Reid says he's done commenting on comments
APEX, Nev., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he's finished making statements on a remark he made about Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.
"I'm not going to dwell on this any more. I've made all the statements I'm going to," Reid, D-Nev., said during an impromptu news conference at Apex, Nev., near Las Vegas, where he was attending an energy-related event.
He said he apologized to Obama and had spoken with national and state leaders, receiving support and words of encouragement. Obama said in a statement he had confidence in Reid.
"I could have used a better choice of words," Reid said.
Reid said in a statement of apology he regretted saying during the 2008 presidential race that Obama may be successful because of his "light-skinned" appearance and the lack of "Negro dialect" in his speech. Reid's apology came ahead of the release of "Game Change" by political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
During the news conference, Reid pointed to his history of fighting for diversity.
He also didn't answer any questions shouted at him about whether he would resign as senate majority leader, which some Republicans said was the thing to do.
Court rebuffs child-rape verdict challenge
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday threw out a lower-court ruling that struck down a child rape conviction based on DNA evidence.
In 1979's Jackson vs. Virginia case, the high court ruled that a state prisoner is entitled to help if a federal judge finds that "upon the record evidence adduced at the (state) trial no rational trier of fact could have found proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."
Using Jackson, a federal judge and a divided federal appeals court granted constitutional review in the case of Troy Brown, who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old in 1994 in the small town of Carlin, Nev.
The girl was unable to effectively identify her night attacker, described clothing that was somewhat inconsistent with what Brown wore and said she thought she had bitten her attacker -- though police found no bite mark on the suspect. There were no Brown fingerprints in the girl's trailer.
Sperm from the girl's panties and a rape kit showed that its DNA matched Brown with a 1 in 3 million probability. Before sentencing, Brown's family had the DNA tested, and those results showed a 1 in 10,000 probability.
Brown was sentenced to life in prison. State courts rejected his appeals.
In his federal appeal 11 years after conviction, Brown argued that the state DNA expert erroneously described the probabilities, and did not accurately describe whether the DNA would match one of his brothers. Federal courts agreed with him.
In knocking down the lower-court federal rulings Monday, the Supreme Court said "DNA and non-DNA evidence in the record adduced at trial supported the jury's guilty verdict under Jackson. ... "
Full-body scanners raising privacy issues
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Machines to screen airline passengers can store and transmit images, making them open to possible abuse, a U.S. group critical of full-body scanning says.
The federal Transportation Security Administration currently has about 40 body-scanning machines in operation at 19 U.S airports and wants to add 150 more this year and 300 in 2011, CNN reports. TSA says the scanners are not networked and that each machine works independently without the ability to store or send graphic images of human anatomy.
However, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington public-interest group, says documents and contractor specifications it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, indicate the scanners can store and send images in "test mode."
"I don't think the TSA has been forthcoming with the American public about the true capability of these devices," Marc Rotenberg, EPIC's executive director, told the U.S. broadcaster. "But if you look at the actual technical specifications and you read the vendor contracts, you come to understand that these machines are capable of doing far more than the TSA has let on."
The TSA Web site says the scanning machines "have zero storage capability" and "the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image."
TSA says regulations banning cameras, cell phones and other recording devices from the room where passenger images are displayed are sufficient to protect privacy, that facial features are blurred, and that the images are deleted from the machines after they are evaluated, CNN said.
'Balloon Boy' dad begins jail sentence
FORT COLLINS, Colo., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- "Balloon Boy" father Richard Heene turned himself in to Colorado authorities to begin a 30-day jail sentence Monday, witnesses said.
Heene arrived at the Larimer County, Colo., Detention Center in Fort Collins in a white minivan with his wife and children inside and sprinted inside the jail without talking to reporters, The (Fort Collins) Coloradoan said.
Heene entered a guilty plea in November on a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant after staging what prosecutors said was an elaborate hoax which Heene claimed his son was trapped in a runaway silver helium balloon that resembled a flying saucer.
The real purpose, authorities say, was to generate publicity for his family in a bid to star in a reality television show.
Larimer County Jail Lt. Pat McCosh told The Coloradoan that Heene would get no special treatment in jail, but allowed that his fame may prompt guards to keep a closer watch on him.
"We don't know how the interaction between he and the other inmates will play out," McCosh told the newspaper. "We will certainly intervene if necessary."
Heavy snow knocks out power in Poland
WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Thousands of Poles have been left without electricity and trains have been delayed because of heavy snowfall in the country, officials say.
Poland's Government Security Center said around 110,000 homes had lost their power, concentrated in areas in the south and southwest of the country, Polish Radio reported Monday.
"The situation is slowly improving and energy services are restoring power supply," the Security Center's Jerzy Krystkiewicz told the broadcaster.
Local officials said firefighters had to evacuate around 1,000 shoppers from a supermarket in Bydgoszcz in northern Poland after a dangerous buildup of snow on the roof.
The country's General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways said all major roads were passable despite the snow, but railways -- especially around the cities of Krakow, Czestochowa and Kielce -- were being affected by electrical problems, with diesel locomotives substituting on some lines, Polish Radio reported.
Aftershocks in Calif. as damage assessed
EUREKA, Calif., Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Aftershocks from a powerful northern California earthquake continued to rattle windows as officials surveyed damage, observers said.
The aftershocks in Eureka, Calif., were felt Sunday, one day after a 6.5-magnitude temblor shook the area and caused an estimated $12.5 million in damage, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"It appears we dodged a bullet. It could have been far, far worse," California Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, told reporters at a news conference. "I think it was a very scary experience for everybody."
Chesbro told the Times most of the city's infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, was intact, while Eureka Chief Eric Smith said 119 reports of damage to public and private property in the city had been received and about 20 people were evacuated from unsafe dwellings.
The Times said the largest of Sunday's aftershocks came in at magnitude 4.5, but seismologists said the chances of another big aftershock were remote.
