Daniel Biechele, former manager for the Great White band, was sentenced today to four years in prison with eleven years suspended for his role in an on-stage pyrotechnics fire at a Rhode Island nightclub that killed 100 people.

Beichele pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and under the terms of his plea agreement, could have received up to ten years in jail.

Biechele was the tour manager for heavy metal band Great White when on Feb. 20, 2003, he lit a pyrotechnics display that ignited highly flammable foam that lined the walls and ceiling of The Station nightclub in West Warwick. The foam was used as soundproofing and was placed there by the owners after neighbors complained about noise from the club.

While many will take General Michael Hayden's statement to Sen. Dick Durbin that he would consider an Amendment to FISA for Bush's warrantless electronic spying program as cause to support him, I don't.

Durbin, after a 35-minute meeting Wednesday with Hayden, said the nominee for CIA director told him: "With all the publicity that has surrounded this program, we may be closer to the possibility of asking for a change in FISA." "He didn't say he would," Durbin added.

Democrats should think twice before tinkering with FISA. We'll be headed down that slippery slope and the risk is that this will only be the beginning. Bush next will bring the debate from conversations between one person outside the country and one person inside the country to conversations between two people inside the country. And then there will be a move to reduce the protections in Title III, which regulates eavesdropping on Americans in criminal investigations.

Sen. Arlen Specter's proposal is terrible. The warrantless eavesdropping program has not been particularly effective.

by TChris

Louisiana's juvenile justice system has always been atrocious, but Orleans Parish's indifference to the welfare of juveniles was particularly evident during Hurricane Katrina.

More than 100 teenagers held in detention during Hurricane Katrina endured horrific conditions in the storm's aftermath, including standing for hours in filthy floodwater, having nothing to eat and drink for three to five days, and being forced to consume the waters as a result, according to a report released here Tuesday.

Those in the "law and order" crowd who are tempted to think that juvenile offenders deserved whatever harm they endured during Katrina should consider this (emphasis added):

"They left us in there with no food and no water," said Eddie Fenceroy, 15, a former detainee against whom charges have since been dismissed, advocates said.

Mr. Fenceroy described standing in the floodwater for "a whole day" before being rescued. "Some people were drinking the water," he said.

What's hot today? Here's an open thread for everything but the Duke Lacrosse case.

Since Judge J. Michael Luttig has been mentioned many times for a Suprme Court judgeship and is one of the most conservative judges around, I think it's good news that he submitted his resignation today. He will now be Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Boeing.

His letter of resignation to President Bush is here (pdf).

It sounds like pay was a big factor in his decision. He writes that he has two children approaching college age, and his highest obligation is to his family.

Colin Finnerty's May 18 hearing in the Duke Lacrosse case has been continued to mid-June because the DA hasn't finished providing discovery. I suspect Reade Seligman's will be as well.

Durham's mayor wants some answers on the recently released Duke police report saying the accuser had credibility issues.

I don't know if there's more news in the case, but with 183 comments on yesterday's thread, it's time for a new one.

The "We Are America Alliance" is launching an immigrant voter registration drive today in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. Its goal is to register 1 million immigrant voters for the November elections.

During the summer, immigrant advocates will encourage community organizations, union halls and churches across the country to become "immigrant action justice centers." Voter registration forms, citizenship information, letters addressed to politicians and phone numbers to call members of Congress will be available. The groups also plan to set up mobile information centers in high-traffic areas.

Conflicting reports continue concerning Rolling Stone Keith Richards' fall from a palm tree on Fiji. While the New Zealand Herald reported he had two brain surgeries, and possibly sustained brain damage, the Rolling Stones deny it.

The Stones' New York-based publicist, Fran Curtis, issued a statement denying a report in the New Zealand Herald that Richards, 62, had undergone two surgeries since his accident and that doctors were concerned about brain damage.

"Keith Richards did not undergo a second operation. The first and only operation was done on Monday, May 8, and was 100 percent successful," the band's statement said. "There was no brain damage. He continues to improve as expected."

Background here.

Bush's ship is sinking into the ocean. He's fallen so far, The New York Times reports he may not be able to reverse the damage. He continues to lose support among his base as well as Democrats and Independents. According to the new CBS-New York Times poll,

Mr. Bush's approval rating for his management of foreign policy, Iraq and the economy have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency.

....Mr. Bush's overall job approval rating hit another new low, 31 percent, tying the low point of his father, George H. W. Bush, in July 1992, four months before the elder Mr. Bush lost his bid for a second term to Bill Clinton. That is the third lowest approval rating of any president in 50 years; only Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter were viewed less favorably.

There's also good news for Democrats:

Bump and Update: All of the media Replies to Libby's Response to their motions to quash his subpoenas are now in. Here they are: Andrea Mitchell and NBC News; Matthew Cooper; and Time Magazine. Tim Russert is included in the NBC/Mitchell pleading.

******
Original Post 11:19 am

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller filed this response (pdf) yesterday in her attempt to quash the supboena for her notes issued by Team Libby.

Mr. Libby further maintains he will use such information "to contend that, contrary to the allegations in the indictment, it was Ms. Miller who raised this topic in her discussions with Mr. Libby -if the topic was raised at all."

....He also makes the startlingly baseless claim that it may have been Ms. Miller who mentioned Ms. Plame to him.

How does this match up with her public account of her grand jury testimony?

The Durham City Manager today defended the early actions of the Durham police.

A Duke University committee's report blames Durham police for sending mixed messages in the early hours of the lacrosse rape investigation, but Durham's city manager is firing back. The report says Duke officials did not take the case seriously because Durham police officers said it would blow over.

"I'd like to see where that source of information came from," said Durham City Manager Patrick Baker. He admits the first two or three hours after the rape was reported were confusing as to whether the alleged victim was intoxicated or mentally ill. But Baker tells Eyewitness News that once a rape kit was in hand, there was no confusion. "We had launched a full-scale sexual assault investigation, by 4 or 5 that morning," he said.

Check out this one page Duke University Police report (pdf) dated March 14 released today. It states the accuser was picked up at Krogers "and she was claiming" she had been raped by 20 men. The report says the accuser had changed her story several times and the Durham police did not expect more than misdemeanor assault charges to be filed in the case.

President Bush has decided to ignore the 18 page letter (available here pdf) from Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad containing settlement options for the nuclear weapons issue, calling it "a ploy."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent an unexpected letter to President Bush on Monday, in what was seen as an overture for direct talks about Tehran's nuclear program, but U.S. officials dismissed the missive as an eleventh-hour ploy to forestall punitive action by the United Nations.

The letter is thought to be the first direct communication between the two countries' leaders since Iranian militants overthrew the shah and took Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in 1979. Diplomats hoped the letter signaled a new willingness on Iran's part to address the standoff over its uranium enrichment program, which the Islamic Republic says is for peaceful energy purposes, but which much of the West suspects is a cover for trying to build nuclear weapons.

The Council of Foreign Relations notes: