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USE NEW MENINGITIS VA C C I N E S O N LY FOR OUTBREAKS ATLANTA (AP) -- A federal panel is recommending that two new meningitis vaccines only be used during outbreaks and not be given routinely to teens and college students. The two vaccines target B strain meningococcal (mehn-ihn-johKAHK’-ul) infections, which can lead to deadly meningitis or blood infections. Full vaccination costs more than $300. Routine shots against other strains of bacterial meningitis are already recommended for that age group. The B strain is rare but there have been outbreaks at colleges recently, including at least two this year at the University of Oregon and Providence College in Rhode Island. Thursday’s recommendation - if adopted by the government - would influence the use of the new vaccines by doctors and insurance coverage.
VIDEO COULD PROVE KEY IN PROBE OF CALIFORNIA TRAIN CRASH New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks in New York. Democrats on Thursday assailed Giuliani for questioning President Barack Obama’s love of country, and urged the potential field of Republican presidential candidates to rebuke his comments. Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said at the start of the DNC’s winter meeting that now is the time for Republican leaders to “stop this nonsense.
Volume 004 Issue 08
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REGULATORS ‘NET NEUTRALITY RULES FOR INTERNET PROVIDERS Internet consumers and innovation,” Thune said in a statement this week. It’s not true that consumers would see new taxes right away. The Internet Tax Freedom Act bans taxes on Internet access, although that bill expires in October. While Congress is expected to renew that legislation, it’s conceivable that states could eventually push Congress for the ability to tax Internet service now that it has been deemed a vital public utility.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile now must act in the “public interest” when providing a mobile connection to your home or phone, under rules approved Thursday by a divided Federal Communications Commission.
The plan, which puts the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the telephone and bans business practices that are “unjust or unreasonable,” “Read my lips. More Internet represents the biggest regulataxes are coming. It’s just a tory shakeup to the industry in matter of when,” Commissionalmost two decades. The goal Federal Communication Commission (FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler takes his seat before the start of an open is to prevent providers from hearing in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, er Pai said. slowing or blocking web traf- Sprint and T-Mobile would have to act in the For years, providers mostly fic, or creating paid fast lanes agreed not to pick winners and losers among Web traffic because they on the Internet, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. didn’t want to encourage regulators to step in and because they said consumers demanded it. But that started to change around 2005, when YouThe 3-2 vote was expected to trigger industry lawsuits that could take sevTube came online and Netflix became increasingly popular. On-demand eral years to resolve. Still, consumer advocates cheered the regulations as video became known as data hogs, and evidence began to surface that a victory for smaller Internet-based companies which feared they would some providers were manipulating traffic without telling consumers. have to pay “tolls” to move their content. Net neutrality is the idea that websites or videos load at about the same speed. That means you won’t be more inclined to watch a particular show on Amazon Prime instead of on Netflix because Amazon has struck a deal with your service provider to load its data faster. Opponents, including many congressional Republicans, said the FCC plan constitutes dangerous government overreach that would eventually drive up consumer costs and discourage industry investment. Republican FCC Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai, who voted against the plan, alleged that President Barack Obama unfairly used his influence to push through the regulations, calling the plan a “half-baked, illogical, internally inconsistent and indefensible document.” Michael Powell, a former Republican FCC chairman who now runs the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, warned that consumers would almost immediately “bear the burden of new taxes and increased costs, and they will likely wait longer for faster and more innovative networks since investment will slow in the face of bureaucratic oversight.”
OXNARD, Calif. (AP) -- A commuter train’s on-board camera captured a fiery crash with a pickup truck abandoned by its driver, and federal investigators say the video could give a big boost to the search for a cause.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he would pursue industry-friendly legislation, although it was unlikely that Obama would sign such a bill. The FCC’s five commissioners are expected to testify before a Senate panel March 18.
The video, taken from the outward-facing camera on the front car of the Metrolink train bound for Los Angeles, was sent back to the Washington home of the National Transportation Safety Board for analysis, board member Robert Sumwalt said at a Wednesday afternoon briefing near the Oxnard crash site.
“One way or another, I am committed to moving a legislative solution, preferably bipartisan, to stop monopoly-era phone regulations that harm
Sumwalt also said that while the truck wasn’t stuck in the way that vehicles sometimes get trapped between railroad crossing safety arms, investigators have not ruled out that the truck was somehow stranded and will determine why it traveled 80 feet down the tracks and remained there with its parking brake engaged.
Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y. motions to an hour glass during news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, February 25, 2015, to discuss Homeland Security Department funding. House Republicans reacted tepidly at best Wednesday to calls from the upper reaches of both political parties for legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security without immigration-related add-ons opposed by the White House.
Three of five train cars derailed and 30 people were injured, four critically, after the Tuesday pre-dawn crash. The truck driver, Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez, a 54-yearold from Yuma, Arizona, was arrested on suspicion of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and was expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A look at expected consequences if lawmakers don’t solve the budget impasse that could shut parts of the Homeland Security Department at midnight Friday night:
His attorney said Ramirez made repeated attempts to get the vehicle off the rails and then ran for his life as the train approached.
“He hits his high beams trying to do something. He’s screaming. He realizes, `I can’t do anything,’ and then he tries to run so he doesn’t get killed,” Bamieh said. “He saw the impact, yes. It was a huge explosion.” Police said Ramirez was found 45 minutes after the crash 1.6 miles away, though Bamieh said he was only a half-mile away and that he has phone records that show he spoke with police much sooner. continued on page 2
By 2010, the FCC enacted open Internet rules, but the agency’s legal approach was eventually struck down. FCC officials are hoping to erase the legal ambiguity by no longer classifying the Internet as an “information service” but a “telecommunications service” subject to Title II of the 1934 Communications Act. That would dramatically expand regulators’ power over the industry by requiring providers to act in the public’s interest and enabling the FCC to fine companies found to be employing “unreasonable” business practices. The FCC says it won’t apply some sections of Title II, including price controls. That means rates charged to customers for Internet access won’t be subject to preapproval. But the law allows the government to investigate if consumers complain that costs are unfair. Also at stake Thursday was Obama’s goal of helping local governments build their own fast, cheap broadband. Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina, have filed petitions with the agency to help override state laws that restrict them from expanding their broadband service to neighboring towns. The FCC approved these petitions, setting a precedent for other communities that might want to do the same. Nineteen states place restrictions on municipal broadband networks, many with laws encouraged by cable and telephone companies. Advocates of those laws say they are designed to protect taxpayers from municipal projects that are expensive, can fail or may be unnecessary.
WHAT HAPPENS, AND DOES N O T, I N H O M E L A N D S H U T D O W N
“I don’t think anybody would put a car or truck on ... railroad tracks and not try to get it off if there’s an approaching train,” Sumwalt said.
He accidentally drove onto the tracks and made the situation worse by continuing forward in an attempt to get enough speed to get his wide pickup over the rails, attorney Ron Bamieh said. When that effort failed, he tried to push the truck and then fled before the impact.
March 2 thru March 9, 2015
NOT SO DIRE There’s plenty of overheated rhetoric from the administration and its allies in Congress about the U.S. letting down its guard against security threats. In reality, America’s defenses would not be relaxed even in a partial shutdown. Front-line employees at agencies such as Customs and Border Patrol, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration would continue to report to work. Airport security checkpoints would remain staffed, immigration agents would be on the job, air marshals would do their work and Coast Guard patrols would sail on. Of the department’s 230,000 employees, some 200,000 would continue to report to work because they are deemed essential. BUT NOT PAINLESS, EITHER
Most of the department’s workers, whether idled or still on the job, would not get paid until the dispute is resolved. Hiring and much training would stop, as would research and development work on projects such as cargo screening technologies. People responsible for operating and maintaining the voluntary E-Verify system, which allows businesses to check the immigration status of new hires, would be furloughed. Governors, mayors and other local officials might feel the pinch from the furloughing of officials who manage emergency preparedness and response grants. A prolonged interruption could force communities to lay off workers whose employment depends on these grants. ROOTS OF THE DISPUTE It’s all about President Barack Obama’s unilateral actions on immigration and the Republican response to that. And it’s about the new GOP majority in both chambers testing its wings. Rather than hold up the government’s larger budget, Republicans decided to zero in on Homeland Security because it looks after immigration enforcement. This produced GOP legislation that would pay for the department’s operations on the condition that Obama’s actions - protecting millions of people in the country illegally from being deported - be revoked. And now it’s produced the standoff. SYMBOLISM AT WORK As with so much else in Washington, the targeting of Homeland Security as a way to get at immigration policy is largely symbolic. That’s because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services operations are paid for by fees, and programs paid by fees instead of budget appropriations continue to operate despite any government shutdown. continued on page 3
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WA L - M A R T C E O TA L K S WORKERS, CUSTOMERS, CRITICS BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- When Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon took the top job at the world’s largest retailer last year, he inherited some big problems.
enough, eventually I think most people know perception corrects itself. Our job is to create great store experiences for customers and online and in every way we can service them. And over time, that matters the most.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has more than 11,000 stores in 27 countries, has struggled with two years of mostly sluggish sales due in large part to a challenging global economy and major changes in how people shop.
Q. Do you think Wal-Mart is unfairly targeted for its labor practices?
A. Nobody ever promised that this Workers’ groups have targeted Walwill be fair. So I am not under the Wal-Mart President and Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon speaks during Mart over its pay and treatment of its illusion that it will be. an interview with The Associated Press, in Bentonville, Ark. McMillon made his boldest move yet since he took the top job a year ago when he announced U.S. employees with protests. And plans last week to boost raises for nearly 40 percent of its U.S. workers. overseas, the retailer is still being Q. What have you learned from scrutinized nearly two years after a Bangladesh factory that made your critics? some of its clothes collapsed, killing over 1,100 workers. A. I have learned from (former Wal-Mart CEOs) Mike Duke and McMillon, whose first job at Wal-Mart was an hourly position Lee Scott the value of listening to critics. We have ears and we loading trucks as a college student in 1984, has had to wrestle with care. Sometimes, you can learn more from criticism than you can these issues since he became CEO in February 2014. In the past from flattery. So we listen to all of it, but at the end of the day, we year, he’s replaced the head of the struggling U.S. division, accelerare doing what we need to do for our business. ated the pace of smaller store openings and stepped up the retailer’s e-commerce efforts. Q. How do you think your first year has gone? But last week, McMillon made his boldest move yet by announcing that Wal-Mart would give raises to nearly 40 percent of its 1.3 million U.S. workforce as part of a billion-dollar investment in changes to employee pay and training. Wal-Mart said it would increase starting wages for U.S. employees to at least $9 per hour by April and by at least $10 by February 2016. Two days before he made the announcement, McMillon, 48, spoke with The Associated Press exclusively about the pay and training increases, the fallout from the Bangladesh disaster and other issues that are affecting Wal-Mart. What follows are edited excerpts from a 40-minute interview at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas: Q: What is behind the decision to raise wages? A: What’s driving us is we want to create a great store experience for customers and do that by investing in our own people. Q. How would you address critics who say Wal-Mart should go beyond the wage increase it announced? A. I think we are playing our role. Creating opportunities for so many people, and clarity on how they can grow in a company into a lot of great jobs. I have a great amount of pride in the role we play. Q. As the nation’s largest private employer, Wal-Mart has outsized influence in the national debate over raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. Why has Wal-Mart remained neutral in the debate?
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A. It’s clear to us what we need to do to run a good business, and we are taking action on that. As it relates to a federal minimum wage, there are other people responsible for figuring that out. I am not an economist. Someone else can sort out what the best decision is there. Q: Is it hard to break the perception that Wal-Mart has low-end jobs? A: What we can worry about is the reality. If the reality is good
CALIFORNIA TRAIN continued from page 1
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“When someone goes through a huge trauma like that and not only thinking they almost died, but they think other people are dead and you don’t know what to do and you’re confused ... what is a normal reaction to such an event?” Bamieh said. Police said Ramirez did not call 911 and made no immediate effort to call for help. But Bamieh said Ramirez, who doesn’t speak English well, tried to get help from a passerby, tried calling his employer and eventually reached his son to help him speak with police. Police would not discuss drug and alcohol test results, but Bamieh
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A. I feel good about the first year. I think we’ve increased our clarity as it relates to our strategic plan. Our leadership has a better sense of where we need to go do to capitalize on our opportunities. I feel like we have done a good job of listening to our associates and beginning to respond appropriately to set them up for success. Growing an e-commerce business is important. And we are getting stronger in markets like China. Q. What will it take to get more customers back in the stores? A. No doubt business is going increasingly mobile and increasingly online. We don’t really care how the customers want to shop. We want to be in the position to serve them in any of those ways. Q. Wal-Mart is one of a group of North American retailers and clothing makers that agreed to a five-year pact aimed at improving safety conditions at Bangladesh factories. Do you think you’re making inroads in Bangladesh? A. We have such a big supply chain that we do business with a lot of people in a lot of categories. That can make it more challenging for us. But we do care. We are making investments, and I have no doubt that we are making things better. But it will be an ongoing effort across the supply chain to try to create a more sustainable situation for everyone. Q. How much have you been influenced by your time at Wal-Mart? A. I’ve been here pretty much my whole adult life. So what I believe and the things I learned have been largely influenced by Wal-Mart, and much of our culture will stand the test of time and still will be really valuable to the business and to the communities we serve. But there are things that need to change ... how we serve customers, the tools that we use to do it. Q: Wal-Mart has made some mistakes, right? For instance, before you became CEO, Wal-Mart reduced labor in stores, which resulted in unstocked shelves and low employee morale. A: The economic environment these past few years has been challenging globally, and I think our focus on productivity was well-placed. But sometimes we can go too far. And the thing about Wal-Mart is we course-correct. Q. How would you describe employee morale at stores now? A. The word I would use to describe us at the moment is `encouraged.’ We’ve got a lot of associates with a lot of experience and pride in the business. We’re listening and responding to them and making changes. And I think they’re encouraged that we are on the right track.
said he was told there was no sign Ramirez was impaired. Ramirez had a drunken driving conviction in Arizona in 1998 and a pair of traffic citations. Bamieh said the citations were minor and the DUI was too old to be relevant to the current circumstances.
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V A N D A L I S M I N A R I Z O N A S H O W S T H E I N T E R N E T ’ S V U L N E R A B I L I T Y another different line if a cable cut or damaged. But that was not the case here.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) -- Computers, cellphones and landlines in Arizona were knocked out of service for hours, ATMs stopped working, 911 systems were disrupted and businesses were unable to process credit card transactions - all because vandals sliced through a fiber-optic Internet cable buried under the rocky desert.
The challenge in Arizona, he said, is that large swaths of the outage area are a mishmash of federal lands that all have complicated ownership issue.
The Internet outage did more than underscore just how dependent modern society has become on high technology. It raised questions about the vulnerability of the nation’s Internet infrastructure.
“You can’t just like go through the mountains and bury fiber. Part of the problems have to do with landownership in Arizona. So much land is Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service or tribal,” Goldstein said.
Alex Juarez, a spokesman for Internet service provider CenturyLink, said the problem was first reported around noon Wednesday, and customer complaints immediately began to pour in from the northern edges of Phoenix to cities like Flagstaff, Prescott and Sedona. Service began coming back within a few hours and was reported fully restored by about 3 a.m. Thursday.
The details of the vandalism came to light on the same day the Federal Communications Commission in Washington voted to impose stricter regulation over Internet service providers like Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
CenturyLink blamed vandalism, and police are investigating. The CenturyLink-owned cable - actually, a set of cables bundled together in a black jacket a few inches in diameter - was buried several feet under the rocky soil in a dry wash, about a quarter-mile from the nearest houses and a couple of miles from an outlet mall. Vehicles can navigate the area easily, but foot traffic there is rare, Phoenix police spokesman Officer James Holmes said. “It’s almost as if someone had to know it was there,” Holmes said. Police believe the vandals were looking for copper wire - which can fetch high price as scrap - but didn’t find any after completely cutting through the cable, probably with power tools, Holmes said. “Your average house saw and wire cutters wouldn’t do it,” Holmes said. He said the damage was estimated at $6,000.
Zak Holland opens up a computer at a store on the Northern Arizona University campus in Flagstaff, Ariz., Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Much of the region was experiencing an Internet and phone outage that was linked to vandalism of a fiber-optic line.
As the outage spread, CenturyLink technicians began the long, tedious process of inspecting the line mile by mile. They eventually located the severed cable and spliced it back together.
Police investigating the vandalism in Arizona asked local residents to come forward if they saw anyone walking or driving in the area around the time service went out. Any charges resulting would not be limited to vandalism, Holmes said.
CenturyLink gave no estimate on how many people were affected, but the outage was widespread because other cellphone, TV and Internet providers used the cable, too, under leasing arrangements with the company.
“It’s endangerment,” Holmes said. “When you think about that, if someone has an emergency and the only means they have of contacting or getting assistance is through their cellphone, that’s just not a good thing.”
Mark Goldstein, secretary for the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council, said such networks ideally should have built-in redundancies that can allow data transmissions to be diverted to
During the outage, Flagstaff’s 69,000 residents struggled to go about their daily business.
HOMELAND SECURITY BILL MOVES IN SENATE WHILE HOUSE IN LIMBO tion measure to undo just Obama’s most recent immigration directives, from November. The measure would leave in place protections enacted in 2012 for younger immigrants, but even so Democrats are not likely to approve that bill, and it faces a certain Obama veto. The president repeated that threat Wednesday at a town hall style meeting in Miami designed to keep pressure on Republicans. “If Mr. McConnell, the leader of the Senate, and the speaker of the House, John Boehner want to have a vote on whether what I’m doing is legal or not, they can have that vote,” the president said. “I will veto that vote - because I’m absolutely confident that what we’re doing is the right thing to do.”
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listens during a news conference following a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Boehner said he’s waiting for the Senate to act on legislation to fund the Homeland Security Department ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is moving forward on legislation to fund the Homeland Security Department, but the House is in limbo two days away from a partial agency shutdown as conservatives angrily reject the Senate plan. Many House Republicans say they aren’t ready to admit defeat and approve spending for the department without demanding concessions from President Barack Obama on immigration. They are pressuring House Speaker John Boehner to hold firm against that approach, even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argues that it’s the best way out of the GOP’s dilemma. No other options are apparent, aside from a partial shutdown of the agency charged with protecting the U.S. against terrorism. Without congressional action, that will happen at midnight Friday - and polls show Republicans would likely take the political blame. Some conservatives have downplayed the implications of a partial shutdown, noting that of the department’s 230,000 employees, some 200,000 would continue to report to work because they are deemed essential, although they would not get paid until the situation is resolved. Front-line employees at agencies such as Customs and Border Patrol, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration would continue to report to work. Airport security checkpoints would remain staffed, immigration agents would be on the job, air marshals would do their work and Coast Guard patrols would sail on. Boehner met privately with McConnell on Wednesday afternoon, their first meeting in two weeks, but he gave no indication during the day of how he might resolve what has become a high-stakes leadership test two months into full Republican control of Congress. “I’m waiting for the Senate to act. The House has done their job,” Boehner said at a news conference where he repeatedly sidestepped questions about his plans. Hours after Boehner spoke, the Senate did act, voting 98-2 to advance the Homeland Security funding bill over its first procedural hurdle. Several more votes will be required to bring the bill to final passage, but that outcome in the Senate is assured with lawmakers of both parties ready to put the fight behind them. The $40 billion legislation would fund the agency through Sept. 30, the end of the budget year. Gone would be the contentious immigration language from the House-passed version that repealed Obama executive actions as far back as 2012 granting work permits and deportation stays to millions of people in the country illegally, including immigrants brought here as kids. Instead, McConnell envisions a separate vote on a narrower immigra-
The plan, which puts the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the telephone, requires Internet service providers to act in the “public interest” and bans business practices that are “unjust or unreasonable.”
Facing united opposition from Democrats who blocked four GOP attempts to open debate on the House-passed bill, McConnell said he was offering the best plan he could. But House conservatives called it a surrender and said they would not abandon their fight, even if no outcome looked possible except a partial Homeland Security shutdown. “On one side, we’re faced with dealing with the horrible prospect of a shutdown. If we do nothing and we just capitulate, we’re dealing with an even more horrible prospect of a constitutional crisis,” said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. “It’s a no-win situation.” A number of Republican lawmakers said the plan could potentially pass with Democratic votes, but conservatives warned that Boehner would face an intense backlash if he took that route, as he’s done in the past. Congress could potentially pass a short-term extension of current funding levels, but that would only postpone the conflict. House lawmakers openly chafed at the position they found themselves in after agreeing last fall to put off the fight over immigration until this year. The argument was that they would have more leverage once Republicans controlled the Senate and claimed larger numbers in the House. That hasn’t proven to be the case, mainly because the GOP commands only 54 votes in the Senate, short of the 60 needed to advance most legislation under the chamber’s rules. And Obama’s veto pen still gives him the ultimate leverage.
Zak Holland, who works at a computer store at Northern Arizona University, said distraught students were nearly in tears when he said nothing could be done to restore their Internet connection. “It just goes to show how dependent we are on the Internet when it disappears,” he said. Many students told Holland they needed to get online to finish school assignments. University spokesman Tom Bauer said it was up to individual professors to decide how to handle late assignments. Kate Hance and Jessie Hutchison stopped at a Wells Fargo ATM to get cash because an ice cream shop couldn’t take credit cards without a data connection. They left empty-handed because the outage also put cash machines out of service. “It’s moderately annoying, but it’s not going to ruin my day,” Hutchison said. At Flagstaff City Hall, employees were unable make or receive calls at their desks. The city relied on the Arizona Department of Public Safety for help in dispatching police and firefighters. In Prescott Valley, about 75 miles north of Phoenix, authorities said 911 service was being supplemented with hand-held radios and alternate phone numbers. Yavapai County spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn said authorities couldn’t get access to law enforcement databases either. Weather reports from the region weren’t able to reach anyone. During evening newscasts, Phoenix TV stations showed blank spaces on their weather maps where local temperatures would normally appear.
HOMELAND SHUTDOWN continued from page 1
Moreover, most of Obama’s actions are temporarily suspended by a federal judge. The Obama administration is appealing the judge’s ruling. If the ruling it set aside, the executive actions resume no matter the budget turmoil. POSSIBLE END GAMES Whatever happens, it would be completely unlike Washington to solve this before the last minute or even a bit beyond. Twelfth-hour brinkmanship is thought to yield the most concessions. -The standoff could trigger the partial shutdown as the agency’s annual appropriations expire.
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-Republicans could back down on their gambit by moving ahead with separate pieces of legislation, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is now favoring. One would finance the department and let it carry on. The other would be specific to the immigration provisions - in effect, letting Republicans vent, even while setting up Obama’s veto should it pass Congress. -Lawmakers could pass a bill temporarily financing the department. Many Republicans don’t like that idea. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson doesn’t like it, either. “It’s like trying to drive across country on no more than five miles (worth) of gas at a time and you don’t know when the next gas station is going to appear,” he said.
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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F L O R I D A C R A S H S TAT I S T I C S A l l I - 9 5
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All lanes are open on Interstate 95 southbound at Palmetto Park Road after an earlier wreck Thursday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. CLEARED: Crash in Palm Beach on I-95 south at Exit 44 Palmetto Park Rd, 2 right lanes blocked.[...]
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A Lakeland man driving east on Interstate 4 crashed a tractor-trailer carrying concrete beams at the U.S. 301 exit this morning, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.[...]
Car struck back of cruiser investigating earlier accident A Florida Highway Patrol cruiser was rear-ended on Interstate 95 in St. Johns County on Wednesday morning, one of two state troopers who had stopped to assist with an earlier accident was injured, and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries,
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A 62-year-old Tampa man died Wednesday morning after he had medical condition while driving on Interstate 275 and crashed, the Florida Highway Patrol said.[...]
Pick-up lodged under semi, WB I-4 lanes blocked at Thonotosassa Rd. All westbound lanes of I-4 are blocked after an accident involving a Publix semi-truck and a pick-up truck. The Florida Highway Patrol said it happened shortly before 7 a.m. near Thonotosassa Road.
Northbound I-275 lanes are now open
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NUMBER OF SYRIAN CHRISTIANS A B D U C T E D B Y I S R I S E S T O 2 2 0 BEIRUT (AP) -- The number of Christians abducted by the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria has risen to 220 in the past three days, as militants round up more hostages from a chain of villages along a strategic river, activists said Thursday.
Christians.
In Iraq, the IS extremists released a video purportedly showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, describing the relics as idols that must be removed.
The Observatory said negotiations through mediators were taking place between Arab tribes and an Assyrian figure to secure the hostages’ release.
The extremists could also use the Assyrian captives to try to arrange a prisoner swap with the Kurdish militias they are battling in northeastern Syria.
The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday evening “strongly condemned” the abduction and demanded the immediate release of others abducted by the Islamic State and similar groups.
This week’s abductions of the Christian Assyrians in northeastern Syria is one of the largest hostage-takings by the Islamic State since their blitz last year that captured large swaths of both Syria and Iraq last year. The fate of the captives was not known.
The White House condemned the attacks, saying the international community is united in its resolve to “end ISIL’s depravity.” ISIL is one of several alternative acronyms for the IS group.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants picked up dozens more Christian Assyrians from 11 communities near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province. The province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battleground in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria. It is predominantly Kurdish but also has populations of Arabs and predominantly Christian Assyrians and Armenians. IS began abducting the Assyrians on Monday, when militants attacked a cluster of villages along the Khabur River, sending thousands of people fleeing to safer areas. Younan Talia, a senior official with the Assyrian Democratic Organization, said IS had raided 33 Assyrian villages, picking up as many as 300 people
JUDGE REJECTS COVER-UP CASE AGAINST ARGENTINE PRESIDENT
Assyrians citizens hold placards during a sit-in for abducted Christians in Syria and Iraq, at a church in Sabtiyesh area east Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. Islamic State militants snatched more hostages from homes in northeastern Syria over the past three days, bringing the total number of Christians abducted to over 220
along the way. It was not possible to reconcile the numbers, and the fate of the hostages remained unclear. State-run news agency SANA and an Assyrian activist group, the Assyrian Network for Human Rights in Syria, said the group had been moved to the IS-controlled city of Shaddadeh, a predominantly Arab town south of the city of Hassakeh. The Observatory, however, said they were still being held in nearby Mt. Abdulaziz. The mass abduction added to fears among religious minorities in both Syria and Iraq, who have been repeatedly targeted by the Islamic State group. The extremists have declared a self-styled caliphate in the regions of both countries that are under their control, killing members of religious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and destroying houses of worship. The group has killed captives in the past, including foreign journalists, Syrian soldiers and Kurdish militiamen. Most recently, militants in Libya affiliated with IS released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a prosecutor’s allegations that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez tried to cover-up the alleged involvement of Iranian officials in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Judge Daniel Rafecas said the documents originally filed by the late prosecutor Alberto Nisman failed to meet “the minimal conditions needed to launch a formal court investigation.” Nisman had filed the complaint days before he died on Jan. 18 under mysterious circumstances. Polls show many Argentines suspect officials had some hand in the death, though Fernandez and aides have suggested the death was aimed at destabilizing her government. The case that has caused a crisis for Fernandez’s administration. Tens of thousands of Argentines marched through the capital last week demanding answers in the death a month after he was found in his bathroom with a bullet in his right temple. The president initially suggested the 51-year-old prosecutor had killed himself, then did an about-face a few days later, saying she suspected he had been slain. Authorities say they are investigating the possibility of suicide or homicide.
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The Assyrians are indigenous Christian people who trace their roots back to some of the ancient Mesopotamians - the ancient Assyrians whose artifacts the Islamic State is now destroying in Iraq. The five-minute Islamic State video released Thursday shows a group of bearded men inside the Mosul Museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, which are then shown in pieces and chipped. The video then shows a black-clad man at a nearby archaeological site inside Mosul drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 7th century B.C. “Oh Muslims, these artifacts that are behind me were idols and gods worshipped by people who lived centuries ago instead of Allah,” a bearded man tells the camera as he stands in front of the partially demolished winged-bull. “Our prophet ordered us to remove all these statues as his followers did when they conquered nations,” the man in the video adds. The video was posted on social media accounts affiliated with the Islamic State group and though it could not be independently verified it appeared authentic, based on AP’s knowledge of the Mosul Museum. Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the surrounding Nineveh province fell to the militants last June, after Iraqi security forces melted away.
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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N E W S G U I D E : L AT E S T D E V E L O P M E N T S O N I S L A M I C S T A T E G R O U P Three men were arrested Wednesday on charges of plotting to help the Islamic State group wage war against the United States, and federal officials said one of them spoke of shooting President Barack Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island.
From Iraq and Syria, where Islamic State militants abducted Christians and destroyed Mesopotamian relics, to arrests of suspects in New York and a Muslim group in Britain shedding light on the possible identity of a British-accented militant from IS beheading videos, the extremist group dominated the headlines on Thursday around the globe.
Two of them - Akhror Saidakhmetov and Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, both arrested in New York - were vocal both online and in personal conversations about their commitment and desire to join the extremists.
Here are the latest developments. SYRIAN CHRISTIANS ABDUCTED The number of Christian Assyrians abducted by the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria has risen to 220 in the past three days, as militants round up more hostages from a chain of villages along a strategic river, activists said Thursday. The wave of abductions, which started on Monday, is one of the largest hostage-takings by the Islamic State since the militant group captured large swaths of Syria and Iraq last year. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the militants picked up dozens more Christian Assyrians from 11 communities in Hassakeh province. The province, which borders Turkey and Iraq, has become the latest battleground in the anti-IS fight in Syria. The mass abduction added to fears among religious minorities in both Syria and Iraq, who have been repeatedly targeted by the Islamic State group. DESTROYING IRAQ’S ANTIQUITIES The IS released a video on Thursday showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, describing the relics as idols that must be removed. The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men inside the Mosul Museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, which are then shown chipped and in pieces. The video then shows a black-clad man at a nearby archaeological site - known as Nirgal Gate, one of several gates to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 7th century B.C.
Saidakhmetov, 19, was arrested at Kennedy Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, with plans to head to Syria. The 24-year-old Juraboev had a ticket to travel to Istanbul next month and was arrested in Brooklyn. The two were held without bail after a brief court appearance. In this image made from video posted on a social media account affiliated with the Islamic State group on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants take sledgehammers to an ancient artifact in the Ninevah Museum in Mosul, Iraq. The extremist group has destroyed a number of shrines --including Muslim holy sites -- in order to eliminate what it views as heresy. The militants are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the surrounding Nineveh province fell to the militants last June. JIHADI JOHN, HOODED MAN IN BEHEADING VIDEOS A Muslim lobbying group said it may have identified the British-accented militant who has appeared in beheading videos released by the Islamic State group.
CAGE, a London group that works with Muslims in conflict with British intelligence services, said the man commonly known as “Jihadi John” bears strong similarities to Mohammed Emwazi, a former university student who reportedly grew up in London.
The Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at King’s College London, which closely tracks fighters in Syria, also said it believed the identification was correct. Masked, knife-wielding “Jihadi John” appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley, denouncing the West before the killing. A man with similar stature and voice featured in other beheading videos.
Although the video could not be independently verified it appeared authentic, based on AP’s knowledge of the Mosul Museum.
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F E D S : 3 A C C U S E D I N I S L A M I C S TAT E P L O T V O C A L A B O U T B E L I E F S What I’m saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels.” According to the federal complaint, Saidakhmetov said he intended to shoot police officers and FBI agents if his plan to join the IS group in Syria was thwarted. Saidakhmetov’s mother took away his passport to try to prevent him from traveling, according to the complaint. When he called his mother and asked for it back, she ended up hanging up on him. She had asked him where he wanted to go and he said that a person who had the chance to join the Islamic State group and didn’t would face divine judgment. Habibov had recently been a Brooklyn resident before moving a few years ago and falling out of contact with the borough’s Uzbek community, said Farhod Sulton, president of the Brooklyn-based Vatandosh Uzbek-American Federation.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Two men arrested on charges of plotting to help the Islamic State group were vocal both online and in personal conversations about their commitment and desire to join the extremists, with one of them speaking of shooting President Barack Obama to “strike fear in the hearts of infidels,” federal authorities said. The men were among three charged Wednesday with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, was arrested at Kennedy Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, with plans to head to Syria, authorities said. Another man, 24-year-old Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, had a ticket to travel to Istanbul next month and was arrested in Brooklyn, federal prosecutors said. The two were held without bail after a brief court appearance. A third defendant, Abror Habibov, 30, is accused of helping fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts. He was ordered held without bail in Florida. If convicted, each faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said this was the first public case in New York involving possible fighters going to the Islamic State, but he hinted at other ongoing investigations. “This is real,” Bratton said. “This is the concern about the lone wolf, inspired to act without ever going to the Mideast.” Authorities said Juraboev first came to the attention of law enforcement in August, when he posted on an Uzbek-language website that propagates the Islamic State ideology. “Greetings! We too want to pledge our allegiance and commit ourselves while not present there,” he wrote, according to federal authorities. “Is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here?”
A F G H A N I S T A N AVA L A N C H E T O L L RISES TO 165 AMID RESCUE EFFORTS
However, Asim Qureshi of CAGE said that because of the hood worn by the militant, he “can’t be 100 percent certain.”
A bearded man is seen in the video, standing in front of the partially demolished winged-bull, telling Muslims that “these artifacts that are behind me were idols and gods worshipped by people who lived centuries ago instead of Allah.”
n this courtroom drawing, defendant Akhror Saidakmetov, left; an interpreter, center; and defendant Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, appear at federal court in New York on terrorism charges, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Saidakmetov and Juraboev are two of the three men arrested on charges of plotting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group and wage war against the U.S.
A third defendant, Abror Habibov, 30, is accused of helping fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts. He was ordered held without bail in Florida. If convicted, each faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
At some point, he stopped coming to Uzbek gatherings, Sulton said, and he was reading extremist literature. “We had a tense conversation about the ultra-orthodox understanding of Islam. I think he got into the wrong hands in terms of learning Islam.” Loretta Lynch, who is Obama’s choice to be U.S. attorney general, said “The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies.” Saidakhmetov’s attorney, Adam Perlmutter, said his client was a “young, innocent kid” who would plead not guilty. “This is the type of case that highlights everything that is wrong with how the Justice Department approaches these cases,” Perlmutter said. Juraboev’s attorney had no immediate comment. Saidakhmetov is a Brooklyn resident and citizen of Kazakhstan. Juraboev is a Brooklyn resident from Uzbekistan. Habibov had been in the U.S. legally, but his visa had expired. He was appointed a public defender on Wednesday. The Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of Saidakhmetov’s arrest. It said he was born July 26, 1995, in the city of Turkestan in southern Kazakhstan, left for Uzbekistan in October 2011 and has not returned. He was not registered at the Kazakhstan Consulate in New York and neither he nor his relatives have reached out for any help, the ministry said. The Islamic State group largely consists of Sunni militants from Iraq and Syria but has also drawn fighters from across the Muslim world and Europe.
Afghan children looks on in a village close to an avalanche site in Panjshir province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands to save those buried beneath.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The number of people killed in a massive avalanche in a mountain-bound valley in northeastern Afghanistan rose on Thursday to 165 as lack of equipment and the sheer depth of snow that buried entire homes and families hampered rescue efforts.
“We’re facing a real crisis because of the depth of the snow,” said Mohammad Aslam Syas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority. So far, 165 deaths had been confirmed in the Panjshir Valley, in Panjshir province, which is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Afghan capital, Kabul, he said. “We can only speculate on how many people are buried beneath destroyed houses. It’s possible that if houses have not collapsed beneath the weight of the snow, we can still find people alive,” he said. The Afghan army deployed 1,000 soldiers form the Kabul Corps to the Panjshir Valley, to help in the rescue efforts. Gen. Kadam Shah Shahim, Kabul Corps commander, said he expected the death toll to rise. Rescue efforts are painstaking and slow, and can only take place during daylight hours because of the lack of power for lighting the disaster zone. Rescuers were using shovels and their hands to scoop away snow from the estimated 100 homes destroyed or damaged in the avalanche, which followed heavy snow storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Abdul Rahman Kabiri, the acting governor of the province. Roads remained impassable on Thursday, blocked by fallen trees and snow more than 1 meter (3 feet) deep in many places. Conditions made it difficult for teams to reach the disaster sites in the north of the province, said agency chief Mohammad Daim Kakar. Panjshir was just one province badly hit by the sudden and ferocious interruption to what had been a mild and dry winter. At least four northeastern provinces were hit by deadly avalanches and flooding. Disaster relief - food, clothing and shelter - was being sent to districts in the far north of the country, many parts of which are often cut off for months by snowfall. The Salang Tunnel linking the north and south closed and power supply to Kabul was badly curtailed. More snow and rain was predicted for central Afghanistan, with temperatures expected to drop as low as minus-12 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit) in the central mountain belt. Afghanistan has suffered through some three decades of war since the Soviet invasion in 1979. But natural disasters such as landslides, floods and avalanches have also taken a huge toll on a country with little infrastructure or development outside of its major cities.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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N E W I S V I D E O S H O W S M I L I TA N T S S M A S H I N G A N C I E N T I R A Q A R T I FA C T S
BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Islamic State group released a video on Thursday showing militants using sledgehammers to smash ancient artifacts in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, describing the relics as idols that must be removed.
were at different times the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians first arose around 2500 B.C. and at one point ruled over a realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to what is present-day Iran. Also in danger is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Hatra, which is thought to have been built in the 3rd or 2nd century B.C. by the Seleucid Empire. It flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries as a religious and trading center.
The destructions are part of a campaign by the IS extremists who have destroyed a number of shrines - including Muslim holy sites - in order to eliminate what they view as heresy. They are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region. The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men inside the Mosul Museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, which are then shown chipped and in pieces. The video then shows a black-clad man at a nearby archaeological site inside Mosul, drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 7th century B.C. The video was posted on social media accounts affiliated with the Islamic State group and though it could not be independently verified it appeared authentic, based on AP’s knowledge of the Mosul Museum. Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the surrounding Nineveh province fell to the militants during their blitz last June after Iraqi security forces melted away. In their push, the extremists captured large swaths of land in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, declared a self-styled caliphate on territories that are under their control, killing members of religious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and destroying houses of worship. The region under IS control in Iraq has nearly 1,800 of Iraq’s 12,000 registered archaeological sites and the militants appear to be out to cleanse it of any non-Islamic ideas, including library books, archaeological relics, and even Islamic sites considered idolatrous. “Oh Muslims, these artifacts that are behind me were idols and gods worshipped by people who lived centuries ago instead of Allah,” a bearded man tells the camera as he stands in front of the partially demolished winged-bull. “The so-called Assyrians and Akkadians and others looked to gods
The damage to Iraqi artifacts in Mosul is the latest episode in that has targeted the nation’s heritage.
In this image made from video posted on a social media account affiliated with the Islamic State group on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, militants destroy winged-bull Assyrian protective deity in the Ninevah Museum in Mosul, Iraq. The extremist group has destroyed a number of shrines --including Muslim holy sites -- in order to eliminate what it views as heresy. The militants are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region.
for war, agriculture and rain to whom they offered sacrifices,” he added, referring to groups that that left their mark on Mesopotamia for more than 5,000 years in what is now Iraq, eastern Syria and southern Turkey. “Our prophet ordered us to remove all these statues as his followers did when they conquered nations,” the man in the video adds. The video bore the logo of the IS group’s media arm and was posted on a Twitter account used by the group. A professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul confirmed to the Associated Press that the two sites depicted in the video are the city museum and a site known as Nirgal Gate, one of several gates to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.
In January, Islamic State militants ransacked the Central Library of Mosul, smashing the locks and taking around 2,000 books - leaving only Islamic texts. Days later, militants broke into University of Mosul’s library. They made a bonfire out of hundreds of books on science and culture, destroying them in front of students. The day after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops in April 2003, looters burst into the Iraqi National Museum in the Iraqi capital, making off with scores of priceless artifacts and leaving the floor littered with shattered pottery. The U.S. was widely criticized at the time for failing to protect the site.
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“I’m totally shocked,” Amir al-Jumaili told the AP over the phone from outside of Mosul. “It’s a catastrophe. With the destruction of these artifacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul’s civilization.” He said that very few of the museum pieces are not genuine. Among the most important sites under the militants’ control are four ancient cities - Ninevah, Kalhu, Dur Sharrukin and Ashur - which
MUSLIM GROUP: ‘JIHADI JOHN’ RESEMBLES MAN WHO GREW UP IN UK marry. No one answered the door at the brick row house in west London where the Emwazi family is alleged to have lived. Neighbors in the surrounding area of public housing projects either declined comment or said they didn’t know the family. Neighbor Janine Kintenda, 47, who said she’d lived in the area for 16 years, was shocked at the news.
LONDON (AP) -- A British-accented militant who has appeared in beheading videos released by the Islamic State group in Syria bears “striking similarities” to a man who grew up in London, a Muslim lobbying group said Thursday. Mohammed Emwazi has been identified by news organizations as the masked militant more commonly known as “Jihadi John.”
“Oh my God,” she said, lifting her hand to her mouth. “This is bad. This is bad.”
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) -- Google will start showing ads in its online store for mobile apps and entertainment as the Internet search leader strives to bring in more revenue from smartphones and tablets.
Shiraz Maher of the King’s College radicalization center said he was investigating whether Emwazi was among a group of young West Londoners who traveled to Syria in about 2012.
The advertising expansion announced Thursday will provide Google with a new opportunity to profit from its Android software, the world’s most widely used operating system for mobile devices.
Many of them are now dead, including Mohammad el-Araj, Ibrahim al-Mazwagi and Choukri Ellekhlifi, all killed in 2013.
Google Inc. gives away Android to device makers with built-in features designed to drive more traffic to its search engine and other services, such as its Google Play store for downloading apps.
He said Emwazi’s background was similar to that of other British jihadis, and disproved the idea “that these guys are all impoverished, that they’re coming from deprived backgrounds.” “They are by and large upwardly mobile people, well educated,” he said.
Ads will begin appearing in the Google Play store the next few weeks as part of a test program. Google makes most of its money from the ads shown in its search results, Gmail and YouTube video library.
London-based CAGE, which works with Muslims in conflict with British intelligence services, said Thursday its research director, Asim Qureshi, saw strong similarities, but because of the hood worn by the militant, “there was no way he could be 100 percent certain.” The Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at King’s College London, which closely tracks fighters in Syria, also said it believed the identification was correct. British counterterrorism officials wouldn’t confirm the man’s identity. “Jihadi John” appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley. A man with similar stature and voice also featured in videos of the killings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and Alan Hemming and U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig. According to The Washington Post and the BBC, Emwazi was born in Kuwait, grew up in west London and studied computer programming at the University of Westminster. The university confirmed that a student of that name graduated in 2009. “If these allegations are true, we are shocked and sickened by the news,” the university said in a statement. The news outlets said Emwazi had been known to Britain’s intelligence services before he traveled to Syria in 2012. CAGE said it has been in contact with Emwazi for more than two years after he accused British intelligence services of harassing him. It said that in 2010 he alleged British spies were preventing him from traveling to the country of his birth, Kuwait, where he planned to
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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I F S U P R E M E C O U R T S AY S N O , T H E Y ’ D L O S E H E A LT H I N S U R A N C E H E L P and hope for the best, until business got better and I could afford it again.”
CHICAGO (AP) -- Millions of Americans have a big personal stake in next Wednesday’s Supreme Court challenge to the nation’s health care law: Can they legally continue to get subsidies to help pay for their insurance? If the court says no, people across more than 30 states could lose federal subsidies for their premiums.
The year he started his company, Shepheard suffered a carotid artery dissection, a tear in a layer of an artery wall in his neck. “I walked outside where someone might see me, then collapsed.” Later, insurers denied him coverage on grounds that it was a pre-existing condition, before the health law’s protections went into effect.
The legal arguments the justices will hear are complex. Opponents who brought the lawsuit argue the law’s literal wording only allows the government to pay subsidies in states that have set up their own insurance markets, or exchanges. Most states have not. Supporters of the law say such a narrow reading misses its basic intent: to increase Americans’ access to health insurance nationwide.
He was unaware of the Supreme Court case until recently. “I have no idea why anybody would be against subsidies,” he said. “It helps people attain health insurance, which in my mind is cheaper than taxpayers paying for it anyway when people are forced to go to the emergency room for care. Somebody pays for it. We don’t turn these people out into the streets.”
Whatever they know or don’t know about the law’s fine print, millions will feel the effects of the ruling. Here’s a look at four people who now are receiving subsidies in states where the federal government is running things, and how they would deal with losing the financial help. `WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO AFFORD IT’ Young and healthy, Ariana Jimenez is just the kind of person the health insurance system needs in order to keep costs down for everyone. When she pays her $52 monthly premium and the government kicks in $128, those payments help pay the bills for older, sicker people. She didn’t know about the Supreme Court case that could jeopardize her subsidy. Without the help, she said, she would have to cancel her policy: “I wouldn’t be able to afford it.” The 23-year-old suburban Chicago resident works part time as a nursing assistant at a community health center, making slightly more than the cutoff to be eligible for Medicaid. Starting her second year of coverage under the health care law, she hasn’t used her insurance much. Her biggest medical episode, having an infected cyst on her back removed, cost her $130 out of pocket in copays for doctor visits. “That was reasonable compared to what it would have been if I had not had insurance,” she said. And if she does cancel her policy? The law requires nearly everyone to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty, but it allows hardship exemptions in certain cases. It’s unclear whether Jimenez would qualify. In any case, she wants to be insured. `GO WITHOUT’ Kimberly Davis of Jackson, Mississippi, said she’d be forced to drop health insurance if she lost the $201 monthly subsidy that brings her out-of-pocket monthly cost down to $78. Without coverage, she fears she wouldn’t be able to afford medications to prevent flare-ups and to slow the progression of her multiple sclerosis. One drug costs nearly $5,000 a month. “I would have to go without,” Davis said. “I’m kind of scared to think about it.” The 31-year-old mother and trained social worker takes four medications that give her some control over MS, an autoimmune disease that causes pain, fatigue and difficulty walking. She was diagnosed five years ago, after her son was born. Davis is looking for work. Her husband works part time at a paint store. “When I lost my job, I lost insurance,” Davis said. “I went two months without my medicine and I got really sick, so I know the importance of health insurance.”
Ariana Jimenez is seen in her home in Aurora, Ill. Young and healthy. Jimenez, 23, works part time as a nursing assistant at a community health center. The Supreme Court will hear arguments next week over whether millions of people covered by the nation’s health care law can legally continue to get financial help to pay for their insurance.
`I’D CONSIDER MOVING’ Stacia Seaman makes her living as a freelance book editor, so she can live and work wherever she has an Internet connection. Right now, that’s Austin, Texas, her home since 2004. But if the Supreme Court strikes down subsidies in states like Texas that don’t have their own health insurance exchanges, Seaman said she’d consider moving. “I would take a look at the numbers,” Seaman said. If she still could afford insurance in Texas, she’d stay, but “I’d consider moving to a state where I can get a subsidy.” The 46-year-old said the $112 monthly government contribution makes her health insurance affordable. She wouldn’t consider dropping coverage because she relies on expensive migraine medication and has had surgery for recurring ovarian cysts. Her share of her premium is $390 a month for a gold plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. “I love it here. I want to stay. I have family. This is where I’m from,” Seaman said. “It’s ridiculous that health insurance might be the reason I have to move.” --`HOPE FOR THE BEST’ Rockney Shepheard built a company around health-conscious eating. He invented a cholesterol-free egg substitute called The Vegg. Sales have grown since he started his business in 2011, and he netted $30,000 last year. Health law subsidies bring his monthly premium down to $180, which means the 61-year-old former graphic artist can afford to keep his business going and fund his health insurance, too. Without the subsidy, his monthly premium would be $550. “If I had to pay $550 again, I would do it as long as I could, until it affected my business,” said the Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, resident. “Then I would stop and not have insurance
SOUTH KOREAN COURT ABOLISHES L AW C R I M I N A L I Z I N G A D U LT E R Y no right to interfere in people’s private lives and sexual affairs. The court was acting on 17 complaints submitted from 2009 to 2014 by people who had been charged under the law. Seven judges in the court, which rules on the constitutionality of laws, supported the ruling, while two dissented, the court said. The support of six judges is needed to abolish a law. The law “excessively restricts citizens’ basic rights, such as the right to determine sexual affairs,” the court said, explaining that the legislation no longer contributed to overall public interest.
Park Han-chul, center, president of South Korea’s Constitutional Court, sits with other judges before the judgment at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. The court on Thursday abolished a 62-year-old law that bans extramarital affairs, ruling that the law suppresses personal freedoms. The ruling by the Constitutional Court could potentially affect thousands of individuals who faced adultery charges since Oct. 31, 2008, a day after the court previously upheld the adultery ban. Current charges could be thrown out and anyone given a guilty verdict would be eligible for a retrial, according to a court official, who didn’t want to be named, citing office rules
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A South Korean court on Thursday abolished a 62-year-old law that criminalized extramarital affairs, and the stock price of a prominent condom maker immediately shot up 15 percent. The Constitutional Court’s ruling that the law suppressed personal freedoms could affect many of the more than 5,400 people who have been charged with adultery since 2008, when the court earlier upheld the legislation, according to court law. Any current charges against those people could be thrown out and those who have received guilty verdicts will be eligible for retrials, according to a court official who declined to be named, citing office rules. Under the law, having sex with a married person who is not your spouse was punishable by up to two years in prison. Nearly 53,000 South Koreans have been indicted on adultery charges since 1985, but prison terms have been rare. The stock price of South Korean condom maker Unidus Corp. shot up after the court ruling, surging by the daily limit of 15 percent on South Korea’s Kosdaq market. Debate over the adultery ban, which has been part of South Korea’s criminal law since 1953, intensified in recent years as fast-changing social trends challenged traditional values. Supporters of the law said it promoted monogamy and kept families intact, while opponents argued that the government had
UKRAINE, REBELS STA RT PU L L I N G B A C K H E AV Y W E A P O N S I N THE EAST
It was the fifth time the court had reviewed the adultery ban since 1990. In October 2008, five of the judges said the law was unconstitutional. Legal experts say the adultery ban had lost much of its effect because people increasingly settled marriage disputes in civil courts. Adultery could be prosecuted only on a complaint made by a spouse who had filed for divorce. The case immediately ended if the plaintiff dropped the charge, which was common when financial settlements were reached. “Recently, it was extremely rare for a person to serve a prison term for adultery,” said Lim Ji-bong, a law professor at Sogang University in Seoul. “The number of indictments has decreased as charges are frequently dropped.” South Korea, along with Taiwan, had been a rare non-Muslim nation to criminalize adultery, according to Park So-hyun, an official at the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations, a government-funded counseling office. Many legal experts had predicted that the court would abolish the adultery ban, but the decision was still controversial in a country that remains greatly influenced by a conservative Confucian heritage, despite decades of Western influence. Park Dae Chul, a lawmaker for the conservative ruling party, Saenuri, said it respects the court’s decision but that the country needs to strengthen its efforts to protect marriage and the family system. Lawmaker Yoo Eun Hye of the liberal opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy said the decision reflected social changes. Last year the government banned access to Ashley Madison, a dating website for people who want to cheat on their partners, over concerns that the service could encourage adultery. The Korea Communications Standards Commission, the country’s Internet censorship body, said it has not decided whether to lift the ban on the website.
Russia-backed separatist fighters stand on self propelled 152 mm artillery pieces, part of a unit moved away from the front lines, in Yelenovka, near Donetsk, Ukraine,Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. Russia’s foreign minister is sharply criticizing Ukraine’s insistence that it won’t begin pulling back heavy weapons in its fight against separatists in the east until the rebels fully observe a cease-fire.
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- In a long-awaited development, Ukrainian forces and separatist fighters both announced Thursday they are pulling back heavy weapons from the front line in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it reserved the right to revise its withdrawal plans in the event of an attack by rebel forces, however. The pullback was supposed to have started over a week ago under a peace deal agreed upon earlier this month by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine that has killed nearly 5,800 people since April. The intensity of fighting has declined notably in recent days, despite daily charges by both sides that the other is violating the Feb. 15 cease-fire. Military spokesman Anatoly Stelmakh told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that government forces on Thursday started moving 100-mm anti-tank guns back to the 25-kilometer (16-mile) minimum stipulated by the peace deal. AP reporters on Thursday also saw rebel forces moving at least six 120mm self-propelled howitzers from the front line near Olenivka, a town south of the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk. Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe planned to report later on the progress of the withdrawal. The OSCE has hundreds of monitors in the region. In Rome, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he welcomed indications of reduced fighting but renewed claims that Russia has supplied separatists with large quantities of weapons. “Russia has transferred in recent months over 1,000 pieces of equipment - tanks, artillery, advanced air defense system - and they have to withdraw this equipment and they have to stop supporting the separatists,” Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday. Russia denies charges that it arms and supports the rebels. Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the OSCE monitoring mission, said the weapons withdrawal required both sides to inventory their arms and provide details about how and where they are to be relocated. “It’s not enough to be invited to follow the removal process part of the way. It has to be complete,” he said. “It’s not a shopping list, you cannot pick and choose.” Ukraine’s military said Thursday its positions had not been shelled the previous night but military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko spoke of isolated armed confrontations, including ones near Donetsk. The rebels claimed Tuesday to have begun their heavy weapons pullback, but that has not been independently confirmed. Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the separatist forces, told the Russian TV station LifeNews that withdrawals from five locations were planned for Thursday, monitored by the OSCE. The locations he named included Olenivka, where AP journalists saw the 120 mm self-propelled howitzers being moved. “The OSCE mission has been provided with all the documents they requested, which detail where equipment would be transported from and in which direction,” Basurin told LifeNews. Kiev has until now demurred from pulling back its heavy weapons, insisting that the separatists fully observe the cease-fire. That stand was dismissed as “ridiculous” by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “Everyone understands that there isn’t an ideal truce and an ideal regime of ceasing fire,” Lavrov said Thursday.
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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L E T H A C K E R S I N : E X P E R T S S AY T R A P S M I G H T B E B E T T E R T H A N WA L L S
BANGKOK (AP) -- They were a middle-class family in Pakistan, living in a comfortable three-bedroom apartment with a modern kitchen and a PlayStation for the three kids. Fluent in English, the father ran his own moving company while the mother taught art.
The food, the language - everything was new. The father went to the UNHCR to register as an asylum-seeker and was shocked to learn he would have to wait two years - until September 2015 - just to get his first interview in the “refugee status determination” process. Now, for new arrivals, the wait is three years.
A death threat signed by a Muslim extremist group - with three bullets attached - compelled the Christian family to leave it all behind 18 months ago. Now they live in a barren room in Bangkok, where the children share a double bed and the parents sleep on the floor. They cook on a propane burner on a tiny balcony. A picture of Jesus - the source of their solace and their troubles - hangs on the inside of the door.
The U.N. agency has more than 60 staffers in Bangkok working to verify thousands of asylum-seekers’ stories and determine whether they are refugees with well-founded fears of persecution, said the UNHCR’s Girard. Each case must be examined to screen out those trying to exploit the system, such as those being trafficked by smuggling rings. “We have to be very strict in recognizing who is a genuine refugee and who is not,” she said.
This, increasingly, is the life of the asylum-seeker and refugee. There are 14 million of them under the mandate of the U.N. refugee agency, and more than half do not live in the camps they are often associated with. A growing number live in cities and towns around the world. Across Asia, from India to the Pacific islands, there are about half a million such “urban refugees,” according to the agency. The Pakistani family no longer fears for their lives, but they face other fears arrest, hunger and the possibility that they will never be able to live freely. Unable to work legally and with no legal status in Thailand, they and others like them must remain mostly hidden while they scrape by on odd jobs and donations from churches, aid groups and individuals. Their children, all elementary-school age, don’t go to school and spend entire days indoors. “We just wanted to save our lives,” said the father, who has overstayed his visa and like the dozen other asylum-seekers interviewed for this story asked not to be identified for fear of arrest. “We didn’t know anything when we arrived. Now we are just trying to survive.” Many asylum-seekers pin their hopes on an elusive prize: resettlement in a third country such as the U.S. or Canada through a process overseen by the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees. That can take five years or more, and it often doesn’t happen at all. The surge of urban refugees challenges reluctant host countries like Thailand, which in the past has allowed refugees from surrounding countries into border camps, but doesn’t legally recognize asylum-seekers or refugees. It’s relatively easy to obtain a Thai tourist visa, one reason the number of asylum-seekers in Bangkok has jumped several-fold to more than 8,000 over the past few years, according to numbers from the UNHCR. The biggest and fastest-growing contingent here is from Pakistan, experts say, while other big groups come from Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Somalia and Syria. When they land, many are shocked to discover they face arrest once their visas run out. They expect the UNHCR will protect them, but refugee advocates say Thai police generally ignore U.N. letters declaring them to be “persons of concern.” Thailand never signed the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention that protects refugees’ rights; neither have neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia, where thousands more asylum-seekers live.
For those waiting, money quickly becomes an issue. After exhausting their savings, the Pakistani family visited churches for support. Most turned them down. Eventually, one congregation offered about $100 a month. In this Jan. 12, 2015, photo, an asylum-seeker and his niece play with a bird in a cage at an apartment building on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. More than half the 14 million refugees and asylum-seekers under the mandate of the U.N. refugee agency do not live in camps; a growing number of them live in urban areas.
In Pakistan, the couple and some Catholic friends helped run a small, free school for poor children. One morning in 2013, a warning signed by a militant Muslim group was slipped under the door of the school office. “Stop giving missionary education to Muslim children. Otherwise, we will shoot you and your children,” said the threat, which was viewed by The Associated Press. Ten days later, the school received another warning - this time with the bullets. The school volunteers filed a complaint to the police; the AP viewed a copy of the document, which had been stamped by local police to indicate they had received it. The couple’s account was corroborated by several people contacted by the AP. The couple said the school never taught Christianity to Muslim children, but did teach Bible stories and prayers to the Christian kids when their Muslim classmates were not there. They said that sometimes the Muslim kids would hang around, hear the prayers and recite them at home. Human-rights groups say Pakistan’s religious minorities are increasingly persecuted - not only Christians but Hindus and Ahmadis, an Islamic sect rejected by mainstream Muslims. They say that although no one has been executed under the country’s harsh blasphemy law, it has been used to threaten non-Muslims and incite mob violence. In November, a Christian couple was killed by a mob for allegedly desecrating the Quran. An estimated 12,000 religious minorities have fled Pakistan since 2009, according to Farrukh Saif, who heads a minority advocacy group that supports asylum-seekers in Bangkok.
So these urban refugees scrape by in limbo, freer than those in camp settings but in some ways more vulnerable.
The threatened couple fled to Thailand because friends said it was easy to get a tourist visa and because other Christians had gone there.
“This is the future,” said Mireille Girard, the Thailand representative for the UNHCR. “We really have to adjust to providing assistance in urban environments.”
“People told us, `Save your lives first, then worry about the other things,’” the father said.
Despite the hardships, many say they will never return home. They are too afraid.
After hiding for a month, they packed two suitcases of their belongings and boarded a midnight flight for Bangkok.
“We’ll just face the same sort of threats again,” said the Pakistani mother. “I’m not willing to sacrifice my children for that.”
When they arrived in the steamy Thai capital, relief quickly turned to anxiety.
REPUBLICANS SEEK THE PERFECT D AT E ( R E A D : C A N D I D AT E ) F O R 2 0 1 6 lineup of potential candidates and says that now, “they’re going to preen and strut and we’re going to see a president emerge.” But you know how schoolgirls may dream up the perfect boyfriend by imagining a mashup of the jock, the hottie and the smart kid, with a whiff of bad boy for excitement? What if Republicans could do the same to assemble their dream candidate to go up against the Democratic nominee, who most expect will be Hillary Rodham Clinton. Here’s a look at a few qualities they might want to pick from, and some of the candidates with something to offer. LEADERSHIP
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, right, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker share a laugh as Walker campaigns at Empire Bucket in Hudson, Wis. Let’s say that America has given you the job of picking the perfect candidate for president. There are all sorts of things to start the list: leadership, vision, charisma, communication skills and foreign policy cred. And more: fundraising prowess, authenticity, empathy, a keen understanding of the presidency and maybe a little familiarity with running for the office. Walker, Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are among at least 10 current and former governors considering a bid.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Let’s say, for a moment, that America has given you the job of picking the perfect candidate for president. Good luck, Mr. or Ms. Voter, deciding what they’ve got to have - and what they can do without. There are all sorts of things to start the list: leadership, vision, charisma, communication skills and foreign policy cred. And more: fundraising prowess, authenticity, empathy, a keen understanding of the presidency and maybe a little familiarity with running for the office. And even more: good looks are always a plus, even if people don’t want to admit it. For many, being an “outsider” is a must at a time when “Washington” is on the outs with a lot of people. Where do you even start? For Republicans, you can’t do much better than this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference. There are as many as two dozen GOP hopefuls eyeing the party’s nomination in 2016, and many of them will be offering themselves at CPAC as the perfect prom date for conservatives in search of a winning candidate. Can anyone claim the total package? Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which runs CPAC, sees a strong
Pick a governor. Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, New Jersey’s Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are among at least 10 current and former governors considering a bid. Says Walker, “Governors are the ones who get things done.” One other option: Carly Fiorina, a former tech executive, has the initials “CEO” on her resume. COMMUNICATION Grab a senator. Boy, do they know how to talk. There are at least five current and former senators considering running, and Florida’s Marco Rubio, Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Texan Ted Cruz are all known for giving a good speech. Rubio has the added benefit of a compelling back story to share on the stump: he’s the son of Cuban immigrants who came to the U.S. seeking a better life. THE OUTSIDER Walker is a Harley-riding preacher’s son who’s been governor since 2011 and cultivated the image of the outside-Washington upstart. He’s best known for a taking on public unions, and surviving a 2012 recall election after that brouhaha. UNDERSTANDING THE PRESIDENCY Hands down, this is Bush - he’s the son and brother of former presidents. No one else can claim the same intimacy with the office, says Schlapp, who calls Bush a “historical anomaly.” But, then again, that whole Bush dynasty thing is a downside to those with bad memories of presidents 41 and 43. CAMPAIGN EXPERIENCE A handful of White House potentials have been here, done that.
The mother found a job teaching English to Thai children. She earns 8,000 baht ($250) a month, enough to cover rent, utilities and a bit of food. The father, jobless for many months, recently found work at a nursery, but that means their three children are alone in the apartment all day. And now both parents could be arrested for working illegally. “When I go to work, I don’t know if I’m going to come back to my kids or not,” said the father. Those arrested typically wind up in the Immigration Detention Center. The only way out is paying for your own flight home or finally gaining resettlement overseas. Some stay in detention for years. Veerawit Tianchainan, executive director for the Thai Committee for Refugees Foundation, said the Thai government fears that recognizing asylum-seekers and refugees would draw more of them. He said Thailand’s location and ease of access will draw desperate people anyway, and reforms are needed to address that reality. Government ministries have had informal discussions about legislation that would protect asylum-seekers and refugees for one year, without granting the right to work, Veerawit said. Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the permanent secretary at Thailand’s Foreign Ministry, said the proposal merits a serious look, but is not in the pipeline for formal consideration. The first interview with the U.N. can be traumatic. People are asked to provide evidence of persecution. Some break down in tears or can’t express themselves clearly, said Medhapan Sundaradeja, the Thailand director for Asylum Access, a nonprofit group that gives asylum-seekers free advice. Decisions can take months. Inconsistencies can lead to cases getting rejected, though asylum-seekers can appeal. Files of people recognized as refugees are then sent to potential host countries to be considered for resettlement, a process that typically takes another 12 to 18 months. But of the roughly 860,000 most vulnerable refugees worldwide believed to need resettlement in 2013, only 80,000 spaces were available. The U.S. accounted for about 70 percent of those. The Pakistani father says they have no choice but to wait. He has no doubt what Muslim extremists will do if he returns: “I know they will kill both of us, my wife and me, and they won’t spare my children.” So he waits and dreams of a life where they don’t need to hide and where his children can freely attend school. “We just want to go where our lives are safe,” he says with a sigh, “and we have some freedom.”
How much did they learn last time out? Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was the last candidate standing in opposition to Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination in 2012, a role played by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee against John McCain in 2008. FOREIGN POLICY Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a member of the Armed Services Committee who has traveled extensively to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and more, and serves in the U.S. Air Force Reserves at the rank of captain, has a fluency with foreign affairs that stands out. Rubio, who serves on the Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, is well-versed on Latin America. Foreign policy is typically a weak area for governors, which may be why Christie, Walker and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal have all trooped to London in recent weeks. In a recent speech on foreign policy, Bush stressed that he had lived in Venezuela for a time, led 15 trade missions as Florida governor and traveled extensively since then. “I forced myself to go visit Asia four times a year to learn about the dynamic nature of the region,” he said. FUNDRAISING Bush. Most voters don’t really care about campaign finance, but raking in cash is an essential skill for any successful candidate. Veteran GOP fundraiser Fred Malek predicts Bush will raise twice as much money as any other GOP candidate, but he says other leading candidates, including Christie and Walker, can raise enough to compete. AUTHENTICITY Paul has a reputation for candor that endears him to many, but sometimes gets him into trouble. Christie has the authenticity factor in spades, for better or worse. His tell-it-like-it-is bravado is a plus to some and a huge turnoff to others. “The knock on him is that he is who he is,” Schlapp said. “Some people love that, and maybe some people don’t.” GOOD LOOKS There’s no People Magazine list of the hottest candidates. But you can bet most of these candidates like what they see in the mirror.
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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DC LEGALIZES POT IN CAPITAL, D E S P I T E T H R E AT S F R O M C O N G R E S S
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The District of Columbia defied threats from Congress and moved forward Thursday with legalizing possession of marijuana after a voter-approved initiative.
spending of federal dollars that have not been appropriated. The committee also launched an investigation, demanding that the District turn over all documents detailing money that’s been spent and time that’s been put in by city employees to implement the initiative.
Despite last-minute maneuvers by Republican leaders in Congress and threats that city leaders could face prison time, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city was implementing marijuana legalization as approved by voters. The new law took effect at 12:01 a.m.
No one has ever been convicted of violating the Anti-Deficiency Act, although government employees have been punished administratively for violations.
Bowser, a Democrat, said the city’s plans haven’t changed despite a letter from two leading House Republicans warning of repercussions if the city moves forward with legalization.
Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law professor at American University, characterized the threat of criminal prosecution as “a lot of huffing and puffing on Capitol Hill.”
“This is a major milestone on the road to ending marijuana prohibition in the United States,” said Robert Capecchi of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that advocates for legalization. “If the president can brew and drink beer in the White House, adults should be allowed to grow and consume a less harmful substance in their houses.”
“The real power Congress has is the power of the purse,” said Raskin, who’s also a Democratic Maryland state senator. “They can exact their retribution financially against the District.”
Congress has final say over the laws in the District of Columbia, and the two sides disagree about whether Congress acted quickly enough to block an initiative legalizing pot, which was approved by nearly twothirds of city voters in November.
Posters encouraging people to vote yes on DC Ballot Initiative 71 to legalize small amounts of marijuana for personal use are readied in Washington. Possession of marijuana will become legal in the nation’s capital, Mayor Muriel Bowser reiterated Wednesday, defying a threat from Congress that she and other city leaders could face prison time for implementing a voter-approved initiative. Bowser, a Democrat, said the city’s plans haven’t changed despite a letter from two leading House Republicans warning of repercussions if the city moves forward with legalization, which was set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, urged Bowser in a letter late Tuesday to reconsider her plans to implement the initiative, saying that doing so would clearly violate federal law.
Congress approved language in December that appeared to block the initiative. District leaders argued it was enacted before Congress took action, even though it had yet to take effect. Chaffetz said that interpretation was wrong and that the mayor and other District employees would face possible prison time by moving forward.
“Bullying the District of Columbia is not what his constituents expect, nor do ours,” Bowser said. “We do disagree on a matter of law. There are reasonable ways to resolve that without us threatening him or he us.”
“The penalties are severe, and we’re serious about this. Nobody’s wishing or wanting that to happen, but the law is clear,” he said in an interview.
The District becomes the first place east of the Mississippi River where recreational pot is legal. Alaska also legalized pot this week, joining Colorado and Washington state.
It would be up to the Justice Department to prosecute District officials, a scenario that appears unlikely. However, Congress could sue the city over its actions. House Republicans could also retaliate by pulling funding for other District programs.
The initiative legalizes possession of up to 2 ounces for use at home, and people are also permitted to grow up to three mature plants. Smoking marijuana in public remains illegal, as does buying or selling the drug.
The letter from Chaffetz and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina warned that by spending money to change pot laws, Bowser and other District officials would violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits
Congress hasn’t struck down a specific city law in 25 years. Instead, members often add language to critical pieces of federal legislation to undo city policies they don’t like. The language on pot was included in a spending bill that was needed to keep the government running. The city has already decriminalized possession, and under legalization, police officers would no longer issue $25 civil fines for people caught with pot. Bowser said that by implementing the initiative, she was simply doing her job, and she said she hoped she could work more productively with Congressional Republicans on other issues. “We would encourage the Congress to not be so concerned about overturning what seven out of 10 voters said should be the law in the District of Columbia,” she said.
SUSAN RICE, SAMANTHA POWER TO ADDRESS AIPAC MEETING
OFFICIAL: MEXICAN MAN HIT BY SEVERAL OF POLICE’S 17 SHOTS
investigation, authorities say.
This undated photo provided by Agapita Montes-Rivera via Fabian Ubay, shows Antonio Zambrano-Montes. Agapita Montes-Rivera, the mother of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, an unarmed Mexican man fatally shot by police officers in Washington state Feb. 10, 2015, viewed her son’s body for the first time Monday, Feb. 23, and said she hopes for justice in the case that has sparked protests and calls for a federal investigation. The killing of Antonio Zambrano-Montes in Pasco was captured on video by a witness.
to his small hometown in a rural part of Michoacan, Mexico, the Tri-City Herald reported.
KENNEWICK, Wash. (AP) -- Three officers fired 17 shots at an unarmed Mexican man in Washington state, and five or six of the bullets hit him in a deadly shooting that has led to weeks of protests and calls for a federal
“I do not think these authorities can conduct a truly impartial investigation of their brother officers,” Herrmann said. He also doubted that Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant was inclined to bring charges against the officers involved.
None of the shots struck former orchard worker Antonio Zambrano-Montes in the back, Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin said Wednesday. Lattin is the spokesman for a regional law enforcement task force investigating the Feb. 10 killing in the nearby agricultural city of Pasco in the southeastern part of the state. Because full autopsy results are pending, Lattin said at a news conference he couldn’t be more specific about where on Zambrano-Montes’ body the shots struck. The Mexican immigrant was throwing rocks at passing vehicles and later at responding officers, authorities say. Video taken by a witness shows Zambrano-Montes, 35, running from Pasco officers. As the officers draw closer, he stops, turns and faces them. Multiple pops are heard and then he falls to the ground. Lattin said officers fired stun guns at least twice but failed to stop Zambrano-Montes before firing their weapons. The officers felt threatened, police said. Zambrano-Montes’ death at a busy intersection has sparked two weeks of protests in the city where more than half the residents are Hispanic but few are members of the police force or the power structure.
Protesters and the American Civil Liberties Union are calling for a federal investigation. Critics say the officers should have used less than lethal force to capture Zambrano-Montes. Felix Vargas, a Hispanic leader from Pasco, said he met with a federal official last weekend and planned to meet with U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby to discuss the case. Charles Herrmann, an attorney representing Zambrano-Montes’ estranged wife and two teenage daughters, said it is difficult for neighboring police officers to investigate their colleagues.
“The Zambranos are going to have their day in court,” Herrmann said. Widow Teresa De Jesus Meraz-Ruiz, who lives in California, was “devastated” by the shooting, the attorney said. The couple has reportedly been estranged since 2006.
U.S. officials had floated the idea of sending a non-Cabinet level official to show displeasure with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress next week in which he will argue against an Iran deal. In a break with protocol, the invitation for Netanyahu to speak was orchestrated by Republican congressional leaders without input from the White House or State Department, angering senior administration officials who believe it was politically motivated. No senior U.S. officials will meet Netanyahu during his visit. The administration has said the visit is too close to Israel’s upcoming elections and it doesn’t want to demonstrate any favoritism. Both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry will be out of the country for the visit’s duration on travel that was organized only after the prime minister’s trip was announced.
It would take about 60 days after the report is finished to begin the coroner’s inquest, Sant said. The contents of the report will be released during the inquest but not before, he said.
The administration’s choice of Rice and Power to address the AIPAC conference, at which Netanyahu will also speak, is an apparent effort to try to tamp down an increasingly vitriolic back-and-forth between the U.S. and its top Mideast ally. The two are expected to make their case for an Iran nuclear deal.
The family also commissioned its own autopsy. Officers continue to seek details of Zambrano-Montes’ whereabouts in the weeks before the shooting. His home had recently burned and he had stayed for a time in a homeless shelter, but no one has yet been able to account for his actions in the two weeks prior to his death, Lattin said. Officers want to know if he was suffering from mental health issues, drug use or an injury, Lattin said. Zambrano-Montes was arrested last year for assault after throwing objects at Pasco officers and trying to grab an officer’s pistol, court records show. © 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
“We’re not here to cover up for anybody,” he told reporters.
Just two days ago, however, Rice said that Netanyahu’s impending visit is “destructive” to the U.S.-Israeli relationship. In an interview on Tuesday, she said plans for Netanyahu’s speech had “injected a degree of partisanship” into a U.S.-Israel relationship that should be above politics. “It’s destructive to the fabric of the relationship,” Rice told the Charlie Rose show. “It’s always been bipartisan. We need to keep it that way.” And on Wednesday, Kerry openly questioned Netanyahu’s judgment on Iran, recalling his support for the 2003 Iraq war and prediction that it would bring stability to the Middle East. “He may have a judgment that just may not be correct here,” the secretary told a congressional hearing. At a Capitol Hill news conference, House Speaker John Boehner rejected Rice’s criticism, arguing that a “bad deal” with Iran would be destructive. “The president’s national security adviser says that it’s destructive for the prime minister of Israel to address the United States Congress next week. I couldn’t disagree more,” Boehner told reporters. “The American people, and both parties in Congress, have always stood with Israel. Nothing and no one should get in the way of that.” “And that’s why it’s so important for the American people to hear what Prime Minister Netanyahu has to say about the grave threats that they’re facing,” Boehner said. “So I’m glad the prime minister is coming and I’m glad that most of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, will be there to hear what he has to say.”
Lattin said a rock was found next to Zambrano-Montes’ body, but no gun or knife.
About 100 mourners gathered Wednesday at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Pasco for Zambrano-Montes’ funeral Mass. His body was to be returned
The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee announced Thursday that national security adviser Susan Rice and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power will speak to its conference that begins this weekend
Meanwhile, Lattin said the special investigations unit, made up of officers from four neighboring cities, was awaiting final toxicology and other lab reports before sending its final report to the prosecutor. He predicted that would take several more weeks.
The Franklin County coroner has ordered an inquest into the death, and federal authorities have said they are monitoring the local investigation. It will be thorough and fair, Lattin said.
The killing was the fourth by police in less than a year for fast-growing Pasco, a city of 68,000. Officers were exonerated after similar investigations in the first three cases.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a bid to ease simmering tensions with Israel over a potential Iran nuclear deal and to make its case for one, the White House has decided against snubbing America’s leading pro-Israel lobby and will send President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and U.N. ambassador to address its annual policy conference.
www.additions.generalcontractors1.com
Rep. Nita Lowey spoke to Netanyahu earlier this month and suggested that he deliver his speech in the congressional auditorium behind closed doors, a venue that accommodates all lawmakers and would allow for any classified information that Israel might have on Iran’s capabilities, according to a senior House lawmaker. That alternative was also presented to Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer in private meeting earlier this month with a half dozen Jewish House Democrats
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
11
US LOOKS TO AID SYRIAN REFUGEES A M I D S E C U R I T Y C O N C E R N S
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration’s commitment to take in potentially thousands of Syrian refugees is raising national security concerns among law enforcement officials and some congressional Republicans who fear clandestine radicals could slip into the country among the displaced.
“All of the data sets, the police, the intel services that normally you would go and seek that information, don’t exist,” he said.
The administration has vowed to help those who fled the civil war by providing homes, furniture, English classes and job training in the United States. It says they’ll be subject to intensive screening before entering the country, and that the overwhelming majority are vulnerable women and children.
State Department officials say refugees are screened more carefully than all other visitors to the United States, checked against all databases maintained by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies and undergo extensive medical checks and fingerprinting. Specially trained officers from the Homeland Security Department conduct overseas, in-person interviews with those seeking refuge. Refugees are far more likely to be victims of violence than criminals themselves.
“These are people I think that if most Americans met them, their instinct would immediately be, `We have to help these people,’” Anne Richard, the assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“I think if we talk about just this faceless mob of people from conflict-ridden lands, it seems very scary,” the State Department’s Richard said. “But if you meet individuals and individual families, you start to understand the very, very human nature of what it means to be a refugee.”
But without reliable intelligence within Syria, some argue that it’s impossible to ensure that someone bent on violence or supporting a militant cause doesn’t come in undetected.
Syrian refugees gather near their tent after recent stormy weather and snowfalls at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan. The Obama administration’s commitment to taking in thousands of Syrian refugees is raising national security concerns among some law enforcement officials and Republican lawmakers
The issue came to the fore at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing earlier this month, when Michael Steinbach, the FBI assistant director for counterterrorism, said the information the intelligence community would normally rely on to properly vet refugees doesn’t exist in a failed country like Syria.
York-based humanitarian organization.
“You have to have information to vet, so the concern in Syria is that we don’t have systems in places on the ground to collect the information,” Steinbach testified. More than 3.8 million Syrians are believed to have fled their country in the four years since an uprising against President Bashar Assad led to a civil war. Most who have resettled have traveled to neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. But those avenues are strained. Lebanon announced plans last month to impose restrictions on Syrians trying to enter the country, and an international human rights group accused Jordanian authorities in the fall of deporting vulnerable refugees, including wounded men and unaccompanied children, back to Syria. The United States last year resettled nearly 70,000 refugees from dozens of countries and accepts the majority of all referrals from U.N. refugee programs. More than 500 Syrian refugees are in the U.S., and plans call for adding a few thousand more in the next couple of years. But aid groups say they’d like to see the U.S. move more quickly to take in more, given the humanitarian crisis in Syria. “They need countries like the United State that have capacity to host significant numbers to really start to share that burden,” said Anna Greene, a policy and advocacy director at International Rescue Committee, a New
As the Obama administration pushes to boost the numbers, three Republican members of Congress - Reps. Peter King of New York, Michael McCaul of Texas and Candice Miller of Michigan - have asked the administration to say how many Syrian refugees it plans to resettle and to provide a timeline and steps to ensure they’re not a security risk. They warned that a weak screening process could become a “backdoor for jihadists.”
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Loretta Lynch won approval from a key Senate committee Thursday to serve as the nation’s next attorney general, as divided Republicans clashed over her support for President Barack Obama’s immigration policies.
When McCaul raised the issue Wednesday with Secretary of State John Kerry, Kerry assured him that the refugees would be subject to “super-vetting” and that if the FBI expressed concerns about someone, that person would not be let in. “We have amazing ways of being able to dig down and dig deep,” Kerry said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
The 12 to 8 vote in the Judiciary Committee sent Lynch’s nomination to the full Senate. Three Republicans joined all committee Democrats in voting “yes.”
The security concerns echo those voiced over the past decade, when large number of Iraqis sought U.S. refuge from that country’s war. Two Iraqi refugees who entered the United States in 2009 were charged in Kentucky two years later with plotting to send weapons and money to al-Qaida operatives in Iraq. The case raised particular alarm within the intelligence community because one of the men was able to enter the country even though his fingerprints had been left several years earlier on an unexploded bomb in Iraq. In 2011, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller said the FBI was monitoring Iraqi refugees already in the U.S. for possible links to al-Qaida’s affiliate in Iraq. U.S. officials say they’ve since tightened the controls. The FBI’s Steinbach told Congress that unlike Iraq, where Americans personnel on the ground were able to gather intelligence, there’s no comparable “footprint on the ground in Syria.”
NEW ROUND OF WINTER WEATHER DUMPS MORE SNOW ON THE SOUTH this week leaving icicles hanging from portions of the interior of the building. Cleanup crews continued work Wednesday at the site. SNOW FALLS ON ALABAMA Forecasters say nearly a foot of snow has fallen in parts of Alabama, combining with slush and ice to make for treacherous travel. By early Thursday, a volunteer who works with the National Weather Service measured 11 inches of snow in the Guntersville area. Authorities said 8.5 inches of snow fell in the Athens area, with similar amounts reported in other towns and cities across northern Alabama. A wide area of north Alabama was essentially shut down because of dangerous travel conditions caused by the snow. Will Lankford takes six of his friends on a ride in his big buggy golf cart in Gadsden, Ala., Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. Snow blanketed north Alabama on Wednesday with forecasters warning the winter storm could dump as much as 10 inches of frozen precipitation in spots and make travel treacherous across a wide area through Thursday.
S E N A T E P A N E L G R E E N L I G H T S O B A M A’ S AT T O R N E Y G E N E R A L P I C K
The snow left slushy ice atop multiple roads north of Birmingham to the Tennessee line. NO REFUGE FROM WINTER
“The case against her nomination, as far as I can tell, essentially ignores her professional career and focuses solely on about six hours that she spent before this committee,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, as he criticized fellow Republicans for using Lynch’s testimony in support of Obama’s executive actions on immigration as a reason to oppose her nomination. “I do not believe that is a proper way to evaluate any nominee’s fitness for any position,” Hatch said. But GOP Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas, among others, insisted that Lynch disqualified herself with her support for those directives and had not shown she would be sufficiently independent from Obama. “The president’s policy is to allow people unlawfully here to take jobs in America - a policy she has explicitly stated she intends to defend,” said Sessions. “We should not confirm someone to that position who intends to continue that unlawful policy.” Despite the disagreement, Lynch is all but assured approval by the full Senate, under new rules that will require only a majority vote instead of the 60-vote margin required for most legislation. Timing for a floor vote is uncertain. But unlike Obama’s defense secretary nominee, Ash Carter, who was approved by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 93-5 earlier this month, Lynch is unlikely to win approval by a resounding margin. As Thursday’s debate illustrated, GOP opposition to Obama’s immigration policies has become entwined in a variety of issues in the newly Republican-run Congress, and it has cut into Lynch’s support at the same time it is holding up funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Committee Democrats took turns denouncing their Republican colleagues for using the immigration issue as a reason to oppose Lynch, 55, who now serves as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. She would replace Eric Holder and become the first black woman to hold the nation’s top law enforcement job. “Let me be crystal clear: The place for this battle is in the courts,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Political fights over immigration should not hold up Loretta Lynch, DHS funding or anything else.” A federal court last week put the policies on hold, a ruling the Obama administration is appealing. The directives extended work permits and deportation stays to millions in the country illegally. GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona joined Hatch in voting to support Lynch. Graham suggested other Republicans find another outlet for their opposition to Obama’s immigration plans.
Another round of snowy and icy weather led to school closings, dangerous driving conditions and power outages Thursday across the South and even delayed a Georgia execution.
With a winter approaching Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trent Maner was beginning to question whether North Carolina was an adequate sanctuary from the cold and ice.
A wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain fell across the Gulf Coast states, the Carolinas and the D.C. area. This system may also bring severe thunderstorms to parts of Georgia and Florida, forecasters said. Already parts of northern Alabama have seen more than 10 inches of heavy, wet snow, causing tree damage and power outages.
“It’s frustrating,” he said Wednesday. “You live in North Carolina so that you don’t have to deal with it very often. Seems like last year and this year, it’s getting us.”
Flake noted that he and others have been eager to say good-bye to Holder, a lightning rod for conservatives who butted heads repeatedly with Capitol Hill Republicans and was held in contempt of Congress.
Maner was among a handful of people at a local Lowe’s Home Improvement Store in search of a snow shovel or ice melt.
“The longer this nomination is held up the longer the current attorney general in the Department of Justice stays in place,” Flake said.
BETTER PREPARED
But Cruz, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said, “The answers Ms. Lynch gave in this hearing room, in my judgment, render her unsuitable for the position of chief law enforcement officer of the United States.”
Schools closed and states of emergencies were declared ahead of the storm. Snow fell on the Deep South on Wednesday as another storm brought nasty weather to the region, walloping places that were hit hard just last week. Relief - in the form of higher temperatures - was expected Thursday. Here’s a look at how winter weather has affected some areas: DELAYED EXECUTION
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said he was very confident in the state’s preparations. Following a January 2014 ice storm that crippled metro Atlanta, Deal convened a task force to make recommendations of how to better prepare. He said Wednesday that state agencies have ably handled three weather situations in the last 10 days.
“To those who really believe this is a constitutional overreach of historic proportions you have impeachment available to you,” Graham said.
Cruz has pressured Republican leadership to hold up Lynch and other Obama nominees as a way to pressure the president over his immigration plans, but most other Republicans have shown little interest in participating in his approach.
KENTUCKY WATER WOES
“I believe the lesson we are learning even of this morning as we noted the smaller volume of traffic on the interstates is that the public is willing to be a participating partner,” he said.
The Eastern Kentucky Expo Center has been turned into a hub to distribute water to area communities that are still experiencing shortages caused by the cold weather.
ARE YOU DELIVERING? The manager of a sandwich shop in Shreveport, Louisiana, says it’s been delivering more food this week because of the bad weather.
Pike County Emergency Management Director Doug Tackett told WYMT-TV (http://bit.ly/1LIoJht ) the facility, which is normally used for concerts, has loading docks, equipment and a good amount of storage space.
PIPE BURST
“The first question asked when you answer the phone is `Are you delivering?’” according to Alli Walsh, who manages a Jimmy John’s in Shreveport.
National Guard Sergeant Adam Hendrickson says crews are working around the clock to load and deliver water pallets to Appalachian communities without water due to bitterly cold temperatures.
A pipe that burst during Michigan’s deep freeze is being blamed for flooding the lower levels of a mostly vacant 38-story building in downtown Detroit with 2 million gallons of water. The pipe burst earlier
Walsh said she has up to six delivery workers who are running multiple orders at a time. Up to 4 inches of snow fell in northern Louisiana on Wednesday.
Officials say multiple issues have led to shortages, including broken lines, power outages and people dripping faucets to keep pipes from
Georgia delayed the execution of its only female death row inmate because of the approaching winter weather. Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, had been scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her husband. Prosecutors said she plotted with her boyfriend in the killing. The execution has been rescheduled for Monday.
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The Weekly News Digest, Mar 2, thru Mar 9, 2015
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S P A C E WA L K I N G A S T R O N A U T S A F E A F T E R WA T E R L E A K S I N T O H E L M E T CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- A spacewalking astronaut ended up with unwanted water in his helmet Wednesday after breezing through a cable and lube job outside the International Space Station.
So far, Virts and Wilmore have routed 364 feet of power and data cables, with another 400 feet to be strung outside the space station on the next spacewalk, whenever it happens.
The leak was scarily reminiscent of a near-drowning outside the orbiting complex nearly two years ago.
NASA had hoped to complete this series of spacewalks before Wilmore returns to Earth in mid-March.
This time, the amount of water was relatively small - essentially a big blob of water floating inside Terry Virts’ helmet. In the summer of 2013, another spacewalking astronaut’s helmet actually flooded. He barely made it back inside.
The extensive rewiring is needed before this year’s arrival of a pair of docking ports, designed to accommodate commercial crew capsules still in development. NASA expects the first port to arrive in June and the second in December.
Virts was never in any danger, Mission Control stressed, and he never reported any water during his 6 1/2 hours outside.
SpaceX and Boeing are designing new capsules that should start ferrying station astronauts from Cape Canaveral in 2017. Manned flights have been on hold at the cape since NASA’s shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX already is launching station cargo.
This was the second spacewalk in five days for NASA astronauts Virts and Butch Wilmore, who encountered no trouble while routing cables for future American crew capsules, due to arrive in a couple years. Three spacewalks had been planned, with the next one Sunday, but its status was uncertain given Wednesday’s mishap. Managers will meet Friday, as planned, to discuss the situation. Wednesday’s spacewalk had just ended and the two astronauts were inside the air lock, with the hatches closed, when the incident occurred. The air lock was being repressurized when Virts first noticed the water. He said he reported it about a minute later. The absorbent pad inside the back of Virts’ helmet was damp, but not saturated, said Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, one of the station’s six crew members. The pad became standard procedure after the 2013 emergency. Cristoforetti removed Virts’ helmet and wiped his face with a towel once he was out of the air lock and reunited with his colleagues. She noted that his neck was wet and cold. The water - cold to the touch with a chemical taste - most likely came from the suit’s cooling system, the source of the leak in 2013. Mission Control described the amount of water as “minor,” at least compared with 2013. Virts, a 47-year-old Air Force colonel, spent about half of Wednesday’s spacewalk lubricating screws, brackets and tracks on the end of the space station’s giant robot arm. The snares had gotten a bit creaky over the past year, increasing the motor current, and engineers hoped the
In this image made from video provided by NASA, astronaut Terry Virts points to his helmet as he sits inside the International Space Station on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015 during an inspection for water in his suit. Virts reported the water while he waited in the air lock for Wednesday’s spacewalk to formally conclude.
grease would make operations smoother. “We’re the cable guys. Now we’re the grease monkeys - or I am,” Virts radioed. “Yep, you guys have a life after NASA,” replied Mission Control. “That’s good work.” That’s when the spacewalk ended - and Virts noticed the water. A camera zoomed in on a big bubble floating near his left eye. “Yeah, Terry, we can see it. Thanks for making it ripple,.” Mission Control said. The same suit ended up with some water in the helmet during a Christmas Eve spacewalk in 2013, according to Mission Control. That also occurred while the air lock was being repressurized.
A corrosion problem with the same type of fan and pump assembly believed unrelated to the original leak - had to be cleared before the latest spacewalks could get underway last weekend. The analysis held up the spacewalks by a day. NASA considers this the most complicated cable job ever at the 16-year-old orbiting outpost.
anesthetics. Questions began years ago when experiments in newborn rats showed such drugs could kill certain brain cells. The FDA formed a partnership with the International Anesthesia Research Society, called SmartTots, to better study the issue. In 2012, SmartTots, the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a public caution about the uncertainty. Wednesday’s report says studies in a range of species, including baby monkeys, have found similar neurotoxic effects. Do they have lasting consequences? In some cases, the animals showed later impairments in memory and attention. Importantly, the cumulative dose mattered.
It’s a balancing act: Doctors don’t want to unnecessarily frighten parents whose tots need general anesthesia for crucial surgery. There’s no clear evidence of side effects, such as learning or attention impairment, in youngsters.
PINK CLOUD VISIBLE IN ARIZONA AFTER NEW MEXICO ROCKET LAUNCH
NASA spent months investigating the July 2013 close call experienced by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, and zeroed in on clogged holes in the fan and pump assembly.
C A L L F O R S T U D Y TO S E T T L E I F ANESTHESIA POSES RISK TO BABIES
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Studies of baby animals have long suggested that going under anesthesia can have some harmful effects on a developing brain. Now some scientists want to find out whether those same drugs may pose subtle risks for human babies and toddlers.
NASA has contracted out space station deliveries so it can concentrate on getting astronauts farther afield in the decades ahead, namely to Mars.
That doesn’t automatically translate to risk for humans. A few studies have tracked youngsters who underwent anesthesia earlier in life. Some haven’t found problems, but one found those who received anesthesia multiple times had a higher risk of learning disabilities. Yet those kinds of studies can’t tell if any problem was due to a drug, the stress of surgery or the original medical condition, Orser noted. The proposed next step: A large, multihospital study that would assign youngsters now undergoing surgery to different kinds of anesthesia, and compare their outcomes.
This photo provided by the Department of Defense U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range shows a NASA Terrier-Black Brant research rocket launching off of a test site located at White Sands Missile Range, in N.M. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. The purpose of the launch was to study the ionization in space and is designed to reach an altitude of just over 100 miles.
PHOENIX (AP) -- Early risers across much of Arizona were treated to a colorful sight - a pink cloud from a NASA research rocket that was launched Wednesday from a U.S. Army installation in New Mexico. The rocket was launched from White Sands Missile Range at 5:26 a.m., and a bright pink cloud was visible for the next 20 minutes as sunlight hit the vapor released from the rocket, range spokeswoman Cammy Montoya said. News outlets in Arizona reported that residents in Phoenix, Tucson, Lake Havasu City and Flagstaff reported seeing the cloud. The rocket carried an atmospheric-research payload designed by scientists and engineers at a space-vehicles research lab at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. White Sands officials said the rocket’s release of vapor into the near-vacuum of space was intended to help study processes responsible for the formation of the Earth’s ionosphere. That’s a region of space where electrons naturally separate from molecules and float separately to create an ionized gas.
Wednesday, an anesthesia research group, partnered with the Food and Drug Administration, said it’s time for a large study of children younger than 3 to settle the question.
What’s the message for parents? Occasionally, some ask about this issue, and doctors must help them weigh an unknown risk with the fact that “your child needs to have surgery, and they do need an anesthetic,” said Dr. Allison Kinder Ross, chief of pediatric anesthesia at Duke University Medical Center, who wasn’t involved with Wednesday’s report.
Meanwhile, “surgeons, anesthesiologists and parents should consider carefully how urgently surgery is needed, particularly in children under 3 years of age,” concluded a report in The New England Journal of Medicine co-authored by the FDA’s current and former anesthesia chiefs along with doctors in the SmartTots research partnership.
But anesthesia is used with some nonsurgical procedures, too, such as to keep tots still during MRI scans - and Ross said that’s an area to try alternatives. For example, Duke has had parents or nurses crawl inside scanners to hold a child.
The rocket was provided under a Department of Defense test program at Kirtland, while a NASA rocket program provided technical expertise for its assembly and other parts of the mission.
“Under 3 is certainly more challenging, but it’s doable for a lot of kids,” Ross said.
The launch was postponed from Monday because of weather.
Already, in the vast majority of cases, children that young only undergo surgery if it is medically necessary, not elective. Some operations, such as to correct birth defects, have better outcomes at earlier ages, surgeons recently told the FDA. “Millions of kids safely undergo anesthesia,” stressed SmartTots co-author Dr. Beverley Orser, a professor of anesthesia at the University of Toronto. Those drugs have been used for decades so any big risk would have been spotted by now, she said. But with animal studies raising the possibility of subtle effects on behavior or learning, “we have to sort this out,” Orser added. At issue are drugs used for general anesthesia and sedation, not local
Last June, SmartTots convened doctors’ groups to update its earlier cautionary statement, and a draft now being considered suggests postponing surgeries or other medical procedures “that could reasonably be delayed” in children under 3. It’s not clear whether that language will be adopted.
The experiment, which also involved using ground stations to take measurements of the ionosphere, was intended to develop scientific explanations for ionospheric disturbances and their effects on modern technology, officials said.
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