Woman freed from Mexican jail heads back to Ariz.

Woman freed from Mexican jail heads back to Ariz. 

Yanira Maldonado, 42, left, accompanied by her husband, Gary, center, speaks to an official after being released from a prison on the outskirts of Nogales, Mexico late Thursday, May 30, 2013. Maldonado, jailed in Mexico on a drug-smuggling charge, was released after court officials reviewed her case. She was arrested by the Mexican military last week after they found nearly 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) of pot under her seat on the commercial bus traveling from Mexico to Arizona.

 

NOGALES, Mexico (AP) -- An Arizona woman held in a Mexico jail for a week after federal police said they found 12 pounds of marijuana under her bus seat was freed and returned to the U.S. after a court reviewed her case, including key security footage, and dismissed the allegations.

Yanira Maldonado, 42, walked out of the prison on the outskirts of Nogales, Mexico, and into her husband's arms late Thursday and crossed through the Nogales port of entry into Arizona. After spending the night in a hotel, she drove away with a police escort at midmorning Friday and was expected to return to her Phoenix-area home to be reunited with her children.

Maldonado spoke briefly after her release, thanking U.S. State Department officials, her husband, her lawyers and prison workers who made her stay comfortable.

"Many thanks to everyone, especially my God who let me go free, my family, my children, who with their help, I was able to survive this test," she said.

Maldonado also said at a news conference later that she still loves Mexico, and the experience will not stop her from returning in the future to visit family there.

"It's not Mexico's fault. It's a few people who did this to me and probably other people, who knows?" Maldonado said. "I'm still going to go back."

The family's lawyer in Nogales, Jose Francisco Benitez Paz, said a judge determined Thursday that Maldonado was no longer a suspect, and all allegations against her were dropped. Prosecutors are appealing the ruling, but Benitez said that is routine and Maldonado will not have to return to testify.

Maldonado's release came hours after court officials reviewed security footage that showed the couple boarding a commercial bus traveling from Mexico to Phoenix with only blankets, bottles of water and her purse in hand.

U.S. politicians portrayed her as a victim of a corrupt judicial system and demanded her release, with Arizona congressmen saying they were working closely with Mexican authorities.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who previously said he has had "multiple conversations with the deputy Mexican ambassador," on Friday welcomed Maldonado's release.

"Though I'm sure this last week has been a nightmare for her, I'm thankful that Mrs. Maldonado's clear innocence was proved and that she is now home safe with her family," he said in a statement released by his office.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said her administration had been closely monitoring Maldonado's case and been talking with authorities on both sides of the border.

"As Americans, we all know that our precious constitutional rights don't extend beyond our nation's borders," she said. "It is this kind of case that once again illustrates how blessed we are in this country. Most of all, I am so happy for the Maldonado family that they can now put this chapter of their lives behind them."

The judge had until late Friday to decide whether to free Maldonado or send her to another prison in Mexico while state officials built their case.

Maldonado was arrested by the Mexican military last week after they found nearly 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) of pot under her seat during a security checkpoint.

Benitez noted it was a fairly sophisticated smuggling effort that included packets of drugs attached to the seat bottoms with metal hooks - a task that would have been impossible for a passenger. He said witness testimony and the surveillance video showed Maldonado was innocent.

"There is justice in this country," he said.

Maldonado husband, Gary Maldonado, said he originally was arrested after the pot was found under his wife's bus seat. But after Yanira Maldonado begged the soldiers to allow her to come along to serve as a translator, the military officials decided to release him and arrest her instead. Gary Maldonado alleges authorities initially demanded $5,000 for his wife's release, but the bribe fell through.

"Here, we are guilty until you are proven innocent," he said after the court hearing.

Maldonado's lawyer said there is no bail in serious criminal cases in Mexico, and that included the drug smuggling charge she faced. Instead, he had to gather evidence that could clear her before a judge, and he praised the bus company for gathering the video evidence and providing a list of fellow passengers who could back up her claims.

"I as a defense attorney have to prove her innocence," her lawyer said Friday. "After I got the evidence I knew I would win."

The Maldonados were traveling home to the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear after attending her aunt's funeral in the city of Los Mochis when they were arrested.

The bus passed through at least two checkpoints on the way to the border without incident. In the town of Querobabi in the border state of Sonora, all the passengers were ordered off the bus and a soldier searched the interior as they waited. The soldier exited and told his superiors that packets of drugs had been found under seat 39, Yanira Maldonado's, and another seat, number 42. Her husband was in seat 40.

Gary Maldonado said a man sitting behind them on the bus fled during the inspection. He said the man might have been the true owner of the drugs.

About 40 people were on the bus before the inspection, but Gary Maldonado said he was the only passenger who appeared American.

Mexican officials provided local media with photos that they said were of the packages Maldonado was accused of smuggling. Each was about 5 inches high and 20 inches wide, roughly the width of a bus seat. 

The marijuana was packed into plastic bags and wrapped in tan packing tape.

The couple had previously traveled on commercial buses through Mexico because they felt it was safer than driving a personal vehicle.

Yanira Maldonado is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico, her family said. She and her husband have seven children from previous marriages. The couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary while she was jailed.

Drug traffickers have increasingly been using passenger buses to move U.S.-bound drugs through Mexico. Federal agents and soldiers have set up checkpoints along Mexico's main highways and have routinely seized cocaine, marijuana, heroin and more from buses.

Mexico's justice system is carried out largely in secret, with proceedings done almost entirely in writing.

Four years ago, Mexico decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin, but it still has stiff penalties for drug trafficking.

Mexican law doesn't specify a minimum or maximum sentence in drug crimes and leaves it up to the judge to decide how long the sentence should be, said Jose Luis Manjarrez, a spokesman for federal prosecutors in Mexico.

On Wednesday, an army lieutenant, a private and another sergeant were supposed to appear in court but they did not show up. The army did not explain why, the couple's lawyer said.

A search of court records in Arizona turned up no drug-related charges against Yanira or Gary Maldonado.

A respite for Medicare; Social Security no worse

A respite for Medicare; Social Security no worse

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, center, accompanied by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, right, and Acting Labor Secretary Seth D. Harris, speaks about Social Security and Medicare , Friday, May 31, 213, at the Treasury Department in Washington. The government says Medicare's giant hospital trust will not be exhausted until 2026, while the date that Social Security will exhaust its trust fund is unchanged at 2033. The date for Medicare is two years later than was projected last year.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Medicare's long-term health is starting to look a little better, the government said Friday, but both Social Security and Medicare are still wobbling toward insolvency within two decades if Congress and the president don't find a way to shore up the trust funds established to take care of older Americans.

Medicare's giant fund for inpatient care will be exhausted in 2026, two years later than estimated last year, while Social Security's projected insolvency in 2033 remains unchanged, the government reported.

An overall slowdown in health care spending is helping Medicare. Spending cuts in President Barack Obama's health care law are also having a positive impact on the balance sheet, but they may prove politically unsustainable over the long run.

The relatively good news about two programs that provide a foundation of economic security for nearly every American family is a respite, not a free pass. Program trustees urged lawmakers anew to seize a current opportunity and make long-term changes to improve finances. Action now would be far less jarring than having to hit the brakes at the edge of a fiscal cliff.

Politically, however, Friday's positive report and the absence of a crisis could make legislative action less likely, especially in light of the lack of trust between President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress. No end is in sight for the partisan standoff over what to do about Social Security and Medicare, two of the government's costliest programs, and the mammoth budget deficits they help fuel.

Still, fresh warnings were sounded.

"Under current law, both of these vitally important programs are on unsustainable paths," said economist Robert D. Reischauer, one of two independent public trustees overseeing the annual reports.

The window for action "is in the process of closing even as we speak," said his counterpart, Charles Blahous III, also a prominent economist.

Social Security provides monthly benefit checks to about 57 million people, including 40 million retirees and their dependents, 11 million disabled workers and dependents and 6 million survivors of deceased workers. 

Medicare covers nearly 51 million people, mainly retirees but also disabled workers.

If the funds ever become exhausted, the nation's two biggest benefit programs would collect only enough money to pay partial benefits.

Social Security could cover only about 75 percent of benefits, while Medicare's fund for hospital and nursing rehabilitation care could pay 87 percent of costs.

With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, America's aging population is straining both programs.

While the combined Social Security fund was projected to be depleted in 2033, the trustees warned that the threat to one of its component trust funds that makes payments to workers on disability is much more urgent. 

They projected that the disability trust fund would deplete its reserves in just three years, in 2016. That date is unchanged from last year's report.

Blahous said he hoped that would prod lawmakers to act on the broad challenges facing Social Security.

The remaining trustees are senior administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. While acknowledging the need for long-term changes to improve program finances, they used the occasion of the annual report to assert that Obama's policies are working, particularly his health care overhaul.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest saw validation in the reports, too. The Medicare numbers showed Obama's health overhaul "is having a positive effect on the deficit," he said, while the Social Security report supports the president's contention that the retirement program is "not driving our short-term deficit."

Motivation for both sides to tackle federal spending deficits -always risky because of the pain that could cause voters - has already declined because the improving economy has also pushed projected federal deficits downward. This year's shortfall is now expected to be $642 billion, down from $1.1 trillion last year.

Obama has proposed significant changes to both benefit programs, in the context of budget talks. Those include a formula change that would pare cost-of-living increases for retirees, and nearly $400 billion in Medicare savings, mainly from cuts to service providers. Congressional Republicans want to do more, particularly on Medicare, by converting the program into a private insurance system.

Social Security is financed by a 6.2 percent tax on the first $113,700 of workers' wages, paid by both employers and workers. Congress temporarily reduced the tax on workers to 4.2 percent for 2011 and 2012, though the program's finances were being made whole through increased government borrowing.

The Medicare tax rate is 1.45 percent on all wages, paid by both employees and workers.

Blahous said if Social Security's shortfall were to be fixed immediately by boosting the payroll tax alone, that rate for workers and employers together would have to be increased from its current 12.4 percent to nearly 15.1 percent. If action were delayed until 2033 - the year of insolvency - the tax would have to rise to 16.5 percent.

If the savings were to come only from reducing benefits and were made immediately, the benefits would have to be cut 16.5 percent for both current and future recipients.

Targeting future beneficiaries alone would mean benefit cuts of nearly 20 percent.

Waiting until 2033 to impose the changes would mean benefit cuts of 23 percent for current and future recipients. If policymakers wanted to limit the cuts to future beneficiaries, even wiping out all of their benefits would not close the shortfall, said Blahous.

"The window of opportunity to deal with Social Security closes well before the early 2030s," he said.

Not all the news was bleak.

The trustees projected a 2 percent Social Security cost-of-living increase for 2014. And the monthly Medicare Part B premium for outpatient care was projected to remain the same as this year. That's generally $104.90, although upper-income retirees pay more.

The good news for Medicare may not last. The program's future costs are difficult to estimate, subject not only to economic fluctuations and the aging society but also to the impact of the latest blockbuster drug or technological breakthrough.

Nonetheless, the trustees said the overall slowdown in health care spending is providing relief for Medicare. It was the main reason for extending the life of the trust fund by two years. The report said there was a particularly sharp drop in spending on nursing home care. Medicare pays for limited nursing home stays while patients recuperate from hospitalization.

Also cited were reductions in payments to popular Medicare Advantage plans, the private insurance alternative within the program. About 1 in 4 Medicare beneficiaries are in such plans, which offer lower out-of-pocket costs usually in exchange for limitations on the choice of hospitals and doctors. The plans had once been overpaid when compared to the cost of care in traditional Medicare, but Obama's health care law cut back those payments.

Public trustee Reischauer, who specializes in health care economics, said he's hopeful and cautiously optimistic that the slowdown in health care costs will continue.

HHS Secretary Sebelius said the health care overhaul "has helped put Medicare on a more stable ground without eliminating a single guaranteed benefit."

But the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, said the report "shouldn't give anyone comfort" because Medicare's slower spending reflected the country's weak economy, even as the program faces rapidly growing numbers of recipients.

"Reforming Medicare and Social Security is a national imperative that policymakers on both sides of the aisle and at the White House must embrace if we are going to protect those programs for our seniors and for future generations, while simultaneously bringing down our sky-high debt," Hatch said

AARP, the seniors lobby, said it will continue to fight cuts in either program.

11 vanish from Mexico City bar in suspected kidnap

11 vanish from Mexico City bar in suspected kidnap 

Friends put pictures in the bar entrance of their recently disappeared relatives in Mexico City,Thursday, May 30, 2013. Relatives who joined a march to demand solutions to the thousands of detained and disappeared in Mexico say 11 young people were kidnapped in broad daylight from a Mexico City bar last Sunday a half-block from the city's main boulevard and a few blocks from police headquarters.

 

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Eleven young people were brazenly kidnapped in broad daylight from an after-hours bar in Mexico City's Zona Rosa, a normally calm district of offices, restaurants, drinking spots and dance clubs, anguished relatives said Thursday.

The apparent mass abduction purportedly happened sometime between 10 a.m. and noon on Sunday 

morning just off the Paseo de la Reforma, the city's main boulevard, near the Angel of Independence monument and only about 1 1/2 blocks from the U.S. Embassy.

The incident was the second recent high-publicity blemish for the city's largely unregulated entertainment scene, coming 20 days after the grandson of American civil rights activist Malcolm X was beaten to death at another tough bar in the downtown area.

Calling for authorities find their loved ones, family members marched Thursday morning from the Interior Department building to the Zocalo, the city's main square. Later they protested outside the bar, which bears 

a sign that reads Bicentenario Restaurante-Bar, and demanded to see the bar's surveillance video.

"How could so many people have disappeared, just like that, in broad daylight?" said Josefina Garcia, 

mother of Said Sanchez Garcia, 19, her only son. "The police say they don't have them, so what, the earth just opened up and swallowed them?"

She said her son wasn't involved in any criminal activity, and worked at a market stall selling beauty products.

City prosecutors said they had received 11 missing-person reports, but Garcia said residents of the tough 

downtown neighborhood of Tepito where the victims live thought as many as 15 or 16 people could have been abducted.

The known missing include six men, most in their 20s, a 16-year-old boy and four young women.

While no clear motives had been revealed in the attack, residents of Tepito said there has been a wave of abductions of neighborhood young people in recent months that could be related to organized crime activities. Tepito is the center of black market activities in the city, where guns, drugs, stolen goods and contraband are widely sold.

Mass abductions have been rare in Mexico City, but are common in parts of the country where drug cartels operate and are fighting with rival gangs over territory.

Prosecutors slapped closure stickers on the front doors of the bar Thursday, with inscriptions saying the city's anti-kidnapping unit was investigating abductions at the site.

Isabel Fonseca, whose brother is among those missing, said a man who escaped told her that masked men arrived in several white SUVs and took the group away. She said her brother, Eulogio Fonseca, is a street vendor who sells cellphone accessories.

"We want them alive," Fonseca said. "They went out to have fun; they are not criminals."

Mexico City's chief prosecutor, Rodolfo Rios, said investigators had been able to glean very little information on the disappearances.

Relatives believe the youths were at the club, which they said is called "Heaven," around midmorning Sunday, when waiters and bar employees herded them out to the street and armed men bundled them into waiting vehicles and spirited them away.

Rios said police had not located any employees of the bar and no other witnesses had presented themselves.

"We aren't sure what exactly occurred," he said. "No witness has come forward to say anything about any armed gang."

The bar is down a side street from two high-rise office buildings that look out on Reforma and sits across the narrow road from beauty salons and a sushi restaurant.

Guillermo Bustamante, owner of one the beauty parlors, said the street bustles every Saturday morning with people coming and going from the bar.

"Every time we arrived on Saturdays, we would see weird people coming out of that bar," Bustamante said. 

"There would be many Hummers parked outside and men walking out with a woman on each arm."

Bars of questionable character are often allowed to continue operating, even though drugs may be sold inside 

and the businesses frequently violate rules governing closing times, parking and serving alcohol to minors.

Malcolm Shabazz, grandson of the late Malcolm X, died May 9 in a fight that erupted after he and a friend were presented with a $1,200 bill at a seedy bar near Plaza Garibaldi, a gathering place for mariachi bands in a rough neighborhood in the downtown area. Two waiters at the bar have been arrested in connection with Shabazz's death.

In June 2008, police raided another Mexico City bar to investigate drug and alcohol sales to minors. A stampede ensued as panicked youths rushed for the exits and police tried to stop them. A dozen young people died in the stampede.

Average US household far from regaining its wealth

Average US household far from regaining its wealth 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The average U.S. household has a long way to go to recover the wealth it lost to the Great Recession, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis concluded Thursday.

The typical household has regained less than half its wealth, the analysis found. A separate Federal Reserve report in March calculated that Americans as a whole had regained 91 percent of their losses.

Household wealth plunged $16 trillion from the third quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2009. By the final three months of 2012, American households as a group had regained $14.7 trillion.

Yet once those figures are adjusted for inflation and averaged across the U.S. population, the picture doesn't look so bright: The average household has recovered only 45 percent of its wealth, the St. Louis Fed concluded.

That suggests that consumer spending could remain modest as many Americans try to rebuild their wealth by saving more and paying off debts.

The number of U.S. households grew 3.8 million to 115 million from the third quarter of 2007 through the 

final three months of last year, the report said. As a result, the rebound in wealth has been spread across more people and reduced the average wealth for each household.

In addition, though inflation has averaged just 2 percent over the past five years, it's eroded some of the purchasing power of Americans' regained wealth.

The St. Louis Fed's analysis noted that the rebound in wealth hasn't been equally distributed. As a result, many households are even further behind than the average.

Nearly two-thirds of the increase in household wealth since 2009 is due to rising stock prices, the authors note. Stock indexes reached record highs this month. Those gains disproportionately benefit affluent households: About 80 percent of stocks are held by the wealthiest 10 percent of the population.

For middle- and lower-income households, home values represent the biggest chunk of total wealth. And home prices remain about 30 percent below their peak, even after jumping nearly 11 percent in the past year.

The analysis was written by William Emmons, an economist at the St. Louis Fed, and Ray Boshara, who directs its new Center for Household Financial Stability.

"It's like the economy is this airplane and not all the engines are firing," Emmons said.

Still, wealthier households account for a disproportionate share of consumer spending: About 20 percent of Americans account for about 40 percent of spending.

Consequently, the rise in stock prices should provide some lift to spending, Emmons said.

The average household had a net worth of $539,500 at the end of last year, according to a separate paper the St. Louis Fed released Thursday. That was up from $469,900 in the first quarter of 2009. But it was sharply below the peak of $641,000 in the first quarter of 2007.

Hip Hop for Philly on National HIV Testing Day 2013

Hip Hop for Philly is a concert sponsored by Philadelphia FIGHT and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
It will be held on National HIV Testing Day, June 27.
Teens and young adults ages 13-24 that get tested for HIV at one of our sites listed below or any of our 4 testing events below will receive a FREE ticket to the concert.

---

This Year’s Headliner is FABOLOUS!

Anyone of any age who receives a test at the events below or any participating agency below before July 31, will be entered for a chance to win tickets to see Justin Timberlake and Jay Z on August 13.
For more information, call 215.985.4448 x200.
Tickets are non-transferable, limited to one person and available only while supplies last.

Testing Event Locations

Date	Location	Time
June 1st	Wilson Park Community Center 25th and Jackson	11am -5pm
June 8th	York House 5325 Old York Road, Suite #15	10am-4pm
June 15th	Meyers Rec 57th and Kingsessing	11am-4pm
June 22nd	Cobbs Creek Rec 63rd & Walnut	11am-4pm

Cops: Letters to NYC mayor test positive for ricin

Cops: Letters to NYC mayor test positive for ricin 

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2013 photo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at a gun violence summit at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, where he outlined his proposals for federal gun control reforms. Police said Wednesday, May 29, 2013, that threatening letters containing traces of the poison ricin were opened Friday, May 24, 2013 at New York City’s mail sorting facility and Sunday, May 26, in Washington at the headquarters of the nonprofit started by Bloomberg, Mayors Against Illegal Guns. Both were addressed to Bloomberg and contained threats referencing the debate on gun laws.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two threatening letters containing traces of the deadly poison ricin were sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York and his gun-control group in Washington, police said Wednesday.

The anonymous letters were opened in New York on Friday at the city's mail facility in Manhattan and in Washington on Sunday at an office used by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the nonprofit started by Bloomberg, police said.

Chief New York Police spokesman Paul Browne said preliminary testing indicted the presence of ricin in both letters but that more testing would be done. He said the threats contained references to the debate on gun laws and an oily pinkish-orange substance.

The billionaire mayor has emerged as one of the country's most potent gun-control advocates, able to press his case with both his public position and his private money.

The people who initially came into contact with the letters showed no symptoms of exposure to the poison, but three officers who later examined the New York letter experienced minor symptoms that have since abated, police said.

Browne would not comment on what specific threats were made or where the letters were postmarked. He also wouldn't say whether they were handwritten or typed and whether investigators believe they were sent by the same person.

The letters were the latest in a string of toxin-laced missives. In Washington state, a 37-year-old was charged last week with threatening to kill a federal judge in a letter that contained ricin. About a month earlier, letters containing the substance were addressed to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. A Mississippi man was arrested in that case.

Federal officials and NYPD were investigating. Browne would not say whether the letters were believed to be linked to any other recent ricin cases.

Police said the letter in Washington, D.C., was opened by Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He was working out of the offices of The Raben Group, a Washington lobbying firm where he keeps an office. Glaze happened to open the letter while sitting outside over the Memorial Day weekend, said the firm's founder, Robert Raben.

"I'm very concerned about our employees and co-workers and clients. I'm sorry that we live in a world in which people do such awful things. Thank God, right now, everybody's physically fine," Raben said by phone Wednesday, adding that the firm would do whatever needed to ensure safety.

A mayor's spokesman also speaking for the nonprofit said he had no comment.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, ricin is a poison found naturally in castor beans. Symptoms can include difficulty breathing, vomiting and redness on the skin depending on how the affected person comes into contact with the poison.

Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which now counts more than 700 mayors nationwide as members. It lobbies federal and state lawmakers, and it aired a spate of television ads this year urging Congress to expand background checks and pass other gun-control measures after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. The background check proposal failed in a Senate vote in April, and other measures gun-control advocates wanted - including a ban on sales of military-style assault weapons - went by the wayside.

Separately, Bloomberg also has made political donations to candidates who share his desire for tougher gun restrictions. His super PAC, Independence USA, put $2.2 million into a Democratic primary this winter for a congressional seat in Illinois, for example. Bloomberg's choice, former state lawmaker Robin Kelly, won the primary and the seat.

AP Exclusive: Soldier to admit Afghan massacre

AP Exclusive: Soldier to admit Afghan massacre 

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2011, file photo provided by the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales participates in an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Bales, charged with slaughtering 16 villagers during one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war, has agreed to plead guilty in a deal to avoid the death penalty, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday May 29, 2013.

 

SEATTLE (AP) -- The Army staff sergeant charged with slaughtering 16 villagers in one of the worst atrocities of the Afghanistan war will plead guilty to avoid the death penalty in a deal that requires him to recount the horrific attack for the first time, his attorney told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was "crazed" and "broken" when he slipped away from his remote southern Afghanistan outpost and attacked mud-walled compounds in two slumbering villages nearby, lawyer John Henry Browne said.

But his client's mental state didn't rise to the level of a legal insanity defense, Browne said, and Bales will plead guilty next week.

The outcome of the case carries high stakes. The Army had been trying to have Bales executed, and Afghan villagers have demanded it. In interviews with the AP in Kandahar last month, relatives of the victims became outraged at the notion Bales might escape the death penalty.

"For this one thing, we would kill 100 American soldiers," vowed Mohammed Wazir, who had 11 family members killed that night, including his mother and 2-year-old daughter.

"A prison sentence doesn't mean anything," said Said Jan, whose wife and three other relatives died. "I know we have no power now. But I will become stronger, and if he does not hang, I will have my revenge."

Any plea deal must be approved by the judge as well as the commanding general at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Bales is being held. A plea hearing is set for June 5, said Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield, an Army spokesman. He said he could not immediately provide other details.

"The judge will be asking questions of Sgt. Bales about what he did, what he remembers and his state of mind," said Browne, who told the AP the commanding general has already approved the deal. "The deal that has been worked out ... is they take the death penalty off the table, and he pleads as charged, pretty much."

A sentencing-phase trial set for September will determine whether Bales is sentenced to life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.

Browne previously indicated Bales remembered little from the night of the massacre, and he said that was true in the early days after the attack. But as further details and records emerged, Bales began to remember what he did, the lawyer said, and he will admit to "very specific facts" about the shootings.

Browne would not elaborate on what his client will tell the judge.

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., had been drinking contraband alcohol, snorting Valium that was provided to him by another soldier, and had been taking steroids before the attack.

Testimony at a hearing last fall established that Bales returned to his base between attacking the villages, woke up a fellow soldier and confessed. The soldier didn't believe him and went back to sleep, and Bales left again to continue the slaughter.

Most of the victims were women and children, and some of the bodies were piled and burned. The slayings drew such angry protests that the U.S. temporarily halted combat operations in Afghanistan. It was three weeks before American investigators could reach the crime scenes.

Browne said his client, who was on his fourth combat deployment, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. He continued to blame the Army for sending him back to war in the first place.

"He's broken, and we broke him," Browne said.

The massacre raised questions about the toll multiple deployments were taking on American troops. For that reason, many legal experts believed it that it was unlikely that he would receive the death penalty, as Army prosecutors were seeking. The military justice system hasn't executed anyone since 1961.

The defense team, including military lawyers assigned to Bales as well as Browne's co-counsel, Emma Scanlan, eventually determined after having Bales examined by psychiatrists that he would not be able to prove any claim of insanity or diminished capacity at the time of the attack, Browne said.

"His mental state does not rise to the level of a legal insanity defense," Browne said. "But his state of mind will be very important at the trial in September. We'll talk about his mental capacities or lack thereof, and other factors that were important to his state of mind."

Browne acknowledged the plea deal could inflame tensions in Afghanistan and said he was disappointed the case has not done more to focus public opinion on the war.

"It's a very delicate situation. I am concerned there could be a backlash," he said. "My personal goal is to save Bob from the death penalty. Getting the public to pay more attention to the war is secondary to what I have to do."

Judge limits texts, photos in Trayvon Martin case

Judge limits texts, photos in Trayvon Martin case 

Robert Zimmerman Jr., left, the brother of George Zimmerman, the accused shooter of Trayvon Martin, talks with defense attorney Mark O'Mara, during a pre-trial hearing, Tuesday, May 28, 2013 in Sanford, Fla. George Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. He was not in court for the hearing.

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Attorneys won't be able to mention Trayvon Martin's drug use, suspension from school and past fighting during opening statements at the trial of a former neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot the teen, a judge ruled Tuesday.

However, Circuit Judge Debra Nelson left open the possibility that the defense could try again later during the trial if it could show relevance.

George Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the 17-year-old's killing and has pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense. He did not attend Tuesday's hearing.

In another key motion Nelson refused to allow jurors to travel to the shooting scene during trial, and rejected a defense request to delay the trial set to begin June 10.

The judge called the request to let jurors see the crime scene "a logistical nightmare."

Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, said Nelson's decisions would not affect how he presented his case.

"We were hoping that we would have some limitations on people commenting upon information that is not yet relevant," O'Mara said. "So the idea that the state will have to be careful about how they present their case - and certainly we're going be careful about how we present ours - is exactly what we were hoping for."

He acknowledged, however, that with the judge not delaying the trial the defense would "have a lot more work to do than we can get accomplished between now and June 10."

The judge also ruled that some of the Martin's texts and other social media statements won't be allowed in opening statements, though it, too, could be allowed later with a ruling from the judge depending on how the case progresses.

O'Mara told the judge that Martin's marijuana use and past fighting was central to the argument that Zimmerman used self-defense when he confronted Martin last year at a gated community in Sanford, Fla.

"We have a lot of evidence that marijuana use had something to do with the event," O'Mara said. "It could have affected his behavior."

An attorney for Martin's family, Benjamin Crump, said the teen's parents were pleased with the judge's rulings on information they consider immaterial to the February 2012 shooting.

"Trayvon Martin is not on trial," Crump said.

The judge ruled against a defense request that the pool of 500 jury candidates be sequestered during jury selection. She said jurors will be referred to by their jury numbers and prohibited their faces from being photographed. Nelson denied a prosecution request for a gag order that would prohibit attorneys from talking about the case.

O'Mara said he is concerned potential jurors could be affected by publicity the case is receiving.

The defense attorney had asked to push back the trial date because he said prosecutors had delayed turning over evidence as required. O'Mara is seeking sanctions against prosecutors, but a hearing on those sanctions was delayed until next week.

Before the judge decided to postpone the hearing on sanctions, a former prosecutor who used to work in the same office as the attorneys prosecuting Zimmerman testified he had told O'Mara about photos and text messages from Martin's cell phone that hadn't yet been turned over to the defense.

Former Assistant State Attorney Wesley White resigned last year from the State Attorney's Office that covers northeast Florida.

Derailment, blast crumple buildings near Baltimore

Derailment, blast crumple buildings near Baltimore 

  

A fire burns at the site of a CSX freight train derailment, Tuesday, May 28, 2013, in White Marsh, Md., where fire officials say the train crashed into a trash truck, causing an explosion that rattled homes at least a half-mile away and collapsed nearby buildings, setting them on fire.

WHITE MARSH, Md. (AP) -- The fire chief says no toxic inhalants are burning at the site of a freight train derailment outside Baltimore.

Baltimore County Fire Chief John J. Hohman said at a news conference Tuesday that fire crews would let the fire on two remaining cars burn out.

CSX spokesman Gary Sease says in an email that sodium chlorate is on one of the trains.

He says the Department of Transportation classifies it as a hazardous material.

But Hohman says the chemical is not in one of the cars that is burning. Fire officials did not order an 

evacuation.

They had advised anyone within 20 blocks who can see the smoke to leave but said later people could stay.

The derailment in White Marsh led to an explosion that rattled homes at least a half-mile away and collapsed nearby buildings.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

A CSX cargo train crashed into a trash truck and derailed Tuesday in a Baltimore suburb and the explosion that followed rattled homes at least a half-mile away and collapsed nearby buildings, setting them on fire, officials and witnesses said.

The train went off the tracks at about 2 p.m. in White Marsh, about 10 miles northeast of Baltimore. Hazmat teams were on the scene, but fire officials did not have immediate information on what might be still be burning.

Baltimore County Public Safety tweeted that if residents and others can see the smoke plume, they should evacuate the area, at least within 20 blocks. At least 15 cars derailed, said Baltimore County Fire Chief John J. Hohman.

Dale Walston said he lives about a half-mile away from the blast site and that the smell of chemicals is very strong.

"It shook my house pretty violently and knocked things off the shelves," he said in an email to The Associated Press.

The thick plume of black smoke was visible for miles, the smoke drifting across the Baltimore city line and covering the eastern part of the city.

More than one video posted to Facebook shows the fire, then minutes later, an explosion rattles the area. Hohman said firefighters were letting the blazes burn out. Officials were considering evacuating the area, but it's mostly an area of commercial buildings, he said.

Photos and video on TV stations showed at least three rail cars off the tracks. Overhead news shots show several blackened buildings and fires burning. Fire department spokeswoman Louise Rogers Feher said several buildings "fell apart." They also showed a tractor-trailer overturned near the front of the crash.

County executive Kevin Kamenetz told WBAL-TV that the truck driver was in serious but stable condition. 

The fire department tweeted that two CSX workers aboard weren't injured.

A worker at a nearby Dunkin' Donuts, Tawan Rai, reached by The Associated Press by phone, said he saw a fire and flames by the railroad tracks at first, then felt a thundering blast that sent smoke pouring into the sky.

"The whole building shook and there was just dust everywhere," said Rai, adding no windows broke but he was surprised by the intensity of the blast. "I went outside and people were rushing there, the police officers, fire trucks."

He also said he saw some ambulances arrive but didn't see anyone injured.

He also said police had apparently stopped traffic on nearby Pulaski Highway not far from the tracks and he no longer had any customers at his donut shop.

John Kane, treasurer of Atlantic Tire on nearby Pulaski Highway, said the explosion blew out two large showcase windows and light fixtures in his shop. The highway, also called Route 40, is shut down to the Baltimore city line as well as some side streets in area.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to the crash site to investigate.

The derailment is the third serious one this month. In Bridgeport, Conn., on May 17, more than 70 people were injured when a commuter train derailed. The eastbound train from New York City went off the tracks during evening rush hour, came to a stop and was struck about 20 seconds later by a westbound train.

In Rockview, Mo., on Saturday, a cargo train crash injured seven people and destroyed a highway overpass that could take a year to repair.

Some businesses closed immediately, fearful of the unidentified contents of a heavy plume of black smoke roiling into the atmosphere. At seafood supplier S. DiPaula & Sons Seafood Inc., a good-natured voice left a message on the answering machine afterward that the business was closing early for the day.

"Hello, this is S. DiPaula & Sons Seafood. Today is Tuesday and it's around 2:30 in the afternoon. We have decided to close due to a large explosion relatively close to our building and a heavy black plume of smoke that we can't tell what's in it."

In each of the past five years, CSX has reported more than 100 deaths in accidents and incidents involving the railroad.

The Federal Railroad Administration says CSX reported 104 deaths in 2012, down from 122 in 2011 and 117 in 2010. The railroad reported 102 deaths in 2009 and 122 in 2008.

The number of derailments on CSX's network in the eastern United States has been declining steadily since 2008 when it reported 229 derailments. Last year, CSX reported 143 derailments. CSX, based in Jacksonville, Fla., operates over 21,000 miles of track in 23 eastern states and two Canadian provinces.

CSX shares traded higher Tuesday before the derailment was reported. The shares closed down 20 cents at $25.30.

Bombs tear through Iraqi capital, killing over 60

Bombs tear through Iraqi capital, killing over 60 

  

Iraqis gather at the scene of a car bomb attack at a used cars dealers parking lot in Habibiya neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 27, 2013. A wave of car bombings tore through mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhoods of the Baghdad area, killing and wounding dozens of people, police said, in the latest outburst of an unusually intense wave of bloodshed roiling Iraq. The blasts are the latest indication that Iraq's security is rapidly deteriorating.

BAGHDAD (AP) -- A coordinated wave of car bombings tore through mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 66 people and maiming nearly 200 as insurgents step up the bloodshed roiling Iraq.

The attacks in markets and other areas frequented by civilians are the latest sign of a rapid deterioration in security as sectarian tensions are exacerbated by anti-government protests and the war in neighboring Syria grinds on.

More than 450 people have been killed across Iraq in May. Most of the killings came over the past two weeks in the most sustained wave of violence since U.S. troops left in December 2011.

The surge in attacks is reminiscent of the sectarian carnage that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007. April was Iraq's deadliest month since June 2008, according to a United Nations tally that put last month's death toll at more than 700.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's bombings, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida's Iraqi arm. The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, frequently uses car bombs and coordinated blasts against Shiites to undermine Iraqis' confidence in the Shiite-led government.

The day's deadliest attack happened when two bombs exploded in the eastern Habibiya area on the edge of the sprawling Shiite district of Sadr City. Those blasts killed 12 and wounded 35, police said.

Twin blasts also struck an open-air market in the predominantly Shiite al-Maalif area, killing six and wounding 12.

Another car bomb exploded in the busy commercial Sadoun Street in downtown Baghdad. It killed five civilians and wounded 14, police said. Among the wounded were four policemen who were at a nearby checkpoint.

The central street is one of the capital's main commercial areas and is lined with clinics, pharmacies and shops. Firefighters were seen struggling to extinguish flames as police sealed off the area. Several shops were partially damaged or burned.

`'What crime have those innocent people committed?" asked witness Zein al-Abidin. "Who is responsible for these massacres?"

Elsewhere across the bloodied capital city, police reported:

- A car bomb went off in the eastern New Baghdad area as officers were waiting for explosives experts to dismantle it. A civilian was killed and nine others wounded.

- In the north, a blast in the Sabi al-Boor neighborhood killed eight civilians and wounded 26. In the Kazimiyah district, a car bomb blew up near a bus and taxi stop, killing four and wounding 11.

Another blast killed four and wounded nine in the Shaab area. And an attack in the Hurriyah neighborhood left five dead and 14 wounded.

- A bomb in the southwestern neighborhood of Bayaa killed six civilians and wounded 16.

- In Baghdad's central Sadria area, a car bomb killed three civilians and wounded 11.

- In the east, a blast killed five and wounded 12 in the Jisr Diyala area. Car bombs also struck the Baladiyat neighborhood, killing four and wounding 11.

- And in Madain, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of central Baghdad, a car bomb killed three and wounded nine.

Medical officials confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

The day's bloodshed was the deadliest since last Monday, when a wave of attacks killed 113 people in Shiite and Sunni areas. That was the deadliest single day in Iraq since July 23, when attacks aimed largely at security forces killed 115.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement condemning the latest attacks.

Although violence has decreased sharply since the height of the insurgency that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, militants are still capable of carrying out lethal attacks nationwide. The recent wave of attacks has raised tensions between the country's Sunni minority and Shiite-led government.

Since late December, members of Iraq's Sunni community have been protesting against the government. They cite a range of grievances, including poor services, discrimination and the application of tough anti-terrorism policies they believe unfairly target their sect.

The unrest is fueling long-simmering sectarian rifts in the country that only grew more divisive after an April 23 crackdown by security forces on a Sunni protest camp. The crackdown in the town of Hawija left many protesters dead.

Maria Fantappie, an Iraq analyst at the International Crisis Group, linked the uptick in violence to the protests and said the events at Hawija marked a turning point.

"They transformed the political crisis into a series of local conflicts in the Sunni-populated provinces," she said. "As it stands, the risk is a metastasis of armed clashes across these provinces."

She said outright civil war between the protesters - who remain divided over their support for violence - and security forces loyal to the Shiite-led government is unlikely, however.

Alarmed by a nationwide deterioration in the security situation, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki recently ordered a reshuffle in senior military ranks.

Authorities have also launched a military operation in the country's western Anbar province to chase down fighters from al-Qaida in Iraq.

The group is growing stronger as a result of rising lawlessness on the Syrian-Iraq frontier and cross-border cooperation with the Syrian militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, a rebel faction fighting to oust President Bashar Assad.

Americans gather to honor fallen service members

Americans gather to honor fallen service members 

Americans gathered at memorials, museums and monuments and the president laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen service members on Memorial Day, as combat in Afghanistan approaches 12 years and the ranks of World War II veterans dwindle.

"Let us not forget as we gather here today that our nation is still at war," President Barack Obama said after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

"When they give their lives, they are still being laid to rest in cemeteries in quiet corners across our country, including here in Arlington," he said. He told the stories of three soldiers who had died. Each had been devoted to their mission and were praised by others for saving lives.

Earlier in the morning, he and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a breakfast at the White House with "Gold Star" families of service members who have been killed.

Another wreath-laying ceremony was at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in New York City. The park is a tribute to President Roosevelt's famous speech calling for all people to enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined military leaders and others at the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument in Manhattan. He said celebrate the day and the good weather but also "remember the sacrifice that was made so that we could be here."

At the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, about 20 bicyclists clustered around veteran and museum volunteer Tom Blakey. The paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division jumped at Normandy on D-Day - June 6, 1944 - and in May 1945 helped liberate the work camp at Wobbelin in northwest Germany.

"Most of us wondered why we were there, killing people and being killed," he said. "We didn't do anything to deserve it. When we got to that camp and saw what was there, the lights came on."

The cycling group makes regular weekend training runs, and on Monday started a Memorial Day ride about seven miles away at the national cemetery in Chalmette, where the Battle of New Orleans - the last in the War of 1812 - was fought.

"I'm glad I took this ride to hear a personal story," Scott Gumina, 41, said. "Hearing one man's account of his personal experience was pretty impressive to me."

Across much of New England, several days of heavy rain gave way to sunny skies for parades in towns large and small.

In Portland, Maine, kids and even pets displayed the Stars and Stripes as veterans, youth groups law enforcement officials and civic organizations paraded to Monument Square to the tunes of a marching band, sirens from a police car and the rumble of motorcycles.

"It's a very important day, not only for the Veteran of Foreign Wars but every veteran organization, every branch of the service, and every patriot in general - every American. This day is hugely significant and should never be forgotten," said David Olson, 66, of Portland, the VFW's state senior vice commander.

He said he was pleased to see a large turnout of youngsters, both in the parade and along the parade route. "As they get older, they'll realize exactly why we do this," he said.

For some veterans, it was a somber event.

Richard Traiser, a Marine injured when his tank came under attack in Vietnam, helped deliver a three-volley salute with the Marine Corps League.

Memorial Day gives those who served an opportunity to get together and remember friends who didn't make it.

"I think about them a lot, especially the people I lost in my platoon," Traiser said. "A couple of kids were 19 years old. I don't dwell on it in a morbid way, but it's on your mind."

In Connecticut, a Waterford man who was killed in the Vietnam War was honored with a hometown park area named for him. Arnold E. Holm Jr., nicknamed "Dusty," was killed when his helicopter was shot down on June 11, 1972. A group of at least 100 dedicated the park this weekend.

In suburban Boston, veterans gathered in a park to mark Memorial Day this year rather than hold a parade because of failing health and dwindling numbers. The city of Beverly called off its parade because so few veterans would be able to march. The parade has been a fixture in the town since the Civil War.

In Atlanta, a dedication of the History Center's redone Veterans Park was scheduled for early evening. Soil from major battlefields will be scattered by veterans around the park's flagpole.

The holiday weekend also marked the traditional start of the U.S. vacation season. AAA, one of the nation's largest leisure travel agencies, expected 31.2 million Americans to hit the road over the weekend, virtually the same number as last year. Gas prices were about the same as last year, up 1 cent to a national average of $3.65 a gallon Friday.

At the American Airpower Museum on Long Island, N.Y., a program honored Women Air Service Pilots, or WASPs, who tested and ferried completed aircraft from factories to bases during World War II. Thirty-eight died during the war, including Alice Lovejoy of Scarsdale, N.Y., who was killed on Sept. 13, 1944, in a midair collision over Texas.

"It's very important that we recognize not only their contribution to American history, but women's history," said Julia Lauria-Blum, curator of the WASP exhibit at the museum. "These women really blazed a path; they were pioneers for women's aviation. And most important, they gave their lives serving their country and must be honored like anyone else on Memorial Day."

2 NY vets of Edson's Raiders recall WWII battles

2 NY vets of Edson's Raiders recall WWII battles 

In this Wednesday, May 22, 2013 photo, World War II veterans Bob Addison, left, and Jerry West pose for a photo, in Glens Falls, N.Y. Addison and West share more than a longtime friendship. They share some of the same memories of bloody battles fought on Pacific islands while serving with an elite Marine Corps unit that was the forerunnner of today's U.S. Special Forces. Living just miles apart, the two men are among the last surviving members of the original Marine Raider battalions that were the first American ground troops to attack Japanese-held territory.

  

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (AP) -- Gerald West held the laminated sheet of paper fellow World War II combat veteran Robert Addison pulled from an old briefcase and perused the 300-plus names listed under the words, "Lest We Forget."

"I knew quite a few of those guys," said West, 93, who made the short drive to Addison's home 45 miles north of Albany recently to reminisce about their wartime service with the legendary Edson's Raiders, an elite Marine Corps unit that was the forerunnner of today's U.S. Special Forces.

The document Addison keeps among his wartime mementos and literature lists the names of members of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion who died while fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific. Addison and West are among the dwindling number of Edson's Raiders still alive. Out of an original roster of about 900 men, fewer than 150 are believed to survive, according to Bruce Burlingham, historian for U.S. Marine Raider Association.

Dubbed Edson's Raiders after their colorful, red-haired commander, Col. Merritt "Red Mike" Edson, the unit was the first U.S. ground force to attack Japan-held territory after Pearl Harbor. Landing on Tulagi in the Solomon Islands in August 1942, they beat the larger 1st Marine Division's arrival on nearby Guadalcanal by an hour.

The 1st and 2nd Raider battalions, formed just days apart in February 1942, were the first commando-style units in the American military, predating the creation of the U.S. Army Rangers by four months. Trained in jungle warfare and hand-to-hand combat, the Raiders' leatherneck pride paired with a pirate's attitude was reflected in their distinctive battalion patch: a white death's head skull in a red diamond, set against a blue background with five white stars representing the Southern Cross constellation.

Addison, an Alliance, Ohio, native, and West, who grew up outside Glens Falls, both fought at Tulagi and later on Guadalcanal, where Edson's Raiders earned their vaunted place in American military lore for anchoring the thinly stretched Marine defenses that decimated Japanese forces during successive nighttime assaults in September 1942.

Fighting from positions separated by a few hundred yards along high ground near the island's airfield, Addison and West helped defend what became known as Bloody Ridge - but that the Marines called "Edson's Ridge." They wouldn't learn until much later that the fight was considered a turning point that started the U.S. on its island-hopping road to victory in the Pacific.

"In combat, you only know what's going on in your little world," West said.

Edson was awarded the Medal of Honor for his front-line leadership during the battle, during which his Raiders suffered more than 250 killed and wounded. Bigger, bloodier battles awaited, but Edson's Ridge and the Raiders hold a special place among leathernecks of all generations, according to Beth Crumley, a historian with the U.S. Marine Corps History Division.

"Anybody who has taken an interest in the history of the corps, they're going to know the story about Edson and they're going to know about the Raiders and know about the Battle of Edson's Ridge," she said.

After the Raiders' next campaign on the island of New Georgia in the summer of 1943, Addison and West were sent back to the U.S. Addison was attending college as part of an officers program, and West was in Guam preparing for the invasion of Japan when the war ended.

They went their separate ways and didn't get reacquainted until the early 1960s, when Addison moved to Glens Falls to become athletic director at a new community college. He ran into West at a Sears store where West was working, and they've remained close friends ever since.

"They were America's first elite force unit and showed future units like the U.S. Army Special Forces what could be done with a handful of determined, well-trained, well-armed troops against a determined enemy," said Robert A. Buerlein, co-author of "Our Kind of War: Illustrated Saga of the U.S. Marine Raiders of World War II.