reporter: good odds for improving public education. randi kaye, cnn, rochester, new york. much more from the gulf still ahead, including my interview with country superstar trace adkins who used to work on a rig out in the gulf. first joe johns joins us with the 360 bulletin. utah inmate set to be executed by firing squad. the court released its decision hours before ronnie lee gardner is scheduled to be put to death. gardner was convicted for the 1985 murder of attorney michael burdell during an attempted courthouse escape. the suspect in last month s times square bombing attempt was indicted today by a federal grand jury. faisal shahzad faces ten counts of conspiracy and attempted use of weapons of mass destruction to terrorism. six of the charges carry a maximum life sentence. and continued anxiety over
demanded he take back his apology to bp or lose his senior position on the committee. hours later, this. i want the record to be absolutely clear that i think bp is responsible for this accident and if anything i ve said this morning has been misconstrued in an opposite effect, i want to apologize for that misconstrued, misconstruction. reporter: later, barton issued a written statement saying flatly, i retract my apology to bp. one senior gop source told me republicans forced that because they ve been saying bp bears responsibility and barton s comments allows democrats to see say, you see, republicans are beholden to big oil. dana bash, cnn. lot of politics today. julia reed, contributing editor for newsweek and author and
at the hearing. the company ended up winning and was awarded $3.9 million. the best practice that s out there and i think what judges across the country are encouraged to do is when there is any doubt, put some sunshine on the problem. turn your cards face up, to mix metaphors and basically make it clear to the parties what your potential interests are. reporter: which brings us back to bp and why it would like judge hughes to oversee the oil spill lawsuits. bp told us, quote, bp believes that judge lynn hughes, to whom the first filed federal case in houston was assigned, is an appropriate choice to provide oversight of these cases. this isn t a rank and file case. this is a case involving a couple hundred cases involving the biggest oil disaster in the history of the country where we ought to be especially concerned about public confidence in the judiciary. reporter: cnn examined judge hughes rulings on oil and gas cases going back three years.
in fact, he ruled in favor of oil companies just a little more often than he ruled against them. lawyers who know judge hughes tell cnn he s fair and tough, but environmental attorneys say even the request by bp to have this judge sit on the bench is, quote, outrageous and unseemly. abbie boudreau, cnn, atlanta. consolidating hundreds of lawsuits under a single judge is not unusual, especially in a case this massive. lawyers for toyota made the same request in lawsuits involving faulty gas pedals, bp s specific request to have their case filed under judge hughes puts a new spin on it. jeffrey toobin, is it unusual for a company like bp to actually name the judge they want? no, not at all. it is not surprising they want this case not in new orleans which is, of course, so emotionally affected by what s
young man during his early years in pakistan. government officials say he was from a small village near pashawar in northwest pakistan. his family and father eventually moved them to pashawar himself. spent a lot of time there and went to high school and even after he moved to the u.s., he came back and visited his family. we found his house in pashawar, his father s house. it was empty when our cnn crews got there, local residents telling cnn the father may have left earlier on tuesday. very interesting, his father identifieds a bahar ul haq, a retired air marshal, and by all accounts an upstanding citizen. but one focal point and another focal point, karachi, where according to intelligence forces, there was a raid tsds conducted in a house where faisal shahzad spent time over the past year and as many as three people are being detained and questioned at this hour as