Family of Border Patrol agent sues government
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CBS)
Today, the parents of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice and its Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). The lawsuit seeks $25 million dollars in compensation for Terry's death.
Terry was gunned down Dec. 14, 2010 in Arizona near the Mexico border, in an attack by illegal aliens armed with AK-47-type rifles. The rifles were part of ATF's then secret operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons to cross the border into Mexico in an attempt to lead to the "big fish" of a Mexican drug cartel. The controversial practice is called "gunwalking."
Terry's murder led some ATF agents who objected to their own agency's gunwalking, to blow the whistle to Congress and CBS News. Since then, the Justice Department has acknowledged gunwalking occurred; banned it in the future; and asked the Inspector General to investigate.
Terry's parents are also suing an Arizona gun store that cooperated with ATF in Fast and Furious by agreeing to sell weapons to suspicious buyers that would otherwise have been turned away. Several gun store owners who worked with ATF in gunwalking operations expressed concern over the tactics, but told Congressional investigators they felt forced to go along with the plan because ATF regulates the gun shops.
More Fast and Furious coverage:More gunwalker questions for Attorney General Holder
Documents: ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make the case for gun regulations
Memos contradict Holder on Fast and Furious
Agent: I was ordered to let guns "walk" into Mexico
Gunwalking scandal uncovered at ATF
ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make case for gun regulations
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CBS)
Newly-released documents show that last February, on an official visit to Mexico, Justice Department official Lanny Breuer suggested fighting arms trafficking by using the tactic of intentionally letting guns flow into Mexico via criminals.
PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timelineAccording to the documents, Assistant Attorney General Breuer suggested the U.S. and Mexico consider working together to allow arms traffickers for Mexican drug cartels "to cross into Mexico," so that Mexican authorities could later prosecute and convict them.
Continue »Scammers cash in on car "accidents"
CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian talks to this former scam artist who staged car accidents to collect on the insurance money.
(Credit: CBS)In this tough economy, one type of insurance fraud is more popular than ever. It involves scam artists who stage car crashes in order to cash in. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian shows us how it works.
In Tampa, Florida, security cameras outside a business captured an accident: an SUV "slammed" into a car.
But rewind the tape and you see the car was actually driven into the middle of the street. The driver got out, a collision, and then five people climbed into the damaged vehicle.
The passengers later claimed they were injured, to rip off their car insurance company. Instead, they were arrested and convicted of "staging" a car accident.
Continue »Sandusky lawyer requests victim information
Former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, left, walks with his attorney Joe Amendola, right, as he leaves the Centre County Courthouse after waiving a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 in Bellefonte, Pa.
(Credit: AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)Jerry Sandusky's attorney submitted a 21-page request asking for the names, ages, and addresses of every victim and witness identified in the Sandusky child sex abuse case. The request also asks for the exact time, date, and location for each charge.
Continue »Big spenders on Capitol Hill got big tax breaks
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AFP/Getty Images)
The new report is from the left-leaning U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Citizens for Tax Justice. They highlight companies they call "especially aggressive at dodging taxes and lobbying Congress: the Dirty Thirty."
One-third of them are energy companies. Together, between 2008 and 2010, they reported $164 billion in U.S. profits. Yet the report says most paid what amounts to a negative tax rate, meaning they got more in tax rebates than they paid in taxes. And they spent close to half a billion dollars lobbying Congress.
Continue »FTC investigates payday lender
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CBS News)
An online payday lending business, the subject of a CBS News/Center for Public Integrity investigation in September, is now under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) according to information revealed at a recent Colorado state court hearing.
Continue »Fast and Furious killing, one year later
Brian Terry with his father Kent Terry, Sr. in an undated family photo.
(Credit: CBS News/Terry family)WASHINGTON - One year ago today, Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was gunned down in Arizona near the Mexican border by illegal immigrants armed with weapons from the now-infamous ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking operation.
In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico.
PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline Continue »ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make case for gun regulations
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CBS)
Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline Continue »As many as 8 alleged victims expected to testify at Sandusky hearing
Former Penn State football defensive coordinator Gerald "Jerry" Sandusky sits in a car as he leaves the office of Centre County Magisterial District Judge Leslie A. Dutchcot Nov. 5, 2011, in State College, Pa.
(Credit: AP Photo/The Patriot-News)A source close to the investigation into sex abuse charges against Jerry Sandusky told CBS News that at least five alleged victims possibly as many as eight, all of whom were named in the grand jury presentation are expected to testify at Sandusky's preliminary hearing next week.
Continue »DOJ debated "gunwalker" reply in frenzied emails
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AP Photo)
More than 1,000 pages of frenzied email exchanges were fired back and forth among Justice Department officials, as they weighed how to respond to initial inquires about the gunwalker scandal. Today, the agency turned over those subpoenaed records to Congress in advance of a hearing next week with Attorney General Eric Holder.
PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline Continue »
