Testimony

Until last month, the strongest evidence in drug and drunk driving cases in courtrooms across the nation often was a piece of paper. A crime lab or Breathalyzer report would confirm that the defendant indeed had illegal drugs or a high level of alcohol in his or her system. But a Supreme Court decision has sent a jolt through that procedure. Now the prosecution must make a lab technician available to testify in person if the defendant demands it.

Al Qaeda has expanded its presence in Afghanistan, taking advantage of the sinking security situation to resurface in the country it was forced to flee seven years ago, the top U.S. military intelligence official testified Tuesday. Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, described Al Qaeda's efforts as one of the reasons for the Obama administration's decision last month to order additional troops to Afghanistan.

Senators and independent concert promoters took turns at a hearing Tuesday slamming a proposed merger of two of the biggest forces in the music industry -- Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and Live Nation Worldwide Inc. "It seems to be monopolistic, plain and simple," Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "This is not the American dream, as the companies' witnesses might have you believe."

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sidestepped questions on abortion, gun rights and gay rights Wednesday -- including whether a state could forbid aborting a 38-week-old fetus -- leaving both conservative and liberal activists troubled. Sotomayor, relying on her long judicial record, gave detailed explanations of her court decisions but steadfastly refused to engage Republicans who were interested in her views on abortion, the 2nd Amendment and same-sex marriage.

During testimony regarding development of oil and gas reserves at the Point Thomson field, lawmakers questioned the accuracy of geologic studies presented by the state. Most of the data on which the studies are based are incomplete and come directly from Exxon Mobil Corp. The oil company gathered the data more than 20 years ago but has not drilled a new well since 1982, according to testimony. "How can we make a good decision about Point Thomson if the data is not good?" said state Sen. Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage)

An immigration raid in which nearly 400 people were arrested scarred a small town and tore families apart, residents told a visiting congressional delegation. The May raid in Postville -- at Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meatpacking plant, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials -- was the largest of its kind in U.S. history. Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Albio Sires (D-N.J.) and Joe Baca (D-Rialto), members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, heard three hours of often emotional testimony.

Stephen Abraham, a Newport Beach lawyer and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, hardly seemed like whistle-blower material. A decorated intelligence officer, he served after 9/11 as lead counter-terrorism analyst at the Joint Intelligence Center at Pearl Harbor. He was a longtime Republican, a patriot devoted to protecting national security.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte and their former strength coach Brian McNamee were asked Friday to testify Jan. 16 before a congressional committee exploring performance-enhancing drug use in baseball. Former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, whose allegations were a central part of last month's report by former Sen. George Mitchell on doping in baseball, also was invited to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep.

A "blood diamond" expert offered the first testimony in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Monday, and a Sierra Leone miner said in videotaped evidence that laughing rebels hacked off his hands and burned his family. The trial before the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to try those behind the 1991-2002 civil war, resumed after a six-month adjournment that began in June when Taylor boycotted proceedings and fired his lawyer.

Testifying with the confidence and poise of the expert witness he once was, disgraced Los Angeles police Officer Ruben Palomares told a federal court jury Tuesday how he went from being an idealistic young officer who wanted to be a role model for troubled kids to a cynical and corrupt cop at the center of a home-invasion robbery ring. Dressed in a green prison jumpsuit, Palomares faced the jury, often arching his eyebrows or gesturing as best he could in handcuffs to help make his points.