National News for April 11 - 24

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from the Washington Post, the New York Times and CNN. Silver Chips Online posts this news summary to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

Vienna, Va.
April 22 - Freddie Mac Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) David Kellermann was found dead in an apparent suicide by hanging, according to sources close to the investigation. Kellermann has worked at Freddie Mac for the past 16 years and was made acting CFO in September after the government seized control of Freddie Mac in the midst of the economic crisis. Kellermann's actions at work had been under strict government regulation since he took the position.

Washington, D.C.
April 16 - The Department of Justice released four formerly top-secret memos written in 2002 that detail investigations into questionable interrogation methods used by the United States Military in the Middle East. President Barack Obama initially told the public that he would not pursue the prosecution of former Justice Department officials who conducted the internal investigations. On April 21, Obama reversed his position, saying that the decision to prosecute would be given to Attorney General Eric Holder. Obama definitively stated that those who actually conducted the questionable interrogation methods would not be prosecuted, as they were just following orders. Three former Justice Department officials, Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury are currently under the most public scrutiny since they determined that the questionable interrogation methods were not torture. Bybee, a current Judge for the Appeals Court of the Ninth Circuit, may face impeachment charges if prosecuted.

Saint Paul, Minn.
April 22 - Republican Norm Coleman, a former incumbent senator from Minnesota, filed an appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that Coleman lost the 2008 senatorial election to Democrat Al Franken by 312 votes. The currently vacant seat has been contested since election ballots were first formally counted and the case has gone through six different official final results over more than five months. Franken, who rose to fame through the entertainment business, has asked that the appeal proceeds quickly so that the vacant seat can be filled. About 2.4 million voters went to the polls and voted for either Coleman or Franken on Nov. 4.