ENTERTAINMENT

FCC: CBS FACING $3.6 MILLION FINE

The government proposed a fine of $3.6 million against CBS and dozens of its stations and affiliates Wednesday in a crackdown on what regulators called indecent television programming.

The Federal Communications Commission said a network program, “Without a Trace,” that aired in December 2004 was indecent. It cited the graphic depiction of “teenage boys and girls participating in a sexual orgy.”

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

TIMES, MILLER SUBPOENAED IN LIBBY CASE

Defense attorneys for a former White House official accused of obstructing a Justice Department leak investigation, I. Lewis Libby, have subpoenaed the New York Times and one of its reporters, Judith Miller, the newspaper said last night.

Ms. Miller spent 85 days in jail last year, after being held in contempt of court for refusing to testify about conversations she had with Mr. Libby about the identity of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame. The reporter was released and testified to a grand jury after Mr. Libby made clear he had no objection to her testimony in the probe of how Ms. Plame’s status at the CIA was exposed.

Mr. Libby, who was indicted in October on charges of obstruction, perjury and making false statements to investigators, has pleaded not guilty. After the indictment, he resigned his post as chief of staff to Vice President Cheney.

Mr. Libby’s defense team is expected to subpoena a series of journalists who had contact with him or who may have learned of Ms. Plame’s affiliation with the CIA. Many of the news organizations are expected to fight the subpoenas. The trial in the case is scheduled for January 2007.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

REPORTED SEXUAL ASSAULTS IN MILITARY ON INCREASE

The number of reported sexual assaults in America military has gone up over the last year – and that is a good thing, Pentagon officials said yesterday.

The military received 2,374 reports of sexual assault involving members of the Armed Forces in 2005, or 674 more than in the previous year, according to a Defense Department report out today.

The Pentagon attributed much of the increase to a new policy that allows victims to report the attacks confidentially through “restricted reporting,” part of a department-wide overhaul last year in the way the military treats sexual assaults.

The policy, which took effect June 14, is intended to ensure the privacy of victims while encouraging them to pursue prosecution of their attackers. It allows victims to report assaults and get counseling and other treatment anonymously, without automatically triggering a formal investigation.

Previously, an investigation was required if the victim wanted to receive help. Investigations were not confidential, leaving accusers vulnerable to retaliation or ostracism. Of the new sexual assault reports last year, 435 were “restricted reports,” although 108 of those accusers later decided to allow their case to be investigated.

– The Washington Post

SEVEN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS WIN DEAL POSSIBLY WORTH $19 BILLION

The Army chose seven government contractors to provide technology and engineering services under a deal potentially worth as much as $19.25 billion over the next 10 years – a major award in the marketplace for computer software and systems and the expertise to support them.

CACI International of Arlington, Va., Booz Allen Hamilton of McLean, Va., Computer Sciences of El Segundo, Calif., and Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corporation are the large contractors selected for the program. The Army also chose three small companies: Viatech of Eatontown, N.J., USfalcon of Lowell, Mass., and Sensor Technologies of Red Bank, N.J.

Though the contract has a ceiling of $19.25 billion, there are no guarantees that all of that money will be spent or how much of it will go to each company.

– The Washington Post

ABU GHRAIB OFFICIAL ACKNOWLEDGES MISSTEPS

The former head of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, Army Colonel Thomas Pappas, acknowledged in court Wednesday that he failed to set clear rules for interrogation of detainees and, on one occasion, authorized the use of dogs in questioning a suspect without gaining approval from the commanding general in Iraq.

Colonel Pappas said the use of dogs began at Abu Ghraib after a September 2003 visit from Major General Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In his visit to Iraq, Miller stressed using stronger interrogation techniques – including dogs – Pappas said.

“General Miller, or someone from General Miller’s team, said the dogs were an effective tool in the execution of interrogations,” Colonel Pappas said. As for an explanation of how the dogs were helpful, Colonel Pappas said, “There had been some discussion about Arab fear of dogs.”

– The Baltimore Sun