World/Nation

Defense nominee has worked his way up quietly

WASHINGTON - No household name, Ashton Carter has earned his stripes in the national security trenches the quiet way. For decades he has toiled as a defense thinker and strategist, nuclear expert, three-time Pentagon executive, budget guru and academician.

He never served in the military or in Congress, unlike many defense secretaries, including the man he would replace if President Barack Obama nominates him as Chuck Hagel's successor. But he spent a lot of time with troops during his 2011-2013 stint as deputy defense secretary and has built relationships with an entire generation of military leaders during his years in the Pentagon.

Administration officials said Tuesday that Carter, 60, is expected to be Obama's nominee, putting him in line to take over a far-flung, hard-to-manage department that has had an uneasy relationship with the White House.

Obama spokesman Josh Earnest stopped short of confirming that the president had made a decision, yet praised Carter effusively for serving "very, very ably" at the Pentagon previously and noted he had been easily confirmed by the Senate before.

Woman claims Cosby abused her as teen, sues

LOS ANGELES - Bill Cosby was sued Tuesday by a Southern California woman who claims the comedian molested her in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15 years old.

Judy Huth's sexual battery lawsuit does not specify how much she is seeking from Cosby, who has in recent weeks faced renewed accusations that he drugged and sexually assaulted more than a dozen women for many years.

Huth's lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, however, is the first time that a woman has claimed she was underage when she was abused, and it is the first lawsuit Cosby has faced claiming sexual abuse since 2005.

Huth's lawsuit states that she and a 16-year-old friend first met Cosby at a Los Angeles-area film shoot and the comedian gave the girls drinks a week later at a tennis club.

The lawsuit states that Cosby took them to the Playboy Mansion after several drinks, and told the teenagers to lie and say they were 19 years old if asked. Her lawsuit states Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him.

Police: Brown's stepfather may have fueled riots

ST. LOUIS - Police are investigating Michael Brown's stepfather for angry comments on the streets of Ferguson after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who fatally shot his stepson, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Officials want to talk to Louis Head about his comments as part of a broader investigation into the arson, vandalism and looting that followed the Nov. 24 grand jury announcement, St. Louis County Police spokesman Brian Schellman said. Twelve commercial buildings were destroyed by fire.

Brown, 18, who was black and unarmed, was killed Aug. 9 by Darren Wilson, who is white. Wilson, who resigned from the Ferguson department last weekend, had told the grand jury his life was being threatened, but some witnesses said Brown was trying to surrender.

Video widely circulated after last week's grand jury announcement shows Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, on top of a car and breaking down as the decision blares over a stereo. Head, her husband, comforts her then yells angry comments, including "Burn this bitch down!"

Family attorney Benjamin Crump has called the reaction "raw emotion," but "completely inappropriate." He did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday.

GOP plans to challenge Obama on immigration

WASHINGTON - Year-end holidays beckoning, House Republicans struggled Tuesday to coalesce behind a plan that avoids a government shutdown next week and simultaneously challenges President Barack Obama's decision to spare millions of immigrants from deportation.

A separate bipartisan bill to extend dozens of expiring tax breaks was on a more certain track for approval, even though it would increase federal red ink by an estimated $44 billion over a decade. Republicans supported it, although they intend to mount a strong anti-deficit campaign next year, and the White House signaled that Obama would sign the one-year measure after threatening to veto a longer-term version.

Taxes, spending and immigration are the dominant issues in the final few weeks of a two-year Congress that has been a hothouse for partisan gridlock - and that seemed on track for one final showdown if not more.

After meeting privately with the House GOP rank and file, Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said Obama's actions on immigration were a "serious breach of our Constitution."

The administration countered, noting that for decades, presidents have used executive authority to enhance immigration policy.

- The Associated Press