MIDWEST

POLITICALLY CONNECTED OHIO COIN DEALER CHARGED WITH STEALING

TOLEDO, Ohio – A coin dealer and GOP fund-raiser hired to manage an unorthodox state investment in rare coins was charged yesterday with embezzling at least $1 million in an election-year scandal that has sent Ohio Republicans running for cover.

Tom Noe, 51, pleaded not guilty and was released on $500,000 bail. He was arrested over his handling of a $50 million investment fund set up by the state workers’ compensation bureau in an unusual attempt to make money by buying and selling rare coins.

The 10-month investigation led to sweeping changes at the bureau and prompted lame-duck Governor Bob Taft and two former aides to plead no contest to ethics charges. Two other former Taft aides were charged last week, accused of failing to report loans and other favors from Mr. Noe.

After the scandal broke last year, President Bush and Republicans in Ohio rushed to give back donations from Mr. Noe. The furor also raised Democrats’ hopes of retaking the governor’s office and other key elected positions in this year’s elections.

Mr. Noe was charged yesterday with stealing money from the coin investment fund by writing numerous checks, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS FEDERAL KATRINA ROLE

The Bush administration yesterday pushed back hard against Katrina-response criticism leveled by ex-disaster agency chief Michael Brown and congressional investigators.

“I reject outright the suggestion that President Bush was anything less than fully involved,” said White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff “unequivocally and strongly” rejected suggestions that his agency was preoccupied with terror threats at the expense of preparing for natural disasters.

– Associated Press

CHENEY VIOLATES CARDINAL RULE OF HUNTING: MAKE SURE IT’S A SAFE SHOT

Vice President Cheney apparently broke the no. 1 rule of hunting: Be sure of what you’re shooting at. He also violated Texas game law by failing to buy a hunting stamp.

Mr. Cheney wounded fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face, neck, and chest Saturday, apparently because he didn’t see Whittington approaching as he fired on a covey of quail in Texas.

Hunting safety experts interviewed yesterday agreed it would have been a good idea for Mr. Whittington to announce himself – something he apparently didn’t do, according to a witness. But they stressed that the shooter is responsible for avoiding other people.

– Associated Press

SOUTHWEST

TWO AIR MARSHALS ACCUSED OF TRANSPORTING COCAINE

HOUSTON – Two U.S. air marshals face federal drug charges after being accused of using their positions to smuggle narcotics through airport security and onto planes for transport, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie L. Sholar III, 32, both from Houston, were set to make their first court appearance on Monday.

Both men were arrested on Thursday after an informant had delivered 15 kilograms of cocaine and $15,000 to Mr. Nguyen’s Houston home.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

VIRGINIA SENATE BACKS SMOKING BAN FOR RESTAURANTS

RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Senate voted yesterday to ban smoking in restaurants and virtually all other public places, an extraordinary sign of cultural change in a state that is home to the worldwide headquarters of Philip Morris and whose agricultural economy has been rooted in tobacco farming for almost 400 years.

The bill is unlikely to survive review in the House of Delegates. Yet its passage on the floor of the Senate – where smoking has never been formally banned and lawmakers lit up openly even until the late 1990s – signaled mounting popular support for smoking restrictions.

The chamber narrowly approved the measure after a short but intense debate over consumer choice and the public health risks of secondhand smoke.

Senate Bill 648, sponsored by a Republican from Roanoke, would make smoking illegal in all public workplaces with the exception of certain tobacco stores and offices. The prohibition would extend to bars, restaurants and bowling alleys.

– The Washington Post