Published May 14, 2013
Associated Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has signed a bill that legalizes gay marriage, making the state the 12th to do so.
Cheering spectators filled the south lawn of the state Capitol for the outdoor ceremony, with rainbow and American flags fluttering in a sweltering breeze.
Dayton thanked legislators for political courage before signing the bill.
His signature came just a day after the state Senate approved it.
May 13, 2013: People fill the Minnesota State Capitol as they waited for word that the Senate had passed the gay marriage bill.AP
With marriages to be available for Minnesota's gay couples starting Aug. 1, Duluth residents Gary Anderson and Gary Boelhower are getting ready to do something that seemed impossible when they started dating three years ago: plan a wedding.
"The plan is to do it in August, definitely," Boelhower said Monday, shortly after Minnesota's Legislature took its final vote in favor of legalizing gay marriage. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton has pledged to sign the bill, and is scheduled to do so at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the front steps of the Capitol in St. Paul.
"It means the ability to have our love and commitment recognized publicly," Boelhower said. "To me, that's what it's most about."
Minnesota is set to become the first state in Midwest to legalize gay marriage by legislative vote, and the third nationwide in just 10 days, joining Rhode Island and Delaware. Thousands of gay marriage supporters thronging the Capitol erupted into deafening cheers after the Senate's 37-30 vote; the House passed it last week on a 75-59 vote.
"Members, God made gays," Sen. Ron Latz, a Democrat from a suburb of Minneapolis, said during the Senate's emotional four-hour debate. "And God made gays capable of loving other people. So who are we to quarrel with God's intentions?"
The gay marriage issue shifted quickly in Minnesota, with the Legislature's vote coming a little more than six months after voters defeated an amendment that would have banned gay marriage in the state constitution. The groups that led the campaign against the amendment swiftly turned to pushing for legalizing same-sex marriage, an effort aided when Democrats captured full control of state government in November.
Only one Republican senator, Branden Petersen of suburban Andover, voted for the bill. Three Democrats from rural districts voted against it.
Republican opponents said the bill alters a centuries-old understanding of marriage as a societal building block that benefits children.
"Forcing others to give you your rights will never end well," said Sen. Dan Hall, a Republican and a pastor. "It won't give you the recognition you desire."
Hall said gay marriage supporters have told him he's on the wrong side of history but, he said, "the truth is I'm more concerned about being on the right side of eternity."
But supporters, too, cited religious faith and relationships with gay family members and friends as shaping their vote for the bill. Many spoke of the benefits of their own marriages.
"I could never and I would never deny the kind of recognition and all the other positive things I get out of my marriage with my husband, to anyone else," said Sen. Vicki Jensen, a Democrat from the southern Minnesota city of Owatonna.
With passage looking inevitable Monday, vocal and visual opposition was muted. Don Lee, of Eagan, placed a tombstone on the Capitol lawn with the words "R.I.P. MARRIAGE 2013."
"The legislation being passed today is the end of marriage as we know it in Minnesota," Lee said. "It's a transformation from a forward-looking sacrificial institution to one focused on adult desires."
Supporters and opponents were close to evenly matched during the House debate, but Monday was dominated by gay marriage backers.
They taped blue and orange hearts on the Capitol steps, creating a path into the building for lawmakers with the signature colors of their movement. In the rotunda, demonstrators sang songs including "Over the Rainbow," "Going to the Chapel" and "The Star-Spangled Banner."
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman ordered the Wabasha Street Bridge near downtown festooned in rainbow-striped gay pride flags, and temporarily renamed it the "Freedom to Marry Bridge." He also proclaimed it "Freedom to Marry Week."
Minnesota's most famous opponent of gay marriage also weighed in. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, an ardent supporter of banning gay marriage when she served in the state Senate, released a statement expressing disappointment in a vote she said "denies religious liberty to people who believe in traditional marriage."
Jessica Flatequal and Maria Bevacqua, a lesbian couple from Mankato who have been together for a decade, were jubilant after the vote, as supporters spilled out of the front of the Capitol.
"We're excited to become equal citizens under the law," said Bevacqua, a professor at Minnesota State University-Mankato. Asked whether they would get married, both women laughed.
"Well, neither of us proposed today," Flatequal said. "But now that's going to be part of the discussion. It's weird, actually."
In this 1987 photo released by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, a wolf stands in the snow near Ishpeming, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula.AP/Michigan DNR
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill Wednesday that clears the way to schedule Michigan's first gray wolf hunting season since the resurgent predator, reviled by some as a menace to farm animals and beloved by others as a symbol of untamed wildness, was driven to the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states a half-century ago.
Michigan would become the sixth state to authorize hunting wolves since federal protections were removed over the past two years in the western Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies, where the animals are thriving. Hunters and trappers have killed about 1,100 wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Officials estimate the remaining population at roughly 6,000.
The measure that Snyder approved lets the state Natural Resources Commission decide which types of animals can be hunted -- authority that previously rested entirely with the Legislature. The seven-member commission is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal by state wildlife regulators for a season this fall in which up to 43 wolves could be killed -- about 7 percent of the 658 believed to roam the remote Upper Peninsula.
"This action helps ensure sound scientific and biological principles guide decisions about management of game in Michigan," Snyder said. "Scientifically managed hunts are essential to successful wildlife management and bolstering abundant, healthy and thriving populations."
The bill undercuts a statewide referendum sought by opponents of wolf hunting. They have gathered more than 250,000 signatures on petitions seeking a vote on a separate measure lawmakers approved in December that designated the wolf as a game species.
If enough signatures are determined to be valid, the issue will be placed on the 2014 election ballot. But the new law makes the referendum a toothless gesture because regardless of the outcome, the commission will have the power to allow wolf hunting.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources last month asked the commission to schedule a two-month hunt this fall. The panel was discussing the matter Wednesday during its monthly meeting in Roscommon and is expected to make a decision Thursday.
An opposition coalition called Keep Michigan Wolves Protected urged commissioners to wait until voters have had their say next year.
"Michigan's 7.4 million registered voters would be discounted if the NRC doesn't respect the will of the people," said Jill Fritz, the group's director. "Legislative chicanery must not allow democratic principles to be circumvented and place Michigan's fragile wolf population at risk."
The law was sponsored by Sen. Tom Casperson, an Escanaba Republican who described marauding wolf packs as a growing nuisance in Michigan's far north, preying on livestock, hunting dogs and household pets. He said his measure carried out the wishes of voters who approved a 1996 ballot initiative giving the commission, whose members are appointed by the governor and serve staggered terms, authority to set hunting policy in Michigan based on scientific data.
The proposed hunt would be held in three zones where natural resources officials say they've received a high number of complaints and other control methods have failed.
Pro-hunting and farm groups contend the opposition is fueled by out-of-state animal rights groups that want to ban all hunting.
"We're happy to see that the DNR will finally have the management tools it needs to help limit wolf conflicts up here and that decisions about how it manages wildlife will be made based on sound science, not television commercials," said Joe Hudson, president of the Upper Peninsula Bear Houndsmen Association.
Opponents acknowledge receiving support from elsewhere but insist their movement is home-grown. They argue that farmers and government officials already have the right to kill problem wolves and say the wolf population's situation remains tenuous, despite its rapid growth in recent decades in the western Great Lakes.
"Hunting would unavoidably break up packs, the vast majority of which are not in conflict with farmers," Garrick Dutcher, program director of a national organization called Living With Wolves, said in a letter urging Snyder to veto the bill. The pack, he said, is "the social unit that defines the wolf and provides the collaboration they rely upon for survival."
Wolves occupied most of the continent before Europeans settlers arrived. Hunting, trapping and poisoning wiped them out in most of the lower 48 states by the mid-20th century.
After the wolf was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1974, a remnant population in Minnesota grew and migrated to the other western Great Lakes states.
Another bill Snyder signed Wednesday guarantees a right to hunt and fish in Michigan.
Dec. 21, 2010: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is shown before taking office talking with a reporter in Topeka.AP
TOPEKA, Kan. – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has told Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback that a new state law attempting to block federal regulation of some guns is unconstitutional and that the federal government is willing to go to court over the issue.
But Brownback replied in a letter Thursday that Kansans hold dear their right to bear arms and are protecting the state's sovereignty. Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a former law professor who helped draft the law, accused the nation's top law enforcement official of "blustering" over the issue.
"The people of Kansas have clearly expressed their sovereign will," Brownback said at the conclusion of his letter. "It is my hope that upon further review, you will see their right to do so."
Kansas' law declares that the federal government has no authority to regulate guns, ammunition and accessories manufactured, sold and kept only in Kansas. The law also makes it a felony for a federal agent to enforce any law, regulation, order or treaty covering those items.
The new statute says that Kansas-only guns, ammunition and accessories aren't a part of interstate commerce, which the federal government regulates under the U.S. Constitution. But in a letter to Brownback, Holder said the Constitution prohibits states from pre-empting federal laws.
Holder sent his letter April 26, the day after the Kansas law took effect, and the U.S. attorney's office for Kansas released it Thursday.
"Kansas may not prevent federal employees and officials from carrying out their official responsibilities," Holder wrote in his letter. "And a state certainly may not criminalize the exercise of federal responsibilities."
Patricia Stoneking, president of the Kansas State Rifle Association, said gun rights supporters were prepared for such a response from President Barack Obama's administration. The president has sought new gun control measures since December's deadly mass elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The Republican governor is a gun rights supporter, and the measure passed the GOP-dominated Legislature by wide margins. Kobach also is a Republican.
"I think the people of Kansas are going to back this up," Stoneking said. "Probably thousands of grass-roots citizens are all in."
Brownback said in his letter to Holder: "The right to keep and bear arms is a right that Kansans hold dear."
The governor added, "The people of Kansas have repeatedly and overwhelmingly reaffirmed their commitment to protecting this fundamental right."
The Kansas law is modeled on a 2009 Montana law that is being reviewed by a federal appeals court, and Alaska lawmakers approved a similar measure last month. Alabama, Missouri and Oklahoma lawmakers are considering similar legislation.
Supporters of the Kansas law softened it — to say that federal agents wouldn't be arrested or detained while trials were pending — and insist that it will withstand court scrutiny. A federal agent convicted for the first time under the Kansas law could face six months in prison, though probation would be the presumed sentence.
"These hard-working federal employees cannot be forced to choose between the risk of a criminal prosecution and the continued performance of their federal duties," Barry Grissom, the U.S. attorney for Kansas, said in a statement Thursday.
But Kobach called Holder's analysis "simplistic and incorrect" and said the Kansas law is valid to protect the state's residents against unconstitutional measures enacted by Congress.
"We are very, very confident of our position," Kobach said in an interview. "The state of Kansas is not in any way afraid of a legal challenge."
The office of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has already anticipated a potential legal challenge from the federal government, and has asked legislators to increase its budget by $225,000 over the next two years to cover litigation costs.
Stoneking said a dispute could arise after a local gunsmith sells a firearm manufactured in Kansas to a state resident without complying with federal requirements for a background check on the buyer or registering the gun. Kobach agreed.
"Until that actually happens, there won't be any litigation," Stoneking said. "The federal government will have to have some way of finding out."
Supporters of the Kansas law have said they worry about attempts by the federal government to restrict or ban the sale of some weapons — or even confiscate them.
Holder said in his letter that federal law enforcement agencies will "continue to execute their duties to enforce all federal firearms laws and regulations.
"Moreover, the United States will take all appropriate action, including litigation if necessary, to prevent the State of Kansas from interfering with the activities of federal officials enforcing federal law," Holder wrote.
DENVER – Civil unions for gay couples got the governor's signature in Colorado on Thursday, punctuating a dramatic turnaround in a state where voters banned same-sex marriage in 2006 and restricted protections for gays two decades ago.
Colorado will join eight states that have civil unions or similar laws. Nine states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill as dozens of gay couples looked on during the signing ceremony. The law takes effect May 1.
Views on gay rights have been rapidly shifting in the United States. A Pew Research Center survey found that 49 percent of Americans favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, and 44 percent are opposed to the idea. A decade ago, 58 percent opposed it and a third supported it.
Civil unions grant gay couples rights similar to marriage, including enhanced inheritance and parental rights. People in civil unions also would have the ability to make medical decisions for their partners.
"It means I can change my name finally," said 21-year-old Amber Fuentes, who plans to have a civil union with Yolanda Martinez, 34. "It's not marriage, but it still gives us a lot of the rights."
The signing in Colorado comes less than a year after the proposal was blocked in the House by Republicans.
"It's really meaningful. To have the recognition of your love and relationship just like any other relationship by the state is an important both legal and symbolic thing," said Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, a sponsor of the bill and the first gay lawmaker to hold the title of speaker in Colorado.
Supporters of civil unions say the passage in Colorado also is telling because in 1992, voters approved a ban on municipal antidiscrimination laws to protect gays. Four years later, the U.S. Supreme Court said the law, known as Amendment 2, was unconstitutional -- but not before some branded Colorado a "hate state."
Ferrandino said the shift "shows how much through hard work and through a very thoughtful approach you can change public opinion."
Most Republicans opposed the bill, saying they would've liked to see religious exemptions to provide legal protections for those opposed to civil unions. Churches are shielded under the new law, but Democrats rejected protections for businesses and adoption agencies, arguing the Republican suggestions were too broad and could provide legal cover to discriminate.
In May, Democrats said they had enough votes to pass the bill. But Republicans who controlled the House by one vote prevented debate on the measure.
Democrats took control of the House in November and retained the Senate.
Some Republicans insist the bill is too similar to marriage, and therefore violates the will of voters in 2006.
"Even though it was specifically told to us that it wasn't about marriage, I think both sides know that it is what it is about," said Republican Rep. Lori Saine, speaking against the bill before a final vote last week.
Democratic Sen. Pat Steadman, also a gay lawmaker who sponsored the bill, said public support has grown for civil unions because same-sex couples face the same challenges as other families.
"The issues at hand are ones that families all across the state know all too well," he said.
South of Colorado in Arizona, meanwhile, the city of Bisbee is poised to become the state's first community to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.
Dec. 12, 2012: In this file photo, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is pictured during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the Capitol in Denver.AP
DENVER – Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign legislation Wednesday that sets limits on ammunition magazines and expands background checks for firearms, marking a Democratic victory in a state where gun ownership is a treasured right and Second Amendment debate has played out in the wake of two mass shootings.
The measures proposed are some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, and their passage comes after weeks of tense legislative battles. Republicans and gun rights supporters put up a major fight against the measures in this politically moderate state, while Democrats made them the centerpieces of a package of legislative proposals drafted in reaction to shooting rampages at a suburban Denver movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school last year.
"I think it will make it more difficult for people to get guns who shouldn't have them, and that's really the goal," said Democratic Rep. Beth McCann on the expanded background checks.
Magazine limits would reduce gun violence and have an impact during mass shootings, because they would force gunmen to reload more times, she said. "It's an interruption in the spraying of bullets."
Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown confirmed Monday that the governor would sign the measures.
Colorado's gun controls, which become effective July 1, are the first beyond the East Coast approved this year. They also are getting approval as Congress embarks on its own gun debate in Washington, where Colorado Democrat's proposals were closely watched because the state was seen as a bellwether.
The Colorado laws include a ban on ammunition magazines that can carry more than 15 rounds, and eight shotgun shells. The bill on background checks expands the requirement to sales and transfers between private parties and online purchases.
Republicans reviled both bills and argued the proposals would not prevent more shootings, but hurt law-abiding citizens' exercise of their Second Amendment rights.
"We're obviously very disappointed. I think we demonstrated time and time again all of the issues associated with" the magazine limits, said Republican Rep. Mark Waller, the GOP leader in the House.
"They're doing this without any proof that banning this is going to have any impact on public safety," he said.
Republicans seemed resigned from the start that the bills would become law, though. Hickenlooper said previously he would sign the magazine limit, and he specifically asked the Legislature to expand background checks in his annual address.
"Our only hope now is if his pen runs out of ink," said a rueful Rep. Ray Scott, R-Grand Junction.
The governor also was planning to sign a bill reviving user fees for gun purchasers needing background checks. Colorado charged $10 background-check fees more than a decade ago, but the fees were dropped. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation currently picks up the tab checking prospective gun owners.
A Colorado-based magazine manufacturer said it would leave the state if the new restrictions were passed, taking hundreds of jobs with it. Democrats tried to ease the concerns from Magpul Industries, saying the company can still manufacture higher-capacity magazines if they were sold out of state.
Waller blasted Democrats on that amendment, saying it was hypocritical because they are telling the company "you can sell (magazines) at any other place where any of these tragic shootings have happened.
Waller called the exemption "a monumental inconsistency in their thought process."
Other Democratic gun control proposals still pending in the state Legislature include a ban on gun ownership by people accused of domestic-violence crimes and a bill to eliminate online-only safety training for people seeking concealed-weapons permits.
Two more Democratic gun control bills were withdrawn when they appeared to lack support for passage. Those included a new liability standard for gun owners and sellers, and a ban on concealed weapons on public college campuses.
Republican gun ideas were hastily rejected earlier this year. Those ideas included expanding gun laws to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons, and a failed attempt to require armed security guards at businesses that ban concealed weapons.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday that he wants the state's attorney general to appeal a federal court ruling that Illinois' last -in the-nation concealed carry ban is unconstitutional, a move that would take it before the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Illinois' ban last year and gave lawmakers until early June to legalize the concealed carry of firearms. Last month, the court declined Illinois' request to reconsider the ruling.
The matter has led to intense hours-long hearings at the State Capitol, where lawmakers and anti-violence advocates from Chicago -- which has seen a spike in violence -- have been pitted against gun rights advocates from less populated and more conservative areas. The matter has placed Illinois in the spotlight at time when the nationwide debate over gun control has been reignited.
Quinn, a Chicago Democrat who favors strict gun control including an assault weapons ban, said violence has been an "epidemic" in parts of the state and Illinois should be the nation's leader in keeping the concealed carry ban in place.
"The only hope now would be to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court," he told reporters after an unrelated event. "The attorney general ought to take look at that and pursue that."
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who had said she hadn't decided whether to appeal, said Wednesday that she disagreed with Quinn. She said she wants to wait for lawmakers to come up with and act on a concealed-carry proposal first -- even though she thinks that Illinois' law -- which prohibits the concealed carry of weapons in public -- is constitutional.
"If the Legislature passes a bill, then appealing would not necessarily be something we need to do, because it would become moot," she said.
Madigan's comments come as she's weighing a Democratic primary challenge against Quinn in next year's gubernatorial election. Madigan -- also a Chicago Democrat who wants an assault weapons ban -- has been a prominent attorney general who appeared on the national stage in connection with a range of issues, including home foreclosures. Her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan, is the head of the Democratic Party in Illinois and arguably the most powerful Democrat in the state.
Lisa Madigan dismissed the notion that waiting for a decision on a Supreme Court appeal was a political maneuver.
Since the court's December ruling, lawmakers have considered dozens of amendments dealing with concealed carry, many of which restricted where guns could be carried. That includes gun prohibitions in schools, casinos, stadiums and other locales. Gun-rights advocates have argued that the prohibition violates the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida's lieutenant governor resigned and nearly 60 other people were charged in a widening scandal of a purported veterans charity that authorities said Wednesday was a $300 million front for illegal gambling.
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll's resignation came a day after she was questioned in the investigation. Her public relations firm did work for the St. Augustine-based charity Allied Veterans of the World, but she has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Authorities said the probe involved 57 arrest warrants and 54 search warrants issued at gambling operations in 23 Florida counties and five other states: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said charges, which will be formally filed next week, include racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering and possession of slot machines.
"It's callous and it's despicable," Bondi said of the alleged scam, which she said "insults every American who ever wore a military uniform."
Authorities refused to discuss any ties between Carroll, a 53-year-old Republican, and the investigation. Her aides had no immediate comment.
Carroll, a Navy veteran who served in the Gulf War, appeared in a TV ad in 2011 promoting the organization's charitable work on behalf of veterans and their families.
Carroll's resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott offered no details about her reason for leaving, but the Republican governor said in a statement she resigned so her ties to the company would not be a distraction for the administration.
"I will not elaborate on the details of her resignation further, other than to say that she resigned and she made the right decision for the state and her family," Scott said.
Allied Veterans evolved from a charitable organization that ran bingo games and held bake sales for veterans beginning in 1979 to a group suspected of operating more than 40 illegal gambling locations around Florida, according to an Internal Revenue Service affidavit. The veterans' charity was a fraud, according to the IRS.
"In an effort to mislead the public into believing that it is not profiting from an illegal gambling enterprise, Allied Veterans and others have engaged in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud," the affidavit said.
One of those arrested, Jacksonville attorney Kelly Mathis, is the alleged mastermind of the scheme, authorities said. Mathis allegedly made about $6 million alone from the gambling operation.
From 2007 to early 2012, investigators found evidence of over $6 million in what appear to be charitable donations by Allied Veterans. That amount, however, was only about 2 percent of the over $290 million made from gambling operations during that time period. Instead of going to veterans, the vast majority of the money went to for-profit companies and the individuals who operated Allied Veterans and its so-called "affiliates."
Authorities said they seized about 300 bank accounts containing $64.7 million and assets including such exotic vehicles as Maseratis, Porsches and Ferraris.
To play games at one of the Internet cafes, a customer gets a prepaid card and then goes to a computer to play "sweepstakes." The games, with spinning wheels similar to slot machines, have names such as "Captain Cash," `'Lucky Shamrocks" and "Money Bunny," according to the IRS.
Winners go back to a cashier with their cards and cash out.
The games have been the subject of much debate in Florida and some are legal as long as most of the profits are donated to charity.
Each of the locations had a big sign prominently displayed that read: "This is not a gaming establishment." Inside were rows of computers where patrons could play the various games.
At most of the sites, employees wore shirts emblazoned with an "Allied Veterans" logo. On the walls were photos of company executives making donations on its behalf and letters of recognition from some of the charities that received donations.
In Anadarko, Okla., the owner of International Internet Technologies, which was accused of supplying the cafes with software, was arrested along with his wife.
Chase Egan Burns, 37, and his wife, 38-year-old Kristin Burns, faced charges including racketeering and conspiracy in Florida. International Internet Technologies made $63 million from the Florida operation during 2007-2010, according to the IRS affidavit.
Burns' wife's role in the company was not immediately clear.
Chase Burns was released from the Caddo County jail on a $500,000 bond. He denied any wrongdoing.
"What we do is legal," he told The Oklahoman on Monday.
Calls to the Burns on Wednesday were not immediately returned.
A telephone number listed for Allied Veterans was disconnected. Multiple emails to an address listed on the group's website weren't returned.
Former Florida state Rep. Scott Plakon, a Republican, said he filed bills to shut down the gaming sites in 2011 and 2012.
"I found that this is gambling, happening right next door to our Publix (grocery store) and dry cleaner and it just didn't seem right," he said.
Carroll, an immigrant from Trinidad, served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, working as a jet mechanic before retiring as a lieutenant commander. Elected to the state House in 2003, she's served as deputy majority leader and majority whip. She's also a former executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans' Affairs. She moved to Florida in 1986.
A married mother of three, Carroll has a son who plays defensive back for the Miami Dolphins.
Carroll was the brunt of late-night talk show hosts last summer after she apologized for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in those relationships don't look like her.
Carroll, who was implying that black lesbians aren't attractive, made the remarks when she was asked about court documents in which a fired staffer claims that she walked in on Carroll and a female travel aide in a compromising position. Carroll denies that claim.
The former staffer is charged with violating state law for allegedly giving a recording of a conversation with Carroll's chief of staff to a newspaper reporter.
YAKIMA, Wash. – Six underground tanks that hold a brew of radioactive and toxic waste at the nation's most contaminated nuclear site are leaking, federal and state officials said Friday.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said the leaking material poses no immediate risk to public safety or the environment because it would take a while -- perhaps years -- to reach groundwater.
But the leaking tanks raise new concerns about delays for emptying them and strike another blow to federal efforts to clean up south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation, where successes often are overshadowed by delays, budget overruns and technological challenges.
Department of Energy spokeswoman Lindsey Geisler said there was no immediate health risk and said federal officials would work with Washington state to address the matter.
State officials just last week announced that one of Hanford's 177 underground tanks was leaking 150 to 300 gallons a year, posing a risk to groundwater and rivers. So far, nearby monitoring wells haven't detected higher radioactivity levels.
Inslee traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the problem with federal officials. He said Friday that he learned in meetings that six tanks are leaking waste.
"We received very disturbing news today," the governor said. "I think that we are going to have a course of new action and that will be vigorously pursued in the next several weeks."
The federal government built the Hanford facility at the height of World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. The remote site produced plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and continued supporting the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal for years.
Today, it is the most contaminated nuclear site in the country, still surrounded by sagebrush but with Washington's Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco several miles downriver.
Hanford's tanks hold some 53 million gallons of highly radioactive waste -- enough to fill dozens of Olympic-size swimming pools -- and many of those tanks are known to have leaked in the past. An estimated 1 million gallons of radioactive liquid already leaked there.
The tanks also are long past their intended 20-year life span -- raising concerns that even more tanks could be leaking -- though they were believed to have been stabilized in 2005.
Inslee said the falling waste levels in the six tanks were missed because only a narrow band of measurements was evaluated, rather than a wider band that would have shown the levels changing over time.
"It's like if you're trying to determine if climate change is happening, only looking at the data for today," he said. "Perhaps human error, the protocol did not call for it. But that's not the most important thing at the moment. The important thing now is to find and address the leakers."
There are legal, moral and ethical considerations to cleaning up the Hanford site at the national level, Inslee said, adding that he will continue to insist that the Energy Department completely clean up the site.
He also stressed the state would impose a "zero-tolerance" policy on radioactive waste leaking into the soil.
Cleanup is expected to last decades and cost billions of dollars.
The federal government already spends $2 billion each year on Hanford cleanup -- one-third of its entire budget for nuclear cleanup nationally. The Energy Department has said it expects funding levels to remain the same for the foreseeable future, but a new Energy Department report released this week includes annual budgets of as much as $3.5 billion during some years of the cleanup effort.
Much of that money goes toward construction of a plant to convert the underground waste into glasslike logs for safe, secure storage. The plant, last estimated at more than $12.3 billion, is billions of dollars over budget and behind schedule. It isn't expected to being operating until at least 2019.
Given those delays, the federal government will have to show that there is adequate storage for the waste in the meantime, Inslee said.
"We are not convinced of this," he said. "There will be a robust exchange of information in the coming weeks to get to the bottom of this."
Inslee and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber have championed building additional tanks to ensure safe storage of the waste until the plant is completed. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said earlier this week that he shares their concerns about the integrity of the tanks but he wants more scientific information to determine it's the correct way to spend scarce money.
Tom Carpenter of Hanford Challenge, a Hanford watchdog group, said Friday it's disappointing that the Energy Department is not further along on the waste treatment plant and that there aren't new tanks to transfer waste into.
"None of these tanks would be acceptable for use today. They are all beyond their design life. None of them should be in service," he said. "And yet, they're holding two-thirds of the nation's high-level nuclear waste."
Wyden noted the nation's most contaminated nuclear site -- and the challenges associated with ridding it of its toxic legacy -- will be a subject of upcoming hearings and a higher priority in Washington, D.C.
