Breaking through the bubble

Teenager gets 30 years for killing grandparents

A 15-year-old boy who claimed the antidepressant Zoloft made him kill his grandparents was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Christopher Pittman hung his head as the verdict was read after six hours of deliberations. The trial was the first case involving a child who says an antidepressant caused him to kill. It comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over the use of antidepressants among children.

Family survives 400-foot fall

A family of four and two friends, who were all wearing seatbelts, fell nearly 400-feet down into a Colorado mountain ravine. The car hit black ice while driving along a pass south of Ouray, Colo., sending the van toward a drop-off with no guardrail. The van landed with the driver’s side facing down, yet all six were alive and conscious. The fact that the minivan wasn’t moving at high speed and thick snow covered the ravine probably kept the van from falling at a faster pace or rolling over more times. And the seatbelts kept the six from bouncing around inside. Only one person had to be carried out on a stretcher by rescue crews.

Bush wants to keep Patriot Act

President Bush urged Congress to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s widely criticized anti-terrorism law. The Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, increased FBI surveillance and law-enforcement powers in terror cases, increased use of material witness warrants to hold suspects incommunicado for months, and allowed secret proceedings in immigration cases. Civil liberties groups and privacy advocates lambasted the law because they said it undermines freedom. But Bush said the act “has been vital to our success in tracking terrorists and disrupting their plans.” He noted that many key elements of the law are set to expire at the end of the year and said Congress must act quickly to renew it.

Chertoff accepted as new head of Homeland Security

Federal judge Michael Chertoff won Senate confirmation to head the Homeland Security Department. The Senate approved President Bush’s nomination of Chertoff to succeed Tom Ridge as secretary of the department, which was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The vote was 98-0, but it followed a spirited debate over an e-mail message FBI agents sent last year, at a time when Chertoff headed the criminal division of the Justice Department, seeking guidance about questioning terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The vote was delayed for a week as democrats criticized the Justice Department for refusing to release an unedited copy of the message.

Compiled by Sarah Moser from http://www.msnbc.com.