Baltimore Sun: WikiLeaks Suspect Bradley Manning to Have Hearing at Maryland's Fort Meade Next Month
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning – the whistleblower accused of sending WikiLeaks a trove of classified information detailing American military conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, and State Department cables – is scheduled to appear at a pre-trial hearing next month. Witnesses will be called (and cross-examined) at the hearing, which will be Manning's first appearance in a military courtroom since his arrest in May of last year.
Related Article: U.K. Guardian
NPR: Government Whistleblowers Gain New Advocate
This story details the turnaround of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel since new head Carolyn Lerner took over earlier this year. Quotes GAP Legal Director Tom Devine and mentions GAP client (and Marine Corps whistleblower) Franz Gayl.
Key Quotes: "The agency has switched from being poison ivy for whistle-blowers to being the first option for organizations like ours that are always looking for the best way to defend people who commit the truth," says Devine, the legal director at the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit that helps government and private sector workers.
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Mostly, Lerner has let her actions do the talking by intervening in court cases to protect whistle-blowers.
That's what happened earlier this year when the military moved to cut off the salary of analyst Franz Gayl after Gayl said the Marines took too long to get mine resistant vehicles to troops in Iraq. It's a delay that he says probably cost some service members their lives.
Lerner's intervention helped the whistle-blower settle his case. He was to return to work this week.
Daily Beast: Meet Penn State’s New Whistleblower, Vicky Triponey
A former Vice President of Student Affairs at Penn State has come forward, alleging that she was terminated from her position in 2007 after trying to punish football players for a multitude of crimes, including sexual assault. Specifically, the whistleblower butted heads with Head Coach Joe Paterno on several occasions.
Key Quotes: Even Paterno – when he appeared on a local sports radio show in the fall of 2005 – proclaimed that “that lady in Old Main,” referring to the university’s administrative building, didn’t know how to deal with students because “she didn’t have kids.”
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Over the next two years, there were multiple other serious behavior infractions involving football players. Over and over, Triponey was sidelined or told to stay out of it. In August 2005, Triponey says, Paterno urged her, in an email that has since become public, to “leave discipline of football players to the coach” and to “eliminate [the] off-campus code” – which stated that students who committed crimes outside Penn State’s boundaries could still be sanctioned by university officials.
“That was one of the ongoing concerns,” says Triponey. “That we should not have authority over whether Paterno’s players should practice or play in games.”
Associated Press: Former Israeli Soldier and Military Whistleblower Starts Serving her 4 1/2-year Prison Term
A whistleblower from the Israeli Army has begun serving her 4.5 year prison term for copying, and providing to a reporter, classified military documents that "included information on planned military operations, troops deployments, assassination targets and intelligence assessments."
Related Story: Jerusalem Post
Food Safety News: With Supercommittee Failure, Agencies Could Face Real Cuts
The failure of the "super committee" to agree on a deficit reduction proposal could mean automatic budget cuts for both FDA and USDA, among other discretionary programs. Such cuts would hinder inspection of imported food and the implementation of other new food safety measures made into law in early 2011.
APHL: Do Not Rinse Your Turkey!
The Association of Public Health Laboratories lists some food safety rules for preparing Thanksgiving and everyday meals. They include not rinsing your poultry, which "can actually cause bacteria to aerosolize and spread around your kitchen."
Dylan Blaylock is Communications Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
