Retired Justice Souter urges civic education
CHICAGO (AP) - Retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter wants the nation's lawyers to help launch a rebirth of civic education, saying too many Americans don't understand how their government works.
Souter gave the keynote address Saturday at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in Chicago. He says there "is a danger to judicial independence when people have no understanding of how the judiciary fits into the constitutional scheme."
Souter pointed to a poll showing that two-thirds of Americans cannot name the three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial. He says unless that changes, the power of judges to be independent of political pressures could be seriously eroded.
Fewer middle Americans still safe from recession
TORRINGTON, Wyo. (AP) - Carl Rupp and his neighbors follow the old rancher's creed: "Keep your money in your pocket."
Rupp has farmed his whole life. He lives in Goshen County, a rural spot along the Nebraska line where cattle outnumber humans 16 to 1. "We're very conservative," said Rupp, 62. "We don't go out too far on a limb."
That prudent financial bent, matched with the high prices paid for crops and energy in the past few years, has largely protected Goshen County and a core group of several hundred other counties in 10 states from the recession's chokehold. The Associated Press Economic Stress Index shows they make up a "safe zone" that covers a long swath of middle America, from the Great Plains south to Texas.
But the safe zone is shrinking. Energy production and prices are sliding, especially for coal and natural gas. Crop prices are dropping, too, as there's less demand in Asia for American wheat, corn and soybeans. There were 800 counties in the safe zone a year ago, a number that dropped to about 300 counties in May and slid further to 200 counties in June.
Lawmaker: Why have so few Medals of Honor been awarded?
WASHINGTON (AP) - Eight years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. About 4,000 members of the U.S. military killed in action. More than 34,000 wounded. Just six considered worthy of America's highest military award for battlefield valor.
For some veterans and members of Congress, that last number doesn't add up.
They question how so few Medals of Honor - all awarded posthumously - could be bestowed for wars of such magnitude and duration.
Pentagon officials say the nature of war has changed. Laser-guided missiles destroy enemy positions without putting soldiers in harm's way. Insurgents deploy roadside bombs rather than engage in firefights they're certain to lose.
Those explanations don't tell the whole story, said Rep. Duncan Hunter, a first-term lawmaker who served combat tours as a Marine in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has sponsored legislation that directs the defense secretary to review current trends in awarding the Medal of Honor to determine what's behind the low count.
LaGuardia airport terminal evacuated in NYC, police bomb squad arrest man and search bag
NEW YORK (AP) - The central terminal at New York's LaGuardia Airport was evacuated Saturday morning after a man entered the building with a fake bomb in a bag, police said.
The scare was over in a few hours, but it disrupted travel plans for thousands of people as flights were postponed and vehicle traffic to the airport was briefly halted. Delays also rippled across the country as airlines adjusted their schedules.
Authorities identified the man as Scott McGann, 32, of New York. He had a ticket on a United Airlines flight that was headed to Chicago, with connecting flights that would have ultimately taken him to Oakland, Calif. McGann faces charges including placing a false bomb in a transportation facility and making terroristic threats.
The trouble began shortly after 5 a.m., when McGann checked in for a flight and immediately began attracting attention because of bizarre behavior.
Police received two calls about an apparently intoxicated or suspicious passenger before he had even reached a security checkpoint, said John Kelly, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.