FOXNews.com: DB COOPER DRAMA: Parachute Packer's Death Investigated as Homicide

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DB COOPER DRAMA: Parachute Packer's Death Investigated as Homicide May 1st 2013, 03:30 This undated photograph provided by the King County Sheriffs Office in Seattle show Earl Cossey, 71, of Woodinville.AP/King County Sheriffs Office April 27, 2013: This photo provided by the King Co. Sheriff's Dept., shows a home in Woodinville, Wash. where detectives were investigating a homicide.AP/King Co. Sheriff's Dept. Next Slide Previous Slide SEATTLE –  The man who packed the parachutes used by infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper more than four decades ago has been identified as the victim of a homicide in Washington state. However, authorities say they have no reason to think the death of 71-year-old Earl Cossey was linked to the Cooper case. The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Tuesday that Cossey died April 23 of blunt force trauma to the head. Cossey's daughter found his body Friday when she went to his home in the Seattle suburb of Woodinville to check on him, said King County Sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West. "We have no information that leads us to believe that this case has any relation to the Cooper case," West said in an email. In November 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper -- later erroneously identified as D.B. Cooper -- hijacked a passenger plane from Portland, Ore., to Seattle. He released the passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in exchange for $200,000 and four parachutes, and asked to be flown to Mexico. The plane took off again at his direction with some of the crew on board. As the plane neared Oregon, Cooper jumped from its lowered rear stairs. No one knows what happened to him. Investigators doubt he survived the nighttime jump in a frigid rain, and some of his money was found by a boy playing on a Columbia River beach in 1980. The parachutes provided to the skyjacker came from an Issaquah skydive center, which had recently bought them from Cossey. The one Cooper apparently used was a military-issue NB6, nylon parachute with a conical canopy. Over the decades, as parachutes were sometimes discovered in the area of Cooper's jump, the FBI sought Cossey's help in identifying them. "They keep bringing me garbage," Cossey told The Associated Press in 2008, after the FBI brought him a silk parachute discovered by children playing at a recently graded road in Southwest Washington. "Every time they find squat, they bring it out and open their trunk and say, `Is that it?' and I say, `Nope, go away.' Then a few years later they come back." That didn't keep him from having fun at the expense of reporters. Cossey told some who happened to call him on April Fools' Day that year that the chute was, in fact, Cooper's. One reporter called him back and angrily said he could be fired for writing a false story, Cossey said. Another said the newsroom was entertained by the prank. "I'm getting mixed reviews," Cossey said. "But I'm having fun with it. What the heck." Cossey's family last saw him the night of April 22, the sheriff's office said. Investigators were asking anyone who saw Cossey alive after that night and anyone who knows with whom he associated to contact them. A reward of up to $1,000 was being offered for information leading to an arrest.

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FOXNews.com: BOMBER BURIAL: Boston Attacker's Widow Wants Body Released

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BOMBER BURIAL: Boston Attacker's Widow Wants Body Released May 1st 2013, 03:30 PROVIDENCE, R.I. –  Relatives of the deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said Tuesday. Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body has been at the medical examiner's office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago. Amato DeLuca, the Rhode Island attorney for his widow, Katherine Russell, said in a statement Tuesday that his client had just learned that the medical examiner was ready to release Tsarnaev's body and that she wants it released to the Tsarnaev family. Police said Tsarnaev ran out of ammunition before his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene. His cause of death has been determined but will not be made public until his remains are claimed. "Of course, family members will take possession of the body," uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. "We'll do it. We will do it. A family is a family." He would not elaborate. Tsarnaev's parents are still in Russia, but he has other relatives on his side of the family in the U.S., including Tsarni. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lies in a prison hospital after being wounded in the shootout with police as he and his brother made their getaway attempt. He is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence. DeLuca said Tamerlan Tsarnaev's widow met with law enforcement "for many hours over the past week" and will continue cooperating. FBI agents on Monday visited her parents' North Kingstown, R.I., home, where she has been staying, and carried away several bags. Until Tuesday's statement, DeLuca had declined to provide any details about Russell's contact with authorities, except to say that Russell was doing everything she could to assist with the investigation. In addition to declining to claim the body herself, which is her right as his spouse, Russell has taken other steps to distance herself from Tsarnaev since taking refuge at her family's home on April 19, hours after her husband was killed. Her family released a statement shortly after she was escorted home by federal agents that day saying they "never really knew" Tsarnaev. Russell has also reverted to using her maiden name instead of the name listed on her marriage certificate, Tsarnaeva. On Tuesday, DeLuca said Russell mourned the loss of life from the bombings. "Katherine and her family continue to be deeply saddened by the harm that has been caused," DeLuca said. Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday evening that the state had not yet received Russell's request to release her husband's body. He said arrangements must be made to release the body and once that happens a death certificate will be filed and the cause of death made public. He said it is too soon to speculate on when that might happen.

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FOXNews.com: SKY-HIGH INFLATION: Russia Charging NASA $70M Per US Astronaut

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SKY-HIGH INFLATION: Russia Charging NASA $70M Per US Astronaut May 1st 2013, 01:41 March 28, 2013: A Russian Soyuz rocket blasts off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying a new crew to the International Space Station.NASA CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. –  NASA is paying $424 million more to Russia to get U.S. astronauts into space, and the agency's leader is blaming Congress for the extra expense. NASA announced its latest contract with the Russian Space Agency on Tuesday. The $424 million represents flights to and from the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, as well as training, for six astronauts in 2016 and the first half of 2017. That's $70.6 million per seat -- well above the previous price tag of about $65 million. Russia currently provides the only means of getting people to and from the space station, and its ticket prices have soared with each new contract. Several U.S. companies are working on rockets and spacecraft to launch Americans from U.S. soil. But that's still a few years away. The ability to launch crews into orbit from America ended with NASA's shuttle program in 2011. Even before the shuttles retired, the U.S. had been relying on Russia to transport long-term residents to the space station. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said if Congress had approved the space agency's request for more funding for its commercial space effort, the latest contract would have been unnecessary. He is urging full funding of the Obama administration's 2014 budget request of $821 million in seed money for the commercial crew program. "Because the funding for the President's plan has been significantly reduced, we now won't be able to support American launches until 2017," Bolden, a former shuttle commander, wrote in a NASA blog. It could take longer if Congress does not fully support the 2014 request, he said. "Further delays in our Commercial Crew Program and its impact on our human spaceflight program are unacceptable," Bolden said. The California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, already is making cargo shipments to the space station. Its founder and chief designer, billionaire Elon Musk, previously has said his company could be ferrying astronauts aboard beefed-up versions of its Dragon capsules by 2015. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia completed a successful test launch 1 1/2 weeks ago. It plans to start sending supplies to the space station this summer, but has no interest in carrying passengers. The six seats included in the latest Russian contract covers not only Americans, but European, Canadian or Japanese astronauts under barter agreements between NASA and those countries. Related Stories Here's why it's a great time to buy a new TV Virgin Galactic spaceship makes history Mysterious Hebrew stone depicts archangel Gabriel Archaeologists plan more digs at Richard III site Branson plans orbital spaceships for Virgin Galactic, 2014 trips flights

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FOXNews.com: A TURN TO JIHAD: Sources Point to Timing of Bomber's Radicalization

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A TURN TO JIHAD: Sources Point to Timing of Bomber's Radicalization May 1st 2013, 00:49 Internal review of intel on Tamerlan Tsarnaev before attack Can an all-star defense team save Boston bomber's life? Investigators have found no evidence -- so far -- that Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was radicalized before the FBI interviewed him in spring 2011, two sources tell Fox News. The FBI investigation ran from March through June 2011 after the bureau was contacted by the Russian Security Services, which said Tsarnaev and his mother were followers of radical Islam. The two sources, one within the intelligence community and the other a congressional source, both of whom would not discuss the investigation on the record, emphasized that the U.S. went back to the Russian authorities three times seeking more detail on the elder Tsarnaev brother, but it was only within the last week that Russia's wiretap evidence was presented to U.S. authorities. When Tsarnaev from his six months in Russia, in July 2012, the following month he established his own YouTube channel with links to known Islamist groups, including the Caucasus Emirate. According to the two sources, no evidence has been found that Tsarnaev "created his own media, including video recordings," which is seen by the intelligence community as an indicator or marker of radicalization. Tsarnaev, 26, died in an escape attempt following the Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three and injured more than 200. His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is suspected of helping to carry out the attack. He was caught alive but wounded and now faces a charge of use of a weapon of mass destruction. Fox News was told that computers have been recovered, and the brothers had not "wiped" or cleared the hard drives in advance of the Boston attacks. Russian media report that there is a potential connection between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and a Canadian citizen, William Plotnikov, a suspected jihadist who was killed by the Russian security services in July 2012.  "The story of William Plotnikov, a Canadian boxer who converted to Islam, became radicalized and joined the jihad in Chechnya, bears a striking resemblance to that of Tamerlin Tsarnaev," Rep. Adam Schiff, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a written statement. "We will certainly want to know whether the two ever met, and whether Plotnikov's killing by Russian forces prompted Tamerlan to leave Dagestan shortly thereafter. This is just one of the more intriguing leads to come out of the region." A source familiar with the overseas investigation told Fox News that "every thread is being pulled" but the Russian media reporting is being approached with some skepticism until there are other, independent accounts.

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FOXNews.com: 'I WILL FIND OUT': Obama Says He's Unaware Of Benghazi Victims Claims

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'I WILL FIND OUT': Obama Says He's Unaware Of Benghazi Victims Claims May 1st 2013, 00:49 President Obama said he is unaware of longstanding efforts by Republican lawmakers to question survivors of the Benghazi attacks but pledged to investigate it. "I'm not familiar with this notion that anybody has been blocked from testifying," the president said during a White House news conference on Tuesday. "So what I'll do is I will find out what exactly you're referring to." Obama's pledge to find out more came as officials at the State Department pushed back against allegations -- first aired Monday on Fox News -- that career employees at the agency have been threatened if they furnish new information about the Benghazi attacks to members of Congress. "The State Department is deeply committed to meeting its obligation to protect employees, and the State Department would never tolerate -- tolerate or sanction -- retaliation against whistle-blowers on any issue, including this one," spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. "That's an obligation we take very seriously -- full stop." Four Americans, including U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, were killed in terrorist attacks on U.S. installations in the port city of Benghazi, Libya on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. While the FBI investigation into the attacks continues, no known instances of any perpetrators being brought to justice have yet been reported. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will hold the first in a new round of hearings on the subject on May 8. In two letters to the State Department, dated April 16 and April 26, Issa has sought explicit guidance on how attorneys representing witnesses with knowledge of the Benghazi attacks, including their prelude and aftermath, can receive the security clearances necessary to review classified materials. "Attorneys representing Department personnel in this matter will require clearance to possess and discuss Top Secret and Sensitive Compartmented Information," Issa wrote on April 16 to Mary McLeod, the principal deputy legal adviser to the State Department. But Ventrell insisted Tuesday that no such whistle-blowers have come forward, and no requests for security clearances have been made by private attorneys. Victoria Toensing, a former Justice Department official and onetime Republican counsel to the Senate intelligence committee, disclosed on Monday that she is representing a career State Department official who identifies himself as a whistle-blower. Toensing said this individual has been threatened by superiors with career-ending reprisals if he cooperates with the oversight committee. "[The State Department has] had two letters from Chairman Issa, one on April 16th, the other one April 26th, that specifically say, 'We want you to provide a process for clearing a lawyer to receive classified information,'" Toensing said during an interview Tuesday on "America's Newsroom" with Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum.  "How can they possibly get up there and just lie to the press corps?" Ventrell said that the State Department periodically sends out notices to the entire staff advising them of the protections whistle-blowers enjoy under federal law, and that such a notice, in accordance with regular practice every spring, was disseminated just last week. Interviewed on the Los Angeles campus of the University of Southern California on Tuesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., argued the allegations of threats and intimidation expose the need for a more comprehensive probe of the Benghazi affair. "People do not trust the president and his people," McCain told Fox News. "That's why we need a select committee." Fox News' Martha MacCallum and Lee Ross contributed to this report. James Rosen

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FOXNews.com: FBI Says Tests Link Ricin to Suspect

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FBI Says Tests Link Ricin to Suspect Apr 30th 2013, 23:28 Federal prosecutors filed documents Tuesday stating that ricin was found on items discarded by the Mississippi man charged with sending a letter to President Obama that was laced with the deadly poison. According to the FBI affidavit, James Everett Dutschke removed several items from his former martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss. -- including a dust mask found in a nearby trash can. The items tested positive for ricin, and trace amounts of the poison were found inside the studio. The 41-year-old Dutschke also made two eBay purchases in late 2012 for a total of 100 red castor beans, which can be used to make ricin, according to the documents. The release of the documents marks the latest development in the unusual case in which Dutschke purportedly had been engaged in an ongoing feud with Elvis impersonator and fellow Mississippi resident Paul Kevin Curtis, who initially was arrested but later cleared of all charges in the case. U.S. marshals took Dutschke into custody Saturday at his home, after dropping charges Tuesday against Curtis. Dutschke, in addition to his interaction with Curtis, is said to have ties to Republican Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker and local Judge Sadie Holland, to whom ricin-laced letters also were sent. Dutschke is also charged in connection with the sending of all three letters, which included the sentence: "I am KC and I approve this message." The eight-page document states Dutschke told the property manager at his former business -- Tupelo Taekwondo Plus -- he needed to recover a left-behind fire extinguisher, mop and bucket.  Then an FBI surveillance team observed him on April 22 enter the premises, remove items and put them into a red, 1993 Mercury Villager-Sport Van. Dutschke then drove about 100 yards and was observed putting the items into the trash can. Federal officials then recovered from the receptacle the mask, a box for a Black and Decker Smart Grind coffee grinder and a box containing latex gloves. "I know that a coffee bean grinder could be utilized in the process of extracting ricin from castor beans," an investigator explained in the documents. The letters addressed to Obama and Wicker were intercepted April 16 at a Washington-area mail-screening facility. Investigators learned April 17 that the letter to Holland has arrived about a week earlier, according to the documents. In 2004, Holland sentenced Curtis to six months in jail in connection with the assaulting a Tupelo attorney.  And Holland's family has had political skirmishes with Dutschke.Her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative, said he thinks his mother's only other encounter with Dutschke was at a 2007 political rally when Dutschke ran against him as a Republican. Holland said his mother confronted Dutschke after he made a derogatory speech about the Holland family. She demanded that he apologize, which Holland says he did. The Associated Press and Fox News' John Roberts and Mike Levine contributed to this story.

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FOXNews.com: BREAKING NEWS: Plan B Pill OK'd for Over- The-Counter Sale to Teens

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BREAKING NEWS: Plan B Pill OK'd for Over- The-Counter Sale to Teens Apr 30th 2013, 23:28 WASHINGTON –  The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it -- an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive. Today, Plan B One-Step is sold behind pharmacy counters, and buyers must prove they're 17 or older to buy it without a prescription. Tuesday's decision by the Food and Drug Administration lowers the age limit and will allow the pill to sit on drugstore shelves next to spermicides or other women's health products and condoms -- but anyone who wants to buy it must prove their age at the cash register. Some contraceptive advocates called the move promising. "This decision is a step in the right direction for increased access to a product that is a safe and effective method of preventing unintended pregnancies," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "It's also a decision that moves us closer to these critical availability decisions being based on science, not politics." But earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and was making it hard for women of any age to obtain the emergency contraception in time. He ordered an end to the age restrictions by Monday. The women's group that sued over the age limits said Tuesday's action is not enough, and it will continue the court fight. Lowering the age limit "may reduce delays for some young women but it does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will still find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. The FDA said the Plan B One-Step will be packaged with a product code that prompts the cashier to verify a customer's age. Anyone who can't provide such proof as a driver's license, birth certificate or passport wouldn't be allowed to complete the purchase. "These are daunting and sometimes insurmountable hoops women are forced to jump through in time-sensitive circumstances, and we will continue our battle in court to remove these arbitrary restrictions on emergency contraception for all women," Northup said. Half the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, and doctors' groups say more access to morning-after pills could cut those numbers. The pills contain higher doses of regular contraceptives, and if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. The FDA had been poised to lift all age limits and let Plan B sell over-the-counter in late 2011, when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in an unprecedented move, overruled her own scientists. Sebelius said some girls as young as 11 are physically capable of bearing children, but shouldn't be able to buy the pregnancy-preventing pill on their own. President Barack Obama supported Sebelius' move and a spokesman said earlier this month that the president's position hadn't changed. The FDA said Tuesday's decision was independent of the court case. Instead, after the Obama administration's 2011 action, Plan B maker Teva Women's Health had filed a new application with the age-15 compromise.

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