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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Gov scandal changes landscape for 2010
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Gov. Mark Sanford's bombshell admission of an affair with an Argentine woman has touched off a delicate political dance among fellow Republicans vying to replace him when his term ends. The most awkward shuffle is being done by Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer — Sanford's second-in-command but not his ally — who would get a free 18-month audition for the post were Sanford to resign.
The scandal has crippled Sanford's political career, and state law would have prevented him from running for a third consecutive term anyway. The more pressing question is whether he would have already stepped down if not for behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the people who want his job.
Sanford told The Associated Press on Sunday he considered stepping down but didn't. He admitted last week to a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman, a confession that came after a trip to that country to see her that kept him out of touch with his family and staff, who had told the public he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
"To be human is to on occasion, fall flat on your face," Sanford told reporters Monday after a budget meeting at which he apologized, yet again. He had bags under his eyes. "I've done it in the most public of circles. The question is, what do I learn from it and what do others learn from it?"
Bauer, who said before the scandal that he would probably run in 2010, has not joined calls for Sanford to resign. He said Monday he is considering taking himself out of the running if it turns out that's the only thing keeping Sanford in office.
"The conversation now is more about Andre Bauer than the governor," Bauer said. "This really shouldn't be the debate. The debate should be, 'Is Mark Sanford in his heart of hearts comfortable in serving out his term?' This is a dark cloud over South Carolina. We need to move swiftly and move forward."
Rod Shealy, a longtime Bauer friend and adviser, said he believes the political interests of Bauer's potential opponents are "what's stopping the resignation that everyone has expected."
The other candidates, including a representative for Attorney General Henry McMaster, who is expected to run, insist that's not the case.
"There's no truth to it, from McMaster's point of view," political consultant Richard Quinn. "He wouldn't allow politics to be mixed with his work as attorney general."
And state Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, a Sanford ally who plans to run for his job in 2010, said she wants Sanford to stay because she is worried Bauer won't continue efforts to bring accountability to government. She insists her concern is not about her own race.
Bauer "has more often stood on the side of what used to be rather than what should be," Haley said. "It is the larger movement of where we're trying to go, that's what's been damaged this week, and I'm very concerned."
Bauer critics contend he's the one working behind the scenes — to oust Sanford. Sen. Jake Knotts, a longtime Sanford opponent and Bauer friend who brought to light that Sanford was missing, has called for law enforcement to investigate Sanford's disappearance and possible use of public money to see his mistress. The governor has admitted he asked Commerce to extend the itinerary of an economic development trip last year to include Argentina.
In an e-mail obtained by The New York Times, a political consultant for Bauer asked another national consultant for help getting Sanford out of office. Consultant Chris LaCivita, the e-mail's author, told the paper those efforts were separate from Bauer's work as lieutenant governor. And Bauer said LaCivita, who's been a paid consultant for six months, sent the e-mail on his own.
Bauer and Sanford are not friends, and the two have clashed for years. In South Carolina, governors and lieutenant governors run on different tickets, and in 2006, first lady Jenny Sanford threw her support behind Bauer's rival in a GOP primary runoff.
Bauer managed a come-from-behind primary runoff victory just weeks after surviving the fiery crash of a single-engine plane he was piloting. He hobbled along the campaign trail on crutches — including a 3.5-mile trek across a bridge from Mount Pleasant to Charleston — and waved to voters on roadsides statewide in 100-degree weather.
"Anybody who underestimates Andre Bauer does so to his own detriment," said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon. "None of the other candidates want to see Andre Bauer have a year and a half auditioning as governor."
Democrats planning to run for governor — including state Sens. Vincent Sheheen and Robert Ford — have been mostly quiet about Sanford's affair. Sheheen issued a statement asking people to respect the Sanford family's privacy and saying he's praying for Jenny Sanford.
by the associated press
The scandal has crippled Sanford's political career, and state law would have prevented him from running for a third consecutive term anyway. The more pressing question is whether he would have already stepped down if not for behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the people who want his job.
Sanford told The Associated Press on Sunday he considered stepping down but didn't. He admitted last week to a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman, a confession that came after a trip to that country to see her that kept him out of touch with his family and staff, who had told the public he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.
"To be human is to on occasion, fall flat on your face," Sanford told reporters Monday after a budget meeting at which he apologized, yet again. He had bags under his eyes. "I've done it in the most public of circles. The question is, what do I learn from it and what do others learn from it?"
Bauer, who said before the scandal that he would probably run in 2010, has not joined calls for Sanford to resign. He said Monday he is considering taking himself out of the running if it turns out that's the only thing keeping Sanford in office.
"The conversation now is more about Andre Bauer than the governor," Bauer said. "This really shouldn't be the debate. The debate should be, 'Is Mark Sanford in his heart of hearts comfortable in serving out his term?' This is a dark cloud over South Carolina. We need to move swiftly and move forward."
Rod Shealy, a longtime Bauer friend and adviser, said he believes the political interests of Bauer's potential opponents are "what's stopping the resignation that everyone has expected."
The other candidates, including a representative for Attorney General Henry McMaster, who is expected to run, insist that's not the case.
"There's no truth to it, from McMaster's point of view," political consultant Richard Quinn. "He wouldn't allow politics to be mixed with his work as attorney general."
And state Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, a Sanford ally who plans to run for his job in 2010, said she wants Sanford to stay because she is worried Bauer won't continue efforts to bring accountability to government. She insists her concern is not about her own race.
Bauer "has more often stood on the side of what used to be rather than what should be," Haley said. "It is the larger movement of where we're trying to go, that's what's been damaged this week, and I'm very concerned."
Bauer critics contend he's the one working behind the scenes — to oust Sanford. Sen. Jake Knotts, a longtime Sanford opponent and Bauer friend who brought to light that Sanford was missing, has called for law enforcement to investigate Sanford's disappearance and possible use of public money to see his mistress. The governor has admitted he asked Commerce to extend the itinerary of an economic development trip last year to include Argentina.
In an e-mail obtained by The New York Times, a political consultant for Bauer asked another national consultant for help getting Sanford out of office. Consultant Chris LaCivita, the e-mail's author, told the paper those efforts were separate from Bauer's work as lieutenant governor. And Bauer said LaCivita, who's been a paid consultant for six months, sent the e-mail on his own.
Bauer and Sanford are not friends, and the two have clashed for years. In South Carolina, governors and lieutenant governors run on different tickets, and in 2006, first lady Jenny Sanford threw her support behind Bauer's rival in a GOP primary runoff.
Bauer managed a come-from-behind primary runoff victory just weeks after surviving the fiery crash of a single-engine plane he was piloting. He hobbled along the campaign trail on crutches — including a 3.5-mile trek across a bridge from Mount Pleasant to Charleston — and waved to voters on roadsides statewide in 100-degree weather.
"Anybody who underestimates Andre Bauer does so to his own detriment," said Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon. "None of the other candidates want to see Andre Bauer have a year and a half auditioning as governor."
Democrats planning to run for governor — including state Sens. Vincent Sheheen and Robert Ford — have been mostly quiet about Sanford's affair. Sheheen issued a statement asking people to respect the Sanford family's privacy and saying he's praying for Jenny Sanford.
by the associated press
Judge stops Kansas law on signage
TOPEKA, Kan. — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a state law restricting roadside signs for strip clubs and sex shops, meaning the stores won’t have to take them down as expected this week.
The attorney general’s office is deciding how to proceed in the case, given U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson’s ruling.
Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Steve Six, pointed out that similar laws in Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri have been struck down.
The Kansas law, enacted in 2006, was scheduled to take effect Wednesday.
by the associated press
The attorney general’s office is deciding how to proceed in the case, given U.S. District Judge Julie A. Robinson’s ruling.
Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Steve Six, pointed out that similar laws in Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri have been struck down.
The Kansas law, enacted in 2006, was scheduled to take effect Wednesday.
by the associated press
U.S. troops turn major cities over to Iraq
BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces assumed formal control of Baghdad and other cities today after American troops handed over security in urban areas in a defining step toward ending the U.S. combat role in the country.
A countdown clock broadcast on Iraqi television ticked to zero as the midnight deadline passed for U.S. combat troops to finish their pullback to bases outside cities.
"The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security,” said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We are now celebrating the restoration of sovereignty.”
The Pentagon did not offer any comment to mark the passing of the deadline.
Fireworks, not bombings, colored the Baghdad skyline late Monday, and thousands attended a party in a park where singers performed patriotic songs. Loudspeakers at police stations and military checkpoints played recordings of similar tunes throughout the day, as Iraqi military vehicles patrolled the capital.
"All of us are happy — Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on this day,” Waleed al-Bahadili said as he celebrated at the park. "The Americans harmed and insulted us too much.”
Al-Maliki declared a public holiday and proclaimed June 30 as National Sovereignty Day.
Midnight’s handover to Iraqi forces filled many citizens with pride but also trepidation that government forces are not ready and that violence will rise. Shiites fear more bombings by Sunni militants; Sunnis fear that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces will give them little protection.
If the Iraqis can hold down violence in the coming months, it will show the country is finally on the road to stability. If they fail, it will pose a challenge to President Barack Obama’s pledge to end an unpopular war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,300 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
The gathering at the Baghdad park was unprecedented in size for such a postwar event in a city where people tend to avoid large gatherings for fear of suicide bombers.
by the associated press
A countdown clock broadcast on Iraqi television ticked to zero as the midnight deadline passed for U.S. combat troops to finish their pullback to bases outside cities.
"The withdrawal of American troops is completed now from all cities after everything they sacrificed for the sake of security,” said Sadiq al-Rikabi, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "We are now celebrating the restoration of sovereignty.”
The Pentagon did not offer any comment to mark the passing of the deadline.
Fireworks, not bombings, colored the Baghdad skyline late Monday, and thousands attended a party in a park where singers performed patriotic songs. Loudspeakers at police stations and military checkpoints played recordings of similar tunes throughout the day, as Iraqi military vehicles patrolled the capital.
"All of us are happy — Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds on this day,” Waleed al-Bahadili said as he celebrated at the park. "The Americans harmed and insulted us too much.”
Al-Maliki declared a public holiday and proclaimed June 30 as National Sovereignty Day.
Midnight’s handover to Iraqi forces filled many citizens with pride but also trepidation that government forces are not ready and that violence will rise. Shiites fear more bombings by Sunni militants; Sunnis fear that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces will give them little protection.
If the Iraqis can hold down violence in the coming months, it will show the country is finally on the road to stability. If they fail, it will pose a challenge to President Barack Obama’s pledge to end an unpopular war that has claimed the lives of more than 4,300 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
The gathering at the Baghdad park was unprecedented in size for such a postwar event in a city where people tend to avoid large gatherings for fear of suicide bombers.
by the associated press
Plane falls in Indian Ocean
SAN‘A, Yemen — A Yemenia Air plane going from the Arabian Peninsula country of Yemen to the island nation of Comoros has crashed in the Indian Ocean, a Yemen airport official said today.
The official said the plane was going from the Yemen capital San‘a to Moroni, on the main island of Grand Comore.
It was not known how many passengers were on board the Airbus 310 or the status of the passengers and crew.
The official said most of the passengers on the plane were believed to be Comoros residents.
by the associated press
The official said the plane was going from the Yemen capital San‘a to Moroni, on the main island of Grand Comore.
It was not known how many passengers were on board the Airbus 310 or the status of the passengers and crew.
The official said most of the passengers on the plane were believed to be Comoros residents.
by the associated press
British taxpayers paid about $1.14 for queen and her family
LONDON — Public funding for Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family cost British taxpayers the equivalent of $1.14 each last year, according to accounts published Monday.
The queen’s office said that the costs incurred by the royal family were $68.6 million in the year to March 31, an increase of $2.48 million from the previous year.
It means supporting the royal family cost British taxpayers the equivalent of an extra five U.S. cents each last year.
Public money is used to pay the costs of travel and operating and staffing homes used by the royal family, including the queen’s Buckingham Palace residence.
Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse said travel costs rose because fewer aircraft were available from the air force, meaning that members of the royal family needed to charter commercial aircraft for overseas visits, often at short notice.
Figures showed that royal family travel costs rose to $10.76 million from $10.26 million. The queen visited Slovenia and Slovakia last year, while her son Prince Charles toured Japan and Indonesia.
Graham Smith, campaign manager for republic, an anti-monarchy group, said the costs can’t be justified.
"Very obviously they have no regard for public finances at all. There’s no reason why the queen can’t be paid a salary and a few million be spent on the staff,” Smith said.
Costs of security for the royal family provided by the police and army are not included in the accounts.
by the associated press
The queen’s office said that the costs incurred by the royal family were $68.6 million in the year to March 31, an increase of $2.48 million from the previous year.
It means supporting the royal family cost British taxpayers the equivalent of an extra five U.S. cents each last year.
Public money is used to pay the costs of travel and operating and staffing homes used by the royal family, including the queen’s Buckingham Palace residence.
Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse said travel costs rose because fewer aircraft were available from the air force, meaning that members of the royal family needed to charter commercial aircraft for overseas visits, often at short notice.
Figures showed that royal family travel costs rose to $10.76 million from $10.26 million. The queen visited Slovenia and Slovakia last year, while her son Prince Charles toured Japan and Indonesia.
Graham Smith, campaign manager for republic, an anti-monarchy group, said the costs can’t be justified.
"Very obviously they have no regard for public finances at all. There’s no reason why the queen can’t be paid a salary and a few million be spent on the staff,” Smith said.
Costs of security for the royal family provided by the police and army are not included in the accounts.
by the associated press
Call of Embargo of Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Police and soldiers clashed with thousands of protesters outside Honduras’ national palace Monday, leaving at least 15 people injured, as world leaders from Barack Obama to Hugo Chavez demanded the return of a president ousted in a military coup.
Leftist leaders pulled their ambassadors from Honduras and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala would cut trade with neighboring Honduras for at least 48 hours. Venezuela’s Chavez called for Hondurans to rise up against those who toppled his political ally, Manuel Zelaya.
"We’re ready to support the rebellion of the Honduran people,” Chavez said.
Protesters detained
Protests outside the presidential palace grew from hundreds to thousands, and soldiers and police advanced behind riot shields, using tear gas to scatter the protesters. The demonstrators, many of them choking on the gas, hurled rocks and bottles as they retreated. At least 38 protesters were detained, according to human rights prosecutor Sandra Ponce.
In Washington, Obama said the United States will work with others to resolve the matter peacefully.
The Organization of American States called an emergency meeting for today to consider suspending Honduras under an agreement meant to prevent coups that for generations made Latin America a tragic spawning ground of military dictatorships.
The new government, however, was defiant. Roberto Micheletti, named by the Congress to serve out the final seven months of Zelaya’s term, vowed to ignore foreign pressure.
"We respect everybody, and we ask only that they respect us and leave us in peace because the country is headed toward free and transparent general elections in November,” Micheletti said.
by the associated press
Leftist leaders pulled their ambassadors from Honduras and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala would cut trade with neighboring Honduras for at least 48 hours. Venezuela’s Chavez called for Hondurans to rise up against those who toppled his political ally, Manuel Zelaya.
"We’re ready to support the rebellion of the Honduran people,” Chavez said.
Protesters detained
Protests outside the presidential palace grew from hundreds to thousands, and soldiers and police advanced behind riot shields, using tear gas to scatter the protesters. The demonstrators, many of them choking on the gas, hurled rocks and bottles as they retreated. At least 38 protesters were detained, according to human rights prosecutor Sandra Ponce.
In Washington, Obama said the United States will work with others to resolve the matter peacefully.
The Organization of American States called an emergency meeting for today to consider suspending Honduras under an agreement meant to prevent coups that for generations made Latin America a tragic spawning ground of military dictatorships.
The new government, however, was defiant. Roberto Micheletti, named by the Congress to serve out the final seven months of Zelaya’s term, vowed to ignore foreign pressure.
"We respect everybody, and we ask only that they respect us and leave us in peace because the country is headed toward free and transparent general elections in November,” Micheletti said.
by the associated press
Vaccine for diabetes
PITTSBURGH — The doctor had barely pulled away the needle when a blister appeared on Tracey Berg-Fulton’s abdomen: An experimental shot was revving up the 24-year-old’s immune system — part of a bold quest to create a vaccine-like therapy for diabetes.
"If we’re right, that is what’s going to stop Type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. David Finegold as he watched the blisters appear.
It’s a big "if.” The research is in its infancy, a first-step experiment to be sure the vaccine approach is safe before researchers test their real target — kids newly diagnosed with this deadliest form of diabetes.
Scientists increasingly hope to control Type 1 diabetes by curbing the rogue immune cells that cause it, before patients become completely dependent on daily insulin injections to survive.
by the associated press
"If we’re right, that is what’s going to stop Type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. David Finegold as he watched the blisters appear.
It’s a big "if.” The research is in its infancy, a first-step experiment to be sure the vaccine approach is safe before researchers test their real target — kids newly diagnosed with this deadliest form of diabetes.
Scientists increasingly hope to control Type 1 diabetes by curbing the rogue immune cells that cause it, before patients become completely dependent on daily insulin injections to survive.
by the associated press
Swine flu update
ATLANTA — In a startling measure of just how widely a new disease can spread, researchers accurately plotted swine flu’s course around the world by tracking airplane travel from Mexico.
The research was based on an analysis of flight data from March and April last year, which showed more than 2 million people flew from Mexico to more than 1,000 cities worldwide. Researchers said patterns of departures from Mexico in those months varies little from year to year; swine flu began its spread in March and April this year.
Passengers traveled to 164 countries, but four out of five of those went to the United States. That fits with the path of the epidemic a year later. The findings were reported Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The research shows promise in forecasting how a new contagion might unfold, indicated one government health official who praised the work.
"We share a common interest in this issue: If we map the global airline distribution network, can we anticipate, once a virus emerges, where it is likely to show up next?” asked Dr. Martin Cetron of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He leads CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine.
The new swine flu virus was first reported in the United States in mid-April, but the first large outbreak was in Mexico at about the same time. Health officials believe cases of the new virus were circulating in Mexico in March.
90 percent match
The study showed the majority of passengers flew to the United States, with Canada a distant second and France a more distant third.
More than 90 percent of the time, Khan and his colleagues accurately matched air traffic volumes to which countries did and did not suffer swine flu outbreaks as a result of air traffic.
by the associated press
The research was based on an analysis of flight data from March and April last year, which showed more than 2 million people flew from Mexico to more than 1,000 cities worldwide. Researchers said patterns of departures from Mexico in those months varies little from year to year; swine flu began its spread in March and April this year.
Passengers traveled to 164 countries, but four out of five of those went to the United States. That fits with the path of the epidemic a year later. The findings were reported Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The research shows promise in forecasting how a new contagion might unfold, indicated one government health official who praised the work.
"We share a common interest in this issue: If we map the global airline distribution network, can we anticipate, once a virus emerges, where it is likely to show up next?” asked Dr. Martin Cetron of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He leads CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine.
The new swine flu virus was first reported in the United States in mid-April, but the first large outbreak was in Mexico at about the same time. Health officials believe cases of the new virus were circulating in Mexico in March.
90 percent match
The study showed the majority of passengers flew to the United States, with Canada a distant second and France a more distant third.
More than 90 percent of the time, Khan and his colleagues accurately matched air traffic volumes to which countries did and did not suffer swine flu outbreaks as a result of air traffic.
by the associated press
Childrens Program uses animals
BOSTON — Yes, he’s obsessed with grooming, and he occasionally barks at you, but in most ways Isaac is not your typical fitness instructor. He weighs in at 350, eats 16 pounds of food at a time and he’s only 9 years old. And he’s a seal.
Isaac is one of five northern fur seals to be featured in a new exhibit at the New England Aquarium that aims to entice an increasingly obese generation of kids to get moving.
The seals twist, stretch, leap out of the water, run on their flippers and shoot like missiles under and between the fiberglass rocks. Isaac even stands on his head. The "Move It!” program at the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center, which opens Wednesday, uses the seals’ athleticism as an example for children.
"Those marine animals will do things that are jaw-dropping at times,” said Tony LaCasse, an aquarium spokesman. "We wanted kids to be inspired by them.”
The seals will dart around the $10 million center, built at the back of the aquarium on Boston Harbor.
The animals are rarely this close to the Atlantic. They live in the Pacific from Southern California to Japan, and north to the Bering Sea. Males grow to up to 7 feet long and 600 pounds, while females are about 5 feet and 110 pounds.
The seals are considered depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and a big reason is the hunters who pursued its pelt — two layers thick and stuffed with 300,000 hairs per square inch. The pelt demands constant grooming, and the seals attend to themselves in an endearing way, contorting their bodies so their long flippers can get the job done.
The center opening is a sign of health at the aquarium three years after it regained its accreditation after repairing shaky finances. The accreditation was pulled in 2003 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums after financial struggles and layoffs followed two major expansions in the late 1990s.
The new center’s childhood fitness push comes as statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 32 percent of American kids ages 2 to 19 are overweight, including 17 percent who are obese.
by the associated press
Isaac is one of five northern fur seals to be featured in a new exhibit at the New England Aquarium that aims to entice an increasingly obese generation of kids to get moving.
The seals twist, stretch, leap out of the water, run on their flippers and shoot like missiles under and between the fiberglass rocks. Isaac even stands on his head. The "Move It!” program at the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center, which opens Wednesday, uses the seals’ athleticism as an example for children.
"Those marine animals will do things that are jaw-dropping at times,” said Tony LaCasse, an aquarium spokesman. "We wanted kids to be inspired by them.”
The seals will dart around the $10 million center, built at the back of the aquarium on Boston Harbor.
The animals are rarely this close to the Atlantic. They live in the Pacific from Southern California to Japan, and north to the Bering Sea. Males grow to up to 7 feet long and 600 pounds, while females are about 5 feet and 110 pounds.
The seals are considered depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and a big reason is the hunters who pursued its pelt — two layers thick and stuffed with 300,000 hairs per square inch. The pelt demands constant grooming, and the seals attend to themselves in an endearing way, contorting their bodies so their long flippers can get the job done.
The center opening is a sign of health at the aquarium three years after it regained its accreditation after repairing shaky finances. The accreditation was pulled in 2003 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums after financial struggles and layoffs followed two major expansions in the late 1990s.
The new center’s childhood fitness push comes as statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 32 percent of American kids ages 2 to 19 are overweight, including 17 percent who are obese.
by the associated press
Supreme Court’s reversal of a racial discrimination
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s reversal Monday of a racial discrimination decision endorsed by Sonia Sotomayor when she was a federal appeals judge provided fresh ammunition for her critics two weeks before her Senate confirmation hearing. It’s unlikely to sink her nomination, however.
The ruling that white New Haven firefighters were unfairly denied promotions because of their race became an instant talking point for conservative foes of Sotomayor. They argued that her court’s decision to the contrary last year shows she would be an activist who allows her biases — particularly her backing of affirmative action policies — to taint her judgment.
Still, the 5-4 decision, which was not unexpected on a court whose conservative majority has recently moved to narrow measures meant to combat racial discrimination, is hardly a clear-cut rebuke to Sotomayor.
Sotomayor’s supporters noted the appeals court decision followed well-established legal precedents — something conservatives routinely say judges should do. They also said she did not actually write the appeals court decision but was rather one member of a three-judge panel that rejected the white firefighters’ claim of discrimination.
More than anything else, the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano pointed up the dueling ideological strains that will shape Sotomayor’s confirmation process. At issue in the case was New Haven’s decision to throw out a promotion exam for firefighters because virtually no minorities scored highly enough to qualify. The Supreme Court ruled that the city’s fear of a racial discrimination lawsuit by minority firefighters wasn’t by itself enough to allow it to discriminate against the white candidates who scored well enough to get promotions.
by the associated press
The ruling that white New Haven firefighters were unfairly denied promotions because of their race became an instant talking point for conservative foes of Sotomayor. They argued that her court’s decision to the contrary last year shows she would be an activist who allows her biases — particularly her backing of affirmative action policies — to taint her judgment.
Still, the 5-4 decision, which was not unexpected on a court whose conservative majority has recently moved to narrow measures meant to combat racial discrimination, is hardly a clear-cut rebuke to Sotomayor.
Sotomayor’s supporters noted the appeals court decision followed well-established legal precedents — something conservatives routinely say judges should do. They also said she did not actually write the appeals court decision but was rather one member of a three-judge panel that rejected the white firefighters’ claim of discrimination.
More than anything else, the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano pointed up the dueling ideological strains that will shape Sotomayor’s confirmation process. At issue in the case was New Haven’s decision to throw out a promotion exam for firefighters because virtually no minorities scored highly enough to qualify. The Supreme Court ruled that the city’s fear of a racial discrimination lawsuit by minority firefighters wasn’t by itself enough to allow it to discriminate against the white candidates who scored well enough to get promotions.
by the associated press
Obama and Gay-rights update
WASHINGTON — Countering criticism that he’s done little on gay rights, President Barack Obama commemorated the 40th anniversary of the birth of the modern movement by welcoming its leaders to the White House and reaffirming his commitment to their top priorities.
"I want you to know: You have our support,” Obama told members of the core Democratic constituency as he and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail-and-appetizer reception in the East Room for gay pride month. It’s been some four decades since the police raid on New York City’s gay Stonewall Inn that spurred gay rights activism across the country.
As activists work to change minds and change laws, Obama added: "I will not only be your friend, I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you.”
Since Obama took office in January, some activists have complained that Obama has not followed through on his campaign promises on issues they hold dear and has not championed their causes from the White House, including ending the ban on gays in the military.
Obama pleaded for patience.
"I know many in this room don’t believe that progress has come fast enough. And I understand that,” Obama said. But he added: "I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I’ve made, but by promises that my administration keeps.”
By the time he leaves office, Obama said, "I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
He noted that he has issued a presidential memorandum expanding some federal benefits to same-sex partners. Critics have noted that it doesn’t include health benefits or pension guarantees.
Obama also reminded the audience that he has called on Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state, local and federal bodies can recognize partnerships and determine benefits. Still, he added: "We have a duty to uphold existing law, but I believe we must do so in a way that does not exacerbate existing divides.”
He said that does not mean he doesn’t back a repeal of the law.
by the associated press
"I want you to know: You have our support,” Obama told members of the core Democratic constituency as he and first lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail-and-appetizer reception in the East Room for gay pride month. It’s been some four decades since the police raid on New York City’s gay Stonewall Inn that spurred gay rights activism across the country.
As activists work to change minds and change laws, Obama added: "I will not only be your friend, I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you.”
Since Obama took office in January, some activists have complained that Obama has not followed through on his campaign promises on issues they hold dear and has not championed their causes from the White House, including ending the ban on gays in the military.
Obama pleaded for patience.
"I know many in this room don’t believe that progress has come fast enough. And I understand that,” Obama said. But he added: "I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I’ve made, but by promises that my administration keeps.”
By the time he leaves office, Obama said, "I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
He noted that he has issued a presidential memorandum expanding some federal benefits to same-sex partners. Critics have noted that it doesn’t include health benefits or pension guarantees.
Obama also reminded the audience that he has called on Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state, local and federal bodies can recognize partnerships and determine benefits. Still, he added: "We have a duty to uphold existing law, but I believe we must do so in a way that does not exacerbate existing divides.”
He said that does not mean he doesn’t back a repeal of the law.
by the associated press
Billy Mays Autopsy shows signs of a heart-attack
TAMPA, Fla. — Television pitchman Billy Mays, shown above, likely died of a heart attack in his sleep, but further tests are needed to be sure of the cause of death, a medical examiner said Monday.
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease, and the wall of the left ventricle of Mays’ heart and the wall of one of his arteries were enlarged. The boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking OxiClean and other products on national commercials was found dead Sunday by his wife.
"The heart disease is perfectly consistent with sudden death,” Adams said.
An official cause of death will be issued after toxicology and other tests are completed.
"While it provides some closure to learn that heart disease took Billy from us, it certainly doesn’t ease the enormous void that his death has created in our lives,” his wife, Deborah, said in a statement. "As you can imagine, we are all devastated.”
by the associated press
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease, and the wall of the left ventricle of Mays’ heart and the wall of one of his arteries were enlarged. The boisterous, bearded 50-year-old known for hawking OxiClean and other products on national commercials was found dead Sunday by his wife.
"The heart disease is perfectly consistent with sudden death,” Adams said.
An official cause of death will be issued after toxicology and other tests are completed.
"While it provides some closure to learn that heart disease took Billy from us, it certainly doesn’t ease the enormous void that his death has created in our lives,” his wife, Deborah, said in a statement. "As you can imagine, we are all devastated.”
by the associated press
Slain high school football rememdered
PARKERSBURG, Iowa — Thousands of mourners gathered Monday to remember a slain high school football coach as a man of faith who believed in leading by example.
Family, friends and former players packed into a church, community center and parking lot for the funeral for Ed Thomas, the 58-year-old longtime coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High School who was gunned down Wednesday in the school weight room.
Pastor Brad Zinnecker of First Congregational Church said the huge turnout was a testament to Thomas’ faith.
"They recognized a man after God’s own heart,” Zinnecker said. "His personal life and public life were one and the same.”
The number of mourners easily topped the roughly 1,800-person population of Parkersburg.
One of Thomas’ sons, Aaron Thomas, told mourners his father would have wanted the community to "get going” after his death and to do something to improve the town. He recalled that in May 2008, after Parkersburg was struck by a tornado that wiped out about one-third of the town and killed six people, Ed Thomas was a key leader in pushing for the recovery.
Aaron Thomas urged mourners to wake up today with a renewed sense of purpose. He said finding time for small tasks can make a difference.
Authorities have charged Mark Becker, a 24-year-old former player at Aplington-Parkersburg, with first-degree murder. He remained in the Cerro Gordo County jail.
by the associated press
Family, friends and former players packed into a church, community center and parking lot for the funeral for Ed Thomas, the 58-year-old longtime coach at Aplington-Parkersburg High School who was gunned down Wednesday in the school weight room.
Pastor Brad Zinnecker of First Congregational Church said the huge turnout was a testament to Thomas’ faith.
"They recognized a man after God’s own heart,” Zinnecker said. "His personal life and public life were one and the same.”
The number of mourners easily topped the roughly 1,800-person population of Parkersburg.
One of Thomas’ sons, Aaron Thomas, told mourners his father would have wanted the community to "get going” after his death and to do something to improve the town. He recalled that in May 2008, after Parkersburg was struck by a tornado that wiped out about one-third of the town and killed six people, Ed Thomas was a key leader in pushing for the recovery.
Aaron Thomas urged mourners to wake up today with a renewed sense of purpose. He said finding time for small tasks can make a difference.
Authorities have charged Mark Becker, a 24-year-old former player at Aplington-Parkersburg, with first-degree murder. He remained in the Cerro Gordo County jail.
by the associated press
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Liver transplant shows money makes a difference
A celebrity like Apple CEO Steve Jobs scores a rare organ transplant and the world wonders: How? The rich have plenty of advantages that others don't. But winning the "transplant lottery" involves more than the size of your wallet — and true medical need.
A Tennessee hospital has confirmed that it performed a liver transplant for Jobs, putting him among the lucky 6,500 or so Americans each year who get these operations. Nearly 16,000 others are waiting now for such a chance.
No one can buy a transplant — that's against federal law. And no one is suggesting that Jobs or the Memphis doctors who treated him bent any rules to show him favor. The hospital said he was the sickest person waiting for a liver when one became available.
However, people who understand how the transplant system works, and who have the money to make the most of what they learn, have a leg up on getting the body part they need.
An Internet database — the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients — gives average wait times, success rates and other details on every transplant program in the nation.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: University of Wisconsin-Madison Steve Jobs Apple Inc.
"Anyone can go to that website and see which transplant centers transplant quicker than others," said Dr. Anthony D'Alessandro, liver transplant chief at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jobs, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., was able to get on a shorter waiting list, in Tennessee.
Here's where money comes in.
To get on a transplant center's list, a prospective patient must go there, be evaluated by the staff and have tests to confirm medical need. If accepted, the patient must be able to get to that center within seven or eight hours if an organ becomes available. That means renting or buying a place nearby or being able to afford a private jet, or $3,000 to $5,000 for a chartered plane, to fly in on short notice.
People also can get on as many wait lists as they like as long as they can travel there and meet the terms.
"It is at the transplant program's discretion if they know it is a multiple listing" to accept someone already on another waiting list, said Joel Newman, a spokesman for UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, which runs the nation's transplant system.
Three different times, UNOS has considered banning or limiting multiple listings, most recently in 2003. But patients protested, saying they needed to go wherever they could to improve their odds, said D'Alessandro, who has headed UNOS panels on organ allocation.
It's not known if Jobs was on more than one list.
He has an "excellent prognosis" after his transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, said transplant chief, Dr. James Eason.
"He received a liver transplant because he was ... the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available," Eason said in a statement Tuesday night on the hospital's website.
Apple declined to comment further.
Jobs, 54, had surgery in 2004 for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. Jobs said afterward that he was cured. However, his health made headlines last summer, when reporters at a company conference saw he had lost a lot of weight.
In January, Jobs said he was suffering from an easily treatable hormone imbalance and would remain CEO. Less than two weeks later, he said his medical problems were more complex, and that he would take a medical leave of absence through June, leaving Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, to run day-to-day operations of the Cupertino, California-based firm.
Several doctors without firsthand knowledge about Jobs' health said the type of pancreatic cancer he had tends to be slow-growing. When it spreads, it tends to land in the liver first.
The most likely scenario is that undetectable cancer cells traveled from the pancreas to the adjacent liver at the time of Jobs' 2004 surgery, these experts said. That type of cancer can often remain in the liver for years without causing symptoms, but can cause the kind of weight loss Jobs' recently experienced.
Jobs had end-stage liver disease, meaning extensive liver damage had occurred.
Patients in such bad shape would get priority on any organ transplant list, and if Jobs did have a recurrence of cancer, that would give him even higher preference, said Dr. Roderich Schwarz a pancreatic cancer specialist at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Liver transplants in such cases can cure the cancer, although patients remain at risk for another recurrence, Schwarz said. In addition, the powerful immune-suppressing medicine they must take to keep the body from rejecting the transplanted liver also can increase their risks for recurrence.
Dr. Michael Porayko, medical director for liver transplants at Vanderbilt University, said a less common scenario would be that Jobs' earlier surgery resulted in scarring or blockage of bile ducts, causing liver damage.
But he said Jobs' doctors would have known to watch for and treat that, and he agreed that it's much more likely Jobs' cancer had spread to the liver.
by the associated press
A Tennessee hospital has confirmed that it performed a liver transplant for Jobs, putting him among the lucky 6,500 or so Americans each year who get these operations. Nearly 16,000 others are waiting now for such a chance.
No one can buy a transplant — that's against federal law. And no one is suggesting that Jobs or the Memphis doctors who treated him bent any rules to show him favor. The hospital said he was the sickest person waiting for a liver when one became available.
However, people who understand how the transplant system works, and who have the money to make the most of what they learn, have a leg up on getting the body part they need.
An Internet database — the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients — gives average wait times, success rates and other details on every transplant program in the nation.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: University of Wisconsin-Madison Steve Jobs Apple Inc.
"Anyone can go to that website and see which transplant centers transplant quicker than others," said Dr. Anthony D'Alessandro, liver transplant chief at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jobs, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., was able to get on a shorter waiting list, in Tennessee.
Here's where money comes in.
To get on a transplant center's list, a prospective patient must go there, be evaluated by the staff and have tests to confirm medical need. If accepted, the patient must be able to get to that center within seven or eight hours if an organ becomes available. That means renting or buying a place nearby or being able to afford a private jet, or $3,000 to $5,000 for a chartered plane, to fly in on short notice.
People also can get on as many wait lists as they like as long as they can travel there and meet the terms.
"It is at the transplant program's discretion if they know it is a multiple listing" to accept someone already on another waiting list, said Joel Newman, a spokesman for UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, which runs the nation's transplant system.
Three different times, UNOS has considered banning or limiting multiple listings, most recently in 2003. But patients protested, saying they needed to go wherever they could to improve their odds, said D'Alessandro, who has headed UNOS panels on organ allocation.
It's not known if Jobs was on more than one list.
He has an "excellent prognosis" after his transplant at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis, said transplant chief, Dr. James Eason.
"He received a liver transplant because he was ... the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available," Eason said in a statement Tuesday night on the hospital's website.
Apple declined to comment further.
Jobs, 54, had surgery in 2004 for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. Jobs said afterward that he was cured. However, his health made headlines last summer, when reporters at a company conference saw he had lost a lot of weight.
In January, Jobs said he was suffering from an easily treatable hormone imbalance and would remain CEO. Less than two weeks later, he said his medical problems were more complex, and that he would take a medical leave of absence through June, leaving Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, to run day-to-day operations of the Cupertino, California-based firm.
Several doctors without firsthand knowledge about Jobs' health said the type of pancreatic cancer he had tends to be slow-growing. When it spreads, it tends to land in the liver first.
The most likely scenario is that undetectable cancer cells traveled from the pancreas to the adjacent liver at the time of Jobs' 2004 surgery, these experts said. That type of cancer can often remain in the liver for years without causing symptoms, but can cause the kind of weight loss Jobs' recently experienced.
Jobs had end-stage liver disease, meaning extensive liver damage had occurred.
Patients in such bad shape would get priority on any organ transplant list, and if Jobs did have a recurrence of cancer, that would give him even higher preference, said Dr. Roderich Schwarz a pancreatic cancer specialist at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Liver transplants in such cases can cure the cancer, although patients remain at risk for another recurrence, Schwarz said. In addition, the powerful immune-suppressing medicine they must take to keep the body from rejecting the transplanted liver also can increase their risks for recurrence.
Dr. Michael Porayko, medical director for liver transplants at Vanderbilt University, said a less common scenario would be that Jobs' earlier surgery resulted in scarring or blockage of bile ducts, causing liver damage.
But he said Jobs' doctors would have known to watch for and treat that, and he agreed that it's much more likely Jobs' cancer had spread to the liver.
by the associated press
Health-Care Activists
In the high-stakes battle over health care, a growing cadre of liberal activists is aiming its sharpest firepower against Democratic senators who they accuse of being insufficiently committed to the cause.
The attacks -- ranging from tart news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns -- have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party over the best strategy for achieving President Obama's top priority of a comprehensive health-system overhaul.
The rising tensions between Democratic legislators and constituencies that would typically be their natural allies underscore the high hurdles for Obama as he tries to hold together a diverse, fragile coalition. Activists say they are simply pressing for quick delivery of "true health reform," but the intraparty rift runs the risk of alienating centrist Democrats who will be needed to pass a bill.
In recent days -- and during this week's congressional recess -- left-leaning bloggers and grass-roots organizations such as MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees International Union have singled out Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) for the criticism more often reserved for opposition party members.
"Will Mary Landrieu sell out Louisiana for $1.6 million?" says one Internet ad that suggests a link between contributions she has received from the medical industry and her reluctance to back the creation of a government-sponsored insurance option.
In many instances, the ad buys are relatively small. But Obama demonstrated the political power of Internet-based grass-roots activity in the presidential campaign. Still, as health care moves from electoral rallying cry to the tedious work of legislating, Obama finds himself caught between his campaign foot soldiers and the elected politicians who will vote.
One of his most stalwart supporters, for instance, says time is running out on efforts by the president and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to forge a bipartisan compromise on legislation affecting more than one-fifth of the economy.
"We are getting to the point if people aren't going to respond to the patience and openness of Senator Baucus, we should begin to make a different plan," said Andrew Stern, president of the 2 million-member SEIU.
Stern said his organization issued a release chastising Feinstein last week, because she should "put her foot on the gas, not the brake" on health reform.
The gas pedal to go where?" Feinstein replied, explaining she has questions about how a broad expansion of health coverage will be paid for.
"I do not think this is helpful. It doesn't move me one whit," she said. "They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive."
Much of the sparring centers around whether to create a government-managed health insurance program that would compete with private insurers. Obama supports the concept, dubbed the "public option," but he has been vague on details. Left-of-center activists want a powerful entity with the ability to set prices for doctors and hospitals.
But in the Senate, where the Democrats do not have the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster, members are weighing alternatives such as a nonprofit cooperative or a "fallback" provision that would kick in only if market reforms fail.
"Democratic senators are taking millions of dollars from insurance and health-care interests and getting lobbied by those donors and coming out against a position that 76 percent of Americans agree on," said Adam Green, interim chief executive of Change Congress.
While recent polls show high initial support for a government option, the number declines if told the insurance industry could fold as a result. Change Congress and its sister group Progressive Change Campaign Committee are airing cable and Internet ads against lawmakers such as Landrieu and Nelson, who have not endorsed a robust public plan.
Green, in an interview, was hard-pressed to articulate a substantive argument for the public plan but said that it "has become a proxy for the question of Democrats who stand on principle and represent their constituents."
The Web-based MoveOn.org plans to run ads this week against Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) over the issue.
"The Democrats were voted into office to fix this problem," said MoveOn political advocacy director Ilyse Hogue. "It is absolutely our job to hold them accountable."
One Democratic strategist who is working full-time on health reform was apoplectic over what he called wasted time, energy and resources by the organizations.
The strategist, who asked for anonymity because he was criticizing colleagues, said: "These are friends of ours. I would much rather see a quiet call placed by [Obama chief of staff] Rahm Emanuel saying this isn't helpful. Instead, we try to decimate them?"
Richard Kirsch, campaign manager of the labor-backed Health Care for America Now coalition of 1,000 groups, believes grass-roots pressure and targeted advertising are already having an impact. After the group aired a spot in Pennsylvania attacking Specter for remarks critical of a public plan -- and supplemented that with flyers and phone calls -- the lawmaker shifted.
At an event Thursday, Specter said he is willing to consider a compromise. "That shows Senator Specter has come a long way," Kirsch said.
Listening to constituents, even those speaking over the airwaves, is part of "representative democracy," Specter said.
But Kirsch may still end up being disappointed by the newest Democratic senator. Specter, voicing the sort of flexibility the groups dislike, said, "This legislation is so complicated and so important that we all ought to be flexible and not approach it with fixed positions."
Like Specter, Wyden is sanguine about ads in his home state intended to pressure him to embrace a liberal bill.
"I get an election certificate from the people of Oregon," said Wyden, whose bipartisan health bill picked up its 14th co-sponsor last week. "As far as these ads are concerned, I pay them no attention."
from the washington post
The attacks -- ranging from tart news releases to full-fledged advertising campaigns -- have elicited rebuttals from lawmakers and sparked a debate inside the party over the best strategy for achieving President Obama's top priority of a comprehensive health-system overhaul.
The rising tensions between Democratic legislators and constituencies that would typically be their natural allies underscore the high hurdles for Obama as he tries to hold together a diverse, fragile coalition. Activists say they are simply pressing for quick delivery of "true health reform," but the intraparty rift runs the risk of alienating centrist Democrats who will be needed to pass a bill.
In recent days -- and during this week's congressional recess -- left-leaning bloggers and grass-roots organizations such as MoveOn.org, Health Care for America Now and the Service Employees International Union have singled out Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) for the criticism more often reserved for opposition party members.
"Will Mary Landrieu sell out Louisiana for $1.6 million?" says one Internet ad that suggests a link between contributions she has received from the medical industry and her reluctance to back the creation of a government-sponsored insurance option.
In many instances, the ad buys are relatively small. But Obama demonstrated the political power of Internet-based grass-roots activity in the presidential campaign. Still, as health care moves from electoral rallying cry to the tedious work of legislating, Obama finds himself caught between his campaign foot soldiers and the elected politicians who will vote.
One of his most stalwart supporters, for instance, says time is running out on efforts by the president and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to forge a bipartisan compromise on legislation affecting more than one-fifth of the economy.
"We are getting to the point if people aren't going to respond to the patience and openness of Senator Baucus, we should begin to make a different plan," said Andrew Stern, president of the 2 million-member SEIU.
Stern said his organization issued a release chastising Feinstein last week, because she should "put her foot on the gas, not the brake" on health reform.
The gas pedal to go where?" Feinstein replied, explaining she has questions about how a broad expansion of health coverage will be paid for.
"I do not think this is helpful. It doesn't move me one whit," she said. "They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive."
Much of the sparring centers around whether to create a government-managed health insurance program that would compete with private insurers. Obama supports the concept, dubbed the "public option," but he has been vague on details. Left-of-center activists want a powerful entity with the ability to set prices for doctors and hospitals.
But in the Senate, where the Democrats do not have the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster, members are weighing alternatives such as a nonprofit cooperative or a "fallback" provision that would kick in only if market reforms fail.
"Democratic senators are taking millions of dollars from insurance and health-care interests and getting lobbied by those donors and coming out against a position that 76 percent of Americans agree on," said Adam Green, interim chief executive of Change Congress.
While recent polls show high initial support for a government option, the number declines if told the insurance industry could fold as a result. Change Congress and its sister group Progressive Change Campaign Committee are airing cable and Internet ads against lawmakers such as Landrieu and Nelson, who have not endorsed a robust public plan.
Green, in an interview, was hard-pressed to articulate a substantive argument for the public plan but said that it "has become a proxy for the question of Democrats who stand on principle and represent their constituents."
The Web-based MoveOn.org plans to run ads this week against Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) over the issue.
"The Democrats were voted into office to fix this problem," said MoveOn political advocacy director Ilyse Hogue. "It is absolutely our job to hold them accountable."
One Democratic strategist who is working full-time on health reform was apoplectic over what he called wasted time, energy and resources by the organizations.
The strategist, who asked for anonymity because he was criticizing colleagues, said: "These are friends of ours. I would much rather see a quiet call placed by [Obama chief of staff] Rahm Emanuel saying this isn't helpful. Instead, we try to decimate them?"
Richard Kirsch, campaign manager of the labor-backed Health Care for America Now coalition of 1,000 groups, believes grass-roots pressure and targeted advertising are already having an impact. After the group aired a spot in Pennsylvania attacking Specter for remarks critical of a public plan -- and supplemented that with flyers and phone calls -- the lawmaker shifted.
At an event Thursday, Specter said he is willing to consider a compromise. "That shows Senator Specter has come a long way," Kirsch said.
Listening to constituents, even those speaking over the airwaves, is part of "representative democracy," Specter said.
But Kirsch may still end up being disappointed by the newest Democratic senator. Specter, voicing the sort of flexibility the groups dislike, said, "This legislation is so complicated and so important that we all ought to be flexible and not approach it with fixed positions."
Like Specter, Wyden is sanguine about ads in his home state intended to pressure him to embrace a liberal bill.
"I get an election certificate from the people of Oregon," said Wyden, whose bipartisan health bill picked up its 14th co-sponsor last week. "As far as these ads are concerned, I pay them no attention."
from the washington post
Oil falls below $69
SINGAPORE -- Oil prices drifted below $69 a barrel Monday in Asia as traders look to macroeconomic indicators this week for signs of improvement in the U.S. economy.
Benchmark crude for August delivery slipped 40 cents to $68.76 a barrel by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it fell $1.07 to settle at $69.16.
Oil prices yo-yoed near $70 a barrel last week as investors mulled mixed signals on whether the U.S. economy, the world's largest, is poised to climb out of its worst recession in decades.
Investors will be eyeing economic data this week, including the Labor Department's June unemployment report. The jobless rate hit a 25-year high of 9.4 percent in May, jumping from 8.9 percent the previous month.
The latest indicators of consumer confidence and manufacturing will also be released.
Crude has doubled since March, leading some analysts to predict oil will pullback until definitive signs of economic growth emerge.
"There's concern about sluggish oil demand," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "Unless we see data that shows a clear economic recovery, prices may have peaked in the short-term."
"The oil price rally is running out of steam."
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for July delivery fell 0.66 cent to $1.87 a gallon and heating oil was steady at $1.73. Natural gas for July delivery plunged 6.8 cents to $4.04 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent prices fell 42 cents to $68.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
from the washington post
Benchmark crude for August delivery slipped 40 cents to $68.76 a barrel by midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it fell $1.07 to settle at $69.16.
Oil prices yo-yoed near $70 a barrel last week as investors mulled mixed signals on whether the U.S. economy, the world's largest, is poised to climb out of its worst recession in decades.
Investors will be eyeing economic data this week, including the Labor Department's June unemployment report. The jobless rate hit a 25-year high of 9.4 percent in May, jumping from 8.9 percent the previous month.
The latest indicators of consumer confidence and manufacturing will also be released.
Crude has doubled since March, leading some analysts to predict oil will pullback until definitive signs of economic growth emerge.
"There's concern about sluggish oil demand," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with consultancy Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "Unless we see data that shows a clear economic recovery, prices may have peaked in the short-term."
"The oil price rally is running out of steam."
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for July delivery fell 0.66 cent to $1.87 a gallon and heating oil was steady at $1.73. Natural gas for July delivery plunged 6.8 cents to $4.04 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent prices fell 42 cents to $68.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
from the washington post
Israeli leader going to Washington
JERUSALEM — New details emerged Sunday about Israeli plans to expand Jewish settler enclaves, as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak prepared to head to Washington this week to ease friction with the Obama administration over settlement construction.
The Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported that Barak will propose freezing new construction for three months while allowing the completion of late-stage projects. Barak, who leaves for Washington today, later released a statement saying that proposal had not been finalized.
The Obama administration has delivered an unequivocal message on settlement construction: It must stop, without exception, because the U.S. feels it hurts Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and Obama’s efforts to mend fences with the Arab world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his own meeting with Washington’s top Mideast envoy last week to give his emissaries more time to try to bridge the gaps. Netanyahu recently yielded to U.S. pressure to endorse Palestinian statehood, albeit with tough conditions, but he has stood firm on resisting a settlement freeze.
by the associated press
The Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported that Barak will propose freezing new construction for three months while allowing the completion of late-stage projects. Barak, who leaves for Washington today, later released a statement saying that proposal had not been finalized.
The Obama administration has delivered an unequivocal message on settlement construction: It must stop, without exception, because the U.S. feels it hurts Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and Obama’s efforts to mend fences with the Arab world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed his own meeting with Washington’s top Mideast envoy last week to give his emissaries more time to try to bridge the gaps. Netanyahu recently yielded to U.S. pressure to endorse Palestinian statehood, albeit with tough conditions, but he has stood firm on resisting a settlement freeze.
by the associated press
Honduran military takes control
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Soldiers ousted the democratically elected president of Honduras on Sunday and Congress named a successor, but the leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced what he called an illegal coup and vowed to stay in power.
The first military takeover of a Central American government in 16 years drew widespread condemnation from governments in Latin America and the world — including the U.S. — and Chavez vowed to overthrow the country’s apparent new leader.
President Manuel Zelaya was awakened Sunday by gunfire and detained while still in his pajamas, hours before a constitutional referendum many saw as an attempt by him to stay in power beyond the one-term limit.
An air force plane flew him into forced exile in Costa Rica. Soldiers seized the national palace.
"I want to return to my country,” Zelaya said in Costa Rica. "I am president of Honduras.”
Congress voted to accept what it said was Zelaya’s letter of resignation, with even Zelaya’s former allies turning against him. Congressional leader Roberto Micheletti was sworn in to serve until Jan. 27 when Zelaya’s term ends.
Zelaya denied resigning and insisted he would serve out his term, even as the Supreme Court backed the military takeover and said it was a defense of democracy.
He said he would attend a scheduled meeting of Central American presidents in Nicaragua today and that Chavez would provide transportation.
Zelaya called on Honduran soldiers to back him, urged citizens to take to the streets in peaceful protests, and asked Honduran police to protect demonstrators.
by the associated press
The first military takeover of a Central American government in 16 years drew widespread condemnation from governments in Latin America and the world — including the U.S. — and Chavez vowed to overthrow the country’s apparent new leader.
President Manuel Zelaya was awakened Sunday by gunfire and detained while still in his pajamas, hours before a constitutional referendum many saw as an attempt by him to stay in power beyond the one-term limit.
An air force plane flew him into forced exile in Costa Rica. Soldiers seized the national palace.
"I want to return to my country,” Zelaya said in Costa Rica. "I am president of Honduras.”
Congress voted to accept what it said was Zelaya’s letter of resignation, with even Zelaya’s former allies turning against him. Congressional leader Roberto Micheletti was sworn in to serve until Jan. 27 when Zelaya’s term ends.
Zelaya denied resigning and insisted he would serve out his term, even as the Supreme Court backed the military takeover and said it was a defense of democracy.
He said he would attend a scheduled meeting of Central American presidents in Nicaragua today and that Chavez would provide transportation.
Zelaya called on Honduran soldiers to back him, urged citizens to take to the streets in peaceful protests, and asked Honduran police to protect demonstrators.
by the associated press
Program could ease student loan payments
NEW YORK — Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful.
Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans forgiven after just 10 years.
Eligibility for income-based repayment is determined by a person’s income and loan size. A calculator at www.ibrinfo.org can help borrowers determine their eligibility for the plan, which becomes available Wednesday.
Monthly payments would amount to less than 10 percent of income for most of the estimated 1 million people expected to enroll, experts say. Payments would never exceed 15 percent of any income above about $16,000 a year. The new payment option is intended to provide relief for those who earn modest salaries and struggle under the weight of student loans for years on end. By stretching repayment over a longer period, monthly payments are kept at a reasonable portion of income, though most people would not see any savings on the total cost of the loan.
by the associated press
Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans forgiven after just 10 years.
Eligibility for income-based repayment is determined by a person’s income and loan size. A calculator at www.ibrinfo.org can help borrowers determine their eligibility for the plan, which becomes available Wednesday.
Monthly payments would amount to less than 10 percent of income for most of the estimated 1 million people expected to enroll, experts say. Payments would never exceed 15 percent of any income above about $16,000 a year. The new payment option is intended to provide relief for those who earn modest salaries and struggle under the weight of student loans for years on end. By stretching repayment over a longer period, monthly payments are kept at a reasonable portion of income, though most people would not see any savings on the total cost of the loan.
by the associated press
BET Awards celebrates Michael Jackson
LOS ANGELES — The BET Awards became the official Michael Jackson TV celebration on Sunday, with joyous tributes to the King of Pop from a New Edition medley of Jackson 5 songs to host Jamie Foxx’s tender monologue delivered in that classic red leather zipper jacket and white glove.
"No need to be sad. We want to celebrate this black man,” said Foxx, who kicked off the show with a re-enactment of the choreography from Jackson’s iconic "Beat It” video in front of the star-studded crowd, on its feet from the start of the show.
Joe Jackson, the singer’s father, was on hand to represent the grief-stricken family. "I just wish he could be here to celebrate himself,” he said. "Sadly, he’s not here, so I’m here to celebrate for him.”
Already an affair of major star wattage, the night’s show at the Shrine Auditorium was thrown under a white-hot spotlight in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death Thursday, adding attendees, doubling the number of media requests, adding an extra half-hour to the telecast and even lengthening the red carpet to accommodate all who wanted to take part.
Backstage, Ciara recounted talking on the phone with her idol and her regrets that she never got to meet him. As she talked, she started to cry. "He meant so much to me,” she said through tears.
While Jackson’s incredible influence stretched across genres, races and cultures, he had a very unique place in the world of black entertainment. His influence is arguably most visible in urban music. But that influence went beyond music: Jackson was black America’s biggest star, who broke racial barriers that allowed so many other superstars to follow.
Producers of the awards show revamped it to meet the moment. While Beyonce and T.I. were the leading award nominees, giving out trophies was an afterthought: Honoring Jackson became the show’s main focus.
by the associated press
"No need to be sad. We want to celebrate this black man,” said Foxx, who kicked off the show with a re-enactment of the choreography from Jackson’s iconic "Beat It” video in front of the star-studded crowd, on its feet from the start of the show.
Joe Jackson, the singer’s father, was on hand to represent the grief-stricken family. "I just wish he could be here to celebrate himself,” he said. "Sadly, he’s not here, so I’m here to celebrate for him.”
Already an affair of major star wattage, the night’s show at the Shrine Auditorium was thrown under a white-hot spotlight in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death Thursday, adding attendees, doubling the number of media requests, adding an extra half-hour to the telecast and even lengthening the red carpet to accommodate all who wanted to take part.
Backstage, Ciara recounted talking on the phone with her idol and her regrets that she never got to meet him. As she talked, she started to cry. "He meant so much to me,” she said through tears.
While Jackson’s incredible influence stretched across genres, races and cultures, he had a very unique place in the world of black entertainment. His influence is arguably most visible in urban music. But that influence went beyond music: Jackson was black America’s biggest star, who broke racial barriers that allowed so many other superstars to follow.
Producers of the awards show revamped it to meet the moment. While Beyonce and T.I. were the leading award nominees, giving out trophies was an afterthought: Honoring Jackson became the show’s main focus.
by the associated press
Fears of dying drive teens to risky behavior
CHICAGO — A surprising number of teenagers — nearly 15 percent — think they’re going to die young, leading many to drug use, suicide attempts and other unsafe behavior, new research suggests.
The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they’re invulnerable to harm.
Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake,” said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.
That behavior threatens to turn their fatalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over seven years, teenagers who thought they would die early were seven times more likely than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS.
They also were more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.
Borowsky said the magnitude of kids with a negative outlook was eye-opening.
Adolescence is "a time of great opportunity and for such a large minority of youth to feel like they don’t have a long life ahead of them was surprising,” she said.
The study suggests a new way doctors could detect kids likely to engage in unsafe behavior and potentially help prevent it, said Dr. Jonathan Klein, a University of Rochester adolescent health expert who was not involved in the research.
"Asking about this sense of fatalism is probably a pretty important component of one of the ways we can figure out who those kids at greater risk are,” he said.
The study appears in the July issue of Pediatrics, released today.
by the associated press
The study, based on a survey of more than 20,000 kids, challenges conventional wisdom that says teens engage in risky behavior because they think they’re invulnerable to harm.
Instead, a sizable number of teens may take chances "because they feel hopeless and figure that not much is at stake,” said study author Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.
That behavior threatens to turn their fatalism into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Over seven years, teenagers who thought they would die early were seven times more likely than optimistic kids to be subsequently diagnosed with AIDS.
They also were more likely to attempt suicide and get in fights resulting in serious injuries.
Borowsky said the magnitude of kids with a negative outlook was eye-opening.
Adolescence is "a time of great opportunity and for such a large minority of youth to feel like they don’t have a long life ahead of them was surprising,” she said.
The study suggests a new way doctors could detect kids likely to engage in unsafe behavior and potentially help prevent it, said Dr. Jonathan Klein, a University of Rochester adolescent health expert who was not involved in the research.
"Asking about this sense of fatalism is probably a pretty important component of one of the ways we can figure out who those kids at greater risk are,” he said.
The study appears in the July issue of Pediatrics, released today.
by the associated press
Benefit tax breaks Obama campaign vow
WASHINGTON — The Obama White House left open the possibility Sunday that the president would break a campaign promise and raise taxes on people earning less than $250,000 to support his health care overhaul plan.
White House adviser David Axelrod said the administration wouldn’t rule out taxing some employees’ benefits to fund a health care agenda that has yet to take final form. The move would be a compromise with fellow Democrats, who are pushing the proposal as a way to pay for the massive undertaking without ballooning the federal deficit.
"There are a number of formulations and we’ll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to keep the discussions going,” Axelrod said. "We’ve gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey.”
But if President Barack Obama compromises on that point, it would reverse a campaign tax promise.
"I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase,” Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year. "Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax.”
Under the current proposals, a tax on health benefits would affect only those with pricey health plans. The idea would be to tax as income the portion of health benefits worth more than a specified limit. Officials are considering several options, including one that would set the limit at $17,240 for family coverage and $6,800 for individuals.
Plans worth more than that would be taxed; those worth less would not be.
Axelrod appeared on ABC’s "This Week” and NBC’s "Meet the Press.”
by the associated press
White House adviser David Axelrod said the administration wouldn’t rule out taxing some employees’ benefits to fund a health care agenda that has yet to take final form. The move would be a compromise with fellow Democrats, who are pushing the proposal as a way to pay for the massive undertaking without ballooning the federal deficit.
"There are a number of formulations and we’ll wait and see. The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to keep the discussions going,” Axelrod said. "We’ve gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey.”
But if President Barack Obama compromises on that point, it would reverse a campaign tax promise.
"I pledge that under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase,” Obama told a crowd in Dover, N.H., last year. "Not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of tax.”
Under the current proposals, a tax on health benefits would affect only those with pricey health plans. The idea would be to tax as income the portion of health benefits worth more than a specified limit. Officials are considering several options, including one that would set the limit at $17,240 for family coverage and $6,800 for individuals.
Plans worth more than that would be taxed; those worth less would not be.
Axelrod appeared on ABC’s "This Week” and NBC’s "Meet the Press.”
by the associated press
Billy Mays found dead at age 50
TAMPA, Fla. — Billy Mays, the burly, bearded television pitchman whose boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean made him a pop-culture icon, has died. He was 50.
Tampa police said Mays was found unresponsive by his wife Sunday morning. It was not immediately clear how he died.
He said he was hit on the head when an airplane he was on made a rough landing Saturday, and Mays’ wife told investigators he didn’t feel well before he went to bed that night.
There were no signs of a break-in at the home, and investigators do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department, who wouldn’t answer questions about how Mays’ body was found.
The coroner’s office expects to have an autopsy done by this afternoon.
by the associated press
Tampa police said Mays was found unresponsive by his wife Sunday morning. It was not immediately clear how he died.
He said he was hit on the head when an airplane he was on made a rough landing Saturday, and Mays’ wife told investigators he didn’t feel well before he went to bed that night.
There were no signs of a break-in at the home, and investigators do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department, who wouldn’t answer questions about how Mays’ body was found.
The coroner’s office expects to have an autopsy done by this afternoon.
by the associated press
City Councilwoman Monica Conyers legal troubles
DETROIT (AP) — On the day City Councilwoman Monica Conyers stepped into a federal courtroom at home in Detroit to plead guilty to bribery, her husband was at home in Washington. Several of Rep. John Conyers' colleagues in the U.S. House said they weren't aware his wife could soon wind up spending five years in prison.
Rather than take the easy shot, the top Republican on the House ethics committee declined to comment. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said "it shouldn't have any impact at all" on John Conyers' work in the House.
A few thousand dollars in bribes — including one accepted outside a Detroit fast-food restaurant named Mr. Fish — have all but ended the short political career of Monica Conyers. They haven't made so much as a dent in the decades-long political career of John Conyers, a reserved yet adamant advocate for Detroit and Michigan who appears almost indifferent to the corruption scandal at home.
"My inclination is that John Conyers' constituency is extremely independent of hers," Wayne State University political science professor Lyke Thompson said. "He has worked long and hard to build up his own electoral base. ... He is well-known for his accomplishments in Washington."
It's in Washington where the 80-year-old Conyers spends most of his time, apart from the wife who was born in 1964 — the same year he was first elected to the House. He's rarely seen with Monica Conyers and the couple's two sons, and has said little about the scandal that had swirled for more than year around his politically ambitious bride.
On Friday, as his wife was in a courtroom pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery, Conyers declined to answer a reporter's questions as he walked to the House floor for a vote. "I have no comment whatever," he said.
"This has been a trying time for the Conyers family and, with hope and prayer, they will make it through this as a family," the Congressman's office said in a statement minutes after Monica Conyers entered her plea. "Public officials must expect to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards. With this in mind, Mr. Conyers wants to work towards helping his family and city recover from this serious matter."
Prosecutors said Friday that Monica Conyers accepted two payments in late 2007 to support a city contract that would pay $47 million to Texas-based Synagro Technologies to recycle wastewater sludge and build a modern incinerator in Detroit. The council voted 5-4 to approve the deal, with Conyers supplying the decisive vote.
"She's going to have to resign immediately, or (as) soon as she is sentenced," Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning said. "She will be out of office within two months. This is just blatant bribery, the perception that someone on the Detroit City Council can be bought."
Prosecutors have taken care to say John Conyers knew nothing about the bribery, and there are no signs it will affect his standing among voters who have sent him back to Congress every two years with at least 82 percent of the ballot since he was first elected.
A former aide in Conyers' House office, Monica Esters married her boss in 1990. The couple has two sons: the eldest carries his father's name and is a student at the University of Georgia. The younger son, Carl, attends the prestigious Cranbrook school in suburban Detroit.
She was a political rookie who largely campaigned on her husband's name in 2005 when she won election to the nine-member council, and her four years in office have been defined by petty squabbling and name-calling. During a public hearing last year, she drew headlines for calling Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. "Shrek" — a reference to the green movie ogre.
"Is the city going to get competent elected officials or people with a name?" Henning said. "The name Conyers has been very powerful. Will this be a turning point for the city? It's going to be up for the voters to decide."
The nearly yearlong perjury investigation followed a text-messaging sex scandal involving ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, a draining collection of City Hall wrongdoing in a city struggling with high unemployment, rampant home foreclosures and an unforgiving economy.
"It is unfortunate that our city must, again, endure another set of unethical circumstances surrounding elected officials," Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement. "This is further evidence of the need for and respect of strong ethical standards. However, we must stay focused on the job at hand — rebuilding and moving Detroit forward."
by the associated press
Rather than take the easy shot, the top Republican on the House ethics committee declined to comment. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said "it shouldn't have any impact at all" on John Conyers' work in the House.
A few thousand dollars in bribes — including one accepted outside a Detroit fast-food restaurant named Mr. Fish — have all but ended the short political career of Monica Conyers. They haven't made so much as a dent in the decades-long political career of John Conyers, a reserved yet adamant advocate for Detroit and Michigan who appears almost indifferent to the corruption scandal at home.
"My inclination is that John Conyers' constituency is extremely independent of hers," Wayne State University political science professor Lyke Thompson said. "He has worked long and hard to build up his own electoral base. ... He is well-known for his accomplishments in Washington."
It's in Washington where the 80-year-old Conyers spends most of his time, apart from the wife who was born in 1964 — the same year he was first elected to the House. He's rarely seen with Monica Conyers and the couple's two sons, and has said little about the scandal that had swirled for more than year around his politically ambitious bride.
On Friday, as his wife was in a courtroom pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery, Conyers declined to answer a reporter's questions as he walked to the House floor for a vote. "I have no comment whatever," he said.
"This has been a trying time for the Conyers family and, with hope and prayer, they will make it through this as a family," the Congressman's office said in a statement minutes after Monica Conyers entered her plea. "Public officials must expect to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards. With this in mind, Mr. Conyers wants to work towards helping his family and city recover from this serious matter."
Prosecutors said Friday that Monica Conyers accepted two payments in late 2007 to support a city contract that would pay $47 million to Texas-based Synagro Technologies to recycle wastewater sludge and build a modern incinerator in Detroit. The council voted 5-4 to approve the deal, with Conyers supplying the decisive vote.
"She's going to have to resign immediately, or (as) soon as she is sentenced," Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning said. "She will be out of office within two months. This is just blatant bribery, the perception that someone on the Detroit City Council can be bought."
Prosecutors have taken care to say John Conyers knew nothing about the bribery, and there are no signs it will affect his standing among voters who have sent him back to Congress every two years with at least 82 percent of the ballot since he was first elected.
A former aide in Conyers' House office, Monica Esters married her boss in 1990. The couple has two sons: the eldest carries his father's name and is a student at the University of Georgia. The younger son, Carl, attends the prestigious Cranbrook school in suburban Detroit.
She was a political rookie who largely campaigned on her husband's name in 2005 when she won election to the nine-member council, and her four years in office have been defined by petty squabbling and name-calling. During a public hearing last year, she drew headlines for calling Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. "Shrek" — a reference to the green movie ogre.
"Is the city going to get competent elected officials or people with a name?" Henning said. "The name Conyers has been very powerful. Will this be a turning point for the city? It's going to be up for the voters to decide."
The nearly yearlong perjury investigation followed a text-messaging sex scandal involving ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, a draining collection of City Hall wrongdoing in a city struggling with high unemployment, rampant home foreclosures and an unforgiving economy.
"It is unfortunate that our city must, again, endure another set of unethical circumstances surrounding elected officials," Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement. "This is further evidence of the need for and respect of strong ethical standards. However, we must stay focused on the job at hand — rebuilding and moving Detroit forward."
by the associated press
Poll's show Most Americans Want Sotomayor on Court
A sizable majority of Americans want the Senate to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, and most call her "about right" ideologically, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Senate hearings on Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter, begin in two weeks, and 62 percent of those polled support her elevation to the court. Sotomayor, 55, is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York.
If confirmed, Sotomayor would become only the third female justice and the second on the current nine-member court. But there is no gender gap in support for her, with men and women about equally likely to be on her side.
Partisan differences, however, abound. Nearly eight in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents said they want the Senate to confirm Sotomayor, but that drops to 36 percent of Republicans. Overall, most Republicans deem the judge a "more liberal" nominee than they would have liked.
But Obama's nominee also divides Republicans: While conservative Republicans are broadly opposed, most Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal support her. More than seven in 10 conservative Republicans said she is too liberal, which is more than double the proportion of centrist or left-leaning Republicans who say so.
Some opposition to her, however, comes from the other side, as about one in five of those who want the Senate to reject her see her as insufficiently liberal.
Overall, 55 percent of Americans said Sotomayor is about right on a liberal-to-conservative scale. About a quarter said she is a more liberal nominee than they would have liked, about the same proportion who called Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. too conservative when President George W. Bush nominated them.
This year, abortion politics again represent a deep dividing line in public attitudes, with about three-quarters of those who are pro-choice in all or most cases behind Sotomayor, compared with less than half of those who favor greater restrictions.
The majority of Americans who want the court to retain the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade has remained remarkably steady over the years, and currently six in 10 Americans would want the new justice to vote to uphold it.
This issue also exposes fissures in the GOP: Most Republican men would want Sotomayor to vote to overturn Roe, while Republican women split about evenly on the question.
Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic justice, and her speeches about how her life experiences and her close-knit Puerto Rican family in the Bronx have shaped her view of the judiciary have become somewhat controversial. Critics have seized on a passage in a 2001 speech she gave on separating personal views from an objective reading of the law: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
But most Americans do not think her life experiences influence the way she decides cases: Fifty-nine percent said the fact that she is a women does not factor in, and 52 percent said the same about her racial and ethnic background.
Among the 33 percent who said her gender plays a role, more than twice as many say that is a good thing than a bad thing. The groups most apt to call her gender a factor are those with a postgraduate education and liberal Democrats, and they overwhelmingly approve. Here, too, is no gender gap in attitudes.
On race and ethnicity, however, some groups tip the other way: Half of Republican men and 59 percent of conservative Republicans said these play a role in her decision making, with most of those who do saying that that is a bad thing.
The telephone poll was conducted June 18 to 21, among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. The results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
from the washington post
Senate hearings on Sotomayor, President Obama's pick to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter, begin in two weeks, and 62 percent of those polled support her elevation to the court. Sotomayor, 55, is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York.
If confirmed, Sotomayor would become only the third female justice and the second on the current nine-member court. But there is no gender gap in support for her, with men and women about equally likely to be on her side.
Partisan differences, however, abound. Nearly eight in 10 Democrats and about two-thirds of independents said they want the Senate to confirm Sotomayor, but that drops to 36 percent of Republicans. Overall, most Republicans deem the judge a "more liberal" nominee than they would have liked.
But Obama's nominee also divides Republicans: While conservative Republicans are broadly opposed, most Republicans who describe themselves as moderate or liberal support her. More than seven in 10 conservative Republicans said she is too liberal, which is more than double the proportion of centrist or left-leaning Republicans who say so.
Some opposition to her, however, comes from the other side, as about one in five of those who want the Senate to reject her see her as insufficiently liberal.
Overall, 55 percent of Americans said Sotomayor is about right on a liberal-to-conservative scale. About a quarter said she is a more liberal nominee than they would have liked, about the same proportion who called Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. too conservative when President George W. Bush nominated them.
This year, abortion politics again represent a deep dividing line in public attitudes, with about three-quarters of those who are pro-choice in all or most cases behind Sotomayor, compared with less than half of those who favor greater restrictions.
The majority of Americans who want the court to retain the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade has remained remarkably steady over the years, and currently six in 10 Americans would want the new justice to vote to uphold it.
This issue also exposes fissures in the GOP: Most Republican men would want Sotomayor to vote to overturn Roe, while Republican women split about evenly on the question.
Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic justice, and her speeches about how her life experiences and her close-knit Puerto Rican family in the Bronx have shaped her view of the judiciary have become somewhat controversial. Critics have seized on a passage in a 2001 speech she gave on separating personal views from an objective reading of the law: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
But most Americans do not think her life experiences influence the way she decides cases: Fifty-nine percent said the fact that she is a women does not factor in, and 52 percent said the same about her racial and ethnic background.
Among the 33 percent who said her gender plays a role, more than twice as many say that is a good thing than a bad thing. The groups most apt to call her gender a factor are those with a postgraduate education and liberal Democrats, and they overwhelmingly approve. Here, too, is no gender gap in attitudes.
On race and ethnicity, however, some groups tip the other way: Half of Republican men and 59 percent of conservative Republicans said these play a role in her decision making, with most of those who do saying that that is a bad thing.
The telephone poll was conducted June 18 to 21, among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. The results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
from the washington post
Obama, Weighs Order on Detention
Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.
Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
After months of internal debate over how to close the military facility in Cuba, White House officials are increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may be impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the prison by the president's January deadline.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order.
"Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order," the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.
The Justice Department has declined to comment on the prospects for a long-term detention system while internal reviews of Guantanamo detainees' cases are underway. One task force, which is assessing detainee policy, is expected to complete its work by July 21.
In a May speech, President Obama broached the need for a system of long-term detention and suggested that it would include congressional and judicial oversight. "We must recognize that these detention policies cannot be unbounded. They can't be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone," he said.
Some of Obama's top legal advisers, along with a handful of influential Republican and Democratic lawmakers, have pushed for the creation of a "national security court" to supervise the incarceration of detainees deemed too dangerous to release but who cannot be charged or tried.
But the three senior government officials said the White House has turned away from that option, at least for now, because legislation establishing a special court would be difficult to pass and likely to fracture Obama's party. These officials, as well as others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations.
On the day Obama took office, 242 men were imprisoned at Guantanamo. In his May speech, the president outlined five strategies the administration would use to deal with them: criminal trials, revamped military tribunals, transfers to other countries, releases and continued detention.
Since the inauguration, 11 detainees have been released or transferred, one prisoner committed suicide, and one was moved to New York to face terrorism charges in federal court.
Administration officials said the cases of about half of the remaining 229 detainees have been reviewed for prosecution or release. Two officials involved in a Justice Department review of possible prosecutions said the administration is strongly considering criminal charges in federal court for Khalid Sheik Mohammed and three other detainees accused of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The other half of the cases, the officials said, present the greatest difficulty because these detainees cannot be prosecuted in federal court or military commissions. In many cases the evidence against them is classified, has been provided by foreign intelligence services or has been tainted by the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. agreed with an assessment offered during congressional testimony this month that fewer than 25 percent of the detainees would be charged in criminal courts and that 50 others have been approved for transfer or release. One official said the administration is hoping that as many as 70 Yemeni citizens will be moved, in stages, into a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia.
Three months into the Justice Department's reviews, several officials involved said they have found themselves agreeing with conclusions reached years earlier by the Bush administration: As many as 90 detainees cannot be charged or released.
The White House has spent months meeting with key congressional leaders in the hope of reaching agreement on long-term detention, although public support for such a plan has wavered as lawmakers have sought to prevent detainees from being transferred to their constituencies.
Lawyers for the administration are now in negotiations with Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) over separate legislation that would revamp military commissions. A senior Republican staff member said that senators have yet to see "a comprehensive, detailed policy" on long-term detention from the administration.
"They can do it without congressional backing, but I think there would be very strong concerns," the staff member said, adding that "Congress could cut off funding" for any detention system established in the United States.
Concerns are growing among Obama's advisers that Congress may try to assert too much control over the process. This week Obama signed an appropriations bill that forces the administration to report to Congress before moving any detainee out of Guantanamo and prevents the White House from using available funds to move detainees onto U.S. soil.
"Legislation could kill Obama's plans," said one government official involved. The official said an executive order could be the best option for the president at this juncture.
Under one White House draft that was being discussed this month, according to administration officials, detainees would be imprisoned at a military facility on U.S. soil, but their ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review. U.S. citizens would not be held in the system.
Such detainees -- those at Guantanamo and those who may be captured in the future -- would also have the right to legal representation during confinement and access to some of the information that is being used to keep them behind bars. Anyone detained under this order would have a right to challenge his detention before a judge.
Officials say the plan would give detainees more rights and allow them a better chance than they have now at Guantanamo to one day end their indefinite incarceration.
But some senior Democrats see long-term detention as tantamount to reestablishing the Guantanamo system on U.S. soil. "I think this could be a very big mistake, because of how such a system could be perceived throughout the world," Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) told Holder.
One administration official said future transfers to the United States for long-term detention would be rare. Al-Qaeda operatives captured on the battlefield, which the official defined as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and possibly the Horn of Africa, would be held in battlefield facilities. Suspects captured elsewhere in the world could be transferred to the United States for federal prosecution, turned over to local authorities or returned to their home countries.
"Going forward, unless it's an extraordinary case, you will not see new transfers to the U.S. for indefinite detention," the official said.
Instituting long-term detention through an executive order would leave Obama vulnerable to charges that he is willing to forsake the legislative branch of government, as his predecessor often did. Bush's detention policies suffered defeats in the courts in part because they lacked congressional approval and tried to exclude judicial oversight.
"There is no statute prohibiting the president from doing this through executive order, and so far courts have not ruled in ways that would bar him from doing so," said Matthew Waxman, who worked on detainee issues at the Defense Department during Bush's first term. But Waxman, who waged a battle inside the Bush administration for more congressional cooperation, said that the "courts are more likely to defer to the president and legislative branch when they speak with one voice on these issues."
Tawfiq bin Attash, who is accused of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and who was held at a secret CIA prison, could be among those subject to long-term detention, according to one senior official.
Little information on bin Attash's case has been made public, but officials who have reviewed his file said the Justice Department has concluded that none of the three witnesses against him can be brought to testify in court. One witness, who was jailed in Yemen, escaped several years ago. A second witness remains incarcerated, but the government of Yemen will not allow him to testify.
Administration officials believe that testimony from the only witness in U.S. custody, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, may be inadmissible because he was subjected to harsh interrogation while in CIA custody.
"These issues haven't morphed simply because the administration changed," said Juan Zarate, who served as Bush's deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"The challenge for the new administration is how to solve these legal questions of preventive detention in a way that is consistent with the Constitution, legitimate in the eyes of the world and doesn't create security loopholes that cause Congress to worry," Zarate said.
from the washington post
Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.
After months of internal debate over how to close the military facility in Cuba, White House officials are increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may be impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the prison by the president's January deadline.
White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order.
"Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order," the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.
The Justice Department has declined to comment on the prospects for a long-term detention system while internal reviews of Guantanamo detainees' cases are underway. One task force, which is assessing detainee policy, is expected to complete its work by July 21.
In a May speech, President Obama broached the need for a system of long-term detention and suggested that it would include congressional and judicial oversight. "We must recognize that these detention policies cannot be unbounded. They can't be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone," he said.
Some of Obama's top legal advisers, along with a handful of influential Republican and Democratic lawmakers, have pushed for the creation of a "national security court" to supervise the incarceration of detainees deemed too dangerous to release but who cannot be charged or tried.
But the three senior government officials said the White House has turned away from that option, at least for now, because legislation establishing a special court would be difficult to pass and likely to fracture Obama's party. These officials, as well as others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations.
On the day Obama took office, 242 men were imprisoned at Guantanamo. In his May speech, the president outlined five strategies the administration would use to deal with them: criminal trials, revamped military tribunals, transfers to other countries, releases and continued detention.
Since the inauguration, 11 detainees have been released or transferred, one prisoner committed suicide, and one was moved to New York to face terrorism charges in federal court.
Administration officials said the cases of about half of the remaining 229 detainees have been reviewed for prosecution or release. Two officials involved in a Justice Department review of possible prosecutions said the administration is strongly considering criminal charges in federal court for Khalid Sheik Mohammed and three other detainees accused of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The other half of the cases, the officials said, present the greatest difficulty because these detainees cannot be prosecuted in federal court or military commissions. In many cases the evidence against them is classified, has been provided by foreign intelligence services or has been tainted by the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. agreed with an assessment offered during congressional testimony this month that fewer than 25 percent of the detainees would be charged in criminal courts and that 50 others have been approved for transfer or release. One official said the administration is hoping that as many as 70 Yemeni citizens will be moved, in stages, into a rehabilitation program in Saudi Arabia.
Three months into the Justice Department's reviews, several officials involved said they have found themselves agreeing with conclusions reached years earlier by the Bush administration: As many as 90 detainees cannot be charged or released.
The White House has spent months meeting with key congressional leaders in the hope of reaching agreement on long-term detention, although public support for such a plan has wavered as lawmakers have sought to prevent detainees from being transferred to their constituencies.
Lawyers for the administration are now in negotiations with Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) over separate legislation that would revamp military commissions. A senior Republican staff member said that senators have yet to see "a comprehensive, detailed policy" on long-term detention from the administration.
"They can do it without congressional backing, but I think there would be very strong concerns," the staff member said, adding that "Congress could cut off funding" for any detention system established in the United States.
Concerns are growing among Obama's advisers that Congress may try to assert too much control over the process. This week Obama signed an appropriations bill that forces the administration to report to Congress before moving any detainee out of Guantanamo and prevents the White House from using available funds to move detainees onto U.S. soil.
"Legislation could kill Obama's plans," said one government official involved. The official said an executive order could be the best option for the president at this juncture.
Under one White House draft that was being discussed this month, according to administration officials, detainees would be imprisoned at a military facility on U.S. soil, but their ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review. U.S. citizens would not be held in the system.
Such detainees -- those at Guantanamo and those who may be captured in the future -- would also have the right to legal representation during confinement and access to some of the information that is being used to keep them behind bars. Anyone detained under this order would have a right to challenge his detention before a judge.
Officials say the plan would give detainees more rights and allow them a better chance than they have now at Guantanamo to one day end their indefinite incarceration.
But some senior Democrats see long-term detention as tantamount to reestablishing the Guantanamo system on U.S. soil. "I think this could be a very big mistake, because of how such a system could be perceived throughout the world," Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) told Holder.
One administration official said future transfers to the United States for long-term detention would be rare. Al-Qaeda operatives captured on the battlefield, which the official defined as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and possibly the Horn of Africa, would be held in battlefield facilities. Suspects captured elsewhere in the world could be transferred to the United States for federal prosecution, turned over to local authorities or returned to their home countries.
"Going forward, unless it's an extraordinary case, you will not see new transfers to the U.S. for indefinite detention," the official said.
Instituting long-term detention through an executive order would leave Obama vulnerable to charges that he is willing to forsake the legislative branch of government, as his predecessor often did. Bush's detention policies suffered defeats in the courts in part because they lacked congressional approval and tried to exclude judicial oversight.
"There is no statute prohibiting the president from doing this through executive order, and so far courts have not ruled in ways that would bar him from doing so," said Matthew Waxman, who worked on detainee issues at the Defense Department during Bush's first term. But Waxman, who waged a battle inside the Bush administration for more congressional cooperation, said that the "courts are more likely to defer to the president and legislative branch when they speak with one voice on these issues."
Tawfiq bin Attash, who is accused of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and who was held at a secret CIA prison, could be among those subject to long-term detention, according to one senior official.
Little information on bin Attash's case has been made public, but officials who have reviewed his file said the Justice Department has concluded that none of the three witnesses against him can be brought to testify in court. One witness, who was jailed in Yemen, escaped several years ago. A second witness remains incarcerated, but the government of Yemen will not allow him to testify.
Administration officials believe that testimony from the only witness in U.S. custody, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, may be inadmissible because he was subjected to harsh interrogation while in CIA custody.
"These issues haven't morphed simply because the administration changed," said Juan Zarate, who served as Bush's deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"The challenge for the new administration is how to solve these legal questions of preventive detention in a way that is consistent with the Constitution, legitimate in the eyes of the world and doesn't create security loopholes that cause Congress to worry," Zarate said.
from the washington post
Sen. Graham: Gov. Sanford can still do good work
WASHINGTON -- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says his governor, Mark Sanford, still has the chance to do good work for their state.
Graham says if Sanford can reconcile with his wife and salvage their marriage, then the Sanford family can survive the governor's affair with a woman in Argentina.
Sanford disclosed the affair last week and said he had visited the woman without telling his state security detail or aides.
Graham, a fellow Republican who is godfather to the Sanfords' youngest child, wouldn't say if Sanford should keep his job or step down.
The senator appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."
by the associated press
Graham says if Sanford can reconcile with his wife and salvage their marriage, then the Sanford family can survive the governor's affair with a woman in Argentina.
Sanford disclosed the affair last week and said he had visited the woman without telling his state security detail or aides.
Graham, a fellow Republican who is godfather to the Sanfords' youngest child, wouldn't say if Sanford should keep his job or step down.
The senator appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."
by the associated press
Climate bill could spur energy revolution
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has taken its first step toward an energy revolution, with the prospect of profound change for every household, business, industry and farm in the decades ahead.
It was late Friday when the House passed legislation that would, for the first time, require limits on pollution blamed for global warming — mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Now the Senate has the chance to change the way Americans produce and use energy.
What would the country look like a decade from now if the House-passed bill — or, more likely, a water-down version — were to become the law of the land?
"It will open the door to a clean energy economy and a better future for America," President Barack Obama said Saturday.
But what does that mean to the average person?
Energy touches every corner of the economy and in countless ways can alter people's lives.
Such a law would impact how much people pay to heat, cool and light their homes (it would cost more); what automobiles they buy and drive (smaller, fuel efficient and hybrid electric); and where they will work (more "green" jobs, meaning more environmentally friendly ones).
Critics of the House bill brand it a "jobs killer." Yet it would seem more likely to shift jobs. Old, energy-intensive industries and businesses might scale back or disappear. Those green jobs would emerge, propelled by the push for nonpolluting energy sources.
That could mean making or installing solar panels, repairing wind turbines, producing energy-efficient light bulbs, working for an environmental engineering firm or waste recycler, making equipment that harnesses carbon from coal burning and churning out energy-saving washing machines or air conditioners.
Assembly line workers at factories that made gas-guzzling cars might see their future in producing the next generation of batteries or wind turbine blades — an emerging shift, though on a relatively small scale today. On Wall Street, commodity brokers would trade carbon pollution credits alongside oil futures.
Farmers would see the cost of fertilizer and electricity go up. More windmills would dot their pastures. And a new source of income could come from selling pollution credits by planting trees or changing farming methods to absorb more carbon dioxide.
Energy would cost more because it would become more expensive to produce. For the first time there would be a price on the greenhouse gas pollution created when coal, natural gas or oil are burned. Energy companies would have to pay for technologies that can capture the carbon emissions, purchase pollution allowances or shift to cleaner energy sources.
It all costs.
Investors would see a new line item on companies financial reports: the cost of carbon permits.
Some increases would be reflected in the prices of goods and services, economics say. It might mean shelling out more for a toy because plastic, a petroleum based product, is more expensive, or paying more for a house because of new efficiency requirements.
Not all the higher energy cost would show up in people's utility bills. Households, as well as business and factories — including those, for example, making plastic for toys — could use less energy, or at least use it more efficiently. The poorest of homes could get a government check as a rebate for high energy costs. That money would come from selling pollution allowances for industry.
Energy experts in government and industry say a price on carbon pollution would lead to new ways to make renewable energy less expensive, while emphasizing how people can use it more wisely.
Potential changes to how homes are built and even financed seem likely as energy efficiency is taken into account in building codes and the cost of mortgages. With the cost of energy increasing, homeowners and businesses would have greater incentive to use more energy efficient lighting, windows and insulation.
But don't think that the traditional sources of energy would disappear.
Coal, which today accounts for half the electricity produced, would continue as a major energy source, though a less polluting one, energy experts forecast. That would mean capturing the carbon released when coal is burned.
It's a technological hurdle with a complication: "not in my back yard" complaints over what to do with the billions of tons of carbon dioxide captured from power plants and pumped beneath the earth. Would people feel comfortable having it stored near or under their homes, factories and businesses?
Scientists studying climate change say carbon capture from power plants is essential if the country is to take up the challenge against global warming.
The cleaner energy economy also put nuclear energy front and center. Does the U.S. build new power plants? If so, where, and where does all the waste go? Nuclear energy makes up about one-fifth of the nation's electricity today.
The House-passed bill contains provisions to make it easier to get loan guarantees and expands the nuclear industry's access to loans for reactor construction. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis that shows modest future costs from a low-climate energy world assumes a significant expansion of nuclear energy. The Senate could add more incentives for the nuclear industry.
The new energy world would rely more on natural gas. This abundant fossil fuel emits carbon but is relatively clean when compared with coal. But people would have to decide whether to accept new pipelines that are needed to ship the gas around the country — just as they would have to deal with the need for new power lines to move solar and wind energy to where it's needed.
by the associated press
It was late Friday when the House passed legislation that would, for the first time, require limits on pollution blamed for global warming — mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels. Now the Senate has the chance to change the way Americans produce and use energy.
What would the country look like a decade from now if the House-passed bill — or, more likely, a water-down version — were to become the law of the land?
"It will open the door to a clean energy economy and a better future for America," President Barack Obama said Saturday.
But what does that mean to the average person?
Energy touches every corner of the economy and in countless ways can alter people's lives.
Such a law would impact how much people pay to heat, cool and light their homes (it would cost more); what automobiles they buy and drive (smaller, fuel efficient and hybrid electric); and where they will work (more "green" jobs, meaning more environmentally friendly ones).
Critics of the House bill brand it a "jobs killer." Yet it would seem more likely to shift jobs. Old, energy-intensive industries and businesses might scale back or disappear. Those green jobs would emerge, propelled by the push for nonpolluting energy sources.
That could mean making or installing solar panels, repairing wind turbines, producing energy-efficient light bulbs, working for an environmental engineering firm or waste recycler, making equipment that harnesses carbon from coal burning and churning out energy-saving washing machines or air conditioners.
Assembly line workers at factories that made gas-guzzling cars might see their future in producing the next generation of batteries or wind turbine blades — an emerging shift, though on a relatively small scale today. On Wall Street, commodity brokers would trade carbon pollution credits alongside oil futures.
Farmers would see the cost of fertilizer and electricity go up. More windmills would dot their pastures. And a new source of income could come from selling pollution credits by planting trees or changing farming methods to absorb more carbon dioxide.
Energy would cost more because it would become more expensive to produce. For the first time there would be a price on the greenhouse gas pollution created when coal, natural gas or oil are burned. Energy companies would have to pay for technologies that can capture the carbon emissions, purchase pollution allowances or shift to cleaner energy sources.
It all costs.
Investors would see a new line item on companies financial reports: the cost of carbon permits.
Some increases would be reflected in the prices of goods and services, economics say. It might mean shelling out more for a toy because plastic, a petroleum based product, is more expensive, or paying more for a house because of new efficiency requirements.
Not all the higher energy cost would show up in people's utility bills. Households, as well as business and factories — including those, for example, making plastic for toys — could use less energy, or at least use it more efficiently. The poorest of homes could get a government check as a rebate for high energy costs. That money would come from selling pollution allowances for industry.
Energy experts in government and industry say a price on carbon pollution would lead to new ways to make renewable energy less expensive, while emphasizing how people can use it more wisely.
Potential changes to how homes are built and even financed seem likely as energy efficiency is taken into account in building codes and the cost of mortgages. With the cost of energy increasing, homeowners and businesses would have greater incentive to use more energy efficient lighting, windows and insulation.
But don't think that the traditional sources of energy would disappear.
Coal, which today accounts for half the electricity produced, would continue as a major energy source, though a less polluting one, energy experts forecast. That would mean capturing the carbon released when coal is burned.
It's a technological hurdle with a complication: "not in my back yard" complaints over what to do with the billions of tons of carbon dioxide captured from power plants and pumped beneath the earth. Would people feel comfortable having it stored near or under their homes, factories and businesses?
Scientists studying climate change say carbon capture from power plants is essential if the country is to take up the challenge against global warming.
The cleaner energy economy also put nuclear energy front and center. Does the U.S. build new power plants? If so, where, and where does all the waste go? Nuclear energy makes up about one-fifth of the nation's electricity today.
The House-passed bill contains provisions to make it easier to get loan guarantees and expands the nuclear industry's access to loans for reactor construction. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis that shows modest future costs from a low-climate energy world assumes a significant expansion of nuclear energy. The Senate could add more incentives for the nuclear industry.
The new energy world would rely more on natural gas. This abundant fossil fuel emits carbon but is relatively clean when compared with coal. But people would have to decide whether to accept new pipelines that are needed to ship the gas around the country — just as they would have to deal with the need for new power lines to move solar and wind energy to where it's needed.
by the associated press
Axelrod say's their might still be Tax Increase
President Obama's top political adviser refused today to rule out the possibility that the White House might agree to a tax hike on health insurance plans that would hit middle-income Americans.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week" program, David Axelrod declined to repeat Obama's "firm pledge" during the campaign that families making under $250,000 will not see "any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
Instead, Axelrod said the president has no interest in "drawing lines in the sand" on the issue of how to pay for the costly health reform plan making its way through Congress.
"One of the problems we've had in this town is that people draw lines in the sand and they stop talking to each other. And you don't get anything done," Axxelrod said. "That's not the way the president approaches this."
Axelrod insisted that Obama is "very cognizant of protecting people -- middle class people, hard-working people who are trying to get along in a very difficult economy." And he promised that the president "will continue to represent them" in negotiations with Congress over health reform.
He also repeated Obama's preference for a cap on the deductions that people making over $250,000 can take on their taxes as a way to pay for health care changes.
But under repeated questioning from host George Stephanopoulos, Axelrod said the White House is open to "a lot of different formulations" for paying for health care reform.
He also waded into the ongoing questions about the Iranian elections, dismissing the harsh words about U.S. meddling from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as "bloviations that are politically motivated."
Axelrod also appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," where he ducked questions about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's bizarre behavior and defended the administration's decision to coordinate with a reporter in advance of a news conference to ask a question posed by an Iranian.
"I'm very comfortable with what we did," he said.
On CNN, Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said he believes the Iraqi military forces are ready to take over from American soldiers in the country's biggest cities.
The handover takes place on Tuesday even as there have been several very large attacks in the country that have killed scores of Iraqis.
"I do believe they're ready," Odierno told John King, host of "State
of the Union." "They've been working towards this for a long time. And
security remains good. We've seen constant improvement in the security force, we've seen constant improvement in governance. And I believe this is the time for us to move out of the cities and for them to take ultimate responsibility."
from the washingtom post
Speaking on ABC's "This Week" program, David Axelrod declined to repeat Obama's "firm pledge" during the campaign that families making under $250,000 will not see "any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."
Instead, Axelrod said the president has no interest in "drawing lines in the sand" on the issue of how to pay for the costly health reform plan making its way through Congress.
"One of the problems we've had in this town is that people draw lines in the sand and they stop talking to each other. And you don't get anything done," Axxelrod said. "That's not the way the president approaches this."
Axelrod insisted that Obama is "very cognizant of protecting people -- middle class people, hard-working people who are trying to get along in a very difficult economy." And he promised that the president "will continue to represent them" in negotiations with Congress over health reform.
He also repeated Obama's preference for a cap on the deductions that people making over $250,000 can take on their taxes as a way to pay for health care changes.
But under repeated questioning from host George Stephanopoulos, Axelrod said the White House is open to "a lot of different formulations" for paying for health care reform.
He also waded into the ongoing questions about the Iranian elections, dismissing the harsh words about U.S. meddling from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as "bloviations that are politically motivated."
Axelrod also appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," where he ducked questions about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's bizarre behavior and defended the administration's decision to coordinate with a reporter in advance of a news conference to ask a question posed by an Iranian.
"I'm very comfortable with what we did," he said.
On CNN, Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said he believes the Iraqi military forces are ready to take over from American soldiers in the country's biggest cities.
The handover takes place on Tuesday even as there have been several very large attacks in the country that have killed scores of Iraqis.
"I do believe they're ready," Odierno told John King, host of "State
of the Union." "They've been working towards this for a long time. And
security remains good. We've seen constant improvement in the security force, we've seen constant improvement in governance. And I believe this is the time for us to move out of the cities and for them to take ultimate responsibility."
from the washingtom post
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Russia's military ties
CORFU, Greece — NATO and Russia agreed to resume military ties Saturday in their first high-level meeting since Russia’s war with Georgia disrupted relations 10 months ago.
NATO’s outgoing Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced that the NATO-Russia Council, set up in 2002 to improve ties between the former Cold War rivals, was operational again.
Relations between the alliance and the Russian military were frozen after the five-day Georgian war last August.
Although political ties have thawed considerably over the past five months, there had been no formal military contacts since the war began.
The resumption of talks means NATO and Russia can cooperate on a range of security issues, including Afghanistan and continuing efforts to fight piracy, terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his counterparts from NATO’s 28 member nations on the Greek island of Corfu ahead of a broader informal meeting of ministers from the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Russian ties remained
De Hoop Scheffer described the talks as "open and constructive, which means we did not try to paper over our differences on Georgia, for example. But we agreed not to allow those agreements to bring the NRC to a halt.”
Despite last year’s disruption of ties with NATO, Russia has continued cooperating with individual NATO nations such as the U.S., France or Germany by allowing them to use Russia’s rail network and aerial corridors to resupply international forces in Afghanistan, and its navy has worked with NATO warships on their joint anti-piracy patrols.
by the associated press
NATO’s outgoing Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced that the NATO-Russia Council, set up in 2002 to improve ties between the former Cold War rivals, was operational again.
Relations between the alliance and the Russian military were frozen after the five-day Georgian war last August.
Although political ties have thawed considerably over the past five months, there had been no formal military contacts since the war began.
The resumption of talks means NATO and Russia can cooperate on a range of security issues, including Afghanistan and continuing efforts to fight piracy, terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his counterparts from NATO’s 28 member nations on the Greek island of Corfu ahead of a broader informal meeting of ministers from the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Russian ties remained
De Hoop Scheffer described the talks as "open and constructive, which means we did not try to paper over our differences on Georgia, for example. But we agreed not to allow those agreements to bring the NRC to a halt.”
Despite last year’s disruption of ties with NATO, Russia has continued cooperating with individual NATO nations such as the U.S., France or Germany by allowing them to use Russia’s rail network and aerial corridors to resupply international forces in Afghanistan, and its navy has worked with NATO warships on their joint anti-piracy patrols.
by the associated press
Pastor welcomes guns
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For one day, at least, it was OK to pack heat in church.
More than 200 people answered gun-toting Pastor Ken Pagano’s call to celebrate the Second Amendment at New Bethel Church in Louisville on Saturday. There was just one rule for the several dozen who brought their guns along: No bullets.
"We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns,” Pagano said during the 90-minute event, which was open to the public. "If it were not for a deep-seated belief in the right to bear arms, this country would not be here today,” he told the crowd, drawing applause and exclamations of "Amen!”
The "Open Carry Celebration” included a handgun raffle, patriotic music and screening of gun safety videos. Some gun owners carried old-fashioned six-shooters in leather holsters, while others packed modern police-style firearms. Kentucky allows residents to openly carry guns in public with some restrictions.
"I just believe in the right to protect ourselves,” said Liz Boyer, who had a pink Glock in a black holster at her side. The 41-year-old isn’t a member of the church but teaches a class on gun safety for women at a local range.
Brittany Rogers, 23, feared guns as a child. But her fiance encouraged her to go sport shooting with him about a year ago, and she said she has been hooked ever since. On Saturday, she brought her tiny Kel-Tec P-32 to church.
Pagano’s protestant church, which attracts up to 150 people to Sunday services in a conservative neighborhood of southwest Louisville, belongs to the Assemblies of God. He thought up the event after some church members expressed concern about the Obama administration’s views on gun control, though the president hasn’t moved to put new restrictions on ownership.
Across town, a coalition of peace and church groups concerned about Pagano’s appeal to gun owners staged their own gun-free event.
Pagano’s event troubled his church’s longtime insurance carrier, which declined to insure the event and informed him it won’t renew the policy.
by the associated press
More than 200 people answered gun-toting Pastor Ken Pagano’s call to celebrate the Second Amendment at New Bethel Church in Louisville on Saturday. There was just one rule for the several dozen who brought their guns along: No bullets.
"We are wanting to send a message that there are legal, civil, intelligent and law-abiding citizens who also own guns,” Pagano said during the 90-minute event, which was open to the public. "If it were not for a deep-seated belief in the right to bear arms, this country would not be here today,” he told the crowd, drawing applause and exclamations of "Amen!”
The "Open Carry Celebration” included a handgun raffle, patriotic music and screening of gun safety videos. Some gun owners carried old-fashioned six-shooters in leather holsters, while others packed modern police-style firearms. Kentucky allows residents to openly carry guns in public with some restrictions.
"I just believe in the right to protect ourselves,” said Liz Boyer, who had a pink Glock in a black holster at her side. The 41-year-old isn’t a member of the church but teaches a class on gun safety for women at a local range.
Brittany Rogers, 23, feared guns as a child. But her fiance encouraged her to go sport shooting with him about a year ago, and she said she has been hooked ever since. On Saturday, she brought her tiny Kel-Tec P-32 to church.
Pagano’s protestant church, which attracts up to 150 people to Sunday services in a conservative neighborhood of southwest Louisville, belongs to the Assemblies of God. He thought up the event after some church members expressed concern about the Obama administration’s views on gun control, though the president hasn’t moved to put new restrictions on ownership.
Across town, a coalition of peace and church groups concerned about Pagano’s appeal to gun owners staged their own gun-free event.
Pagano’s event troubled his church’s longtime insurance carrier, which declined to insure the event and informed him it won’t renew the policy.
by the associated press
Budget woes could cut narcotics staff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s budget woes could cut a third of the agents from a little-known unit that has played a key role in high-profile cases like Anna Nicole Smith’s overdose death.
Budget negotiators propose cutting $20 million from the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement on top of $12 million in previous cuts from the bureau.
Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose department oversees the narcotics bureau, said cuts would lead to layoffs for nearly a third of its 187 agents.
"It’s a terrible budgetary decision,” Brown said. "The Bureau of Narcotics enforcement has some of the best-trained agents in the world that are going after drug cartels, that are providing assistance to local law enforcement agencies,” Brown said.
Without the bureau’s help, the local agencies will be outmanned and outgunned, he said. The agency, part of the California Department of Justice, works under the radar, he said, with plainclothes agents operating in a dangerous underworld.
But Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, said lawmakers have little choice. The state faces a projected $24.3 billion budget deficit and already is making billions of dollars in cuts to education, health care and social programs.
The bureau was created during Prohibition, in 1927, predating the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration by nearly half a century. In recent years, its focus has been on stamping out large-scale methamphetamine and marijuana operations.
Brown said the layoffs would severely hamper, if not eliminate, 51 multi-agency task forces. Those task forces track down marijuana plantations often operated by Mexican drug cartels in forests and national parks, and major methamphetamine operations in the Central Valley that provide much of the nation’s supply.
Ducheny said the state may be able to make up for the funding cuts with federal drug enforcement money. But the attorney general’s office is skeptical that such funding can be diverted, spokesman Scott Gerber said.
by the associated press
Budget negotiators propose cutting $20 million from the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement on top of $12 million in previous cuts from the bureau.
Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose department oversees the narcotics bureau, said cuts would lead to layoffs for nearly a third of its 187 agents.
"It’s a terrible budgetary decision,” Brown said. "The Bureau of Narcotics enforcement has some of the best-trained agents in the world that are going after drug cartels, that are providing assistance to local law enforcement agencies,” Brown said.
Without the bureau’s help, the local agencies will be outmanned and outgunned, he said. The agency, part of the California Department of Justice, works under the radar, he said, with plainclothes agents operating in a dangerous underworld.
But Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, said lawmakers have little choice. The state faces a projected $24.3 billion budget deficit and already is making billions of dollars in cuts to education, health care and social programs.
The bureau was created during Prohibition, in 1927, predating the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration by nearly half a century. In recent years, its focus has been on stamping out large-scale methamphetamine and marijuana operations.
Brown said the layoffs would severely hamper, if not eliminate, 51 multi-agency task forces. Those task forces track down marijuana plantations often operated by Mexican drug cartels in forests and national parks, and major methamphetamine operations in the Central Valley that provide much of the nation’s supply.
Ducheny said the state may be able to make up for the funding cuts with federal drug enforcement money. But the attorney general’s office is skeptical that such funding can be diverted, spokesman Scott Gerber said.
by the associated press
Funeral services planned Tuesday for Farrah Fawcett
LOS ANGELES — A private funeral service will be held Tuesday for Farrah Fawcett at the Cathedral of Our lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.
Church officials say the service is set for 4 p.m.
The 62-year-old Emmy Award-winning actress died Thursday from a rare cancer.
Fawcett, who was best known for her role in TV’s "Charlie’s Angels,” chronicled her battle with cancer in a documentary called "Farrah’s Story” that aired last month.
by the associated press
Church officials say the service is set for 4 p.m.
The 62-year-old Emmy Award-winning actress died Thursday from a rare cancer.
Fawcett, who was best known for her role in TV’s "Charlie’s Angels,” chronicled her battle with cancer in a documentary called "Farrah’s Story” that aired last month.
by the associated press
N.J. school helps kids to follow their dreams
CAMDEN, N.J. — Angelo Drummond wears a pressed white shirt and a red power tie for his presentation to his harshest critics — a panel of fellow students at Camden’s MetEast High School.
The stocky 17-year-old lays out his intention to study through the summer to bring up his scores on the SAT and New Jersey’s high school graduation exam. He also explains his senior-year project to plan a lounge where teenagers can hang out, study and avoid the trouble that snags so many in his city.
His peers tell the junior he needs to get his timeline together to apply for grants for the lounge, that he might need to scale back his ambitions for the project, and that he needs to learn more about how nonprofit organizations get grants.
It’s an extraordinary display of wisdom for students in a city where dropout rates are consistently among New Jersey’s highest and test scores are among the lowest. Neither is the case at MetEast, which graduated its first class of seniors Friday.
It opened in 2005 as a laboratory for education in a city where the schools are part of an entanglement of problems.
It’s one of about 60 schools nationwide established with the help of Big Picture Learning, a nonprofit with offices in San Diego and Providence, R.I.
The schools are small and very different from traditional schools. MetEast has just over 100 students. The educators are called "advisers,” not teachers, and they advise the same group of students all four years.
Classes are built around the idea that students will learn by following their passions. Students do internships. Graduation requirements include a senior project with the aim of doing some good for the community. And four times a year, every student makes a presentation to a panel of peers and adults.
All 28 students graduating from MetEast have been accepted to at least one college. Principal Timothy Jenkins expects most of them to attend in the fall.
by the associated press
The stocky 17-year-old lays out his intention to study through the summer to bring up his scores on the SAT and New Jersey’s high school graduation exam. He also explains his senior-year project to plan a lounge where teenagers can hang out, study and avoid the trouble that snags so many in his city.
His peers tell the junior he needs to get his timeline together to apply for grants for the lounge, that he might need to scale back his ambitions for the project, and that he needs to learn more about how nonprofit organizations get grants.
It’s an extraordinary display of wisdom for students in a city where dropout rates are consistently among New Jersey’s highest and test scores are among the lowest. Neither is the case at MetEast, which graduated its first class of seniors Friday.
It opened in 2005 as a laboratory for education in a city where the schools are part of an entanglement of problems.
It’s one of about 60 schools nationwide established with the help of Big Picture Learning, a nonprofit with offices in San Diego and Providence, R.I.
The schools are small and very different from traditional schools. MetEast has just over 100 students. The educators are called "advisers,” not teachers, and they advise the same group of students all four years.
Classes are built around the idea that students will learn by following their passions. Students do internships. Graduation requirements include a senior project with the aim of doing some good for the community. And four times a year, every student makes a presentation to a panel of peers and adults.
All 28 students graduating from MetEast have been accepted to at least one college. Principal Timothy Jenkins expects most of them to attend in the fall.
by the associated press
Alternative Business investings
NEW YORK — Scott Painter makes his living betting on startup companies, having played a role in launching 29 of them over the years. But with the bad economy choking initial public offerings and acquisitions, Painter is now backing an idea that makes it easier for insiders like him to sell shares in their companies even before they go public.
SharesPost, which was founded by Painter’s business partner, Greg Brogger, launched publicly in June. Through the SharesPost Web site, Painter is trying to sell shares in several companies he helped found, including car pricing startup TrueCar.com.
SharesPost is one of a few private stock exchanges that are emerging to fight what venture capitalists call a liquidity crisis. These exchanges give stakeholders an alternative way to trade their shares in hot startups like Facebook for cold, hard cash — without having to wait years for an IPO.
Employees at startup companies often put in long hours but get salaries that can be 20 percent less than their peers at public companies. In return, they get stock or options they hope will bring sports cars and summer homes after companies goes public or get bought out.
Services like SharesPost could help startup workers get some cash while awaiting a distant IPO. Most people won’t be in on the action, though, since these exchanges are only open to a small pool of buyers.
And it’s not clear how much — or how little — stock has changed hands through them.
Still, if they manage to thrive, these exchanges could help the economy. By selling shares on a private exchange, an investor can free up funds to put into other startups.
by the associated press
SharesPost, which was founded by Painter’s business partner, Greg Brogger, launched publicly in June. Through the SharesPost Web site, Painter is trying to sell shares in several companies he helped found, including car pricing startup TrueCar.com.
SharesPost is one of a few private stock exchanges that are emerging to fight what venture capitalists call a liquidity crisis. These exchanges give stakeholders an alternative way to trade their shares in hot startups like Facebook for cold, hard cash — without having to wait years for an IPO.
Employees at startup companies often put in long hours but get salaries that can be 20 percent less than their peers at public companies. In return, they get stock or options they hope will bring sports cars and summer homes after companies goes public or get bought out.
Services like SharesPost could help startup workers get some cash while awaiting a distant IPO. Most people won’t be in on the action, though, since these exchanges are only open to a small pool of buyers.
And it’s not clear how much — or how little — stock has changed hands through them.
Still, if they manage to thrive, these exchanges could help the economy. By selling shares on a private exchange, an investor can free up funds to put into other startups.
by the associated press
New laws
COLUMBUS, Ohio — New laws taking effect Wednesday reflect states’ concerns with holding police more accountable, expanding the use of DNA to solve crimes and offering certain tax breaks.
July 1 is the effective date in many states for laws passed this year. In others, laws take effect Jan. 1, or 90 days after passage.
Some laws create new state responsibilities. Florida, the nation’s leader in illicit sales of addictive prescription drugs such as the painkiller OxyContin, will join 38 other states that have electronic tracking systems for such drugs. Critics say the new law may infringe on patients’ privacy rights.
Utah will lift some of the nation’s strictest regulations limiting who can belly up to the bar. For 40 years, the state has deemed bars to be members-only private clubs. The system is being scrapped in an effort to lure tourists and business.
Police mandates
Some laws put extra mandates on police. SWAT teams in Maryland must report on their missions to the governor every six months and report when a team injures or kills a pet.
Minnesota is compelling police and sheriffs to start searching right away when adults disappear suspiciously. Some law enforcement agencies now wait 24 or 48 hours to look into such cases, since adults can choose to leave without telling others.
Tax breaks
Tax breaks abound. North Dakota will reduce taxes on income, champagne, and pull tab gambling tickets. Maryland will add domestic partners who co-own homes to the list of people exempted from inheritance tax.
North Carolina will provide a series of new and expanded property tax breaks or deferrals to disabled veterans, the elderly and fishery owners.
Washington is giving newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in the state’s main business tax.
Child safety, health
Oregon will strengthen its existing anti-bullying law after a study found the state’s 2001 law was failing to stop name-calling, slurs and harassment, especially insults aimed at minorities, girls and gays.
Mississippi will require anyone 17 or younger to get written permission from a parent or guardian before using an indoor tanning facility.
by the associated press
July 1 is the effective date in many states for laws passed this year. In others, laws take effect Jan. 1, or 90 days after passage.
Some laws create new state responsibilities. Florida, the nation’s leader in illicit sales of addictive prescription drugs such as the painkiller OxyContin, will join 38 other states that have electronic tracking systems for such drugs. Critics say the new law may infringe on patients’ privacy rights.
Utah will lift some of the nation’s strictest regulations limiting who can belly up to the bar. For 40 years, the state has deemed bars to be members-only private clubs. The system is being scrapped in an effort to lure tourists and business.
Police mandates
Some laws put extra mandates on police. SWAT teams in Maryland must report on their missions to the governor every six months and report when a team injures or kills a pet.
Minnesota is compelling police and sheriffs to start searching right away when adults disappear suspiciously. Some law enforcement agencies now wait 24 or 48 hours to look into such cases, since adults can choose to leave without telling others.
Tax breaks
Tax breaks abound. North Dakota will reduce taxes on income, champagne, and pull tab gambling tickets. Maryland will add domestic partners who co-own homes to the list of people exempted from inheritance tax.
North Carolina will provide a series of new and expanded property tax breaks or deferrals to disabled veterans, the elderly and fishery owners.
Washington is giving newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in the state’s main business tax.
Child safety, health
Oregon will strengthen its existing anti-bullying law after a study found the state’s 2001 law was failing to stop name-calling, slurs and harassment, especially insults aimed at minorities, girls and gays.
Mississippi will require anyone 17 or younger to get written permission from a parent or guardian before using an indoor tanning facility.
by the associated press
Transportation debate
CHICAGO — When derailed freight train cars carrying ethanol burst into flames just 50 miles from her Chicago suburb, killing a motorist who tried to flee, Barrington Mayor Karen Darch saw her worst fears realized.
"This is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been afraid of,” said Darch, who failed to stop a sale that will boost freight traffic through her town.
The derailment earlier this month highlights the struggle to prevent such disasters along the 140,000-mile U.S. rail network. The pressure is on to tackle outstanding safety issues with hazardous-cargo shipments expected to soar in coming years. Fears terrorists might view chemical-laden tankers as easy targets adds to the urgency.
Competing interests that sometimes pit the government against railroads, suburbs against cities or chemical makers against environmentalists complicate efforts to secure the transport of around 1.7 million carloads of hazardous material a year.
One of the most contentious issues has been new federal regulation requiring that companies reroute trains hauling the most toxic materials away from big cities. Those rules apply to substances that can vaporize, like chlorine.
New federal rules that have been partially implemented require that new tankers be better fortified to lessen chances of spills or explosions. Amid current economic woes, though, railways aren’t buying many new tankers.
Some railroads have opposed mandatory rerouting of hazardous freight — a rule debated for years before its final implementation early this year. They argued there’s often no alternative to running trains through cities and that upgrading out-of-the-way tracks to bear tanker-car loads would prove costly.
Some companies are steering more trains onto lines that cut through towns and suburbs to bypass chronic train-track congestion in Chicago, the nation’s premier rail hub. Outlying communities say the reroutes increase their exposure to derailments.
by the associated press
"This is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been afraid of,” said Darch, who failed to stop a sale that will boost freight traffic through her town.
The derailment earlier this month highlights the struggle to prevent such disasters along the 140,000-mile U.S. rail network. The pressure is on to tackle outstanding safety issues with hazardous-cargo shipments expected to soar in coming years. Fears terrorists might view chemical-laden tankers as easy targets adds to the urgency.
Competing interests that sometimes pit the government against railroads, suburbs against cities or chemical makers against environmentalists complicate efforts to secure the transport of around 1.7 million carloads of hazardous material a year.
One of the most contentious issues has been new federal regulation requiring that companies reroute trains hauling the most toxic materials away from big cities. Those rules apply to substances that can vaporize, like chlorine.
New federal rules that have been partially implemented require that new tankers be better fortified to lessen chances of spills or explosions. Amid current economic woes, though, railways aren’t buying many new tankers.
Some railroads have opposed mandatory rerouting of hazardous freight — a rule debated for years before its final implementation early this year. They argued there’s often no alternative to running trains through cities and that upgrading out-of-the-way tracks to bear tanker-car loads would prove costly.
Some companies are steering more trains onto lines that cut through towns and suburbs to bypass chronic train-track congestion in Chicago, the nation’s premier rail hub. Outlying communities say the reroutes increase their exposure to derailments.
by the associated press
Supreme Court to finish session
WASHINGTON — A closely watched discrimination lawsuit by white firefighters who say they have unfairly been denied promotions is one of three Supreme Court cases awaiting resolution Monday.
The court intends to finish its work for the summer that day, Chief Justice John Roberts said. The court also will say goodbye to Justice David Souter, who has announced he will retire "when the court rises for the summer recess.”
Sonia Sotomayor, nominated to take Souter’s place, was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that officials in New Haven, Conn., acted properly in throwing out firefighters’ promotions exams because of racially skewed results.
The city says it decided not to use the test scores to determine promotions because it might have been vulnerable to claims the exam had a "disparate impact” on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law’s prohibition on intentional discrimination.
Among the opinion’s critics are fellow judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Defenders have said the short opinion properly applied earlier cases from that appeals court.
The outcome of the case could alter how employers in both the public and private sectors make job-related decisions.
The other two unsettled cases involve campaign finance law and states’ ability to investigate alleged discrimination in lending by national banks.
The court is considering whether a movie critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton during her presidential campaign should be regulated as a campaign ad. The scathing 90-minute documentary was made by a conservative group.
In the dispute over investigating national banks, the Obama administration says federal law prohibits states from looking at the lending practices of those banks, even under state anti-discrimination laws.
Federal courts have so far blocked an investigation begun by New York, which is backed by the other 49 states, of whether minorities were being charged higher interest rates on home mortgage loans by national banks with New York branches.
by the associated press
The court intends to finish its work for the summer that day, Chief Justice John Roberts said. The court also will say goodbye to Justice David Souter, who has announced he will retire "when the court rises for the summer recess.”
Sonia Sotomayor, nominated to take Souter’s place, was one of three appeals court judges who ruled that officials in New Haven, Conn., acted properly in throwing out firefighters’ promotions exams because of racially skewed results.
The city says it decided not to use the test scores to determine promotions because it might have been vulnerable to claims the exam had a "disparate impact” on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law’s prohibition on intentional discrimination.
Among the opinion’s critics are fellow judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Defenders have said the short opinion properly applied earlier cases from that appeals court.
The outcome of the case could alter how employers in both the public and private sectors make job-related decisions.
The other two unsettled cases involve campaign finance law and states’ ability to investigate alleged discrimination in lending by national banks.
The court is considering whether a movie critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton during her presidential campaign should be regulated as a campaign ad. The scathing 90-minute documentary was made by a conservative group.
In the dispute over investigating national banks, the Obama administration says federal law prohibits states from looking at the lending practices of those banks, even under state anti-discrimination laws.
Federal courts have so far blocked an investigation begun by New York, which is backed by the other 49 states, of whether minorities were being charged higher interest rates on home mortgage loans by national banks with New York branches.
by the associated press
Doctor did not prescribe drugs
LOS ANGELES — Spiritual teacher and medical doctor Deepak Chopra said Saturday he had been concerned since 2005 that Michael Jackson was abusing prescription painkillers and most recently spoke to the pop star about suspected drug use six months ago.
Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the singer was staying with him after his trial on sex abuse allegations.
Chopra said he refused but added the nanny of Jackson’s children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson’s drug use since then.
He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson’s homes in California, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, Fla.
Whenever the subject came up, Jackson avoided Chopra’s calls, he said.
Family seeks autopsy
Meanwhile, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Michael Jackson’s family wants an independent autopsy.
Jesse Jackson said Saturday there were unanswered questions surrounding the King of Pop’s death, including about the role of the personal cardiologist with him.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office performed an autopsy on the singer’s body Friday but deferred a finding on the cause of death pending further tests that could take more than a month.
Janet Jackson arrived at her brother Michael’s Holmby Hills estate, where moving vans arrived earlier in the day.
Most of Michael Jackson’s family members had gathered in their Encino compound, where they were contemplating funeral arrangements.
by the associated press
Chopra said Jackson, a longtime friend, asked him for painkillers in 2005 when the singer was staying with him after his trial on sex abuse allegations.
Chopra said he refused but added the nanny of Jackson’s children repeatedly contacted him with concerns about Jackson’s drug use since then.
He said she told him a number of doctors would visit Jackson’s homes in California, Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, Fla.
Whenever the subject came up, Jackson avoided Chopra’s calls, he said.
Family seeks autopsy
Meanwhile, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Michael Jackson’s family wants an independent autopsy.
Jesse Jackson said Saturday there were unanswered questions surrounding the King of Pop’s death, including about the role of the personal cardiologist with him.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office performed an autopsy on the singer’s body Friday but deferred a finding on the cause of death pending further tests that could take more than a month.
Janet Jackson arrived at her brother Michael’s Holmby Hills estate, where moving vans arrived earlier in the day.
Most of Michael Jackson’s family members had gathered in their Encino compound, where they were contemplating funeral arrangements.
by the associated press
Collectors swarm to auction to buy Michael Jackson’s work
LAS VEGAS — A crystal-studded shirt worn onstage by Michael Jackson: $52,500. A young Jackson’s painting of Mickey Mouse: $25,000. Owning a piece of a pop icon who died before his time: Priceless. Or, at least, very expensive.
Twenty-one items once owned by Jackson sold at auction Friday for a total of $205,000, dwarfing the auction house’s early conservative estimate of $6,000 for the collection.
The estimate was made before Jackson died unexpectedly Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital. On Friday, the items took on new meaning, and likely new value, as collectors and a few fans gathered at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino with the hope of walking away with a piece of the late King of Pop.
"I grew up with him,” said Larry Edwards, a 55-year-old Tina Turner impersonator from Las Vegas who came to the auction aiming to buy the primary-colored depiction of an African-American Mickey Mouse, signed by "Mike Jackson.”
"It’s so unique, and it means even more to me that it’s so soon after his passing,” he said.
Edwards said he was prepared to spend $1,000 but was elbowed out at the get-go by an opening bid of $1,500. The painting sold for $20,000.
The items for sale Friday came from a collection owned by David Gest, the producer once married to Liza Minnelli. Jackson introduced the couple and was best man at their wedding. Among the lot were handwritten lyrics of Jackson’s hit song "Bad,” an album cover signed by each member of the Jackson 5, and a handwritten note from Jackson to an unidentified "Greg.”
by the associated press
Twenty-one items once owned by Jackson sold at auction Friday for a total of $205,000, dwarfing the auction house’s early conservative estimate of $6,000 for the collection.
The estimate was made before Jackson died unexpectedly Thursday at a Los Angeles hospital. On Friday, the items took on new meaning, and likely new value, as collectors and a few fans gathered at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino with the hope of walking away with a piece of the late King of Pop.
"I grew up with him,” said Larry Edwards, a 55-year-old Tina Turner impersonator from Las Vegas who came to the auction aiming to buy the primary-colored depiction of an African-American Mickey Mouse, signed by "Mike Jackson.”
"It’s so unique, and it means even more to me that it’s so soon after his passing,” he said.
Edwards said he was prepared to spend $1,000 but was elbowed out at the get-go by an opening bid of $1,500. The painting sold for $20,000.
The items for sale Friday came from a collection owned by David Gest, the producer once married to Liza Minnelli. Jackson introduced the couple and was best man at their wedding. Among the lot were handwritten lyrics of Jackson’s hit song "Bad,” an album cover signed by each member of the Jackson 5, and a handwritten note from Jackson to an unidentified "Greg.”
by the associated press
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