The Chicago studios of talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey and the iconic “Sears Tower” (renamed Willis Tower) were the targets of a terrorist truck-bomb plot in 2009. But initially unbeknownst to federal authorities, two of the conspirators recently were arrested for unrelated state crimes in different parts of the country. The alleged bombers targeted Ms. Winfrey’s Harpo Studios because they resented her popularity and power, while the tower was selected because of its obvious landmark status. The bomb plot itself, planned in 2009, was inspired by militant Islamist hatred of American military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to law enforcement and other sources interviewed by Judicial Watch.

Sources requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by terrorist bomb-plotter associates, as well as retaliation from embarrassed federal law enforcement agents who apparently mismanaged the subsequent counterterrorism case.

The alleged bomb plotters were based in El Paso, Texas and included two longtime friends and associates currently jailed for recent state crimes. They are:

• Emad Karakrah, currently held in Cook County, Illinois Jail on charges of making a false car bomb threat after leading police on a high-speed chase through Chicago with an ISIS flag waving from his car on August 28, 2014. Karakrah sought a plea bargain conference with Judge Evelyn Clay during his last court appearance on November 17, 2014. Karakrah’s public defender stated that she was waiting on additional discovery documents and an assistant state’s attorney disclosed that she was “looking for an FBI report.” Karakrah’s case was continued until December 3, 2014. It is not clear why Karakrah is not in federal custody pending terrorism charges.

• Hector Pedroza Huerta is an illegal alien currently held in the El Paso County Jail. On August 13, Huerta was arrested in El Paso for driving intoxicated, a crime he has been twice convicted of (in 2009 and 2011). The feds quickly took over, charging him for the third time in five years with “reentry of a deported alien,” court records show. A federal magistrate judge granted the government’s order to hold Huerta without bond on August 19 and a few weeks later Huerta pleaded not guilty to the immigration charges, according to court records obtained by JW. But on October 7 Huerta was granted a “rearraignment” that ended up getting reset to October 9. At that “rearraignment” the illegal alien changed his plea to guilty, court records show. He is scheduled for sentencing on December 16 at 9 a.m. in Courtroom 422 at the U.S. District Courthouse in El Paso. Like his friend, Karakrah, it is unclear why Huerta is not facing federal conspiracy charges associated with the Chicago bomb plot. U.S. District Court Judge Frank Montalvo, handling Huerta’s sentencing, had previously presided over one of Huerta’s prior immigration cases (in 2009)…

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By Fox News.

A St. Louis police officers’ group called on the NFL to punish five Rams players who stood with their hands raised before trotting onto the field for pregame introductions Sunday.

The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association said it was “profoundly disappointed” with what it called a “display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.” It called for the players involved to be disciplined and for both the league and team to issue a “very public apology.”

The so-called “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture has been commonly used by demonstrators protesting the decision of a St. Louis County grand jury to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the August 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in suburban Ferguson. Some witnesses said Brown, who was black, had his hands up before being fatally shot by Wilson, who is white.

Prior to kickoff of their game against the Oakland Raiders, Rams wide receivers Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt came out together and raised their hands, but the move was obscured by a smoke machine in the upper reaches of the Edward Jones Dome. Jared Cook, Stedman Bailey and Chris Givens then came out and stood together with hands raised in the fog.

“I just think there has to be a change,” Cook said after the Rams’ 52-0 win. “There has to be a change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world.

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‘Everyone Is Under Arrest!’: Portland Goes Berserk During Ferguson Protest

By Scott Greer.

Portland, Oregon might be two thousand miles away from Ferguson, Missouri, but that didn’t stop protesters from causing chaos in the city Saturday night in response to the non-indictment of Officer Darren Wilson.

Hundreds gathered in the Pacific Northwestern town to shout, march, jump on police SUVs, argue with fellow protesters about whether to fight cops, stage a “die in” and listen to Jesse Jackson give a speech urging non-violence.

“We must turn the pain of Ferguson into the… reconciling hope of love and care for one another. Red and yellow, brown, black and white, we’re all precious in God’s sight. Everybody is somebody,” Jackson said earlier that night, The Oregonian reports.

Several protesters apparently didn’t take heed to the activist’s words and immediately began provoking police.

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President Barack Obama’s executive order to spare some immigrants from deportation has galvanized Democrats, immigration groups and health care advocates in California to push for expanding health coverage to a segment of the population that remains uninsured.

The president’s action excludes immigrants who came to the country illegally from qualifying for federal health benefits. But California has its own policy of providing health coverage with state money to low-income immigrants with so-called “deferred action” that allow them to avoid deportation. Immigrant and health care advocates say that means Obama’s executive order will enable hundreds of thousands of low-income immigrants in California to apply for Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid.

Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said allowing this expanded group of immigrants to participate in the Medicaid program will enable people to get primary and preventive care, “rather than just at the emergency room.”

The California Department of Health Care Services, however, has yet to receive formal guidance. A state official said it’s too early to tell how the immigration program will impact the overall Medi-Cal program, which is consuming an increasing share of state funds.

Medi-Cal is a health program for the poor paid for by the federal government and the state. It has grown by about 3 million people in California under federal health care reform and now covers more than 11 million Californians, about 30 percent of the state’s population. The federal government is paying for the expansion, but the state will eventually pay 10 percent of additional costs to cover low-income adults, many of whom are childless.

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