Pentagon may change plans for same-sex benefits
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is poised to extend health care, housing and other benefits to the same-sex spouses of military members by the end of August, but may reverse earlier plans to provide benefits to gay partners who are not married.
According to a draft Defense Department memo obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the department instead may provide up to 10 days of leave to military personnel in same-sex relationships so they can travel to states where they can marry legally.
While no final decisions have been made, the memo from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to top defense leaders would reverse an earlier plan that would allow the same-sex partners of military members to sign a declaration form to receive limited benefits, such as access to military stores and some health and welfare programs.
Cleveland kidnapper’s house demolished as part of deal
CLEVELAND – With several swipes from the arm of an excavator and applause from spectators, a house where three women were held captive and raped for a decade was demolished Wednesday, reduced to rubble in less than an hour and a half.
The demolition had the look of a neighborhood celebration, but some residents have been troubled by guilt for failing to notice tell-tale signs of the women’s imprisonment, such as windows boarded up from the inside and the kidnapper’s practice of keeping visitors from going past the front room.
“It’s haunted them, I think, in the sense of how could they not have known,” said city Councilman Brian Cummins, who watched the demolition.
The home was torn down as part of the plea deal that spared Ariel Castro a possible death sentence and forced him to turn over the deed to the house and pay for it to be razed. He was sentenced last week to life in prison plus 1,000 years.
Judge orders BP to pay $130 million in court fees
NEW ORLEANS – A federal judge on Wednesday ordered BP to pay more than $130 million in fees to the court-supervised administrator of its multibillion-dollar settlement with Gulf Coast businesses and residents after the company’s 2010 oil spill.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier comes as BP tries to temporarily block claims payments while former FBI Director Louis Freeh investigates allegations of misconduct by an attorney who worked on the settlement program. BP also has complained of broader problems in the program run by court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau.
The dispute over Juneau’s administrative expenses is just the latest chapter in BP’s increasingly aggressive campaign to challenge his handling of the claims process.
In his ruling Wednesday, Barbier said Juneau needs to submit his budget proposals earlier than he has been.
Associated Press
