QUOTE OF THE DAY “We keep going after the people who look like the worst of the bad guys. But there are going to be some people that we should catch, either in terms of collecting the revenue from them or prosecuting them, that we’re not going to catch.” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, talking about how budget cuts are decreasing the number of audits the agency can perform Article, 2A
Jury to be chosen in al-Qaida plot case
NEW YORK - Jury selection begins today in the trial of a disabled Egyptian Islamic preacher extradited from Great Britain on charges he conspired to support al-Qaida, in part by purportedly trying to create a training camp in Oregon 15 years ago.
The trial of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa occurs a month after a Manhattan jury convicted Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and al-Qaida’s spokesman after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, of charges that likely will result in a life sentence.
Prosecutors say he conspired to support al-Qaida by trying in 1999 to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Ore., by arranging for others to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and by ensuring there was satellite phone service in 1998 for hostage-takers in Yemen who abducted two American tourists and 14 others.
No sign FedEx truck on fire before crash
RED BLUFF, Calif. - Federal investigators said Sunday that they haven’t found physical evidence confirming a witness’s claim that a FedEx truck was on fire before it slammed into a bus carrying high school students last week, killing 10 people in northern California.
National Transportation Safety Board member Mark Rosekind said that investigators are not ruling out a fire, but a fire expert did not find evidence of flames as the truck crossed a median, sideswiped a Nissan Altima and crashed into the bus.
Bonnie Duran, who was driving the Altima and survived with minor injuries, told investigators and reporters Saturday that she had seen flames emerging from the lower rear of the truck’s cab as it approached her car. The bus was gutted and the truck was a mangled mess after an explosion, making it difficult for investigators to track the source of the fire.
Utah woman jailed in death of 7 babies
A Utah woman accused of killing seven babies she gave birth to over 10 years was arrested Sunday after police discovered the tiny bodies stuffed in separate cardboard boxes in the garage of her former home.
Megan Huntsman, 39, who lived in the Utah home until three years ago, had the infants between 1996 and 2006, investigators said. She was booked Sunday into the Utah County jail on murder charges.
Officers responded to a call Saturday from Huntsman’s estranged husband about a dead infant at the home in Pleasant Grove, 35 miles south of Salt Lake City, police Capt. Michael Roberts said. Officers then discovered the six other bodies.
The babies’ bodies were sent to the Utah medical examiner’s office for tests, including one to determine the cause of death. DNA samples taken from the suspect and her husband will determine definitively whether the two are the parents as investigators believe.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 04/14/2014