STATE & NATION
Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com
Tuesday, February 26, 2013 • Page A3
Jobless, cities may be first to feel budget pain By ANDREW TAYLOR and JIM KUHNHENN The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Who’ll be the first to feel the sting? Jobless Americans who have been out of work for a long time and local governments that are paying off loans to fix roads and schools are in tough spots when it comes to the automatic federal budget cuts that are scheduled to kick in Friday. About 2 million longterm unemployed people could see checks now averaging $300 a week reduced by about $30. There could also be reductions in federal payments that subsidize clean energy, school construction and state
and local public works projects. Low-income Americans seeking heating assistance or housing or other aid might encounter longer waits. Government employees could get furlough notices as early as next week, though cuts in their work hours won’t occur until April. The timing of the “sequester” spending cuts has real consequences for Americans, but it also has a political ramifications. How quickly and fiercely the public feels the cuts could determine whether President Barack Obama and lawmakers seek to replace them with a different deficit reduction plan. Eager to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to ac-
cept his blend of targeted cuts and tax increases Obama has been highlighting the impact of the automatic cuts in grim terms. He did it again on Monday, declaring the threat of the cuts is already h a r m i n g t h e Barack national econ- Obama omy. Republicans say he is exaggerating and point to rates of spending, even after the cuts, that would be higher than in 2008 when adjusted for inflation. All Obama has to do to avoid the damage, House Speaker John Boehner said at the Capitol, is agree to the GOP’s recommended spend-
ing cuts – with no tax increases. By all accounts, most of the pain of the $85 billion in spending reductions to this year’s federal budget would be slow in coming. The dire John consequences Boehner that Obama officials say Americans will encounter – from airport delays and weakened borders to reduced parks programs and shuttered meatpacking plants – would unfold over time as furloughs kick in and agencies begin to adjust to their spending reductions. “These impacts will not all
be felt on day one,” Obama acknowledged in a meeting with governors at the White House on Monday. “But rest assured the uncertainty is already having an effect.” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned that the federal government would be unable to “maintain the same level of security at all places around the country” once the automatic cuts began to take effect. The public will feel the results “in the next few weeks,” she said, and “it will keep growing.” The majority of the federal budget is in fact walled off from the cuts. Social Security and veterans’ programs are exempt, and cuts to Medicare
are generally limited to a 2 percent, $10 billion reduction in payments to hospitals and doctors. Most programs that help the poor, like Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized school lunches, Pell Grants and supplemental security income payments are also exempt. Still, the Pentagon will feel the brunt of half the cuts. Pay for active military is off-limits for cuts, so the rest of the defense budget must absorb the hit. The Obama administration says defense contractors have already ramped down work, contributing to a dip in economic activity in the fourth quarter of last year. The Navy has decided not to deploy an aircraft carrier as planned to the Persian Gulf.
Ethics, guns loom large in Jackson Jr. district race
funds and became the third consecutive congressman in the district to leave office under an ethical or legal cloud. “I feel let down,” said Armstrong, who works as a school bus aide and at a bowling alley. Early voting numbers showed reluctance to get to the polls. In Chicago, fewer than 2,800 voters, or roughly 2 percent of registered voters in the district, cast early ballots. In suburban Cook County – the bulk of the district’s voting population – it was nearly 2 percent. The last time the Chicago area had a special primary
election for Congress was 2009 after Rahm Emanuel left his seat to take a job as White House chief of staff. Roughly 18 percent of registered Chicago voters in the district including North Side neighborhoods voted. In suburban Cook County, the percentage was far less. Further complicating things today could be an impending winter storm. The National Weather Service issued a warning for much of northern Illinois predicting up to 6 inches of snow. Election officials said they were communicating with streets and sanitation workers about keeping pathways to polling places clear. “We hope the voters appreciate, that given a low turnout contest, your ballot has more power than it normally it does,” said Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Voters haven’t seen an open primary since 1995 when Jackson first won office. His November resignation created a rare opening in the strongly Democratic territory and the Democratic winner of today’s primary is expected to cruise through the April 9 election. The shortened campaign season has been fierce; it wasn’t unusual for candidates to attend multiple debates on a single day.
Suit: No garbage pickup for political opponents
Woman dies in crash with fleeing suspects
First lady’s ‘Let’s Move’ tour to stop in Chicago
CHICAGO – A lawsuit accuses a longtime Chicago alderman of dirty politics during municipal elections, including by pulling strings so his challengers’ garbage went uncollected. The federal lawsuit filed in Chicago at the end of last week names Alderman Walter Burnett Jr., two sanitation department officials and the city. Reached Monday, Burnett denied the allegations. The plaintiffs are two candidates who ran against the 27th ward alderman in 2011 and lost. Thomas Courtney Jr. and GeVonna Fassett claim constitutional-rights violations.
ROCKFORD – A 58-year-old Rockford woman died after three alleged car burglars fleeing from a sheriff’s deputy crashed their vehicle into her car. Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said Karen Shafer died about 40 minutes after the crash Sunday afternoon. The Rockford Register Star reported police had received reports of people trying to break into cars in a church parking lot. A Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy spotted the possible suspects who drove off in a vehicle that then crashed into Shafer’s car at an intersection. Police continue to investigate.
CHICAGO – First lady Michelle Obama will stop in Chicago this week to promote physical activity in schools. Obama’s appearance Thursday is part of a national tour to celebrate the third anniversary of her “Let’s Move” initiative. In a news release, the White House said Obama will be joined by top officials and athletes and a surprise musical guest. Among those expected are Olympic gymnasts Gabby Douglas and Dominique Dawes, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and tennis player Serena Williams.
By SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press CHICAGO – Candidates for Jesse Jackson Jr.’s former congressional seat made their final push for votes Monday ahead of a high-stakes primary today, but turnout was expected to be paltry despite the lurid headlines surrounding the disgraced Chicago Democrat and millions in outside super PAC money driven largely by the guns debate. Fourteen Democrats and four Republicans are looking to face off for the 2nd Congressional District seat. The front-runners – former state Rep. Robin Kelly, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson and Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale – made a flurry stops at train stations, strip malls and diners all over the district that spans Chicago’s South Side, south suburbs and some rural areas. They faced a truncated campaign season, the frenzy for endorsements once locked up by Jackson and even a potential Election Day winter storm. But Danny Armstrong, 51, who had voted previously for Jackson, remained undecided between Beale and Kelly and was considering whether to even vote at all. Jackson pleaded guilty this month to illegally spending campaign
The candidates Fourteen Democrats and four Republicans are looking to face off for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Three Democrats are considered front-runners:
Clockwise from bottom left, Robin Kelly, Anthony Beale and Debbie Halvorson.
8STATE BRIEFS
AP photo
Chance Cain (from left) Simon Mourning and Nathan Talley walk toward a sledding hill near downtown Wichita, Kan., as a winter storm moves through the area Monday.
Second round of heavy snow slams Plains and Midwest By BETSY BLANEY The Associated Press LUBBOCK, Texas – The nation’s midsection again dealt with blizzard conditions Monday, closing highways, knocking out power to thousands in Texas and Oklahoma and even bringing hurricaneforce winds to the Texas Panhandle. Two people have died. Already under a deep snowpack from last week’s storm, Kansas prepared for another round of heavy snow overnight Monday, prompting some to wonder what it could do for the drought. “Is it a drought-buster? Absolutely not,” National Weather Service meteorologist Victor Murphy said. “Will it bring short-term improvement? Yes.” The storm was blamed for two deaths Monday. In north-
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west Kansas, a 21-year-old man’s SUV hit an icy patch on Interstate 70 and overturned. And in the northwest town of Woodward, Okla., heavy snow caused a roof to collapse, killing one inside the home. Earlier on Monday, blizzard warnings extended from the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles into south-central Kansas. The blizzard warnings were dropped Monday evening for the far western portion of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. Meanwhiletotheeast,lines of thunderstorms crossed Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, bringing heavy rain and an occasional tornado warning. As many as 10,000 people lost power in Oklahoma, as did thousands more in Texas. “I have a gas cooking stove and got the oven going,” said Ann Smith, owner of the Standifer House Bed and Breakfast
in Elk City, Okla., Monday afternoon. Her daughter and grandchildren had come over because they lost power. “If it gets cold tonight, I guess we’ll have to put pallets in the kitchen,” Smith said with a laugh. Colorado and New Mexico were the first to see the system Sunday, with up to 2 feet falling in the foothills west of Denver. As it moved into the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles Monday, the storm ground travel to a halt, closing miles of interstates and state highways. Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Daniel Hawthorne said about a dozen motorists had to be rescued, but no one was injured. The National Weather Service in Lubbock reported at one point that as many as 100 vehicles were at a standstill on Interstate 27.
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