WASHINGTON

ARMY DEMOTES A ONE-STAR GENERAL CONNECTED WITH PRISONER ABUSE

The Army said yesterday that only one general will be disciplined for failed leadership in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and that more than a dozen lower-ranking officers have received a variety of punishments. The Army said it demoted Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, whose Army Reserve unit was in charge of the prison compound when Iraqi detainees were physically abused and sexually humiliated by military police and intelligence soldiers in the fall of 2003. When photos of some of the abuse became public a year ago, a firestorm of criticism erupted worldwide. The Army also announced that it cleared three other, more senior, generals of wrongdoing in the prisoner abuse cases, actions that had been previously reported but not publicly confirmed by the Army.

– Associated Press

WEST

JACKSON DEFENSE OPENS AFTER LOSING ACQUITTAL BID

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Michael Jackson’s lawyers opened their case yesterday in his molestation and conspiracy trial, calling a young man who grew up knowing the pop star to deny a prosecution witness’s claim that he took a shower with the singer. The defense opened after Judge Rodney Melville denied its motion for an acquittal. Mr. Jackson’s attorneys had argued that the state failed to prove its case, and that prosecution witnesses had “a tendency to self-destruct” on the stand. The first defense witness, professional dancer Wade Robson, said he has known Mr. Jackson since the age of 5 and stayed at his Neverland Ranch more than 20 times. The two played video games, watched movies, talked, and sometimes had pillow fights, but Mr. Robson, 22, said Mr. Jackson never touched him in an inappropriate or sexual way.

– Associated Press

ROSEN DEFENSE TO ARGUE HE WAS DUPED BY ‘CON MEN’

A top fund-raising official on Senator Clinton’s campaign, David Rosen, plans to defend himself against federal felony charges by arguing that he was tricked by two “self-confessed ‘con men'” involved in planning an August 2000 fund-raiser. Mr. Rosen, a Chicago political consultant, faces trial in Los Angeles next week on an indictment alleging that he caused the filing of false campaign finance reports that understated the cost of the star-studded gala by $500,000 or more. In a motion filed Tuesday, Mr. Rosen’s lawyers disclosed that they plan to claim that their client was deceived by a businessman who was the event’s main financial backer, Peter Paul, and by a promoter of Hollywood fund-raisers, Aaron Tonken.

Part of Mr. Rosen’s defense will be “that he lacked any knowledge that cost information passed onto him by Tonken and Paul was fraudulent,” according to the motion, which sought to admit evidence of crimes committed by the two men.

Tonken is serving a 5-year federal prison term for mail and wire fraud. Paul, who has three prior felony convictions, recently pleaded guilty to a securities fraud charge and is awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Rosen submitted to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign an invoice that he knew was a forgery. Prosecutors and defense lawyers also filed a list of possible witnesses at the trial.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MIDWEST

SCIENTISTS TO FIGHT ‘INTELLIGENT DESIGN’ PROPOSALS

TOPEKA, Kan. – Alarmed by proposals to change how evolution is taught, scientists and teachers are mobilizing to fight back, asserting that educational standards are being threatened by what they consider a stealth campaign to return creationism to public schools. This week’s battle is focused on Kansas, where State Board of Education hearings were to begin yesterday on evolution and intelligent design, a carefully marketed theory that challenges accepted understandings of the earth’s origins in favor of the idea that a creator played a guiding role. Scientists warn that introducing challenges to evolution in the public-school curriculum would weaken education, harm the economy, and, as one paleontologist put it, open Kansas to ridicule as “the hayseed state.” Science organizations are boycotting the hearings, but plan to offer daily critiques.

– The Washington Post