Authorities search a storage unit at Gibson Self Storage Saturday as they continue to investigate the slayings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, and a top prosecutor in Seagoville, Texas. (Michael Ainsworth/The Dallas Morning News/AP)
Wife of disgraced judge charged with murder in Texas DA case
Texas authorities arrested and charged a woman with capital murder in connection to the killings of a district attorney, his wife, and an assistant district attorney, officials announced Wednesday.
Information about the arrest of Kim Williams, the wife of a former judge who is also implicated in the investigation, was originally leaked by an anonymous source. Mrs. Williams was booked at 3 a.m. at Kaufman County Jail and is being held on a $10 million bond, an officer told the Associated Press early Wednesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation of the shootings of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia last month and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hesse in January.
In a press conference Wednesday, Lt. Justin Lewis of the Kaufman County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the that Williams is charged with three murders and being held on bail, but he offered no further details and took no questions.
An arrest warrant affidavit released by the sheriff’s office said that Mrs. Williams “described in detail her role and that of her husband” in the shootings, providing details that were not publicly released, reported the Associated Press.
Both Mr. McLelland and Mr. Hesse prosecuted a case against Mrs. Williams’s husband, former justice of the peace Eric Williams, last year. A jury found Mr. Williams guilty of stealing three computers from a county building, and he received two years probation, losing his elected position of justice of the peace and his law license, NBC reported.
Mr. Williams was arrested Saturday morning and charged with making “terroristic threats,” reported the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas. A copy of a misdemeanor affidavit states that Mr. Williams sent an e-mail from his personal computer to police a day after the McLellands were killed, which threatened that “another attack would occur” unless police met the writer’s demands. He is being held on a $3 million bond.
The New York Times reported that police searched a self-storage unit near Kaufman, Texas, which Mr. Wiliams tried to conceal from authorities. At the storage unit, Mr. Williams stored a white sedan and more than 20 guns, including assault rifles and handguns. The white Ford Crown Victoria was purchased under someone else’s name, and it matches the description of a car that fled the scene of Hasse’s murder in January.
Kaufman residents are anxious for this case to be solved, Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood told the Star-Telegram.
“We do need this nightmare to start ending and that's what we're hoping and praying for,” Judge Wood said. “We need something to occur that we will feel good about.”
Wood added that McLelland told him that he believed Mr. Williams was responsible for killing Hasse.
“He thought that from day one,” Wood said. “He never wavered.... He said he knew he did it but he just couldn't get the evidence to prove he did it.”
If convicted of capital murder, Mrs. Williams could face the death penalty. In Texas penal code, capital murder charges involve “severe crimes, including the killing of a peace officer or a child, a murder in exchange for payment or in a prison, or the killing of more than one person,” the Times reported.
A US Capitol Police hazmat vehicle is parked at a mail processing facility for congressional mail in Prince George's County, Md., where a letter addressed to Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker tested positive for ricin Tuesday. (Molly Riley/AP)
Suspicious letter for Obama surfaces, after one for senator tests for ricin
After a letter addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker (R) of Mississippi tested positive for the poison ricin, reports came out Wednesday about a second, similar letter – addressed to President Obama.
That letter, intercepted at a mail facility away from the White House, appeared to be from the same sender, NBC News reported, citing unnamed officials.
Before news came out about the second letter, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) of Missouri told The Associated Press that the police have one suspect in mind. A person who “writes a lot of letters to members” of Congress is a suspect in the investigation, she said after emerging from a classified briefing.
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US Capitol Police (USCP) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would not comment on a potential suspect.
The letter addressed to Senator Wicker was intercepted at a Senate mail facility in Prince George’s County, Md., outside Washington. Police were notified that the mail center received “an envelope containing a white granular substance,” said Capitol Police spokesman Shennell S. Antrobus.
“The envelope was immediately quarantined by the facility's personnel, and USCP hazmat responded to the scene,” Mr. Antrobus said. “Preliminary tests indicate the substance found was ricin. The material is being forwarded to an accredited laboratory for further analysis.”
The interception of the letters appears to demonstrate the effectiveness of mail security protocols put into place after the anthrax mail attacks in 2001. During those attacks, five Americans died and 17 others became ill. Two Senate office buildings were closed after anthrax-laced letters reached the offices of then-Sen. Tom Daschle (D) of South Dakota, who was serving as majority leader, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont. An investigation of the attacks concluded that Dr. Bruce Ivins, a government scientist who committed suicide in 2008, planned and executed the attacks alone.
Since then, officials have implemented major changes in how mail is handled for elected officials. Off-site facilities now handle mail addressed to members of Congress, as well as the president, and these facilities follow various screening and inspection procedures.
Still, in 2004, ricin was discovered in then-Senate majority leader Bill Frist's mailroom, and three Senate office buildings were closed.
But in the case of the letter addressed to Wicker, operations at the Capitol complex were not affected, Capitol Police said.
“Luckily, this was discovered at the processing center off premises,” Sen. Richard Durbin (D) of Illinois told AP. Mail addressed to senators is “roasted, toasted, sliced, and opened” before it ever gets to them, he said.
While the Capitol Police said the results indicated the substance is ricin, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said that the initial tests produced mixed results, and further laboratory analysis would be needed to determine the exact substance.
The letter, which was postmarked in Memphis, Tenn., had no suspicious markings or a return address, said Terrance Gainer, the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms.
“I have confidence in our procedures, our personnel, the United States Capitol Police response personnel, the strength and weaknesses of field testing and the need for laboratory confirmation,” Mr. Gainer said in an e-mail to The Washington Post.
There is no known antidote for ricin, which is a poison found naturally in castor beans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ricin can be made from the material left over when processing castor beans for oil. The poison can take the form of powder, mist, or a pellet, and it can also be dissolved in water. Inhalation is considered the most dangerous mode of exposure.
The letter is “a big concern, obviously, for all of us,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona told AP. He described his colleagues as “very anxious to get more details.”
Postal Service spokeswoman Patricia Licata would not say whether any employee had been exposed to the toxic substance found in the letter, but she said the agency is working with health and law enforcement officials.
“Our primary concern right now is the safety of our employees, the safety of our customers, and the safety of the US mail,” Ms. Licata said.
Wicker was appointed to the Senate in 2007 after serving almost 13 years in the House, and he was reelected last year. He issued a brief statement in response to the letter addressed to him, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
“I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe,” he said.
• Material from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Five earthquakes hit central Oklahoma early Tuesday
Five earthquakes shook central Oklahoma early Tuesday, with the highest 4.3 magnitude quake hitting at 1:56 a.m., Central time.
The temblors began at around 1:45 a.m. near the city of Chandler, Okla., which is about 30 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, the US Geological Survey reports. An official answering the dispatch line for the Oklahoma County Sheriff's office told the Associated Press that they have received no reports of damage or injuries.
Jana Pursley, a USGS geophysicist, told the Associated Press that all the quakes were shallow, measuring about three miles deep, which is common for the area. She added that it is common for several earthquakes to occur during a short period of time.
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The most recent quake occurred at 5:16 a.m. near Luther, Okla., at a magnitude of 4.2. The quakes were felt in Oklahoma City, where the Oklahoma Zoo tweeted, “that was certainly wild.”
“At this point, it looks like a main shock, aftershock sequence. There are even a bunch of smaller ones,” Austin Holland, a geophysicist at the Oklahoma Geological Survey in Norman, told the Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. He is collecting data from Tuesday’s quakes to see if there were more than five.
The Oklahoma Red Cross tweeted that they “are not anticipating damage” from the earthquakes. And although earthquakes east of the Colorado Rockies are infrequent, the Red Cross advises people to know how to react during an earthquake event. Their recommended action: Drop, cover, and hold on. It’s a message that is part of a larger regional campaign, ShakeOut, which the Red Cross has been advertising in several central US states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
“Oklahoma is not immune to earthquakes,” the Red Cross said in a statement in January. The strongest earthquake in Oklahoma happened in November 2011, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake during which 2 people were injured and 14 homes were destroyed.
The Oklahoma earthquakes are small compared to the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred near the Iran-Pakistan border at 3:15 local time Tuesday. Iran declared a state of emergency and dozens of people are feared dead. This is the second earthquake within a week that has caused severe damage in southern Iran.
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A photo taken during the second explosion in Boston on Monday shows a man on a roof above the blast. Twitter exploded with speculation about who the mystery man might be. (Courtesy Dan Lampariello)
Mystery man on roof during Boston Marathon bombings (+video)
Who's the mystery man on the roof?
That's what the Twittersphere wants to know in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
A photo credited to Suffolk University junior Dan Lampariello shows the instant of the second explosion that occurred near the marathon finish line Monday. The photo went viral in social media, and was broadcast on CNN, ABC, and CBS, among others.
Dan Lampariello told ABC News Monday "I was about 200 feet from the finish line ... right in front of the Mandarin Hotel. My aunt was actually running in the marathon. We were out there to cheer her on. We thought maybe it was fireworks at first, but when we saw the second explosion we definitely knew that something was wrong."
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And then the chatter started.
The buzz isn't over the explosion, but over the tiny figure seen on the roof in the upper left.
Can you say Grassy Knoll? Conspiracy theorists around the world are jumping all over this.
Police say they have no suspects yet. No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack. But The Christian Science Monitor and other media outlets reported:
"On Monday night agents from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and other law enforcement agencies raided a unit in a high-rise apartment on Ocean Drive in the seaside Boston suburb of Revere, according to information posted online by a participating local fire department. Several bags, including what appeared to be a large duffel bag, were removed from the scene. Authorities were mum as to the specifics of their suspicions but confirmed that the Revere search was related to the case."
Boston police also issued a BOLO for a yellow Penske rental van that apparently attempted to access the race course area shortly before the blast. And they are looking for a "black man wearing a black hoodie and a black backpack" who was turned away from a secure area shortly before the bombings.
In the vacuum of information available to the public, the social media chatter is happy to focus on this photo. But as the speculation continues, a note of reason was posted by Scott Hays on his Twitter account:
"I mean, I'd want to talk to the man on the roof too, but, a big race was going on, I'm sure rooftops provide great views."
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An Illinois Department of Revenue employee offers assistance to income tax payers at the Illinois Department of Revenue, in Springfield, Ill., April 2012. (Seth Perlman/AP)
Are your taxes fair? Increasingly, Americans say no.
This April 15, fewer Americans feel their tax bills are fair, while Republicans and the White House are continuing their battle over the merits of federal spending.
A new Gallup poll found that 55 percent of Americans think the federal income taxes they pay are fair. This is the lowest fairness grade the polling firm has found since 2001, and it's down from the 59 percent who said their tax bills were fair in 2012. But the decline from last year, while part of a general downward trend since 2003, is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
Income level does not affect whether a person sees his or her taxes as fair, Gallup analyst Jeffrey Jones wrote. “The biggest differences are based on political affiliation, with Democrats and political liberals much more likely than Republicans and conservatives to believe their taxes were fair,” Mr. Jones said. For the current tax year, 70 percent of liberals, 59 percent of moderates, and 45 percent of conservatives believed the taxes they paid were fair.
On Monday, both sides in the ideological battle sought to reinforce the divide by presenting their cases on tax-funded spending. House Speaker John Boehner’s office posted a video of the speaker standing next to a “red tape tower” of regulations that's 20,000 pages high and seven feet tall. The tax code amounts to four such towers, he said.
“Our tax code is a headache for families and workers, and it’s a nightmare for small business owners,” Mr. Boehner said. “That is why Republicans want to fix it.”
A more aggressive tax day message came from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is charged with keeping the House in Republican hands in 2014. NRCC rapid response director Matt Gorman wrote, “As Americans file their taxes, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and their liberal allies are already writing their wasteful spending wish lists full of robo-squirrels, climate change musicals, and NASA video games.” The items Mr. Gorman cited were included in the “Wastebook 2012” from Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma.
To counter Republican charges that tax dollars are routinely spent on projects like a $697,000 musical on climate change and biodiversity, the White House rolled out an updated version of its federal taxpayer receipt on an interactive website. The website lets visitors enter their own personal tax payments, and it provides detailed information for several income levels and personal situations.
For example, it shows where the federal government spends the tax dollars provided by a married couple with an income of $80,000 and two children. It says the family would have paid more in Social Security taxes – $4,960 – than in federal income taxes – $3,863. Of their total income tax payment, the biggest share – about $1,015 – would go to national defense. The next-largest share would go toward providing health care, with interest on the federal debt accounting for about $285 or 7.4 percent of the tax payment.
The goal of the taxpayer receipt application is to defend Mr. Obama’s economic policies. “The President believes the economy grows best from the middle out, not from the top down. That’s why he fought to make the middle class income tax cuts permanent. Additionally, millions of folks continue to be able to take advantage of things like the American Opportunity Tax Credit, and the expansions to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit,” wrote Colleen Curtis, director of digital content at the White House, in a blog post accompanying the taxpayer receipt.
Views on tax fairness are affected by events affecting the nation’s welfare. As Gallup notes, during World War II, few Americans complained about the fairness of their tax payments. Between 1943 and 1947, an average of 87 percent of Americans said their taxes were fair. The public's view of the fairness question improved from 51 percent in 2001 to 58 percent in 2002, after the Bush administration pushed for passage of a round of tax cuts, Gallup notes.
When it comes to deciding whether other people’s taxes are fair, Americans “have mixed views on whether the poor and middle class pay their fair share in taxes,” according to a Pew Research Center survey. One area of consensus was that a majority of adults (58 percent) said that upper-income people pay too little in federal taxes. One in 4 (26 percent) said upper-income people pay their fair share in taxes, and 8 percent said they pay too much in taxes, Pew found in the 2012 survey.
Deni Loving teaches a GED class in Kansas City, Mo., on April 11. States are looking for an alternative to the GED high school equivalency test because of concerns that a new version coming out next year is more costly and will no longer be offered in a pencil and paper format. (Orlin Wagner/AP)
States drop GED: At $120 a pop, some say test is just too expensive
States are dropping the GED for alternative high school equivalency tests out of concern that the new computerized iteration, to be launched in January, is too expensive.
The General Education Development exam has been synonymous with high school equivalency certification since 1942, when it was created to help veterans returning from World War II. States are ultimately responsible for awarding diplomas, but they have relied on the GED for testing.
However, a new version of the GED, which will be offered only on computers and will cost $120 (double the current price), has prompted states to seek alternative tests from competing education companies.
“The national situation is definitely fluid,” Tom Robbins, Missouri’s director of adult education and high school equivalency, told the Associated Press.
New York became the first state to contract with a new company its high school equivalency exam. In March, it awarded a three-year, $8.4 million contract to CTB/McGraw Hill, which created the Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), reported The Wall Street Journal.
Montana and New Hampshire have also switched to a new exam offered by Education Testing Service, the company that developed and administers the GRE and TOEFL exams, which will cost $50 to $60. The new High School Equivalency Test (HiSET) will launch in January, according to the ETS website. Cost influenced both states' decisions, with Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau saying that residents “looking to improve their economic situation by obtaining a high school equivalency diploma should not have to overcome a significant financial barrier in order to achieve that goal,” reported the Associated Press.
Several other states are researching their options, reports AP. The California Department of Education is considering whether to amend regulations that the state use only the GED test, while Tennessee and New Jersey are looking into offering more than one test. Missouri requested bids from test makers, planning to make a decision this month. And other states, including Massachusetts, Maine, Indiana, and Iowa, are planning to request information, said AP.
“It’s a complete paradigm shift because the GED has been the monopoly. It’s been the only thing in town for high school equivalency testing. It’s kind of like Kleenex at this point,” said Amy Riker, director of high school equivalency testing for Educational Testing Service, in an interview with the Associated Press.
In some states, the test-takers pay to take the test. In others, states subsidize all or part of the costs of test-taking, so that residents wanting to earn their high school degrees are not deterred by an inability to pay.
Officials in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia said they are sticking with the GED for now, because alternative tests may not be immediately recognized by colleges and employers.
“It was difficult to really look at these other options when you have someone who is already tried and true,” Susan Clair, director of Virginia’s Office of Adult Education and Literacy, told the Washington Post.
Virginia participated in a pilot program that offered the computerized version of the GED test, and early feedback shows people completing the exam quicker and passing at a higher rate, said Debbie Bergtholdt, Virginia’s GED administrator, to the Post.
The new test is designed “to embrace the college- and career-readiness standards” that states have been adopting, Randy Trask, president of GED Testing Service in Washington, told the Monitor in January. It is also being adapted to reflect the tougher math and reading standards that states are adopting.
“I personally went into it a little bit naively,” Mr. Trask said of the new version, according to AP. “I don’t know why I expected a marching band, but I did because I’m convinced that what we are doing is the right thing for the adults in this country.”
But the option for different exams is “the new reality of adult education,” Art Ellison, who leads the Bureau of Adult Education in New Hampshire, told the Associated Press. He said the paper option is important because some adults lack the skills needed to take a computer-based test.
In Kansas City, Mo., Nicole Williams told the Associated Press she hoped to pass her GED this year before the new version goes into effect because “you’ve got to learn how to type, use the computer, plus your GED. That’s three things instead of just trying to focus all on your GED test.”
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio speaks with the media in Phoenix in January. Authorities say law officers in Arizona have intercepted an explosive device that was earmarked for Arpaio. (Ross D. Franklin/AP/File)
Package for Sheriff Joe Arpaio posed a serious threat, authorities say
A package addressed to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-described “toughest sheriff in America,” could have caused serious injury or death if opened, Arizona authorities say.
A postal carrier collected the suspicious package Thursday evening from a parcel locker in rural Coconino County, near Flagstaff, Ariz., which was addressed to Arpaio at his office in downtown Phoenix, said Jerry Sheridan, chief deputy of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, at a news conference Friday.
The carrier brought the package to the Flagstaff post office, where postal officials X-rayed it and found an improvised explosive device. The Flagstaff Police Department bomb squad used a water cannon to neutralize the explosives, said US Postal Inspection Service spokesman Keith Moore.
Arpaio told reporters that this is not the first time he has been threatened.
“That’s the nature of the business,” he said at the news conference, citing the recent killings of Colorado’s corrections director, two Texas prosecutors, and a West Virginia sheriff.
"Of course you worry. I'm a victim, I'm a witness,” he said. “When you convict people, the victim has to be somewhat concerned. I'm a little concerned about my family. I didn't ask for all these threats."
Sheridan said the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had endured “years of threats” against Arpaio, including $4 million bounties on his head, but the bomb package raised the threats to a new "height of seriousness."
“What evidence we have indicates that had someone opened that package, it would have created a major explosion and caused serious physical injury, burns, and maybe death,” Sheridan said. “That is a very serious threat.”
Arpaio said he receives many packages, some of which he opens personally. The person who sent this package would be brought to justice, he said.
"I'm not going to be intimidated by anyone, that's a promise," he said.
Arpaio won his sixth election as sheriff of Arizona’s most populous county last November, but his office is not without controversy.
His unconventional law-enforcement methods – including dressing inmates in pink underwear – and strong stance against illegal immigration have brought Arpaio national attention, the Monitor reported last year. According to the Associated Press, he has cost the county $25 million in legal settlements over inmate treatment in county jails. His critics also charge that his office has failed to investigate more than 400 sex-crime cases and that the deputies racially profile Latinos in traffic patrols.
He created headlines in January when he created a posse of armed volunteers to patrol near schools in the Phoenix area to strengthen school security.
Initial reports about the package indicate it may have been damaged during transport and leaked gunpowder, Tom Mangan, Phoenix spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), told the Associated Press.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, ATF, and threat detectives for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office are assisting the Flagstaff postal inspector, who is the primary investigator in the case, Sheridan said.
Andrew Rivas, the postal inspector, screened the package Thursday and called the police and FBI.
“We evacuated the post office, got all our employees to safety," Mr. Rivas told CNN.
Authorities have a lead on where the package may have come from, Rivas said, but he declined to specify because of the ongoing investigation.
The office is not opening mail and is checking for other suspicious packages, said sheriff’s department spokeswoman Lisa Allen, according to CNN.
• Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and their two dependents walk through Washington, D.C.'s Lafayette Park on Easter Sunday. On Friday, the White House released the tax returns for the Obama and Biden families. (Carolyn Kaster/AP/File)
Obama, like everyone, must face the tax man. Here are his numbers.
One of the things you get to do as president of the United States is have the whole world (or at least the world of picky journalists) pore over your tax returns. Total income, the rate at which you’re taxed, investment gains or losses, charitable contributions and other deductions – it’s all there for the public to peruse.
Many of you (us) no doubt are sweating Monday’s April 15 deadline when the IRS comes calling. But for the Obamas and the Bidens, the White House on Friday issued their tax returns early. Oh, goody! Let’s take a look, shall we?
Bottom line: an adjusted gross income of $608,611 on which Barack and Michelle Obama – identified as “US President” and “US First Lady” – paid $112,214 in total tax for an effective federal income-tax rate of 18.4 percent.
At which point, White House press secretary Jay Carney, in releasing the 38-page filing, felt the need to note: "The president believes we must reform our tax system, which is why he has proposed policies like the Buffett Rule that would ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share while protecting families making under $250,000 from seeing their taxes go up.”
“Under the president’s own tax proposals,” Mr. Carney continued, “including limitations on the value of tax preferences for high-income households, he would pay more in taxes while ensuring we cut taxes for the middle class and those trying to get in it.”
More details on the Obamas' tax filing:
In addition to his presidential salary ($400,000), Obama made $258,772 – much of it from book royalties, including the children’s book “Of Thee I Sing: A letter to my daughters.” Of this amount, he donates $103,871 to the Fisher House Foundation, which supports military families by providing residences on the grounds of military hospitals, among other activities.
Among the other organizations that received charitable donations were the American Red Cross, the Boys and Girls Club, and Sidwell Friends School, where their daughters, Malia and Sasha, are enrolled.
In all, Mr. and Mrs. Obama reported donating $150,034 – or about 24.6 percent of their adjusted gross income – to 33 different charities.
In addition to federal income taxes, the Obamas paid $29,450 in state income tax to Illinois. Itemized deductions include $26,751 in real estate taxes and $45,046 in mortgage interest.
Obama counts himself among the wealthiest Americans, but his annual income has been dropping in recent years, largely due to a decline in book royalties. For 2011, the Obamas reported paying federal income taxes totaling $162,074, plus $31,941 in Illinois state income taxes, on $789,674 in income.
“While that’s far above the average American salary, it’s a lot less than in his each of his first two years as president,” Politico reported at the time. “In 2010, the Obamas reported a gross adjusted income of $1,795,614 and paid federal income taxes of 23 percent. In 2009, they reported a gross adjusted income of $5,505,409, including $1.4 million in Nobel Prize award money.” (Obama donated his Nobel winnings to charities, including the Fisher House Foundation and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.)
The White House announced last week that Obama will turn back to the Treasury Department 5 percent of his salary this year ($20,000) as a sign of solidarity with government employees affected by the sequester.
Vice President Joe Biden, who grossed just over half of what the president did in 2012, “has said he will share the pain of sequestration that his office's staff [members] face, but has not yet detailed what that would mean,” according to Politico.
For 2012, Joe and Jill Biden reported an adjusted gross income of $385,072 on which they paid $87,851 in federal taxes. They paid $13,531 in Delaware income tax and $3,593 in Virginia income tax, as well. They have a residence in Delaware, and Dr. Biden teaches at a community college in Virginia.
The Bidens gave $7,190 to charity in 2012, including $2,400 to the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. Donations of furniture, household goods, and exercise equipment were valued at $2,000.
While most of their income came from salaries, the couple also grossed $26,400 from renting a cottage on the property of their Delaware home to the Secret Service, Politico reports. They netted $17,944 on that amount.
Huntsville Fire and Rescue crews remove a downed tree blocking traffic as strong storms passed through Huntsville, Ala., on Thursday. A strong spring storm that socked the Midwest with heavy winds, tornadoes, and (in the north) ice and heavy, wet snow is making its way east. (Eric Schultz, AL.com/AP)
Powerful spring storm heads into the Carolinas and Virginia
Tornado watches remain in effect for parts of the Carolinas and Virginia Friday morning, as a severe spring storm makes its way east after causing extensive damage in the Midwest and Southeast and killing three people.
The storm system stretched from Texas to New York Thursday, dumping snow in the north central region of the US, and causing flooding and tornadoes in areas of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. Thousands of people are still without power in Minnesota, South Dakota, Missouri, and Arkansas after the storm swept through those states Wednesday.
Mississippi Emergency Management spokesman Greg Flynn told the Associated Press Thursday that one person died and several people were injured in Kemper County after a tornado struck the area. There have been three deaths caused by tornadoes this year in the US, which far fewer than this time last year when there were 58 tornado-related deaths, according the Weather Channel.
In general, there have been fewer tornadoes so far in 2013 than this time last year, due to cool temperatures in March, reports CNN. As the Midwest enters its peak tornado season, April to June, there is no indication that the rest of the season will be slow – or less powerful.
In Kemper County, Miss., a tornado covered a distance of 55 to 60 miles, lasting more than an hour Thursday, reported the Weather Channel.
Derek Cody, an amateur storm chaser, told the Associated Press that he drove from 13 miles from Scooba, Miss., to the small town of Shuqualak to try and get a view of the tornado. He pulled over on the highway when he saw it approaching the road.
"I kind of sat there and hoped it would cross right in front of me," Mr. Cody said. "It was just a black mass that moved across the road."
One Shuqualak resident was signing for a delivery at her front door when the deliveryman rushed her inside the house. They stayed crouched in her bathroom until the storm passed over.
"All I could hear was trees breaking and falling and glass," Kathy Coleman told the Associated Press. "He started praying and I started praying. Thank God he was here."
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) declared a state of emergency Thursday for Kemper and Noxubee counties where the tornado flattened buildings and uprooted power lines, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.
Red Cross Volunteers from Tennessee are headed to Mississippi Friday with three emergency response vehicles and supplies to help those displaced by the damage, reported NewsChannel 5 in Nashville.
Thousands of people in Missouri and Arkansas are still without power after tornadoes hit that region Wednesday. The National Weather Service reported that that an EF-2 damaged dozens of homes in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood. A tornado of that category generates winds of 113 to 157 m.p.h.
- Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
A flag flutters over what remains of the sanctuary of the Botkinburg Foursquare Church in Botkinburg, Ark., on Thursday, after a severe storm struck the building late Wednesday. The National Weather Service is surveying areas Thursday to determine whether tornadoes or strong winds caused the damage. (Danny Johnston/AP)
Tornadoes, ice, and snow knock out power across the Midwest (+video)
Severe storms and tornadoes swept across Missouri and Arkansas Wednesday night, as ice, snow, and high winds pounded Minnesota and South Dakota, causing widespread power outages and building damage but, so far, only minor injuries during the night.
Snow and thunder storms are not unusual for these regions in mid-April, but the long duration and “bizarre combination of freezing rain, snow, large hail and lightning” is, reports the Weather Channel.
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) declared a state of emergency Wednesday night, as reports of tornado touchdowns were confirmed in the St. Louis area. Power company Ameren Missouri estimates that 27,000 customers in the area were without power Thursday morning.
"This was a strong system of storms that caused damage to communities in several areas of our state," Governor Nixon said in a statement. "We will continue to work closely with local officials to assess damages and provide any needed assistance."
One of the hardest hit areas is Hazelwood, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, where more than 24 homes have been severely damaged, Mayor Mike Robinson told the Associated Press. Emergency workers have checked all the homes, and no one has been seriously injured.
A.J. Goewert, a pharmacy technician, was working at Gifts, Scripts, and More pharmacy when the brunt of the storm hit the area. He told the St. Louis Dispatch that the storm tore holes in the roof and lifted goods off shelves.
"There was basically a wall of bright white light came through the area," Mr. Goewert said.
Another tornado damaged at least 33 homes and injured three people in Arkansas' Van Buren County, about 75 miles north of Little Rock, reported CNN.
"If the tornado would have come an hour and a half later, we would have been caught in it," Senior Pastor Ester Bass told CNN, whose Botkinburg Foursquare Church was severely damaged by the tornado.
The storm system is moving toward the southeast, and the National Weather Service is forecasting possible tornadoes, hail, and high winds for eastern Ohio, the Tennessee River Valleys, and even the mid-Atlantic region.
Tornadoes can occur at anytime during the year if the conditions are right, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but peak season in the southern plains is May into early June, and June or July in the northern plains.
The severe weather season in Arkansas started late this year because of cool temperatures in March, John Robinson, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock, told CNN. Six tornadoes have been reported this year, which is half the normal number.
The storms have also left people without power in Illinois and Minnesota. Nearly 3,000 people are still without power in southern Illinois, after a night of 50 m.p.h. winds and golf-ball-size hail. In Minnesota, the town of Worthington is using backup generator to provide electricity to sections of town after high winds and several inches of snow fell.
"With the generation that we have available, we are conducting rolling blackouts through the community," Scott Hain, public utilities manager, told Minnesota Public Radio. "From what we're hearing from the folks that own the transmission that's down right now, is we expect that we'll be operating under this same scenario at least through the rest of today and possibly into tomorrow as well."
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) issued an executive order activating the National Guard to help local and county governments with the cleanup.
• Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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