PR DEATH PENALTY CASE PUTS ISLAND AT ODDS WITH US
The last execution in Puerto Rico, a hanging, took place in 1927. Two years later, Puerto Rico's legislature — like those throughout much of Latin America — outlawed the death penalty. The 1952 Constitution, which defined Puerto Rico's status as a self-governing commonwealth associated with the United States, reiterated the unconditional ban on capital punishment.
(TalkLeft, unearthed by Paul Whitehurse)

ACLU MEMBERSHIP SOARING
Membership in the American Civil Liberties Union is soaring and its leaders attribute the growth to one of their chief opponents: Attorney General John Ashcroft.
See also, Ashcroft Wants Partiot Act Widened (ATLANTA JOURNAL, unearthed by Kate Varner)

THE BOYS WHO CRIED WOLFOWITZ
Allegations keep piling up that the Bush administration tried to scam the world into war by exaggerating evidence of the Iraqi threat. One critic has pronounced it "arguably the worst scandal in American political history." So you might reasonably ask a supporter of the war, How do you feel about that war now?
Thanks for asking.
(NYT)

THE HERESY THAT SAVED A SKEPTIC
"Belief was not an issue anymore," she said. "It offered a different version of faith. The other versions had become univocal. We read the Gospels as if they all say the same thing."
(NYT)

PROTESTS IN IRAN
What started as a small student march against the issue of university privatization on Tuesday has snowballed into violent nightly protests by demonstrators from across the social spectrum demanding more social, economic and political freedom.
See also, A Growing Fury in Iran(NYT)

CAN IRAQ BECOME A DEMOCRACY?
And, Will American Remain One?
Ironically, as America purports to attempt to spread liberal democracy abroad, it has for years - and most intensely, over the last two years, been threatening liberal democracy at home.
(FINDLAW)

KILLER BISCUITS
One customer who had been at the store for awhile became concerned and walked over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were now open, and she looked very strange. He asked her if she was okay, and Linda replied that she'd been shot in the back of the head, and had been holding here brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics, who broke into the car because the doors were locked and Linda refused to remove her hands from her head.
(Mayoff, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

CANADIANS INVEST IN CUBAN BEER
The Bucanero brewery is a 50-50 joint venture founded on May 2, 1997 between the Food Corporation S.A. attached to the Ministry of the Food Industry and the Canadian enterprise Cerbuco Brewing Inc. a subsidiary of the Belgian Interbrew N.V. company, which currently hold fourth place among the largest world producers. In Cuba the joint venture is the sole importer and distributor of beer for the hard-currency market, as well as holding exclusive exports of the Cuban product, including Cristal and Mayabe.
(Granma, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)

SANTANA TOUR TO FIGHT AIDS
Carlos Santana, whose upcoming U.S. concert tour will raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa, has invited fans to join him in "spreading a spiritual virus."
Santana said he hopes to raise between $2.5-million (U.S.) and $3-million (U.S.) during his Shaman tour, which begins June 13 in Raleigh, N.C., and ends in Los Angeles on July 14.
(The Globe)

EUROPEAN UNION PENALIZES CUBA
The European Union said it would impose a range of diplomatic penalties on Cuba over its recent human rights record, which includes three executions and the jailing of 75 dissidents and journalists. The decision by the European Union, Cuba's largest trading partner and foreign investor, came after the European Commission froze Cuba's request to join an aid accord. The organization decided to limit high-level government visits, invite Cuban dissidents to events in Europe and review its relations with Cuba.
(Reuters, Reported in NYTimes)

UNITED STATES v. MARTHA STEWART

(click on image to enlarge)
Indictment Of Style Maven Martha Stewart, On Securities Fraud, Obstruction Of Justice, And Making False Statements, And Her Former Merrill Lynch Broker On Obstruction And Perjury Charges.
(FINDLAW)

ANCESTOR VOWS TO PRESERVE SLAVE CEMETERY
Born into slavery, Mike and Phoebe -- who never had last names -- were buried among other slaves in unmarked graves scattered deep in an Alabama pine forest.
The hillside cemetery was long lost under dense growth. For a time, a landowner prohibited relatives from coming near. Then, a decade ago, a descendant of Mike and Phoebe rediscovered it.
(LA Daily News, unearthed by Bill Messick)

THC CAN COMBAT ALZHEIMERS
A synthetic version of the marijuana compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) appears to reduce agitation and stimulate weight gain in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to clinical trial data presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.
(NORML, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

MAN SHOOTS SELF OUTSIDE TAX PREPARER'S OFFICE
(MPR)

PARAMILITARY GROUP WORKING IN US
An anti-Castro paramilitary group that holds training manuevers in Florida's swamps, claims it shot -- but did not kill -- a former spy who lived in Miami and was linked to the Cuban military's shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes. Rodolfo Frometa, director of Comandos F-4, said his group was involved in the Dec. 19 shooting of Juan Pablo Roque. The alleged hit on Roque, according to Frometa, occurred this past December 16 near the intersection of Ayesteran and Boyeros in the El Cerro section of Havana. It was carried out by several F-4 members based in Havana, according to the Miami New Times. He said Roque was in serious or critical condition at a Havana hospital, but the incident could not be independently confirmed and is denied by the Cuban government. A policeman named Luis Ramirez Echeverria was killed, as was the gunman, identified as Ramón Sosa, 32, an operative in one of Comandos F-4's clandestine cells within the island, Frometa said.
(Miami Herald and Miami New Times)