Official sidesteps queries on cellphone locations

Source: AP

The nation's top intelligence official has sidestepped questions from a senator about whether the National Security Agency has tracked the whereabouts of millions of Americans using their cellphone signals.

The testy exchange Thursday between NSA chief Keith Alexander and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon intimated that such tracking had taken place.

Alexander says his agency can only collect such data with an individual court order. But he did not say whether the agency had ever collected information about locations from which cellphone calls are made.

Wyden is a longtime critic of NSA surveillance methods. Earlier this year, he questioned Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about whether U.S. intelligence gathered the records of millions of Americans. Clapper said no, but had to apologize later when leaks by a former NSA systems analyst revealed the bulk collection of U.S. telephone records and email data.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Official-sidesteps-queries-on-cellphone-locations-4844958.php

UPDATED: Modoc County joins Siskiyou in state of Jefferson bid for secession

Source: Redding Record Searchlight

The Modoc County Board of Supervisors today voted to join neighboring Siskiyou County in its bid to secede from the State of California.

Board Chairman Geri Byrne said a measure to join the push to form a State of Jefferson was approved by a vote of 4-0, with one supervisor absent.

“I put the measure on the agenda because I heard from a number of people in my district that wanted to do such,” Byrne said. “We’re not saying we’re seceding today, we’re saying let’s look into it.”

Roughly 40 people turned out for the board meeting, Byrne said a standing-room only crowd in the Modoc County chambers. About a dozen spoke in favor of the measure with only two raising objections.


Read more: http://www.redding.com/news/2013/sep/24/modoc-county-joins-siskiyou-bid-secession/

Drug sentencing change clears Assembly, but Brown’s view still unknown

A bill allowing prosecutors to charge drug possession as a misdemeanor rather than a felony cleared its biggest legislative hurdle Wednesday on a close vote in the state Assembly. Its fate will soon be up to Gov. Jerry Brown, whose views remain a mystery.

SB649 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, won passage on a bare-majority 41-30 vote, with crucial support from two Republicans, Tim Donnelly of Hesperia in San Bernardino County and Rocky Chavez of Carlsbad in San Diego County. Nine Democrats voted no, siding with police groups and district attorneys.

After what figures to be a routine vote in the state Senate to accept Assembly amendments, the measure heads to Brown’s desk.

SB649 would represent the Legislature’s first substantial change to drug sentencing laws in many years. It would change the current law, which makes possession of cocaine, heroin and several other illegal drugs a felony punishable by up to three years in prison, by allowing prosecutors to charge the crime as a misdemeanor carrying a maximum one-year jail sentence.

http://blog.sfgate.com/crime/2013/09/04/drug-sentencing-change-clears-assembly-but-browns-view-still-unknown/

Calif doctor saves choking diner with pocket knife

A noted California doctor is being called a hero after he performed an emergency life-saving tracheotomy on a community leader who was choking on a piece of meat.

The dramatic procedure occurred Monday at The Mark restaurant in downtown Bakersfield when Kern Community College District board trustee Pauline Larwood began choking on her food at dinner, the Bakersfield Californian (http://bit.ly/16pAFWU) reported Tuesday.

Some of the nation's top doctors and other area leaders also were in the restaurant in town for a symposium on valley fever.

Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, said she was seated at a table with Larwood and her husband when she started choking. Grove said her husband and state Sen. Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, were also at the table....

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Calif-doctor-saves-choking-diner-with-pocket-knife-4841320.php

Iranian President Rouhani UN General Assembly speech

How to interview John McCain

Netanyahu Orders Walk Out Of Israeli Delegation During Iranian Leader’s UN Address

Source: CBS Local

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the Jewish state’s delegation to walk out of Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday afternoon.

“Despite the charm offensive by the new Iranian president, the policies of the regime toward Israel have not changed,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

Netanyahu reiterated he is not buying the new Iranian leader’s course for a moderate path, stating that Iran is still pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Netanyahu said the world “should not be fooled” by signs of moderation from Tehran. He said Iran’s new outreach to the West is merely a ploy to ease international sanctions while it secretly builds a nuclear weapon.

Read more: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/09/24/netanyahu-orders-walk-out-of-israeli-delegation-during-iranian-leaders-un-address/

US Military Ending Gitmo Hunger Strike Updates

U.S. military officials at the Guantanamo Bay prison announced Monday that they will stop releasing daily hunger strike updates because they say the number of protesters has steadily dropped to a core group of 19 defiant prisoners.

For months, the U.S. military has issued reports each day listing the number of hunger strikers during one of the most sustained protests at the prison on the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The prison opened in January 2002 to hold "enemy combatants" in the early days of the war in Afghanistan.

Monday's statement from a Joint Task Force Guantanamo official said the number of hunger strikers has significantly diminished since a peak in early July, when 106 inmates had joined the strike out of a then total prison population of 166. There are now 19 inmates tracked as hunger strikers among the current 164 detainees, the U.S. military said. The tally has remained the same for almost two weeks.

"We believe today's numbers represent those who wish to continue to strike," said Army Lt. Col. Samuel House, a Guantanamo spokesman.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-military-ending-gitmo-hunger-strike-updates-20345198

U.S. official: Syrian CW list more complete than anticipated

U.S. officials were pleasantly surprised and encouraged by the initial declaration that Syria has submitted to the world's chemical weapons watchdog outlining its inventory of the munitions, a senior administration official said Saturday.

The official said the declaration was more complete than what the officials had expected the Syrians to put forth.

The news came hours after the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced that Syria had handed over a list of what it says is its chemical arms stockpile.

"The Technical Secretariat is currently reviewing the information received," the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/21/world/meast/syria-unrest/

Sex jihad sees Tunisian girls return from Syria pregnant