Official: Man killed by FBI tied to killings

Thu, 23 May 2013 04:59:17 GMT

Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a 2011 gruesome triple homicide outside Boston along with a Chechen killed early Wednesday during a confrontation with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police in Orlando, Florida, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Ibragim Todashev, who died during the interview with authorities, not only confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in Waltham, Massachusetts, but also fingered Tsarnaev in the deaths, the official said Wednesday.

Todashev was being questioned about the slayings and his acquaintance with Tsarnaev.

Todashev attacked an FBI agent, who shot him dead, a federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case told CNN.

"He used some kind of weapon," the official said, and that prompted the FBI agent to shoot the suspect.

A second law enforcement official confirmed Todashev made the confession.

The unsolved triple murder received renewed interest after it was learned that Tsarnaev was sparring partners at a local gym with one of the victims.

Investigators of the crime reported at the time that the heads of the three victims were pulled back and their throats slit ear to ear with great force. Marijuana was spread over the bodies in a "symbolic gesture," and several thousand dollars in cash was found at the scene.

Todashev told investigators the men were killed during a drug ripoff because he and Tsarnaev were afraid they would be able to identify them and tell police what happened, according to a law enforcement source.

So far, no link has been found between Todashev and the Boston Marathon bombings. However, the FBI is looking into the many connections between Todashev and Tsarnaev, whose radicalization allegedly led to the Boston bombings.

A federal law enforcement official has told CNN they were initially led to Todashev because they learned he knew Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar. They also said cell phone records connected Tamerlan and Todashev.

Todashev was being interviewed in the kitchen of his Florida home. He grabbed a knife, which is why fatal force was used, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation.

"Preliminary information indicates the agent took actions to defend himself," said a federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case.

"The agent sustained non-life-threatening injuries," FBI spokesman Jason Pack said.

Investigators are awaiting test results to determine whether Todashev's DNA was found at the Massachusetts triple murder scene and whether the DNA of Tamerlan Tsarnaev also was found there.

Todashev and Tsarnaev were acquainted through a mixed martial arts center near Boston, said a source briefed on the bombing investigation.

In Orlando, an FBI team is reviewing the circumstances of the shooting, a procedure that follows any FBI shooting.

Todashev had an impending flight from Orlando, via New York and Moscow, to Chechnya, when investigators sought to interview him, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation. He was told not to take the flight, the source said.

Details emerged Wednesday about how Todashev had Tsarnaev's phone number in his cell phone, said the source.

Both men were members of the mixed martial arts forum Sherdog.com, along with Russian-Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist William Plotnikov, the source said.

Last month, CNN reported that Plotnikov and six others died in a July 2012 firefight with Russian forces in the southwestern republic of Dagestan, while Tsarnaev was visiting the region, according to a source briefed on the investigation.

Todashev, 27, knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, also a suspect in the April 15 bombings, the official said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, injured and captured after a manhunt, is being held by authorities. His brother died in a shootout with police.

Todashev was from the Chechnya region, as were the Tsarnaev brothers, the source said.

Todashev was granted political asylum in 2008, but he came to the United States some time before that, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. Todashev had been living in the United States as a legal resident because of that asylum claim.

In the 2011 Massachusetts triple homicide, the Middlesex County district attorney's office said at the time that the victims and two unknown perpetrators appeared to know each other and that it was not a random crime. No suspects were named then.

A source said that the FBI had been investigating Todashev for about a month.

The FBI had followed Todashev for days, his friend told CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13.

Todashev "wasn't like real close friends (with Tsarnaev), but he just happened to know him," Khasuen Taramov told the TV station. "But he had no idea that they were up to something like that, like bombings and everything, you know what I mean?"

He told CNN affiliate WESH that Todashev and Tsarnaev had spoken by telephone about a month before the bombings.

"It was a complete shock to him," Taramov said.

The two met a couple years ago in Boston, where Todashev had lived and where there is a small, close-knit community of Chechens, said Taramov.

Their telephone conversation before the bombings contained nothing but routine pleasantries, he said. "It was 'How are you doing; how's your family?' That's all."

Taramov said he himself was questioned by the FBI for three hours Tuesday night. Asked what he was asked, Taramov said, "Different kind of questions like 'what do you think about bombings,' 'do you know these guys,' blah blah blah, what is my views on certain stuff."

He said Todashev was not a radical. "He was just a Muslim. That was his mistake, I guess."

Taramov said his friend had told him he had a bad feeling about the direction the investigation was heading.

"He felt like there's going to be a setup ... bad setup against him. Because he told me, 'They are making up such crazy stuff, I don't know ... why they doing it. OK, I'm answering the questions, but they are still making up some, like, connections, some crazy stuff. I don't know why they are doing it.' "

Before meeting with the FBI for a 7:30 p.m. interview Tuesday, Taramov said, his friend asked him to take his parents' telephone numbers. "He just told me, 'Take the numbers, in case something happens, if I get locked up, or whatever, call them.' You know what I mean?

"We were expecting to get him locked up, but not getting him killed. I can't believe it."

Todashev was unemployed and had been living on insurance money he received after surgery for an accident. "He used to be a fighter, MMA fighter," Taramov said, in a reference to mixed martial arts.

Todashev was arrested this month on a charge of aggravated battery after getting into a fight over a parking spot with a man and his son outside an Orlando mall. The son was taken to a hospital with head injuries, a split upper lip and several teeth knocked out of place, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said in a report.

"Todashev said he was only fighting to protect his knee because he had surgery in March," the report said. He told the police that he was a former mixed martial arts fighter, it said.

Todashev, described as 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, was released on $3,500 bond.

Asked about the incident, Taramov downplayed it. "He had a fight in the parking lot, the two guys jumped on him ... pretty much he just defended himself against two," he told WESH. "The only mistake: he did kick their ass and left."

Todashev had recently gotten his green card and had been planning to visit his parents in Chechnya and then return to the United States, but canceled the plans, Taramov said.

Now, he added, he was planning to call his friend's parents.

Newcomer tops magazine's U.S. airline survey

Thu, 23 May 2013 04:12:55 GMT

Virgin America topped the latest airline satisfaction rankings from Consumer Reports, the first time the 6-year-old airline has appeared on the list.

The airline was lauded for its seating, in-flight entertainment and baggage handling, even though it charges $25 for the first and second checked bags.

"While other airlines on the list like Southwest and JetBlue have done a very good job of satisfying fliers, Virgin America is a cut above in the eyes of our readers," said Amanda Walker, a Consumer Reports senior editor, in a statement.

Although Virgin America has been around since 2007, this is the first time the magazine survey received enough reader responses to include the carrier in the ratings. Virgin America scored an 89 on Consumer Reports' 100-point scale.

Spirit Airlines ranked at the bottom of the list for its check-in, cabin service and seating. It also received 50 out of 100, one of the lowest scores for any company the consumer organization has ever rated, Consumer Reports reported.

After top-scorer Virgin America, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, which both scored an 85, rated highly for their check-in ease, cabin-crew service and baggage handling.

Southwest allows two free checked bags, and JetBlue allows one. JetBlue outshone Southwest in the categories of in-flight entertainment and seating comfort.

JetBlue and Southwest came in first and second place, respectively, in a recent J.D. Power & Associates survey of airline passenger satisfaction. Virgin America was not mentioned in that ranking.

Consumer Reports bases its airline ratings on a survey of 16,663 subscribers conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Survey respondents were asked to rate their airlines' check-in process, cabin service, cabin cleanliness, seating, in-flight entertainment and baggage handling.

The full report is available to subscribers online at ConsumerReports.org and in the July issue of Consumer Reports magazine. An online preview is available to non-subscribers.

Man arrested in Washington ricin letter probe

Thu, 23 May 2013 03:26:39 GMT

A 37-year-old man arrested Wednesday in Washington state as part of an investigation of ricin-laced letters threatened in one such letter to injure and kill a federal judge, a grand jury indictment alleges.

FBI agents arrested Matthew Ryan Buquet on Wednesday afternoon, and he made his initial court appearance in Spokane later in the day, the federal agency's Washington state office said in a news release.

Buquet remained in custody after the appearance, and he'll stay behind bars at least until a bail hearing takes place next Tuesday afternoon, FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich said.

A grand jury charged Buquet with mailing threatening communication, claiming he "knowingly and willfully" mailed through the U.S. Postal Service a letter "containing a threat to injure and kill Judge (Fred) Van Sickle," according to the indictment.

Van Sickle is a senior judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington.

In a subsequent news release, the FBI said tests -- conducted by that agency and the Spokane Regional Health District -- showed that a suspicious substance found with the letter was "active ricin toxin."

"Our coordinated team acted swiftly to resolve a potentially dangerous situation, and continues working tirelessly around the clock to investigate the origin of the letters and to address any remaining, potential risks," said Laura Laughlin, the FBI's special-agent-in-charge at the bureau's Seattle office.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has been trying to find the source of the two letters containing ricin since they were intercepted in a screening procedure at a postal facility in Spokane, the FBI said last week.

The American Postal Workers Union earlier did say a ricin-laced letter was sent to a judge in Spokane, the northeastern Washington city in which Van Sickle works.

Another letter reportedly containing the toxin was directed to the Spokane Post Office, the union said. Both letters were postmarked May 14.

Postal Service management told employees they weren't at risk from handling the letters because the suspected substance was not in a form that could be inhaled or readily ingested, the union said. That said, preliminary lab tests did indicate it was indeed ricin.

If inhaled, injected or ingested, less than a pinpoint of ricin can kill a person within 36 to 48 hours because of the failure of the respiratory and circulatory systems. There is no known antidote for the toxin, which is derived from castor beans.

Families remember Oklahoma tornado victims

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:47:23 GMT

Kyle Davis was 100% boy. He loved going with his grandpa to see Monster Trucks, and would hoot and clap whenever one of those giant things would roll over and crush a smaller car. Because he was a good kid and got A's and B's, his family would sometimes reward him with a trip to the lake and let him ride his four-wheeler around.

The 8-year-old was a force on the soccer field. His stocky build earned him a nickname: "The Wall."

"Kids just bounced off of him," Davis' grandfather Marvin Dixon said Wednesday. "He just loved being with his Pawpaw and I loved being with him. I'm just going to miss him."

Kyle was among 24 people who lost their lives Monday when a massive tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, just outside Oklahoma City.

He was one of seven children who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School.

His parents called him 'Hammy'

Talking to Marvin Dixon and Kyle's grandmother, Sharon Dixon, it's clear right away that you don't have to ask any questions about the third-grader. So broken-hearted but so full of love and memories for their grandson, they just want to talk about him.

"I could talk to you all day about him because he was our son, too," Sharon Dixon said. "He was always asking, 'Can I stay at your house?' We kept a nightlight on for him because he was afraid of the dark."

"I'm going to miss his smile," Marvin Dixon said. "It would melt your heart, but you also look at it and wonder, 'Bud, what are you up to?'"

"Me and his mom started calling him Hambone and then Hammy because he liked being in front of the camera. I don't think we ever did call him Kyle."

Marvin Dixon dropped his grandson and granddaughter, Kaylee, 11, off at school Monday. Kaylee was struggling to lift her school project out of the car.

"Sissy, I'll get this for you and take it in for you," Kyle said.

"I told him that I thought that was a very gentlemanly thing to do," Marvin Dixon recalled.

He told the kids, "OK, I'll see you at 3. I love you."

"I love you, too, Pawpaw," Kyle answered.

Kaylee survived the twister that ripped the school apart around 3 p.m. She was in the main building, but Kyle and his classmates were hunkered down in another building, the Dixons said.

"It was just hailing, really coming down as that thing got closer and we got in the car," Marvin said.

"The school was in lockdown. I would have gone to pick them up. I would have. I would have risked it, but I couldn't. They wouldn't let me get to him."

The Dixons managed to outrun the tornado in their car. When they were able to turn around, traffic was backed up on the interstate. By this time, the Dixons had Kyle's mother with them. They drove as close as they could to the school, about two miles away, then got out and began running toward it.

As they got closer, they could barely comprehend what they were seeing

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" Marvin said. "My daughter was hysterical."

Kaylee had somehow walked away from the devastation with a few bruises.

"We're not angry at the school," Marvin Dixon said. "But I want them to get something better for the next time because we can't say this horrible thing won't happen again. I want the kids to have a safer place to go in the future."

Mother leaves behind two young boys

Shannon Quick was at home with her mother and two boys. The debris cut open her midsection, and she lay on the floor, telling her mom she was having a hard time breathing.

Joy Waldroop said her daughter, who was 40, also kept calling for her boys.

"She kept saying,'Tanner! Jackson! Tanner! Jackson!'"

Waldroop consoled her daughter and told her to lay still.

Quick, who was clutching the pants leg of an emergency worker, died.

"All of a sudden her arm went limp," Waldroop said.

She said her daughter had a profound affect on others.

"She was so good," she said. "There's not a soul that doesn't love her."

Young girl was a 'ball of love'

Angela Hornsby threw up her arms in frustration Monday as she sat at home watching a news anchor tell people to seek shelter underground. She doesn't have a basement.

She wondered about her niece, Jenae Hornsby, a third-grader at Plaza Towers.

"I thought she was safe in school," Hornsby said. But Jenae wasn't. She died along with Kyle and their five other classmates.

Just last weekend, Hornsby's 14-year-old daughter and Jenae and all of Jenae's many cousins were at a park in Moore. They had just come from church. The girls were dressing up and joking around, wearing their aunt's wig.

"They loved to dress up and dance to Beyonce, pretend they were Beyonce," Angela Hornsby said. "They would tape each other with their phones and play it back."

The 14-year-old is so upset about Jenae that she's been throwing up and is at home in bed. "My daughter said to me, 'I don't want to sound crazy but maybe she's gonna call me. Maybe Jenae's not dead, Mom.'"

Angela doesn't know how her brother -- Jenae's father, Joshua -- is going to move forward.

Tuesday night, Joshua Hornsby, talking to CNN's "AC360," called his daughter "a ball of energy, a ball of love."

"She was the best kid anybody could have," he said.

He vowed to make "his baby proud and keep pushing on like I know she would want me to do."

He never met a stranger

Christopher Legg "loved to play sports, and fight for justice," an obituary posted on a cousin's website said.

He also had been diagnosed with melanoma, skin cancer, and a condition that causes terrible knee pain.

The tough little 9-year old faced them with strength and enthusiasm, just as he lived his life.

"You were always always a friend in his eyes," the tribute said.

He was a well-rounded athlete, playing baseball, basketball and football. He also like to wrestle, to roughhouse with his Dad, his older brother and a sister.

Christopher, a third-grader, died at Plaza Towers Elementary.

Her mother was everything

Angeletta Santiago is struggling this week, too. Her mother, Tawuana Robinson, died in the storm.

"To lose her to something so devastating ... it hurts," Santiago told CNN affiliate KSDK.

Her mother called her just as the tornado was bearing down on her.

"She said 'yes, the tornado has touched down. I am in my closet,'" Santiago recalled. "I love you."

Robinson lived a block from Plaza Towers Elementary School. The phone line went dead.

Santiago tried to call her mother back but couldn't get through. After hours passed, she went on Facebook and searched victim websites.

"I had hope and I prayed," she said.

"I had a friend in my mother. I had a mother in my mom. I had a sister in my mom. I had everything a girl could want in a mom," she said.

"My heart goes out to everybody ... the babies, the mothers who will never be able to see their children again. I hope you're healing."

Rescue switches to recovery in Oklahoma

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:47:02 GMT

With everyone missing now accounted for from this week's deadly tornado, the long and difficult work of recovery can begin.

"We are beginning the recovery operations," Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin told CNN's Piers Morgan late Wednesday.

"There's a lot of debris removal going on throughout the public areas of the street," she said.

"You see a lot of utility crews that are out here. There's a lot of construction trucks. You're seeing people walking down the street pulling some wagons, going back into their homes to get their prized possessions."

At least 24 people, including 10 children, were killed in Monday's monster tornado. Another 353 people were injured.

The twister ripped through 17 miles of central Oklahoma and pummeled 2,400 homes. The hardest-hit city was Moore.

Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis told CNN's Jake Tapper, also Wednesday, that six people previously unaccounted for have been located.

Five were found alive. The sixth is dead, and the body was located at the medical examiner's office. The mayor was not sure whether that death was included in the official count of 24.

He also told CNN that he would push for a law requiring storm shelters or safe rooms in new homes.

"What we will do is get the stakeholders here in the city ... and we'll discuss what we think we need to have," he said.

"Anybody that lives in any tornado area should have (a storm shelter), but it's just the matter of cost."

Young lives remembered

One of the most heartbreaking scenes in Moore is a pile of wreckage where Plaza Towers Elementary School once stood.

Seven of the 10 children killed in the storm were inside the school when it collapsed.

The children were in a classroom, Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird told CNN on Wednesday. He also said their deaths "had nothing to do with flooding, from what I understand." On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb told CNN the youngsters had drowned in a school basement.

Local resident Adam Baker said he rushed to the school to help in the aftermath. He found some children who had died in a shallow space.

"The ones that were deceased had bumps, scrapes, and they probably would have made it if they weren't pinned. It looked like most of them just drowned -- all blue and stuff." Pieces of pipe, metal, desks, 2-by-4s, and other debris were on them, he said.

Officials have not yet released official causes of death.

Kyle Davis, 8, was among the victims.

His family said he loved going with his grandpa to see Monster Trucks and playing soccer.

"I am angry to an extent. I know the schools did what they thought they could do but with us living in Oklahoma, tornado shelters should be in every school," Kyle's mother, Mikki Dixon Davis, told CNN.

Her daughter, who was also at Plaza Towers when the storm struck, survived.

"There should be a place that if this ever happened again during school that kids can get to a safe place," she said. "That we don't have to sit there and go through rubble ... and may not ever find what we're looking for."

'We're going to help them recover'

Damage assessments showed the tornado had winds over 200 mph at times, making it an EF5 -- the strongest category of tornadoes measured, the National Weather Service said.

Mayor Lewis said the devastation was so catastrophic that city officials rushed to print new street signs to help guide rescuers and residents through the newly mangled and unfamiliar landscape.

President Obama will travel to the area Sunday to witness the damage.

He spoke about the people of Oklahoma, briefly, during a presentation at the White House on Wednesday.

"While the road ahead will be long, their country will be with them every single step of the way. That's who we are, and that's how we treat our family and friends and our neighbors wherever they are in the country," he said.

"We're going to help them recover."

Insurance claims related to Monday's tornado and storm in metropolitan Oklahoma City are likely to top $2 billion, said Kelly Collins, a representative of the Oklahoma Insurance Department.

Craig Fugate, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, told CNN the agency is in "good shape" to support the recovery in Oklahoma and in other disaster zones, such as rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York.

"We got full allocation last year with the Sandy supplemental funds. We are looking to continue the response here as well as the previous disasters."

But "if we have another hurricane, we may need more money," he said Wednesday.

For her part, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano traveled to Moore to thank first responders and show her support.

"Our commitment is to be here for the duration -- to work with our federal, state, tribal, local and community partners in the coming days, weeks and months to help you recover and rebuild from this terrible tragedy and emerge even stronger," she said.

Those helping in Moore include police and firefighters from Joplin, Missouri -- a city all too familiar with grief and devastation.

Wednesday marks the second anniversary of a tornado that pulverized Joplin, killing at least 158 people. It was the deadliest single U.S. tornado since federal record-keeping began in 1950.

"We remember the amount of assistance that we received following the tornado two years ago, and we want to help others as they helped us," said Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr.

"We know too well what their community is facing, and we feel an obligation to serve them as they have served us."

'We just didn't get there fast enough'

Help came from seemingly everywhere the day the tornado struck.

Dustin Ellison ran to the rubble of a convenience store to help get at people trapped in a freezer, which had collapsed.

"It was one big pile of rubble. We knew people had went in the freezer, and we knew that there was no way they had come out," he told CNN's Tapper.

"We just didn't get there fast enough."

One of the victims Ellison and the others found there was 29-year-old Megan Futrell. Another was her infant son, Case.

"She was protecting him," he said.

"Your instinct, when you see that is, for me, I ran towards it. There's probably a lot of people that didn't, or that wouldn't, but not around here."

Couple charged in death of ill infant son

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:30:48 GMT

Parents already on court notice to provide medical care for their children have been charged with third-degree murder in the death of their infant son, Philadelphia authorities announced Wednesday

Herbert and Catherine Shaible's son, Brandon, died April 18 from dehydration and bacterial pneumonia. But his death was ruled a homicide by the Philadelphia medical examiner's office because the Shaibles -- purportedly followers of a faith-healing doctrine -- did not seek medical help for the sick infant, authorities said.

In addition to third-degree murder, the couple was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, and endangering the welfare of a child, Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams announced Wednesday afternoon at a press conference.

In April the couple admitted to police that their son began displaying symptoms of illness several days before his death but instead of contacting a doctor they chose to pray for him, "and ultimately called a funeral director," according to Williams.

The couple already was on probation after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of their 2-year-old son, Kent, who also died after the Shaibles refused to get medical attention as the child suffered bacterial pneumonia.

One condition of their 10-year probation was a requirement that they seek medical attention and follow medical advice if any of their children were to get sick in the future, First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann said at the press conference.

Joanne Pescatore, who previously prosecuted the Shaibles in 2009 stated that the circumstances of that case were "eerily similar" to this one.

"To say that I was upset would be an understatement," Pescatore said, "I knew at their sentencing that they were not going to follow the judge's instructions."

Pescatore said that she argued for a prison sentence in the earlier case but the judge didn't feel it was appropriate.

According to McCann, the Shaibles were members of the First Century Gospel Church. Calls to the church were not immediately returned.

The church's website quotes one particular biblical passage that states, "By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name, and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see."

The Shaibles have at least two other children who were taken into the custody of Philadelphia's Department of Human Services following the death of Brandon in April. DHS would not comment on the children or the Shaibles' situation.

McCann stated that because the parents refused to follow the judge's prior orders to seek medical treatment for a sick child and given that this was the second death in the family, the district attorney's office felt a murder charge was appropriate.

Attorney Mythri Annapoorna Jayaraman, who confirmed she is representing the Shaibles, had no comment to CNN Wednesday.

The couple has not yet been arraigned and bail had not been set Wednesday, but McCann said prosecutors will be requesting a bail they believe will be high enough to detain both of them.

Tornado victims may face long haul with insurers

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:31:14 GMT

The tornado that struck the Moore, Okla., area Monday afternoon left an almost 2-mile wide path of destruction, flattening homes and businesses and taking at least 24 lives.

Survivors now must begin the arduous process of rebuilding their lives, and in many cases, their homes. Unfortunately, that will mean filing insurance claims, trying to recall the value of a lifetime of belongings -- and, in some cases, fighting for what they are owed.

Fortunately, people whose homes were damaged or destroyed should be fully covered for the damages, said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute. Standard homeowner's insurance policies cover the destruction caused by high winds, hail and the rain that enters through damaged roofs and walls, he said.

That contrasts with hurricane damage, which requires special insurance for any flood damage and often carries heavy restrictions, including so-called "hurricane deductibles," which require homeowners to pay a percentage of the home's value before the insurance kicks in.

Insurers should also be able to respond to tornado victims more quickly, said Hartwig. "After Superstorm Sandy, there were 1.5 million claims," he said. "This storm will involve a few thousand."

Yet, homeowners will still have to be on alert for insurers looking to limit their losses, said attorney Mike Doyle of Texas-based firm Doyle Raizner.

Doyle, who is part of the Renew Joplin Legal Team, represents 15 victims who claim they were ill served by their insurers after the massive Joplin, Mo., tornado in May 2011. That storm killed 161 people, destroyed more than 7,000 homes and caused $2.8 billion in damages, the most expensive tornado in U.S. history.

Some insurers may try to lowball damage estimates, then delay making the payments in hopes of getting the homeowner financially desperate enough to accept a settlement that falls short of paying for all repairs, said Doyle.

Homeowners should also watch out for obscure clauses in policies that require repairs to be completed within six months, which can be a tough deadline to meet when insurers are dragging their feet, he said.

"It's a Catch-22," said Doyle. "They require homeowners to rebuild quickly but they withhold the money homeowners need to get the work started."

Doyle stressed that most insurers handle the claims responsibly. Of the 7,000 properties that sustained damage in Joplin, a few hundred claims are in dispute, he said.

Gary Esson, an ex-Army officer, was huddled in the basement when the 2011 tornado hit. "I heard the roar, the train sound everyone talks about," he said.

The funnel cloud came close enough to damage the roof and siding and blow the house slightly off its foundation The claims adjuster from insurer USAA showed up a couple days later but couldn't find much damage, estimating it at $733, less than his $1,000 deductible.

"I got a second opinion, an independent adjuster who put the damage at $27,000 to $30,000," said Esson, speaking from Afghanistan where he works as an independent contractor. "We presented the new figure; the company denied it."

USAA has brought the amount to $18,000, according to Patrick Martucci, Esson's attorney. But Esson refuses to settle. He said the damage has increased, and mold is now growing in the house.

As of press time, the attorney representing USAA in the claim had not responded to a call for comment.

To make sure storm victims get the settlement they deserve, they should document all the damage to the home by taking photos and compiling lists of damaged or missing belongings. They should also keep records of their storm-related expenses like bills from meals, hotels and transportation costs.

Roy Winans and his wife, Beverly, lost their home of 20 years in the Joplin tornado and say their experience with the insurance company couldn't have gone more smoothly.

"We were cleaning up the lot the next day when a State Farm truck came down the street and stopped," said Winans, who is a retired natural gas worker.

The insurer set up a temporary office nearby where Winans and other clients could visit to collect living expenses. After a few weeks, they received a check for their house and soon after that, they bought a new one. Eventually, they pieced together a list of all of the property they lost and submitted it to State Farm, which informed them they had undervalued their belongings and paid them more than they had asked.

For the Winans, they were happy to avoid a battle with their insurer over the claim. Recovering from the storm was difficult enough.

"It's been a trying two years," Roy Winan said Tuesday, the second anniversary of the Joplin tornado. "It's cloudy today and we've been hearing storm sirens. My niece lives down in Moore, two blocks from where the school was hit [by Monday's tornado]. My whole family has been impacted by these storms."

4 Americans killed in drone strikes since '09

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:33:57 GMT

Counterterrorism drone strikes have killed four Americans overseas since 2009, the U.S. government acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday, one day before President Barack Obama delivers a major speech on related policy.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States specifically targeted and killed one American citizen, al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, in 2011 in Yemen, alleging he was plotting attacks against the United States.

The letter provided new details about al-Awlaki's alleged involvement in bomb plots targeting U.S. aviation.

Holder also said the Obama administration was aware of three other Americans who had been killed in counterterrorism operations overseas.

Holder said Samir Kahn, Abdul Rahman Anwar al-Awlaki and Jude Kenan Mohammed were not targeted by the United States but he did not add more details about their deaths.

The letter represents the first U.S. admission that the four were killed in counterterror strikes even though their deaths had been reported in the media.

Abdul Rahman Anwar Al-Awlaki was the 16-year-old son of the al Qaeda cleric and was killed in Pakistan about two weeks after his father's death.

Khan produced the English-language magazine Inspire for al Qaeda's affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula, which included bomb-making instruction. He was killed alongside the elder al-Awlaki.

Mohammed, who was once on the FBI's Most Wanted list, was indicted in July 2009 as part of a North Carolina-based terror ring. He was charged with plotting to murder, kidnap or maim persons overseas and provide material support to terrorists. Mohammed was never arrested and for a time reportedly was living in Pakistan.

The Justice Department did not say when he was killed or provide any details.

Obama will deliver long-promised remarks on Thursday at National Defense University and will speak at length about the policy and legal rationale for how the United States takes action against al Qaeda and its affiliates, including the use of drones, according to a White House official.

Obama will discuss the administration's rationale for why those strikes are legal and necessary, the official said.

Targeting Americans with lethal force in counterterror operations overseas was a controversy that flared publicly during confirmation hearings for CIA Director John Brennan earlier this year.

Senators aggressively sought the administration's legal reasoning for those operations.

Some lawmakers were critical of the practice and questions were raised about whether drones might ever be used against U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism who were on American soil.

Holder said Obama directed him to release the latest details, which had been classified "until now." He said the unprecedented disclosure was made as a way to build on Obama's commitment in his State of the Union Address earlier this year to "continue to engage" with Congress on counterterror efforts and to "ensure that they remain consistent with our laws and values."

Holder noted in one of his own speeches last year he had made it clear the United States would only use lethal force against an American citizen "who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or its associated forces, and who is actively engaged in planning to kill Americans." He also said no American would be targeted unless he or she posed an imminent threat and could not be captured.

The senior al-Awlaki was believed by U.S. authorities to have inspired acts of terrorism against the United States. It was said his facility with English and technology made him one of the top terrorist recruiters in the world. He was considered the public face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

But Holder said in his letter that it "was not his words that led the United States to act against him" but his "direct personal involvement" in the "planning and execution" of terror attacks against the United States that "made him a lawful target."

For instance, Holder said al-Awlaki "planned a suicide operation" for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner.

Holder noted al-Awlaki directed Abdulmutallab to detonate his bomb, which was hidden in his underwear, only when the jet was over U.S. soil. The plot that ultimately involved a Delta Air Lines flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009 failed.

The letter also provided new details about al-Awlaki's alleged involvement in a 2010 plot to blow up U.S.-bound cargo planes with explosives hidden in printers. Holder said al-Awlaki was so involved he even participated in the development and testing of the explosives used in the plan that was foiled.

Calling the decision to use lethal force "one of the gravest our government" can face," Holder said the operation targeting al-Awlaki received "exceptionally rigorous" legal review and additional policy screening by the administration. Congress was also briefed on the possibility of targeting the al Qaeda figure and informed once the decision was made in 2010.

In his letter Holder said Obama approved a policy document this week that "institutionalizes the administration's exacting standards and processes for reviewing and approving operations to capture or use lethal force against terrorist targets outside the United States and areas of active hostilities."

Arias jurors say they're stuck

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:26:19 GMT

After more than seven hours of deliberations, jurors still haven't decided whether Jodi Arias will live or die.

The Arizona jury sent out a note Wednesday morning saying its members couldn't agree.

Judge Sherry Stephens told them to try again and ordered them back into the jury room.

It was another unexpected turn in the dramatic, high-profile murder trial, which has lasted for months, sparked a media frenzy and drawn spectators who line up for courtroom seats.

Earlier this month, the same jurors took less than two hours to decide that Arias was "exceptionally cruel" in 2008 when she stabbed ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander 29 times, slit his neck from ear to ear and shot him in the face.

They pronounced her guilty of first-degree murder two weeks ago after 15 hours of deliberations.

Now, the jury is weighing whether Arias, 32, should get the death penalty.

After jurors told Stephens they were stuck on Wednesday, the judge encouraged them to listen to each other, pinpoint areas of agreement and disagreement and ask for further guidance if they need it.

It's an approach often described as a "dynamite charge," used by judges to blast open logjams in deliberations and help jurors reach a verdict.

It's unclear whether her advice worked. After Stephens ordered them to continue their discussions, jurors deliberated for more than four more hours, then went home for the day.

The jury's decision must be unanimous for Arias to be sentenced to death. In the case of a deadlock, a new jury would be chosen for this phase of the trial.

A plea for mercy

A path of heartbreak, violence, lies and confessions has led Arias to the Phoenix courtroom where her life is now in a jury's hands.

On Tuesday, she pleaded with jurors to spare her.

It was a stark reversal from two weeks ago, when she told a journalist she preferred death to life in prison.

"I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it," she told KSAZ shortly after her conviction.

But her family implored her to change her mind, she told KSAZ late Tuesday. Now she wants to spare them further heartbreak, she said.

"One of my cousins really drove it home for me and told me how much it would affect them, if I did anything to myself," she said.

Her mother pleaded with her, she claimed. "Please don't give up; please don't give up," Arias said she told her.

Well-planned presentation

Her life seemed to pass before her, as she delivered a slideshow presentation -- mostly of family photos -- to the jury on Tuesday. It started off with pictures of her as a toddler wearing pigtails and showed several images from holidays and vacations with family members.

She read a prepared statement for nearly 20 minutes, at times crying.

Arias told jurors that she had been a victim of abuse as an adult and as a child. She had claimed she killed Alexander in self-defense after he hurt her, something evidence failed to substantiate.

She called his murder "the worst mistake" she'd ever made, "the worst thing I've ever done." She couldn't have imagined herself capable of such a grisly crime, Arias told the jury.

"But I know that I was," she said. "And for that I'm going to be sorry for the rest of my life -- probably longer."

Arias pledged to make herself useful to other prisoners and humanity by performing acts of charity from behind bars, if spared. She told jurors Tuesday that she could teach people to read in prison and pledged to dedicate her life to good causes.

She noted she could bring "people together in a constructive and positive way" by participating in various programs, including prisoner literacy initiatives; by her "Survivor" T-shirts, which would benefit victims of domestic violence; and by donating her hair, so it could be used to make wigs for sick children. She showed the jurors several pieces of her artwork.

She told them she would suffer for what she did.

"I'm not going to become a mother because of my own terrible choices," she said. "I won't be at my sister's wedding, when she ties the knot next year."

Attorneys argue life and death

Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott argued Tuesday that Arias' life should be spared.

"We're not talking about whether or not to convict. We're talking about whether or not to kill. And so when we talk about that, it matters that she was 27 years old and she had no criminal history," she said. "It matters that she hadn't done anything wrong in her life before that."

Prosecutor Juan Martinez said pointing to Arias' artwork as evidence that her life should be spared wasn't a valid defense.

"It's an entitlement road that they want you to travel when they talk to you about the fact that she's a good artist," he said. "It doesn't mean anything. All it means is: give her special or preferential treatment."

He argued that jurors should sentence Arias to death.

"You have a duty, and that duty really means that you actually do the honest, right thing, even though it may be difficult," he said.

If Arias is given a sentence of death, she would be the fourth woman on death row in the state of Arizona.

When Alexander died

Arias was living in Yreka, California, when she met Alexander at a business convention in Las Vegas in September 2006. That November, he baptized Arias into the Mormon faith, a ceremony Arias said was followed by anal sex.

Arias became his girlfriend two months later, she testified. They broke up in the summer of 2007, and Alexander began dating other women.

Alexander's naked body was found crammed in a stand-up shower in June 2008 after he missed two appointments, prompting friends to go to his house. He had been stabbed 29 times in the back and torso and shot in the head. His throat was slit.

After her arrest, Arias told an elaborate lie about masked intruders breaking into Alexander's house and killing him before she narrowly escaped.

Relatives who spoke with police described her as mentally unstable.

London cleaver assault called terror

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:20:06 GMT

They first hit the man, thought to be a British soldier, with a car in broad daylight. Then the two attackers hacked him to death and dumped his body in the middle of a southeastern London road.

As the victim -- dressed in what appeared to be a T-shirt for Help for Heroes, a charity that helps military veterans -- lay prone, one of the two attackers found a camera.

"We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone," said a meat-cleaver-wielding man with bloody hands, speaking in what seems to be a London accent.

"The only reasons we killed this man ... is because Muslims are dying daily," he added, in video aired by CNN affiliate ITN. "This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth."

One witness, Michael Atlee, described the gruesome, frenzied and ultimately fatal sequence of events Wednesday afternoon as "a bloody mess."

British Prime David Cameron called it a terrorist attack.

"We will never buckle to terror," Cameron wrote on Twitter.

Home Secretary Theresa May offered a similar assessment Wednesday night of the situation and a similar message of resolve.

"We have seen terrorism on the streets of Britain before, and we have always stood against it," she said. "Despicable acts like this will not go unpunished."

'They were just animals'

A witness, who identified himself only as James, told London's LBC 97.3 radio station that he saw two men standing by the victim, who was on the ground in the British capital's Woolwich neighborhood.

At first James thought they were trying to help the man. But then he saw two meat cleavers, like a butcher would have.

"They were hacking at this poor guy, literally," he told the radio station, as if they were trying to remove his organs.

"These two guys were crazed. They were just not there. They were just animals."

Afterward, the men appeared to want to be filmed, with one of the attackers going over to a bus and asking people to take photos of him as if he wanted to be on TV.

A man who asked not to be identified told ITN that he was on his way to a job interview when he came up on the scene and started filming it. Then, a man with a cleaver and knife in his bloody hands "came straight to me (and) said, 'No, no, no, it's cool. I just want to talk to you.'"

The suspect went to apologize to women who had witnessed the attack, then quickly added "but in our lands our women have to see the same."

"You people will never be safe," he said. "Remove your government. They don't care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns?

"... Get rid of them. Tell them to bring our troops back so we can all live in peace."

The first call about an assault came in at 2:20 p.m. (9:20 a.m. ET). At some point afterward, police responded, including armed members of a firearms unit, even though British police typically don't carry guns. Metropolitan Police Commander Simon Letchworth noted that "early reports" indicated the attackers had "weapons." Metropolitan Police say they're aware of reports it took 30 minutes for police to arrive.

The suspects rushed at the arriving officers before being shot, James told the radio station. The Independent Police Complaints Commission said the Metropolitan Police informed them at 2:50 p.m. of "an incident," as would happen when police shoot and injure someone.

Letchworth said both suspects were taken to separate London hospitals for treatment. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe later said the two had been arrested, though it wasn't immediately clear if this happened at the hospitals or elsewhere.

"We understand concern about the motivation, and we will work tirelessly to uncover why this occurred and and who was responsible," Hogan-Howe said, adding that his force's counterterrorism unit will lead the investigation. "I understand people want answers, but I must stress we are in the early stages of investigations."

Centuries-old barracks part of London neighborhood

Cameron -- who was in France at the time of the incident but headed back home promptly -- declined to confirm if the man killed was a serving soldier, while Britain's Defense Ministry said it was investigating to see whether that's the case.

Yet Nick Raynsford, a member of Parliament, told CNN that the victim is believed to be a serving soldier who was based at a nearby barracks.

The soldier had apparently been on duty in central London and was returning to the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich when he was attacked, Raynsford said.

The MP described Woolwich as a mixed, multicultural area, adding that troops stationed at the centuries-old military barracks there have a close relationship with locals.

Even as they worked to piece together what happened and why, British authorities beefed up security around Woolwich and all military barracks in London, according to a British government source.

And British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said the killing was a "very shocking incident" and that the United Kingdom takes the safety of its troops "very seriously," as he headed into Wednesday night to a meeting of the country's civil emergency committee known as COBRA.

The incident raised concerns it may inflame animosity against Muslims, with Metropolitan Police deploying riot police as a precautionary measure. The Muslim Council of Britain, after condemning what it called "a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam," urged Muslims and non-Muslims alike "to come together in solidarity to ensure the forces of hatred do not prevail."

Later Wednesday, a man with two knives threw a smoke grenade into a mosque in Essex, a county east of London, and demanded someone come outside to answer to the Woolwich slaying, the mosque's secretary said. The only person inside called police who came quickly and arrested the man, said Al Falah Braintree Islamic Center secretary Sikander Sleemy.

"I believe this was a revenge attack for what happened in Woolwich," Sleemy said. "We strongly condemn what happened in Woolwich. It's not an Islamic act."

That attack had already spurred swift condemnations around the world and especially in Britain -- from a "concerned" Queen Elizabeth II, to London Mayor Boris Johnson's description of a "sickening and unforgivable act of violence," to Labour Party leader Ed Miliband's prediction that the "whole country will be horrified."

That's certainly true for Lauren Collins, who saw the gore up close.

"I still am quite shaken at what I've seen," she told CNN. "I've seen a victim of an awful attack, and I've seen a body of a young man."

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