Colorado white supremacist prison gang founder re-sentenced to 108 years

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  A combo photo provided by the Colorado Department of Corrections shows Benjamin Davis.AP/Colorado Department of Corrections

DENVER –  One of the founders of a white supremacist Colorado prison gang was re-sentenced Wednesday to 108 years in prison for gang activities behind bars, ruling out parole for a man the judge called "a thoroughly dangerous individual."

Benjamin Davis was serving a 30-year sentence for robberies he committed when he was 19 when authorities say he helped start the 211 Crew. While in prison, he was convicted of charges related to his gang involvement, including racketeering and assault, and sentenced to 108 years in 2007. In February, the state appeals court ordered that a judge review whether the 38-year-old should serve the sentences back-to-back for 138 years total or 108 years, which might give Davis a chance at parole.

Judge William D. Robbins ruled Davis should serve the 108-year sentence on top of the 30-year sentence, noting that the robbery sentence had done little to deter Davis from breaking the law again.

"Mr. Davis over the last 20 years has endeavored to make himself a thoroughly dangerous individual," said Robbins, who didn't oversee Davis' trial in the 2007 case. "....The long and the short of it is you don't need to be out on the streets in 40 or 50 years."

Davis, his heavily-tattooed arms shackled to his waist, asked Robbins to allow him to serve the two sentences concurrently, or at the same time, giving him an outside chance of parole if he lives long enough.

"I'd just like to point out I didn't kill anyone," he said.

A woman who said she was Davis' sister leaned forward during the hearing and fought back tears, but she declined to comment after the hearing.

Another appeal is likely.

Davis' public defender tried unsuccessfully to delay the hearing, saying Davis has been held in isolation for the last two weeks and wasn't given enough notice to prepare for the re-sentencing hearing. She asked to be appointed to represent him for an appeal.

Davis was separated from other prisoners after the killing of Colorado corrections director Tom Clements to protect him because of media reports about the possibility that 211 leaders may have ordered his killing, corrections department spokeswoman Alison Morgan said. The only suspect in the slaying, Evan Ebel, was a 211 member and authorities have been looking into his ties as part of the murder investigation.

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White Sox hit four homers, down Royals

Chicago, IL –  Alexei Ramirez, Adam Dunn and Tyler Flowers each hit solo homers as the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2, in the middle installment of a three-game series.

Dayan Viciedo added a two-run homer for the White Sox, who saw starter Jake Peavy (1-0) last six innings and strike out six batters while allowing two runs -- one earned -- on four hits.

Peavy finished with a 11-12 record with 194 strikeouts over 32 starts last season and was rewarded with his third All-Star campaign of his career.

"We've got guys one through nine who can hit the ball out of the park," Dunn said. "I guess it doesn't really matter how you score runs, only that you score them."

Billy Butler had an RBI and Alex Gordon hit a double and scored a run for the Royals, who have dropped the first two games of this series. Starter Ervin Santana (0-1) picked up the loss after allowing four runs on five hits -- including three homers -- but did strike out eight batters in defeat.

The 29-year-old righty, who went 9-13 with a disappointing 5.16 earned run average over 30 starts for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last season, was acquired this past offseason to help bolster an improving Royals pitching staff. Santana had spent his entire eight-year major league career with the Angels.

Dunn led off the second inning with a solo home run to right field that gave the home team an early 1-0 lead.

The Royals, though, responded in the third, as a single from Alcides Escobar turned into a run after Viciedo bobbled the grounder in left field and Chris Getz scored from first base to make it a 1-1 contest.

Flowers, who provided the only run with a solo homer in Monday's victory over Kansas City, added his second homer of the year -- another solo shot -- over the right-field fence on an 0-0 pitch to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

Viciedo made up for the error with a two-out, two-run homer in the fourth inning. Gordon made things interesting when he attempted to bring back the long fly by climbing up the wall in left. The ball cleared, though, before going off the tip of Gordon's glove and giving Chicago a 4-1 advantage.

"If I could've just done it over again, I wish I could," Gordon said, "because I was right there in position, ready to make the play."

Kansas City closed the gap in the sixth, as Gordon led off the inning with a double and moved to third on an Escobar groundout. Butler then plated Gordon on a fielder's choice to the shortstop to make it 4-2.

The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Chicago relievers Donnie Veal and Matt Lindstrom produced consecutive flyouts to end the inning and Kansas City's last real threat.

Ramirez added some insurance for the White Sox in the bottom of the seventh, leading off Chicago's half of the frame with a solo shot.

Game Notes

Peavy was 0-6 with a 5.56 ERA in his last seven starts versus Kansas City ... It was Dunn's 407th career home run ... The three-game series comes to a close on Thursday ... The Royals finished with five hits and went 1-of-8 with runners in scoring position ... Chicago reliever Addison Reed picked up his second save of the season with a scoreless ninth.

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Court hits 2-run single in 8th to lift Diamondbacks to 4-2 win over White Sox

Published March 20, 2013

Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. –  Ryan Court hit a tiebreaking two-run single against Dylan Axelrod in the eighth inning to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.

Arizona starter Brandon McCarthy gave up 10 hits but only two runs over six innings. McCarthy allowed a home run to Jordan Danks, who continued his torrid pace with two hits. After a horrendous start, Danks has 12 hits in his last 17 at-bats, although he remains a long shot to make the Opening Day roster.

Jeff Keppinger was 2 for 2 and is 14 for 28 this spring for the White Sox.

A.J. Pollock homered against White Sox starter Gavin Floyd leading off the second inning. Floyd allowed two runs and seven hits over five innings.

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Tours of White House cut due to sequester

If your public tour of the White House has now been canceled, House Speaker John Boehner says come visit the Capitol instead.

Boehner says tours of that building will continue, despite mandatory spending cuts that led the U.S. Secret Service and the National Park Service on Tuesday to announce that public tours of the White House will end, starting Saturday, until further notice.

The Republican speaker made the tit-for-tat announcement in a letter to his Ohio constituents on Tuesday, following news about the suspension of White House tours. His office released the letter on Wednesday.

"While I'm disappointed the White House has chosen to comply with sequestration by cutting public tours, I'm pleased to assure you that public tours of the United States Capitol will continue," Boehner wrote. He added that planning for the possibility of mandatory budget cuts, also known as sequestration, "has been under way for some time."

"Consequently, alternative spending reductions have been implemented within the Capitol complex to ensure public tours and other regular activities can proceed as they normally would," Boehner said.

Spending cuts that went into effect last Friday require that $85 billion be trimmed from the budget between March 1 and Sept. 30. The cuts were designed to force Congress and the White House to come up with a long-term plan to reduce federal budget deficits, but those negotiations so far have failed to produce an alternative acceptable to all sides.

The White House Visitors Office information line now informs callers that tours already planned will not be rescheduled. The free, self-guided tours can take visitors months to arrange through requests submitted to members of Congress or to embassies.

The Secret Service said uniformed officers normally assigned to White House tours will be reassigned to other security posts, noting that the reassignments will reduce overtime costs as well as potential furloughs that could have been required to meet the cuts in spending.

Separately, White House officials said planning continued apace for the annual Easter Egg Roll, scheduled for April 1. Free tickets have been distributed and more than 35,000 people were expected to join President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their family on the South Lawn for hours of sports and games, story-telling, cooking demonstrations and the traditional rolling of hard-boiled eggs.

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Conan O'Brien to headline White House correspondents dinner

Conan O'Brien is taking his talents to D.C.

The Emmy award-winning late-night host and comedian was announced Wednesday as the headliner for the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April.

Association president Ed Henry said he's "thrilled" that O'Brien accepted the invite.

"Conan is one of television's most innovative and influential talents and I am absolutely thrilled that he has agreed to be this year's featured act," said Henry, who is also Fox News' White House correspondent. "As social media has changed all aspects of the media business, Conan has embraced this shifting landscape to become a creative force both online as well as in the traditional television model."

The comedian's appearance at the April 27 dinner marks a long-awaited return to the capital.

He performed at the 1995 correspondents dinner, just when he was beginning his 16-year run as host of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

His career took several sharp turns as he transitioned out of "Late Night." He briefly took over "The Tonight Show," but later gave the slot back to Jay Leno and ultimately launched a new show, "Conan," on TBS.

Proceeds from the dinner help fund more than $100,000 in scholarships. President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will also attend, as they have in prior years.

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White House to give senators Benghazi documents

WASHINGTON –  The White House has agreed to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents related to the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, a congressional aide said Friday.

Republicans had demanded the documents as a condition of voting on the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director.

The documents include emails between top national security officials showing the debate within the administration over how to describe the attack and other documents the committee had been asking for, the aide said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The White House has said it has already turned over more than 10,000 pages of Benghazi-related documents, along with witness interviews, staff briefings and hours of testimony.

Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, said the administration was talking with members of Congress about their requests regarding both the Benghazi attacks and the use of drone strikes, but he declined to say whether those requests had been granted.

"That being said, the confirmation process should be about the nominees and their ability to do the jobs they're nominated for," Vietor said.

The attack on the Benghazi compound last Sept. 11 killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The Obama administration sent conflicting signals about whether the assault was a terrorist attack or an incident touched off by protests over an anti-Muslim video.

Republicans accused the Obama administration of an election-year cover-up of an act of terrorism and repeatedly pressed for more information about the attack. An independent review that faulted the State Department and led to four employees being relieved of their duties failed to placate GOP lawmakers. They demanded testimony from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who spent more than five hours before two congressional panels, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey about the military's response to the attack.

Republicans also pressed the administration for emails, communiques and videos, and threatened to hold up the nominations of members of President Barack Obama's second-term national security team, including the choice of Chuck Hagel for the Pentagon and Brennan for CIA director.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

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Conan O'Brien to headline White House correspondents dinner

Conan O'Brien is taking his talents to D.C.

The Emmy award-winning late-night host and comedian was announced Wednesday as the headliner for the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April.

Association president Ed Henry said he's "thrilled" that O'Brien accepted the invite.

"Conan is one of television's most innovative and influential talents and I am absolutely thrilled that he has agreed to be this year's featured act," said Henry, who is also Fox News' White House correspondent. "As social media has changed all aspects of the media business, Conan has embraced this shifting landscape to become a creative force both online as well as in the traditional television model."

The comedian's appearance at the April 27 dinner marks a long-awaited return to the capital.

He performed at the 1995 correspondents dinner, just when he was beginning his 16-year run as host of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

His career took several sharp turns as he transitioned out of "Late Night." He briefly took over "The Tonight Show," but later gave the slot back to Jay Leno and ultimately launched a new show, "Conan," on TBS.

Proceeds from the dinner help fund more than $100,000 in scholarships. President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will also attend, as they have in prior years.

View the original article here