Man Charged in Alleged Frontier Airlines Bomb Threat

Frontier Airlines(DENVER) -- Charges have been filed against a Colorado man accused of making threats onboard a Frontier Airlines flight last weekend.

Mark Bote, 23, of Thornton, Colo., is accused of claiming he had a bomb in his backpack when he was aboard Frontier Airlines flight 601 from Knoxville, Tenn., to Denver on June 14.

The plane was evacuated when it landed in Denver.

An investigation failed to turn up a bomb.

Bote faces a federal charge of false information and threats.  If he's found guilty, he could get five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

‘Tweet’ Now an Official Word in Oxford English Dictionary

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The last time you wanted to vent about your family or co-workers within the space of 140 characters, you didn’t “submit a post to the microblogging service known as Twitter.” You tweeted.

These days, pop culture associates the act of tweeting less with chirping birds and more with social networking. Now the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) will officially recognize the word “tweet” in its June 2013 update.

John Simpson, chief editor of the OED, made the announcement on the dictionary’s website. He says that including the new definition of tweet “breaks at least one OED rule, namely that a new word needs to be current for 10 years before consideration for inclusion.”

The OED attributes the first use of “tweeting” back to 2007. On March 15, 2007 on the now defunct blog NevOn, the blogger posted, “Not much chance to tweet on Twitter, especially since it seems that SMS posting from my mobile phone doesn’t work.” It was the land before smartphones, when Twitter users had to rely on text messaging to broadcast their thoughts.

This isn’t Twitter’s first appearance in the OED; “retweet” was added to the dictionary in 2011.

The OED is a bit behind competitor the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which added the word “tweet” in August 2011.

Other words that have made their way into the OED’s latest update? “Flash mob,” “geekery,” “live-blogging,” and “e-reader.”

Check out the full list of new words here.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Patriots' Aaron Hernandez to Be Questioned About a Murder, Sources Say

(BOSTON) -- Massachusetts investigators plan to interview New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in connection with the murder of a man police call an "associate" of player No. 81, ABC News has learned.

Hernandez's jersey number is 81.

Investigators are seeking a warrant to search Hernandez's home in connection with the death, sources told ABC News.

Hernandez has been uncooperative with police since the body of a 27-year-old man was found in an industrial park not far from the Patriot player's North Attleboro home, two law enforcement sources told ABC News.

A rental vehicle with Rhode Island plates was recovered near the scene, which led investigators to Hernandez, sources told ABC News.

Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter confirmed in a press statement that a body was found around 5:30 p.m. Monday in a clearing near John Dietsch Boulevard. Sutter said that based on the "nature and circumstances" of the body that the investigation would be handed over to Massachusetts state police detectives.

Hernandez is spending the off-season recovering from a shoulder scope.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Military Services to Reveal Plans to Integrate Women in Combat

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- In a few years women could be in training to become Army Rangers and Navy SEALs under plans to be announced Tuesday by the military services for integrating women into combat units.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last January lifted the 1994 Combat Exclusion Rule that restricted women from serving in frontline infantry, armor and special operations units and set a January 2016 compliance deadline.  

The concept of a frontline became blurred in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as women serving in other units also became the targets of roadside bombs and attacks.  To date, almost 150 military women have died in those wars.

The services have varying numbers of jobs that have remained closed to women as a result of the Combat Exclusion Rule.  While the Navy has 88 percent of its jobs open for women, the Air Force has for years had 99 percent of its positions open to women.  Among the jobs closed to women in the Air Force are positions in combat control, tactical air command and control, pararescue and special-operations weather positions.

The stated goal of the lifting of the ban was to open all combat jobs to women, but the services were given the option of requesting an exception that would have to be approved by the Defense secretary.  Though tentative in nature and many details still have to be reviewed, the timelines reflect the goal of including women in all combat units.

The plans to be presented Tuesday will include timelines for integrating women into most combat roles.  Defense officials say they will also include timelines that would allow women to enter the Army's elite Ranger School by the spring of 2015 and Navy SEALS training in early 2016.

When the ban was lifted, the military services said they would develop new job-specific standards for men and women serving in combat units that would be "gender neutral." Many of those standards remain to be developed, though Defense officials say that elite Special Operation Forces will retain the current physical and psychological standards used on potential candidates wishing to join their ranks.

Some gender-neutral standards have already been developed for certain frontline jobs and will open up to women fairly quickly.  For example, as early as next month, female sailors will be allowed to train to join the Navy's Riverine force that provides security operations in river and coastal areas.

But other combat jobs will still require longer study and review for not only developing the new standards but more mundane things like new lodging and privacy needs that would be necessitated by allowing women into the units.

While the Army has tentatively set plans to allow women to enter Army Ranger School to earn the "Ranger Tab," it does not mean that female graduates will automatically get to serve in the 75th Ranger Regiment.  Like their male peers, they will have to successfully meet the unit's own selective standards.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Denies Being a Spy for China

The Guardian via Getty Images(LONDON) -- Edward Snowden, the man who claims to be behind a stunning slew of top secret information leaks from the National Security Agency, mocked the idea that he was a spy for the Chinese government, saying Monday that if he had been, he'd be in Beijing "living in a palace petting a phoenix by now."

The 29-year-old former NSA contractor made the quip during an online question and answer session hosted by The Guardian and said the idea he could have sold or traded secrets to the Chinese in exchange for asylum was a "predictable smear" meant to distract from "the issue of U.S. government misconduct."

"I have had no contact with the Chinese government," Snowden said later.  "I only work with journalists."

Late last week, ABC News reported that U.S. officials were concerned Snowden could attempt to defect to China with a trove of America's most sensitive secrets as The Guardian had said he fled to Hong Kong from his Hawaii home late last month with four laptops -- and a head -- full of inside information on U.S. programs.

Snowden's online chat followed the latest in a string of alleged disclosures to media outlets, this time revealing through "top secret" slides that the United Kingdom's equivalent of the NSA had successfully spied on delegates during the 2009 G-20 summit by setting up rigged Internet cafes and hacking into their BlackBerry phones.  The U.K. agency, the Government Communications Headquarters, told ABC News on Monday it does not comment on intelligence matters.

Last week, The Guardian and The Washington Post reported that information from Snowden was the basis for their headline-grabbing reports on widespread NSA telephone and Internet surveillance programs, which Snowden called "horrifying."

Top U.S. officials acknowledged the programs after the reports and in an interview broadcast Monday night, President Obama said they were "transparent."

"What I've asked the intelligence community to do is see how much of this we can declassify without further compromising the program, No. 1," Obama told Charlie Rose on PBS.  "And they are in that process of doing so now so that everything that I'm describing to you today, people, the public, newspapers, etc., can look at -- because, frankly, if people are making judgments just based on these slides that have been leaked, they're not getting the complete story."

Obama declined to comment when asked if Snowden should be prosecuted for any alleged crimes, but in his online chat, Snowden said that wouldn't matter anyway.

"All I can say right now is the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," Snowden said.  "Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

One person that wants it to stop, however, is Snowden's father, Lonnie.

The elder Snowden defended his son's integrity in an interview with Fox News on Monday, but pleaded with his son to not leak any more information, especially anything that could be considered treasonous.

Despite surfacing online for the more than 90-minute question and answer session Monday, Edward Snowden remains in hiding in Hong Kong.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Three Naval Academy Football Players Facing Rape Charges

Comstock/Thinkstock(ANNAPOLIS, Md.) -- The U.S. Naval Academy says it has plans to charge three football players in connection with the rape of a female midshipman that allegedly took place in April 2012.

After a lengthy investigation, the school's superintendent has referred the case for the military's equivalent of a grand jury, known as Article 32.

"The initial NCIS investigation has been completed and reviewed. The superintendent has decided to send this case to Article 32 proceedings," U.S. Naval Academy spokesman John Schofield said Monday.

The accuser, who has not been named, reported the sexual assault after attending an off-campus party at a location known as the "football house," according to Military.com.  She said she was informed by friends and though social media that she had been sexually assaulted while incapacitated at the party.

All three football players, who have also not been named, remain at the Naval Academy, where one senior was kept from graduating on May 24, the site reports.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Report: More Than 190,000 Lost, Stolen Guns on US Streets

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Just how many unregistered or stolen guns are available on the streets? A new report by the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finds the numbers are staggering.
 
According to the report, the result of an audit ordered by President Obama following the Newtown shootings, more than 191,000 guns were lost or stolen in the United States in 2012. The government says more than 16,000 of those guns disappeared from licensed gun dealers.

Pistols were the most common firearm stolen, the report says, and gun dealers reported more than 4,000 rifles were simply lost. And these numbers only represent the missing guns reported to the National Crime Information Center. ATF spokesman Charles Mulham points out that in many states it's not even mandatory to report stolen firearms.

Still, UCLA Public Policy expert Mark Kleiman says the number of lost or stolen firearms seems low, given the 300 million firearms in private hands in the U.S.

"The bigger issue than stolen guns is the easy availability of guns to people who aren't legally possessed through the private sale loophole," Kleiman says.

The ATF report also shows Texas is the top state for total firearms reported lost and stolen in 2012.   Kleiman explains that people with stolen firearms might be more likely to commit violent crimes.

"In some cases, gun dealers, federal firearms licensees, falsely report a theft as a way of concealing an illegal sale," say Kleiman.

As for owners of legally registered guns, Mulham says they should be taking steps to safeguard firearms in their possession.

"You need to [be responsible] in keeping that weapon not only out of the hands of criminals if you were robbed or if your house was to be burglarized, but also out of the hands of children," he says.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Rescuers Pull California Family from Sinking Vehicle

Sandra Schorken(OAKLAND, Calif.) -- Two men and a woman dove in to a California estuary on Sunday to rescue a family, including two children, trapped in a vehicle about to submerge.

Andy Goodwin, Erik Schorken and Schorken’s family were driving along the estuary in Oakland, Calif., on their way back from a Father’s Day lunch, when they noticed a woman frantically waving her hands and pointing towards the water.

“I said to my wife, ‘I think someone might have gone into the water,’” Schorken told ABC News.  “But no one was stopping.”

Then they saw an ambulance, so Schorken decided to pull over and see what was going on.

It turned out the ambulance was there for another matter, but the car’s occupants noticed people were trapped in the water, so Schorken, Goodwin and Tracey McCormick, who was also driving by the estuary at the time, jumped in and swam out to the scene.

“This car was 60 degrees up in the air; it was going nose down into the water,” Schorken said.  “I just kept swimming out there.”

The mission soon appeared hopeless.  Because the car’s doors were locked, the would-be rescuers had no way of accessing the victims.  Halfway towards the car, Goodwin swam back to the shore.

“I swam about halfway out and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to do much,” Goodwin told ABC News.

McCormick said that when she reached the vehicle, the victims’ hands “were on the windows screaming to get us out.”

One of the paramedics had an emergency pocket knife designed to break through glass.  She handed Goodwin the pocket knife.  Goodwin subsequently gave it to McCormick, who gave it to Schorken after she had trouble with it.  Schorken broke through the window, and he and McCormick took the family -- a mother, a father, and two kids Schorken guessed were between the ages of 7 and 10 -- 20 feet to shore.

As soon as they reached the land, the car completely submerged into the water.

“I looked behind me and the car was gone.  I couldn’t believe how fast it sunk,” said McCormick.

The family was fine and was not taken to the hospital, the Oakland Police Department told ABC News.

ABC News affiliate KGO-TV reported the rescue on Sunday, referring to Goodwin and Schorken as “good Samaritans.”

Although Schorken did not know the name of the family he rescued, he had their phone number and was planning on inviting them over for dinner.

Calls to the number Schorken provided went unanswered.

Johnna Watson of the Oakland Police Department said the family likely would not have survived without the help.

“Time is of the essence in a situation like this,” she told ABC News.  “By the time we arrived on scene the occupants were taken out.  This made the difference between life and death.”

Watson said there will be an investigation into the cause of the accident.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

United Flight Lands in NJ After 'Unstable' Flier Detained by Passengers

John Foxx/Thinkstock(NEWARK, N.J.) -- Passengers aboard United flight 116 bound for the U.S. from Hong Kong were finally able to leave a Newark Liberty International Airport terminal late Monday afternoon after a flier was taken into custody and hospitalized after allegedly demanding that the plane be diverted to Canada.

An official with the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force said the man -- identified as Daniel Morgan Perry and reportedly in his 30s and American -- had been transported to Newark's University Hospital for observation.

During the flight, which landed around 1:40 p.m., the man was restrained by passengers. The official said there were no air marshals on the flight.

"It's apparently an unstable person who is controlled by his medication and maybe he didn't take it," the official said.

Jacques Roizen, who was one of the passengers who restrained Perry, said nearly 10 hours into the 16-hour flight, a man six rows in front of him started screaming out of nowhere. Roizen said that he had not seen the man drinking.

"[He was] screaming stuff about national security advisers, the CIA, saying names of people [he claimed were] working for the CIA," Roizen told ABC News. "[He was saying] that we couldn't land the plane, we had to divert the plane. He couldn't land in the U.S."

Roizen said Perry was afraid of being poisoned by one of the passengers.

"He saw everybody as a threat," Roizen said. "He thought everyone was working for the FBI, the CIA....He was drawing a parallel between [National Security Agency leaker] Edward Snowden and himself....He was convinced he was going to die before this flight landed."

Within minutes, about five passengers had restrained the man with plastic handcuffs from the flight crew.

Florida resident Paula Shea said the staff handled the situation "perfectly" and that she had not gotten scared.

"They did everything that you should do," she said. "It was a person that was trying to...divert to Canada."

Roizen said he and another passenger sat by Perry for the remaining six hours trying to calm him by talking about their families, Father's Day and their children.

He said the man started to cry after a passenger told him that his actions had scared the children aboard.

"He seemed to react to that," Roizen said. "At one point, he started crying because he said, 'I don't want to hurt the children.' He asked both of us to put him under arrest, asked us to read him his rights."

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Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

Indiana Woman Sentenced to Death Leaves Prison

ABC News(ADAMS TOWNSHIP, Ind.) -- An Indiana woman who was sentenced to death by the electric chair at age 16 was released Monday after serving more than a quarter of a century in prison.

Now 43 years old, Paula Cooper left the Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana on Monday a free woman after serving 27 years in prison for her role in the murder of Ruth Pelke, a 78-year-old Bible school teacher.

“Paula has worked hard to change her life in the decades since the crime,” Cooper’s sister, Rhonda Labroi, wrote in an email to ABC News. “She entered prison as a very troubled teenager and is leaving a reformed woman.”

Cooper walked out of prison with $75 and wearing donated street clothes, said Doug Garrison, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Corrections. He said she was driven to an undisclosed location to begin the next chapter of her life, where she will be required to check in with a parole officer.

“The plan for her is to have her meet regularly with her parole officer to help her find a job and permanent housing,” Garrison told ABC News.

He declined to say where Cooper would be living.

The teenager, who was 15 when she fatally stabbed Pelke during a robbery, was sentenced to death row in 1986, while her three friends received lighter prison sentences.

Because of Cooper’s age, the sentence sparked outrage and got the attention of Pope John Paul II, who called for clemency for the teen.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people under the age of 16 at the time they committed a crime could not be sentenced to death, the Indiana Supreme Court commuted Cooper’s sentence to 60 years in prison and she was taken off death row in 1989.

Garrison said Cooper’s release Monday included credit for good behavior in prison, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree.

Cooper’s sister, Labroi, asked for privacy as her sister begins the next phase of her life.

“We are proud of how much she’s grown and she has all of our support as she starts this second chance at life,” Labroi said. “As always, our sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to the Pelke family.”

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio