Police say the trooper apparently confronted three juveniles in a car in Denton on Wednesday evening when they appeared to be involved in some kind of vandalism. The trooper approached group on foot and while he was speaking to them, police say the driver of the car accelerated and the trooper was somehow dragged. After a time, police say the trooper was dislodged and fell to the roadway and the driver fled.

The trooper was flown to Shock Trauma in Baltimore, where police say he is in critical condition.

Police say they found the car and are questioning three suspects.

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The bill was approved, 241-175, largely along party lines.

Republicans said the measure was needed to ensure that the long-delayed pipeline, first proposed in 2008, is built.

“This is the most studied pipeline in the history of mankind,” said Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., the bill’s sponsor.

“When is enough enough?” added Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. “Five years? Six years? Ten years?”

But Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., called the bill a “reckless attempt to avoid environmental review.” The bill would deem the project approved without a presidential permit, as required under current law, and with no further environmental review. The legislation also would limit legal challenges to the project.

The White House says President Barack Obama opposes the bill because it would “circumvent longstanding and proven processes” by removing the requirement for a presidential permit.

The $7 billion pipeline, proposed by Calgary-based TransCanada, would carry oil extracted from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The 1,700-mile pipeline would travel though Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma on its way to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

Supporters say the pipeline would create thousands of jobs, help lower fuel prices and bolster North American energy resources.

Opponents call the project a “carbon bomb” that would carry “dirty oil” that could trigger global warming. They also worry about a spill. Converting tar sands into oil can uses as much as 15 percent more energy than conventional oil production.

Obama has twice thwarted the pipeline project amid concerns about a proposed route through environmentally sensitive land in Nebraska, even as the White House approved a southern portion of the project from Oklahoma to Texas. The bill approved by the House would apply to an 875-mile portion of the pipeline from Canada to Nebraska.

The State Department, which has completed more than 15,000 pages of environmental review on the proposed pipeline over the years, said in a draft report this spring that the project was unlikely to cause significant environmental impact to most resources along the planned route. The report also said other options to move the oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries, such as trucks or rail cars, would be far worse for climate change.

The State Department expects to issue a final report this summer. The department has authority over the pipeline because it crosses a U.S. border.

This latest attempt to speed the pipeline marks at least the fourth time the House has tried to do so.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., defended the House actions, even though the Keystone bill is unlikely to be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

“There may be a few of my colleagues who are tired of Keystone bills, but the American people are also tired — tired of $3.70 a gallon gasoline, tired of unemployment above 7 percent, and tired of four years of delays that continue to block this critical jobs and energy project,” Upton said.

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Maryland announced in November that it will leave the ACC for the Big Ten in 2014. The ACC sued the school in North Carolina to make it pay a $52 million penalty for exiting the conference. Maryland responded by suing the ACC in a Maryland court, calling the penalty illegal.

The ACC is asking Maryland’s lawsuit be dismissed or stayed until the lawsuit in North Carolina is concluded. Maryland says the withdrawl penalty would wipe out nearly its entire athletic budget and is illegal under Maryland antitrust law.

Arguments are scheduled for Thursday in Prince George’s County Circuit Court.

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Richard J. Curl, who pleaded guilty in February, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday afternoon in Montgomery County Circuit Court. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

The former Olympic coach, who lives in Vienna, Va., was banned for life by USA Swimming over allegations of an intimate relationship with a teenage swimmer in the 1980s.

He was charged last year after a woman, now 43, told police he began sexually abusing her when she was 13. An investigation revealed the abuse began with inappropriate touching and progressed into a sexual relationship for three years when the woman was between 15 and 18 years old.

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Amy Hunter pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder in the 2011 death of Chelsea Peterson. At the time, Hunter lived on Marine Corps Base Quantico with her husband and provided day care for Peterson, whose family also lived on base.

Court records indicate the baby died from violent shaking that resulted in the baby’s head hitting a wall.

The plea deal requires the judge to impose a sentence somewhere between five and 19 years when Hunter is sentenced Thursday in federal court in Alexandria.

The defense is seeking the minimum sentence; prosecutors are seeking the maximum.

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The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office said in a release Wednesday that 35-year-old Keith Bradley Pendleton of Spotsylvania was arrested on one count each of indecent liberties and distribution of drugs to a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The release says an investigation revealed that Pendleton had a six-month relationship with the girl. Pendleton is no longer employed by the school district where he was an assistant football and track coach at Courtland High School according to the Free-Lance Star.

Pendleton is being held without bond in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. It wasn’t immediately known whether he has an attorney.

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Lottery officials say Jazlyn Leak of Yorktown took the top prize in the $70 Million Payout Spectacular Game.

Media outlets report she bought the ticket at a Kroger in Yorktown. Leak took the one-time cash option of $642,000 before taxes.

The store received a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

Leak says she isn’t sure yet what she’ll do with her winnings.

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The D.C. Water utility says the 14th Street sinkhole requires complex repairs. Workers are trying to determine what caused underground concrete to fall 15 feet into a sewer line below. An investigator on Tuesday found concrete had collapsed a 54-inch brick sewer line below.

PHOTOS: Major D.C. Sinkholes

D.C. Water says the sewer line dates to 1897 and has utilities and old trolley tracks running above it.

The busy intersection has been closed since Tuesday. Traffic is being diverted from 14th Street northwest between Pennsylvania and New York avenues and F Street northwest between 13th and 15th streets.

Officials say the road collapsed at the intersection Tuesday afternoon leaving a 15-foot hole.

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All states but West Virginia and North Dakota showed significant drops over five years. But the Mountain States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw rates fall by 30 percent or more.

In 22 states, teen Hispanic birth rates plunged at least 40 percent, which was described as “just amazing,” by the report’s lead author, Brady Hamilton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What’s driving the declines? No one can say for sure. Experts believe the explanation is complicated and probably varies a bit from state to state. The national figure has been falling since 1991, aside from a brief interruption in 2006 and 2007.

The CDC report released Thursday is based on birth certificates for 2007 through 2011. Last year, the CDC announced the overall improvement in teen births: a record low of 31 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. That compares to 42 births per 1,000 five years earlier.

The new report focuses on state figures in 2011:

— Lowest rates are in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont, each with rates under 17 per 1,000.

— Highest rates overall continue to be in the South, led by Arkansas and Mississippi, each with rates of about 50 per 1,000. In Arkansas, the majority of teen births are to white moms. In Mississippi, the majority are black.

— White teens continue to have the lowest birth rate nationally — about 22 births per 1,000. Black teens saw a larger improvement, but their rate was still more than twice the white rate, at 47 per 1,000.

— Overall, the Hispanic rate plummeted from 75 to 49 per 1,000, now virtually a tie with the black rate.

The teen drop in the last five years coincided with an overall decline in births, which experts attribute to a weak economy that dampened enthusiasm for having children.

Hispanic women have been part of that trend, possibly due to the economy and to illegal immigration crackdowns in some states that reduce the number of young Hispanic females entering the country from Mexico and other nations, said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health.

That means new immigrants are having less impact on birth statistics, and second- and third-generation families are having more influence.

As time goes on, Hispanics — like other immigrant groups before them — tend to adopt American customs and practices.

“There is more attention on education, career, and the future,” said Dr. Janet Realini, head of Healthy Futures of Texas, a San Antonio-based organization focused on preventing teen and unplanned pregnancies.

Hispanic rates, though, continue to be much higher than those for blacks and whites in most of the states with the largest Hispanic populations, including California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Georgia.

Texas has the highest number of teen births in the nation, with nearly 43,000 in 2011. Nearly two-thirds were to Hispanic moms.

The overall improvement, though, is something to celebrate, said Bill Albert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

“Geography, politics, or policy alone simply cannot explain the widespread declines,” Albert said in an email. “Credit goes to teens themselves who are clearly making better decisions about sex, contraception, and their future.”

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It was already known that three Americans had been killed in U.S. drones strikes in counterterrorism operations overseas, but Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed details that had remained secret and also that a fourth American had been killed.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Holder said that the government targeted and killed U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and that the U.S. “is aware” of the killing of three others who were not targets of counterterror operations.

Al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. The other two known cases are Samir Khan, who was killed in the same drone strike as al-Awlaki and al-Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, a Denver native, who also was killed in Yemen.

The newly revealed case is that of Jude Kenan Mohammed, one of eight men indicted by federal authorities in 2009, accused of being part of a plot to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va. Before he could be arrested, Mohammad fled the country to join jihadi fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where he was among those killed by a U.S. drone.

“Since entering office, the president has made clear his commitment to providing Congress and the American people with as much information as possible about our sensitive counterterrorism operations,” Holder said in his letter to Leahy, D-Vt. “To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified.”

“The administration is determined to continue these extensive outreach efforts to communicate with the American people,” Holder wrote.

A move to gradually shift responsibility for the bulk of U.S. drone strikes from the CIA to the military has already begun. And, according to an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, the move would largely divide the strikes on a geographical basis, with the CIA continuing to conduct operations in Pakistan, while the military takes on the operations in other parts of the world.

The White House said Obama’s national security speech Thursday coincides with the signing of new “presidential policy guidance” on when the U.S. can use drone strikes, though it was unclear what that guidance entailed and whether Obama would outline its specifics in his remarks.

Obama “believes that we need to be as transparent about a matter like this as we can, understanding that there are national security implications to this issue and to the broader issues involved in counterterrorism policy,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.

“He thinks (this) is an absolutely valid and legitimate and important area of discussion and debate and conversation, and that it is his belief that there need to be structures in place that remain in place for successive administrations,” Carney said. “So that in the carrying out of counterterrorism policy, procedures are followed that allow it to be conducted in a way that ensures that we’re keeping with our traditions and our laws.”

Obama’s speech Thursday at the National Defense University is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities — from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay — but make no new sweeping policy pronouncements. The White House has offered few specifics on what the president will say to address long-standing questions that have dogged his administration for years and, critics say, given foreign allies mixed signals about U.S. intentions in some of the world’s most volatile areas.

Obama will try to refocus an increasingly apathetic and controversy-weary U.S. public on security issues. His message will also be carefully analyzed by an international audience that has had to adapt to what counterterror expert Peter Singer described as the administration’s “disjointed” and often “shortsighted” security policies.

Obama is also expected to say the U.S. will make a renewed effort to transfer detainees out of the Navy-run detention center for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to other countries. Obama recently restated his desire to close Guantanamo, a pledge he made shortly after his inauguration in January 2009.

That effort, however, has been stymied because many countries don’t want the detainees or are unwilling or unable to guarantee that once transferred detainees who may continue to be a threat will not be released.

There are currently about 166 prisoners at Guantanamo, and 86 have been approved for transfer as long as security restrictions are met.

Obama is also expected to make the case that the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan has decimated al-Qaeda’s core, even as new threats emerge elsewhere.

In his letter, the attorney general said the decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was subjected to extensive policy review at the highest levels of the government. Senior U.S. officials briefed the appropriate committees of Congress on the possibility of using lethal force against Anwar al-Awlaki.

The administration informed the relevant congressional oversight committees that it had approved the use of lethal forces against Anwar al-Awlaki in February 2010, well over a year before the operation, Holder said.

Officials suggest that the CIA strikes into Pakistan have been successful, and point to the agency’s ability to gather intelligence there. So, there is less of an inclination to change that now.

In other countries, such as Yemen, Somalia or portions of North Africa, the Defense Department will handle the drone strikes as regular military operations.

In March, the Senate confirmed John Brennan to be CIA director after the Obama administration agreed to demands from Republicans and stated explicitly there are limits on the president’s power to use drones against U.S. terror suspects on American soil.

Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office, said the administration should “produce the legal rationale that allows him to unilaterally decide when drones can be used … and we would like him to clarify why he feels he has the authority to use drones outside of the battlefield and how he’s going to constrain that authority.”

Frank Cilluffo, White House domestic security adviser to President George W. Bush, said Wednesday that the fact that the U.S. targeted al-Awlaki and killed three other U.S. citizens in drone strikes should have been part of the public discourse all along.

He said there had been a lingering narrative that Awlaki was an inspirational leader, while in reality he had a key role in multiple operations targeting Americans. “The fact that they are making this public provides justification for the actions they took,” said Cilluffo, now director of a homeland security studies program at George Washington University.

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The Blue Star Museums program was announced Tuesday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. The program runs through Labor Day in September. The offer of free admission is extended to military service members, including National Guard and Reserve members, and their families.

The initiative began in 2010 with less than 1,000 museums and has more than doubled in size. This year, it’s adding about 400 museums. It includes art museums, science centers, history museums and children’s museums.

The National Endowment for the Arts created the program with the group Blue Star Families and the Defense Department.

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While plenty of video footage has made its way around the internet, nothing can describe the fear evoked by this massive EF5 as it hurdled towards the tiny town of 55,000, quite like the first-hand account of Moore resident Toni Partin, who lived through the agony in real-time.

She recounted making her way with her family to their storm shelter, and the moment she first laid eyes on the 2-mile wide, spiraling wall of debris – an eminent threat on a collision course for Moore, and the horrific devastation it left in its wake.

“At first I didn’t know exactly what I was looking at, because it was so massive,” Partin told the Junkies on 106.7 The Fan. “We’re watching the news, it was like a mile from our house and it started crossing the highway, and that’s when we threw all the dogs in the shelter.”

“And I’m looking out,” she continued. “I’m standing on the porch, and I see this huge gray wall. It just looks like a cloud.”

With her son, husband and dogs alongside her, Toni hurried into the shelter she’d had built below their garage, more fearful each second the unyielding creation of Mother Nature grew closer.

“It sounded like a train,” she said of the 200-mph winds passing overhead, moments after sliding the shelter door shut.

And the aftermath was as difficult to digest as the sight of the destructive mass itself.

Partin described her surroundings in the moments just after the storm, as a sight increasingly challenging to process, as she made her way through the wreckage, block by block.

“There was paper on the ground; schoolwork, and kids’ stuff,” she said, describing the walk past Plaza Towers Elementary School, the site where 7 children lost their lives.

“We walked just a little bit further,” she said. “There was another street and it got worse, and then the next street – completely gone. I’ve never seen anything like it. Five cars piled on top of each other.”

Listen to Toni Partin’s full account below. Donate to the American Red Cross here.

Zoo officials say 37-year-old Bozie arrived Wednesday. She traveled by truck more than 1,100 miles from her old home at the Baton Rouge Zoo in Louisiana. Bozie’s only other companion died in Baton Rouge in March.

After a standard 30-day quarantine, Bozie will join three other elephants in Washington.

The zoo says records show Bozie and 38-year-old Shanthi lived together briefly as young calves at the Elephant Orphanage Department of Wildlife Conservation in Sri Lanka before being transported to North America.

The National Zoo recently opened a larger elephant facility after a seven-year, $56 million overhaul. The expansion more than tripled the elephants’ living space.

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DETROIT (AP) — Jimmy Howard’s cat-quick reflexes in net and easygoing nature out of it are big reasons the Detroit Red Wings are on a roll.

Howard has held top-seeded Chicago to only one goal in two straight games, lifting seventh-seeded Detroit to a 2-1 series lead. He was the star of the end-to-end, high-paced Game 3 the Red Wings won 4-1 on Monday night, when he became their first goalie to face at least 40 shots without giving up more than a goal in the playoffs since Greg Stefan did it 1987.

“That was probably the fastest playoff game I’ve ever been a part of,” Howard said. “I expect it just to get faster Thursday night. They’re going to step it up. We need to come even harder.”

Detroit will host Game 4 on Thursday night, shooting for a surprising win that would put Chicago on the brink of elimination.

Howard’s glove, pads and mindset give the Red Wings a shot to win every time they put on sweaters with winged wheels. Since Detroit trailed second-seeded Anaheim 3-2 in the first round, Howard has won four of five games and is averaging two goals against and 34-plus saves.

“You have to have a good goalie to go anywhere in the playoffs and we have it,” Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said.

The Blackhawks seem confident they also have a netminder good enough to finish their season as strong as it started. Lately though, Corey Crawford has been shaky — or at least he hasn’t been able to overcome enough of his teammates’ mistakes in front of him.

Crawford won five of his first six games in the playoffs, shutting out Minnesota once and allowing a total of eight goals during his strong start. But he has given up a combined seven goals over the last two games after allowing one goal in the first period of the series opener.

When Chicago began its season-opening run of 24 games with at least a point backup goalie Ray Emery was 10-0 during the NHL record-breaking stretch while Crawford was injured. Emery finished the regular season 17-1 with a 1.94 goals-against average, leaving his last outing early because of a lower-body injury nearly a month ago at Edmonton.

Is Emery an option for Game 4?

“We’re not talking about that right now,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Monday night. And the next day, he was succinct when asked to assess how Crawford has played the past few games.

“He’s been fine,” Quenneville said.

The Blackhawks probably don’t want to put more pressure on Crawford, but they were likely looking for more than him being “fine” in his third postseason as their No. 1 goalie.

Chicago couldn’t afford to keep Antti Niemi after he was the franchise’s backstop when it hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2010 and he beat out Marty Turco for the job the next season.

Crawford has been an impressive 82-40-18 the last three regular seasons, but a lackluster 10-11 in the playoffs. The Montreal native sounds as if he’s ready to bounce back to help the team respond well enough to avoid their first three-game losing streak since the 2011-12 season.

“We haven’t had a lot of adversity this year,” Crawford said. “We just have to dig deep and battle.”

The Red Wings, meanwhile, barely made the playoffs and they leaned on Howard a lot because their team was challenged offensively because of injuries and the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom.

Howard had to play in 42 of 48 games during the lockout-shortened season because he didn’t have a healthy, or capable, backup for much of the season. He was 21-13-7 and tied for the league lead with five shutouts, leading to him getting a $31.8 million, six-year contract to keep him off the market as a free agent this summer.

Like Crawford, Howard has been really good during the regular season — for four seasons as a No. 1 goalie — and average in the playoffs with a .500 record going into Game 4.

In a town where the goalie is in the spotlight, win or lose, Zetterberg said Howard has the perfect temperament for the job.

“Nothing really bothers him,” Zetterberg said. “If he lets in a goal, he just flushes it and moves on.”

___

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“I know I’m blessed to be going to the Eastern Conference finals for my fifth time,” Wade said. “But I would like a lot more in my career. It’s a good thing. We’ve been very successful in my tenure here. But I want more.”

For Wade and Udonis Haslem, this marks five East finals appearances in nine years. For LeBron James, it’s a fifth trip to this round in the past seven years, now three straight with Miami after a pair of trips to the East finals with Cleveland.

On the flip side, the Indiana Pacers haven’t been to the conference finals in years and only one player on the team has ever even played in a conference finals game. Backup center Ian Mahinmi played 71 seconds in a game in the 2011 Western Conference Finals.

Still, the Pacers have no fear when they look at the mountain that is the Miami Heat standing in their path to a bid in the NBA Finals. The Pacers won two of three meetings against the Heat this season and both teams expect the series to be physical.

For the Heat, the key will be managing the Pacers’ big men around the basket. Indiana lines up 7’2” center Roy Hibbert and 6’9” power forward David West and will want to attack Miami’s lack of bulk down low.

Last year, the Heat countered the Pacers by utilizing a smaller lineup that ended up propelling Miami to the NBA championship. The Heat will have an added weapon this year in the form of center Chris Bosh who missed much of last year’s playoff run against Indiana.

What Bosh will do is challenge Hibbert to either leave the lane and cover him on the outside, or, leave the Heat center open for jumpers on the outside. If Hibbert chooses the former, he opens up lanes for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to attack. If Hibbert stays inside, then he allows Bosh to attack with his jump shot.

Defensively, the Heat’s big challenge will be to keep West from getting going down low while also protecting the perimeter against Paul George and George Hill in check on the outside.

The Pacers’ starting lineup includes George, West, Hibbert, Hill, and guard Lance Stephenson. The Pacers will be without forward Danny Granger for the rest of the playoffs.

The Heat will counter with its traditional starting lineup of LeBron James, Udonis Haslem, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Mario Chalmers. Miami doesn’t have anyone listed on the injury report, but Wade’s knee will be an issue for the rest of the playoffs.

If Wade is near 90 to 100 percent, the Heat may be unstoppable when it comes to the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals. However, if Wade is not able to play at his normal level, Miami could be vulnerable against a young and improving Pacers squad.

The tipoff for Wednesday night’s Game 1 is expected to happen around 8:30 p.m. and can be seen either in person at the AmericanAirlines Arena or on television on TNT.

With Game 3 tied 1-1 in the third period, Boston turned to it’s fourth line — dubbed the “merlot line” — for an injection of energy. The line’s havoc had already led to Boston’s first goal — a rocket off the stick of defenseman Johnny Boychuk — and their strong forecheck and desire to cause a downtown-like traffic jam in front of the net put Boston on top for good with just 3:31 left to play.

Gregory Campbell stepped up and delivered a slapper on Henrik Lundqvist, which deflected off the netminders mask and straight up in the air. When the puck returned to the ice it danced along the line, but changed directions before crossing into the goal. It looked as though it had taken a Rangers’ bounce, as Lundqvist had no idea where the puck was.

It nearly trickled out of harm’s way.

That was until Daniel Paille rushed in and took a swing at it, sending it to the back of the net and putting Boston on top 2-1.

“I felt the pressure when we were on them and had a perfect view of it from the corner. I thought it was going to bounce in but it went the other way somehow,” Paille explained after the game. “Lundqvist didn’t know where it was and I was able to come around the net and out-battle the player with it; I think we hit at the same time and it hit off my stick and went in.”

After less-than-stellar showings in Games 1 and 2, Lundqvist was on his game Tuesday night. He was stuffing breakaway bids and turned away nearly all rebounds, so those funky goals were Boston’s best chance to put one — or two — past him.

“It was one of those nights where he was on his game and you could see the confidence he had throughout the game,” said Paille. “The goals that went in, there really wasn’t much he could do; there was a screen on one and a redirect on another. We tried to do as much as we could but it wasn’t going to be one of those where you beat him clean.”

Now Boston finds themselves one win away from returning to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in the last three seasons. But after nearly letting a 3-1 lead slip away last series to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that 2010 collapse against the Philadelphia Flyers still in the back of their minds, the Bruins know their work is far from over.

“We’re confident going in for the series, but it’s not over. I’ve been in this situation before and seen it go the other way,” said Paille. “For us, we have to have the instinct to play as hard as we did tonight. They’re going to be a team that does not want to lose that way.”

Game 4 is Thursday night in New York.

Tune in to every Bruins playoff game on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins! Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to each game.

Four friends who decided to attempt a dip in the Potomac Tuesday found out the hard way that the river is as dangerous as it is beautiful. After jumping in, one got swept away. Luckily, Fairfax Fire and Rescue and other crews were out practicing and were able to save him.

Rescuers will have some help this summer from the Potomac Paddlers Volunteers, who be out in kayaks to help enforce visitor safety, but Great Falls Park officials say self-policing is still necessary.

Swimming is prohibited in the park and throughout the Potomac River Gorge, a 14-mile stretch that extends from the Key Bridge in D.C. north to the falls, because of the strong unpredictable currents, jagged rocks and roaring rapids.

“More than half, 51 percent, of all river-related injuries in the Potomac River are fatal,” one rescue worker told WNEW’s Karen Adams.

They said there are three key words to remember while sight-seeing near rivers, especially the Potomac. Beauty, Danger, Respect.

WNEW’s Karen Adams contributed to this report. Follow her and WNEW on Twitter.

DETROIT (AP) — Electric car maker Tesla Motors says it has repaid a loan from the U.S. government nine years early.

The company says it wired a $451.8 million payment to the government on Wednesday to retire a loan it received from the Department of Energy.

The agency loaned Tesla $465 million in 2010 to make advanced-technology vehicles.

The company used money from a $968 million sale of stock and notes to pay off the debt. The sale took place last week and closed on Wednesday.

Tesla sells only one car, the $70,000 Model S. Earlier this month the company reported its first quarterly profit. Its stock price has more than doubled since the first of the year and closed Wednesday at $87.24.

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The Army said Wednesday that Sgt. 1st Class Michael McClendon is facing charges of dereliction of duty, mistreatment, entering a women’s bathroom without notice, and taking and possessing inappropriate photos and videos of at least a dozen women who were naked or in various states of undress.

McClendon was charged May 14, but some allegations date back to 2009.

The case is the latest in an embarrassing series of arrests and incidents of sexual misconduct across the military, and comes on the heels of a Pentagon report that estimated that as many as 26,000 service members may have been sexually assaulted last year.

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is gearing up for re-election next year, his third race in four years. But the Republican’s courting of out-of-state donors and conservatives, his plans to visit Iowa this week and his refusal to say whether he would serve out another full term if elected suggest he might be seeking a much bigger prize — the presidency.

Not that he will openly acknowledge as much.

“I love being governor,” Walker said recently, just two years after bursting onto the national political scene when he challenged public unions and a year after surviving a recall election. “I’ve had to work hard for it. I’m focused on being governor, and I’m going to continue to be governor as long as the people of the state want me to be governor.”

Such remarks are common these days as the 45-year-old seeks to simmer down the buzz about his political future even as his travel schedule suggests he has clear national aspirations, perhaps as early as 2016.

Walker spent part of this week at fundraisers in Connecticut for the state Republican Party and in New York City for the New York State Republican Committee.

On Thursday he planned to travel to Iowa, traditionally home of the nation’s first presidential caucus, to address Republican activists at the Polk County GOP fundraiser in West Des Moines.

Walker’s advisers insist he is focused on his 2014 re-election campaign. But they acknowledge they have talked privately about a possible future presidential bid. Still, they say they are not building a campaign, taking formal steps to run, or even developing a plan for how Walker would do so.

They play down the Iowa appearance by contending that Walker simply was returning a favor to Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, who invited Walker to Thursday’s event and held a fundraiser for him in Dubuque, Iowa, during the 2012 recall election.

Yet Walker has taken a number of steps to put him in a position to undertake a presidential bid if he were to win a second term.

He’s appealed to national conservatives, who make up the core of GOP presidential primary voters, with series of high-profile speeches to the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting and the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

In June, he will speak the Faith and Freedom Coalition, an event organized by Ralph Reed, and headline a Republican Jewish Coalition fundraiser in California.

A prodigious fundraiser, Walker has focused on keeping active, if not building upon, a national donor network that was critical in helping him beat back the recall attempt.

Aside from the Northeast fundraisers this week, he’s also continuing to engage his top donors, who helped him raise nearly $35 million in 2011 and 2012, about two-thirds of which came from outside Wisconsin. They include Diane Hendricks, the owner of ABC Supply Co., in Beloit, Wis.; Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Illinois-based U-Line Corp.; Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson; and Wyoming billionaire Foster Freiss.

At the same time, Walker is working on a book that’s expected to be published this fall about the union fight.

His conservative record as governor and advice to fellow Republicans suggest a possible approach to a candidacy.

In an era in which Washington remains toxic to voters, Walker presents himself as a reform-minded outsider who pushed an effort to strip public employee unions of most of their collective bargaining rights. It’s a fight, he says, that’s now paying dividends for the state.

He regularly counsels Republicans to stay relevant to the needs of voters, present an optimistic outlook and have the courage to take on major problems, offering himself up as Exhibit A.

Walker came into office in 2011 facing a $3.6 billion state budget shortfall. He balanced it through deep cuts to public and higher education, in addition to forcing public workers to pay more for their health insurance and pension benefits. He also signed a measure allowing Wisconsin residents to carry concealed weapons, and a bill giving legal protection to homeowners who shoot and kill intruders on their property.

This year, Walker’s signature initiatives focus on cutting income taxes by more than $340 million and expanding the state’s private school voucher program beyond the two cities where it’s now offered.

The state’s budget outlook has a $500 million surplus, and Walker has said he favors using some of that money to deepen his income tax cut and give schools more money.

Still, Walker is far from meeting his main 2010 campaign promise to create 250,000 private sector jobs in his term. So far, the state has created only about 62,000 jobs, leaving Wisconsin near the bottom nationally.

The quasi-private economic development agency Walker created to help spearhead job-creation efforts has been plagued with scandals and other problems. An audit found that the agency routinely did not follow state law in handing out grants and tax credits.

Should he run for president, Walker would face a field of challengers that could include Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 vice presidential nominee who is the governor’s friend.

“What he can or could bring to the table is a record on successful reforms and successful leadership of a Midwestern state that has always been considered tough — it’s gone back and forth for Republicans and Democrats,” said Betsy DeVos, a former RNC committeewoman.

“The challenge for any Republican looking at national office is the challenge to be able to connect with voters in a new and meaningful way.”

DeVos and her husband, Dick, have given Walker’s campaign more than $250,000.

While Democrats haven’t recruited a strong challenger for Walker in his re-election campaign, the party’s playbook is clear: castigate Walker for his efforts to curb union influence and tag him as someone eyeing a presidential campaign.

Walker almost always attracts crowds of union backers protesting his signature achievement. Unions staged a protest outside Walker’s speech to the Connecticut GOP on Monday night and liberal groups planned to gather outside his Iowa appearance Thursday.

“We would see a likely Walker campaign as one being ferociously anti-union and if the campaign is that, then a Walker administration, god forbid, would be ferociously anti-worker,” said Mike Podhorzer, political director for the AFL-CIO.

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Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine introduced The Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2013 on Wednesday.

Warner has introduced similar legislation the past two years. Sales of leases off the Virginia coast were scheduled to begin in 2011 but were delayed until 2017 after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

The Sierra Club of Virginia opposes the legislation. In a statement, the club offshore drilling would risk more than 100,000 jobs in industries that depend on a healthy ocean and Chesapeake Bay and clean beaches.

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What he wasn’t aware of were the comments made by closer Rafael Soriano after the game, directed at Harper, who let the game tying run in by allowing an RBI triple to sail over his head, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th.

“With two outs and the tying run at first, you have to play the outfield so the ball doesn’t go over your head,” Soriano told USA Today, which he insists was supposed to be off the record. “It may not have been a catchable ball, but if we’re positioned the right way, there might have been a different outcome. With two outs, I could tell my four-year-old son ‘You know where you need to play’ and he would go to the right spot to make the play.”

Pablo Sandoval ended it in the 10th, with his two-run walk-off to close the game 4-2 for the Giants.

“I put that whole loss on me,” Harper said afterwards.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” Rizzo told 106.7 The Fan’s Holden and Danny Wednesday. “Rafi is an extremely competitive guy and usually he’s an extremely upfront guy, so I would think that if he had those things to say to Harp, he would have pulled Harp aside, or Tony Tarasco aside – who implements the outfield defense – and made his case to them, instead of to the newspapers.”

“But if there’s something that is amiss, and there’s some issues with it, they should get together and discuss it face-to-face,” Rizzo continued. “That’s how I like to attack any issues that I have.”

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#2 San Antonio vs #5 Memphis

Game 1 — Sun, May 19, Memphis 83, San Antonio 105

Game 2 — Tue, May 21, Memphis 89, San Antonio 93 (OT)

Game 3 — Sat, May 25, San Antonio at Memphis 9 PM ET

Game 4 — Mon, May 27, San Antonio at Memphis 9 PM ET

Game 5 – Wed, May 29, Memphis at San Antonio- Time TBD

Game 6*– Fri, May 31, San Antonio at Memphis- Time TBD

Game 7*– Sun, June 2, Memphis at San Antonio- Time TBD

Eastern Conference

#1 Miami vs. #3 Indiana

Game 1 — Wed, May 22, Indiana at Miami  8:30 PM ET

Game 2 — Fri, May 24, Indiana at Miami 8:30 PM ET

Game 3 — Sun, May 26, Miami at Indiana 8:30 PM ET

Game 4 — Tue, May 28, Miami at Indiana 8:30 PM ET

Game 5*– Thu, May 30, Indiana at Miami- Time TBD

Game 6*– Sat, June 1, Miami at Indiana- Time TBD

Game 7*– Mon, June 3, Indiana at Miami- Time TBD

The Frederick News-Post of Maryland reports witnesses saw the fireball Saturday as early as 12:18 a.m. and as late as 1 a.m., with the majority of the sightings around 12:30 a.m. Some witnesses also reported hearing delayed booms.

The American Meteor Society says the fireball, a term used to describe an unusually bright meteor, is believed to have entered the atmosphere near Washington and traveled northwest.

The society says 60 witnesses reported seeing the meteor, including 13 from Maryland. Other witnesses in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio also reported seeing the meteor.

In an e-mail to the News-Post, Woodsboro resident Ryan Ritchie described seeing the meteor at 12:33 a.m. while he was driving near Emmitsburg.

Ritchie said he saw a flash that he initially thought was lightning. He described the meteor as about one quarter of the size of the moon.

“I said `I didn’t know it was suppose to rain,”‘ Ritchie wrote. “I then looked up at 70 degrees south as I was driving and saw a meteor shining through the clouds then go through an opening in the clouds then back behind the clouds again. There was about 3 seconds between flash and me seeing the meteor.”

Ritchie said he called his mother, who was driving in Frederick, and she also saw the fireball.

In 2012, 2,126 fireballs were reported to the American Meteor Society. The society says there could be as many as 500,000 fireballs annually, but most go unnoticed because they are either over the ocean or happen during the day.

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In response, Robert Serry says the United Nations is again urging the Syrian government to allow chemical weapons experts into the country without further delay to investigate the allegations.

Syria asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate an alleged chemical weapons attack by rebels on March 19 on Khan al-Assal village in northern Aleppo province and wants a probe limited to that incident. But Ban is insisting on a broader investigation, including a December incident in Homs raised by Britain and France.

Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the U.N. Security Council Wednesday that Ban remains “gravely concerned” about the allegations of chemical weapons use.

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The remarks by Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel Wednesday echoed statements by Israel’s military chief of staff a day earlier.

“A surprise war could take shape today in many configurations,” Eshel said at a strategy conference in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv. “Isolated incidents can escalate very quickly and require us to be prepared in a matter of hours to operate throughout the entire spectrum … to utilize all the capabilities of the air force,” he said.

He said Russian S-300 air defense systems are “on their way” to Syria, though Israel asked Russia not to supply the advanced air defense system to Syria.

Israel has been warily watching the Syrian civil war since it broke out in March 2011, concerned that the conflict could spill across its borders at any time.

Syrian and Israeli forces briefly exchanged fire on the Golan Heights border Tuesday, prompting Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, to accuse Syrian President Bashar Assad of encouraging and directing operations against Israel and warning he would “bear the consequences” of escalation.

Tensions have been rising between Israel and Syria in recent weeks. Israel is believed to have carried out airstrikes said to be aimed at weapons meant for the Lebanese Hezbollah. Israel has not confirmed carrying out the attacks.

Israel has warned it will not tolerate fire from Syria or transfer of advanced weapons to militants. Israel is concerned that Syria’s arsenal, including chemical weapons, anti-aircraft systems and sophisticated missiles, could be transferred to Hezbollah or fall into the hands of rebel groups linked to al-Qaida.

“Syria is changing before our eyes. If tomorrow it collapses, we could very quickly find that great arsenal dispersed and directed at us,” Eshel said.

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White House spokesman Jay Carney says the president will view the tornado damage first-hand. He also plans to meet with victims and first responders.

The monstrous tornado barreled through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday afternoon, demolishing an elementary school and reducing homes to piles of rubble. State authorities say two infants were among the 24 people who perished in the twister.

The town of Moore is a community of 41,000 people located about 10 miles from Oklahoma City.

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The first lady commented Wednesday as the owners of Decatur House announced a $1 million gift from American Express to preserve the nearly 200-year-old structure and pay for educational programs for students.

Officials say most of the money will be spent to preserve the building’s former slave quarters. It’s one of the few remaining examples of slave quarters in an urban setting, and the only surviving proof that slaves were held near the White House.

Mrs. Obama said the stories of those slaves are as vital to the country’s “national memory” as any other.

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The move by the House Appropriations Committee promises a small budget increase for legislative branch operations even as funding for labor, health and education programs would absorb an almost 20 percent cut. Federal firefighting efforts also face big cuts, as do transportation and community development grants.

The GOP-controlled panel is giving Congress a budgetary reprieve after three consecutive years of cutting Capitol Hill’s operating budget. The House budget has dropped by 15 percent to $1.2 billion over that time from the record levels established when Democrats controlled Congress.

The move is preliminary and specifics won’t be available until later this spring.

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A lawyer for Craig Baxam of Laurel, Md., wrote in a motion filed Monday in federal court in Greenbelt, Md., that convicting her client would require him to have coordinated with the terrorist group al-Shabab. Baxam’s lawyer, Linda Moreno, wrote that Baxam never contacted or attempted to contact al-Shabab and never pledged loyalty to any person or organization affiliated with the group.

“An attempt to provide material support to al-Shabab would require, at minimum, some allegation of communication or coordination with the group. None is alleged here,” she wrote.

Baxam served as an intelligence analyst in the Army from 2007 to 2011 and converted to Islam shortly before leaving the Army. He is accused of leaving the United States for Somalia in late 2011 with the intention of joining al-Shabab. He was stopped in Kenya before reaching Somalia and questioned by the FBI.

He was charged in early 2012 with attempting to provide material support and resources to al-Shabab and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Baxam’s attorney, however, writes that he traveled to Somalia because he wanted to go live in a place governed by Islamic law. She says in court documents that Baxam never indicated his motive was to join al-Shabaab and that his motivation was religious, not military.

“The government’s prosecution recalls the disturbing film ‘Minority Report’ in which psychics are used to predict future criminals and arrest them before they have even offended, if they ever do,” the motion says.

Baxam’s attorney also asked in a separate motion that portions of his interviews with the FBI be excluded from evidence, because some of his answers are irrelevant, confusing and prejudicial and responses to hypothetical questions.

Some of the statements Baxam wants excluded are that his loyalties are to Islam and not the United States and that he would be happy to die defending Islam and was “looking for dying with a gun” in his hand.

Baxam’s attorney writes that in the interviews Baxam did not offer any passionate support of violence, expressed reservations about suicide bombing and said he would not kill indiscriminately.

The government now has the chance to respond to the motions.

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We know for instance, that Alex Ovechkin went home to Russia immediately.

Not Brooks Laich.

Pardon the self-promotion, but the Wawota, Saskatchewan native tweeted about his favorite D.C. radio show Wednesday.

@1067thefandc @EBJunkies @GlassJoeJP @moneymetalcakes and bigJ, love the show boys #everymorning http://t.co/ulsh2ogMc3

—
Brooks Laich (@brookslaich) May 22, 2013

That’s at least one member of the Caps sticking around D.C.

One could speculate he’s still working with team doctors on that injury that kept him out of 39 regular season games and all of the playoffs, but one won’t.

Now allow us to return the favor.

Please follow Brooks on Twitter … if you’re not already.

The current food stamp program is administered by the Agriculture Department and federal dollars are unlimited as long as recipients qualify. It cost $78 billion last year, more than double what it cost in 2008.

The amendment by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., to a wide-ranging farm bill would have converted the program into block grants to individual states, which could then have decided how to use the nutrition dollars, with certain restrictions. The Senate rejected the amendment 60-36.

Under the Inhofe amendment, the total amount of the grants would have been capped between $46 billion and $54 billion a year over 10 years.

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In one of the most electric moments since the IRS controversy erupted nearly two weeks ago, Lois Lerner defended herself during a brief appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The committee is investigating the agency’s improper targeting of tea party and other conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status from 2010 to 2012, and Lerner oversees the IRS office that processes applications for that designation.

“I have done nothing wrong,” said a stern-looking Lerner, sitting next to three other witnesses and reading from a written statement. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations and I have not provided false information to this or any other committee.”

Members of Congress have angrily complained that Lerner and other high-ranking IRS officials did not inform lawmakers that conservative groups were targeted, even though legislators asked the IRS multiple times about it after local tea party groups told lawmakers they were being treated unfairly.

Lerner then said she would invoke her constitutional right to avoid incriminating herself.

“One of the basic functions of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent individuals, and that is the protection I am invoking today,” she said.

After Oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked her to reconsider, she said, “I will not answer any questions or testify about the subject matter of this committee’s meeting.”

Nine minutes after she began speaking, Issa excused Lerner but said she might be recalled, saying he might explore whether she would testify later if granted some immunity.

Lerner left the hearing room through a rear door, escorted by her lawyer and several other men. The men quickly whisked Lerner into an elevator, where several of the men physically pushed back television camera operators who were trying to film them.

Lerner’s refusal to answer questions was not a surprise. Her attorney, William W. Taylor III, wrote a letter to the committee this week saying she would do so.

Issa and other members of the committee were not pleased with Lerner’s decision to not testify. Even before she spoke, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., warned the witnesses that their refusal to cooperate would result in the eventual appointment of a special prosecutor to examine the case.

“There will be hell to pay if that’s the route we choose to go down,” Lynch said.

Lerner revealed the agency’s targeting two weeks ago and apologized for the actions. Since then, Washington has been awash in questions about why the nonpartisan IRS focused on conservative groups, who instigated it and whether it was politically motivated — which many Republicans suspect but participants have rejected.

J. Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector general who focuses on taxes, released a report last week that detailed the targeting and called it inappropriate. He has said there is no evidence that the screening was politically motivated or that IRS officials were influenced by others, and blamed poor management by IRS officials for allowing the screening system to be instituted.

Lerner, 62, is an attorney who joined the IRS in 2001. She expressed pride in her 34-year career in federal government, which has included work at the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission, and said she currently oversees 900 workers and a budget approaching $100 million.

She has come under fire from members of both parties, including Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, who has said she should lose her job and criticized top IRS officials for not being more forthcoming.

“We’re talking about truth and trust,” Cummings said.

At Wednesday’s hearing — Congress’ third since the controversy began — the No. 2 Treasury Department official said his agency played no role in the episode.

“There is no indication that Treasury was involved in the inexcusable behavior at the IRS,” said Deputy Secretary Neal Wolin.

Wolin told the committee that it was “absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable” that the IRS subjected tea party and other conservative groups seeking non-profit status to extra scrutiny from 2010 to 2012.

He said George told him last year “that he had undertaken an audit of the IRS’s review of tax-exempt applications.”

“I told him that he should follow the facts wherever they lead. I told him that our job is to stay out of the way and let him do his work,” Wolin said.

Issa and other members of the committee complained repeatedly Wednesday that IRS officials had ample opportunity to tell Congress earlier about the targeting but didn’t do so. Issa said his committee has privately interviewed another IRS official, Holly Paz, who said the IRS conducted an internal investigation that reached similar conclusions to George’s report, but a year earlier.

“Think about it. For more than a year, the IRS knew it had inappropriately targeted groups of Americans based on their political beliefs, without mentioning it” to Congress, Issa said.

While the targeting began in early 2010, Lerner learned of it in June 2011 and ordered that the criteria be changed, according to George’s report.

In early May 2012, Steven Miller, who was deputy commissioner, was told by staff that conservative groups were being inappropriately targeted, George’s report said. Miller later became acting commissioner but has been ousted by President Barack Obama in the wake of the disclosures.

Staff of the Oversight Committee questioned Lerner and other IRS officials last year after receiving complaints from Ohio tea party groups that they were being mistreated by the IRS. In responses to the committee, Lerner didn’t mention that tea party groups had ever been targeted, according to documents. Her responses included 45-page letters in May 2012 to Issa and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Lerner also met twice in early 2012 with staff from the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee to discuss the issue, according to a timeline constructed by committee staff. The timeline said she didn’t mention at either meeting that conservative groups had been targeted.

Also coming under fire Wednesday for not telling Congress about the targeting was Douglas Shulman, who was IRS commissioner from 2008 until last November, while the screening was occurring. Shulman was appointed by President George W. Bush.

On Tuesday, Shulman told the Senate Finance Committee that he learned in the spring of 2012 about his agency’s targeting of conservatives and George’s probe. He said he didn’t tell lawmakers or officials at Treasury — of which the IRS is part — because he only had sketchy information about the situation, was told it was being handled and believed it proper to let George’s office conduct its investigation.

“When you learned that there was a list, you did nothing,” said Lynch, the Massachusetts congressman.

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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Wednesday that Amazon Web Services plans to open an office in the Herndon area.

Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing services to business and government customers. On Tuesday the company announced it had received authority to operate under a government program designed to streamline cloud computing services.

The company was lured in part from a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund. The state grant will be matched by county funds that will be used to improve an intersection in Herndon near the office site.

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Unexpectedly, a picture surfaced Tuesday of Nats’ pitching coach Steve McCatty in the July 1984 issue of Playgirl. Fortunately for Cat, it was just one, partially clothed photo of him sporting the ‘just got out of the gym, time to catch some rays’ look, which you can see here.

And completely expectedly, the entire Nationals pitching staff had t-shirts made in mockery of McCatty, according to Davey Johnson.

“Well first of all, when they showed me that picture I said ‘Who is this guy?’” Johnson told the Junkies on 106.7 The Fan. “Then when they told me it was McCatty I said ‘He’s gone down hill from there.’”

“I thought he looked great. Of course my eyes are bad,” Johnson joked. “What was funny, everybody on the pitching staff had a shirt with that picture on it. I don’t know how they could do that.”

Wapo’s Adam Kilgore can confirm:

Haren got T-shirts of McCatty's Playgirl shot made today. "UNTUCK" on back. "Utter joy," Clippard said. "This is the best day of my life."

—
Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) May 21, 2013

Listen to Davey ‘jone’ below.

Alexandria Police say it appears an altercation of some sort led to the deputy sheriff Craig Patterson fatally shooting the 22-year-old around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday in the 100 block of Lynnhaven Drive.

The victim’s mother, Gwen Pratt Miller, identifies the man as Julian Dawkins.

Dawkins is the cousin of Washington Mystics guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt. He was among a group of people that had gone out earlier that evening to celebrate Ruffin-Pratt making the team, the family says.

Vincent Miller, Dawkins’ stepfather, says Patterson may have threatened his stepson earlier that evening following an altercation at a nearby park.

“He left and went and got a gun and came back,” said Miller. “And he might have had a car parked somewhere but when he came back he killed him.”

Contrary to police statements, a woman who claimed to be on the phone with the victim at the time he was shot says no altercation occurred in the immediate moments before the gunfire.

“I would have heard if any confrontation (occurred) or anything,” Kim Bragg said. “I was still on the phone with him. I was waiting for him to say something and then I heard this gunshot … Pow.”

Bragg says Dawkins was best friends with her son and was on coming to visit when the shooting occurred.

Dawkins was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police say.

Both men lived in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred.

“We’re still trying to piece together what the facts were,” said Deputy Chief Cleveland Spruill.

Police say they are interviewing Patterson who has been placed on routine leave.

The investigation is ongoing.
‪

WNEW’s John Domen contributed to this report. Follow him and WNEW on Twitter.

Gwen Pratt Miller talks to reporters about the death of her son, Julian Dawkins, next to the yard where he was killed http://t.co/SvT8mvQRKy—
John Domen (@JDonWNEW) May 22, 2013

According to a new Gallup poll of over 1,500 American adults, 72 percent say moral values in the country as a whole are getting worse. Forty-four percent of Americans rated the state of moral values in the United States as “poor.” This is on par with the 43 percent who said the same last year, but higher than the 38 percent from two years ago.

Self-identifying Republicans are far more likely than Democrats and independents to have negative assessments of moral values. Additionally, Americans who are married, those who are upper- and middle-income, and those who attend church services regularly tend to have more negative views of moral values in the U.S. than their counterparts.

In 2012, Gallup asked Americans to give their views on the most important problem with the state of moral values. Americans were more likely to cite a lack of respect or tolerance for other people than divisive political and social issues such as abortion or same-sex marriage.

Twelve percent of respondents expressed a positive view of moral values, saying they are excellent or good and improving or staying the same, and sixteen percent have mixed views.

Poll results are based on telephone interviews conducted by Gallup from May 2-7, 2013, with a random sample of 1,535 U.S. adults, aged 18 and older.

Although the Coalition for Life of Iowa’s application was ultimately approved in 2009, the tax collection agency’s treatment of that and other anti-abortion groups has gotten new attention in the wake of an ongoing scandal over the alleged targeting of conservative groups.

The IRS apologized for singling out tea party groups for scrutiny in 2010 and 2011, but Republicans now are seizing on the coalition’s case to question whether the effort may have been broader and started earlier.

Groups with tax-exempt status, known as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, must have educational, religious or charitable purposes and cannot be involved in elections or engage in substantial lobbying activity. But they can conduct educational campaigns about their causes that do not have to be balanced, and their members retain their constitutional rights to assemble and protest.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday the IRS was out of bounds in seeking information on the group’s prayer activities and a guarantee that it wouldn’t protest at Planned Parenthood.

“That’s outrageous that that statement would be made by anybody in government, that somehow you’ve got to compromise your First Amendment rights,” Grassley said. “It appears the IRS offered this group a quid pro quo: you can become a charity if you don’t protest in front of a Planned Parenthood.”

Outgoing Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller told Grassley he was unaware of the case, but apologized generally for poor service.

The Iowa group isn’t the only anti-abortion organization that appears to have been singled out for scrutiny. In 2011, another IRS employee asked Christian Voices for Life of Fort Bend County in Texas whether it provided “education on both sides of the issues” in its programs and whether its members try to speak with anyone entering medical clinics, correspondence shows.

Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., said last week that the Iowa and Texas groups faced unfair IRS intrusion into their activities because of “political and religious bias” that chilled their constitutional rights. He turned over their IRS correspondence to the inspector general for tax administration and demanded an explanation.

Both groups received tax-exempt status after seeking help from the Thomas More Society, a conservative legal group. But counsel Sally Wagenmaker said the cases were troubling because the IRS asked inappropriate questions about their activities even though their applications should’ve raised no red flags, and they were forced to retain lawyers to win approval.

“Is it something bigger? I can’t say. But is it of concern? Absolutely. Now the IRS is getting into content,” she said. “The common thread here is scrutiny on a content basis and seeming to really bend over backwards on the conservative side.”

Tax experts said the IRS inquiries appeared to be misguided attempts to ensure that groups were educational in nature and did not interfere with the rights of patients and employees.

“I can see what they are raising, but it seems to be there are very strong First Amendment issues here,” said Richard Koontz, director of the Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center. “You don’t want to let one nonprofit stop the activities of another. But you certainly want them to be able to criticize from dawn to dusk what another nonprofit is doing.”

The Iowa group considers its mission to educate citizens about “the sanctity of life” and it has held forums on issues such as stem-cell research and euthanasia. Members also routinely walk and pray outside Planned Parenthood in Cedar Rapids. Sue Martinek, the group’s president, submitted its application for tax-exempt status in October 2008.

An IRS employee identifying herself as “Ms. Richards” from the Cincinnati office responded in April 2009 that she needed more information about its events, including all “advertisements, schedules, syllabuses, handouts, a summary of each person’s speech” and more, records show.

The coalition turned over those records, including Catholic writings opposing embryonic stem cell research and cloning and brochures handed out at events, including one that accused Planned Parenthood of promoting promiscuous behavior. In follow-up calls, “Ms. Richards” asked Martinek whether the group protested outside Planned Parenthood, Martinek said.

“Ms. Richards” informed her that its prayer gatherings there would be permissible — as long as “what we were doing would not be construed as protesting or picketing” and didn’t involve harassment, according to a June 2009 email that Martinek sent to Wagenmaker. “Ms. Richards” said its application would be approved if board members promised in writing that the group would not protest outside Planned Parenthood, Martinek wrote.

Martinek said she and others were ready to sign such a statement, but that one board member saw it as a free speech violation and contacted Thomas More Society to protest.

Martinek sent a letter to IRS saying that members had debated its request not to organize Planned Parenthood protests, but wanted definitions of “organize, picketing, protesting” to ensure compliance. Rather than answer those questions, “Ms. Richards” responded with a letter seeking an explanation of how “prayer meetings held outside of Planned Parenthood are considered educational.”

Wagenmaker responded with a letter saying the inquiries were legally improper and calling for the IRS to grant the application promptly. She said the coalition had organized one event to pray the rosary at Planned Parenthood and that members otherwise assembled there peacefully on their own, carrying signs such as “Women deserve better than abortion” that do not contain graphic images.

Days later, the IRS sent its approval notification.

“It was a little weird and it seemed like they wanted lots of information, but we wanted our status,” Martinek said. “The IRS is so powerful, we were just hesitant to get on their bad list.”

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