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Tonight, that law enforcement official who's targeting a college student in his spare time - singling him out for a campaign of vitriol and online attacks. New developments tonight, and the same question people keep asking us: Why hasn't his boss fired him? We'll put that question to his boss - the Attorney General of Michigan. We're keeping them honest. Plus, tonight's other headlines.
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Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
We're continuing to keep them honest in Michigan where the Assistant Attorney General is under fire for a blog he has written that takes aim at the gay student body president at the University of Michigan.
Some say the Assistant AG Andrew Shirvell is obsessed with Chris Armstrong. The first posting on Shirvell's blog called "Chris Armstrong Watch" has a photo of Armstrong with the word "resign" over his face, along with a swastika and rainbow flag.
Last night on 360°, Shirvell defended his actions saying he does it during off-hours away from work and he says he's protected under the First Amendment. But today, many people are calling for him to be fired. There's one person who can make that decision, his boss, Attorney General Mike Cox. You'll hear from Cox tonight on the program.
And, up close tonight, actor Michael J. Fox on his fight against Parkinson's disease. He devotes much of his time to the charity he created to find a cure. He sat down with 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta to talk about his life today and why he believes a cure will be found.
Join us for these stories and more starting at 10 p.m. ET on CNN. See you then.
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture 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:
House Minority Leader John Boehner speaks during a news conference September 29, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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 360° Winners:
Staff
Sean Yates
“Five reasons why I’ll be the next Speaker? How about five letters … O-B-A-M-A."
Viewer
Santiago Melli-Huber, New Brunswick, NJ
"For the last time, it's pronounced 'BAIN-er!'"—
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In today's installment of AC360°'s Political Theater, Tom Foreman is looking at an ad from Louisiana Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon who is challenging Sen. David Vitter, a Republican seeking re-election.
Here’s the script for Melancon's "Forgotten Crimes":
Charlie Melancon: "I’m Charlie Melancon, and I approve this message."
Narrator: "This time on 'Forgotten Crimes,' caught up with prostitution scandals in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, a Louisiana politician has been let off the hook. Today we explore the case of the senator and the madame in 'Lawmaker, law breaker.'"
FULL POST
Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
(CNN) - When I went to Michael J. Fox’s neighborhood this morning, I had no idea what time we would start our interview. “He has to time his medications,” I was told. “When his medications kick in, he will be ready.” As far as I could tell, Fox’s medications kicked in right away, and for the next 90 minutes, we talked about everything.
Fox spoke about the hard shoes he has to wear first thing in the morning, because his feet and legs are so stiff. He humorously added that he just puts his toothbrush in his mouth, and lets the movement of his head do the rest of the work. As a neurosurgeon, it was fascinating to hear Michael describe his own brain surgery with such great clarity and his fears about doing it again. “Well, it is brain surgery…" he said with flourish.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/CRIME/09/28/west.memphis.3.damien.echols/t1larg.jpg caption="Echols is medium height, about 5’9”- 5’10” and much thinner than the way he appeared at his trial in 1993. His face is extremely pale, almost ghostly, from lack of sunshine these last 16 years." width=300 height=169]
Deb Feyerick
CNN
(CNN) - The trip to the Varner Correctional Facility in Grady, Arkansas is about an hour’s drive south of Little Rock, past cotton fields and wide-open sky. We arrive two hours early for our 9 a.m. interview. Armed guards on horseback keep watch over the “hoe teams,” newly arrived prisoners lined up shoulder-to-shoulder tending the grounds outside the electrified prison fence.
Damien Echols is housed in the high security “super max” wing on death row along with about 40 other men. He tells me he is in solitary confinement, alone in his cell virtually 24/7. The lights are turned off at 10:30 p.m. and he wakes four hours later at 2:30 a.m. when the lights come back on. He gets one hour of “outdoor” time every day in an enclosed pen that one prison official describes as a “dog run” – concrete on three sides, a tin-roof above and a chain link door in the front. Echols says he can’t really see the sky from there and, besides, the air smells bad, he says, because of the cell’s location. He says he has very little contact with the other death row inmates – the only regular noise he hears is the screams of one of the men that he says has psychiatric problems.
When we arrive for what is supposed to be an hour long visit, Echols is waiting for us in a thin corridor with small cells on each side. Prisoners sit on one side and visitors on the other, separated by what looks like a thick plastic window. He is surrounded by prison guards who hold his arms, though there seems to be no place for him to run even if he wanted. His hands and feet are shackled, connected by a leather leash. As a prison official opens the corridor, Echols begins a slow steady walk for our camera. Having done this many times before, he’s well aware we’re rolling and walks slowly and steadily, gazing straight ahead. He enters the cell, framed by blue bars, and sits on a small counter touching the plastic window. He smiles at me and says “Hi.”
FULL POST
(CNN) – Rep. Charlie Melancon, the Democratic Senate nominee in Louisiana, plans to run a two-minute television ad as early as Wednesday night addressing his GOP opponent's 2007 prostitution scandal, a spokesman for Melancon's campaign said.
The ad, an abridged version of a Melancon campaign film called "Forgotten Crimes," features an audio recording of a "French Quarter prostitute," who describes her experience with Sen. David Vitter.
"He went in, took a shower, spoke very little to me at first," she says. "He did his thing. He wasn't there 15, 20 minutes at that."
Recent polls have shown Melancon trailing Vitter.
The new ad also includes statements by various unidentified Louisiana residents.
Deborah Feyerick and Stephanie Chen
CNN
Grady, Arkansas (CNN) - Some things about Damien Echols remain unchanged since he was sentenced to death in 1994 at the age of 19 after being convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys.
At 35, his favorite holiday is still Halloween. To celebrate, friends say, he sends them hand-made jack-o'-lantern cards. He longs for contact with the outside world.
"I miss the things that most people take for granted, things people don't want, like rain," Echols told CNN in a face-to-face interview airing on tonight's "AC360°."
"To go out and touch it and get wet, or to feel snow. I loved snow my entire life, and I haven't had that in almost 20 years now."
From the Varner Unit of the Arkansas prison system, Echols maintains his innocence 16 years after he and two other teens were convicted of murdering three Cub Scouts - Michael Moore, Christopher Byers and Steven Branch. On May 6, 1993, police in the rural community of West Memphis, Arkansas, found their bodies bruised and mutilated, their arms and legs hogtied with their own shoelaces.
Echols, along with 16-year-old Jason Baldwin and 17-year-old Jessie Misskelley, were found guilty a year later. Echols received a death sentence, while Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison. The three teens became known as the West Memphis 3.
Echols is asking the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday to grant him a new trial. His lawyers want to present DNA evidence not available at the time of the trial, as well as testimony that supports arguments that Echols and the two others did not commit the crime.