Countdown Newsletter -- 1/11/06: Eavesdropping Whistleblower

[Patsy Stone]

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Tonight on Countdown
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A former U.S. spy agency worker has admitted being a source for a newspaper's unveiling of warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. citizens by the government and says the program has the capacity to spy on millions of people, ABC News reported Tuesday on its Web site. ABC News identified the worker as Russell Tice and said Tice, who had worked for the National Security Agency for 20 years before being sacked last year, was a source for a New York Times' unmasking of a secret NSA spy program. It also reported he's prepared to testify before Congress on that program. Some of the NSA's secret programs violated the law, Tice believes, ABC reported. President George W. Bush has acknowledged authorizing the NSA effort but has maintained the number of people spied on has been limited. However, Tice said the program has the potential to spy on millions, ABC reported him as saying. "That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice said, ABC reported. http://www.thebusinessonline.com/DJStory.aspx?DJStoryID=20060111DN005178

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Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday they were troubled by what they see as inconsistencies in Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's answers on issues ranging from voting rights to ethics to his membership in a conservative organization. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10802815/

Crazy Crime block:
A clerk at an Orem check cashing business is recovering after a brazen robbery captured by a store surveillance camera. The store camera caught the entire three minutes on tape. It is very dramatic, but shows the victim remained very calm, all things considered. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=148424

An armed robber dressed in a baseball cap and a wig shot a security guard and dropped money as he ran from an off-Strip casino before dawn Tuesday, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if the robber got away with any cash in the 6:30 a.m. robbery at the Gold Coast hotel-casino, Las Vegas police Sgt. Chris Jones said. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/jan/10/011010838.html

A trip to the market takes an ugly turn for a family in Wasco Tuesday morning after they're struck by an out of control car. The mother and two children were taken to Kern Medical Center for treatment of moderate to major injuries. The driver of the car has been identified as 79-year-old Guadalupe Lopez. http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=C61EA42E-55C4-4B34-893A-29AB7BA796E7

A 7-year-old boy's joyride ended at his home late Monday afternoon after he was pursued at low speeds for approximately three miles by Shelbyville police. The boy has been emotionally upset since his father's military deployment, a family member explained to the Times-Gazette as a possible underlying cause of the incident. http://www.t-g.com/story/1134867.html

And finally, did you really think we would pass this one up?
Angelina Jolie is expecting a baby this summer with Brad Pitt, according to People magazine's Web site. "Yes, I'm pregnant," the magazine quoted Jolie as telling a charity aid worker Monday in the Dominican Republic, where she is filming "The Good Shepherd" with Matt Damon. The report says the pregnancy was confirmed by representatives of both stars but does not identify them by name. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10802574/

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
A woman stabbed her boyfriend with a pair of scissors because he repeatedly played the Elvis Presley hit "Burning Love" on the King's birthday, police said Tuesday. The 35-year-old man was treated for six stab wounds to his head, back and legs at the hospital in the farming town of Northam in Western Australia state late Monday night but was allowed to go home, state police spokeswoman Ros Weatherall said. His girlfriend was charged with unlawful wounding and was to appear in a Northam court Tuesday. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AUSTRALIA_ELVIS_OVERLOAD?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
Crazy is as crazy does.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
The commission devising a blueprint to reconstruct the city will propose on Wednesday a complete reorganization of the troubled school system, the elimination of a 76-mile shipping channel that was a prime cause of flooding after Hurricane Katrina and the creation of a new jazz district downtown. The commission report, several members said, will also advocate building a 53-mile light-rail system crisscrossing the city, connecting neighborhoods with the airport, downtown and other commercial centers. That system would be in addition to a separate heavy-rail system that would link New Orleans with Baton Rouge and the rest of the Gulf Coast. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/11/national/nationalspecial/11plan.html?hp&ex=1137042000&en=56fe4f5cca04af2a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Footprints inside the Sago Mine indicate the trapped miners tried to use a mechanized mine car to force their way out after the explosion, family members of the sole survivor said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10803714/

The woman who received a new nose, chin and mouth in a groundbreaking transplant operation in November has taken strolls in public without drawing stares, her surgeon said in an interview published Wednesday. The world's first partial face transplant patient is doing well and is focused on the future - the prospect of returning home from the hospital and restarting normal life. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10803863/

Former Mayor Marion Barry, who spent six months in jail in 1991 on drug charges, tested positive for cocaine last fall, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Barry, now a member of the District of Columbia Council, took a court-ordered test after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges, the newspaper said, citing two unidentified sources familiar with his case. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10804029/

Apple's EcoSystem. Why Steve Jobs is winning the digital download wars-and what his competitors are trying to do about it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10794336/site/newsweek/

Heath Ledger has lashed out at the U.S. theaters that banned "Brokeback Mountain" as "immature" and "hilarious." The Aussie actor made the comments after learning that two theaters in the heavily Mormon state of Utah have refused to show his flick - which some have dubbed The Gay Cowboy movie. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10696088/

There may be an alcohol problem brewing in American offices, shops and factories. An estimated 15 percent of the U.S. workforce consumes alcohol on the job, has a drink before going to work or otherwise is under the influence of alcohol, according to a study by the University of Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions. Coming into work with a hangover was the most common finding. The highest levels of alcohol use and impairment were in management, sales, catering and construction. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10793629/