Midday Roundup: IRS mismanagement blamed in targeting scandal

Red tape. In a report issued lated yesterday, a Senate committee said poor management by the IRS allowed agents to mistreat conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. Though much of the blame fell on former IRS official Lois Lerner, who directed the division that processes the tax-exempt applications, organizational mismanagement allowed her department to run amok without adequate oversight, according to the Senate Finance Committee. Republicans and Democrats remain divided on how much the Obama administration influenced the IRS during the scandal. Republicans say a liberal agenda guided Lerner and the IRS, while Democrats argue it was just plain bureaucratic dysfunction.

Washing up. More possible airplane parts have washed ashore on Réunion Island in the Western Indian Ocean. French investigators say a piece of a wing found last week on the island most likely came from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished over the Indian Ocean in April 2014. Now the Malaysian transport ministry says experts will test pieces of windows, seat cushions, and aluminum found on the island to see if they also belong to the missing plane.

Freed. A Sudanese judge on Wednesday ordered the release of two Christian pastors held on charges such as espionage and undermining the constitution. The arrests of the Revs. Michael Ruot and Peter Reith came amid intense persecution of Christians in Sudan. Christian organizations pressured Sudan to drop the charges, and a judge eventually convicted the pastors of a lesser charge and released them for time served. “We are very happy now we are free because of your prayers,” Reith said in a statement. “Thank you for all that you have done for us. God heard your prayers and we are free!”

Theater attack. The attacker at a Tennessee movie theater Wednesday had a history of mental illness and had been committed several times. Vicente David Montano attacked moviegoers with pepper spray and a hatchet during a showing of Mad Max: Fury Road, then pulled a pellet gun. He was shot and killed by police as he tried to exit the theater. Montano had paranoid schizophrenia and was homeless, according to a missing person report filed by his mother, The Tennessean reported.

Abortion vote. The Chilean Chamber of Deputies’ health committee decided this week to consider a bill to legalize abortion within the first 12 weeks in cases of rape, high-risk pregnancies, or if the baby is not expected to survive. Chile is one of fewer than 10 countries that still prohibits abortion in all cases. Its absolute ban on abortions began in the last years of General Augusto Pinochet’s 1973-1990 dictatorship. Women who break the law currently serve as many as five years in prison. Socialist President Michelle Bachelet proposed the bill in January as part of her campaign promise to legalize abortion during her term. A former physician, Bachelet has argued illegal abortions are a health risk to Chileans. Although Bachelet’s popularity recently reached a new low, her liberal reforms are gaining acceptance in the socially conservative nation. In 2013, 80 percent of Chilean women surveyed by feminist human rights group Humana approved of decriminalizing abortion. But religious leaders published newspaper ads Sunday urging Christian legislators to vote against the bill, sparking protests from officials and representatives.

Katlyn Babyak contributed to this report.