Rep. Gohmert/gov photo

WASHINGTON -- The prosecutors who concealed evidence to score a conviction against the late Sen. Ted Stevens should be disbarred, officials said at a congressional hearing Thursday.

“I don’t believe that the people that took Ted Steven’s life, how they should ever be able to practice law again,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, who added that he didn’t personally like Stevens, but felt the prosecution was an injustice.

A federal jury convicted in the Alaska senator of felony corruption in 2008 for lying about home renovations and other gifts he had received from executives of VECO Corp., an oil field services company.

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Shoshanna Utchenik

What seemed a childish prank may land one North Hollywood, Calif.  teen in prison for up to 10 years.

The L.A. Times reports that 18-year-old Adam Gardenhire was arrested on federal charges Wednesday for allegedly shining a green laser beam at a commercial Cessna plane and a Pasadena police helicopter.

Gardenhire was likely unaware of a new federal law aimed at curbing laser attacks, a strange trend that has increased as lasers become so affordable. Lasers pointed at aircraft from the ground have blinded pilots, forcing them to abort landings. California leads the nation in reported incidents with more than 3,500 laser attacks last year, the Times reported.

Gardenhire also faces civil penalties by the Federal Aviation Administration.

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Shoshanna Utchenik

The era haunted by first-hand memories of the JFK assassination is coming to an end.

Ex-FBI agent James Sibert died April 6 in Fort Myers, Florida, from complications following a fall. At age 93, he was the last surviving FBI agent to have attended JFK’s autopsy, according to the Naples News.

Naples News relays that among Sibert’s observations during the autopsy was that he “didn’t buy the single bullet theory,” which was key to the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman at Dealey Plaza that fateful day.”

Son Bob Sibert told Naples News that his father remained ambivalent about the media attention he received around the autopsy. “At the end, [my father] was denying interviews. He said ‘there’s nothing left to say.’” He conveyed that James Sibert preferred instead to be remembered as a “loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.”

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New roomier digs are coming in 2013 for one of the FBI’s smallest divisions.

WAVY.com reports that the FBI will move its Hampton Roads regional headquarters from Norfolk to Chesapeake, Virginia. Special Agent in Charge John Boles told WAVY.com the new three-story office building will be about twice the size of the current field office and will include  a dedicated emergency command center, a firearms training room, a SWAT team ready room and a secured sally port.

Vanessa Torres, spokeswoman for FBI Norfolk, explained to WAVY.com the agency has two field offices in the state. The Norfolk office and its 200 employees cover the “southeastern quadrant and the Eastern Shore.” The rest of Virginia is handled by agents from Richmond and D.C.

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When it comes to making a buck, the wise guys don’t seem to be so God-fearing.

The feds alleged that the Genovese Crime Family preyed on vendors at the feast of San Gennaro, New York City’s biggest, most famous and longest running religious festival.

On Wednesday, the  the U.S. Attorney’s office announced an 18-count indictment in Brooklyn on Wednesday for 11 members of the crime family and its associates for crimes ranging from shaking down vendors at the religious fest to gambling to extortion, union embezzlement and shaking down building subcontractors.

Authorities said the Genovese family holds key positions in the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT) in New York, and allegedly exploited these and other connections to pad their pockets.

The U.S. Attorney’s office described its ongoing fight against organized crime infiltrating NYC unions and businesses in a press release.

“Where others saw a city festival, urban renewal, and job growth, these defendants allegedly saw only a chance to line their pockets at the expense of hard working individuals. And when law enforcement began to probe their actions, one defendant allegedly went so far as to try to block that investigation,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Organized crime figures and union officials who seek to earn money by corrupting legitimate industry will be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Timothy McVeigh/fbi photo

We’ve come a long way in dealing with terrorism. The face of it has changed.

At the time, the Oklahoma bombing seemed so enormous. I was a reporter at the Detroit News at the time. I worked on the story day and night for three months before I ended up going on strike at the paper. I never returned to the paper.

But I never forgot the 168 people who died, among them 19 children under the age of 6.

Sure 9/11 dwarfed all that, and changed the terrorism landscape forever.

But we can’t lose focus on the local hate groups, on the potential for future lone wolves and haters like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who so desperately needed to have their voice heard.

And we can’t forget the 168 people who died.

An Oregon man claims he was tortured in the United Arab Emirates by interrogators cooperating with the FBI, which was investigating a Portland mosque, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Yonas Fikre said he was arrested in June and taken to an Abu Dhabi prison,according to the Times. It was there he claims he was beaten, threatened and isolated during three months of detention by interrogators working for the FBI.

The story is of particular interest since the FBI has long prided itself on not using torture — unlike the CIA — to glean information from people.

Fikre essentially alleged that the bureau used someone else to do the torture.

The Associated Press reported that the Portland FBI declined comment, but said agents are thoroughly trained as to what is permissible under U.S. Law.