WASHINGTON

REPORT: HARASSMENT NOT ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED BY ACADEMIES

Hostile attitudes and inappropriate treatment of women persist at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy, a Pentagon task force says in a new study. The panel called for better training of future officers at the academies, saying the value of women in the military should be better emphasized. It said present training regarding sexual harassment and assault issues is inadequate, resulting in misunderstandings by cadets and midshipmen about how to obtain medical care, counseling, and legal assistance.

“The sexual harassment and assault training programs at both academies are not effective in conveying key concepts,” the task force said in a report issued yesterday. The study’s authors included several military officers and experts on sexual harassment and assault issues.

The “Report of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Violence and the Military Service Academies” is the latest to deal with sexual issues and cultural attitudes at the military academies after a scandal at the Air Force Academy surfaced in January 2003. The new study credited both academies with making progress in addressing some sexual harassment and assault issues, particularly in improving services to victims. But it called for putting more women in leadership roles at the two academies and said more women should be admitted as cadets and midshipmen.

– Associated Press

CIA 9/11 REVIEW RECOMMENDS DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS

The CIA’s independent watchdog has recommended disciplinary reviews for current and former officials who were involved in failed intelligence efforts before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Associated Press has learned.

CIA Director Porter Goss now must decide whether the disciplinary proceedings go forward. The proceedings, formally called an accountability board, were recommended by the CIA inspector general, John Helgerson. It remains unclear which people are identified for the accountability boards in the highly classified report spanning hundreds of pages. The report was delivered to Congress Tuesday night.

The boards could take a number of actions, including letters of reprimand or dismissal. They could also clear them of wrongdoing.

– Associated Press

SOUTH

TWO TEEN GIRLS ARRESTED AFTER KILLINGS

DUBLIN, Ga.- Police said a 15-year-old girl robbed and fatally shot two men who had given her and a 14-year-old friend a ride to a motel, and both girls were arrested yesterday. The killings were “very methodical,” a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, John Bankhead, said.

The bodies of Fredrick Williams, 25, and Reante Stanley, 26, both of Dublin, were found hours after they were shot early Wednesday. The girls stole about $200 from the men, authorities said.

Police Chief Wayne Cain said the older girl flagged down the two victims on the side of the road and asked them to give her and her companion a ride. On the way to the motel, the car made several stops, including at a home where the 15-year-old picked up the small-caliber gun she used in the shootings, Chief Cain said.

The two men checked into separate rooms, and the 15-year-old later walked into each room and shot the men, Chief Cain said.

District Attorney Craig Fraser said the girls will be prosecuted as adults. Fifteen-year-old Lakeisha Davis, of Dublin, was charged with murder and armed robbery. The 14-year-old, who was not immediately identified, was charged with armed robbery.

– Associated Press

NORTHEAST

MISS AMERICA TO LEAVE ATLANTIC CITY VENUE

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J – There she goes – Miss America is packing up her tiara and leaving the city she’s called home for 84 years. The famous beauty pageant, a fixture on the Boardwalk since its 1921 start as a bathing beauty revue, announced yesterday it will seek another city in hopes of changing its luck. The pageant is in financial straits and last year lost its broadcast network TV contract with ABC. It will be entertaining offers immediately, the pageant’s CEO, Art McMaster, said.

– Associated Press

WEST

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IMPOSES ROLLING BLACKOUTS

LOS ANGELES – Sweltering late-summer heat and the loss of a key transmission line yesterday forced power officials in Southern California to impose rolling blackouts, leaving as many as half a million people without power for an hour at a time, officials said.

The California Independent System Operator, which operates the state’s electric grid, declared a transmission emergency at 3:57 p.m., a spokesman for SoCal Edison , Gil Alexander, said.

The ISO ordered the utility to reduce its demand, prompting blackouts in parts of Fontana, La Puente, Cathedral City, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, and Ontario, Mr. Alexander said.

The utility planned to scatter the blackouts to lessen the impact, he said. Blackouts were expected to last about an hour before being shifted to other areas.

– Associated Press