PENINSULA DAILY NEWS for Monday, December 17, 2012 PAGE
A3 Briefly: Nation Boehner talks tax increase on millionaires WASHINGTON — Signaling new movement in “fiscal cliff” talks, House Speaker John Boehner has proposed raising the top rate for earners making more than $1 million, according an anonymous source. President Barack Obama, who wants higher top rates for households earning more than $250,000, has not accepted Boehner the offer, this person said. The offer, made in a phone call Friday between the two leaders, marked the first time Boehner has entertained an increase in income-tax rates. As part of a broader budget deal, Boehner is seeking more spending cuts than Obama has proposed, particularly in mandatory health-care spending. Boehner has asked for a long-term increase in the eligibility age for Medicare and for lower cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security.
47-gun cache found CEDAR LAKE, Ind. — A northern Indiana man who allegedly threatened to “kill as many people as he could” at an elementary school near his
home was arrested by officers who found 47 guns and ammunition hidden in his home. Von. I. Meyer, 60, of Cedar Lake was arrested Saturday after prosecutors filed charges of felony intimidation, domestic battery and resisting law enforcement against him. He was being held Sunday without bond at the Lake County Jail, police said. Meyer threatened to enter nearby Jane Ball Elementary School “and kill as many people as he could before police could stop him,” the statement said. Meyer’s home is less than 1,000 feet from the school. Police said they notified school officials and boosted security at area schools Friday — the same day 26 people were shot and killed at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
Nuke plant shutdown BERWICK, Pa. — An energy company said it’s trying to figure out why a central Pennsylvania nuclear power plant reactor shut down unexpectedly. PPL Corp. said Unit 2 at the Susquehanna nuclear facility near Berwick shut down early Sunday. The company said the reactor was safe and stable. Allentown-based PPL said the shutdown occurred during routine testing of a valve on the unit’s main turbine system. The plant’s other reactor was reportedly operating normally. The Susquehanna plant is owned jointly by PPL and Allegheny Electric Cooperative. The Associated Press
Democratic senators want assault-gun ban Commission being mulled THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers and Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Sunday that military-style assault weapons should be banned and that a national commission should be established to examine mass shootings in the United States. The proposals were among the first to come from Congress in the wake of Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Gun rights activists remained largely quiet on the issue, all but one declining to appear on the
Sunday talk shows. Meanwhile, Democrats said they wanted to hear from voters — not gun lobbyists — on how to prevent the next shooting. The time for “saying that we can’t talk about the policy implications of tragedies like this is over,” said Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who won a Senate seat in the November elections.
NRA has powerful clout President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats haven’t pushed for new gun controls since rising to power in the 2008 national elections. Outspoken advocates for stricter laws, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said that’s because of the powerful sway of the National Rifle Association.
But advocates also said the latest shooting is a tipping point that could change the dynamic of the debate dramatically. Feinstein, D-Calif., said she will propose legislation next year that would ban big clips, drums and strips of more than 10 bullets. “It can be done,” she said Sunday of reviving the 10-year ban that expired in 2004. Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who is retiring, supports such a ban but said there also should be a national commission to scrutinize gun laws and loopholes, as well as the nation’s mental health system and the role that violent video games and movies might play. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois said he would support such a panel.
Briefly: World Egypt election called tainted by rights groups CAIRO — Egyptian rights groups called Sunday for a repeat of the first round of the constitutional referendum, alleging the vote was marred by widespread violations. Islamists who back the disputed charter claimed they were in the lead with a majority of “yes” votes, though official results have not been announced. Representatives of seven rights groups said there was insufficient supervision by judges in Saturday’s vote in 10 of Egypt’s 27 provinces, and independent monitors were prevented from witnessing vote counts. The representatives told a news conference that they had reports of individuals falsely identifying themselves as judges, of women prevented from voting and that members of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood were allowed inside polling stations. They also complained that some polling centers closed earlier than scheduled and that Christians were denied entry to polling stations.
Japan opposition wins TOKYO — Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in a landslide election victory Sunday after three years in opposition, polls
showed, signaling a rightward shift that could heighten tensions with rival China. The victory means hawkish former Abe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will get a second chance to lead the nation after a one-year stint in 2006-2007. He would be Japan’s seventh prime minister in 6½ years. The results were a sharp rebuke for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s ruling Democratic Party of Japan, reflecting widespread unhappiness for its failure to keep campaign promises and get the stagnant economy going.
Syria rebels take base BEIRUT — An Islamist faction of Syrian rebels said its fighters have taken control of an infantry base in the northern city of Aleppo. The al-Tawheed Brigade, one of the largest rebel groups in Aleppo, said the rebels, fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, “fully liberated” the military facility in Syria’s largest city Saturday. The statement was posted on al-Tawheed’s official website Sunday. It said the brigade’s commander was killed in the battle for the base, the second major military installation in Aleppo overrun by rebels in a week. The Associated Press
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cheryl Girardi of Middletown, Conn., kneels before a memorial of 26 teddy bears near a sidewalk in Newtown, Conn. Each bear represented a victim of Friday’s school shooting.
Shooter used mother’s guns; federal agents probe motive High-powered rifle recovered THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWTOWN, Conn. — A Connecticut official said the mother of the gunman in Friday’s school massacre was shot four times in the head before her son went to the elementary school where he gunned down 26 people in the largest mass shooting of schoolage children in U.S. history. The official, who said the gunman’s mother was found in bed in pajamas, also said Adam Lanza, 20, killed himself with a single bullet to the head from a 10 mm gun. The bullet was recovered in a classroom wall. Lanza used a high-powered rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal who tried to stop him, police said. The unthinkable bloodshed might even have been worse. Gov. Dannel Malloy said Lanza shot himself as first responders entered the building. Lanza also was found to be car-
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rying clips holding hundreds of rounds of ammunition — enough to kill just about every child in the school, which enrolled 670 students, if given enough A. Lanza time. As President Barack Obama prepared a visit, and churches opened their doors to comfort the grieving Sunday, federal agents went to dozens of gun stores and shooting ranges across Connecticut, chasing leads they hoped would cast light on Lanza’s life.
Mother had guns Among the questions: Why did his mother, a well-to-do suburban divorcee, keep a cache of highpowered weapons in the house? What experience did Lanza have with those guns? And, above all, what set him on a path to go classroom-by-classroom, massacring 6- and 7-year-olds? After killing his mother, Nancy Lanza, at the home they shared
Friday, Adam Lanza drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in her car with at least three of her guns, forced his way in by breaking a window and opened fire, authorities said. All the victims at the school were shot with a rifle, at least some of them up close, and all were apparently shot more than once, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver said. Asked whether the children suffered, Carver said, “If so, not for very long.” Parents identified the children through photos to spare them some shock, Carver said. School officials were trying to determine what to do about sending the survivors back to class. Plans were being made for some students to attend classes in nearby Monroe, said Jim Agostine, superintendent of schools there. Residents and faith leaders reflected Sunday on the mass shooting and what meaning, if any, to find in it. Obama planned to attend an interfaith vigil — the fourth time he will have traveled to a city after a mass shooting.
. . . more news to start your day
West: Man fires 50 shots at Southern California mall
Nation: ‘Hobbit’ is best ‘Rings’ with $84.8 million
Nation: Diet Pepsi quietly changes drink’s sweetener
World: Bombs kill eight in disputed areas of Iraq
A MAN WAS arrested Saturday after firing about 50 shots in the parking lot of a Newport Beach, Calif., shopping mall, prompting a lockdown of stores crowded with shoppers. Marcos Gurrola, 42, of Garden Grove was taken into custody by bicycle police officers patrolling the openair Fashion Island mall at 4:30 p.m., police spokeswoman Cathy Lowe said. She said Gurrola fired into the air and onto the ground in the parking lot near a Macy’s department store. The mall was packed with holiday shoppers. Witnesses said they ran, screaming and ducking for cover. No one was hurt.
THE PETER JACKSON movie “The Hobbit” led the box office last weekend $84.8 million, a record-setting opening that bested three previous “Lord of the Rings” films. The Warner Bros. Middle Earth epic was the biggest December opening ever, surpassing Will Smith’s “I Am Legend,” which opened with $77.2 million in 2007. Paramount’s “Rise of the Guardians” was second with $7.4 million. Oscar contender “Lincoln” from Walt Disney added another $7.2 million to bring its six-week total to $107.9 million. And Sony’s James Bond film “Skyfall” drew another $7 million domestically.
IF THAT CAN of Diet Pepsi tastes sweeter than normal, there’s a reason: PepsiCo. is quietly changing the sweeteners in the drink in some markets. Cans of Diet Pepsi now list a mix of two artificial sweeteners, a pairing that is commonly found in newer diet sodas. Previously, Diet Pepsi used only aspartame, which is sensitive to heat and breaks down more easily. Now, in addition to aspartame, cans of Diet Pepsi found in New York, Omaha, Neb., and the San Francisco area now list as an ingredient acesulfame potassium, which can be found in such foods as baked goods, chewing gum and gelatin desserts.
BOMBINGS RATTLED TWO cities in disputed areas in Iraq’s north Sunday, killing at least eight people and raising concerns that extremists are trying to exploit ethnic tensions. The deadliest series of blasts struck Shiite Muslim targets in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, where Imad Qadir, who is responsible for the Kirkuk hospital’s security, said those attacks killed six people and wounded 36. Kirkuk is home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen. Earlier in the day, an explosion near the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan political party office in Jalula killed two and wounded five, police officials said.