Daily Egyptian VOL. 99 ISSUE 69
THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2015
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
In ‘historic step,’ Obama announces full diplomatic relations with Cuba
Drinking curbside coffee
SINCE 1916
MiMi Whitefield | The Miami Herald Casting aside more than a half century of hostilities, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that the United States and Cuba would restore full diplomatic relations and open respective embassies on July 20. Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, he called the rapprochement “a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people, and begin a new chapter with our neighbors in the Americas.” Obama announces opening of U.S. Embassy in Cuba The president said Secretary of State John Kerry would soon travel to Havana to “proudly raise the U.S. flag over our embassy.” No date has been set yet for the ceremony marking the opening of the embassy. Kerry, who was in Vienna for talks about Iran’s nuclear program, said he was looking forward to the Havana trip -- the first visit to Cuba by a U.S. secretary of state since 1945. “This transition, this moment in history, is taking place because President Obama made a personal, fundamental decision to change a policy that didn’t work and that had been in place not working for far too long,” he said. The Cuban government said that it planned to hold a ceremony marking its embassy opening in Washington on July 20. Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez will lead a Cuban delegation, which will include members of Cuban civil society. New landscaping and a pole for the Cuban flag that will wave from the new embassy have already been installed. On Wednesday, as required, a 15-day notification of the plan to change the status of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to an American Embassy was sent to Congress. But a senior State Department official said the resumption of diplomatic ties wouldn’t start until July 20. As part of the process, a diplomat from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana met with acting Cuban Foreign Minister Marcelino Medina Wednesday morning to deliver a letter from Obama about the opening of the embassies and resumption of diplomatic ties. Castro conveyed a similar letter to Obama confirming the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States and Cuba held four rounds of talks –two in Havana and two in Washington – to reach agreement on the terms for opening embassies and renewing diplomatic ties after Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro jointly announced on Dec. 17 that the two countries planned to work toward normalization. “This was not an easy task given the long history of mistrust between the two countries,” said the State Deparment official. But since the December announcement, Obama said there has been “enormous enthusiasm” for the new approach toward Cuba. Among the final sticking points in the talks had been the United States’ desire for its diplomats to travel freely throughout the island to talk with a wide variety of Cubans. The Cuban government agreed to allow such travel but said that U.S. diplomats must notify the Ministry of Foreign Relations 24 hours in advance of such travel. They currently must ask permission.
J ordan d uncan | @jordanduncanDE Molly Esling, a junior from Carbondale studying painting, drinks a Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee while leaning on the hood of her car during the store’s opening day Wednesday. “I always heard it was a rumor until the building was coming up,” she said. “I thought ‘oh, wait, that’s a real thing.’” She accompanied Anna Petrelli, a junior from Chicago studying cinema and photography. “I’m from the Chicago suburbs, so that’s why I was so excited about it,” Petrelli said. “It’s a huge part of my life back home.” She said Dunkin Donuts is her preferred coffee. “There’s just something about their coffee,” she said. “It’s super sweet and it’s the only thing that really wakes me up when I need to do a lot of stuff.” Tasha Morris, of Louisville, Ky., co-owns the new Dunkin’ Donuts and said she chose to open it in Carbondale because she likes the area. “I joke around, I say ‘something is in the water here with all the customer service,’” Morris said. “Because it’s amazing, the people who are here.” She said she expects a 20 percent difference in sales between when students are in Carbondale and when they are gone for intercession or summer. “It gives us a little bit of time to get through our learning curve.”
Illinois Democrats pitch temporary spending plan KiM GeiGer and Monique Garcia Chicago Tribune Democratic lawmakers prepared to advance a one-month state spending plan Wednesday, the start of Illinois’ budget year, but questions remained whether it would pass or how it would ease a long-running fight with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Rauner’s administration started the day by releasing a letter from budget director Tim Nuding warning that the temporary budget backed by Democrats “sets the state on a spending path toward an unbalanced budget.” He said the piecemeal approach mirrors the Democratic budget plan the governor vetoed that was more than $3 billion out of balance. “This bill marches the taxpayers of Illinois toward an unbalanced budget one month at a time,” Nuding said. “This proposal, viewed on an annual basis, is little, if any, improvement over the out-of-balance, unconstitutional budget the legislature passed just a few weeks ago.”
House Democrats portrayed their $2.2 billion measure as a way to continue paying for state trooper salaries, Medicaid, services for the elderly and other programs they deemed essential. But even if it passed the legislature, it was doubtful Rauner would approve of such a plan after vetoing a Democrat-passed full-year budget last week. The proposal is as much a political document as it is a temporary spending plan, giving Democrats yet another avenue to place blame on Rauner as the monthslong stalemate continues. Should lawmakers approve the stopgap measure, they’re passing the buck to Rauner to either sign it and free up money, make changes or veto it outright. Because the proposal is only good for one month, the governor could also decide not to take action and simply leave spending in limbo. “I would simply hope that the governor would see the wisdom of continuing to keep the government functioning,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
“This is a reasonable proposal ... everybody in the legislature should vote for it, and the governor should sign it.” Rather than focus on the consequences of a shutdown of state services, Rauner and top aides focused much of their energy on convincing state employees that paychecks would keep flowing. But Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan said the state lacked the ability to pay for state workers’ salaries, with checks due in a couple of weeks. Rauner on Tuesday also approved a budget-related measure to fund public works construction projects. But in doing so he also cut $5 million for the Peotone airport, $1.1 million for Provident Hospital of Cook County, $750,000 for the Erie Neighborhood House that assists lowincome Latino families and $147,045 for the World Shooting and Recreational Complex in downstate Sparta -- all initiatives backed by Democrats. Please see BUDGET | 2