A kid v. two cops—A police sergeant in South Tucson, Arizona, has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in handcuffing a nine-year-old girl and then subjecting her to a Taser stun gun. The story is that two cops were trying to prevent her from running away from a children’s residential psychiatric center. The cops said that in the patrol car, after she was handcuffed, she screamed, kicked, and banged her head. Then she got the Taser treatment. The county attorney said the cops had good reason to fear for her safety as well as their own.

Just practicing—Sean Baker, of the Army Military Police, was assigned to the U.S. prison at Guantánamo in Cuba. There, Baker was selected for a “training drill.” He was put in a cell wearing a prisoner jump suit and was told to be uncooperative. Four MPs came in and before he knew it, they were beating and choking him. He suffered permanent brain damage and was given a medical discharge. His case was investigated. No misconduct was found. It is now being reopened.

Take the money and run—Lawrence Lasser, former investment chief at Putnam, may be leaving under a cloud but he will take $78 million in severance pay. A spokesperson assured the deal won’t have “significant impact” on the company’s second-quarter income.

A fella with brass—Jeffery Barbakow has filed suit against WorldCom, once a telecommunications giant, but now bankrupt. Barbakow charges he lost “tens of millions of dollars “ because he was duped into believing the company was doing fine and he should hold onto his shares. Barbakow was top dog at Tenet Healthcare, a targeted ripoff medical care chain. When things were about to hit the fan, he deftly cashed in $111 million of his stock.

The sock-it-to-‘em system—General Mills is raising its prices from 2 percent to 9 percent. Items covered include processed food, dairy products, etc., and Progresso soup. The last time we looked, the soup was $1.97 a can.  
 
 
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