Cops credit civilians for arrest

WASHINGTON — Civilian employees rather than police stopped an armed intruder at the U.S. Capitol, authorities acknowledged Friday, adding new details to an embarrassing security breach.

Carlos Greene, 20, accused of carrying a loaded handgun and crack cocaine, assaulted a civilian employee and struggled with another before a third subdued him, police said, adding that officers arrived seconds later.

"It was the civilians who did have him corralled," said Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol police spokeswoman. "We were hot on his trail. We just didn't get there in time."

On Monday, after the arrest, acting Capitol Police Chief Christopher McGaffin said his officers subdued Greene outside a basement office that distributes flags to lawmakers.

U.S. Magistrate John Facciola, meanwhile, ordered Greene held without bond on a charge of illegally possessing a firearm.

Green Party short on signatures

The Green Party's U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania fell about 9,000 signatures short of the number he needs to qualify for the Nov. 7 ballot as counting stopped Friday, according to his lawyers and those of state Democrats.

A review of the signatures Carl Romanelli gathered in his bid to compete against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey was suspended Friday under a state judge's order.

Romanelli, a railroad-industry consultant, needed 67,070 signatures to qualify for statewide office this year. His candidacy was expected to help Santorum's chances for re-election by drawing votes from Casey.

Candidate-linked brokerage pays debt

A real-estate-brokerage house associated with Democratic House candidate Heath Shuler belatedly paid more than $69,000 in unpaid taxes Friday after The Associated Press raised questions with the campaign.

Shuler, a former star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, has a 20 percent stake in the Knoxville-based business, Heath Shuler Real Estate, which he founded with his brother, Benjie, in 1998. They sold it in 2003 to four men who formed HSRE and HSRE Properties but kept the football player's name.

A recent review of tax records found the businesses had been chronically delinquent in paying their local taxes.

Jason Rudd, a lawyer for Shuler in Jackson, Tenn., said he threatened the three principal owners — Robert Browder, Charlie Hicks and Jack Cornett — with legal action on Shuler's behalf if they did not pay the delinquent taxes immediately.

Late Friday, Shuler's attorneys filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop HSRE and HSRE Properties from using the name "Heath Shuler."

Shuler is running for the House in western North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, seeking to unseat eight-term Republican Rep. Charles Taylor. The race is among those Democrats have high hopes of winning.

Libby plans to take stand at trial

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff plans to take the stand at his upcoming trial to tell jurors that he never lied to investigators in the CIA leak case, defense attorneys said Friday.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is charged with perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI about his conversations in 2003 with reporters regarding Valerie Plame's CIA job.

Libby plans to testify about President Bush's daily terrorism briefings and other classified information to convince jurors that he had more important things on his mind at the time and didn't remember his discussions with reporters, attorneys said in court papers filed Friday night.

The documents were filed as part of Libby's bid to use classified information at his trial in January.

Prosecutors oppose the use of many documents, saying Libby is trying to torpedo the case by demanding information that is too sensitive to be released at trial. Such a tactic is used to get a case dismissed.

Compiled from The Associated Press