What will happen if spying laws lapse?
WASHINGTON – Barring a last-minute deal in Congress, three post-Sept. 11 surveillance laws used against suspected spies and terrorists are set to expire as Sunday turns into Monday.
Will that make Americans less secure?
Absolutely, Obama administration officials say.
Nonsense, counter civil-liberties activists.
Even if senators set to meet in an unusual Sunday session agree to advance a House-passed bill that extends the programs, one lawmaker said he will use his right to delay a final vote and let the powers lapse once midnight arrives.
Maryland gov. enters ’16 presidential race
DAVENPORT, Iowa – Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley entered the Democratic presidential race Saturday in a longshot challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2016 nomination, casting himself as a new generation leader who would rebuild the economy and reform Wall Street.
“I’m running for you,” he told a crowd of about 1,000 people in a populist message at Federal Hill Park in Baltimore, where he served as mayor before two terms as governor. O’Malley said he was drawn into the campaign “to rebuild the truth of the American dream for all Americans.”
After his announcement, O’Malley promptly headed to Iowa, where he is seeking to become the primary alternative to Clinton in the leadoff caucus state. Before more than 50 people at a union hall in Davenport, he touted his executive experience and called for economic reforms, drawing enthusiastic applause.
“We are still in just as grave a danger of having Wall Street excesses wreck our economy again, and there’s not a need for it. When wealth concentrates as it has, it also concentrates and collects power, and we have to retake control of our own government,” said O’Malley, who has made frequent visits to Iowa in recent months.
O’Malley, who will appear in New Hampshire on Sunday, remains largely unknown in a field dominated by Clinton. Already in the race is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who could be O’Malley’s main rival for the support of the Democratic left.
Rape-kit tests reveals thousands of abusers
The evidence piled up for years, abandoned in police property rooms, warehouses and crime labs. Now, thousands of sexual-assault kits are giving up their secrets – and rapists who long have remained free finally may face justice.
A dramatic shift now is taking hold across the country as police and prosecutors scramble to process these kits and use DNA matches to track down predators, many of whom have attacked more women while evidence of their crimes sat in storage.
In Cleveland, the county prosecutor’s office has indicted more than 300 rape suspects since 2013, based on newly tested DNA evidence from old kits. Ultimately, 1,000 are expected to be charged.
In Houston, authorities recently cleared a backlog of nearly 6,700 kits, some decades old. The project turned up 850 matches in a national DNA database.
Associated Press
