559158.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed
BUY (LESS) targets cause-related marketing
By Nara Schoenberg
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 23, 2007
The (RED) campaign, in which models and celebrities pitch Gap gear and Motorola phones to raise money for African AIDS victims, has had a tough couple of weeks, thanks in part to a San Francisco-based Web site called buylesscrap.org.
Launched on the last day of February, the site presents the satirical BUY(LESS) campaign, in which nude models promote the Crap store under slogans such as "(RED)ICU(LESS)" and "MEANING(LESS)."
"Join us in rejecting the ti(red) notion that shopping is a reasonable response to human suffering," says the Web site, which offers links to more than 30 charities, including (RED)'s beneficiary, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0703220486mar23,1,901282.story?coll=chi-entertainmentfront-hed
