Nation & Briefly Nov. 3

Third former worker says Cain behavior 'inappropriate' at restaurant association

WASHINGTON (AP) - A third former employee considered filing a workplace complaint against Herman Cain over what she deemed aggressive and unwanted behavior when she and Cain, now a Republican presidential candidate, worked together during the late 1990s, the woman told The Associated Press on Wednesday. She said the behavior included a private invitation to his corporate apartment.

The woman said he made sexually suggestive remarks or gestures about the same time that two co-workers had settled separate harassment complaints against Cain, who was then the head of the National Restaurant Association.

She did not file a formal complaint because she began having fewer interactions with Cain, she said. Afterward, she learned that a co-worker - one of the two women whose accusations have rocked Cain's campaign this week - had already done so. She said she would have had to file if they hadn't.

The woman spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying she feared retaliation. She was located and approached by the AP as part of its investigation into harassment complaints against Cain that were disclosed in recent days and have thrown his presidential campaign into turmoil. She said she was reluctant to describe the encounters she had with Cain when they worked together at the Washington-based restaurant trade group.

The employee described in conversations with the AP over several days situations in which she said Cain told her that he had confided to colleagues how attractive she was and invited her to his corporate apartment outside work.

Feds: 4 Ga. men accused of plotting bomb and poison attacks

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) - In the violent underground novel "Absolved," right-wing militia members upset about gun control make war against the U.S. government. This week, federal prosecutors accused four elderly Georgia men of plotting to use the book as a script for a real-life wave of terror and assassination involving explosives and the highly lethal poison ricin.

The four suspected militia members allegedly boasted of a "bucket list" of government officials who needed to be "taken out"; talked about scattering ricin from a plane or a car speeding down a highway past major U.S. cities; and scouted IRS and ATF offices, with one man saying, "We'd have to blow the whole building like Timothy McVeigh."

Federal investigators said they had them under surveillance for at least seven months, infiltrating their meetings at a Waffle House, homes and other places, before finally arresting them Tuesday, just days after discovering evidence they were trying to extract ricin from castor beans.

"While many are focused on the threat posed by international violent extremists, this case demonstrates that we must also remain vigilant in protecting our country from citizens within our own borders who threaten our safety and security," said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.

The four gray-haired men - Frederick Thomas, 73; Dan Roberts, 67; Ray Adams, 65; and Samuel Crump, 68 - appeared in federal court Wednesday without entering a plea and were jailed for a bail hearing next week. They apparently had trouble hearing the judge, some of them cupping their ears.

Texas judge investigated over YouTube video of him beating teenage daughter with belt

ROCKPORT, Texas (AP) - Police launched an investigation Wednesday into an online video that shows a Texas family law judge profanely berating and repeatedly lashing his 16-year-old daughter with a belt.

The nearly 8-minute video, which has been viewed more than 600,000 times on YouTube since being uploaded last week, shows Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams violently whipping a girl in the legs more than dozen times and growing increasingly irate while she screams and refuses to turn over on a bed to be beaten.

"Lay down or I'll spank you in your (expletive) face," Adams screams. The girl wails and pleads for him to stop.

The person who uploaded the video on YouTube signs the post as Hillary Adams, the judge's daughter and the target of the beating. The post says the video was filmed in 2004.

Hillary Adams did not respond to messages from The Associated Press via email and Twitter on Wednesday, and efforts to reach her by phone were not immediately successful.

China spacecraft make first successful docking as country pursues space station goal

BEIJING (AP) - China moved one step closer to setting up its own space station early Thursday, with two spacecraft docking successfully above the earth.

The state-run Xinhua News Agency said the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou 8 docked with the Tiangong 1 module now in orbit as China moved ahead with its most ambitious space project to date. Shenzhou 8 launched Tuesday from a base in far western China.

China launched its own space station program after being turned away in its repeated attempts to join the 16-nation International Space Station. That was largely on objections from the United States, which is wary of the Chinese space program's military links.

Xinhua said China joins the U.S. and Russia as the only countries to master the space docking technique.

In terms of technology, the launch of the Tiangong-1 places China about where the U.S. was in the 1960s during the Gemini program. But space experts have said that China progresses farther than the U.S. did with each launch it undertakes.

Chicago alderman proposes easing marijuana law

CHICAGO (AP) - A Chicago alderman says he's found a way for the city to raise desperately needed cash that will also keep more police officers on the street: Marijuana.

Alderman Danny Solis introduced an ordinance to the City Council on Wednesday that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana a ticketable offense with a $200 fine rather than a misdemeanor that carries jail time. He estimates the change would generate $7 million a year and, since the vast majority of such cases are dismissed, would save police and courthouse workers money and time.

"In these trying times of the economy, we could really use the revenue generated by fines versus arrests," Solis said. "And each (arrest) means police officers are spending an inordinate amount of time outside the neighborhoods, inside the district offices doing paperwork."

Similar laws exist around the country, but unlike in other states and cities where the debate has often focused on marijuana use, the discussions in Chicago have centered almost entirely on money and wasted resources.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has not endorsed the ordinance, but said recently that a member of the police department's gang unit made a similar suggestion, and he had passed the idea on to Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and his first deputy.

Bieber spokeswoman denies he fathered a child

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An allegation that Justin Bieber fathered a baby by a woman who has filed a paternity suit is "demonstrably false," a spokeswoman for the singer said Wednesday.

Melissa Victor said in a statement that Bieber's camp will "vigorously pursue all available legal remedies" in response to the allegation.

"While we haven't yet seen the lawsuit, it's sad that someone would fabricate malicious, defamatory and demonstrably false claims," Victor said.

Online court records show Mariah Yeater filed a paternity lawsuit against Bieber on Monday in San Diego Superior Court. California law keeps paternity matters confidential but Radar Online posted a copy of the lawsuit on its site.

Yeater, 20, said she had sex with Bieber after one of his concerts at the Staples Center in October 2010, according to the posted suit. She said she gave birth to a boy in July and believes the teen heartthrob is the father because there were no other possible men she had sex with at that time.