QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This is not a training problem. This is some people out there having a problem with discipline.”
Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, on two cases this year in which Air Force officers entrusted with launch keys to nuclear-tipped missiles have been caught leaving open a blast door intended to keep intruders out of their command posts Article, this page
Hospital copter crashes; crew of 3 dies
Two hospital workers and a pilot were killed when a medical helicopter crashed in Tennessee as the aircraft was headed to pick up an ailing child, officials said Tuesday.
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Meri Armour said the Hospital Wing helicopter was cleared for both weather and flight plans when it took off Tuesday morning headed to Bolivar.
When the helicopter didn’t respond during a routine 10-minute check-in about 6:20 a.m., authorities began searching by air and ground. They found the burning wreckage in a wooded area of Somerville, about 45 miles east of Memphis.
Armour estimated that the aircraft was about a half-hour into the flight when it went down.
Aerial footage of the crash site on WMC-TV showed smoke rising from a group of trees. Several emergency workers could be seen around a blackened patch of ground where it appeared that little remained of the Eurocopter AS350.
In a news release, the Memphis hospital identified those killed as 47-year-old pilot Charles Smith, 43-year-old nurse Carrie Barlow and 43-year-old respiratory therapist Denise Adams.
The sick child was eventually taken by ground ambulance to Le Bonheur, Armour said.
IRS to push back filing season’s start
WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service delayed the start of the tax-filing season by one to two weeks, citing the recent 16-day partial federal government shutdown.
The IRS, which had been scheduled to open filing Jan. 21, 2014, will now begin accepting returns for tax year 2013 on Jan. 28. The agency will make a final decision on the date in December, according to a statement Tuesday.
“Readying our systems to handle the tax season is an intricate, detailed process, and we must take the time to get it right,” Danny Werfel, the acting IRS commissioner, said in the statement.
This is the second year in a row that the IRS has postponed the filing season. Returns for 2012 were accepted starting Jan. 30 after Congress delayed setting some tax policies.
The IRS furloughed more than 90 percent of its employees during the shutdown.
The delay won’t alter the April 15 deadline for taxpayers to file their returns or seek extensions.
Capitol dome restoration to take 2 years
WASHINGTON - The 150-year-old U.S. Capitol dome will be sheathed in scaffolding for about two years during its first major restoration since 1960, officials said Tuesday.
Stephen Ayers, the architect of the Capitol, said the structure might look good from a distance, but more than 1,000 cracks and other structural problems need attention now.
“Under the paint, age and weather have taken its toll,” Ayers said in a statement.
The restoration is expected to cost about $59.6 million, according to Justin Kieffer, Ayers’ spokesman.
Repairs on the Capitol dome are not expected to affect legislative business and are being planned to minimally affect tours and other events.
2 farmers plead guilty in listeria deaths
DENVER - Two Colorado farmers whose cantaloupes were tied to a 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor charges.
Eric and Ryan Jensen entered the pleas in federal court in Denver to six counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Prosecutors said the brothers agreed to plead guilty without any concessions regarding sentencing.
A sentencing hearing has been set for Jan. 28.
The charges carry penalties of up to six years in prison and $1.5 million in fines. Forrest Lewis, a lawyer for Eric Jensen, said in court that the brothers have no criminal record.
The Jensens previously filed for bankruptcy.
Officials have said people in 28 states ate the contaminated fruit and 147 were hospitalized.
A statement from the Jensens’ attorneys says the brothers were shocked and saddened by the deaths, but the guilty pleas do not imply any intentional wrongdoing or knowledge that the cantaloupes were contaminated.
Both brothers acknowledged in court that they had processed and shipped tainted cantaloupe in July and August 2011.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 10/23/2013