Doctor who performed abortions shot to death
CNN
Dr. George Tiller, whose Kansas women's clinic frequently took center stage in the U.S. debate over abortion, was shot and killed while serving as an usher at his Wichita church Sunday morning, police said.
Wichita police said a 51-year-old man from the Kansas City, Kansas, area was in custody in connection with the slaying of Tiller, who was one of the few U.S. physicians who still performed late-term abortions.
The killing, which came about 16 years after Tiller survived a shooting outside his Wichita clinic, took place shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday at Reformation Lutheran Church. Officers found the 67-year-old dead in the foyer, police said.
Witnesses provided a description of the car and a license number of the killer's getaway vehicle, Wichita police spokesman Gordon Bassham said. Police stopped a blue Ford Taurus matching the description about three hours later in Gardner, about 30 miles southwest of Kansas City, and took the driver into custody.
Dear President Obama #132: So where is the safe house?
Reporter's Note: The President wants idea from normal Americans on how to run the country. In fairness, most normal Americans don’t spend a lot of time writing letters to the leader of the free world. Still, community service is a worthwhile goal, so I continue my effort to write a letter a day to the White House, no matter how abnormal that may be.
Tom Foreman | Bio
AC360° Correspondent
Dear Mr. President,
You may have noticed that my trip to New Orleans this week put me on something of a tear about my love for that city, and while I don’t want to beat the topic to death, there is a little matter which has been troubling me on that front for some time.
One of the most pointed complaints I heard right after Katrina and continue to hear to this day from folks outside of the city goes like this: If people are stupid enough to build in a place that can be flooded, they deserve what they get and the rest of us should do nothing to help them when disaster strikes. It’s their problem.
I think such blanket statements about what happened in Louisiana belie an oversimplification that seems not merely harsh, but unreasonable. Because based on the logic of “it’s their problem,” much of America should rightfully be abandoned.
Under this argument, one could say that when terrorists hit New York we not only should have discouraged rebuilding, but also should have ordered the dispersal out of populations from every major city in the country on grounds that they present attractive targets. Manhattan is even an island, for crying out loud!
The Shot: longest marriage?
A British couple celebrates their 81st wedding anniversary.
Dear President Obama #131: Benjamin Button's secret to long life and weathering hard times
Reporter's Note: The President, Barack Obama, has invited the public to send ideas about the direction of the country. So I am directing a letter to the Oval Office every day.
Tom Foreman | Bio
AC360° Correspondent
Dear Mr. President,
I woke up this morning and I was twenty years younger. It was kind of a Benjamin Button experience but without the Brad Pitt looks and it lasted only a moment instead of a lifetime. Oh, and it was the movie version set in New Orleans, not the original Fitzgerald story which was set in Baltimore.
All of that is a round about way of saying I was awakened by the sound of a ship horn on the Mississippi river. I am writing this from New Orleans before I have to board my plane back to DC. Twenty years ago, when my wife and I lived here, we had an apartment overlooking the streetcar line at River Bend, (just a block from the Camellia Grill, which you might know) and it seemed like every Saturday morning we were roused from bed by the deep, booming sound of a freighter pushing by.
We were younger and living in the Big Easy, so I’m not talking about 6 a.m. More like 9 or 10. And it is not like we had pressing business even then. We would drift around town until we decided on a favorite spot for lunch; someplace warm and cozy against the chill if it were winter, someplace cool and dark if it were summer with the sun turning the streets into a blast furnace.
Live Blog from the Anchor Desk 05/29/09
Tonight on 360°, President Obama defending his pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Sonia Sotomayor is coming under fire for a comment she made back in 2001 that a Latina judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. The 32 words she shared back then could play a crucial role in her Senate confirmation hearing. We'll have the raw politics.
Want to know what else we're covering tonight? Read EVENING BUZZ
Scroll down to join the live chat during the program. It's your chance to share your thoughts on tonight's headlines. Keep in mind, you have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules.
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If you want to take part in our Live Blog (and we hope you do) please try to follow our rules.
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Video: Madeleine Albright on Pakistan
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks to AC360's Erica Hill about increasing violence in Pakistan.
Watching a strange nation – from above
Editor's Note: For more on the global impact of North Korea's nuclear tests and a discussion with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, tune in to Fareed Zakaria GPS this Sunday at 1pm and 5pm ET.
Thomas E Goldstone
Senior producer, “Fareed Zakaria GPS”
An elaborate waterslide that drops thrill-seekers in a 50-meter pool. A massive stadium built at great cost but rarely used. And a field that looks like a mass burial ground.
What is this? Some sort of twisted mis-managed amusement park?
No, welcome to Kim Jong Il’s North Korea.
The waterslide, stadium and burial ground were all located by a group of about a dozen sleuths – some amateur, some former military – brought together by grad student Curtis Melvin and his website www.nkeconwatch.com.
Melvin and his team pore over satellite images of North Korea on Google Earth, looking for landmarks that might aid in our understanding of the bizarre nation. One of their methods is to scour photosharing sites for pictures taken by the few tourists, aid workers, and governmental officials allowed in to North Korea every year. If, for instance, somebody posted a group photo in front of a monument, Melvin’s group will look for a distinguishing characteristic in that monument and then try to locate it from the air – or, in this case, from its armchairs in front of Google Earth.
Keep Reading... FULL POST
In her own words: Sotomayor's 2001 'Raising the Bar' address
Editor's Note: Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by President Obama on May 26, 2009, to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, delivered this talk on Oct. 26, 2001, as the Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture. She spoke at a UC Berkeley School of Law symposium titled "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation." The symposium was co-hosted by the La Raza Law Journal, the Berkeley La Raza Law Students Association, the Boalt Hall Center for Social Justice, and the Center for Latino Policy Research. The text below is from the archives of the La Raza Law Journal.
Judge Sotomayor grew up in a South Bronx housing project and graduated from Princeton University and Yale Law School. She was a former prosecutor in the office of the District Attorney in Manhattan and an associate and then partner in the New York law firm of Pavia & Harcourt. She was also a member of the Puerto Rico Legal Defense and Education Fund. Nominated to the Second Circuit in 1997, she became the first Latina nominated to sit on a federal appellate court.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor's 2001 address to the 'Raising the Bar' symposium at the UC Berkeley School of Law
Judge Reynoso, thank you for that lovely introduction. I am humbled to be speaking behind a man who has contributed so much to the Hispanic community. I am also grateful to have such kind words said about me.
I am delighted to be here. It is nice to escape my hometown for just a little bit. It is also nice to say hello to old friends who are in the audience, to rekindle contact with old acquaintances and to make new friends among those of you in the audience. It is particularly heart warming to me to be attending a conference to which I was invited by a Latina law school friend, Rachel Moran, who is now an accomplished and widely respected legal scholar. I warn Latinos in this room: Latinas are making a lot of progress in the old-boy network.
I am also deeply honored to have been asked to deliver the annual Judge Mario G. Olmos lecture. I am joining a remarkable group of prior speakers who have given this lecture. I hope what I speak about today continues to promote the legacy of that man whose commitment to public service and abiding dedication to promoting equality and justice for all people inspired this memorial lecture and the conference that will follow. I thank Judge Olmos' widow Mary Louise's family, her son and the judge's many friends for hosting me. And for the privilege you have bestowed on me in honoring the memory of a very special person. If I and the many people of this conference can accomplish a fraction of what Judge Olmos did in his short but extraordinary life we and our respective communities will be infinitely better.
Prince Harry on official visit to New York
CNN
Prince Harry, the younger son of Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana, offered his condolences to September 11 victims Friday in his first official trip overseas.
Harry's two-day visit to New York, surrounded by public officials and community activists, could reflect a change in a public image that has been marred by several incidents, including a one-day stint in drug rehab in 2002 and accusations of racism in January.
At the outset of his visit, Harry stopped at ground zero with New York Gov. David Paterson and briefly talked with family members of September 11 victims. The prince then laid a wreath at the World Trade Center site and bowed his head in a moment of silence.
He left a handwritten note tacked to the wreath, citing an "admiration of the courage shown by the people" of New York on September 11, 2001.
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