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met with the Army staff sergeant for 11 hours over two days at Fort Leavenworth. TED S. WARREN / AP (John Henry Browne)

Posted: March 21, 2012

Lawyer for Bales questions evidence

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - The lawyer for Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the suspect in the March 11 killing of 16 Afghan civilians, questioned the quality of the evidence against Bales and said Tuesday that he planned to travel to Afghanistan to gather his own.

John Henry Browne said he met with Bales for 11 hours over two days at Fort Leavenworth, where Bales is being held in the shootings.

"There's no forensic evidence. There's no confessions," Browne said outside his hotel.

He said there were legal, social and political issues linked to the case and how it would be prosecuted. "I'm not putting the war on trial, but the war is on trial," he said.

Bales, 38, has not been charged yet. Browne said he expected charges this week. The killings sparked protests in Afghanistan, endangered relations between the two countries and threatened to upend American policy over the decade-old war. - AP

Woman, 101, sets paraglide record

SALT LAKE CITY - A 101-year-old Utah woman who ushered in her birthday with a tandem paraglide ride last year soared into the record books Tuesday.

Mary Hardison, of Ogden, has been officially recognized as the "Oldest Female to Paraglide Tandem" by Guinness World Records. She has supplanted a 100-year-old woman from Cyprus who took her flight in 2007.

Hardison, a great-great-grandmother, flew with an instructor last Sept. 1 while four generations of her family watched and cheered. The flight went smoothly and even included a few tricks that Hardison encouraged.

Hardison said she wanted to paraglide because her 75-year-old son began doing it as a hobby. "I didn't want him to get too far ahead of me, so I decided that I'd go too," she said Tuesday.

Hardison previously rode all the adult rides at Disneyland to celebrate her 90th birthday. - AP

Little Rock airport named for Clintons

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Travelers flying into Little Rock will now be reminded of Arkansas' most famous political couple after officials voted Tuesday to rename the city's airport after the Clintons.

The Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission unanimously agreed to change the name of the Little Rock National Airport to honor former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The former president, an Arkansas native and former governor, said they were humbled.

Just minutes after the commission meeting, which attracted an overflow crowd of supporters and opponents of the name change, airport receptionists began welcoming callers to the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. - AP

Elsewhere:

A lawyer for San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said the sheriff has no plans to resign despite the threat of an ethics probe over a domestic-violence case. Lawyer Lidia Stiglich said Mirkarimi was asked by Mayor Ed Lee to step down after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor stemming from a dispute with his wife in which her arm was bruised.