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Afghan forces arrested three Americans, including a purported former Green Beret, after raiding a jail they were allegedly running in the Afghan capital and finding prisoners hanging from their feet, officials said Thursday. The U.S. military, facing a widening inquiry into prisoner abuse, quickly distanced itself from the three, who had been posing as American agents before being detained Monday. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday "the U.S. government does not employ or sponsor these men." Afghan officials also dismissed claims by the apparent ringleader, Jonathan K. Idema, that he was a "special adviser" to their security forces, saying...

Martha Stewart will revive her daily homemaking show next September, this time with a live audience, celebrity guests and the help of "The Apprentice" producer Mark Burnett, it was announced Wednesday. Stewart, in prison and not allowed to conduct business, was not involved in the deal with NBC Universal to syndicate the show but is "very pleased," said Susan Lyne, president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. --snip-- Shortly before she went to prison, Stewart gave Burnett a cerrated ruler that could also be used as a fruit peeler. He said he thought she was giving him a file to bake...

George Crossley of Deltona talks to people after a rally for restoration of voting rights for ex-felons Tuesday in front of the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand DELAND -- For 19-year-old Robert Keys, the matter that landed him outside the Volusia County Courthouse on Tuesday was dead serious. It had to do with some arrests -- but not his. Neither Keys' father nor his uncle can vote in November because Florida law does not automatically restore convicted felons' civil rights. "Get hyped. Let's go," he shouted, as he thrust a protest sign skyward. Like about 40 others who showed up...

Dr. Robert Moore Strippy, age 70, is a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania who holds doctorates of music from the Universities of Paris and Rome, and is a former instructor at the University of Virginia. He is also a former speechwriter for President Eisenhower. He is now, despite his very serious health problems, prisoner number 332218 PMV at the State of Virginia's Powhatan Correctional Center in State Farm, Va. He is beginning a ten-year prison sentence. This is the result of a jury decision so absolutely incredible as to recall either France's Alfred Dreyfus or the first jury...

scam con may rattle Kerry closet By David R. Guarino Read Guarino's Road to Boston Blog Friday, July 30, 2004 As John F. Kerry [related, bio] tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee. David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud. TV news outlets are...

<p>MIAMI — A man carrying a razor blade and a hacksaw blade in his shoe was arrested at Miami International Airport as he tried to pass through security checks Monday, Miami-Dade police said.</p> <p>David McIntyre, 38, from Westchester, Pa., was charged with carrying a concealed weapon.</p>

Woman wants to mark husband's '75 bomb death Tuesday, October 7, 2003By CHARLES AUSTINSTAFF WRITER Mary Connor-Tully put a plaque in Saddle River Park in memory of her husband, Frank Connor, who was killed in the 1975 bombing at the Fraunces Tavern, and her nephew Steven Schlag, who died in 9/11 World Trade Center attack. FAIR LAWNThe terrorist attack in lower Manhattan killed her banker husband and changed her life forever. A grief-stricken Mary Connor pulled herself together and pondered how best to bring up her sons, Thomas, 11, and Joseph, 9. The year was 1975.Frank Connor, 33, died on...

<p>NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A new Merle Haggard song that's critical of the media's coverage of the war in Iraq is garnering so much attention that it's being rushed to thousands of radio stations around the country, a spokesman for the country singer said Thursday.</p>

<p>Gerry Melendez The Idaho Statesman The Idaho Statesman first interviewed Wade Dawson, the new president of the Ada-Elmore Chapter of the NAACP, on Dec. 27 for a profile and took this photo.</p> <p>Wade Dawson, who in a few short months has become one of the most influential African-Americans in Idaho, has fabricated essential elements of his past. Dawson, who became president of the Boise-Ada-Elmore Chapter of the NAACP just five months after joining last year, has had the ear of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Sens. Mike Crapo and Larry Craig.</p>

Past Comes Back To Bite Local NAACP President By Mike Keckler BOISE - In December, Wade Dawson, President of the Boise-Ada-Elmore Chapter of NAACP, held a press conference with Idaho's senators during the Trent Lott controversy. Now, it's Dawson who finds himself in the hot seat. Saturday's Idaho Statesman reports that from 1976 to 92, Dawson served prison time in four states for forgery, falsifying documents for financial gain and grand theft. The newspaper debunks Dawson's claim to have played both professional and college football, for the Oakland Raiders and the Michigan Wolverines - reporting that officials in both...