IED Blasts Spike In Afghanistan War As The Wounded Flow Home

WASHINGTON -- Roadside bombs in Afghanistan are taking a growing toll on American troops this summer as blasts from improvised explosive devices tear off arms and legs of soldiers and Marines, including one who survived the traumatic amputation of both arms and both legs.

 
 The wounded arrive at Andrews Air Force Base from Afghanistan. (Photo By Sara Kenigsberg)

They are the latest of almost 50,000 Americans wounded during 11 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, including some 16,000 catastrophically wounded. IEDs and other blasts have shorn off 1,653 limbs during the two wars, according to Pentagon records. Among the wounded are five who lost all four limbs.

USDA meets with Mexico, ‘slow-walking’ Congress on food stamp outreach to immigrants

While it is already known that personnel from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) met with Mexican embassy officials this year to discuss nutrition assistance outreach efforts to immigrants, the agency is “slow-walking” a U.S. Senate effort to obtain information about the USDA’s partnership with Mexico to get more people enrolled in nutrition assistance programs.

According to both the USDA and the Mexican embassy, USDA personnel meet “periodically” with officials from the Mexican embassy to discuss nutrition “assistance and education” pertaining to 15 domestic nutrition assistance programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.

Bronx Councilman Convicted in Corruption Case

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

City Councilman Larry B. Seabrook, center, with his wife, Maria Diaz, and one of his lawyers, Anthony Ricco, outside federal court in Manhattan on Thursday.

City Councilman Larry B. Seabrook was found guilty on Thursday of orchestrating a broad corruption scheme to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in city money to his relatives, friends and a girlfriend through a network of nonprofit organizations that he controlled.

A federal jury in Manhattan, which deliberated for over three days, convicted Mr. Seabrook, 61, on 9 of the 12 counts he faced, including wire and mail fraud and conspiracy. Each of the nine counts carry maximum sentences of 20 years. 

Mr. Seabrook, a fixture in Bronx politics for three decades, will also automatically lose his Council seat, a legal expert said.

In a statement, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said that Mr. Seabrook had “abused the power of his office to influence public contracts and to fund his own corrupt friends and family plan.”