WASHINGTON -- Hours after resigning amid allegations of sexually harassing staffers, former House member Eric Massa went on national TV Tuesday to deny sexual impropriety but acknowledged he had been overly familiar with his congressional aides.
"I own this misbehavior," he told Fox News commentator Glenn Beck. "I am at fault."
Two publications reported Tuesday that the allegations involved physical contact -- contradicting Massa's initial claims that the harassment was verbal. The Washington Post said Tuesday that the ethics panel was looking into charges that Massa groped male staffers; Politico said there were allegations of improper conduct with interns.
USA TODAY could not independently verify the reports.
"I did nothing sexual," the New York Democrat told Beck. Later, on CNN's Larry King Live, Massa said, "It is not true, period."
At the same time, Massa portrayed himself as a victim of Democratic leaders, who he said resented his opposition to some of President Obama's initiatives, such as health care and climate change legislation. "Everybody loves an independent member of Congress until you are one," Massa told Beck.
Politically, Massa's resignation cuts both ways for Democratic leaders. On one hand, it shows them acting more decisively to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against a member of their party than Republicans did in 2006 when then-congressman Mark Foley of Florida was accused of inappropriate behavior with congressional pages. Foley resigned amid a scandal that GOP leaders acknowledged they had been warned about months earlier. However, Massa's resignation also creates headaches for a party already facing a difficult outlook in this year's elections.
Massa, 50, became a Democratic hero in 2008 when he won a Republican district in Upstate New York. June O'Neill, head of the New York Democratic Party's executive committee, said it will be "an uphill battle" to hold onto Massa's district, which GOP presidential nominee John McCain won 51%-48% in 2008.
Since the Associated Press first reported last week that Massa was the subject of a House ethics investigation, the congressional freshman has given conflicting accounts for his abrupt departure. Last Wednesday, he cited a reoccurrence of cancer.
On Sunday, Massa told a radio station that House Democratic leaders got "rid of me because my vote is the deciding vote on the health care bill" -- but he told Beck, "Nobody forced me out."
On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., described Massa's charge that he was pushed out because of his political views as "absolutely, definitively false." Hoyer confirmed that aides to Massa approached his office a month ago about "a matter of concern to the staff." Hoyer described the allegations as "serious" and that his staff advised Massa's: "If you don't take action within 48 hours, we will."
Beck invited Massa to tell his story. By the time Massa went on the air, new details of the allegations surfaced, and Massa admitted his behavior was "wrong."
Massa, a married father of two adult children, told Beck that his chief of staff "had a conniption" because Massa was sharing a townhouse with male staffers. Massa also said that he engaged in sexual banter with male staffers at a New Year's Eve wedding where "everyone had too much to drink," and that he tickled a staffer "till he couldn't breathe."
On CNN, King asked Massa whether he is gay. "I'm not going to answer that," Massa said, saying the question insults gays. "Why would anyone even ask that question in this day and age?" (c) Copyright 2010 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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Plan to construct new homes mars Biden trip to Israel
Mar 10, 01:20 AM
By MARK WEISS
AS US vice president Joe Biden wrapped up a day of talks with Israeli leaders yesterday, it was revealed that 1,600 new homes would be built for Jews in east Jerusalem.
Clearly embarrassed by the timing of the announcement, the office of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu claimed to know nothing about the decision.
Interior ministry officials confirmed the homes would be constructed at the disputed Ramat Shlomo neighbourhood on land captured by Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, describing the timing as coincidental.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is expected to express Palestinian anger over the decision when he meets Mr Biden in Ramallah today.
Mr Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the construction was a "dangerous decision that jeopardises peace talks before they even got under way". Israel has implemented a 10-month ban on settlement building in the West Bank, but refused Palestinian demands to extend the moratorium to predominantly-Arab east Jerusalem.
This latest announcement followed the Israeli decision on Monday, just hours before the arrival of Mr Biden in the country, to construct 112 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit in what was termed by officials in Jerusalem as a "permissible exception" to the construction ban.
Mr Biden yesterday welcomed the decision by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to engage in indirect "proximity" talks , with US envoy George Mitchell mediating between the sides.
After talks with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Biden said there was now a "moment of real opportunity" for peace. He expressed hope the proximity talks would develop into direct bilateral negotiations resulting in the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Mr Biden reiterated Washington's "absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel's security". He promised the US "will always stand with those who take risks for peace" and added that Mr Netanyahu was willing to do that, and he hoped and expected the Palestinians would be prepared to do so too. Mr Netanyahu said Israel's security priorities were ensuring that Iran did not build nuclear weapons and establishing peace with the Palestinians.
According to Israeli political sources, Mr Biden made it clear Washington did not want Israel to risk military action against Iran while the US was still seeking international support for stepped-up sanctions against Teheran.
Mr Netanyahu gave the vice president a certificate for trees planted in memory of his mother who died in January, aged 92.
"My love for your country was watered by this Irish lady, who was proudest of me when I was working with and for the security of Israel," Mr Biden replied.
Israel has agreed to allow EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to cross into Gaza during her visit to Israel later this month. Until now, Israel had prevented foreign diplomats from crossing the border as part of its blockade against the Hamas- controlled territory.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin travelled to Gaza via Egypt during his visit last week.
Originally published by MARK WEISS in Jerusalem.
(c) 2010 Irish Times. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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Clippers sever ties with GM Dunleavy
Mar 10, 12:15 AM
Orlando, FL (Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Clippers announced they have severed ties with general manager Mike Dunleavy, just over a month after he resigned as head coach.
At the time of the February 4 announcement, the Clippers disclosed Dunleavy would remain in the front office, focusing exclusively on the team's personnel matters. That came to a conclusion Tuesday night.
"The organization has determined that the goal of building a winning team is best served by making this decision at this time," the Clippers said in a statement. "The team has simply not made sufficient progress during Dunleavy's seven-year tenure. The Clippers want to win now. This transition, in conjunction with a full commitment to dedicate unlimited resources, is designed to accomplish that objective."
The Clippers announced Neil Olshey, presently the assistant general manager, will assume the duties created by Dunleavy's departure. Olshey joined the Clippers as director of player development for the 2003-04 season. He was an assistant coach in 2004-05, and was promoted to director of player personnel from 2005-06 through 2007-08. He assumed the role of assistant GM prior to the start of the 2008-09 season.
The Clippers lost Tuesday night in Orlando and fell to 25-39 on the season. It appears the team will miss the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons.
03/09 23:59:36 ET
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Israel rebuffs Biden by announcing new settlement construction
Mar 09, 06:20 PM
JERUSALEM _ Hours after the arrival Tuesday of Vice President Joe Biden to help launch indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Israel announced the construction of 1,600 homes in a settlement block in mostly Arab East Jerusalem, an open rebuff that led Biden to issue a sharply worded condemnation.
"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House. "The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I've had here in Israel."
The announcement by the Israeli Interior Ministry came during Biden's first day in the region, the highest profile visit by an Obama administration official. It appeared to catch the administration off guard.
President Barack Obama repeatedly had demanded a halt in settlement construction in order to revive the moribund peace negotiations.
Just hours before the announcement, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was "optimistic" that indirect talks would begin a process by which a final peace deal could be reached.
"I am very pleased that you and the Palestinian leadership have agreed to launch indirect talks. We hope that these talks will lead, and they must lead eventually, to negotiations and direct discussions between the parties," Biden said.
He said his visit was meant to highlight the "unbreakable" bond between Israel and the U.S., especially on issues of security.
"Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there is simply no space between the United States and Israel. There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security," he said.
The Israeli decision to approve 1,600 new settler homes could torpedo the talks before they have even begun, officials from the Palestinian Authority said.
"This is a dangerous decision and will hinder the negotiations," said Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina. "We consider the decision to build in East Jerusalem to be a judgment that the American efforts have failed before the indirect negotiations have even begun."
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the move was destroying trust needed to proceed with the talks.
"With such an announcement, how can you build trust? This is destroying our efforts to work with Mr. Mitchell," Erekat said, referring to U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell. "It's a really disastrous situation. I hope that this will be an eye-opener for all in the international community about the need to have the Israeli government stop such futile exercises."
Israeli and Palestinian officials already had expressed doubt about the indirect talks, calling them a step backward after 17 years of direct negotiations between the parties.
Previous efforts at direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders have failed, however, because of Israel's refusal to meet a key Palestinian requirement: a freeze on all building in West Bank settlements, built on land earmarked for a future Palestinian state.
Officials in Israel's Interior Ministry added that the announcement meant nothing since the homes were being built in Ramat Shlomo, an East Jerusalem area that Israel doesn't consider part of its pledge last November to halt construction for 10 months in some settlements.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the timing of the announcement was a coincidence and had nothing to do with Biden's visit.
An Israeli official in Washington, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, said that Netanyahu had been surprised by the announcement by the Interior Ministry, which is run by the religious Shas party.
"The timing ... was not planned by the prime minister," the official said. "We're obviously not looking for any kind of disagreement with the United States."
A State Department official said that, as far as he knew, the U.S. government had had no forewarning of the announcement and was angered by the decision.
"We're not happy," said the official, who asked not to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak for the record. "The fact that the word 'condemn' was used (in the Biden statement) should say it all." The incident is unlikely to damage long-standing U.S.-Israeli relations, but its effect on the hoped-for peace talks remains to be seen, he said.
Over the weekend, Mitchell said in a statement that Israeli and Palestinian leaders would engage in "proximity" talks, indirect negotiations through U.S. mediators. Biden's visit was meant to bolster support for the talks, which would end a more than yearlong hiatus in negotiations.
Though Palestinians see Jerusalem as a future shared capital, Netanyahu has declared the city to be Israel's "undivided Jewish capital" and he has encouraged Jewish building projects throughout Jerusalem.
Palestinian officials said the settlements would be a top issue on their agenda Wednesday when Biden travels to Ramallah in the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
A Palestinian Authority official said that Israel's decision to announce the settlement building during Biden's visit was "suspicious" but followed a trend of similar announcements.
"Every time there is a high-profile visit by a U.S. official, Israel announces more settlements," he said. "One cannot help but conclude that Israel is sending a message here. They are telling America, 'Come talk, but we will do things our way. We will continue to build and we will do it in your face.'" The official asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak to the news media.
(Frenkel is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent. Warren P. Strobel contributed to this article from Washington.)
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Restaurant serves breast-milk cheese
Mar 09, 05:58 PM
A New York chef said public demand led him to allow diners at his restaurant to sample homemade cheese made from his wife's breast milk.
Klee Brasserie chef Daniel Angerer, who once beat famed cook Bobby Flay on TV's "Iron Chef," said his regular customers became curious after he started blogging about his accomplishments with human-produced cheese, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
"The phone was ringing off the hook," Angerer said. "So I prepared a little canape of breast-milk cheese with figs and Hungarian pepper."
Lori Mason, the chef's wife, said some customers are reluctant to sample the breast-milk cheese.
"I think a lot of the criticism has to do with the combination of sex and cheese, but ... the breast is there to make food," Mason said.
Others, she said, take their curiosity a bit too far past her comfort level.
"Some people who clearly have issues have ... e-mailed me saying, 'I wasn't breast-fed as a child, so can I taste your breast milk?'" she said.
A city Department of Health spokesman said local codes do not explicitly forbid distribution of cheese made from breast milk but the restaurant has been advised not to serve the substance.
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Pa. woman accused of aiding, recruiting terrorists
Mar 09, 05:40 PM
PHILADELPHIA _ A Philadelphia area woman who used the online nickname of "JihadJane" has been indicted for conspiring to provide support to Islamic terrorists with whom she allegedly plotted to kill a Swedish artist.
Prosecutors accused Colleen R. LaRose, 46, of offering to use her American looks and identity to help foreign terrorists. She was arrested last October but her incarceration was kept secret until Tuesday.
American and foreign government used the time to sweep up a terrorist network in Ireland, according to news media in that country. The Irish Times said seven men, most from other nations, were arrested as part of a plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist who drew controversial images of the Prophet Muhammad.
An American official told The Philadelphia Inquirer that LaRose's arrest was connected to the Irish investigation.
LaRose lived in a Pennsburg, Pa., apartment building, attached to a post office, when FBI agents started their investigation last fall.
She is accused of recruiting women online to travel to Europe "in support of violent jihad," the indictment says.
The court document quotes email messages in which LaRose, who also used the online name "Fatima LaRose," as telling a South Asian man that her appearance would allow her to "blend in with many people."
She later received a "direct order" to kill a citizen of Sweden, identified in the Irish Times as Lars Vilks. The Irish newspaper said he has been receiving police protection since 2007, when he was threatened after a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog was published in Sweden.
LaRose is accused of writing this e-mail: "i will make this my goal till i achieve it or die trying."
The indictment identifies the target as a Swedish artist.
Before her arrest, LaRose had traveled to Europe, the indictment says.
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(Staff writer John Shiffman contributed to this report.)
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Young, wife ordered jail over Edwards tape
Mar 09, 05:25 PM
A North Carolina judge ordered Andrew Young and his wife jailed for allegedly not turning over all copies of a sex tape made by John Edwards and his mistress.
Chatham County Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones held Young and his wife, Cheri, in contempt Tuesday and ordered them jailed up to 75 days, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.
Jones said they had lied about the number of copies of the tape and how many people have seen it.
"There were things told to the court, under oath, in affidavits, in testimony that turned out to be inaccurate," the judge said.
Claiming invasion of privacy, Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter, has sued for return of the tape, which allegedly shows her and the one-time presidential candidate having sex, as well as other documents and images.
Young and his wife have said they found the video in a house he rented for Hunter.
Young's lawyers say he had heeded the judge's orders to surrender all copies of the tape except one given to the FBI as part of an investigation into his campaign finances, ABC News reported.
The tape surfaced after the February release of Young's book, "The Politician," in which he wrote of hiding Edwards' affair.
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Pa. woman charged with terror conspiracy
Mar 09, 04:49 PM
A Philadelphia-area woman allegedly known as Jihad Jane was charged Tuesday with conspiring to recruit terrorists and women to provide support services.
Colleen R. LaRose faces a life sentence if she is convicted of the most serious charges, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia said. They include conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and to kill in a foreign country.
U.S. Attorney Michael Levy released little information about LaRose, saying only that she was born in 1963 and lives in Montgomery County in the Philadelphia suburbs. Levy said she was also known as Fatima LaRose and as Jihad Jane.
The indictment said LaRose conspired with five unindicted and unidentified men to use the Internet to find and recruit men willing to carry out terrorist acts in South Asia and Europe. They also allegedly sought women who had passports and would be able to to travel to help the fighters.
LaRose herself agreed to carry out a killing in Sweden, prosecutors said. Her alleged target was a Swedish citizen.
Investigators say she discussed how her appearance would make the job easier.
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House accepts Massa resignation amid probe
Mar 09, 03:58 PM
The U.S. House accepted Rep. Eric Massa's resignation Tuesday as fellow Democrats dismissed his claim he was forced out over opposition to a healthcare bill.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., denied as "absurd" and "absolutely untrue" Massa'a claim Democrats pushed him out because of his opposition to the House healthcare bill that passed by just two votes.
Massa, whom The Washington Post reported was under investigation for allegedly groping multiple male staffers in his office, made his claim during the weekend on a radio talk show he hosts.
"This administration and this House leadership has said, quote-unquote, they will stop at nothing to pass this healthcare bill," Massa said Sunday on WKPQ Radio, Hornell, N.Y., The Hill reported. "And now they've gotten rid of me and it will pass. You connect the dots."
The White House also dismissed Massa's claim, which spokesman Robert Gibbs called "silly and ridiculous" during an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Hoyer said he helped initiate the ethics investigation into Massa after one of the freshman New York Democrat's aides called his office. "The issues being raised sounded serious," Hoyer said, prompting him to insist Massa's staff go to the Ethics Committee.
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Halderman pleads guilty in Letterman case
Mar 09, 03:43 PM
Television news producer Robert "Joe" Halderman pleaded guilty in a New York court Tuesday to trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million.
Halderman, an Emmy Award-winning producer at CBS News, is accused of threatening to reveal the married talk-show host's sexual relationships with female staffers if Letterman didn't pay him $2 million.
Instead of paying him, Letterman turned him into the authorities and admitted his misdeeds on "Late Show with David Letterman."
ABC News said the plea deal Halderman agreed to Tuesday requires him to serve six months in prison and perform 1,000 hours of community service. He also will be on probation four and a half years.
Halderman initially pleaded innocent to charges of grand larceny and could have faced a 15-year prison sentence if convicted, ABC News said.