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By The Associated Press

Cell phone video shows police beating of student

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A cell phone video that shows police officers repeatedly hitting an unarmed university student with batons and a Taser gun has prompted a criminal investigation into the officers' conduct, a San Jose police spokesman said.

The video, posted by the San Jose Mercury News on its Web site late Saturday, shows one officer hitting 20-year-old Vietnamese student Phuong Ho with a metal baton more than 10 times, including once on the head. Another officer is seen using his Taser gun on the San Jose State math major.

The final baton strike in last month's incident appears to take place after handcuffs have been attached to Ho's wrists. The last baton strike ought to bring a felony charge, said Roger Clark, a police expert and a retired lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

"It takes me back to the day I saw the Rodney King video on TV," said Clark. The 1991 videotaped beating of the black motorist in Los Angeles resulted in charges against several officers and their acquittal the following year spawned a riot.

Officers arrested Ho on suspicion of assaulting one of his roommates. He was not armed when police arrived and he told the newspaper he did not resist arrest.

The confrontation began Sept. 3 when Ho's roommate, Jeremy Suftin, put soap on Ho's steak. The two scuffled, and Ho picked up a steak knife, saying that in his home country he would have killed Suftin for doing what he did.

Police were called, and four officers responded.

Officer Kenneth Siegel encountered Ho in the hallway, but could not understand the student's accent, police reports said. Ho then ignored a police command to stand still, reports said.

When Ho tried to follow Siegel into his room, officer Steven Payne Jr. moved to handcuff Ho. Payne wrote in his report that he pushed the student into a wall and then forced him to the floor when he resisted being handcuffed.

Ho, who weighs more than 200 pounds (90 kilograms), said his glasses fell off. As he went to pick them up, the officers struck him, he said.

Another one of Ho's roommates, Dimitri Masouris, captured the events on his cell phone. An officer can be heard on the video shouting, "Turn over!" Ho can be heard moaning and crying as he's struck.

"In philosophy, they call it 'dehumanization,"' Ho told the Mercury News. "So when they think me a dangerous guy, they don't treat me like I was human. They hit me like an animal or something."

Masouris said he considered the police response excessive. He sold the tape to San Jose lawyer Duyen Hoang Nguyen, who is representing Ho.

The Mercury News obtained a copy of the video and showed it to Daniel Katz, San Jose's assistant police chief. The police department is taking the matter very seriously, he said.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said the incident would be investigated by the internal affairs division of the San Jose Police Department and the results forwarded to the Santa Clara County district attorney for possible criminal prosecution.

"Both investigations must respect the constitutionally guaranteed right of due process, which belongs to all parties to an investigation," Reed said Sunday in a statement.

The city's large Vietnamese-American community is already angry over the police shooting of a mentally ill Vietnamese man in May, the newspaper said in an editorial about Ho's beating. The lack of public disclosure in the investigation that followed was also a problem, the paper said.

Police experts said the grainy, shaky video is difficult to view and may not show actions by Ho that justified the officers' response. Nevertheless, several said the video raises serious concerns.

"Once he is handcuffed, then he is helpless," said Frank Jordan, a former San Francisco police chief and mayor. "If you can show that his hands are behind his back, and he is handcuffed, that is where you get brutality. That would be excessive force."

Siegel and Payne didn't respond to written requests for comment sent through department officials and their union.

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On the Net: Cell phone video of beating

Union: Firm mistreated teachers from Philippines

By KEVIN McGILL

Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A teachers' union is claiming that a Calfornia-based firm that recruited teachers from the Philippines to work in Louisiana schools made the educators pay fees of $15,000 or more.

The American Federation of Teachers filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor calling for an investigation. The complaint, dated Tuesday, follows similar ones the union's state affiliate filed last month with Louisiana officials.

The union says California-based Universal Placement International and its president, Lourdes "Lulu" Navarro, collected the fees from teachers they recruited in the Philippines.

The union also alleges the company uses immigration documents to intimidate and coerce teachers. For instance, Universal arranged for one-year-visas, instead of more commonly used three-year visas, and charged the renewal fees to the teachers, not the school systems, AFT said.

Navarro also allegedly insisted on making the living arrangement for teachers, placing them in apartments where they were charged high rentals.

She exerted influence over the teachers by holding on to their immigration documents, thereby controlling their ability to return to the Philippines for holidays or bring their relatives to the U.S. for visits, the complaint alleges.

"It is AFT's position that Universal's acts constitute document servitude and violate federal criminal statutes as well," the complaint letter states.

The AFT also said teachers hired in Caddo and Baton Rouge were not paid commensurate with their experience.

Navarro did not return calls for comment. Her California office referred calls to a Baton Rouge public relations firm, which did not immediately return a call Thursday afternoon.

The unions say more than 300 Filipino teachers currently work in the school systems of Avoyelles, Caddo, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson and Lafourche parishes, the city of Monroe and the special state district that took over most public schools in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Teachers recruited by Navarro have been reluctant to speak, according to the LFT. One who did, Ingrid Cruz, a teacher in Baton Rouge, said Navarro exerted strong control over the recruited teachers, dictating where they would live and who they could associate with -- even trying to limit her recruits' contacts with other Filipinos.

"She made us sign a letter, addressing it to the Greater Filipino Association of Greater Baton Rouge, telling them that we are not associating ourselves with them," Cruz said in a recent telephone interview from the Baton Rouge magnet school where she teaches robotics.

Cruz said she racked up thousands of dollars in debt in order to pay Navarro, Universal and a sister company, PARS International, so she could line up a teaching job in Louisiana and pursue a graduate degree. She estimated her salary has risen to roughly $46,000 -- up from around $37,000 when she started -- and she has paid off the loans she got from a reputable bank.

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On the Net:

The AFT's complaint: http://www.aft.org/topics/migration/USDOL-Complaint102009.pdf

Hawaii Sen. Inouye moves up in seniority

By MARK NIESSE

Associated Press Writer

HONOLULU (AP) -- Sen. Daniel Inouye becomes the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history on Thursday, a landmark for the powerful lawmaker who has held a seat in Congress for as long as Hawaii has been a state.

Inouye has been in office in the U.S. Senate for nearly 47 years. He passes Sen. Edward Kennedy in seniority following the Aug. 25 death of his longtime Democratic colleague from Massachusetts.

"It's an achievement to think I lasted this long," said Inouye, who manages much of the nation's money as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "During that time, I've witnessed many historic events, participated in some of them and I've found that each day was a new and exciting one."

The 85-year-old senator who lost his right arm in combat during World War II went on to serve as a member of the Watergate investigative committee in the 1970s and chairman of the Iran-Contra probe in the 1980s.

In recent years, Inouye has become known for his ability to bring federal money to his home state, and he even declared himself "the No. 1 earmarks guy in the U.S. Congress" in August.

As the first Japanese-American to serve in both the Senate and House of Representatives, Inouye said he's proud to have helped advance civil rights.

"Because of my color and ancestry, people expected me to play a role," Inouye said. "To find myself today serving as chairman of the Appropriations Committee is a great honor."

With 17,095 days in the Senate, Inouye trails only West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd and the late South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond in career longevity. Inouye will catch up with Thurmond in eight months, and he's still about four years behind the 91-year-old Byrd.

Inouye has been able to expand his authority because he shows respect for Republicans as well as Democrats, said Robbie Alm, executive vice president for Hawaiian Electric Co. who worked as a legislative assistant for the senator 30 years ago.

"He's served so long in part because he's able to walk through that building without having to worry that there are a lot of knives aimed at his back," Alm said.

By all accounts, Inouye remains mentally sharp as he seeks his ninth senatorial term next year.

"One of the things Dan has been able to avoid is any sign of losing intelligence or awareness or any of the things we stereotype with old age. As long as that's the case, people's memories of him will be very strong," University of Hawaii political scientist Neal Milner said.

Inouye was Hawaii's first full member in the House of Representatives when he took office the same day the islands became a state 50 years ago, on Aug. 21, 1959. Three years later, he was elected to the Senate.

As he moved up in seniority and influence, he has been able to help steer billions of dollars toward Hawaii on projects including astronomy facilities, university research, the military's Pacific Command headquarters and the Pacific Missile Range.

"He's done so much for us in Hawaii for so long, that sometimes we forget that he's become a true national leader, paving the way for so many people and influencing policy on matters of war and peace," said Brian Schatz, chairman of the Hawaii Democratic Party.

Hawaii pulls down the second-most money per capita in earmarks, at $227 per person, the budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense reported in 2008. Hawaii trails only Alaska in per capita earmark spending.

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On the Net: Longest serving senators

Alaska woman competes on 'Survivor Philippines'

By JEFF RICHARDSON

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- Amanda Coolley spent a good part of her summer on an island in the South Pacific, but it was no vacation for the 25-year-old Fairbanksan.

The West Valley High School graduate was a castaway for 39 days on "Survivor Philippines," a cousin of the popular show that has aired in the United States for the past decade. Along with 15 other contestants, she lived on the island nation of Palau, where they scavenged for food, faced daily physical challenges and tried to outwit back-stabbing teammates.

Coolley said she can't divulge details of the most recent episodes of the show, since not all of them have aired yet, but she confirmed that it wasn't easy.

"It was the real thing," she said with a laugh.

The live season finale is on Nov. 13, when the champion will be revealed. The winner of "Survivor Philippines" gets 3 million pesos -- the equivalent of about $63,000.

"It's not $1 million, but it's a lot of money," Coolley said.

Countries around the world have created their own versions of "Survivor," which maroons a cast of competitors in a remote location. A different character is eliminated each week by a series of contests and votes from other contestants.

Coolley said she was only vaguely familiar with the show before being cast and said her appearance was mostly a result of chance. She happened to be visiting the Philippines with her mother, Arceli, during auditions.

She decided to apply and made her way through six rounds of auditions and thousands of potential candidates to be selected for the show.

Coolley said there was plenty that set her apart.

She works as a construction laborer, which is a taboo profession for a woman in the Philippines. Her mother is from the Philippines, but Coolley has an American father and doesn't look especially Filipino. She lived in the Philippines until age 16 and speaks a rural dialect of Tagalog, but has lived in Alaska since her family moved in 2000.

Coolley said that unusual background earned her a nickname on the show that translates as "half-breed country girl."

"I stuck out like a sore thumb," she said. "They said, 'You're sure you're Filipino?' I have freckles and everything."

Coolley said she wasn't sure if the show would be a challenge or whether most of the difficult moments were created in the editing room. After spending more than a month foraging for crabs, clams and coconuts -- and unsuccessfully using her earrings as fishing lures -- she can verify that the hardships are authentic. Coolley was already slender but managed to lose 13 pounds in Palau.

"They give you a little bit of rice so you don't die," she said.

The low point might have been a challenge to eat a pair of boiled fruit bats. Coolley said she immediately pulled the heads off so they wouldn't be as identifiable.

"It looked like a little dog looking back at me," she said. "That was pretty gnarly."

Despite the queasy moments, Amanda's father, Lloyd Coolley, said the experience has been a thrill for his family. Her parents and two brothers, Bolton and Ashton Ballew, have been keeping up with the show by watching online.

Lloyd Coolley said Amanda has always had a daring streak and that her emergence as a Filipino reality-TV star isn't a shock.

"I wasn't surprised at all," Lloyd Coolley said. "My daughter is quite a character."

Coolley was surrounded by 15 other colorful contestants on the show. The descriptions on the show's Web site include a "Sexy Chef," "Brainy Model," "Terror Teacher," "Model Hunk" and "Chickboy I.T. Professional."

Transcripts of the show and cast biographies are available in English at www.survivorphilippines.com, although the translation can be a little awkward. The site warns that "one will do an outrage" and "one will do the baby cry" in episode 45, "The Conspiracy of Fools: Failed Alliance."

Win or lose, Coolley wants to make her trip back to the Philippines worthwhile. After seeing online videos of the destruction caused by flooding in Manila in September, she's collected more than $1,000 from friends and relatives to take to a relief shelter there.

"I just wanted to give a little help from Alaska, show that we do care," she said.

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Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

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