STEVE RUARK / Associated Press
The remains of Army Staff Sgt. Alex French 4th arrive at Dover AFB, Del. He was killed Wednesday in Afghanistan.
In the Nation
Ethics committee probes Ensign
WASHINGTON - The Senate ethics committee is looking into allegations of misconduct stemming from Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign's extramarital affair with a former campaign aide, a spokeswoman said.The committee confirmed it was conducting a "preliminary inquiry" into allegations of misconduct. Also yesterday, the New York Times reported that Ensign helped the husband of the former campaign aide secure business as a Washington lobbyist with two companies whose executives donated to the senator's political causes.
The husband, Douglas Hampton, had been a top aide on Ensign's staff, and began lobbying Congress and federal agencies even though he was barred from doing so for a year.
- Bloomberg News
Sect member pleads not guilty
SAN ANGELO, Texas - A member of a polygamist sect whose Texas ranch officials raided last year has pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of a child.Raymond Jessop is one of 12 men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints indicted after the April 2008 raid at their ranch and the first to face trial.
The 38-year-old Jessop pleaded not guilty at a pretrial hearing yesterday.
- AP
Todd Palin quits North Slope job
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The husband of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has quit his oil-field job on the North Slope.Todd Palin's resignation as a production operator for oil giant BP P.L.C. comes almost two months after his wife stepped down as Alaska governor and shortly before the release of her highly anticipated memoir in a deal said to be worth millions.
"Todd loved his union job on the Slope and hopes to return," said Meghan Stapleton, Sarah Palin's personal spokeswoman. "For now, he is spending time with his family."
- AP
Elsewhere:
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent $64.8 million of his own money in his bid for a third term and, since midsummer, has been spending campaign cash at a rate of $15,000 per hour. The popular billionaire incumbent is heavily favored against Democrat William Thompson Jr., who has collected $8 million in donations and public matching funds. He has spent about half of it, or about one-sixteenth of what Bloomberg has spent.
The president of Yale University says more safety precautions are being taken after the bizarre killing last month of a graduate student. Richard Levin's comments came in an e-mail sent this week to faculty and staff members. He says improvements are being made to emergency communications in isolated indoor and underground areas.
A handyman accused of killing six people in a cross-country rampage was convicted yesterday in Austin, Texas, in two of the deaths, and could face the death penalty. Paul Devoe, 46, was accused of killing five people in Texas and one in Pennsylvania in August 2007.
