In a press release, the White House shared the name of thos who received prison-sentence commutations and pardons

Release:

 Today President Barack Obama granted clemency to twenty-one individuals, consisting of eight commutations and thirteen pardons.

The President granted commutations to the following eight individuals:

 

·         Clarence Aaron - Mobile, Ala.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; attempt to possess cocaine with intent to distribute (Southern District of Alabama)
Sentence:  Life imprisonment, five years' supervised release (Dec. 10, 1993)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on April 17, 2014

 

·         Stephanie Yvette George - Pensacola, Fla.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess cocaine base with intent to distribute (Northern District of Florida)
Sentence:  Life imprisonment, ten years' supervised release (May 5, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on April 17, 2014

 

·         Ezell Gilbert - Tampa, Fla.
Offense: Possession with intent to deliver cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute marijuana (Middle District of Florida)
Sentence:  292 months' imprisonment, five years' supervised release (Mar. 25, 1997)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to time already served

 

·         Helen R. Alexander Gray - Ty Ty, Ga.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (Middle District of Georgia)
Sentence:  240 months' imprisonment (Oct. 8, 1996)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on April 17, 2014

 

·         Jason Hernandez - McKinney, Tex.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute controlled substances; possession with intent to distribute and distribute crack cocaine and methamphetamine; possession with intent to distribute a mixture of methamphetamine and cocaine hydrochloride; distribution of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a protected property; establishing a place for manufacture and distribution of controlled substances (Eastern District of Texas)
Sentence:  Life imprisonment; eight years' supervised release; $5,000 fine (Oct. 2, 1998)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to 240 months (20 years)

 

·         Ricky Eugene Patterson - Fort Pierce, Fla.
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (Southern District of Florida)
Sentence: Life imprisonment, 10 years' supervised release (Aug. 3, 1995)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on April 17, 2014

 

·         Billy Ray Wheelock - Belton, Tex.
Offense: Conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine; possession with intent to distribute more than 5 grams of crack cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school; possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine (Western District of Texas)
Sentence: Life imprisonment, 10 years' supervised release, $3,000 fine (Jun. 9, 1993)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on April 17, 2014

 

·         Reynolds Allen Wintersmith, Jr. - Rockford, Ill.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute cocaine and cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute crack (Northern District of Illinois)
Sentence: Life imprisonment, five years' supervised release, $1,000 fine (Nov. 23, 1994)
Commutation Grant: Prison sentence commuted to expire on April 17, 2014

 

The President granted pardons to the following thirteen individuals:

·         William Ricardo Alvarez - Marietta, Ga.
Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin ; conspiracy to import heroin (District of Puerto Rico)
Sentence:  Time served after nine months' imprisonment, four years' supervised release (Apr. 30, 1997; amended Jul. 31, 1997)

 

·         Charlie Lee Davis, Jr. - Wetumpka, Ala.
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute cocaine base; use of a minor to distribute cocaine base (Middle District of Alabama)
Sentence: 87 months' imprisonment, five years' supervised release (Mar. 21, 1995)

 

·         Ronald Eugene Greenwood - Crane, Mo.
Offense: Conspiracy to violate the Clean Water Act  (District of South Dakota)
Sentence: Three years' probation, conditioned on six months' home confinement, 100 hours community service, $5,000 restitution, $1,000 fine (Nov. 18, 1996)

 

·         Little Joe Hatch, aka Joe Hatch Sr. - Lake Placid, Fla.
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute marijuana  (Southern District of Florida)
Sentence: 60 months' imprisonment, four years' supervised release (May 15, 1990)

 

·         Martin Alan Hatcher. - Foley, Ala.
Offense: Distribution and possession with intent to distribute marijuana (Southern District of Alabama)
Sentence: Five years' probation (Nov. 9, 1992)

 

·         Derek James Laliberte - Auburn, Me.
Offense: Money laundering (District of Maine)
Sentence: 18 months' imprisonment, 2 years' supervised release (Oct. 2, 1992; amended May 21, 1993)

 

·         Alfred J. Mack - Manassas, Va.
Offense: Unlawful distribution of heroin  (District of Columbia Superior Court)
Sentence: 18 to 54 months' imprisonment (Apr. 5, 1982)

 

·         Robert Andrew Schindler - Goshen, Va.
Offense: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud (District of Utah)
Sentence: Three years' probation, four months' home confinement, $10,000 restitution (May 14, 1996)

 

·         Willie Shaw, Jr. - Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Offense: Armed bank robbery (District of South Carolina)
Sentence: Fifteen years' imprisonment (Aug. 7, 1974)

 

·         Kimberly Lynn Stout, formerly known as Kimberly Lynn Cooley - Bassett, Va.
Offense: Bank embezzlement; false entries in the books of a lending institution (Western District of Virginia)
Sentence: One day imprisonment, three years' supervised release (including five months home confinement) (Nov. 9, 1993)

 

·         Bernard Anthony Sutton, Jr. - Norfolk, Va.
Offense: Theft of personal property (Eastern District of Virginia)
Sentence: Three years' probation, $825 restitution, $500 fine (Apr. 4, 1989)

 

·         Chris Deann Switzer - Omaha, Neb.
Offense: Conspiracy to violate narcotics laws (methamphetamine) (District of Nebraska)
Sentence: Four years' probation, conditioned on six months home confinement, 200 hours' community service (Jun. 25, 1996)

 

·         Miles Thomas Wilson - Williamsburg, Ohio.
Offense: Mail fraud (Southern District of Ohio)
Sentence: Three years' probation (Jul. 15, 1981)

Office of Legislative Research report on bills and concepts that could be raised in the 2014 legislative session. Here is that report:

Office of Legislative Research Major Issues for 2014

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Monday announced that the state "is sending a powerful message to upwind states:  Stop dumping your air pollution on us – it’s time to clean up your act."

 

This is the press release, posted here unedited:

 

To address this issue, the Governor says Connecticut is joining a multi-state action to require upwind states to our south and west to reduce pollution that is carried here by prevailing winds – a move aimed at better protecting the health of our residents and leveling the playing field for our businesses.

 

Documents related to today’s petition to the EPA can be found on DEEP’s website.

 

“Connecticut is tired of serving as the tailpipe of America,” Governor Malloy said.  “We’re paying a steep public health and economic price for the failure of upwind states to make investments needed to operate power plants and industrial facilities in a clean and efficient manner.  Now is the ideal time to get the upwind polluters to take action.”

 

The multi-state action is aimed at requiring nine upwind states to be good neighbors by reducing their air pollution emissions.  The petition seeks long overdue commitments from the upwind states to protect the health of downwind residents and to level the playing field for businesses – as industries in their states have long benefited from cheap power produced by dirty, uncontrolled coal plants

 

The petition cites decades of inaction by the upwind states during which time Connecticut and the seven other Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states have spent tens of billions of dollars to reduce their own air emissions.  The petition asks EPA to require the nine upwind states to join them in what is known as the “Ozone Transport Region” (OTR).  Under the federal Clean Air Act, states added to the OTR would have to take actions consistent with the air pollution efforts of the downwind states through use of readily available control technologies and reliance on cleaner fuels to generate power.

 

States joining Connecticut in filing the petition – all current members of the OTR – are: Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. 

 

Upwind states they are asking EPA to add to the OTR are: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

 

“For far too long, prevailing wind patterns have carried pollution generated elsewhere across our borders and into our lives and lungs,” Governor Malloy said.  “If we eliminated all of our ‘home grown’ air pollution, the air in parts of Connecticut would still be dangerously polluted and fail to meet federal standards – because of the inter-state transport of pollution.”

 

More than 90% of ozone levels in southwest Connecticut and more than 80% of ozone levels in some remaining parts of the state result from pollution that originates in areas located out of Connecticut’s jurisdiction and control.   In 2013, for instance, monitoring equipment showed that air entering Connecticut already exceeded ozone standards on 16 of the 18 days when air quality here failed to meet federal standards.

 

Connecticut’s industries and electric power plants have invested heavily in pollution control technologies and additional emissions reductions in-state would come from smaller sources at greater cost.  The cost of removing an additional ton of pollution here is estimated at between $10,000 to $40,000 – compared to as little as $500 a ton in upwind states, where even some basic control technologies have not been installed.

 

“Over the last several decades Connecticut has done more than its fair share to reduce our pollution levels and we have most recently expanded our horizons to include energy efficiency, green energy, and zero emissions vehicles as new ways to improve both our environment and our economy,” Commissioner Daniel C. Esty of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) said.  “Yet, at the same time, upwind states have failed to take even the most basic steps that we took long ago.  They now have the opportunity to step up and do what’s right.”

 

The petition filed by the six states is authorized by Section 176A of the federal Clean Air Act, which permits states to petition the EPA to add any state to an air quality region such as the OTR if there is reason to believe it is the source of pollution causing violations of air quality standards elsewhere.  The EPA Administrator is required to approve or disapprove of such a petition within 18 months.

 

“I applaud the Governor for filing this petition and strongly believe the EPA should approve it.  Both the science and the law are clear.  Air pollution from these nine states is migrating to Connecticut, causing potential health problems and costs here.  The EPA has the authority under the Clean Air Act to address the problem, as it should have done decades ago,” Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said.  “Asthma rates in our state remain a significant concern despite actions to control our own in-state air pollution sources, and Connecticut has long been forced to cope with the downwind emissions of other states.  The EPA should ensure that these states take responsibility for their pollution, rather than passing the buck to Connecticut.  Not only is this fair, it is cost effective – it imposes far more costs on Connecticut’s economy to deal with this problem here than it would to address it at the source of the pollution.”

 

 

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. on Monday issued a statement after, he said, touring the site of Sunday's Metro-North derailment with representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board.

 

 This is the statement, unedited here:

 

“The fact that this train left the tracks at 82 miles per hour is absolutely harrowing and appalling. Our visit to the site was bone chilling. Whatever the cause – operator error or equipment malfunction – this train was going far too fast. This serious incident is the fifth for Metro-North in just more than six months, raising urgent questions about safety and reliability that the railroad must confront. I renewed my call to NTSB officials today for an expedited investigation and report. The faith of Metro-North's riders is on the line.”

 

 

This is a statement, unedited here, from U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. following a fatal Metro-North train derailment in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City:  (See photos of the accident here.)

“This desperately tragic derailment dramatizes again the need for focus on railroad safety and reliability – adding powerful evidence to recent Connecticut incidents. Although causes must be determined, Metro-North must confront questions about adequacy of equipment, tracks, and maintenance and repair practices.

“Riders are losing patience with this railroad and so am I. These severe accidents and service disruptions are unacceptable. I have contacted NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman and urged an expedited investigation. In addition to reaching out to NTSB, my office and I are in contact with New York and Connecticut officials as they work to reduce disruption to travel on Connecticut lines.

 “In the meantime, our hearts and prayers go out to the injured and loved ones of fatalities.”