In the Nation
Audit: Pentagon mishandled items
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon may have mishandled or even lost track of thousands of surplus machine guns, armored vehicles, and other pieces of demilitarized equipment sold or provided to foreign governments, according to an internal audit.
Some of the equipment was given to unauthorized nations, jeopardizing U.S. national security, according to the Feb. 13 report by the Pentagon's inspector general. A copy was obtained yesterday.
Defense Logistics Agency spokesman Douglas Ide did not immediately know whether the items at issue were sold or given to the foreign governments, which the report does not identify. He said the Pentagon was reviewing the report. - AP
Boy, 9, pleads guilty in killing
ST. JOHNS, Ariz. - A 9-year-old accused of methodically shooting his father and his father's roommate to death last fall pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of negligent homicide, settling the case that shocked and mystified the nation.
Under a plea agreement, the boy admitted guilt in the roommate's death, and charges of premeditated murder in both deaths were dropped. Police said the boy shot his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, a coworker who rented a room from Romero, with a .22-caliber rifle as they returned home from work Nov. 5.
The plea spares the rural community of about 4,000 from what would have been an emotional trial and means the boy will not serve time in the state juvenile corrections system or be tried as an adult. He was not asked in court to explain a motive and has not been sentenced. - AP
Chimp victim at Cleveland Clinic
STAMFORD, Conn. - A Connecticut woman grievously wounded in the face and hands this week by a rampaging chimpanzee has been transferred to the Cleveland Clinic, which two months ago performed the nation's first successful face transplant.
Charla Nash, 55, of Stamford, was transferred to the Cleveland hospital yesterday, three days after being mauled by her friend's 200-pound chimp, Travis. The chimp was shot and killed by police.
Spokeswoman Eileen Sheil said Nash was being seen by a head-and-neck surgeon and was likely to be treated through a team approach involving many specialists. "I don't know at this point" if a face transplant will be considered, Sheil said. - AP
Elsewhere:
Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry, 72 and beset by health problems as prosecutors seek to jail him on accusations of failing to file his 2007 tax returns, was admitted to a hospital yesterday to prepare for a kidney transplant this afternoon.
The government must release sealed documents that could reveal new details about the origins and scope of the prostitution investigation that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a federal judge ordered yesterday.
Former President Jimmy Carter said his presidential library and museum in Atlanta would undergo a $10 million renovation to modernize it and update his story to include his post-White House life and work.
