Family of Slain 7-year-old Aiyana Jones Files Lawsuit

Aiyana Jones was shot by police while sleeping in her home.

Against Detroit Police
In Detroit a funeral will be held on Saturday for Aiyana Jones, the seven-year-old girl who was shot dead by police while she was sleeping in her own home. On Tuesday a lawyer for Jones� family filed a pair of lawsuits against the Detroit police for the killing that has sparked outrage in the Motor City. Shortly after midnight on Sunday police raided the family�s home looking for a murder suspect. The raid began when police threw an incendiary device known as a flash-bang grenade through a front window of the home. The device reportedly burned the seven-year-old girl, who was sleeping on the couch.

What happened next is in dispute. Detroit police say the police then entered the home and the girl was shot after Officer Joseph Weekley�s gun accidentally went off following a tussle with Aiyana�s grandmother.

But the family�s attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, says he�s seen video contradicting the police account of the killing. Fieger says video of the incident shows police opened fire before they had entered the house. A bullet from the gun pierced Aiyana�s head and neck.

On the night of the raid the Detroit police officers were accompanied by a film crew from the reality tv show "The First 48." The show�s network A&E has yet to publicly release the video shot of the raid. Meanwhile the Detroit News has revealed the officer involved in the shooting, Joseph Weekley, was accused in a 2009 federal lawsuit of being part of a team that broke into a home, shot two dogs and pointed a pistol at children, including an infant.


In "Mini Super-Tuesday" Primaries, Defeats for Party Establishments on Both Sides of the Aisle
For Democrats, thirty-year Senate veteran Arlen Specter lost his bid for reelection in Pennsylvania, while Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln now faces a runoff vote against Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter. In Kentucky, Tea Party candidate Rand Paul easily beat Secretary of State Trey Grayson in the state�s Republican race.


Tar Balls in Florida Keys, Oil Plumes Raise Fears of Wider Spill
Fears are growing that the massive BP oil spill in Louisiana could be entering waters beyond the Gulf of Mexico. The US Coast Guard says it�s discovered twenty tar balls off Key West, Florida�an indication the spill could be caught in a loop current that�s carrying it to the Florida Keys and up the East Coast. Up to 70,000 barrels of oil have been leaking into the Gulf every day since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20. Meanwhile, on Monday, scientists discussed their findings of enormous plumes of oil in the Gulf of Mexico that suggest the spill is wider and more threatening to marine habitat than previously thought. Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi said the oil was found at deep sea levels.

Vernon Asper: "We found some oil just below the surface which is formed into these aggregates that we think are probably settling. We also found oil much, much deeper in the water column. We found layers, or I guess you could call them clouds, of oil that are well down, over 2,000 feet down, in the water column, some of them much lower than that."


Government Exempted BP from Environmental Review
Newly-released documents show government regulators exempted BP from a comprehensive environmental review of the project that resulted in the spill. The Minerals Management Service granted BP a �categorical exclusion� from a full review before approving the project just over a year ago.


MMS Official Steps Down
In other oil spill news, the government official responsible for offshore energy oversight has announced he�s stepping down. Chris Oynes was appointed associate director of the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management Program at the Mineral Management Service under the Bush administration. Oynes has come under intense criticism following disclosures his agency exempted BP from a comprehensive environmental review of the project that resulted in the spill.


Obama Calls Testimony of Oil Execs "A Ridiculous Spectacle"
President Obama has lashed out at executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton for blaming each other for the oil rig disaster. Executives from the three companies testified before Congress.

President Obama: "I know BP has committed to pay for the response effort, and we will hold them to their obligation. I have to say, though, I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter. You had executives of BP and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else. The American people could not have been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn�t. I understand that there are legal and financial issues involved, and a full investigation will tell us exactly what happened. But it is pretty clear that the system failed, and it failed badly. And for that, there is enough responsibility to go around."


Civil Rights Groups File Suit over Arizona Immigration Law
A coalition of civil rights groups has filed what they�re calling the most comprehensive federal lawsuit challenging Arizona�s recent anti-immigrant law since it was approved last month. Under the law, police officers are ordered to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant. On Monday, the ACLU, the NAACP, the National Immigration Law Center and several other groups filed suit, accusing the law of being unconstitutional and encouraging racial profiling. The suit cites the case of Arizona resident Jim Shee, a seventy-year-old US citizen of Spanish and Chinese descent. Shee says he�s already been stopped twice by Arizona police officers and asked to produce identification.



Supreme Court Issues Rulings on Teen Sentencing, Jailing Sex Offenders
The Supreme Court has ruled teenagers may not be imprisoned for life without parole if they haven�t killed anyone. In a 6-to-3 decision, the court affirmed life sentences for teens in cases other than murder violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In a separate ruling, the Court ruled the federal government can continue to jail sex offenders even after their prison terms have ended if they�re deemed to be "sexually dangerous."


Arizona Students Protest New Law Banning Ethnic Studies Classes
Just three weeks after signing a highly controversial anti-immigrant bill that orders police officers to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed a new law banning ethnic studies in Arizona public schools. The law could shut down a popular Mexican American studies program in the Tucson school district. It will also affect specialized courses in African American and Native American studies. In response, students have taken to the streets to voice their opposition to the bill. On Wednesday, fifteen people, most of them students, were arrested protesting the law at the state offices of education in Tucson.


Federal Criminal Probe of Wall Street Banks Expands
The Wall Street Journal reports federal prosecutors, working with securities regulators, are conducting a preliminary criminal probe into whether several major Wall Street banks misled investors about their roles in mortgage-bond deals. The banks facing scrutiny include JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and UBS. The banks have also received civil subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of a sweeping investigation of banks� selling and trading of mortgage-related deals known as collateralized debt obligations. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are already facing criminal probes.


New York Probes Eight Banks over Duping Ratings Agencies
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has begun an investigation into eight banks to determine whether they provided misleading information to agencies that rate mortgage securities. The probe�s targets are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Cr�dit Agricole and Merrill Lynch, now owned by Bank of America. The companies that rated the mortgage deals are Standard & Poor�s, Fitch Ratings and Moody�s Investors Service.


Senate Votes to Audit Federal Reserve
The Senate has unanimously voted to audit the Federal Reserve for the first time. In a 96-to-zero vote, the Senate approved an amendment giving the Government Accountability Office expanded power to conduct a one-time audit of the Fed. The bill also requires the central bank to disclose details about the financial firms that received emergency aid during the financial crisis. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont authored the bill.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: "With the passage of this amendment, the American people are finally going to learn which large, powerful financial interests received trillions of dollars of zero or near-zero interest loans. Second of all, I think the average American is beginning to wonder what goes on behind the closed doors of the Fed. They wonder what happens when you have the Fed meeting with the heads of the largest financial institutions in this country and at the end of these meetings companies walk out with incredibly good deals."

Last year the House approved a bill written by Republican Congressman Ron Paul giving the Government Accountability Office even greater power to regularly audit the Federal Reserve. On Tuesday Paul criticized the Sanders Senate amendment saying it guts the spirit of a truly meaningful audit of the Fed.


Record 40 Million Americans Receive Food Stamps
In other economic news , the number of Americans receiving food stamps has reached a new record of nearly 40 million, or about one in eight Americans. The number has increased by eight million since December 2008.


Study: Americans "Bombarded" With Cancer Causes
A government panel is warning Americans are being "bombarded" with cancer-causing sources including chemicals, radiation, and other hazards threatening "grievous harm." The President�s Cancer Panel says cancers caused by environmental exposures have been "grossly underestimated" and require stronger government regulation. In a cover letter to a 240-page report, the panel urges President Obama to "most strongly use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our nation�s productivity, and devastate American lives.


Record 575,000 Stopped And Frisked in NYC in 2009
Here in New York, newly released statistics show the city�s police stopped and frisked over 575,000 individuals on the streets last year. Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped by the police.War in Afghanistan War Now More Costly than Iraq
USA Today is reporting the monthly cost of the war in Afghanistan has topped the war in Iraq for the first time since 2003 and shows no sign of letting up. In February, the Pentagon spent about $6.7 billion in Afghanistan, compared with $5.5 billion in Iraq. As recently as fiscal year 2008, Iraq was three times as expensive.


Muslim Vendor Gets No Credit in Helping to Foil Times Square Bomb Plot
As the media focuses on the fact that the suspect in the failed Times Square bomb plot is a Pakistani Muslim, what about the man who first noticed the smoke rising from the SUV? A street vendor, a Muslim immigrant from Senegal, says he first sounded the alarm and helped stop the plot


Students Strike at University of Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico, an ongoing strike by students at the University of Puerto Rico is coming to a head. Riot police have surrounded the main gates of the university�s main campus and are trying to break the strike by denying food and water to students who have occupied the campus inside. The strike began nearly four weeks ago in response to budget cuts at the university of more than $100 million. On Thursday, a mass assembly of more than 3,000 students voted overwhelmingly to continue the strike. The next day, riot police seized control of the main campus gates. We go now to Puerto Rico, inside the occupied campus at the university. [includes rush transcript]


"Obama: Elena Kagan Is One of Nation�s �Foremost Legal Minds�
President Obama has formally nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. If confirmed, Kagan will be the first justice in nearly forty years who has no judicial experience.

President Obama: "Elena is widely regarded as one of the nation�s foremost legal minds. She is an acclaimed legal scholar with a rich understanding of constitutional law. She is a former White House aide with a lifelong commitment to public service and a firm grasp of the nexus and boundaries between our three branches of government. She is a trailblazing leader, the first woman to serve as dean of Harvard Law School and one of the most successful and beloved deans in its history, and she is a superb solicitor general, our nation�s chief lawyer representing the American people�s interests before the Supreme Court."

During a brief ceremony at the White House on Monday, Elena Kagan expressed her love for the law. Elena Kagan: "I am proud of what all of us accomplished there. And through most of my professional life, I�ve had the simple joy of teaching, of trying to communicate to students why I so love the law, not just because it�s challenging and endlessly interesting�although it certainly is that�but because law matters, because it keeps us safe, because it protects our most fundamental rights and freedoms, and because it is the foundation of our democracy."


Maryland Law Places Restrictions on Military Recruiters
In education news, Maryland has become the first state to bar public high schools from automatically sending student test scores on a widely used military aptitude test to military recruiters. Under the new law, military recruiters will only receive scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam from students who choose to send their scores.


Iran-Turkey Nuclear Fuel Deal Reached
Iran has agreed to ship most of its enriched uranium to Turkey in a nuclear fuel swap deal that could ease the international standoff over Iran�s disputed nuclear program. In exchange, Iran would receive low-level nuclear fuel to run a medical reactor. The deal was reached earlier today by the foreign ministers from Iran, Turkey and Brazil. Iran said the swap would be under the supervision of the UN nuclear agency. The Los Angeles Times said the deal could be a stunning breakthrough in the years-long diplomatic deadlock over Iran�s nuclear program. The deal comes at a time when the United States and other world powers were pushing for a new round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.


Barred by Israel, Chomsky to Deliver West Bank Lecture by Video Feed
The linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky has ruled out an attempt to return to the West Bank today following his denial by the Israeli military. Chomsky was scheduled to speak at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah and meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, but was denied entry by Israeli soldiers on Sunday after attempting to enter from Jordan. Chomsky will deliver the lecture by video conference from Jordan. On Monday, Chomsky said the Israeli move illustrated its stranglehold over the West Bank.

Noam Chomsky: "The problem is not mine. The problem is an insult to Bir Zeit University, which is being told by the Israeli government that Israel insists on deciding who they are allowed to invite to speak. I happen to be the person who is blocked from speaking there, but it�s a statement by Israel that they control who Bir Zeit University can invite. I�ve never heard of anything like that with another university. I travel all the time."


Filmmaker Ordered to Hand Ecuador Footage to Chevron
A federal judge has ordered a documentary filmmaker to hand over hundreds of hours of footage to the oil giant Chevron. Joseph Berlinger�s film, "Crude", chronicles the struggle of indigenous Ecuadorians against Chevron�s oil contamination of their land. Chevron has sought Berlinger�s outtakes to help defend itself against an Ecuadorian lawsuit seeking $27 billion dollars in environmental damages. Belinger says he�ll appeal the order, arguing that his footage should be shielded under the same protections granted to journalists. Berlinger�s attorney, Maura Wogan, says the ruling poses "great harm to documentary filmmakers and investigative reporters everywhere."


Ohio Police Raid Home of Foreclosure Activist
And in Ohio police have raided the home of a Toledo man who had been waging a public fight to save his home from foreclosure. Keith Sadler had been barricaded inside his own home since Sunday. Early this morning police dressed in riot gear entered the home to remove Sadler and members of the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League. Sadler is a 53-year-old former auto worker who had lived in the house for 20 years. Video of the raid was broadcast live on the Internet.

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