Courtfighter: Delaware County Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick A Bigot? You Judge How Often Bigotry Occurs In Media, PA

Courtfighter: Delaware County Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick A Bigot? You Judge How Often Bigotry Occurs In Media, PA


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people unfair Judges do".
The Dragon is holding court.

The following is an official complaint filed with the Philadelphia, PA, NAACP located in North Philadelphia.

Media Courthouse Common Pleas Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, Judge Barry C. Dozor, and Judge Michael F.X. Coll -Judges being in cohorts with one another, have been prejudicial, discriminative, racially-bias, gender-bias, conspirators, oppressors, and hostile toward me. Both Judges improperly used their secretary and other resources of their judicial office to help them manage their cheating me of my liberties. Orders have been issued to me illegally to prevent me from entering my marital home, to take away my parental rights, to take away my civil rights, to arrest and imprison me at the county prison, and to force me to sign over the deed of my marital property. Both Judges have made comments that had racial or class overtones. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Department, Master Florence Wright, the Media Courthouse, and two of the Media Courthouse Administrators and the Borough of Media being in cohorts with one another, have cheated me out of my freedom, and also have been prejudicial, discriminative, racially-bias, gender-bias, oppressive, and hostile toward me because I am a black male.

Philadelphia Courthouse Common Pleas Judge Joel Johnson has cheated me out of my freedom, and also has been prejudicial, discriminative, gender-bias, oppressive, and hostile toward me because I am a black male. Judge Joel Johnson jailed me wrongfully.

Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick personally indicated in fraudulent Court Orders called Protection From Abuse Order Extension (PFAE) that I was a “criminal” and ordered years of eviction from my home, cheating me out of my personal freedom. I was faced with the possibility of up to six (6) months of imprisonment due to so-called criminal behaviors in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Judge Fitzpatrick then signed a PFAE on November 30, 2006 for another three (3) years against me, totaling six (6) years. On December 10, 2009 the phony court order expired.

Judge Fitzpatrick detached her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, from an August 1, 2008 appeal to Common Pleas Judges so that she could take away my marital property from me, cheat me, and personally gain from doing that.

The Media Courthouse Administrator(s) followed Judges Maureen Fitzpatrick and Barry Dozor, and Master Florence Wright’s Order issued to have me illegally evicted from my marital home and to take my name off the deed to my home. Furthermore, they ordered to dissolve my Custody Rights, to take away my Civil Rights, and to arrest and imprison me at the county prison.

Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick made racial, bias, prejudice, and discriminative remarks after she became disturbed about finding out that I had planned to appeal her October 7, 2004 decision, docket 03-007727, to imprison me. Judge Fitzpatrick’s remarks, “I want that nigger’s ass in jail,” were reported to me by my attorney, Robert B. George, Esquire, Diorio & Sereni LLP, Front & Plum Streets. My attorney was inquiring about my chances of appealing Judge Fitzpatrick’s October 7, 2004 decision to imprison me at Delaware County Prison.

Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick misrepresented facts and denied me due process to testify at a Protection From Abuse (PFA) trial on October 7, 2004. Judge Fitzpatrick racially-conspired with Judge Dozor and made her own interpretations of my personal business letters presented to her by her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, and then ordered me to shut up when it was my turn to provide testimony on my behalf.

On September 27, 2004 Judge Barry Dozor racially-bias conspired from his chambers with Master Florence Wright and ordered me handcuffed and detained by the Delaware County Courthouse Sherriffs after my appearance for a trial De Novo where I was challenging Master Wrights’ Orders of May 7, 2004 and October 20, 2003. Judge Barry Dozor, however, in violation of the Civil Rules of Procedure decided to hold an unscheduled Custody Trial. This Order was not filed, docketed or otherwise made a part of any official record, cheated me and violated my rights.

The Delaware County Sheriff Department racially/bias conspired with Judge Barry Dozor and carried out Judge Barry Dozor’s Order to handcuff me and finally transport me from the Delaware County Sheriff Detaining Cell to the Yeadon Pennsylvania Courthouse. The Order was not filed, docketed or otherwise made a part of any official record, cheated me and thereby violating my Civil Rights.

Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick maliciously tampered with and falsified court records, switched court dockets, and violated double jeopardy laws.

On December 28, 2009 the Office of Court Clerk Services Media Delaware County Courthouse verified that Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick altered docket number 04-5755 and switched it to 03-007727.

On December 28, 2009 the Office of Court Clerk Services in Media Delaware County Courthouse provided proof to me that Protection From Abuse (PFA) order 03-007727 (Marcia Brown as Plaintiff and myself, Samuel Downing, as defendant) expired against me on April 1, 2004. Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, however, has maliciously and fraudulently continued to send me notifications over the past five years and up through December 2009 that PFA order docketed 03-007727 was active and in full force.

On May 3, 2004 after suffering continued attacks and assaults against myself I filed for a PFA Order against Marcia Downing and was assigned docket 04-5755 signed by Judge Chad F. Kenny. Judge Kenny scheduled my hearing for May 6, 2004 and clearly marked me as the “plaintiff” on the complaint with docket 04-5755.

On May 6, 2004 at the PFA hearing where myself (Plaintiff), my witness, and Marcia Brown (Defendant) appeared, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick never addressed docket 04-5755, instead she refused to let me nor my witness testify and she continued the hearing to June 10, 2004. While processing the paperwork for the continuance, unbeknowest to myself, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick violated double jeopardy laws and resurrected an expired docket 03-007727 by altering and switching the docket number from 04-5755 to the expired docket 03-007727. In doing this, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick also altered and switched the complaining party from myself to Marcia Brown, making her the Plaintiff and subsequently listing me as the Defendant. On June 10, 2004 Judge Coll continued to violate double jeopardy laws and issued a PFA order against me for eighteen months. On June 10, 2005 Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick without incident nor service continued her violation of double jeopardy laws, criminal codes, and civil laws and extended the PFA order for another eighteen months. On November 30, 2006, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick without incident nor service again extended this PFA Order for another three years – set to expire on December 10, 2009.

In Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick’s continued and committed friendship with Marcia Brown, without fear or any regard to the court proceedings, civil rules of procedure, the law, or my constitutional rights altered evidence with the intent to impede, obstruct, and distort justice, influence decisions and intentionally schemed to inflict cruel and unusual punishment against myself.

This PFA order maliciously and intentionally altered from 04-5755 to 03-007727 and documented to run from 2004 through December 10, 2009 illegally affected the possession of my marital home and the custody of my two children, Cheyenne Downing and Samson Downing.

Judge Dozor made racial, bias, prejudicial, and discriminative remarks after he became disturbed about my then attorney’s, Patricia O’Neal, opinion about his July 31, 2003 decision, docket 03-007727, to grant Marcia Brown a PFA against me. Judge Dozor’s remarks, “You know how those black guys are. Trust me, I know this black guy,” were reported to me by Patricia O’Neal, Esquire. She opined that Judge Dozor had broken the law when he made the July 31, 2003 decision to issue a PFA Order to have me evicted from the house I own in Delaware County.

Although these actions have and are still happening over the past five (5) years, they began in 2003 and are still current and in full effect in 2008. Both Judges have a reputation of being hostile toward minorities. There is a racial, class, discriminative, bias, and prejudicial trend residing in the Media Courthouse, Judges, and the City of Media Delaware County who make a practice of cheating and being hostile toward black males and other minorities.

On December 22, 2008, although there was no PFA on record or in the file, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, Media District Court Judge, Delaware County, improper “Stay Away Order,” No. 03-007727) known as “Protection Order” in a prejudicial and bias act for her associate/co-worker, Judge Barry C. Dozor, and her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, issued to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing was challenged and wasn’t addressed and remains in effect.

On October 23, 2008 due to the discovery that Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, issued an improper “Stay Away Order,” in a prejudicial and bias act for her associate/co-worker, Judge Barry C. Dozor, and her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing, Judge Fitzpatrick was challenged on the improper PFA Order and she then recused herself and left the false PFA to remain current. The Order was never made part of any official record and therefore the Protection From Abuse Order (PFA) mailed to me in November 2006 was improper.

On September 18, 2008, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, Media District Court Judge, Delaware County, for her personal benefit, assigned an improper “scheduled pre-trial for Equitable Distribution” (No. 03-6372) for her Chambers in a prejudicial and bias act for her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing. Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick abruptly withdrew from the pre-trial that was scheduled for September 18, 2008, without any documented explanation.

In August 2008, the office of the Court Clerk Services Media Delaware County Courthouse certified a true and correct copy from the record that no such proof of services for the November 2006 and May 2005 PFA Orders was ever filed with the court to proceed on a hearing for Brown, Marcia v. Downing, Samuel. These Orders cheated me out of my personal freedom.

On August 7, 2008, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, Media District Court Judge, Delaware County, for her personal benefit, assigned an improper “scheduled hearing for Equitable Distribution” for her Chambers in a prejudicial and bias act for her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing. The hearing was never made part of any official procedural record.

On July 17, 2008, Hearing Officer Donald Lehrkinder, Esquire, issued an improper “Equitable Distribution Order,” in a prejudicial and bias act for his associate/co-worker, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick, and her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing. The Order was never made part of any official record.

In December of 2006 I received an Order that indicated that I had most recently conducted abusive activity (stalking, threats, attempts to enter the marital property, etc.) toward Marcia Brown. Marcia told her acquaintance, Judge Fitzpatrick, (based on her own testimony without my presence) that I had made most recent unwanted verbal and physical contact with her.

On November 30, 2006 Judge Fitzpatrick issued an improper “Stay Away Order,” known as “Protection Order” in a prejudicial and bias act for her associate/co-worker, Judge Barry C. Dozor, and her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing. The Order was never made part of any official record and was not issued in connection with any pending criminal matter and or abuse matter because there was “No Proof of Service” and there was “No Hearing.” This Order extended the PFA for three (3) years. This Order cheated me out of my personal freedom.

On May 26, 2005, Judge Fitzpatrick issued an improper “Stay Away Order,” known as “Protection Order” in her chambers with Judge Barry C. Dozor and Marcia Brown’s participation. The Order was never filed, docketed or otherwise made a part of any official record, and was not issued in connection with any pending criminal matter and or abuse matter because there was “No Proof of Service” and there was “No Hearing.” This Order extended the PFA for eighteen (18) months. This Order cheated me out of my personal freedom.

On October 7, 2004 Judge Fitzpatrick, with Judge Barry C. Dozor’s participation, issued a “Stay Away Order,” Superseding any prior PFA Order (Judge Dozor issued July 31, 2003) against me for an additional eight (8) months. This PFA Order illegally joined in the Custody Order which is still in effect today, 2008. (see Oct. 1, 2004 Custody Order 03-06372) (see Oct. 7, 2004 PFA Order 03-007727).

In June 2004 Judge Coll signed the PFA Order to extend it for an additional twelve (12) months.

On May 6, 2004 at the PFA hearing where myself (Plaintiff), my witness, and Marcia Brown (Defendant) appeared, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick never addressed docket 04-5755, instead she refused to let me nor my witness testify and she continued the hearing to June 10, 2004. While processing the paperwork for the continuance, unbeknowest to myself, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick violated double jeopardy laws and resurrected an expired docket 03-007727 by altering and switching the docket number from 04-5755 to the expired docket 03-007727. In doing this, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick also altered and switched the complaining party from myself to Marcia Brown, making her the Plaintiff and subsequently listing me as the Defendant.

May 7, 2004 Master Florence Wright issued an improper “Custody Order,” known as “Sole Custody” in a prejudicial and bias act for her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing after being challenged about the October 20, 2003 Order. This Order again was never made part of any proper record. This Order cheated me out of my parental freedom.

On October 20, 2003 Master Florence Wright issued an improper “Stay Away Order,” known as “Protection Order” and “Custody Order,” known as “Sole Custody” in a prejudicial and bias act for her acquaintance, Marcia Brown, to myself, Samuel Van Stone Downing. The Order was never made part of any proper record. This Order cheated me out of my parental freedom.

In July 2003, the original docket 03-007727, Judge Barry C. Dozor issued a “Stay Away Order” against me for Marcia Brown for twelve (12) months. I was ordered in July 2003 by Judge Barry C. Dozor to stay away (eviction) from the marital property, located at 509 Pembroke Ave. E. Lansdowne, PA, and to stay away (no visitation) from my two (2) children from the marriage.

The statute of limitations for any Protection From Abuse Order (PFA) is three (3) years.

The Statute of Limitations for a Protection From Abuse Order is three (3) years. Although, all of the above Court proceedings have happened throughout the past five (5) years, they are still current in 2008. *Today, as of December 10, 2009 the Order has expired.

The PFA Order of Judge Fitzpatrick on October 7, 2004 illegally supersedes and joins in the Custody Order, of Barry C. Dozor’s on October 1, 2004 and is still in effect in 2008, today.

The December 22, 2008 hearing where Judge Fitzpatrick’s extended PFA Order was challenged to Vacate, Media Courthouse evaded my challenge and issued a new pending hearing date while leaving the illegal Order in force today in 2009 without first filing, being on record, and getting Media Courthouse approval. Therefore, the racial bias-conspiracy, gender bias-conspiracy, oppression, and cheating initiated in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008, (2009) is still occurring.

The October 7, 2004 Order where Judge Fitzpatrick extended the PFA Order and illegally superseded (she checked off “physical custody” on the PFA Order) the October 1, 2004 Custody Order of Judge Barry C. Dozor of which both are in force today in 2009 without first filing, being on record, and getting Media Courthouse approval. Therefore, the racial bias-conspiracy, gender bias-conspiracy, oppression, and cheating initiated in 2003, 2004, and 2008, 2009 is still occurring.

The September 27, 2004 hearing where Master Wrights’ Orders of May 7, 2004 and October 20, 2003 was being challenged by myself with a Trial De Novo, Media Courthouse evaded my challenge. Instead Judge Barry Dozor lied, racially-bias conspired from his chambers with Master Florence Wright and decided to hold an unscheduled Custody Trial and issued a new illegal Custody Order which is in force today in 2009 without first filing, being on record, and getting Media Courthouse approval. Therefore, the racial bias-conspiracy, gender bias-conspiracy, oppression, and cheating initiated in 2003, 2004, 2008, and 2009 is still occurring.

On October 13, 2004, docket No 009714087, Judge Joel Johnson, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jailed me wrongfully. Judge Joel Johnson sentenced me to ninety days incarceration. Although I was paying child support Judge Joel Johnson jailed me wrongfully in support of Marcia Brown. Sentence suspended on condition I pays $600.00 toward arrears.

On November 14, 2007, docket No 009714087 Judge Joel Johnson, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jailed me wrongfully. Judge Joel Johnson sentenced me to thirty days incarceration. Although I was paying child support Judge Joel Johnson jailed me wrongfully in support of Marcia Brown. I may purged myself upon payment of $700.00 towards arrears. In both court cases involving Judge Joel Johnson, Marcia Brown, Judge Maureen Fitzpatrick contacted Judge Joel Johnson to wrongfully imprison me based on the ongoing Media Delaware County phony PFA Order conspired by Judges Maureen Fitzpatrick, Barry C. Dozor, and Michael F.X. Coll.

Haitians begin to return to unprepared capital

Haitians begin to return to unprepared capital

In this photo taken Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, men travel atop a vehicle to Gros Morne, about 105 miles (170 km) northeast of Port-au-Prince. A half-million Haitians who fled their shattered capital are starting to flow back to a maze of rubble piles, refugee camps and food lines, complicating ambitious plans to rebuild a better Haiti.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A half-million Haitians who fled their shattered capital after the earthquake are starting to return to a maze of rubble piles, refugee camps and food lines, complicating ambitious plans to build a better Haiti.

Haitian and international officials had hoped to use the devastation of Port-au-Prince - a densely packed sprawl of winding roads and ramshackle slums that is home to a third of Haiti's 9 million people - to build an improved capital and decentralize the country.

An estimated 500,000 people fled to the countryside in the days after the quake, many on buses paid for by the government to move quake survivors away from the heart of the destruction. Hundreds of thousands more are camped atop the rubble of their homes, or packed into makeshift camps.

Now some of those who fled are beginning to return after enduring the rural misery that drove them to Port-au-Prince in the first place.

"I didn't like it there," said Marie Marthe Juste, selling fried dough on the streets near the capital's Petionville suburb after returning from La Boule, in the mountains 20 miles (30 kms) to the north.

"My friends help me down here. Up there, I just sat around all day. At least here I can sell things to make a little money," she said, hobbling on crutches because she injured her ankle in the quake.

The government is largely powerless to keep people from returning, though Prime Minister Max Bellerive protested this week that Port-au-Prince cannot withstand another influx of people.

"It's impossible for these people to come back before the capital is reconstructed," he said.

The idea was to use the quake as an opportunity to fix some of Haiti's long-standing problems.

President Rene Preval's "Operation Demolition," an ambitious plan to clear the rubble, includes provisions to remove people living in unstable buildings by force, according to Aby Brun, an architect and member of the government's reconstruction team.

"We will destroy in an orderly and secure manner," Brun said.

A major part of that reconstruction plan is encouraging Haitians to move away from the capital, providing jobs and basic services in other cities, towns and villages.

"We want to create opportunities for them as well in the second cities," said the U.S. Agency for International Development's No. 2 official, Dr. Anthony Chan.

But Haitians are already streaming back to their shattered capital.

"This has been my home," said Alberto Shoute, 62, who returned to his flattened concrete house after eight days in the southern town of Jeremie. "Most people are from here and they didn't want to stay with people they barely knew. More are planning to come back soon."

Alfredo Stein, of the University of Manchester's Global Urban Research Centre, said planners must assume people will return - and must work closely with them to rebuild. Rather than thinking people are in the way, planners must consider their return to be an opportunity to fix not just the bricks and mortar but Haiti's social fabric, he said.

Haiti plans to build camps with sanitation outside the city, but Stein said such efforts usually fail.

"You're going to be constructing ghettos that are far away from where people will need to restore their economic lives," Stein said. "Experiences in other parts of the world show that after disasters, when people are resettled far away from where they were living, (they) turned out to be very complicated places where there is a lot of crime."

In Port-au-Prince, the U.N. says there are a half-million people in 315 encampments, most without sanitation. Schools are closed - or gone. There's enough rubble to fill five football stadiums the size of New Orleans' Superdome, and more than 1 million people need to be provided with food and water.

But if the government has a plan to rebuild, Bellerive did not reveal it - and no one knows when, or to what extent a new capital will rise.

The need remains pressing.

A crowd of Haitians swarmed into a Dominican tractor-trailer near the capital's airport Friday and stole 2 tons of food and water. The looting happened when someone noticed the Dominican driver got stuck while trying to make a U-turn.

In a nearby industrial park, other desperate and hungry Haitians ransacked eight truckloads of food and water, also from the Dominican Republic. It happened virtually under the noses of soldiers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division.

"Our guys weren't going to break out shields and start hitting people. That's not what we are here for," Lt. Col. Keith Pelligrini said as his troops cleaned up the mess.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited Friday in his role as a U.N. special envoy for Haiti relief. He expressed faith in Haiti's leaders and predicted the country would emerge stronger than before.

"They have a commitment to building the country they want to become, not just the country they were," he said during a tour of the Port-au-Prince clinic GHESKIO, widely considered to be the world's oldest AIDS clinic.

While the government says it will build suburban camps, the International Organization for Migration is trying a different tactic: Handing out tarpaulins, tools and basic building materials so people can erect simple shelters where they are.

"People need to be where their support networks are," said spokesman Mark Turner. Otherwise, he said, "They will be dependent on aid for a very long time."

Port-au-Prince has long been a powerful magnet for people throughout Haiti. It generates about 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

"In Haiti, things are not easy, so you go where you find the opportunity," said 23-year-old Ebed Jacques, a law student who left the capital after the earthquake and has returned - for now - to his native St. Marc, a bustling fishing town 70 miles (110 kms) north of the capital. "The jobs are in Port-au-Prince and the schools are in Port-au-Prince, so that's where you go."

And despite Haitian and international efforts, opportunities remain few and far between in the countryside.

Most refugees from the capital are in northern Haiti's Artibonite Valley, a starkly desolate region of rice fields and deforested mountains the color of cigarette ash.

The influx has strained small towns with few schools and few jobs beyond subsistence farming. It inflated prices for sugar, rice and other basics, and a lack of rain could hurt upcoming harvests in the region, which is Haiti's breadbasket.

In Gros Morne, a town of unpaved streets at the valley's northern edge, Ann Rose Solitaire, 36, is living with eight relatives crowded into a simple shack with a corrugated metal roof. She sent her mechanic husband back to Port-au-Prince, 100 miles (160 kms) to the southeast, and will probably join him soon.

"I'm here because I have nowhere else to go. But I don't want to stay," Solitaire said. "There's no way to support my family."

W. Phila. Hosts White House Minority Business Networking Event

by KYW's Steve Tawa

West Philadelphia hosted officials from Washington on Wednesday for a networking event to help minority-owned businesses get access to federal stimulus money.

The matchmaking, according to Della Clark of The Enterprise Center -- the site of the summit -- was to eliminate the gap between outreach and outcomes, to get results, not simply reassurance.

Adolfo Carrion, the director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, says President Obama is keen on providing small businesses and those that are minority-owned with access to capital.

Referring to the $787 billion federal stimulus package, Carrion (above, with Mayor Michael Nutter) says about $340 billion is out the door so far:

For full story go to: http://www.kywnewsradio.com/index.php

Sports: Neumann Women's Hoops Has New Top Scorer

by KYW's Matt Leon

In Division III women's basketball, Neumann University has a new all-time leading scorer. Senior forward Brittney Whetts set the record this past weekend when she poured in 33 points in a win over Cedar Crest College:

"When I came in as a freshman, my coach said to me 'you will leave here the alltime leading scorer' and I didn't really believe him. But when I broke it I thought back to that moment when he said I would do it."

That was Head Coach Frank Farnese that had that foresight. Even when grabbing a piece of history, Whetts says she kept the big picture in perspective:

"I think it was more special because we got the win. Whether I would have scored nine points or 33, I was just happy we got the victory over anything else."

For full story go to:

http://www.kywnewsradio.com/index.php

New North Philadelphia Food Bank Gives Clients a Choice

New North Philadelphia Food Bank Gives Clients a Choice

by KYW's Karin Phillips

A new kind of community food cupboard has opened up in North Philadelphia.

The new community food center (above), located in the basement of the Lillian Marrero branch of the Free Library at 6th and Lehigh, looks like a supermarket -- with shelves and freezer cases lined with food that clients can choose for themselves.

Philabundance president Bill Clark says this is one of few "choice" food pantries in the region, where people coming for food don't just get a prepackaged box:

"At a 'choice' cupboard the volunteers put the food on the shelves just like a grocery store, and then the clients are allowed to take an empty box and select from what's available to best meet their needs."

For full story go to: http://www.kywnewsradio.com/index.php

Philadelphia Expands Its Recycling Rewards Program

(Mayor Nutter lends a hand to the city's recycling program on
Thursday afternoon.)

by KYW's Steve Tawa

More neighborhoods in the city of Philadelphia will soon be able to reap the rewards of the single-stream recycling program, courtesy of a program that gives residents points for recycling.

The incentive to go green is expanding to new sections of the city, according to Mayor Nutter:

"Neighborhoods in the art museum area, Fairmount, Brewerytown, parts of North Philadelphia, Northern Liberties, Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond."

The "Recycle Bank" awards program began in North Philadelphia (see related story), and each month through July the roll-out schedule will expand to additional neighborhoods.

For full story go to:

http://www.kywnewsradio.com/index.php

Brown sworn in as US senator from Massachusetts

Brown sworn in as US senator from Massachusetts

This frame grab video image provided by Senate Television shows Vice President Joe Biden administering the oath to Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, on the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. John Kerry, D-mass., right, and outgoing Massachusetts Sen. Paul Kirk, second from right, look on.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Scott Brown took over the seat of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy on Thursday, vowing to be an independent voice in a bitterly divided Senate.

"I can't promise I will be right in every vote I make. ... I will do the very best job I can," Brown told reporters.

Brown was sworn-in by Vice President Joe Biden at a Capitol Hill ceremony a week earlier than he originally planned, and just in time to plunge into a partisan fight over President Barack Obama's choice of a union attorney for a top labor job.

Brown's arrival in the Senate ends the Democrats' supermajority and gives the GOP 41 votes they can use to block President Barack Obama's agenda.

At a news conference, Brown made an assertion about the last economic stimulus bill that most economists would dispute.

"The last stimulus bill didn't create one new job," Brown said in response to a question about a jobs bill pending in the Senate. He added that the stimulus may have retained some jobs.

Republicans have questioned the way the Obama administration has counted jobs created or saved with stimulus money. But most economists believe new jobs were created even though unemployment rates rose.

Depending on how Democrats set the Senate's calendar, Brown's first vote could be against the confirmation of Craig Becker, a lawyer for the Service Employees International Union, to a seat on the National Labor Relations Board, the federal panel that referees private sector labor-management disputes.

Brown said he hasn't decided on whether to support Becker.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved Becker's nomination on a party-line 13-10 vote Thursday, sending it to the full Senate.

Republicans have held up Becker's confirmation for months, saying they fear he might use the post to make labor laws more union-friendly without congressional approval.

Brown, 50, a little-known former state senator, stunned the nation with his upset victory last month over favored Democrat Martha Coakley and put the 2010 midterm elections in play for a possible GOP takeover of Congress. Brown's win derailed Obama's health care overhaul and catapulted Brown onto the national stage.

On Wednesday, Brown said he wanted to move up the swearing-in so that he could participate in upcoming Senate votes. On Thursday morning, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick certified the results of Brown's win, clearing the way for him to take the oath of office.

Conservative radio hosts and newspaper columnists had pressed for Brown to take office earlier.

Former Democratic Party Chairman Paul Kirk had been holding the seat temporarily after being appointed by Patrick after Kennedy's death.

Brown will fill the last two years of the late Kennedy's term. Kennedy held the seat for nearly a half-century before he died in August.

10 Americans charged in Haiti with kidnapping

10 Americans charged in Haiti with kidnapping

Corinna Lankford, front, and her daughter Nicole, far right, two of the 10 Americans who were arrested while trying to bus children out of Haiti without proper documents or government permission, arrive to court escorted by police in Port-au-Prince, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010. The American missionaries who tried to take Haitian children out of the country faced a prosecutor on Thursday to learn if they will face child smuggling charges that could put them in prison on the impoverished Caribbean island.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Ten U.S. Baptist missionaries were charged with kidnapping Thursday for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti to a hastily arranged refuge just as officials were trying to protect children from predators in the chaos of a great earthquake.

The Haitian lawyer who represents the 10 Americans portrayed nine of his clients as innocents caught up in a scheme they did not understand. But attorney Edwin Coq did not defend the actions of the group leader, Laura Silsby, though he continued to represent her.

"I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border," Coq said. "But Silsby did."

The Americans, most members of two Idaho churches, said they were rescuing abandoned children and orphans from a nation that UNICEF says had 380,000 even before the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake.

But at least two-thirds of the children, who range in age from 2 to 12, have parents who gave them away because they said the Americans promised the children a better life.

The investigating judge, who interviewed the missionaries Tuesday and Wednesday, found sufficient evidence to charge them for trying to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without documentation, Coq said.

Each was charged with one count of kidnapping, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and one of criminal association, punishable by three to nine years. Coq said the case would be assigned a judge and a verdict could take three months.

The magistrate, Mazard Fortil, left without making a statement. Social Affairs Minister Jeanne Bernard Pierre, who has harshly criticized the missionaries, refused to comment. The government's communications minister, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, said only that the next court date had not been set.

U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten showed up after 5 p.m. outside judicial police headquarters, where the Americans are being held and where President Rene Preval and top ministers now have temporary offices because theirs were destroyed in the quake.

"The U.S. justice system cannot interfere in what's going on with these Americans right now," he told reporters. "The Haitian justice system will do what it has to do."

U.S. consular officials have been making regular visits to the missionaries.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Americans' behavior "unfortunate whatever the motivation."

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. was open to discuss "other legal avenues" for the defendants, an apparent reference to the Haitian prime minister's earlier suggestion that Haiti could consider sending the Americans back to the United States for prosecution.

It's unlikely the Americans could be tried back home, according to Christopher J. Schmidt, an expert on international child kidnapping law in St. Louis, Mo. U.S. statutes may not even apply, he said, since the children never crossed an international border.

Silsby waved and smiled faintly to reporters but declined to answer questions as the Baptists were whisked away from the closed court hearing back to the holding cells where they have been held since Saturday. People rendered homeless by the quake sat idly under tarps in the parking lot, smoke rising from a cooking fire.

Earlier, Silsby expressed optimism about being released.

"We expect God's will will be done. And we will be released. And we're looking forward to what God is going to do," she told APTN before learning they would be charged.

Coq complained about conditions where the Americans were being held. He said they are sleeping on the floor without blankets and aren't being provided with adequate food. He said he had delivered pizza and sandwiches.

Silsby had begun planning last summer to create an orphanage for Haitian children in the Dominican Republic. When the earthquake struck she recruited other church members to help kick her plans into high gear. The 10 Americans rushed to Haiti and spent a week gathering children for their project.

Most of the children came from the quake-ravaged village of Callebas, where residents told The Associated Press that they handed over their children to the Americans because they were unable to feed or clothe them after the earthquake. They said the missionaries promised to educate the children and let relatives visit.

Their stories contradicted Silsby's account that the children came from collapsed orphanages or were handed over by distant relatives. She said the Americans believed they had all the paperwork needed - documents she said she obtained in the Dominican Republic - to take the children out of Haiti.

"They are very precious kids that have lost their homes and families and are so deeply in need of, most of all, God's love and his compassion," she told the AP in a jailhouse interview Saturday.

The Dominican consul in Haiti, Carlos Castillo, told the AP on Thursday that the day the Americans departed for the border, Silsby visited him and said he had a document from Dominican migration officials authorizing her to extract the children from Haiti.

Castillo said he warned Silsby that if she lacked adoption papers signed by the appropriate Haitian officials her mission would be considered child trafficking. "We were very specific," he said.

A Roman Catholic official in the Dominican Republic, meanwhile, told the AP that Silsby had agreed to rent 45 rooms at a former hotel owned by the Church in Cabarete, a northern beach resort.

Silsby agreed to rent the rooms for $7,000 a month and solicited a list of required repairs, said Jose Hidalgo, the real estate agent who brokered the deal.

The assistant pastor of Silsby's church in Meridian, Idaho, said neither Central Valley Baptist Church nor any of the missionaries' relatives had any comment about the decision to charge the Americans.

Drew Ham had defended the missionaries on Wednesday, saying they were putting the childrens' interests first at a time of chaos.

The church was locked on Thursday afternoon but lights were on. Signs on the church's front door said "No Entrance. Thank you for your understanding." A church official told reporters massed outside that no statement was anticipated for Thursday.

The children are being cared for at the Austrian-run SOS Children's Village in Port-au-Prince. An official there, Patricia Vargas, said none of the children who are old enough to talk have said they were orphans.

Press Release: Phila. Front Page News Reports -Legal Lynching In Delaware County, PA, -Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com (610) 931-8810

Press Release: Phila. Front Page News Reports -Legal Lynching In Delaware County, PA, -Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com (610) 931-8810


Michael Coard, Attorney.
Photo by Chris Sembrot

MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT

IDENTIFICATION NO. 47344

ONE LIBERTY PLACE

1650 MARKET STREET, SUITE 3652

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103

215/552-8714

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : DELAWARE COUNTY

: COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

V.

: CRIMINAL DIVISION

TIANA DRUMMOND-PHIRI : NO. CP-23-CR-0003267-2009

POST-SENTENCE MOTION

Tiana Drummond-Phiri (hereinafter referred to as “the defendant”), by her trial counsel

MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE, timely files this post-sentence motion pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.Pro. 720(A)(1), (B)(1)(a)(ii) and (iv) and 606(A)(6) for the purpose of seeking a judgment of acquittal because the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law or (in the alternative) a new trial because the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and also because the interests of justice require a new trial.

In support of this post-sentence motion, the defendant avers as follows:

On January 22, 2010, Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Keeler found the defendant guilty of Conspiracy (18 Pa.C.S.A. 903(a)(1), M2) to commit Simple Assault (18 Pa.C.S.A. 2701(a)) and sentenced her to one year probation and court costs in connection with a March 16, 2009 approximately 4:00 p.m. school-related melee in which no one alleged that she hit anyone or that she even attempted to hit anyone. Moreover, not even one of the admitted participants in the aforesaid melee was charged.

At the outset, the defendant seeks a judgment of acquittal because the evidence of an alleged conspiracy was insufficient as a matter of law. Not only is the Commonwealth required to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, it is also required to prove “each and every element of each and every crime charged” beyond a reasonable doubt. And it clearly failed to do so.

For example, Conspiracy requires sufficient evidence of “intent,” an “agreement,” and an “overt act.”

But there was no beyond a reasonable doubt evidence against the defendant: not one single Commonwealth witness presented any sufficient evidence whatsoever as to any specific “intent” on the part of the defendant to plan or otherwise participate in any particular crime. In fact, one of those Commonwealth witnesses- namely complainant Steven Farley himself- admitted during his trial testimony that it was he who, in school prior to the melee at a train station parking lot, yelled “Shut the fuck up” directly in the defendant’s face, that she said “nothing” in response, and that she did not even look at him in a school hallway. Such silence and passivity certainly cut against any evidence of criminal intent. Furthermore, it was the complainant himself who admitted during his trial testimony that he had taken off his shirt- despite the temperature being a cold approximately 40 degrees in the station’s parking lot- before the melee. Such clothing-removal conduct by him was obviously and logically in preparation for a fight. Moreover, unlike the defendant who used that train station daily to get to and from school, the complainant had no law-abiding reason for being there, especially on that particular date and at that particular time.

In addition, not one single Commonwealth witness presented any sufficient evidence whatsoever as to any “agreement” on the part of the defendant in regard to being involved in any crime. No one could testify as to what she said, if anything at all, to any particular person about any particular criminal activity at all. It’s as simple as that.

As well, not one single Commonwealth witness presented any sufficient evidence whatsoever as to any “overt act” by the defendant. In fact, everyone agrees that she threw no punches and that she was approximately 40-50 yards away from the actual melee.

It is interesting to note that despite the Commonwealth having thoroughly investigated the March 16, 2009 incident prior to the June 2, 2009 preliminary hearing, it did not add the conspiracy charge until that preliminary hearing date. Such an amendment tends to show that charge as a “panicky catch-all eleventh hour afterthought” to “creatively cut-and-paste” a case that was shaky at best.

Not only do the facts support a verdict of not guilty, but so does the law. Although there was insufficient proof that the defendant actually accompanied any alleged assaulter, including the “unknown black male” (who supposedly punched the complainant), to the scene, even if she had accompanied that person to the scene of the subsequent crime, that is not proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Mills, 478 A.2d 30 (Pa. Super., 1984). Also, although there was insufficient proof of the defendant having actually been associated with any alleged assaulter, even if she had been associated with that person, that is not proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 453 A.2d 927 (Pa., 1982). Similarly, although there was insufficient proof of the defendant having actually known in advance about the melee, even if she had known, that is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Mercado, 617 A.2d 342 (Pa. Super., 1992). Likewise, although there was insufficient proof that the defendant was present at the precise location of the melee (because evidence indicated that she was approximately 40-50 yards away), even if she had been immediately and directly present, that is not proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Swerdlow, 636 A.2d 1173 (Pa. Super., 1994). Along the same lines, the fact that apparently two or more persons were involved in the melee does not of itself constitute a conspiracy. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Derr, 462 A.2d 208 (Pa., 1983). Nothing more than suspicion and possibility were presented as purported evidence regarding an alleged conspiracy. And, most assuredly, suspicion and possibly are insufficient evidence. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Frey, 399 A.2d. 742 (Pa. Super., 1979).

Apart from seeking a motion for judgment of acquittal, the defendant in the alternative seeks a new trial because the verdict was against the weight of the evidence and also because the interests of justice require a new trial.

It was against the weight of the evidence in that, inter alia, the trial judge failed to give due weight to the defendant’s unimpeachable, unarguable, and absolutely pristine reputation for being law-abiding, honest, and/or non-violent. Commonwealth v. Neely, 539 A.2d 1317 (Pa. Super., 1988) and its progeny hold that good reputation evidence “in and of itself” may raise a reasonable doubt as to guilt. Along with her great reputation, the defedant is also an honor student who has received letters of recommendation for college from the likes of the Honorable Timothy R. Rice, United States Magistrate Judge, who in an October 1, 2008 letter described her as a “mature young woman with discipline and personal integrity” who would be a “positive presence on any college campus.” The verdict was also against the weight of the evidence in that, inter alia, a number of Commonwealth witnesses presented inconsistent and contradictory testimony. One example- among numerous examples from several Commonwealth witnesses- is the fact that although the complainant alleged that he had heard nothing about a fight that was to take place later in the day, everyone else in the school had heard something about it. Such testimony should have warranted a “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus” consideration.

The defendant further seeks a new trial because the interests of justice require such. From the very beginning, this case is replete with allegations of racism, racial bias, and/or racial unfairness. These allegations are based on the fact that while white students were involved in the melee, not one of them was charged- not even the white complainant who admitted that he threw punches. However, the defendant- a black honors student with no criminal record and who threw no punches- was charged and convicted. The racial implications have become such a major component of this case that the NAACP and the media as well as others (including apparently the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission) have begun investigations. To the extent that race played a part in the arrest, the charging, and the conviction of a black person, played a part in the failure to arrest, charge, or convict a white person, and/or played a part in granting immunity to a white Commonwealth witness but not to a black defense witness, the defendant’s Fifth (i.e., due process), Sixth (impartial fact-finder), and Fourteenth (i.e., due process and equal protection) Amendment rights were violated.

And to the extent that the defendant received any sentence whatsoever for what was at worst a De Minimis infraction (18 Pa.C.S.A. 312) that was committed by others, such a sentence- for an honor student whose plans for law school have been dashed by this conviction- violates her right against cruel and unusual punishment as precluded by the Eighth Amendment.

In conclusion, and pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.Pro. 720(B)(1)(b), defendant (who now has new counsel replacing trial counsel) respectfully requests permission to file a supplemental post-sentence motion in a timely manner following her receipt of the trial transcript which has been ordered.

Respectfully submitted,

_________________________________ 2/1/10

MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE Date

VERIFICATION

I verify that the statements made in the foregoing document are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief. I understand that false statements herein are made subject to the penalties of 18 Pa.C.S. Section 4904 relating to unsworn falsification to authorities.

2/1/10­ __________________

Date MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE

MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT

IDENTIFICAITON NO. 47344

ONE LIBERTY PLACE

1650 MARKET STREET, SUITE 3652

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103 215/552-8714

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : DELAWARE COUNTY

: COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

V.

: CRIMINAL DIVISION

TIANA DRUMMOND-PHIRI : NO. CP-23-CR-0003267-2009

NOTICE OF HEARING

AND NOW, this day of ____________________, 2010, upon consideration of the within Post-Sentence Motion, a rule is entered on the District Attorney of Delaware County to show cause why said motion should not be granted.

A hearing is scheduled for the ___________ day of _________________________,

2010 in courtroom __________ at the Delaware County Courthouse in Norristown, PA at

______ o'clock a.m.

BY THE COURT:

______________________________

J.
MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT

IDENTIFICATION NO. 47344

ONE LIBERTY PLACE

1650 MARKET STREET, SUITE 3652

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103

215/552-8714

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : DELAWARE COUNTY

: COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

V.

: CRIMINAL DIVISION

TIANA DRUMMOND-PHIRI : NO. CP-23-CR-0003267-2009

ORDER

AND NOW, this _____ day of ______________ , 2010 upon consideration of the

foregoing Post-Sentence Motion, it is hereby ORDERED that said motion is granted.

BY THE COURT:

.

J.

MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT

IDENTIFICATION NO. 47344

ONE LIBERTY PLACE

1650 MARKET STREET, SUITE 3652

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103

215/552-8714

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : DELAWARE COUNTY

: COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

V.

: CRIMINAL DIVISION

TIANA DRUMMOND-PHIRI : NO. CP-23-CR-0003267-2009

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on the 1st day of February, 2010, the foregoing Post-Sentence

Motion was served upon the following persons by messenger delivery:

The Honorable Charles Keeler

Delaware County Courthouse

Media, PA 19063

ADA Thomas Laurie Jr., Esquire

District Attorney’s Office

Delaware County Courthouse

Media, PA 19063

___________________________________ 2/1/10

MICHAEL COARD, ESQUIRE Date

Phila. Social Workers on Trial for Fraud in Danieal Kelly's Death

by KYW's Tony Hanson

A federal trial is underway in Philadelphia for four people charged with fraud linked to the starvation death of 14-year-old Danieal Kelly in 2006.

The defense cautioned the jurors this is not a murder case -- and suggested the evidence won't support the fraud charges.

MultiEthnic Behavioral Health had contracted with the city of Philadelphia to provide social services to serve as the safety net for children at risk of neglect, abuse, and delinquency.

But prosecutor Vineet Gauri says the defendants, supervisors, and employees at MultiEthnic stole money and did not make required family visits -- and all the while, a young life was tragically lost.

For full story go to:

http://www.kywnewsradio.com/index.php

Holder: I made decision to charge terror suspect

Holder: I made decision to charge terror suspect

FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2009 file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington. Holder said Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010, he made the decision to charge the Christmas Day terror suspect in civilian court rather than the military system, with no objection from all the other relevant departments of the government.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he made the decision to charge the Christmas Day terror suspect in civilian court rather than the military system, with no objection from all the other relevant departments of the government.

In a letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, the attorney general wrote that the FBI told its partners in the intelligence community on Christmas Day and again the next day that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab would be charged criminally.

Holder's letter was the latest volley in a vigorous counterattack by the Obama administration to Republican charges that the arrest and FBI interrogation of the Detroit suspect was a mistake that cost a chance to learn key information.

The letter followed less than 24 hours after senior administration officials disclosed that the suspect had resumed talking to U.S. interrogators last week after breaking off his discussions the day of his arrest.

Abdulmutallab has discussed his contacts in Yemen and provided intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, officials say.

Holder said that the possibility of detaining Abdulmutallab in the U.S. military system under the law of war was explicitly discussed in the days following the arrest, including at a Jan. 5 meeting that included President Barack Obama and senior members of the national security team.

"No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued," the attorney general wrote.

Holder said his decision was consistent with earlier practices followed uniformly in both the Obama and Bush administrations.

"The Bush administration used the criminal justice system to convict more than 300 individuals on terrorism-related charges," Holder wrote. The attorney general specifically mentioned the case of Richard Reid, who tried but failed to ignite a shoe bomb on a U.S.-bound trans-Atlantic jetliner.

"The practice of the U.S. government followed by prior and current administrations without a single exception, has been to arrest and detain under federal criminal law all terrorist suspects who are apprehended inside the United States," Holder added.

Holder defended the decision to read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, which has been a focus of the Republican criticism.

FBI Director Robert Mueller testified Tuesday that FBI agents questioned Abdulmutallab until he entered surgery, and that the suspect was not advised of his Miranda right to remain silent until after he emerged from surgery. A federal law enforcement official, requesting anonymity to discuss an ongoing case, said the suspect made clear upon emerging from surgery he was going to stop talking and then was given his Miranda warning.

"Neither advising Abdulmutallab of his Miranda rights nor granting him access to counsel prevents us from obtaining intelligence from him," wrote Holder "On the contrary, history shows that the federal justice system is an extremely effective tool for gathering intelligence."

Republican critics have argued that Abdulmutallab could have been declared an enemy combatant and held indefinitely without providing him access to an attorney.

"The government's legal authority to do so is far from clear," Holder wrote. He cited a ruling by his Republican predecessor as attorney general, Michael Mukasey, while he was a federal judge, that the Bush administration could not prevent an enemy combatant, Jose Padilla, from speaking to an attorney while he was in military custody.

The attorney general also said the course proposed by the Republicans wasn't feasible.

"There is no court-approved system currently in place in which suspected terrorists captured inside the United States can be detained and held without access to an attorney; nor is there any known mechanism to persuade an uncooperative individual to talk to the government that has been proven more effective than the criminal justice system," Holder wrote.

Holder's letter went to McConnell and 10 other Republican senators who had questioned the decision on charging Abdulmutallab.

Meantime, after weeks of criticizing what they believed was a failure to get more intelligence from Abdulmutallab, Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee opened a new line of attack Wednesday. They criticized as a political maneuver the Tuesday evening briefing by a senior administration official that revealed some details about the success in persuading Abdulmutallab to resume talking. The official disclosed that the FBI brought members of the suspect's family to this country to help persuade him to cooperate again.

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said: "I can't think of a reason that (briefing) would happen other than political cover."

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair declined to say whether he approved the briefing or the release of information about the cooperation of Abdulmutallab's family.

"I have been surprised by the combination of reality and politics having to do with this issue," Blair responded, adding that the public discussion of intelligence gleaned from Abdulmutallab has not been "particularly good" from the perspective of those on the inside.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Wednesday for a hearing to question Holder about the case. The chairman, Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., said he had been negotiating to bring Holder to testify since January and expected he would appear in March.

Philadelphia Hospitals Pitching In to Treat Injured Haitians

by KYW's Michelle Durham

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is one of several Philadelphia hospitals that have received patients from Haiti.

Dr. Rick Shannon, chairman of the hospital's department of medicine, says three Haitian women and one little boy arrived after extensive talks with the departments of State and Homeland Security.

He says they were able to receive permission to come here on humanitarian grounds:

"All of them suffered very serious crush injuries as a result of buildings falling on their lower extremities."

The little boy is being treated at Children's Hospital.

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Manning the biggest star by far on Media Day

Manning the biggest star by far on Media Day

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (18) during media day for NFL football Super Bowl XLIV, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2010, in Miami.

MIAMI (AP) -- Peyton Manning worked the room masterfully. He took questions from all directions, throwing in plenty of eye contact. He spoke glowingly when necessary, took a few stabs at humor and steered away from anything that might come across as controversial.

Yes, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback handled Super Bowl media day with the same aplomb he shows at the line of scrimmage.

Manning, a four-time MVP and clearly the biggest star in South Florida, spoke on a wide range of subjects Tuesday without revealing a whole lot we didn't already know. He certainly didn't provide any bulletin-board fodder to Sunday's opponent, the New Orleans Saints.

Heck, that's his hometown, the city where his father Archie played and still lives. If the Colts weren't trying to win a title of their own, Manning would've been the Saints' biggest fan. He was certainly happy when they beat Minnesota in an overtime thriller to earn their first trip to the Super Bowl, a game that Manning won three years ago.

"The Saint were my team growing up," he said. "I was really excited for New Orleans, watching them win that game against the Vikings. It was exciting to see the French Quarter empty in the third quarter and then be packed after the game. I had a lot of friends down there tell me what it was like."

Manning said he also appreciates the history of the Colts, dating back to their days in Baltimore. In fact, one of his father's favorite players was Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas (the other: Mickey Mantle).

"I understand the significance of Unitas," Manning said. "I still feel that connection to Colts history."

Not long after being drafted by Indianapolis, Manning met Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who was then playing at right-down-the-road Purdue.

"He came to see a Colts game," said Manning, who then quickly pointed out that Brees "paid for his ticket. Everything was on the up-and-up," apparently in case the NCAA was listening.

Manning didn't get any offbeat questions, but that didn't stop him from trying to add a little levity to the proceedings.

"No, I'm not superstitious," he said. "I'm just a little 'stitious. OK, that's a bad joke. Eli gave me that one. I take it back."

Later, when another reporter broached the same subject, Manning was more revealing. He doesn't carry around a rabbit's foot, but he does have a routine he goes through before every game. When he first gets to the stadium, he reads the game program from front to back. Then, exactly two hours before kickoff, he goes out to the field to throw a few balls with receiver Reggie Wayne.

Manning shied away from any questions that might have turned controversial.

For instance, when asked about Lane Kiffin bolting from Manning's alma mater, Tennessee, to take the coaching job at USC, the quarterback replied, "I'm looking forward when it comes to the situation in Knoxville. I just want to wish the best to coach Dooley," referring to Kiffin's successor Derek Dooley.

On other subjects, Manning said:

- He misses former NFL quarterback Steve McNair, who was slain last summer by his mistress in what was ruled a murder-suicide. "There was no tougher player in the NFL than Steve McNair. I'm really proud to have shared the MVP award with him in 2003."

- The Colts will try to establish their ground game Sunday, even though they ranked last in the NFL in rushing yards during the regular season. "I don't think you can just drop back and pass on every single play."

- He believes the league is sincere in its efforts to deal with concussions. "I appreciate what the NFL is trying to do. The game is about being tough, but it's about being smart as well."

- The Florida quarterback who's getting mixed reviews from NFL scouts will do better in the pros than many are expecting. "Any NFL team would be lucky to have Tim Tebow. I think about all the problems we've had on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1. He was probably 100 percent in his college career at converting those."

- It's too early for him to assess the impact of his career, even though he's been in the league for a dozen seasons and is one win away from joining the elite group of quarterbacks who led teams to more than one Super Bowl title. "When my career is over, I'll look back and reflect. But it's so year-to-year right now."

During his hour-long session, Manning took just under 80 questions and was often surrounded by up to 100 reporters, photographers and cameramen - all crammed into an area not much bigger than the hotel rooms most fans are staying in this week.

Not surprisingly, putting that many people into such a confined space can cause tensions to rise. Police had to be called to settle a dispute between two media members who jostled for prime real estate even before Manning arrived. But everyone came to an uneasy truce.

Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark

Lawmakers upset over Obama's 2nd anti-Vegas remark

President Barack Obama makes a statement in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 1, 2010, on the budget he submitted to Congress.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Nevada lawmakers lashed out at President Barack Obama on Tuesday after he made another reference to Las Vegas while explaining how people should make tough choices on spending.

The issue is sensitive to Sin City because its economy is largely based on tourism, and several lawmakers said they were shocked that Obama singled out Las Vegas again after commenting one year ago about bailed-out banks holding meetings here.

"When times are tough, you tighten your belts," Obama said, according to a White House transcript of his appearance Tuesday at a high school in North Nashua, N.H.

"You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage," Obama said. "You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices."

The comments quickly sparked a flurry of reaction from federal, state and local lawmakers in the Silver State, which had an unemployment rate of 13 percent in December.

"I'll do everything I can to give him the boot," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said during a hastily called news conference, adding that he was incensed when he heard about the comments and said he would no longer welcome the president here if he visits.

"This president is a real slow learner," said Goodman, who is not affiliated with a political party.

"Enough is enough!" Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley said in a statement. "President Obama needs to stop picking on Las Vegas and he needs to let Americans decide for themselves how and where to spend their hard-earned vacation dollars."

Nevada's economy has been hit hard with foreclosures, unemployment and bankruptcies during the past two years as consumers everywhere tighten leisure spending and companies spend less on meetings and conventions.

Harry Reid, Democratic Senate majority leader and one of Obama's closest allies, issued a statement headlined "Reid to Obama: 'Lay off Las Vegas'" and was unusually blunt in his reaction.

"The President needs to lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn't be spending their money," Reid said. "I would much rather tourists and business travelers spend their money in Las Vegas than spend it overseas."

Reid later released a letter he received from Obama in which the president said he "wasn't saying anything negative about Las Vegas."

"I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun," Obama said, according to the letter. "There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country's great destinations."

Obama said he always enjoys his visits to Las Vegas.

A White House spokesman referred to Obama's letter to Reid and said the administration had no further comment.

Sen. John Ensign, a Republican, complained that Obama "failed to grasp the weight that his words carry."

"Once again he has threatened the struggling economy of Las Vegas," Ensign said, recalling what he characterized as Obama's "irresponsible" comment in February 2009.

Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons and Rep. Dean Heller, both Republicans, and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus also disparaged the president's remarks, while Republican candidates hoping to unseat Reid this year called for an apology.

One year ago, Obama commented during a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind., that corporations shouldn't use federal bailout money for trips to Las Vegas, the Super Bowl or corporate jets. Tourism and casino officials said the comment hurt the city as companies canceled meetings in Las Vegas and rescheduled them elsewhere.

Obama later said during a May 2009 trip to Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas that it was nice to get out of Washington and "there's nothing like a quick trip to Vegas in the middle of the week."

Goodman said he thought Obama had a "psychological hang-up" of using Las Vegas as an example of excessive spending, and that this time, an apology wouldn't be enough.

"He has to step up right away and say, you know, he wasn't thinking," Goodman said. "Sometimes when he's not using his monitors and reading what he says, he doesn't think. And this is one of those times he didn't think, and he should straighten out the record because he's been here, he knows Las Vegas is a great place."

Rare Federal Death Penalty Murder Case Opens in Phila.

by KYW's Tony Hanson

An alleged interstate drug kingpin charged with ordering the murder of a witness has gone on trial in Philadelphia, in a rare federal death penalty case.

A federal prosecutor has told a jury that defendant Maurice Phillips ran a massive cocaine operation and ordered a hit that killed two people.

Phillips allegedly dealt tons of cocaine and took in duffel bags full of money -- over $30 million. And prosecutor Maureen McCartney says that when a trusted insider, his money launderer, began cooperating with authorities, Phillips ordered her killed -- and paid his first cousin to do it.

According to McCartney, Bryant Phillips killed Chinetta Glanville and her adult godson who tried to come to her aid.

The admitted hitman is now cooperating with the prosecution and will testify before this jury.

For full story go to: http://www.kyw1060.com/

Haiti minister: US Baptists could face US courts

Haiti minister: US Baptists could face US courts

FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 file photo, Americans, from left: Steve McMullen, Jim Allen, Carla Thompson, Silas Thompson, Paul Thompson, Laura Silsby, Drew Culberth and Nicole Lankford stand at police headquarters in the international airport of Port-au-Prince. Haitian officials said Monday, Feb. 1, 2010 that they are thinking of sending the U.S. Baptists to the United States for prosecution after they were arrested trying to take 33 children out of the country without government permission.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Haiti's prime minister said Monday that 10 Americans who tried to take a busload of undocumented Haitian children out of the country knew that "what they were doing was wrong" and could be prosecuted in the United States.

Prime Minister Max Bellerive also told The Associated Press that his country is open to having the Americans face U.S. justice, since most government buildings - including Haiti's courts - were crippled by the monster earthquake.

"It is clear now that they were trying to cross the border without papers. It is clear now that some of the children have live parents," Bellerive said. "And it is clear now that they knew what they were doing was wrong."

If they were acting in good faith - as the Americans claim - "perhaps the courts will try to be more lenient with them," he said.

U.S. Embassy officials would not say whether Washington would accept hosting judicial proceedings for the Americans, who are mostly from Idaho. For now, the case remains firmly in Haitian hands, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington.

"Once we know all the facts, we will determine what the appropriate course is, but the judgment is really up to the Haitian government," he said.

Haitian officials insist some prosecution is needed to help deter child trafficking, which many fear will flourish in the chaos caused by the devastating Jan. 12 quake. The government and aid groups are still struggling to get food, water, shelter and basic health care to hundreds of thousands of survivors, and many parents are desperate to get help for their children.

U.S. diplomats have had "unlimited" access to the 10 detainees, and will monitor any court proceedings, he said. They have not yet been charged.

Members of the church group insisted they were only trying to save abandoned children - but few appear to have had any significant experience with Haiti, international charity work or international adoption regulations.

Since their arrest Friday near the border, the church group has been held inside two small concrete rooms in the same judicial police headquarters building where ministers have makeshift offices and give disaster response briefings.

"There is no air conditioning, no electricity. It is very disturbing," Attorney Jorge Puello told the AP by phone from the Dominican Republic, where the Baptists hoped to shelter the children in a rented beach hotel.

One of the Americans, Charisa Coulter of Boise, Idaho, was treated Monday at a field hospital for either dehydration or the flu. Looking pale as she lay on a green Army cot, the 24-year-old Coulter, was being guarded by two Haitian police officers.

"They're treating me pretty good," she said. "I'm not concerned. I'm pretty confident that it will all work out."

Investigators have been trying to determine how the Americans got the children, and whether any of the traffickers that have plagued the impoverished country were involved. Their detained spokeswoman, Laura Silsby, said they were "just trying to do the right thing," but she conceded she had not obtained the required passports, birth certificates and adoption certificates for them - a near impossible challenge in the post-quake mayhem.

The 33 kids, ranging in age from 2 months to 12 years, arrived with their names written in tape on their shirts at a children's home where some told aid workers they have surviving parents. Haitian officials said they were trying to reunite them.

"One (9-year-old) girl was crying, and saying, 'I am not an orphan. I still have my parents.' And she thought she was going on a summer camp or a boarding school or something like that," said George Willeit, a spokesman for the SOS Children's Village.

The prime minister said some of those parents may have knowingly given their kids to the Americans in hopes they would reach the United States - a not uncommon wish for poor families in a country that already had an estimated 380,000 orphans before the quake.

Haiti's overwhelmed government has halted all adoptions unless they were in motion before the earthquake amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to being seized and sold. Sex trafficking has been rampant in Haiti. Bellerive's personal authorization is now required for the departure of any child.

The arrested Americans' churches are part of the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, which has extensive humanitarian programs worldwide, but they decided to mount their own "rescue mission" following the earthquake.

Also Monday:

- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the U.S. military would fly critically ill quake survivors to patients in several states to avoid overloading Florida. The flights had stalled for five days due to concerns over space and costs in U.S. hospitals

- In Washington, the American Red Cross said a waiting list of 1,000 flights for Haiti's airport is limiting delivery of relief supplies.

- In Haiti's first organized political demonstration since the quake, hundreds of people demanded that President Rene Preval resign. Participants called for the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former priest who was ousted in a 2004 rebellion. The rally was organized by Aristide supporters.

- A U.S. Navy carrier left Haiti after delivering about 500 tons of humanitarian aid. The USS Carl Vinson arrived off the Haitian coast three days after the quake. Its personnel evacuated 435 patients and its 19 helicopters flew more than 1,000 hours to support the relief operation. Ten of those choppers will remain in Haiti.

- Haiti announced "Operation Demolition," an effort to demolish all collapsed buildings - public and private, commercial and residential. The declaration by Aby Brun, an architect and member of the government's reconstruction team, followed comments by President Rene Preval that Haiti can take advantage of the catastrophe to reverse the trend of migration to Port-au-Prince. "We will destroy in an orderly and secure manner," Brun said.

- Many schools in Haiti's outlying provinces, which were not as affected by the quake, reopened Monday, and more provincial schools will reopen Feb. 8, the government said. It could take months for classes to resume in the hard-hit capital, where the disaster may have ended formal education altogether for many youngsters.

"They've cut off my leg," said Billie Flon, 9. He said he can't go back to school because his house was destroyed and he needs to beg for money.