Police Arrest Armed Man During Obama Address
U.S. Capitol Police arrested a Virginia man Wednesday they say tried to drive into a secure area near the Capitol with a shotgun and rifle in his car as the president gave his health care address to Congress, The Associated Press reports. Joshua Bowman, 28, of Falls Church, Va., was arrested around 8 p.m. Wednesday and charged with two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of unlawful possession of ammunition. Each carries a possible one-year jail sentence and $1,000 fine. Bowman’s intentions were unclear, said police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington decided against prosecuting him on more serious charges, said spokesman Benjamin Friedman. Schneider said Bowman approached a security checkpoint near the Cannon House Office Building in a four-door Honda Civic and told officers he wanted to park. People who want to drive into the area must have a permit and have their vehicles searched. The timing of the request raised an officer’s suspicion, Schneider said, and Bowman consented to a vehicle search. A shotgun, rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition were found in Bowman’s trunk, said Erica Stanley, a spokeswoman for the District of Columbia mayor’s office.

ACORN Accused of Giving Advice to Pimp Poser
ACORN, an advocacy group for the poor that has been targeted by conservatives because of its work registering Democrats to vote, has fired two workers who allegedly gave tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman pretending to be a prostitute. On a hidden video camera, obtained by FOX News Channel, a man and woman visiting ACORN’s Baltimore office asked about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman’s income. An ACORN employee advised the woman to list her occupation as “performance artist,” Fox reports. When the duo tells the ACORN worker that they plan on hiring teenage girls from Central America as prostitutes, the employee suggested that up to three of the girls could be claimed as dependents, according to transcripts of the video posted online by conservative activist James O’Keefe. O’Keefe told FOX he posed as the pimp and that he was shocked by the ACORN employees’ helpfulness. Margaret Williams, a board member of the Maryland branch of ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said that the video is merely an attempt by conservatives to smear her group. She noted that no tax returns were ever filed and no assistance provided.

TAGS: ACORN, conservatives, poor people, voter advocacy

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