Security Holes: President Barack Obama said a "systemic failure" in security allowed a suspect in the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner onto the plane. Read The New York Times story here. Meanwhile, the Times reports, the Detroit incident has revived a debate over whether full-body scanning would violate privacy rights.
Cobell Deadline Extended: The federal government and lawyers for the plaintiffs late Tuesday agreed to extend the deadline to finalize a $1.41 billion settlement in long-running Indian trust litigation until Feb. 28. Read a BLT post on the deadline extension here.
Palin Custody Battle: An Alaska judge denied a request by former vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin, to keep the legal proceedings in her custody dispute closed, the Associated Press reports (via washingtonpost.com).
Big Payday: AIG's departing general counsel will receive millions of dollars in severance, The Wall Street Journal reports. Anastasia Kelly will receive the payments even though the company, which received a public bailout, is probing some of her actions in a pay dispute. Meanwhile, a Washington Post story shows that some AIG executives had doubts about the performance of the company's financial products unit long before the government takeover.
New Year, New Laws: Meanwhile, new laws take effect in the Washington metro area on Friday, the Post reports, including a surtax on shopping bags in the District.
Open Secrets: Information cannot remain classified forever, President Obama said Tuesday, urging agencies to try harder to make information public, according to The New York Times.
Comments