Salem, Ore.
Governor halts death penalty: Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber this week suspended the death penalty in his state, declaring that it was “morally wrong.” Kitzhaber’s decision to block all scheduled executions while he remains in office came one day after the state Supreme Court cleared the way for the Dec. 6 execution by lethal injection of convicted killer Gary Haugen. “I refuse to be a part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer,” said Kitzhaber, who had allowed two executions in his first term as governor, one in 1996 and one in 1997. Steve Doell, a victims’ advocate, called the governor’s move a “slap in the face of the will of the Oregon voter.” The death penalty was reinstated in Oregon in 1984 by a ballot initiative. In the U.S. in 2011, there have been 43 executions so far, compared with 46 in 2010.
San Diego
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More sailors busted for fake pot: Twenty-eight sailors assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan will be discharged for using or possessing a synthetic drug called Spice, which mimics the effects of marijuana, the Navy said this week. The bust comes only weeks after the dismissal of 64 other sailors from the San Diego–based U.S. Third Fleet, which includes the Reagan. “The Navy’s policy on drug abuse is simple and clear—zero tolerance,” said Vice Adm. Gerald Beaman. “The Navy continues to aggressively investigate the use of synthetic drugs and hold those in violation accountable.” The 28 sailors were swept up after no less than six investigations into the Reagan’s crew, conducted in the past month. Since February, 78 sailors in total have been nabbed for possession of Spice, which is commonly made with five synthetic cannabinoid compounds that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has placed on its Schedule I list of illegal narcotics; the DEA reserves this list for drugs with high abuse potential and no commonly accepted medicinal value.
Chicago
Obama fund-raiser sentenced: Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a former fund-raiser for President Barack Obama, was sentenced this week to 10 and a half years in prison for bribery and extortion. Rezko, a wealthy Syrian immigrant who became a close adviser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, has already served three and a half years in prison—including nine months in solitary—for a 2008 conviction on 16 counts of fraud, money laundering, extortion, and kickbacks from firms wishing to do business with the state during Blagojevich’s tenure. During the 2008 presidential race, Rezko made headlines for his friendship with then U.S. Sen. Obama, for whom he raised tens of thousands of dollars.
Detroit
Emergency plans hatched: Detroit was forced to outline emergency plans to escape insolvency this week, after Mayor Dave Bing revealed that the city could run out of cash by April 2012. Bing has called for the city to save $118 million a year by laying off 1,000 employees, or about 9 percent of the city’s payroll; raising corporate taxes; and outsourcing services such as public lighting and city buses. But the city council wants to go much further, cutting as many as 2,300 jobs and raising the city’s income tax rates. Detroit’s labor unions are opposed to both plans, saying the stringent cuts would leave the government powerless. “There’s a point of diminished return where the city becomes unmanageable and uninhabitable,” said John Riehl, a local union president. Detroit faces a cash-flow shortfall of $45 million unless it cuts spending.
New York City
Bomb plot foiled: An “al Qaida sympathizer” was arrested this week on terrorism charges, accused of plotting to bomb police stations and post offices in New York City, as well as U.S. troops returning home. Jose Pimentel, 27, of Manhattan, was allegedly motivated by terrorist propaganda and resentment of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said police had to move quickly to arrest Pimentel. “He was in fact putting this bomb together,” Kelly said. “It would have been not appropriate for us to let him walk out the door with that bomb.” The FBI did not join in the highly publicized arrest, because, it was reported, agents questioned the NYPD’s reliance on a confidential informant and doubted whether Pimentel, described as a mentally unstable “stoner” who once tried to circumcise himself, would be capable of carrying out a terror plot on his own.
Washington, D.C.
GOP debate fireworks: In the first debate since he became the front-runner among GOP presidential candidates, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich this week diverged from his rivals and his party by declaring that he did not support an immigration policy that “destroys families that have been here a quarter century.” Gingrich declared that the U.S. and the Republicans should show compassion toward immigrant families who have been in the country for decades—including members who entered illegally. “I don’t believe that the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to say it’s going to destroy families,” Gingrich said. His position was immediately attacked as “amnesty” by Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, and the other candidates—except for Gov. Rick Perry, whose state provides education for the children of undocumented immigrants.
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