NYPD believes abduction to be hoax
NEW YORK, April 1 (UPI) -- An abduction of a New York City couple was a hoax and was part of a surprise birthday party, police said Monday.
A group of men were seen Friday evening forcing a young woman and a man into a minivan in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood and speeding away, CNN reported.
Police were called to the scene where witnesses said three men were waiting in the minivan and forced the victims in at gunpoint.
However, New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said Monday the abduction "may have been a hoax staged amongst friends to celebrate one of their birthdays."
He said there were no missing person reports made in the area the abduction took place in.
Woman under consideration to lead FBI
WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- Lisa Monaco is under consideration by the Obama administration for the position of FBI director, current and past administration officials say.
Monaco, 44, who oversaw the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before leaving in March to become U.S. President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, is one of several people under consideration for the top FBI position, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, 68, who began his tenure the week before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and has overseen the bureau's transformation into a worldwide counter-terrorism operation, will step down Sept. 4, the newspaper said.
Monaco would be the first woman to lead the FBI. She was counsel to former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and Mueller's chief of staff at the FBI before her National Security Division position.
Clinton sets first post-State paid speech
WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- Hillary Clinton will address an apartment industry trade group in her first paid speech since resigning as U.S. secretary of state, the organization confirmed.
Clinton will speak April 24 in Dallas to the National Multi Housing Council, a spokesman for the trade association said Monday. There was no word on how much Clinton is to be paid for the speech.
The NMHC represents large firms in the U.S. apartment industry on issues including ownership, development, management, and financing.
Clinton will speak this week at the Vital Voice Global Leadership Awards in Washington and the Women in the World Summit in New York, events for which she will not be paid, CNN reported.
Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has earned more than $89 million making speeches since leaving office.
Ex-Gov. Sanford ready for his comeback
COLUMBIA, S.C., April 1 (UPI) -- Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, whose second term is notable for a sex scandal, holds the edge heading into Tuesday's Republican congressional runoff.
Attorney Curtis Bostic, who was a distant second to Sanford in the party preliminary March 19, may have high-profile backing but political observers told The Hill it may be too little too late.
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., stumped with Bostic last week and conservative commentator Ann Coulter also endorsed him.
"It's Sanford's to win -- he's a professional politician and knows how to run a race," said Katon Dawson, a former leader of the South Carolina Republican Party.
The winner of Tuesday's runoff will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the May 7 special election, called after Rep. Tim Scott, a Republican, was appointed to the Senate to replace Jim DeMint, who resigned to lead the Heritage Foundation.
Sanford, 52, was a two-term governor when in June 2009, after saying he was going hiking on the Appalachian Trail, publicly revealed he had engaged in an affair with Maria Belen Chapur, an Argentine woman. He was censured by the state General Assembly following an ethics investigation into allegations he misused state travel funds to conduct his affair but avoided impeachment.
