LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The prosecution cannot argue that sex was a motivation for doctors to give Anna Nicole Smith the drugs that may have led to her death, a judge ruled Thursday.
Hearings are being held in the case of Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Hearings are being held in the case of Anna Nicole Smith's death.
"I'm just not buying that," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry said.
The ruling came on the third day of a preliminary hearing for Howard K. Stern -- Smith's lawyer and companion -- and co-defendants Dr. Khristine Eroshevich and Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, on charges stemming from the Playboy model and reality TV star's death.
Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose told Perry she wanted to present evidence that Eroshevich -- a woman -- had a sexual relationship with Smith, which was the doctor's "motivation to continue providing excess medications" to her.
The prosecution planned to present an expert witness who would say such a sexual relationship between a doctor and addicted patient could compromise the care, Assistant District Attorney Sean Carney said.
Court documents released last month revealed that investigators found photos of Eroshevich and Smith "naked in the bathtub in intimate embraces," according to one sworn statement.
One affidavit referenced a video clip of Kapoor "kissing and snuggling" with Smith "in a reclined position in a nightclub setting."
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* Anna Nicole Smith's slurred intro of Kanye West hits court
The three defendants are charged with an illegal conspiracy to prescribe, administer and dispense controlled substances to an addict. Stern faces 11 felony counts, while the doctors were charged with six each.
Smith's death in a Hollywood, Florida, hotel on February 8, 2007, was ruled to be from "acute combined drug intoxication," the Broward County, Florida, medical examiner said.
Her death came just five months after the birth of her daughter, Dannielynn, on September 7, 2006, and the sudden death of her 20-year-old son, Daniel, three days later.
Maurice Brighthaupt, Smith's part-time bodyguard, was testifying Thursday morning when Rose brought up the possibility of a sexual relationship.
Brighthaupt, a full-time south Florida paramedic, said he was rarely paid for his bodyguard services "because they told me they didn't have much money at the time." He helped Smith because she was like a sister, he said.
Before her son's death, Smith was a happy, normal person, he said.
"She knew she was the 'it,' " Brighthaupt said.
But in the five months after her son's death and until her own death, Smith was "very weak" and needed help for everything, he said. "She just didn't want to deal with life after the death of her son."
Nannies stayed with her infant around the clock at her home in the Bahamas, while Smith slept through most of the days, and she would sometimes get up late at night and stumble around her house cursing, Brighthaupt said.
"Someone had to always keep an eye on her because she was very, very depressed," he said.
Other than medications, the only relief she got from her pain was her daughter, he said.
"The times when she'd get really depressed, that's when we'd bring Dannielynn to her to let her see the baby," he said.
Brighthaupt described Smith as "manipulative" when she wanted something.
"She manipulated Dr. Eroshevich," he said.
Eroshevich, a Los Angeles psychiatrist, traveled to the Bahamas five or six times in 2006 to attend to Smith, he said. They had a mother-daughter friendship, not a doctor-patient relationship, he said.
The doctor sometimes substituted placebos for the tray full of pills Smith regularly took for her complaints of pain and depression, he said.
"She was very concerned that we needed to wean her [Smith] off the medications," Brighthaupt said.
In earlier testimony, California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement Special Agent Danny Santiago said investigators found 12 different prescription drugs, including dangerous opiates, in Smith's hotel room after her death. Seven of them were prescribed using Stern's name -- although spelled "Stearn" -- Santiago said.
A series of affidavits used by state investigators to obtain search warrants in their 2½-year probe was unsealed last month, revealing many details of the prosecution's case.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Mom won't be forced to have C-section
(CNN) -- Jeff Szabo was by his wife's side when she gave birth to their son Gabriel seven years ago, and he was right there holding Joy's hand when their younger sons Michael and Daniel were born, too.
Jeff Szabo was there when Joy gave birth to (from left) Gabriel, Michael and Daniel, but will probably miss No. 4.
Jeff Szabo was there when Joy gave birth to (from left) Gabriel, Michael and Daniel, but will probably miss No. 4.
Joy is now eight months pregnant, but when this baby is born, her husband will most likely be more than 300 miles away.
The reason: Their local hospital in Page, Arizona, won't deliver the Szabos' baby vaginally as the Szabos wish, so a week or so before her November 21 due date, Joy will drive 350 miles to be near a hospital in Phoenix that will.
Their local hospital says they'll only deliver the Szabos' baby, another boy, via Caesarean section. Joy had her second son, Michael, by C-section. Page Hospital says it won't do a vaginal birth after a woman has had a C-section -- known as a VBAC -- because it has a higher than usual risk for complications.
So Joy plans to move to Phoenix in November, while Jeff stays in Page, in far northern Arizona, to take care of their three children and run the family computer business.
"I'm so upset about this," Jeff says. "I've been there in the delivery room for all the other boys and I won't be there for this baby, and I won't be there for Joy."
The Szabos and a growing number of other families are facing the choice of Mom having a surgery she doesn't want or attempting a vaginal birth at a hospital that, in most cases, would be far away.
A mother's choice
The Szabos' story began in 2004 when she was in labor with Michael. Complications arose and doctors at Page Hospital feared the baby wasn't getting enough oxygen, and so they performed an emergency Caesarean section.
"I'm grateful for that C-section," Joy says. "It saved Michael's life."
Two years later, Szabo had a successful, uncomplicated vaginal delivery with son Daniel at the same hospital. She assumed she could have a vaginal birth this time too, but, she says, a month ago her doctor told her Page Hospital had changed its policy and she'd have to have a C-section.
Studies have shown VBACs carry with them an increased risk of a uterine rupture compared with births in women who've never had a C-section, but the risk is less than 1 percent, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists.
Don't Miss
* In Depth: Empowered Patient
The results of a uterine rupture can be devastating: The baby could die or have permanent brain damage.
"I know there's a risk with a VBAC, but we think the risks of surgery are worse," Joy Szabo says. C-section risks include breathing problems for the baby and infections and bleeding for the mother, according to the Mayo Clinic.
"And I don't want to have to recover from surgery when I'll have four children at home, at least not voluntarily," says Joy.
After their discussion with their doctor, the Szabos made an appointment to speak with Page Hospital's CEO, Sandy Haryasz. When the couple told her about their desire for a vaginal birth, they say Haryasz would not budge, even telling them she would get a court order if necessary to ensure Joy delivered via C-section.
"I was a bit flabbergasted, because that seemed rather extreme," Joy says. "I'd already had a VBAC at Page and it went fine. And if something happened, I know they can do an emergency C-section, because they did one for Michael."
Conflict over guidelines
Michele Grim, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Haryasz could not comment on her discussion with the Szabos because of patient confidentiality laws.
Banner Health, which owns Page Hospital, says it decided to stop performing VBACs at Page when ACOG, the obstetricians' group, established guidelines for hospitals that Page Hospital was not adequately staffed to satisfy.
The ACOG guidelines recommend "24/7 coverage of both physician and anesthesiologist," and that "two physicians be immediately available during the entire period of labor," Banner Health said in a statement.
But ACOG spokesman Gregory Phillips says that's not what the guidelines say. "These appear to be Banner's interpretations of the stated recommendation," says Gregory Phillips.
The ACOG guidelines recommend that doctors consider several factors when determining if a VBAC is possible. For example, two criteria that can be considered are whether there's physician availability throughout active labor, and whether anesthesia and staff can be available for an emergency C-section.
Since the ACOG guidelines came out in 2004, more and more hospitals have refused to do VBACs. Today, nearly half of hospitals won't do VBACs, either because the hospital has banned them or because doctors won't do them, according to a survey of nearly 3,000 hospitals by the International Cesarean Awareness Network, a grassroots group that has fought against VBAC bans.
Missing his son's birth
To get around the ban, Joy Szabo plans on moving to an apartment in Phoenix in the middle of November. They have no friends or family there, but a doula, or childbirth assistant, will drive her to the hospital when she goes into labor.
The Szabos have no option but to separate to get the birth they want, but in other situations, women don't have to go to such extremes.
For example, some women don't want to be induced into labor, or don't want an episiotomy.
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Pregnancy & fertility
* MayoClinic.com: Postpartum care -- What to expect after a vaginal birth
* MayoClinic.com: Episiotomy -- Can you deliver a baby without one?
The key is to look around for a doctor or midwife who shares your philosophy by asking questions about their induction rate, or whether they perform episiotomies routinely, according to Carol Sakala, director of programs for the Childbirth Connection, a nonprofit advocacy and education group.
Also, choosing the right hospital or birthing center makes a big difference. "The institution you walk into profoundly affects you," Sakala says. "A really good thing is to ask doulas for their recommendations, because they've worked at multiple hospitals and have a good feel for what happens in each of them."
For more information on getting the birth you want, see these recommendations from Lamaze International.
The Szabos know there's little chance Jeff will make it in time for the birth. "With our other sons, her labor only lasted three hours. It'll take me five hours to get to Phoenix," Jeff says, noting that with three little kids along for the ride, it will take even longer.
"Of course I'm scared that I won't be there," he adds. "It's my job as the dad to make sure the baby's OK after the birth, to follow him around and make sure he has 10 fingers and 10 toes. Now the chances of that happening are slim to none."
Jeff Szabo was there when Joy gave birth to (from left) Gabriel, Michael and Daniel, but will probably miss No. 4.
Jeff Szabo was there when Joy gave birth to (from left) Gabriel, Michael and Daniel, but will probably miss No. 4.
Joy is now eight months pregnant, but when this baby is born, her husband will most likely be more than 300 miles away.
The reason: Their local hospital in Page, Arizona, won't deliver the Szabos' baby vaginally as the Szabos wish, so a week or so before her November 21 due date, Joy will drive 350 miles to be near a hospital in Phoenix that will.
Their local hospital says they'll only deliver the Szabos' baby, another boy, via Caesarean section. Joy had her second son, Michael, by C-section. Page Hospital says it won't do a vaginal birth after a woman has had a C-section -- known as a VBAC -- because it has a higher than usual risk for complications.
So Joy plans to move to Phoenix in November, while Jeff stays in Page, in far northern Arizona, to take care of their three children and run the family computer business.
"I'm so upset about this," Jeff says. "I've been there in the delivery room for all the other boys and I won't be there for this baby, and I won't be there for Joy."
The Szabos and a growing number of other families are facing the choice of Mom having a surgery she doesn't want or attempting a vaginal birth at a hospital that, in most cases, would be far away.
A mother's choice
The Szabos' story began in 2004 when she was in labor with Michael. Complications arose and doctors at Page Hospital feared the baby wasn't getting enough oxygen, and so they performed an emergency Caesarean section.
"I'm grateful for that C-section," Joy says. "It saved Michael's life."
Two years later, Szabo had a successful, uncomplicated vaginal delivery with son Daniel at the same hospital. She assumed she could have a vaginal birth this time too, but, she says, a month ago her doctor told her Page Hospital had changed its policy and she'd have to have a C-section.
Studies have shown VBACs carry with them an increased risk of a uterine rupture compared with births in women who've never had a C-section, but the risk is less than 1 percent, according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists.
Don't Miss
* In Depth: Empowered Patient
The results of a uterine rupture can be devastating: The baby could die or have permanent brain damage.
"I know there's a risk with a VBAC, but we think the risks of surgery are worse," Joy Szabo says. C-section risks include breathing problems for the baby and infections and bleeding for the mother, according to the Mayo Clinic.
"And I don't want to have to recover from surgery when I'll have four children at home, at least not voluntarily," says Joy.
After their discussion with their doctor, the Szabos made an appointment to speak with Page Hospital's CEO, Sandy Haryasz. When the couple told her about their desire for a vaginal birth, they say Haryasz would not budge, even telling them she would get a court order if necessary to ensure Joy delivered via C-section.
"I was a bit flabbergasted, because that seemed rather extreme," Joy says. "I'd already had a VBAC at Page and it went fine. And if something happened, I know they can do an emergency C-section, because they did one for Michael."
Conflict over guidelines
Michele Grim, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Haryasz could not comment on her discussion with the Szabos because of patient confidentiality laws.
Banner Health, which owns Page Hospital, says it decided to stop performing VBACs at Page when ACOG, the obstetricians' group, established guidelines for hospitals that Page Hospital was not adequately staffed to satisfy.
The ACOG guidelines recommend "24/7 coverage of both physician and anesthesiologist," and that "two physicians be immediately available during the entire period of labor," Banner Health said in a statement.
But ACOG spokesman Gregory Phillips says that's not what the guidelines say. "These appear to be Banner's interpretations of the stated recommendation," says Gregory Phillips.
The ACOG guidelines recommend that doctors consider several factors when determining if a VBAC is possible. For example, two criteria that can be considered are whether there's physician availability throughout active labor, and whether anesthesia and staff can be available for an emergency C-section.
Since the ACOG guidelines came out in 2004, more and more hospitals have refused to do VBACs. Today, nearly half of hospitals won't do VBACs, either because the hospital has banned them or because doctors won't do them, according to a survey of nearly 3,000 hospitals by the International Cesarean Awareness Network, a grassroots group that has fought against VBAC bans.
Missing his son's birth
To get around the ban, Joy Szabo plans on moving to an apartment in Phoenix in the middle of November. They have no friends or family there, but a doula, or childbirth assistant, will drive her to the hospital when she goes into labor.
The Szabos have no option but to separate to get the birth they want, but in other situations, women don't have to go to such extremes.
For example, some women don't want to be induced into labor, or don't want an episiotomy.
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Pregnancy & fertility
* MayoClinic.com: Postpartum care -- What to expect after a vaginal birth
* MayoClinic.com: Episiotomy -- Can you deliver a baby without one?
The key is to look around for a doctor or midwife who shares your philosophy by asking questions about their induction rate, or whether they perform episiotomies routinely, according to Carol Sakala, director of programs for the Childbirth Connection, a nonprofit advocacy and education group.
Also, choosing the right hospital or birthing center makes a big difference. "The institution you walk into profoundly affects you," Sakala says. "A really good thing is to ask doulas for their recommendations, because they've worked at multiple hospitals and have a good feel for what happens in each of them."
For more information on getting the birth you want, see these recommendations from Lamaze International.
The Szabos know there's little chance Jeff will make it in time for the birth. "With our other sons, her labor only lasted three hours. It'll take me five hours to get to Phoenix," Jeff says, noting that with three little kids along for the ride, it will take even longer.
"Of course I'm scared that I won't be there," he adds. "It's my job as the dad to make sure the baby's OK after the birth, to follow him around and make sure he has 10 fingers and 10 toes. Now the chances of that happening are slim to none."
Original KISS drummer celebrates surviving breast cancer
(CNN) -- A year after beating breast cancer, Peter Criss, a founding member of the rock band KISS, calls himself "the luckiest man in the planet."
Peter Criss, now 63, said getting medical treatment early at the first sign of trouble saved his life.
Peter Criss, now 63, said getting medical treatment early at the first sign of trouble saved his life.
Click to view previous image
1 of 3
Click to view next image
While some men feel embarrassed because of "this macho crap," Criss said surviving breast cancer -- yes, men get it, too -- was actually a blessing. He was treated before the tumor could spread and said he's speaking about male breast cancer now -- during National Breast Cancer Awareness month -- to raise the profile of this rare disease.
Criss, who played drums for KISS and was known as "Catman," offered this advice to men who spot lumps in their breast: "Don't sit around playing Mr. Tough Guy. Don't say 'It's going to go away.' It might not and you might not see life anymore and how beautiful that is."
The 63-year-old musician is now cancer free.
Like many others, Criss wasn't aware men could get breast cancer.
"Even though we don't think of men as having breasts, they have breast tissue and are susceptible to getting breast cancer," said Dr. Sharon Giordano, an associate professor of medicine in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She is not involved in Criss' care.
Don't Miss
* How we're winning the war on breast cancer
* Male breast cancer patients blame water at Marine base
* Poisoned Patriots?
"All men have some residual degree of breast tissue behind the nipples. It may be very small, but just like any part of the body can get cancer, that part of the body can get cancer," she said.
Male cases are rarer than female breast cancer, making up less than 1 percent of total cases.
According to the National Cancer Institute, in 2009 an estimated 192,370 women in the United States are expected to receive a diagnosis of breast cancer and about 40,170 are expected to die of the disease. Among men, there will be an estimated 1,910 new cases and 440 deaths.
"So many people must die from this," Criss said. "Somebody has to step up to the plate and say something to get them aware of how dangerous this is. Lots of men die: They wait, they don't go in, they put it off."
Criss joins a small group of men who have spoken publicly about having breast cancer. Several years ago, Richard Roundtree, the actor who played the title role in the 1970s "Shaft" films, revealed he had breast cancer.
Experts say men tend to get a diagnosis at a later stage than women, because they don't believe they can get breast cancer, and don't get routine mammograms or breast exams.
Breast cancer is "actually easier to find in men for obvious reasons. They develop an asymmetrical lump in their breast," said Dr. Stanley Waintraub, co-chief of The John Theurer Cancer Center's division of breast oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. Men may ignore symptoms, such as lumps, pain in the breast or discharge from the nipples.
"A man has to know, if he has enlarged breasts, a lump, a discharge, just because he's a man, he is not immune to breast cancer," Waintraub said.
When Criss spotted a painful lump in his left breast after a workout in 2007, he didn't wait.
"I go to the gym; I've been drumming since I was a kid. So I'm very aware of my body," he said. "So when this happened I said, 'Jesus, what's this thing?' "
After consulting with his wife, who was battling a different type of cancer at the time, he sought medical attention. Criss had surgery in February 2008 to remove what the doctors thought was a harmless nodule. Later, he learned the nodule was actually breast cancer.
"I flipped out. I just couldn't believe it. It's a nightmare," he recalled. "I was angry at everything. I couldn't believe I had this. I was a really angry guy for a long time."
Doctors removed the cancer in a March 2008 surgery. Because the cancer had been caught early, Criss did not need breast reconstruction or chemotherapy.
The operation left no scars, so his doctor joked that Criss could still take his shirt off to play the drums. Criss responded with a laugh, "I'm in my 60s. Those days are over."
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Male breast cancer
* MayoClinic.com: Procedures to evaluate breast lumps
Criss sang lead vocal and co-wrote one of KISS' most famous songs, "Beth." He left the band in 1980. He rejoined the band for a reunion tour in the mid-1990s and stayed on, eventually leaving again in 2004.
He still plays the drums, and has started working on a record and an autobiography.
For men, "because of the lack of awareness, it can be stigmatizing to feel like they have a female disease when they're a man," Giordano said.
In the sea of pink ribbons, men who have breast cancer may feel isolated. To build a network among them, the John W. Nick Foundation started connecting male breast cancer survivors in 1996.
"They talk with one another," said the founder, Nancy Nick, whose father died of the disease. "It's the greatest thing for healing. They learn they're not alone. Second, they learn about protocol and treatment. They can compare their treatments and the care their doctor is giving them."
Criss credits his wife and his Catholic faith for pulling him through the difficult times.
Every year, he gets a mammogram; he had his checkup two weeks ago. "I left smiling like a Cheshire cat. Now, I'm coming around, I'm just so grateful," he said.
The causes of breast cancer remain unknown. But like women, men's risk of breast cancer increases if they inherit BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations.
advertisement
Criss said he learned that breast cancer ran in his family, so he called his sisters, nieces, daughter and even his brother about possible risks.
"It's just important -- just go get checked out," said Criss. "It's not like you're going to lose your manhood."
Peter Criss, now 63, said getting medical treatment early at the first sign of trouble saved his life.
Peter Criss, now 63, said getting medical treatment early at the first sign of trouble saved his life.
Click to view previous image
1 of 3
Click to view next image
While some men feel embarrassed because of "this macho crap," Criss said surviving breast cancer -- yes, men get it, too -- was actually a blessing. He was treated before the tumor could spread and said he's speaking about male breast cancer now -- during National Breast Cancer Awareness month -- to raise the profile of this rare disease.
Criss, who played drums for KISS and was known as "Catman," offered this advice to men who spot lumps in their breast: "Don't sit around playing Mr. Tough Guy. Don't say 'It's going to go away.' It might not and you might not see life anymore and how beautiful that is."
The 63-year-old musician is now cancer free.
Like many others, Criss wasn't aware men could get breast cancer.
"Even though we don't think of men as having breasts, they have breast tissue and are susceptible to getting breast cancer," said Dr. Sharon Giordano, an associate professor of medicine in the department of breast medical oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She is not involved in Criss' care.
Don't Miss
* How we're winning the war on breast cancer
* Male breast cancer patients blame water at Marine base
* Poisoned Patriots?
"All men have some residual degree of breast tissue behind the nipples. It may be very small, but just like any part of the body can get cancer, that part of the body can get cancer," she said.
Male cases are rarer than female breast cancer, making up less than 1 percent of total cases.
According to the National Cancer Institute, in 2009 an estimated 192,370 women in the United States are expected to receive a diagnosis of breast cancer and about 40,170 are expected to die of the disease. Among men, there will be an estimated 1,910 new cases and 440 deaths.
"So many people must die from this," Criss said. "Somebody has to step up to the plate and say something to get them aware of how dangerous this is. Lots of men die: They wait, they don't go in, they put it off."
Criss joins a small group of men who have spoken publicly about having breast cancer. Several years ago, Richard Roundtree, the actor who played the title role in the 1970s "Shaft" films, revealed he had breast cancer.
Experts say men tend to get a diagnosis at a later stage than women, because they don't believe they can get breast cancer, and don't get routine mammograms or breast exams.
Breast cancer is "actually easier to find in men for obvious reasons. They develop an asymmetrical lump in their breast," said Dr. Stanley Waintraub, co-chief of The John Theurer Cancer Center's division of breast oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. Men may ignore symptoms, such as lumps, pain in the breast or discharge from the nipples.
"A man has to know, if he has enlarged breasts, a lump, a discharge, just because he's a man, he is not immune to breast cancer," Waintraub said.
When Criss spotted a painful lump in his left breast after a workout in 2007, he didn't wait.
"I go to the gym; I've been drumming since I was a kid. So I'm very aware of my body," he said. "So when this happened I said, 'Jesus, what's this thing?' "
After consulting with his wife, who was battling a different type of cancer at the time, he sought medical attention. Criss had surgery in February 2008 to remove what the doctors thought was a harmless nodule. Later, he learned the nodule was actually breast cancer.
"I flipped out. I just couldn't believe it. It's a nightmare," he recalled. "I was angry at everything. I couldn't believe I had this. I was a really angry guy for a long time."
Doctors removed the cancer in a March 2008 surgery. Because the cancer had been caught early, Criss did not need breast reconstruction or chemotherapy.
The operation left no scars, so his doctor joked that Criss could still take his shirt off to play the drums. Criss responded with a laugh, "I'm in my 60s. Those days are over."
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Male breast cancer
* MayoClinic.com: Procedures to evaluate breast lumps
Criss sang lead vocal and co-wrote one of KISS' most famous songs, "Beth." He left the band in 1980. He rejoined the band for a reunion tour in the mid-1990s and stayed on, eventually leaving again in 2004.
He still plays the drums, and has started working on a record and an autobiography.
For men, "because of the lack of awareness, it can be stigmatizing to feel like they have a female disease when they're a man," Giordano said.
In the sea of pink ribbons, men who have breast cancer may feel isolated. To build a network among them, the John W. Nick Foundation started connecting male breast cancer survivors in 1996.
"They talk with one another," said the founder, Nancy Nick, whose father died of the disease. "It's the greatest thing for healing. They learn they're not alone. Second, they learn about protocol and treatment. They can compare their treatments and the care their doctor is giving them."
Criss credits his wife and his Catholic faith for pulling him through the difficult times.
Every year, he gets a mammogram; he had his checkup two weeks ago. "I left smiling like a Cheshire cat. Now, I'm coming around, I'm just so grateful," he said.
The causes of breast cancer remain unknown. But like women, men's risk of breast cancer increases if they inherit BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations.
advertisement
Criss said he learned that breast cancer ran in his family, so he called his sisters, nieces, daughter and even his brother about possible risks.
"It's just important -- just go get checked out," said Criss. "It's not like you're going to lose your manhood."
Democrats chastise Snowe over health care 'influence'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There is candid frustration Thursday coming from rank and file congressional Democrats about the influence of Maine's Republican senator in the health care reform debate.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe on Tuesday.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe on Tuesday.
The way Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe sees it, she's just using the power any senator has: the power of one.
"The brilliance of our Founding Fathers was this: that they gave power equally to every member of the United States Senate, whether you represented a large state or a small state, and exercising that authority in a positive way," she said.
But the challenge now for Democrats is that Snowe opposes what most of them support: a government-sponsored health care option.
Since Snowe is the only Republican so far to back a Democratic plan, that carries a lot of weight with the White House and Senate Democratic leaders. Video Watch Snowe defend her vote »
President Obama has singled out Snowe "for both the political courage and the seriousness of purpose that she's demonstrated throughout this process."
But Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, said it appears that the White House is simply grasping for the ability to get a bipartisan bill.
"It looks as though the way the White House is maneuvering right now, that it is incredibly important to them to get at least one Republican, that being Olympia Snowe."
When asked whether Snowe has more influence than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on how the final bill will shape up, Pelosi responded: "I respect Sen. Snowe and the role she has constructed, the role she has played in the deliberations for the Senate Finance Committee."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that his hope is for more Republicans to work with Democrats and not just "one senator from Maine."
Don't Miss
* Spotlight follows Snowe as health care battle advances
* What's next for health care reform?
* Health Care in America
Senate Democrats gathered behind closed doors Thursday for what Democratic sources say was a spirited and at times tense meeting on how to proceed on health care.
Progressive Democrats, sources say, used Thursday's meeting to make a passionate plea for a Senate bill with a public option. Video Watch more on what's next for health care reform »
But the struggle for Democratic leaders is that the public option will unlikely fly with some conservative Democrats and Snowe.
House Democrats, meanwhile, wasted no time in blasting Snowe's recent influence in the controversial debate.
"This is the United States of America. This is not the United States of Maine," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California. "I mean that one senator cannot hold the entire nation's health care plan hostage."
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Florida, said senators like Snowe have a kind of "outsized sense of influence" on health care reform.
"It's not okay with me," she added. "I support a robust public option, and I think we will have one in the House bill."
Snowe's belief is that a public option should be "triggered" down the road only if market reforms fail to work.
But Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, blasted the idea of a trigger option.
"The idea that we are going to succumb to the insurance industry's fears and then do a trigger, which means that our constituency -- the American people -- will delay in getting a public option, that's like the house of cards just collapsing on top of us," she said.
Republican colleagues, however, have remained mostly silent on Snowe's vote.
"Sen. Snowe called me this morning to let me know that while she continues to have serious, substantive policy reservations with this proposal, she wanted to keep the process moving," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a news release Tuesday. "I share her concerns about the direction of this bill once it leaves the committee, and her call for transparency before we vote to proceed to any bill on the floor."
House Republican Leader John Boehner, who did not criticize Snowe in a statement after the vote, blasted Democratic plans, such as the one coming from the Senate Finance Committee.
"Republicans have offered common-sense solutions to lower health care costs and increase access to affordable insurance -- all without destroying jobs, exploding the deficit, or putting bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by doctors and patients," he said in a statement Tuesday. "It's time for Democrats to scrap all of these big government-run plans and work with Republicans to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans."
Snowe says that at the end of the day, it's about "doing the best thing for the American people, what's in the best interests of this country."
Her stance on health care is hardly the first time the moderate senator has broken ranks with her party.
This year, she was one of just three Republicans to support the president's $787 billion economic stimulus package. She also broke ranks with Republicans on social issues like stem cell research and abortion.
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Although her liberal leanings have the possibility of putting her at odds with her party, Snowe's constituents don't seem to mind.
Voters re-elected her to the Senate with 74 percent of the vote in 2006, compared with her Democratic opponent's 21 percent. In 2000, she won with 69 percent of the vote
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe on Tuesday.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe on Tuesday.
The way Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe sees it, she's just using the power any senator has: the power of one.
"The brilliance of our Founding Fathers was this: that they gave power equally to every member of the United States Senate, whether you represented a large state or a small state, and exercising that authority in a positive way," she said.
But the challenge now for Democrats is that Snowe opposes what most of them support: a government-sponsored health care option.
Since Snowe is the only Republican so far to back a Democratic plan, that carries a lot of weight with the White House and Senate Democratic leaders. Video Watch Snowe defend her vote »
President Obama has singled out Snowe "for both the political courage and the seriousness of purpose that she's demonstrated throughout this process."
But Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, said it appears that the White House is simply grasping for the ability to get a bipartisan bill.
"It looks as though the way the White House is maneuvering right now, that it is incredibly important to them to get at least one Republican, that being Olympia Snowe."
When asked whether Snowe has more influence than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on how the final bill will shape up, Pelosi responded: "I respect Sen. Snowe and the role she has constructed, the role she has played in the deliberations for the Senate Finance Committee."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that his hope is for more Republicans to work with Democrats and not just "one senator from Maine."
Don't Miss
* Spotlight follows Snowe as health care battle advances
* What's next for health care reform?
* Health Care in America
Senate Democrats gathered behind closed doors Thursday for what Democratic sources say was a spirited and at times tense meeting on how to proceed on health care.
Progressive Democrats, sources say, used Thursday's meeting to make a passionate plea for a Senate bill with a public option. Video Watch more on what's next for health care reform »
But the struggle for Democratic leaders is that the public option will unlikely fly with some conservative Democrats and Snowe.
House Democrats, meanwhile, wasted no time in blasting Snowe's recent influence in the controversial debate.
"This is the United States of America. This is not the United States of Maine," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California. "I mean that one senator cannot hold the entire nation's health care plan hostage."
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Florida, said senators like Snowe have a kind of "outsized sense of influence" on health care reform.
"It's not okay with me," she added. "I support a robust public option, and I think we will have one in the House bill."
Snowe's belief is that a public option should be "triggered" down the road only if market reforms fail to work.
But Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, blasted the idea of a trigger option.
"The idea that we are going to succumb to the insurance industry's fears and then do a trigger, which means that our constituency -- the American people -- will delay in getting a public option, that's like the house of cards just collapsing on top of us," she said.
Republican colleagues, however, have remained mostly silent on Snowe's vote.
"Sen. Snowe called me this morning to let me know that while she continues to have serious, substantive policy reservations with this proposal, she wanted to keep the process moving," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a news release Tuesday. "I share her concerns about the direction of this bill once it leaves the committee, and her call for transparency before we vote to proceed to any bill on the floor."
House Republican Leader John Boehner, who did not criticize Snowe in a statement after the vote, blasted Democratic plans, such as the one coming from the Senate Finance Committee.
"Republicans have offered common-sense solutions to lower health care costs and increase access to affordable insurance -- all without destroying jobs, exploding the deficit, or putting bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by doctors and patients," he said in a statement Tuesday. "It's time for Democrats to scrap all of these big government-run plans and work with Republicans to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans."
Snowe says that at the end of the day, it's about "doing the best thing for the American people, what's in the best interests of this country."
Her stance on health care is hardly the first time the moderate senator has broken ranks with her party.
This year, she was one of just three Republicans to support the president's $787 billion economic stimulus package. She also broke ranks with Republicans on social issues like stem cell research and abortion.
advertisement
Although her liberal leanings have the possibility of putting her at odds with her party, Snowe's constituents don't seem to mind.
Voters re-elected her to the Senate with 74 percent of the vote in 2006, compared with her Democratic opponent's 21 percent. In 2000, she won with 69 percent of the vote
On New Orleans visit, Obama tells critics, 'I'm just getting started'
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- Before a cheering crowd at a town hall meeting in New Orleans, President Obama fired back at critics who accuse him of accomplishing little in his nine months in office, saying "I'm just getting started."
President Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans on Thursday.
President Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans on Thursday.
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"I never thought any of this was going to be easy," said Obama, speaking at the University of New Orleans in his first visit to the Gulf Coast city since taking office. He poked fun at his critics, asking, "Why haven't you solved world hunger yet? It's been nine months. Why?"
"What'd I say during the campaign? I said change is hard," Obama said. "Big change is harder. ... I wasn't kidding about it being hard."
"Those folks who are trying to stand in the way of progress ... let me tell you, I'm just getting started," he said. "I don't quit. I'm not tired. I'm just getting started."
Before taking questions, Obama discussed the recovery effort in New Orleans, a city struggling to get back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina.
"It has now been just over four years since that terrible storm struck your shores," the president said. "And [in] the days after it did, this nation and all the world bore witness to the fact that the damage from Katrina was not caused just by a disaster of nature, but also by a breakdown of government, that government wasn't adequately prepared and we didn't appropriately respond."
Obama said that when he took office, he pledged to make Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts and disaster response top priorities of his administration.
Don't Miss
* New Orleans hospital deaths back in spotlight
* Commentary: Does Obama care about New Orleans?
"So far, I'm pleased to report that we've made good progress," he said. "We've got a long way to go, but we've made progress."
He said he has sent more Cabinet members to the Gulf Coast than any other region -- "not just to appearances, but to listen and to learn and help you move forward." Also, he said, his administration has helped eliminate red tape and turf disputes in order to get stalled programs moving, and freed up $1.5 billion in recovery funds.
He said his administration is tackling "corruption and inefficiency" that has plagued the New Orleans Housing Authority for years -- remarks that drew applause from the crowd -- and has helped move families out of emergency housing, helping homeowners rebuild and helping renters find affordable options.
The government has also invested in supporting health centers and recruiting primary care providers, nurses and other professionals to fill shortages left by the 2005 hurricane, he said. Video Watch bloggers debate Obama's handling of New Orleans »
Before the meeting, Obama toured the Martin Luther King charter school -- the first charter school to reopen in New Orleans' Ninth Ward, the hardest-hit portion of the city. The president called the school "an inspiration for this city."
However, "it's clear how far we have to go before we can call this recovery a real success," he said, adding that much remains to be done to repair roads, hospitals and schools and rebuild neighborhoods.
"We will not forget about New Orleans," he said. "We're going to keep on working."
He also touched on the economy and on health care reform. "Too many Americans have waited too long for this to happen," he said, drawing wild cheers from the crowd. "We are going to pass health care reform by the end of the year."
Meeting the challenges faced by the nation, he said, "requires diligence and perseverance and patience ... it requires a renewed spirit of cooperation among our citizens."
He took questions from the crowd on topics ranging from the school dropout rate to immigration.
One man asked Obama, "Why is it four years after Katrina we're still fighting with the federal government for money to repair our devastated city? ... I expected as much from the Bush administration, but why are we still being nickeled and dimed in our recovery?"
The president responded, "I make no excuses for the fact that the federal government did not work effectively with state and local governments immediately in the aftermath of the storm to make sure that everybody got the help they needed right away. And we are still working through the backlog of problems that existed."
"My expectation is that by the time that my term is over, you guys are going to look back and you're going to say, 'This was a responsive administration on health care, on housing, on education, that actually made sure the money flowed and that things got done the way they were supposed to get done," he said.
A fourth-grade boy asked Obama his final question: "Why do people hate you? They're supposed to love you. And God is love."
"Well, now, first of all, I did get elected president, so not everybody hates me now," Obama said. "... If you were watching TV lately, it seems like everybody's just getting mad all the time. ... Some of it is just what's called politics, where, you know, once one party wins, then the other party kind of feels like it needs to poke you a little bit to keep you on your toes."
In addition, he told the boy, some people have lost their jobs and are frustrated. "When you're president of the United States, you've got to deal with all of that," he said. "... I'm a pretty tough guy. Are you a tough guy?"
Four years after Katrina, evidence of the storm's devastation lingers. About 1,500 people in Louisiana are still living in temporary housing, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, although that is down from a high of more than 90,000.
And the Army Corps of Engineers is only a third of the way through a $15 billion system to provide 100-year flood protection for the city.
However, the agency says 76 disputed projects in Louisiana have been resolved since Obama took office, and more than $1.4 billion in aid has been sent to Louisiana, along with more than $160 million to Mississippi. And it says that more than 89,000 Louisiana households and 45,044 Mississippi households displaced by Katrina -- and by Hurricane Rita, which hit a month later -- have found longer-term housing solutions.
The emergency agency also says more than $1 billion from the stimulus program has been targeted for New Orleans.
The Obama administration's efforts have been praised. In August, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, "there is a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done."
Still, the length and nature of Obama's visit Thursday drew some ire. The president was to spend less than four hours in New Orleans and will not visit other areas of the Gulf Coast affected by Katrina, such as the Mississippi coast.
"The people of New Orleans deserve more than a 'drive-through daiquiri' summit with the president," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, said in a news conference Monday.
And Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, wrote in a letter to Obama that "if the town hall is the only major event of the visit, I truly think it will be deeply disappointing to most citizens."
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The White House said that Obama has been to New Orleans five times since Katrina, and that since Obama took office, there have been 35 trips to the Gulf Coast by more than 20 senior administration officials.
"The president made a promise to come to New Orleans and wanted to fulfill that promise as soon as his schedule allowed," White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said.
President Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans on Thursday.
President Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans on Thursday.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
"I never thought any of this was going to be easy," said Obama, speaking at the University of New Orleans in his first visit to the Gulf Coast city since taking office. He poked fun at his critics, asking, "Why haven't you solved world hunger yet? It's been nine months. Why?"
"What'd I say during the campaign? I said change is hard," Obama said. "Big change is harder. ... I wasn't kidding about it being hard."
"Those folks who are trying to stand in the way of progress ... let me tell you, I'm just getting started," he said. "I don't quit. I'm not tired. I'm just getting started."
Before taking questions, Obama discussed the recovery effort in New Orleans, a city struggling to get back on its feet after Hurricane Katrina.
"It has now been just over four years since that terrible storm struck your shores," the president said. "And [in] the days after it did, this nation and all the world bore witness to the fact that the damage from Katrina was not caused just by a disaster of nature, but also by a breakdown of government, that government wasn't adequately prepared and we didn't appropriately respond."
Obama said that when he took office, he pledged to make Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts and disaster response top priorities of his administration.
Don't Miss
* New Orleans hospital deaths back in spotlight
* Commentary: Does Obama care about New Orleans?
"So far, I'm pleased to report that we've made good progress," he said. "We've got a long way to go, but we've made progress."
He said he has sent more Cabinet members to the Gulf Coast than any other region -- "not just to appearances, but to listen and to learn and help you move forward." Also, he said, his administration has helped eliminate red tape and turf disputes in order to get stalled programs moving, and freed up $1.5 billion in recovery funds.
He said his administration is tackling "corruption and inefficiency" that has plagued the New Orleans Housing Authority for years -- remarks that drew applause from the crowd -- and has helped move families out of emergency housing, helping homeowners rebuild and helping renters find affordable options.
The government has also invested in supporting health centers and recruiting primary care providers, nurses and other professionals to fill shortages left by the 2005 hurricane, he said. Video Watch bloggers debate Obama's handling of New Orleans »
Before the meeting, Obama toured the Martin Luther King charter school -- the first charter school to reopen in New Orleans' Ninth Ward, the hardest-hit portion of the city. The president called the school "an inspiration for this city."
However, "it's clear how far we have to go before we can call this recovery a real success," he said, adding that much remains to be done to repair roads, hospitals and schools and rebuild neighborhoods.
"We will not forget about New Orleans," he said. "We're going to keep on working."
He also touched on the economy and on health care reform. "Too many Americans have waited too long for this to happen," he said, drawing wild cheers from the crowd. "We are going to pass health care reform by the end of the year."
Meeting the challenges faced by the nation, he said, "requires diligence and perseverance and patience ... it requires a renewed spirit of cooperation among our citizens."
He took questions from the crowd on topics ranging from the school dropout rate to immigration.
One man asked Obama, "Why is it four years after Katrina we're still fighting with the federal government for money to repair our devastated city? ... I expected as much from the Bush administration, but why are we still being nickeled and dimed in our recovery?"
The president responded, "I make no excuses for the fact that the federal government did not work effectively with state and local governments immediately in the aftermath of the storm to make sure that everybody got the help they needed right away. And we are still working through the backlog of problems that existed."
"My expectation is that by the time that my term is over, you guys are going to look back and you're going to say, 'This was a responsive administration on health care, on housing, on education, that actually made sure the money flowed and that things got done the way they were supposed to get done," he said.
A fourth-grade boy asked Obama his final question: "Why do people hate you? They're supposed to love you. And God is love."
"Well, now, first of all, I did get elected president, so not everybody hates me now," Obama said. "... If you were watching TV lately, it seems like everybody's just getting mad all the time. ... Some of it is just what's called politics, where, you know, once one party wins, then the other party kind of feels like it needs to poke you a little bit to keep you on your toes."
In addition, he told the boy, some people have lost their jobs and are frustrated. "When you're president of the United States, you've got to deal with all of that," he said. "... I'm a pretty tough guy. Are you a tough guy?"
Four years after Katrina, evidence of the storm's devastation lingers. About 1,500 people in Louisiana are still living in temporary housing, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, although that is down from a high of more than 90,000.
And the Army Corps of Engineers is only a third of the way through a $15 billion system to provide 100-year flood protection for the city.
However, the agency says 76 disputed projects in Louisiana have been resolved since Obama took office, and more than $1.4 billion in aid has been sent to Louisiana, along with more than $160 million to Mississippi. And it says that more than 89,000 Louisiana households and 45,044 Mississippi households displaced by Katrina -- and by Hurricane Rita, which hit a month later -- have found longer-term housing solutions.
The emergency agency also says more than $1 billion from the stimulus program has been targeted for New Orleans.
The Obama administration's efforts have been praised. In August, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, "there is a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done."
Still, the length and nature of Obama's visit Thursday drew some ire. The president was to spend less than four hours in New Orleans and will not visit other areas of the Gulf Coast affected by Katrina, such as the Mississippi coast.
"The people of New Orleans deserve more than a 'drive-through daiquiri' summit with the president," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, said in a news conference Monday.
And Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, wrote in a letter to Obama that "if the town hall is the only major event of the visit, I truly think it will be deeply disappointing to most citizens."
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The White House said that Obama has been to New Orleans five times since Katrina, and that since Obama took office, there have been 35 trips to the Gulf Coast by more than 20 senior administration officials.
"The president made a promise to come to New Orleans and wanted to fulfill that promise as soon as his schedule allowed," White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said.
US banks' profits beat forecasts
Two major Wall Street banks have reported better-than-expected profits between July and September.
Goldman Sachs' profits for the period were $3.19bn (£1.96bn), a four-fold increase from the same period in 2008.
It has set aside $5.35bn to cover pay and bonuses for the quarter, an average payout of $172,581 per worker.
Citigroup's profits also grew, but the much lower figure of $101m reflected the impact of the recession on its High Street banking operation.
ANALYSIS
By Michelle Fleury, BBC business reporter, New York
Goldman Sachs is the firm everyone loves to hate. There is a lot of anger towards the firm that took government money during the financial crisis and is now making so much cash.
Capturing the mood, a Rolling Stone magazine article published in June described Goldman as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity".
The news that the bank has more set aside for pay and bonuses in nine months than in the whole of last year will only fuel that anger. The compensation pot is on track to hit $23bn.
With bonuses overshadowing performance, the challenge for Goldman is fixing its image.
It is highly exposed to consumer loans and has more bad debts than Goldman, which concentrates more on investment banking; trading and helping companies to merge with each other.
In the same period a year earlier, Citigroup had made a loss of $2.82bn. But its latest profit figure was significantly lower than the previous quarter, when it made $4.82bn.
Citigroup is currently 34%-owned by the US government and has written off more than $100bn of assets since the start of the credit crisis.
Shares in both banks fell because while the results were better than had been expected, they were still not as impressive as JP Morgan Chase the day before, which had sent the Dow Jones above the 10,000 mark.
'Complex business'
Goldman Sachs said that there were signs of "improving conditions and evidence of stabilisation" in the world economy.
The United States economy is about to pose an interesting political problem
Mark Mardell
BBC North America editor
Read Mark's thoughts in full
The $5.35bn it set aside to cover pay and bonuses during the quarter brings the total for the first nine months of this year to $16.7bn.
"Goldman has always been the biggest bonus payer simply because its people make more money per person than anyone else," Ralph Silva from Tower Group told BBC News.
"The problem here is fundamental, it is a very complex business. There are very few people in the world who have the ability to do this job so the reason they get paid so much is there is just not enough of them."
Trading boost
"Although the world continues to face serious economic challenges, we are seeing improving conditions and evidence of stabilisation, even growth, across a number of sectors," said chairman and chief executive Lloyd C Blankfein.
A Citibank branch - part of Citigroup
Citigroup reported another $8bn in credit losses
The bank paid back the emergency loan it had received from the government in July this year.
It has come through the financial crisis relatively well, having been less exposed to the mortgage-related debt that crippled many of its peers.
Its currency, commodity and bond trading fared particularly well in the third quarter.
But revenue from its mergers and acquisitions operations fell sharply from the previous quarter, reflecting the continuing lack of activity.
The was reflected in Goldman's overall profit figure, which at $3.19bn, was lower than the $3.44bn that Goldman made in the previous three months.
'Challenging' environment
The two sets of results followed figures from JP Morgan Chase on Wednesday, which were dramatically better than had been expected.
The second-biggest US bank made a net income of $3.6bn, compared with $527m in the same period of 2008.
Bank of America is due to report its results on Friday while Morgan Stanley results will be out on Wednesday 21 October.
Citigroup reported another $8bn in credit losses for the three-month period and the bank's boss warned conditions would remain difficult.
"While consumer credit trends are improving in international markets, the US consumer credit environment remains challenging," said chief executive Vikram Pandit.
Goldman Sachs' profits for the period were $3.19bn (£1.96bn), a four-fold increase from the same period in 2008.
It has set aside $5.35bn to cover pay and bonuses for the quarter, an average payout of $172,581 per worker.
Citigroup's profits also grew, but the much lower figure of $101m reflected the impact of the recession on its High Street banking operation.
ANALYSIS
By Michelle Fleury, BBC business reporter, New York
Goldman Sachs is the firm everyone loves to hate. There is a lot of anger towards the firm that took government money during the financial crisis and is now making so much cash.
Capturing the mood, a Rolling Stone magazine article published in June described Goldman as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity".
The news that the bank has more set aside for pay and bonuses in nine months than in the whole of last year will only fuel that anger. The compensation pot is on track to hit $23bn.
With bonuses overshadowing performance, the challenge for Goldman is fixing its image.
It is highly exposed to consumer loans and has more bad debts than Goldman, which concentrates more on investment banking; trading and helping companies to merge with each other.
In the same period a year earlier, Citigroup had made a loss of $2.82bn. But its latest profit figure was significantly lower than the previous quarter, when it made $4.82bn.
Citigroup is currently 34%-owned by the US government and has written off more than $100bn of assets since the start of the credit crisis.
Shares in both banks fell because while the results were better than had been expected, they were still not as impressive as JP Morgan Chase the day before, which had sent the Dow Jones above the 10,000 mark.
'Complex business'
Goldman Sachs said that there were signs of "improving conditions and evidence of stabilisation" in the world economy.
The United States economy is about to pose an interesting political problem
Mark Mardell
BBC North America editor
Read Mark's thoughts in full
The $5.35bn it set aside to cover pay and bonuses during the quarter brings the total for the first nine months of this year to $16.7bn.
"Goldman has always been the biggest bonus payer simply because its people make more money per person than anyone else," Ralph Silva from Tower Group told BBC News.
"The problem here is fundamental, it is a very complex business. There are very few people in the world who have the ability to do this job so the reason they get paid so much is there is just not enough of them."
Trading boost
"Although the world continues to face serious economic challenges, we are seeing improving conditions and evidence of stabilisation, even growth, across a number of sectors," said chairman and chief executive Lloyd C Blankfein.
A Citibank branch - part of Citigroup
Citigroup reported another $8bn in credit losses
The bank paid back the emergency loan it had received from the government in July this year.
It has come through the financial crisis relatively well, having been less exposed to the mortgage-related debt that crippled many of its peers.
Its currency, commodity and bond trading fared particularly well in the third quarter.
But revenue from its mergers and acquisitions operations fell sharply from the previous quarter, reflecting the continuing lack of activity.
The was reflected in Goldman's overall profit figure, which at $3.19bn, was lower than the $3.44bn that Goldman made in the previous three months.
'Challenging' environment
The two sets of results followed figures from JP Morgan Chase on Wednesday, which were dramatically better than had been expected.
The second-biggest US bank made a net income of $3.6bn, compared with $527m in the same period of 2008.
Bank of America is due to report its results on Friday while Morgan Stanley results will be out on Wednesday 21 October.
Citigroup reported another $8bn in credit losses for the three-month period and the bank's boss warned conditions would remain difficult.
"While consumer credit trends are improving in international markets, the US consumer credit environment remains challenging," said chief executive Vikram Pandit.
Hong Kong flat 'most expensive'
A wealthy Chinese buyer has snapped up a luxury Hong Kong apartment for $57m (£35m), thought to be a record price.
The five-bedroom home is believed to be Asia's most expensive property - with each sq foot costing $9,200.
The unidentified new owner bought the property in 39 Conduit Road, one of Hong Kong's most exclusive addresses.
The deal came as the territory's chief executive, Donald Tsang, said he was concerned about a possible property bubble emerging.
The apartment, about 6,000 sq feet (557 sq metres), was sold by Henderson Land Development.
It is on the 68th floor of the building and has views over the harbour. The owner has access to facilities including an aroma spa centre, a fitness room and an outdoor yoga gym.
Thomas Lam, from the company, said the building, offered "a chance to allow the elites in town to enjoy such prestigious property".
Another unit in the same building was sold for $51 million.
WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOMES
Fleur de Lys, Beverley Hills, US:
$125 million
Dunnellen Hall, Connecticut, US:
$125 million
Updown Court, Surrey, UK:
$110 million
Tranquility, Nevada, US:
$100 million
Eurasia, Moscow, Russia:
$100 million
Source: Forbes.com
In his annual policy address, Mr Tsang said the government was considering making more land available for development.
"The relatively small number of residential units completed and the record prices attained in certain transactions this year have caused concern about the supply of flats, difficulty in purchasing a home, and the possibility of a property bubble," he said.
Property prices in Hong Kong have benefited from mainland China's booming market, however it has one of the world's most expensive property markets - with many locals finding it difficult to buy.
Xavier Wong, head of China research at international property agency Knight Frank, told Bloomberg news: "Most luxury apartments are just like antiques and paintings.
"There's an asset bubble forming; at such a phase in the property market, anything can happen."
The five-bedroom home is believed to be Asia's most expensive property - with each sq foot costing $9,200.
The unidentified new owner bought the property in 39 Conduit Road, one of Hong Kong's most exclusive addresses.
The deal came as the territory's chief executive, Donald Tsang, said he was concerned about a possible property bubble emerging.
The apartment, about 6,000 sq feet (557 sq metres), was sold by Henderson Land Development.
It is on the 68th floor of the building and has views over the harbour. The owner has access to facilities including an aroma spa centre, a fitness room and an outdoor yoga gym.
Thomas Lam, from the company, said the building, offered "a chance to allow the elites in town to enjoy such prestigious property".
Another unit in the same building was sold for $51 million.
WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOMES
Fleur de Lys, Beverley Hills, US:
$125 million
Dunnellen Hall, Connecticut, US:
$125 million
Updown Court, Surrey, UK:
$110 million
Tranquility, Nevada, US:
$100 million
Eurasia, Moscow, Russia:
$100 million
Source: Forbes.com
In his annual policy address, Mr Tsang said the government was considering making more land available for development.
"The relatively small number of residential units completed and the record prices attained in certain transactions this year have caused concern about the supply of flats, difficulty in purchasing a home, and the possibility of a property bubble," he said.
Property prices in Hong Kong have benefited from mainland China's booming market, however it has one of the world's most expensive property markets - with many locals finding it difficult to buy.
Xavier Wong, head of China research at international property agency Knight Frank, told Bloomberg news: "Most luxury apartments are just like antiques and paintings.
"There's an asset bubble forming; at such a phase in the property market, anything can happen."
Scientists hope work with poison gas can be a lifesaver
SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- A wiry, slightly hunched man presses in a few numbers, the electronic lock gives way with a beep and the group presses into the crowded laboratory, plastered with ominous warnings about toxins and biohazards.
Breathing a small amount of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas put this mouse into a state that looked much like death.
Breathing a small amount of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas put this mouse into a state that looked much like death.
Click to view previous image
1 of 3
Click to view next image
Guiding the visitors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is Mark Roth, a 50-year-old biologist with a tall forehead, thinning red hair and a perpetual wry smile. He asks his assistant, Jennifer Blackwood, if the rat is ready. It is. She turns a dial, and the sealed enclosure starts to fill with poison gas -- hydrogen sulfide. An ounce could kill dozens of people.
The rat sniffs the air a few times, and within a minute, his naturally twitchy movements are almost still. On a monitor that shows his rate of breathing, the lines look like a steep mountain slope, going down.
At first glance, that looks bad. We need oxygen to live. If you don't get it for several minutes -- for example, if you suffer cardiac arrest or a bad gunshot wound -- you die. But something else is going on inside this rat. He isn't dead, isn't dying. The reason why, some people think, is the future of emergency medicine.
You see, Roth thinks he's figured out the puzzle. "While it's true we need oxygen to live, it's also a toxin," he explains. Scientists are starting to understand that death isn't caused by oxygen deprivation itself, but by a chain of damaging chemical reactions that are triggered by sharply dropping oxygen levels.
The thing is, those reactions require the presence of some oxygen. Hydrogen sulfide takes the place of oxygen, preventing those reactions from taking place. No chain reaction, no cell death. The patient lives. Video Watch more on how a scientist suspends animation »
'Cheating Death'
Hear about the medical miracles that are saving lives in the face of death, taken from Dr. Sanjay Gupta's new book "Cheating Death." 8 and 11 p.m. ET Saturday-Sunday on CNN.
see full schedule »
Roth's work was inspired in part by personal tragedy. In 1995, his world was turned upside down when his new daughter, Hannah, died after a year of painful medical problems. After that, he decided to go for broke -- to try to tackle something big. "It focuses the mind, when certain things happen to people, and it certainly focused mine." Read more about ways to cheat death
After that, and after his conceptual breakthrough, Roth was ready to experiment. First up: developing fish embryos. He found a way to drain the oxygen from their cells, and they wouldn't die -- they'd just stop growing. When he put the oxygen back, they'd pick up where they left off. If he suspended them for a day, they took a day longer to develop. No more, no less. Nothing else was different.
Next up were fruit flies. This time, he gassed them. They seemed to die; they stopped moving. Then he returned them to fresh air, and the flies came back to life. New CPR beat back death for a young mom
The air we breathe is 21 percent oxygen. At 5 percent, those fish and flies -- like us -- would be dead in a few minutes. At 0.1 percent, it was another story. "You get a state of suspended animation and the creatures do not pass away, and that's the basis of what we see as an alternative way to think about critical care medicine," Roth says. "What you want to do is to have the patient's time slowed down, while everyone around them [like doctors] move at what we would call real time."
If the patient's time -- the process of your death -- were slowed down, doctors would have more time to fix you. In medicine, time is key. An analogy is the history of open heart surgery. For years, surgeons had the technical tools to make simple repairs on the heart, but they couldn't help patients until the development of the heart-lung machine made it possible to preserve the body for more than a few minutes without a heartbeat. Video Get an easy CPR lesson from an expert »
Don't Miss
* All about Cheating Death
* Cheating Death: From an icy slope, a medical miracle
* Parade magazine: New ways to survive cardiac arrest
In rolled-up sleeves and blue Converse sneakers, Roth doesn't look the Army type, but by 2001, he had caught the attention of the U.S. military, through the lens of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA was looking for a way to protect soldiers on the battlefield from death by catastrophic blood loss.
With more than a quarter-million dollars of DARPA money, Roth tried hydrogen sulfide on mice, and it worked. It wasn't quite the same experiment -- he didn't give the mice enough gas to shut down their metabolism entirely, or to kill them, but enough to drop their breathing rate to less than 10 percent of normal. When he reversed the process six hours later, the mice were fine.
That success landed Roth in the pages of Ripley's Believe it or Not, got him a MacArthur Genius Grant and helped him win more than $600 million worth of venture capital funding for Ikaria, the company he co-founded.
But after that, the ride hit a bump. It's been harder than expected to get large animals, like swine, into anything close to suspended animation. Ikaria had to develop an injectable form; the current drug in development is based on sodium sulfide, which dissolves to become hydrogen sulfide in the blood. Trials to test its safety in humans are under way in Canada and Australia. Tweet about your own medical miracle, and you could win a copy of "Cheating Death"
"[Using hydrogen sulfide] is so simple, it's genius," says David Lefer, a researcher and cardiothoracic surgeon at Emory University, who is now experimenting with hydrogen sulfide in his own lab. "But the failures with larger animals have been a big disappointment. To make this effective for humans may take a combination of sodium sulfide and additional agents. We're just not sure what form it will take."
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Health A-Z
Animal trials that test sodium sulfide have produced some striking results. Lefer found that it protects mice's hearts during simulated heart attacks. He gave each mouse a dose so small that it was gone from the body 15 minutes later. A full day later, he would induce a heart attack. Subsequent examination found that in the mice that were given sodium sulfide, cells suffered 72 percent less damage than in unprotected mice.
Other researchers are exploring different approaches to tweak metabolism in a critical care setting. A group in Minnesota is developing a drug based on chemicals found in hibernating squirrels. Dr. Philip Bickler, an anesthesiologist at the University of San Francisco Hospital, is also studying animals, including whales and dolphins -- mammals like us, except that they can hold their breath for two hours underwater even during vigorous activity. Bickler says, "There's a lot of potential there. It hasn't been studied in extreme detail, but there may be new ways to protect human tissue from injury. Video Watch how a 22-year-old cheated death »
The white rat on display in Roth's lab isn't being suspended -- by his description, it's more like a slow-forward button, or a dimmer switch on a light. About 50 minutes after giving the animal a dose of hydrogen sulfide, Roth tells Blackwood to turn off the gas. Normal air flows back into the glass case. The zigzag lines on the monitors shoot upward. In a few minutes, the rat is scurrying around as if nothing had happened.
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Roth says he'd be happy to simply develop a drug that can be used in a conventional medical setting. But with a hint of mischief, he admits he doesn't really know how far this could go. Would it work on people? "There are almost certainly reasons it would not, but I don't know what they are yet," he said.
In the meantime, he's having fun trying to change the way we look at life itself. "With those fish, I turn off the heartbeat so they are clinically dead. But I can bring them back. So they must not have been dead, after all."
Breathing a small amount of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas put this mouse into a state that looked much like death.
Breathing a small amount of toxic hydrogen sulfide gas put this mouse into a state that looked much like death.
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1 of 3
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Guiding the visitors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is Mark Roth, a 50-year-old biologist with a tall forehead, thinning red hair and a perpetual wry smile. He asks his assistant, Jennifer Blackwood, if the rat is ready. It is. She turns a dial, and the sealed enclosure starts to fill with poison gas -- hydrogen sulfide. An ounce could kill dozens of people.
The rat sniffs the air a few times, and within a minute, his naturally twitchy movements are almost still. On a monitor that shows his rate of breathing, the lines look like a steep mountain slope, going down.
At first glance, that looks bad. We need oxygen to live. If you don't get it for several minutes -- for example, if you suffer cardiac arrest or a bad gunshot wound -- you die. But something else is going on inside this rat. He isn't dead, isn't dying. The reason why, some people think, is the future of emergency medicine.
You see, Roth thinks he's figured out the puzzle. "While it's true we need oxygen to live, it's also a toxin," he explains. Scientists are starting to understand that death isn't caused by oxygen deprivation itself, but by a chain of damaging chemical reactions that are triggered by sharply dropping oxygen levels.
The thing is, those reactions require the presence of some oxygen. Hydrogen sulfide takes the place of oxygen, preventing those reactions from taking place. No chain reaction, no cell death. The patient lives. Video Watch more on how a scientist suspends animation »
'Cheating Death'
Hear about the medical miracles that are saving lives in the face of death, taken from Dr. Sanjay Gupta's new book "Cheating Death." 8 and 11 p.m. ET Saturday-Sunday on CNN.
see full schedule »
Roth's work was inspired in part by personal tragedy. In 1995, his world was turned upside down when his new daughter, Hannah, died after a year of painful medical problems. After that, he decided to go for broke -- to try to tackle something big. "It focuses the mind, when certain things happen to people, and it certainly focused mine." Read more about ways to cheat death
After that, and after his conceptual breakthrough, Roth was ready to experiment. First up: developing fish embryos. He found a way to drain the oxygen from their cells, and they wouldn't die -- they'd just stop growing. When he put the oxygen back, they'd pick up where they left off. If he suspended them for a day, they took a day longer to develop. No more, no less. Nothing else was different.
Next up were fruit flies. This time, he gassed them. They seemed to die; they stopped moving. Then he returned them to fresh air, and the flies came back to life. New CPR beat back death for a young mom
The air we breathe is 21 percent oxygen. At 5 percent, those fish and flies -- like us -- would be dead in a few minutes. At 0.1 percent, it was another story. "You get a state of suspended animation and the creatures do not pass away, and that's the basis of what we see as an alternative way to think about critical care medicine," Roth says. "What you want to do is to have the patient's time slowed down, while everyone around them [like doctors] move at what we would call real time."
If the patient's time -- the process of your death -- were slowed down, doctors would have more time to fix you. In medicine, time is key. An analogy is the history of open heart surgery. For years, surgeons had the technical tools to make simple repairs on the heart, but they couldn't help patients until the development of the heart-lung machine made it possible to preserve the body for more than a few minutes without a heartbeat. Video Get an easy CPR lesson from an expert »
Don't Miss
* All about Cheating Death
* Cheating Death: From an icy slope, a medical miracle
* Parade magazine: New ways to survive cardiac arrest
In rolled-up sleeves and blue Converse sneakers, Roth doesn't look the Army type, but by 2001, he had caught the attention of the U.S. military, through the lens of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA was looking for a way to protect soldiers on the battlefield from death by catastrophic blood loss.
With more than a quarter-million dollars of DARPA money, Roth tried hydrogen sulfide on mice, and it worked. It wasn't quite the same experiment -- he didn't give the mice enough gas to shut down their metabolism entirely, or to kill them, but enough to drop their breathing rate to less than 10 percent of normal. When he reversed the process six hours later, the mice were fine.
That success landed Roth in the pages of Ripley's Believe it or Not, got him a MacArthur Genius Grant and helped him win more than $600 million worth of venture capital funding for Ikaria, the company he co-founded.
But after that, the ride hit a bump. It's been harder than expected to get large animals, like swine, into anything close to suspended animation. Ikaria had to develop an injectable form; the current drug in development is based on sodium sulfide, which dissolves to become hydrogen sulfide in the blood. Trials to test its safety in humans are under way in Canada and Australia. Tweet about your own medical miracle, and you could win a copy of "Cheating Death"
"[Using hydrogen sulfide] is so simple, it's genius," says David Lefer, a researcher and cardiothoracic surgeon at Emory University, who is now experimenting with hydrogen sulfide in his own lab. "But the failures with larger animals have been a big disappointment. To make this effective for humans may take a combination of sodium sulfide and additional agents. We're just not sure what form it will take."
Health Library
* MayoClinic.com: Health A-Z
Animal trials that test sodium sulfide have produced some striking results. Lefer found that it protects mice's hearts during simulated heart attacks. He gave each mouse a dose so small that it was gone from the body 15 minutes later. A full day later, he would induce a heart attack. Subsequent examination found that in the mice that were given sodium sulfide, cells suffered 72 percent less damage than in unprotected mice.
Other researchers are exploring different approaches to tweak metabolism in a critical care setting. A group in Minnesota is developing a drug based on chemicals found in hibernating squirrels. Dr. Philip Bickler, an anesthesiologist at the University of San Francisco Hospital, is also studying animals, including whales and dolphins -- mammals like us, except that they can hold their breath for two hours underwater even during vigorous activity. Bickler says, "There's a lot of potential there. It hasn't been studied in extreme detail, but there may be new ways to protect human tissue from injury. Video Watch how a 22-year-old cheated death »
The white rat on display in Roth's lab isn't being suspended -- by his description, it's more like a slow-forward button, or a dimmer switch on a light. About 50 minutes after giving the animal a dose of hydrogen sulfide, Roth tells Blackwood to turn off the gas. Normal air flows back into the glass case. The zigzag lines on the monitors shoot upward. In a few minutes, the rat is scurrying around as if nothing had happened.
advertisement
Roth says he'd be happy to simply develop a drug that can be used in a conventional medical setting. But with a hint of mischief, he admits he doesn't really know how far this could go. Would it work on people? "There are almost certainly reasons it would not, but I don't know what they are yet," he said.
In the meantime, he's having fun trying to change the way we look at life itself. "With those fish, I turn off the heartbeat so they are clinically dead. But I can bring them back. So they must not have been dead, after all."
Google sees record $1.6bn profit
Google has reported its highest quarterly profit, suggesting that the internet advertising market is bouncing back from the recession.
Google reported net profit of $1.64bn (£1bn) for the third quarter, a 27% increase on the same period a year ago.
Revenue for the three-month period came in at $4.38bn, which was well ahead of analysts' expectations of $1.29bn.
"The worst of the recession is clearly behind us," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.
"Because of what we have seen, we now have the confidence to be optimistic about our future."
Google's shares rose $16.44, or 3.1%, to $546.35 in extended trading.
The internet search engine has weathered the recession better than other advertising-dependent companies, and it was widely expected to be one of the first beneficiaries of an economic recovery.
"Google has no competition. Yahoo is withering on the vine and [Microsoft's] Bing is too tiny now," said Coin Gillis, senior analyst at Brigantine Advisors.
"They did great on every single metric. We think this is sustainable."
Google reported net profit of $1.64bn (£1bn) for the third quarter, a 27% increase on the same period a year ago.
Revenue for the three-month period came in at $4.38bn, which was well ahead of analysts' expectations of $1.29bn.
"The worst of the recession is clearly behind us," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.
"Because of what we have seen, we now have the confidence to be optimistic about our future."
Google's shares rose $16.44, or 3.1%, to $546.35 in extended trading.
The internet search engine has weathered the recession better than other advertising-dependent companies, and it was widely expected to be one of the first beneficiaries of an economic recovery.
"Google has no competition. Yahoo is withering on the vine and [Microsoft's] Bing is too tiny now," said Coin Gillis, senior analyst at Brigantine Advisors.
"They did great on every single metric. We think this is sustainable."
Tom Joyner gets justice for electrocuted kin, 94 years later
(CNN) -- Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner raised his hand in victory.
"I hope now they rest in peace," Tom Joyner said of his two great-uncles who were wrongfully executed.
"I hope now they rest in peace," Tom Joyner said of his two great-uncles who were wrongfully executed.
Nearly 100 years had passed since his great-uncles, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were wrongfully executed in South Carolina. On Wednesday, a board voted 7-0 to pardon both men, clearing their names in the 1913 killing of a veteran of the Confederate Army.
It marks the first time in history that South Carolina has issued a posthumous pardon in a capital murder case.
"It really, really feels good," Joyner told CNN's Don Lemon.
Joyner made the journey to Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, his sons, his brother and nieces and nephews. When the board announced its decision, they danced, hugged and kissed. "All of the above," he said. Video Joyner describes gleeful, historic moment »
In the end, it took only about 25 minutes for their pardon, nearly a century in the making.
"It's good for the community. It's good for the nation. Anytime that you can repair racism in this country is a step forward," Joyner said.
He said the ruling won't bring back his great-uncles, who were electrocuted in 1915. But it does provide closure to his family. "I hope now they rest in peace."
Many who were present were touched by the symbolism and significance of the moment.
"I felt like I was a witness to a historical event. It was pretty exciting around here," said Peter O'Boyle, the chief spokesman for the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
Don't Miss
* PBS: Tom Joyner learns of his past
Dwayne Green, an African-American member of the pardon board, said he admired Joyner for seeking the pardon. "He's not only done his family a service, but also the people of South Carolina."
"There's no statute of limitations on doing the right thing," Green said. "There's so much good that can come out of this public show of mercy."
The unanimous vote, he said, was heartwarming and satisfying. "It's a great opportunity to show how much South Carolina has changed," he said. "While change comes slow, outcomes like this are a positive sign."
Joyner, the host of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," had known nothing of his great-uncles' murder convictions until last year. That's when esteemed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. uncovered Joyner's past as part of the PBS documentary "African American Lives 2."
In the documentary, Joyner explains that he never knew why his grandmother left South Carolina. "All I know is she left home and she ended up in Florida and she didn't stay in touch with her people, either," Joyner says.
"Do you know why your grandmother moved away?" Gates says.
"No," Joyner says. "I have no idea."
Gates then shows him his great-uncles' death certificates. "Cause of death: Legal electrocution," it says.
"They electrocuted my --" an astonished Joyner says, unable to finish his sentence.
In that moment, Joyner began the journey that led him to Wednesday's pardon. Gates and legal historian Paul Finkelman aided in the research of his family history, and helped lobby South Carolina to pardon the two Griffin brothers.
It wasn't the first time a pardon had been sought for the men. According to their research, more than 150 citizens of Blackstock, South Carolina, asked the governor at the time for their sentences to be commuted. Many prominent whites in the community, including the mayor and former sheriff of Chester County, came to the defense of the Griffin brothers.
"I heard this case, and I don't think I could have given a verdict of guilty," one magistrate wrote.
The Griffin brothers had owned 130 acres in the area and were well-liked in the community. They were convicted of killing John Q. Lewis, a 73-year-old veteran of the Civil War. Lewis was slain in his home on April 24, 1913.
"Only the most profound sense of injustice would have led so many white leaders of the community and ordinary white citizens to publicly support blacks convicted of murdering a white man," Finkelman said in a letter to the board of paroles and pardons.
According to the research uncovered by Finkelman, Lewis, the former Confederate soldier, apparently had an intimate relationship with a married 22-year-old black woman, Anna Davis. Suspicion initially turned to her and her husband after the murder.
"It is plausible to believe that the sheriff did not want to pursue Mr. and Mrs. Davis because if they were tried, it would have led to a scandalous discussion in open court," Finkelman wrote to the pardon board on October 2, 2008.
The investigation later turned to another man, Monk Stevenson, who would ultimately point police to the Griffin brothers and two other black men. Stevenson received a life sentence in exchange.
"Stevenson later told a fellow inmate that he had implicated the Griffin brothers because he believed they were wealthy enough to pay for legal counsel, and as such would be acquitted," Finkelman said.
The Griffin brothers and the two other men, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were convicted in a trial that lasted four days. They were electrocuted on September 29, 1915.
Now, Joyner says he urges all African-Americans to explore their pasts -- no matter how difficult that journey may be.
"You can look at your ancestor struggles of the past and be encouraged. If they can go through what they went through, you can do much better," he said.
advertisement
His journey is continuing. He wants to know even more about his great-uncles -- what happened to their land, how they made the community better, what made them so well-liked by whites in segregated South Carolina.
"Until we can repair some of the deeds of the past, we can't really look forward," he said
"I hope now they rest in peace," Tom Joyner said of his two great-uncles who were wrongfully executed.
"I hope now they rest in peace," Tom Joyner said of his two great-uncles who were wrongfully executed.
Nearly 100 years had passed since his great-uncles, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were wrongfully executed in South Carolina. On Wednesday, a board voted 7-0 to pardon both men, clearing their names in the 1913 killing of a veteran of the Confederate Army.
It marks the first time in history that South Carolina has issued a posthumous pardon in a capital murder case.
"It really, really feels good," Joyner told CNN's Don Lemon.
Joyner made the journey to Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, his sons, his brother and nieces and nephews. When the board announced its decision, they danced, hugged and kissed. "All of the above," he said. Video Joyner describes gleeful, historic moment »
In the end, it took only about 25 minutes for their pardon, nearly a century in the making.
"It's good for the community. It's good for the nation. Anytime that you can repair racism in this country is a step forward," Joyner said.
He said the ruling won't bring back his great-uncles, who were electrocuted in 1915. But it does provide closure to his family. "I hope now they rest in peace."
Many who were present were touched by the symbolism and significance of the moment.
"I felt like I was a witness to a historical event. It was pretty exciting around here," said Peter O'Boyle, the chief spokesman for the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
Don't Miss
* PBS: Tom Joyner learns of his past
Dwayne Green, an African-American member of the pardon board, said he admired Joyner for seeking the pardon. "He's not only done his family a service, but also the people of South Carolina."
"There's no statute of limitations on doing the right thing," Green said. "There's so much good that can come out of this public show of mercy."
The unanimous vote, he said, was heartwarming and satisfying. "It's a great opportunity to show how much South Carolina has changed," he said. "While change comes slow, outcomes like this are a positive sign."
Joyner, the host of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," had known nothing of his great-uncles' murder convictions until last year. That's when esteemed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. uncovered Joyner's past as part of the PBS documentary "African American Lives 2."
In the documentary, Joyner explains that he never knew why his grandmother left South Carolina. "All I know is she left home and she ended up in Florida and she didn't stay in touch with her people, either," Joyner says.
"Do you know why your grandmother moved away?" Gates says.
"No," Joyner says. "I have no idea."
Gates then shows him his great-uncles' death certificates. "Cause of death: Legal electrocution," it says.
"They electrocuted my --" an astonished Joyner says, unable to finish his sentence.
In that moment, Joyner began the journey that led him to Wednesday's pardon. Gates and legal historian Paul Finkelman aided in the research of his family history, and helped lobby South Carolina to pardon the two Griffin brothers.
It wasn't the first time a pardon had been sought for the men. According to their research, more than 150 citizens of Blackstock, South Carolina, asked the governor at the time for their sentences to be commuted. Many prominent whites in the community, including the mayor and former sheriff of Chester County, came to the defense of the Griffin brothers.
"I heard this case, and I don't think I could have given a verdict of guilty," one magistrate wrote.
The Griffin brothers had owned 130 acres in the area and were well-liked in the community. They were convicted of killing John Q. Lewis, a 73-year-old veteran of the Civil War. Lewis was slain in his home on April 24, 1913.
"Only the most profound sense of injustice would have led so many white leaders of the community and ordinary white citizens to publicly support blacks convicted of murdering a white man," Finkelman said in a letter to the board of paroles and pardons.
According to the research uncovered by Finkelman, Lewis, the former Confederate soldier, apparently had an intimate relationship with a married 22-year-old black woman, Anna Davis. Suspicion initially turned to her and her husband after the murder.
"It is plausible to believe that the sheriff did not want to pursue Mr. and Mrs. Davis because if they were tried, it would have led to a scandalous discussion in open court," Finkelman wrote to the pardon board on October 2, 2008.
The investigation later turned to another man, Monk Stevenson, who would ultimately point police to the Griffin brothers and two other black men. Stevenson received a life sentence in exchange.
"Stevenson later told a fellow inmate that he had implicated the Griffin brothers because he believed they were wealthy enough to pay for legal counsel, and as such would be acquitted," Finkelman said.
The Griffin brothers and the two other men, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were convicted in a trial that lasted four days. They were electrocuted on September 29, 1915.
Now, Joyner says he urges all African-Americans to explore their pasts -- no matter how difficult that journey may be.
"You can look at your ancestor struggles of the past and be encouraged. If they can go through what they went through, you can do much better," he said.
advertisement
His journey is continuing. He wants to know even more about his great-uncles -- what happened to their land, how they made the community better, what made them so well-liked by whites in segregated South Carolina.
"Until we can repair some of the deeds of the past, we can't really look forward," he said
Italy fury at 'Taliban pay' claim
Italy has angrily denied a UK newspaper report that it paid Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to keep the peace.
Italy's defence minister said his country was planning to sue the Times newspaper over the claims.
French forces took over the area unaware of the policy, leaving them unaware of the risks, the paper says. Ten soldiers were killed within weeks.
In France, opposition socialists demanded the defence minister should answer questions on the claims.
The Times' report, quoting Western military officials, says the policy was operated by Italian secret services in Afghanistan's Sarobi area, east of Kabul.
A lot of Nato countries with troops operating in the rural areas of Afghanistan pay the insurgents so not to be attacked
Anonymous Afghan commander to AFP agency
Warlords as well as Taliban commanders were paid, the paper says, with the amounts running to tens of thousands of dollars.
France took over control of the region in 2008, apparently believing it to be a low-risk area, the paper says, as only one Italian had died in the previous year.
But within a month of the French take-over, 10 soldiers were killed and 21 injured in a mountain ambush.
An unnamed Afghan army officer also told French news agency AFP that Italy had paid the Taliban to avoid casualties.
"We knew that Italian forces were paying the opposition (fighters) in Sarobi so they would not be attacked. We have information on similar agreements made in the western Herat province by Italian soldiers under Nato command there," he said.
"A lot of Nato countries with troops operating in the rural areas of Afghanistan pay the insurgents so not to be attacked."
'Garbage'
But Italy, France and Nato dismissed the claims.
"These are rumours, and it is not the first time we have heard them," said French Admiral Christophe Prazuck.
If it does go on, it's the Afghan government (that does it) rather than international forces
Nato spokesman General Eric Tremblay
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office also rejected the report.
"The Berlusconi government has never authorised or allowed any form of payment of sums of money in favour of members of the insurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, and is not aware of similar initiatives by the previous government," it said in a statement.
Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa described the report as "garbage" and "offensive" and said staff were preparing a lawsuit against the newspaper.
Map
Nato spokesman General Eric Tremblay said he was "not aware" of Italy having paid off Taliban militants.
"If it does go on, it's the Afghan government (that does it) rather than international forces," he told French news agency AFP.
France's Socialist Party opposition said Defence Minister Herve Morin should appear before parliament's defence committee to provide an explanation.
Italy also denied a separate element of the Times' report, which said the US ambassador had submitted a formal complaint after discovering Italians had been buying off insurgents in the far-west Herat province.
A US spokeswoman in Rome said the embassy did not comment "on internal diplomatic conversations that may or may not have occurred".
Italy's defence minister said his country was planning to sue the Times newspaper over the claims.
French forces took over the area unaware of the policy, leaving them unaware of the risks, the paper says. Ten soldiers were killed within weeks.
In France, opposition socialists demanded the defence minister should answer questions on the claims.
The Times' report, quoting Western military officials, says the policy was operated by Italian secret services in Afghanistan's Sarobi area, east of Kabul.
A lot of Nato countries with troops operating in the rural areas of Afghanistan pay the insurgents so not to be attacked
Anonymous Afghan commander to AFP agency
Warlords as well as Taliban commanders were paid, the paper says, with the amounts running to tens of thousands of dollars.
France took over control of the region in 2008, apparently believing it to be a low-risk area, the paper says, as only one Italian had died in the previous year.
But within a month of the French take-over, 10 soldiers were killed and 21 injured in a mountain ambush.
An unnamed Afghan army officer also told French news agency AFP that Italy had paid the Taliban to avoid casualties.
"We knew that Italian forces were paying the opposition (fighters) in Sarobi so they would not be attacked. We have information on similar agreements made in the western Herat province by Italian soldiers under Nato command there," he said.
"A lot of Nato countries with troops operating in the rural areas of Afghanistan pay the insurgents so not to be attacked."
'Garbage'
But Italy, France and Nato dismissed the claims.
"These are rumours, and it is not the first time we have heard them," said French Admiral Christophe Prazuck.
If it does go on, it's the Afghan government (that does it) rather than international forces
Nato spokesman General Eric Tremblay
In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office also rejected the report.
"The Berlusconi government has never authorised or allowed any form of payment of sums of money in favour of members of the insurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, and is not aware of similar initiatives by the previous government," it said in a statement.
Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa described the report as "garbage" and "offensive" and said staff were preparing a lawsuit against the newspaper.
Map
Nato spokesman General Eric Tremblay said he was "not aware" of Italy having paid off Taliban militants.
"If it does go on, it's the Afghan government (that does it) rather than international forces," he told French news agency AFP.
France's Socialist Party opposition said Defence Minister Herve Morin should appear before parliament's defence committee to provide an explanation.
Italy also denied a separate element of the Times' report, which said the US ambassador had submitted a formal complaint after discovering Italians had been buying off insurgents in the far-west Herat province.
A US spokeswoman in Rome said the embassy did not comment "on internal diplomatic conversations that may or may not have occurred".
Man charged with attempted capital murder in 1990 abduction
(CNN) -- A man arrested in connection with the 1990 abduction, rape and attempted murder of an 8-year-old girl appeared before a judge Thursday on an attempted capital murder charge, according to CNN affiliate KTRK.
Dennis Earl Bradford, a 40-year-old welder, was arrested after DNA tied him to the crime, police say.
Dennis Earl Bradford, a 40-year-old welder, was arrested after DNA tied him to the crime, police say.
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Dennis Earl Bradford waived his right to a court-appointed attorney when he appeared Thursday, saying he would retain his own. For security reasons, the hearing was held at the Galveston (Texas) County Jail and not in a courtroom, the station reported.
The judge ordered Bradford to undergo a physical and mental evaluation and set bail at $1 million. His next court appearance was set for Wednesday, according to KTRK.
Upon conviction, an attempted capital murder charge could result in a sentence of life in prison.
Bradford, a 40-year-old welder, was arrested early Tuesday in Little Rock, Arkansas, in connection with the 1990 incident involving Jennifer Schuett, who was abducted from her bedroom, raped and left for dead in Dickinson, Texas.
Schuett shared her story with CNN two weeks ago in hope of someday bringing her attacker to justice. CNN normally does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Schuett decided to go public with her story to increase the chances of finding and prosecuting her attacker.
"It's not about me anymore," she told CNN in September. "It's about all the little girls that go to sleep at night. I know there are so many girls out there who have been raped and hurt. You have to fight back."
Bradford's arrest came after DNA and other forensic tests led police to him, authorities said.
"This is a huge day for me," Schuett told CNN on Tuesday. "And I want to see this through the end. The rest will come out during the trial."
Schuett said she was alone in her bed August 10, 1990, when a man crept in through a window. She remembers waking up in a stranger's arms as he carried her across a dark parking lot. She said he told her he was an undercover cop and knew her family.
He drove her through the streets of Dickinson, pulling into a mechanic's shop next to her elementary school.
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* Suspect's DNA was clue waiting to be found
* Attacker slashed her throat but couldn't silence her
* A victim raises her voice
"Watch the moon. The moon will change colors, and that is when your mom will come to get you," she recalled him saying. "Oh, it looks like she is not coming."
Schuett said he drove her to an overgrown field next to the school and sexually assaulted her.
She passed out. When she regained consciousness, she was lying naked on top of an ant hill with her throat slashed from ear to ear and her voice box torn.
She was found at 6 p.m. on a hot August day after lying in the field for nearly 12 hours. She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
"Three days after the attack, I started giving a description. The doctors told me I would never be able to talk again, but I proved them all wrong," Schuett said.
She believes that she got her voice back so she could tell her story.
Houston FBI Special Agent Richard Rennison is one of the lead investigators in the case, along with Dickinson Police Detective Tim Cromie.
Both men were discussing the case when Rennison received a memo from the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team, seeking child abduction cases that had gone cold and could be retested for DNA evidence. Schuett's was one of the cases selected.
"This is the only one that I can think of that the victim has suffered some traumatic injuries and survived," Rennison said. "The main reason the CARD team picked this case was because she was alive. In cases of child abduction, it is rare that the child is recovered alive. Frequently, you recover a body. And most times, you never find them."
The investigators found evidence collected 19 years ago, which was retested. It included the underwear and pajamas Schuett was wearing, as well as a man's underwear and T-shirt, which were found in the field where Schuett was found.
The clothes were tested in 1990, but the sample wasn't large enough for conclusive results. But now, modern techniques allow DNA to be isolated from a single human cell. They were still awaiting the results when CNN featured Schuett's story in late September
Dennis Earl Bradford, a 40-year-old welder, was arrested after DNA tied him to the crime, police say.
Dennis Earl Bradford, a 40-year-old welder, was arrested after DNA tied him to the crime, police say.
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Dennis Earl Bradford waived his right to a court-appointed attorney when he appeared Thursday, saying he would retain his own. For security reasons, the hearing was held at the Galveston (Texas) County Jail and not in a courtroom, the station reported.
The judge ordered Bradford to undergo a physical and mental evaluation and set bail at $1 million. His next court appearance was set for Wednesday, according to KTRK.
Upon conviction, an attempted capital murder charge could result in a sentence of life in prison.
Bradford, a 40-year-old welder, was arrested early Tuesday in Little Rock, Arkansas, in connection with the 1990 incident involving Jennifer Schuett, who was abducted from her bedroom, raped and left for dead in Dickinson, Texas.
Schuett shared her story with CNN two weeks ago in hope of someday bringing her attacker to justice. CNN normally does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Schuett decided to go public with her story to increase the chances of finding and prosecuting her attacker.
"It's not about me anymore," she told CNN in September. "It's about all the little girls that go to sleep at night. I know there are so many girls out there who have been raped and hurt. You have to fight back."
Bradford's arrest came after DNA and other forensic tests led police to him, authorities said.
"This is a huge day for me," Schuett told CNN on Tuesday. "And I want to see this through the end. The rest will come out during the trial."
Schuett said she was alone in her bed August 10, 1990, when a man crept in through a window. She remembers waking up in a stranger's arms as he carried her across a dark parking lot. She said he told her he was an undercover cop and knew her family.
He drove her through the streets of Dickinson, pulling into a mechanic's shop next to her elementary school.
Don't Miss
* Suspect's DNA was clue waiting to be found
* Attacker slashed her throat but couldn't silence her
* A victim raises her voice
"Watch the moon. The moon will change colors, and that is when your mom will come to get you," she recalled him saying. "Oh, it looks like she is not coming."
Schuett said he drove her to an overgrown field next to the school and sexually assaulted her.
She passed out. When she regained consciousness, she was lying naked on top of an ant hill with her throat slashed from ear to ear and her voice box torn.
She was found at 6 p.m. on a hot August day after lying in the field for nearly 12 hours. She was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
"Three days after the attack, I started giving a description. The doctors told me I would never be able to talk again, but I proved them all wrong," Schuett said.
She believes that she got her voice back so she could tell her story.
Houston FBI Special Agent Richard Rennison is one of the lead investigators in the case, along with Dickinson Police Detective Tim Cromie.
Both men were discussing the case when Rennison received a memo from the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team, seeking child abduction cases that had gone cold and could be retested for DNA evidence. Schuett's was one of the cases selected.
"This is the only one that I can think of that the victim has suffered some traumatic injuries and survived," Rennison said. "The main reason the CARD team picked this case was because she was alive. In cases of child abduction, it is rare that the child is recovered alive. Frequently, you recover a body. And most times, you never find them."
The investigators found evidence collected 19 years ago, which was retested. It included the underwear and pajamas Schuett was wearing, as well as a man's underwear and T-shirt, which were found in the field where Schuett was found.
The clothes were tested in 1990, but the sample wasn't large enough for conclusive results. But now, modern techniques allow DNA to be isolated from a single human cell. They were still awaiting the results when CNN featured Schuett's story in late September
'Balloon boy' found alive at home
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TV news crews in the US tracked the balloon as it landed
A six-year-old boy thought to have been carried away by a helium balloon in Colorado was in fact hiding in a box in an attic at home, an official has said.
Larimer county sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters that apparently Falcon Heene had "been there the whole time".
Police had been searching for the boy after his brother said he thought Falcon had taken off with the balloon.
The drama was played out on TV, with US networks devoting their airtime to live footage of the balloon over Colorado.
'He yelled at me'
The balloon landed in fields and was surrounded by rescue vehicles after a two-hour flight.
Falcon Heene
Officials said Falcon Heene may have hid because he was scared
Police officers searched on the ground in the direction in which the balloon flew, as well as the neighbourhood where the family lives.
But Mr Alderden then announced that the boy had been found alive and well in a box in the attic of his family's house.
He said the house had been searched twice, but the search had obviously not been thorough enough. He also said that police had questioned the brother repeatedly.
"What he said was that he saw his brother climb into that apparatus and he was very adamant, they interviewed him multiple times and that was his consistent story," Mr Alderden said
"I can't tell you how many times this has happened over the course of my career," he added.
Sheriff Jim Alderden on the discovery of Falcon Heene at home
The boy's father, Richard Heene, apparently used the balloon to track the weather.
He said he got angry with Falcon for climbing into a compartment in the tethered balloon on Thursday before the balloon was accidentally released.
But in the meantime, Falcon had left the balloon.
"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."
Asked what he thought when the balloon had landed with no sign of his son, Richard Heene said: "The only thing I could think of was that he had fallen out."
"This is a relief, we're going to watch him a lot closer," he added.
The silver balloon, apparently made by the boy's father, reportedly reached heights of 7,000ft (2km).
It was floating about 40 miles north of Denver before it came down.
The basket was not attached to the balloon when it landed.
Flights at Denver international airport were disrupted by the incident.
The Heene family had previously appeared on the ABC reality show Wife Swap.
The channel described them as a "storm-chasing, science-obsessed family".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8309818.stm
TV news crews in the US tracked the balloon as it landed
A six-year-old boy thought to have been carried away by a helium balloon in Colorado was in fact hiding in a box in an attic at home, an official has said.
Larimer county sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters that apparently Falcon Heene had "been there the whole time".
Police had been searching for the boy after his brother said he thought Falcon had taken off with the balloon.
The drama was played out on TV, with US networks devoting their airtime to live footage of the balloon over Colorado.
'He yelled at me'
The balloon landed in fields and was surrounded by rescue vehicles after a two-hour flight.
Falcon Heene
Officials said Falcon Heene may have hid because he was scared
Police officers searched on the ground in the direction in which the balloon flew, as well as the neighbourhood where the family lives.
But Mr Alderden then announced that the boy had been found alive and well in a box in the attic of his family's house.
He said the house had been searched twice, but the search had obviously not been thorough enough. He also said that police had questioned the brother repeatedly.
"What he said was that he saw his brother climb into that apparatus and he was very adamant, they interviewed him multiple times and that was his consistent story," Mr Alderden said
"I can't tell you how many times this has happened over the course of my career," he added.
Sheriff Jim Alderden on the discovery of Falcon Heene at home
The boy's father, Richard Heene, apparently used the balloon to track the weather.
He said he got angry with Falcon for climbing into a compartment in the tethered balloon on Thursday before the balloon was accidentally released.
But in the meantime, Falcon had left the balloon.
"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."
Asked what he thought when the balloon had landed with no sign of his son, Richard Heene said: "The only thing I could think of was that he had fallen out."
"This is a relief, we're going to watch him a lot closer," he added.
The silver balloon, apparently made by the boy's father, reportedly reached heights of 7,000ft (2km).
It was floating about 40 miles north of Denver before it came down.
The basket was not attached to the balloon when it landed.
Flights at Denver international airport were disrupted by the incident.
The Heene family had previously appeared on the ABC reality show Wife Swap.
The channel described them as a "storm-chasing, science-obsessed family".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8309818.stm
Sweat lodge deaths investigated as homicides
(CNN) -- An investigation into the deaths of two people who spent up to two hours inside a "sweat lodge" at an Arizona retreat last week has been elevated from an accidental death investigation to a homicide inquiry, Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh told reporters Thursday.
Self-help author James Arthur Ray has hired investigators to investigate two deaths at an Arizona sweat lodge.Self-help author James Arthur Ray has hired investigators to investigate two deaths at an Arizona sweat lodge.
Authorities said James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, New York, died Friday at the Angel Valley Resort after spending up to two hours in the sauna-like sweat lodge. Nineteen others were treated for injuries. One person remained hospitalized Thursday in critical condition, Waugh said.
The dead and injured were attending a program by self-help author James Arthur Ray, authorities said.
A search warrant was executed Wednesday at the James Ray International offices in Carlsbad, California, the sheriff said. Authorities were attempting to determine whether documents exist on how to construct sweat lodges and on their proper use, as well as documents showing whether participants were advised of the risks of sweat lodges either before or during the program. They also were searching for rosters from past events, Waugh said.
Police would not say what, if anything, was found in executing the search warrant. Video Watch what goes on inside the 'sweat lodge' »
Asked why the deaths have been classified as homicides and the investigation upgraded, Waugh said, "We believe there are indications that it was not accidental, and ... we feel that there should be some culpability on some individuals."
Those individuals could include Ray and possibly others, he said.
Don't Miss
* Author hires investigators to review sweat lodge deaths
* 'Sweatbox' borrows from long tradition
* Victims were attending 'Spiritual Warrior' program
A spokesman for Ray said authorities should be focusing on the investigation rather than talking to reporters. "The Sheriff's Department is trying this case in the media," said Howard Bragman, noting that Thursday's news conference was the sheriff's second this week.
"There were no additional facts presented today; there were implications. I find words like 'homicide' -- when they don't have all the facts -- inflammatory and inappropriate at this time, and I think they're purposely inflammatory. ... Let's show as much zeal with the investigation and getting to the facts as they have in trying to tar my client," Bragman said.
The sweat lodge was meant to be a "spiritual awakening" exercise for the participants in the "Spiritual Warrior" program, Waugh said.
A sweat lodge is a dome-like structure covered with tarps and blankets. Hot rocks and water are used to create steam in the enclosed environment.
The owners of the resort built the sweat lodge, Waugh said, under Ray's direction. A nurse on Ray's staff was present during the event, police have said.
At least one of those who died was in the back of the structure, Waugh said. Ray was positioned near its door. There were no seats, he said; participants either sat or lay on the floor.
On Tuesday, Ray said he has hired his own investigators to determine what happened at his Arizona retreat, located in a secluded valley 20 minutes from Sedona. "I have no idea what happened. We'll figure it out," Ray said. "I've lost people I love and really care about."
Ray is the author of the best-selling book "Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want." Ray, described on his Web site as a "personal success strategist," has appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" and the "Oprah Winfrey Show," and is featured in the self-empowerment film "The Secret."
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The use of sweat lodges for spiritual and physical cleansing is a part of several Native American tribes' cultures.
A traditional Native American sweat lodge is a small dome-like structure made of willow branches carefully tied together and covered in canvas. Rocks are heated in a nearby fire pit and placed inside the lodge, and water is poured over them to create steam.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/arizona.sweat.lodge/index.html
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