WASHINGTON – The Air Force’s top civilian official said Friday she supports requiring young women to register for a potential military draft as Congress heads toward a divisive debate over whether to erase gender restrictions from Selective Service.
Air Force Secretary Deborah James said there’s no reason women shouldn’t have to sign up just as men between the ages of 18 and 25 do. Women have never before been required to register in the United States and including them in a draft pool has outraged social conservatives.
“My opinion as an American is that we should have a Selective Service,” James said during the taping of an interview for C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program. “It’s an insurance policy for the United States, and I think women should register just as I think young men should register.”
CHICAGO – The Chicago agency that investigates police misconduct cases released more than 300 video clips Friday, along with audio recordings and police reports from 101 incidents it has investigated, the latest step by the city to restore public trust in its beleaguered police force.
The Independent Police Review Authority posted the material to its website. The video was captured by police dashcams and bodycams as well as bystanders recording on cellphones.
One video shows an officer slamming a woman face-first into the hood of a car during a party in a West Side neighborhood in July 2014. The city recently agreed to pay the woman $50,000 in a settlement.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama shortened the sentences Friday of 42 people serving time for drug-related offenses, continuing a push for clemency that has ramped up in the final year of his administration.
Roughly half of the 42 receiving commutations Friday were serving life sentences. Most are nonviolent offenders, although a few were also charged with firearms violations. The White House said many of them would have already finished their sentences if they had been sentenced under current, less onerous sentencing guidelines.
The latest group of commutations brings to 348 the total number of inmates whose sentences Obama has commuted, more than the past six presidents combined, the White House said.
Associated Press
