07-19

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Roswell Daily Record

Vol. 120, No. 172 50¢ Daily / $1 Sunday

INSIDE NEWS

SPACECRAFT ORBITING ASTROIDS PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — NASA’s Dawn spacecraft was captured into orbit around the massive asteroid Vesta after a 1.7 billion-mile journey and is preparing to begin a study of a surface that may date to the earliest era of the solar system, the space agency said Monday. PAGE A5

THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY

Obama threatens veto of House GOP cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) — Courting confrontation and compromise alike, House Republicans shrugged off President Barack Obama’s threat to veto legislation to cut federal spending by trillions of dollars on Monday while simultaneously negotiating with him over more modest steps to avert a gover nment potential default. The Republican bill demands deep spending reductions and congressional approval of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution in exchange for raising the

nation’s debt limit. But Obama will veto it if it reaches his desk, the White House said, asserting the legislation would “lead to severe cuts in Medicare and Social Security” and impose unrealistic limits on education spending. In response, GOP lawmakers said they would go ahead with plans to pass the bill on Tuesday. “It’s disappointing the White House would reject this commonsense plan to rein in the debt and deficits that are hurting job creation in America,” Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio said.

By contrast, neither the administration nor congressional officials provided substantive details on an unannounced meeting that Obama held Sunday with the two top House Republican leaders, Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia. Obama said late Monday the two sides were “making progress.” Several Republicans said privately the decision to vote on veto-threatened legislation is paradoxically designed to clear the way for a compromise. They said conservatives would

WEB

• ’Twas a day for creativity at the Lakes • Sunset Villa Block Party • Rookie firefighters walk into the blaze • Keeping cool in the pool • Currier orders hearing

INSIDE SPORTS

AP Photo

In this photo, Guilford County, N.C., registrar Jeff Thigpen shows a group of signatures on loan documents all "signed" by Linda Green in Charlotte, N.C. County officials in at least three states say they have found an alarming number of suspect signatures on mortgage documents filed over the last 12 years.

Los Alamos Lab a national park?

TODAY’S OBITUARIES • W.R. “Bill” Thompson • Bettie Maurine Witt • Jeanette Thompson • James “Jimmy” Taylor • Olympia Romero • Ann Kieth • Joe Bert Renfro Jr. - PAGE A8

HIGH ...99˚ LOW ....74˚

TODAY’S FORECAST

CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B5 ENTERTAINMENT.....B9 FINANCIAL .............B4 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........B9 LOTTERIES ............A2 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ............A10

INDEX

have a chance to push their deep spending cuts through the House, and then see the measure quickly die either in the Democratic-controlled Senate or by veto. Barring action by Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit, the Treasury will be unable to pay all the government’s bills that come due beginning on Aug. 3, two weeks from Wednesday. Administration officials, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and others say the result could be a default that inflicts serious harm on the

economy, which is still struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades. In a gesture underscoring the significance of the issue, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced the Senate will meet each day until it is resolved, including on weekends. The two-pronged approach pursued by the House GOP follows the collapse of a weeks-long effort to negotiate a sweeping bipartisan plan to cut into

Mortgage robo-signing still happening, illegaly

For The Past 24 Hours

Scott Lieberwirth recently added the title of head men’s golf coach at the University of Texas-El Paso to his resume and, on Sunday, he added another title. Rotary Desert Sun Classic Champion. - PAGE B1

TUESDAY

www.rdrnews.com

TOP 5

LIEBERWIRTH WINS CLASSIC IN PLAYOFF

July 19, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Anti-nuclear activists are lining up against legislation to create national parks at Los Alamos National Laboratory and two other sites where the world's first nuclear bombs were developed, calling the plan an expensive glorification of an ugly chapter in history. “It is a debasement of the national parks idea,” said Greg Mello, a cofounder of the antinuclear watchdog, Los Alamos Study Group. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar released a study to Congress last week that recommends establishing a national historical park to commemo-

rate the top-secret Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said he is drafting legislation to create sites at Los Alamos; Hanford, Wash.; and Oak Ridge, Tenn. “The secret development of the atomic bomb in multiple locations across the United States is an important story and one of the most transformative events in our nation's history,” Salazar said in a release announcing the project. “The Manhattan Project ushered in the atomic age, changed the role of the United States in the See PARK Page A6

Mortgage industry employees are still signing documents they haven’t read and using fake signatures more than eight months after big banks and mortgage companies promised to stop the illegal practices that led to a nationwide halt of home foreclosures. County of ficials in at least three states say they have received thousands of mortgage documents with questionable signatures since last fall. Lenders say they are working with regulators to fix the problem but cannot explain why the practice, known collectively as “robo-signing,” has continued. Last fall, the nation’s largest banks and mortgage lenders, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells

See VETO Page A6

Fargo, Bank of America and an arm of Goldman Sachs, suspended foreclosures while they investigated how corners were cut to keep pace with the crush of foreclosure paperwork. Critics say the new findings point to a systemic problem with the paperwork involved in home mortgages and titles. And they say it shows that banks and mortgage processors haven’t acted aggressively enough to put an end to widespread document fraud in the mortgage industry. “Robo-signing is not even close to over,” says Curtis Hertel, the recorder of deeds in Ingham County, Mich., which includes Lansing. “It’s still an epidemic.”

Man attempts murder, rape See ROBO, Page A6

JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER

A family gathering turned lethal on Sunday when, after all other guests left, the ex-boyfriend drenched the hostess with gasoline and threatened to ignite the two of them. Jonatan Cano, 27, was charged with the attempted murder and rape, Monday. Shortly after noon Sunday, the Roswell Police were notified of a potentially deadly domestic violence incident. Of ficers were called to Eastern New Mexico Medical Center where the 50-year-old victim was being treated for potential chemical burns caused by gasoline in the ears. The woman reported to of ficers that her exboyfriend had showed up at a family gathering, but stayed after everyone left. She stated that Cano

poured gasoline on both of them. “He said to her he was going to use the kitchen stove. He dragged her into the kitchen and threatened to turn up the gas,” said RPD Public Infor-

son over their links to Neil Wallis, an arrested former executive from Murdoch's shuttered News of the World tabloid whom police had employed as a media consultant. The government quickly announced an inquiry into police-media relations and possible corruption. Home Secretary Theresa May said that people were naturally asking “who polices the police,” and announced an inquiry into “instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties.” The Independent Police Complaints Commission

also said it was looking into the claims, including one that Yates inappropriately helped get a job for Wallis’ daughter. Wallis, former executive editor of News of the World, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications. Yates said he had done nothing wrong. “I have acted with complete integrity,” he said. “My conscience is clear.” In another development, police confirmed that a second former News of the World employee was employed by Scotland Yard. Alex Marunchak had been employed as a Ukrainian language interpreter with access to highly sensitive police informa-

Jonatan Cano

Courtesy Photo

mation Officer Travis Holley. The victim said when she told Cano to leave he became violent. He ran to See ATTEMPTS Page A6

Another official resigns after phone hacking in U.K. LONDON (AP) — Scotland Yard’s assistant commissioner resigned Monday, a day after his boss also quit, and fresh investigations of possible police wrongdoing were launched in the phone hacking scandal that has spread from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire to the British prime minister’s office. Prime Minister David Cameron called an emergency session of Parliament on the scandal and cut short his visit to Africa to try to contain the widening crisis. Lawmakers on Tuesday are to question Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Murdoch’s

U.K. newspaper arm. In a further twist, a former News of the World reporter who helped blow the whistle on the scandal was found dead Monday in his home, but it was not believed to be suspicious. Murdoch shut down the News of the World tabloid after it was accused of hacking into the voice mail of celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims. The crisis has roiled the upper ranks of Britain’s police, with Monday’s resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates — Scotland Yard’s top antiterrorist officer — following that on Sunday of police chief Paul Stephen-

tion between 1980 and 2000, the Metropolitan Police said. Scotland Yard said it recognized “that this may cause concern and that some professions may be incompatible with the role of an interpreter,” adding that the matter will be looked into. The prime minister is under heavy pressure after the resignations of Stephenson and Yates, and Sunday’s arrest of Brooks — a friend and neighbor whom he has met at least six times since entering office 14 months ago — on suspicion of hacking into the cellphones of newsmakers See OFFICIAL, Page A6


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