NEW ORLEANS
Website reportedly targets Jena teens
The FBI is reviewing a white supremacist website that purports to list the addresses of five of the six black teenagers accused of beating a white student in Jena, La., and “essentially called for their lynching,” an agency spokeswoman said Saturday.
Sheila Thorne, an agent in the FBI’s New Orleans office, said authorities were reviewing whether the website broke any federal laws. She said the FBI had “gathered intelligence on the matter” but declined to further explain how the agency got involved.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement Saturday that some of the families have received “almost around the clock calls of threats and harassment,” and called on Gov. Kathleen Blanco to intervene.
A Blanco spokeswoman said the governor had asked law enforcement – primarily state police – to investigate.
LAS VEGAS
Witness in O.J. case gives up audiotapes
A key witness has turned over audio recordings in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery and kidnapping case, his attorney said Saturday.
Tom Riccio, who had arranged the meeting between Simpson and two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room, gave several recordings held at his Los Angeles home to police Friday, Riccio’s attorney, Ryan Okabe, said. He would not confirm what was on the recordings.
Riccio planted a recording device in the hotel room where Simpson and a group of associates allegedly held up two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint Sept. 13. He then leaked audio of the incident to a celebrity gossip website.
The recording and the leak led some to accuse Riccio of setting up Simpson.
Riccio’s attorney said Saturday that his client recorded the meeting because he didn’t trust one of the memorabilia dealers involved, Alfred Beardsley, and frequently recorded dealings with him.
DETROIT
GM, UAW possibly near new contract
More progress was reported Saturday as negotiators for General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers worked on a historic new contract that would shift retiree health care costs from the company to the union.
Two people who have been briefed on the talks said Saturday that bargainers were getting closer to reaching a deal on the company funding a union-run trust that would take over much of GM’s $51 billion unfunded obligation to pay health care costs for retirees and current workers after they retire.
The people, who requested anonymity, said they were told negotiators are optimistic a tentative deal on the entire contract could be reached as early as today or Monday.
Any agreement would have to be ratified by GM’s 73,000 UAW members.
WASHINGTON
Bush to seek extra $50 billion for wars
The Bush administration plans to increase its 2008 financing request for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere by almost $50 billion, with about a quarter of the additional money going for armored trucks built to withstand roadside bombs, the Pentagon said Saturday.
The increase would bring the amount the administration is seeking to finance the war effort through 2008 to almost $200 billion. Much of that money will go to refurbishment of military equipment and to the purchase of protective equipment for troops, officials said.
