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Tonight, we have a Keeping them Honest exclusive on the Fort Hood killings. You'll meet a woman who says she wrote a report warning of possible radicals in the U.S. Military. Was the report ignored? Plus, more of our special investigation Killings at the Canal: The Army Tapes. And, Oprah Winfrey's big announcement.
Want to know what else we're covering? Read EVENING BUZZ
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Heather Ellis entering court this morning in Kennett, MO.
Gary Tuchman and Dave Mattingly
CNN
This much isn't in dispute: Heather Ellis cut in line at a Wal-Mart nearly three years ago.
But the accounts of what happened next vary, depending on whom you ask - and has divided this economically struggling Missouri town of 11,000 along racial lines.
Ellis, then a college student with no criminal history, said some white patrons shoved and hurled racial slurs at her when she switched checkout lines at Wal-Mart in January 2007.
Store employees refused to give her back her change and called police, she said.
And when she was taken outside to the parking lot, an officer allegedly told her to "Go back to the ghetto." Another roughed her up, she said.
Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
Get ready for the possibility of more confusion over mammograms.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting the federally-funded task force that loosened breast-cancer screening guidelines is clarifying its position.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us live with the details.
Plus, could the accused Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Hasan have been stopped. Tonight, we'll introduce you to a woman who says she contributed to a report that could have alerted military officials. We're Keeping them Honest.
And, don't miss our special investigation: Killings at the Canal: The Army Tapes. Three Army sergeants have been convicted of killing four Iraqi detainees. Tonight you'll hear from the soldier who turned them in. Is he a snitch or a hero? We'll let you decide.
Join us for these stories and much more starting at 10 p.m. ET. See you then!
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Michael Schulder
CNN Senior Executive Producer
As I was saying the other day, I’ve finally spoken with the man whose hoax put me in the most embarrassing position of my journalistic career. The author, Christopher Buckley, had written the faux “news release” persuading me to write a story for Peter Jennings that the Soviet Union was auctioning off the body of Soviet Communism’s founder Vladimir Lenin. Now, 18 years after the hoax, Buckley was on the other line. Or so I thought.
How Can I Be Sure?
I called Buckley at a hotel number “he” gave me. I asked “him,” given our past history together, how could I be sure I was speaking to the real Chrisotpher Buckley? Without missing a beat he offered this evidence: “I’m in Dallas. You dialed a hotel in Dallas. If you go to the SMU [Southern Methodist University] website, you could find that I’m speaking here tonight.”
He was right. I did dial the hotel number in Dallas that he had emailed me. I checked out the SMU website and sure enough, there he was. SOLD OUT.
I was now ready to hear his version of the hoax I fell for on November 5th 1991. “My phone rang an hour before Jennings’ broadcast the following night of November 6th,” Buckley recounted to me. “It was Peter Jennings.”
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the 'Beat 360°' pic:
Former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin signs her new book, 'Going Rogue' for a customer at a Barnes & Noble bookstore November 18, 2009 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Palin chose Grand Rapids as the first stop of her book signing tour.
Have fun with it. We're looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.
UPDATE BEAT 360º WINNERS
Staff:
Albert Lewitinn
“Dear Anderson, here are MY dispatches from the edge. Xoxoxo, Sarah.”
Viewer:
Michael, Dresher, PA
"No, sorry, I sign them all the same: "McCain lost it for both of us. Fondly, Sarah Palin."
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Daniel Zwerdling
NPR
Two years ago, a top psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was so concerned about what he saw as Nidal Hasan's incompetence and reckless behavior that he put those concerns in writing. NPR has obtained a copy of the memo, the first evaluation that has surfaced from Hasan's file.
Officials at Walter Reed sent that memo to Fort Hood this year when Hasan was transferred there.
Nevertheless, commanders still assigned Hasan — accused of killing 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood on Nov. 5 — to work with some of the Army's most troubled and vulnerable soldiers.
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AC360°
Tonight we continue our special investigation into a 2007 execution in Baghdad. Three decorated U.S. Army sergeants shot and killed four Iraqi detainees their platoon had taken into custody earlier that day. The soldiers are now serving prison terms at Fort Leavenworth. During interrogations, the soldiers blamed military policy for making it too hard to detail suspected insurgents.
We show you what the Army doesn’t want released – a startling confession by one of the three sergeants convicted of killing the Iraqi detainees. His confession is part of more than 23 hours of Army interrogation videotapes obtained exclusively by CNN. On the tape, Leahy admits to shooting two of the detainees. It is graphic and compelling. We also interview his wife, who says her husband is a good person and does not belong in prison. Was this murder or battlefield justice?
Do you have questions about this case and about the detainee policy in Iraq? We'll be digging deeper tonight.
Send us a text message with your question. Text AC360 (or 22360), and you might hear it on air!
Program Note: Gary Tuchman will report live from Kennett, Missouri tonight where Heather Ellis's trial entered it's second day. Join us for all of the new details tonight on AC360° at 10 P.M.
AC360°
On January 6, 2007 police were called to the Wal-Mart in Kennett, Missouri responding to a claim of an unruly women who, customers claimed, cut in line. Police officers responded to the call and found a woman who they reported as belligerent, screaming at the store cashier:
"As I arrived at check-out [cash register] number 13, I was immediately informed by – Kay McDaniel [On-duty Assistant Manager for Wal-Mart], that she wanted the black female that was yelling and cursing, to be removed, and escorted from the store, and off the property. I then informed the black female that, she had to leave the store and the property immediately, and cease causing any further disturbances. The black female turned and yelled, "I ain't going nowhere until I get my fucking change back" So I stood by while the cashier attendant handed the belligerent female her change."