WASHINGTON – The House ethics committee questioned Speaker Dennis Hastert’s top aide for more than six hours Monday, as investigators tried to determine whether Hastert’s office knew at least three years ago of Rep. Mark Foley’s come-ons to male pages.
The closed-door testimony by Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer could help determine who is telling the truth about when the speaker’s office first learned of Foley’s conduct. Hastert has said it was in the fall of 2005.
Campaigning for a Republican candidate in Tennessee, Hastert said he plans to testify before the committee this week.
“What Mark Foley did was wrong. It was ethically wrong. It’s a shame. It’s actually disgusting,” Hastert told reporters after a campaign rally.
A coal mine accident, possibly an explosion, killed a miner Monday, but five others escaped, authorities said. The incident happened 2,300 feet underground at the R&D Coal Co. anthracite mine in Schuylkill County, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The victim was Dale Reightler, 43, of Donaldson, according to his brother-in-law Charles Kimmel. Reightler, who had worked the mines since age 16, had a wife and four children, and dreamed of setting up an auto repair business, Kimmel said. “He was gonna give it up and go into auto repair full time,” Kimmel said. “I guess that ain’t gonna happen.”
A pregnant woman who survived the shooting at an Amish school earlier this month has given birth and named the baby after one of the girls who was killed. The 22-year-old woman, who would give her name only as Lydia, gave birth Oct. 10, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The child is named after 7-year-old Naomi Rose Ebersol, one of five girls fatally shot by Charles Carl Roberts IV. The gunman took over the West Nickel Mines Amish School on Oct. 2 and released Lydia, along with three other women with infants, and 15 male students. He then tied up and shot 10 young girls before killing himself.
Transgendered New Yorkers won the right to use any restroom they choose at Metropolitan Transportation Authority stations after a lawsuit was settled between a New York woman and the agency. The agreement Monday came as advocates prepare to tackle the same issue with the Port Authority, whose police advocates say they arrested three transgender women for using the women’s restroom earlier this month.
Rising floodwaters forced dozens of people from their homes Monday near Vidor, including some residents who have been living in government trailers since Hurricane Rita struck southeast Texas last year. Heavy rains saturated the area last week and flowed downstream into the Neches River, which spilled over its banks and rose nearly 8 feet above flood stage Monday. The water was expected to remain high through Thursday, said Jeff Kelley, emergency management coordinator for Orange County, about 100 miles northeast of Houston.
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