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3,929,234 | 2017-01-02 23:15:15 | HuffPost | Kim Burrell: Hiding Behind The Bible Is Cowardice Unworthy Of 'Hidden Figures' | I would suggest you listen to the words you sing yourself a little more carefully. | Slaven Vlasic via Getty Images
I recently saw Hidden Figures, about the three African-American women who were crucial in the development of NASA. The movie was smart, entertaining, and touching, without ever veering into manipulative sentimentality. Taraji P. Henson should get a special Oscar for running in high heels, and the soundtrack from (mostly) Pharrell Williams is off-the-hook.
One of the strongest themes of the film is that social change often occurs at the personal level. The characters played by Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons in particular represent the brand of racism that disguises itself as forbearance — and only through repeated day-to-day exposure working with real black women do they realize they have perhaps been more part of the problem than the solution. I found it an ironic touch that Parsons, an openly gay actor, would be a stand-in for the other hidden figures at NASA — the homosexual men and women who had to actively conceal who they were in order to work there.
The three main characters would doubtfully have ever thought much about the gay people in their midst, particularly in the African-American community. As dedicated churchgoers, they would have internalized the attitudes of their time, no doubt. But in the context of the present time, one can certainly be taken aback to hear the comments about gays made by Kim Burrell, who sings the film’s rousing anthem, “I See a Victory.”
You’ve read this kind of stuff before; the difference between what might have been said in the past and what is said now can be seen in her patronizing disclaimer, insisting that she has never discriminated against gays and lesbians. “I love you and God loves you,” she says. “But God hates the sin.”
Who says “God hates the sin?” The Bible? This Bible? “Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, ‘Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all — old and young, girls and women and little children … Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!’ So they went throughout the city and did as they were told.” (Ezekiel 9:5–7) The Bible that also says this: “But if this charge is true and evidence of the girl’s virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father’s house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father’s house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.” (Deuteronomy 22:20–21)
Clearly if you believe Leviticus condemns homosexuality, then you should also believe also unmarried pregnant women should be stoned. (This could be a little problematic in the Bible Belt itself, where teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S. are highest). But Kim Burrell doesn’t believe this, because, like most of her co-religionists, she cherry-picks the Bible. Well, that goes both ways: “When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.” (1 Samuel 18:1–4)
Kim Burrell, who is a preacher herself, might insist that there is no proof that the intense friendship between David and Jonathan was sexual. She’s right. There is no proof that their love was sexual. The only thing that is crystal clear is that their love was committed. This is the relationship the Bible is blessing. Two consenting adults declaring that they shall “forsake all others.” There is actually no indication that what might happen horizontally between the men has any bearing on the value of what occurs between them vertically.
The Bible can be used to justify or de-legitimize almost anything — including slavery, an institution it challenges very selectively (the Jews in Egypt), but generally accepts as a morally unobjectionable given. Certainly Southern plantation owners, who considered themselves very God-fearing religious people — just like Kim Burrell considers herself — evidently didn’t feel very compelled by the Good Book to free their slaves. They preferred to imagine that Ham’s supposedly dark coloring meant they could treat other human beings as abusable property.
The sad truth about oppression is that the attitudes that underlie it tend to get passed on to whomever is perceived to be lower on the societal ladder. I saw this all too close up in California Institute for Men at Chino, where racism, misogyny and homophobia converged to guarantee that trans black women were always at the bottom of the prison hierarchy. (Props to Laverne Cox on Orange is the New Black, but incarcerated trans women who retain their male equipment are still housed in men’s prisons.)
When you preached in Houston, Kim Burrell, I guarantee you there was a man in your gospel choir who heard you call him a pervert, and felt just as diminished as Katherine Johnson did having to cross the grounds of NASA to find a Colored Ladies’ bathroom. I promise you there was someone in those pews who was struggling with issues of gender identity–- and you made them feel like shit. That’s not praising Jesus, it’s shaming the very marginalized he championed. You’re the one who should be ashamed.
Hidden Figures extolls the power of the human brain to transcend ordinary thinking. Letting the Bible do your thinking for you is choosing to not think at all. I would suggest you listen to the words you sang a little more carefully.
So I tallied all my losses/ And I turned them into lessons/ And what seemed to be less/ I turned them into blessings/ See, I’m not trying to lose you/ But the Spirit is relentless/ And when you let go, let Him use you/ Then you can be a witness | Mark Olmsted;Author;Editor;Screenwriter | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kim-burrell-hiding-behind-the-bible-is-cowardice-unworthy_us_586adea8e4b068764965c3e6?ir=Queer+Voices&utm_hp_ref=queer-voices | LEFT |
3,920,020 | 2017-01-02 23:18:37 | HuffPost | New Mexico Store Bans 'Obama & Other Muslims' | We get it, you're racist. | A New Mexico convenience store owner appears to promote his business by making threats of political violence.
The Mayhill Convenience Store has had signs up for more than a year that include phrases like “Bullets Not Ballots” and “Kill Obama” with the word “care” written in smaller letters under it.
Although the signs have been around for some time, local station KOB drew new attention to the store on Friday. Outside the business, a sign reading “Obama & other Muslims not welcome here” greets customers.
A former worker at the store, Marlon McWilliams, told the station that people who have called out the owner for his racist signs have been banned from the establishment.
“If you go in there and you offend him, you can’t go in there no more,” McWilliams said. “He turns lots of people away.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement condemning the store.
“While everyone has the First Amendment right to free speech – even offensive speech – we urge the store’s owner to remove the sign in the interest of common decency and of our nation’s unity at a time of increasing divisions,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said in a statement.
The owner of the store could not be reached for comment. The store’s listed phone number is no longer in service.
Also on HuffPost | Sebastian Murdock;Reporter;The Huffington Post | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new-mexico-store-racism-obama-muslims_us_586a71a3e4b0eb58648a1518?ir=Business&utm_hp_ref=business | LEFT |
4,816,664 | 2017-01-02 23:19:28 | CNN | Trump: Chicago mayor should ask feds to help combat homicides | President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel should seek federal assistance to combat homicides in the nation's third-largest city. | "Chicago murder rate is record setting - 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help!" Trump tweeted.
Chicago murder rate is record setting - 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help!
Trump's tweet accurately relayed Chicago's homicide numbers. And while they are not "record setting," The Chicago Tribune reports that homicides were up 60% from 2015 to the highest levels in 20 years.
Emanuel's administration said Monday it looks "forward to working with" Trump on crime.
"As the president-elect knows from his conversation with the mayor, we agree the federal government has a strong role to play in public safety by funding summer jobs and prevention programming for at-risk youth, by holding the criminals who break our gun laws accountable for their crimes, by passing meaningful gun laws, and by building on the partnerships our police have with federal law enforcement," said Adam Collins, Emanuel's director of communications, in a statement following Trump's tweet.
He added: "We are heartened he is taking this issue seriously and look forward to working with the new administration on these important efforts."
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what federal help his administration might offer Chicago to combat homicide.
But California Republican Rep. Darrel Issa told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room" that Emanuel needs to communicate with Trump to combat crime.
"What Rahm needs to do is he does need to work with President-elect Trump when he's President and ask for the federal help that will allow him to break up these pockets of very bad people and let his police work on commuting policing," he said. "This combination works."
This isn't the first time Trump has talked about Chicago's crime rate. Often on the campaign trail, Trump would mention Chicago while suggesting that controversial tactics such as stop-and-frisk could help address the issue.
"A policy like stop-and-frisk could save thousands of lives in a city like Chicago, just like it saved thousands of lives in New York. Overwhelmingly, this will save African-American and Hispanic lives -- citizens who are entitled to the same protections as every American," Trump said during a September rally in Florida
While stop-and-frisk policies are used in various US cities, the aggressive implementation of stop-and-frisk in New York was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in 2013, who said the policy violated the rights of minorities who were disproportionately targeted.
The focus on Chicago homicides comes as Obama is set to deliver his farewell address to the nation on January 10 from his home city, he announced Monday.
"I'm thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you've changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here," Obama said of his planned Chicago farewell speech. | Daniella Diaz | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/politics/donald-trump-chicago-crime-tweet-rahm-emanuel/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29 | UNDEFINED |
3,972,183 | 2017-01-02 23:25:06 | HuffPost | Paunch: Nepali Reality TV Show For Social Change | null | Photo : Search For Common Ground
Most of the television shows aim to entertain their viewers. But some television shows can inspire social change. Most of the reality TV shows focus tends to be on drama, personal conflict, and entertainment rather than educating viewers. But a Nepali reality TV show to strengthen relations between the police and the public is quickly regarded as only one and best Nepali reality TV show for social change.
Yes, Nepali reality televisions show - 'Paunch' for social change whose dictionary meaning translates to 'access'. With the success of Pahunch Season 1, it is not surprising that fans are eagerly waiting "Pahunch" Season 2.
This game show season 1 gathered rave reviews from the public, and this has encouraged the producer to start season 2 of this show. Given the manifold interest of viewers towards, Pahunch, Search for Common Ground has also announced the second season of the reality TV game show. The format of the reality show will be the same, and the producers will introduce more evidence-based challenges. Season 2 of Pahunch is expected to be more interactive in terms of public participation.
Pahunch is a reality TV game show produced by Search For Common Ground (SFCG) - Nepal with the intent to foster a sense of empathy for and trust in the police in Nepal. The entertainment-education initiative, which involves the participation of everyday Nepalese, reiterates the importance of collaboration between the Nepal Police and the citizenry in order to uphold peace and security.
'Reality shows have great potential for peacekeeping as they spark dialogues around issues that are barely discussed in the public sphere,' producer of Pahunch reality TV game show and program director of Search for Common Ground Yubakar Raj Rajkarnikar said "The reality show has succeeded in humanizing the police, and also triggered a sense of belonging to the public towards the police. Nepal Police cannot function in isolation, and they need the support of the public to ensure peace and security this is the key message of the reality TV game show,"
According to Communications and Outreach Coordinator of Search For Common Ground Ayush Joshi, The 13 episode edutainment based reality TV game show is designed to strengthen collaboration and trust between the police and the public. It also aspires to inform the public about police work. The 8 contestants of the reality show engaged in various evidence-based challenges to solve cases of sexual harassment, homicide, human trafficking, etc. The contestants were provided with specialized training to investigate cases designed in close coordination with the Nepal Police.
Former Maoist Combatant Wins
Gyan Bahadur Lama, 50, had been declared the winner of the first season of the show. National Level Basketball Player, Maya Shyangten, and model, Prabina Dahit were declared as first and second runner-up. The winners were awarded the cash prize of two lakh, fifty thousand, and thirty thousand respectively. After winning the reality TV game show, the former Maoist combatant expressed his gratitude grateful to his fans who supported him throughout this journey.
"I am thankful to the Nepal Police officers who trained and mentored us," he also expressed his commitment to work closely with the Nepal Police. "During the conflict, I thought the police were against us. But after being a part of Pahunch, I have realized that they too are like us, and they need our support."
More about Pahunch
Beginning on September 23, 2016, the show was broadcast every Friday at 7:25 pm on Nepal Television. The reality show featured 8 contestants hailing from diverse social and political backgrounds, such as Sophie Sunuwar, who is a makeup artist and a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) activist, Maya Syangten, a national basketball player, and Gyan Bahadur Lama, a former Maoist. With the mentorship of Nepali police officers, participants solved fictional cases of homicide, burglary, domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual harassment in public transport, and more. By having citizens of diverse backgrounds and police personnel work together, the purpose is to raise awareness of the challenges faced by the security forces and establish a sense of trust between police and communities. To give the show a realistic touch, the producers, working in close coordination with the Nepal Police, create clues, settings, and a plausible background story for all the tasks based on the real-life scenarios the security personnel experience.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Upendra Kanta Aryal, expressed that media plays an instrumental role in peace building, and is effective in addressing differences. He stated, "We are hopeful that the reality TV game show will help foster a sense of belonging to the public towards the police. 'PAHUNCH' is designed to increase public access to justice and security, and it also echoes a powerful message that the Nepal Police cannot function effectively without public support.
Pahunch is funded by UKAID, supported by Nepal Police, and produced by SFCG, along with production partner Mila Productions. The show is part of a wider 4-year effort to reform the security sector and improve the access to justice mechanisms for marginalized communities in Nepal. In consortium with the Centre for Legal Research Resource Development, the Human Rights and Community Development Academy Nepal, and the Centre for Security and Justice Studies, SFCG Nepal is working to raise public awareness on security and justice, increase public-police partnerships and accountability, foster community mediation skills, and improve service delivery of the local police, local courts, and legal aid. | Kishor Panthi;Freelance Journalist;Follow Kishor Panthi On Twitter;Www.Twitter.Com Kishorpanthi | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kishor-panthi/paunch-nepali-reality-tv-_b_13930492.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=WorldPost | LEFT |
3,899,040 | 2017-01-02 23:26:28 | HuffPost | City States Rising! | "Devolve power to your cities if you want to save the planet. Join the Global Parliament of Mayors." - Ken Livingstone.
Global... | "Devolve power to your cities if you want to save the planet. Join the Global Parliament of Mayors." - Ken Livingstone.
Globalism's associated and accelerating complexity of interconnected crises from migration to terrorism, from pandemics to climate change, define the new context of our 21st-century reality. Unmanaged technological change and an outdated economic ideology compound the already unfair burden these crises impose on global citizens. One need only consider the 18 percent approval rating of the United States Congress, the recent U.S. election, the EU/Euro fiasco, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Turkey (and more) to question whether the Nation State, a 400-year-old response to a different challenge in a different context, is up to the task.
Ideological rather than pragmatic, a political abstraction that has no grounding in the concrete reality of where and how we live and how life-supporting ecosystems function, the Nation State, together with its political party structure, is not well equipped for today's most important globally interdependent challenges that cannot be solved through inter-State rivalries where self-interest and might rule the day.
The "City State" predates the Nation State; it endures. Rome is older than Italy, Alexandria is older than Egypt. Cities are expanding as we know. They are already home to more than half the world's population, and 80% in the developed economies. They are home to 85% of the global economy (and associated greenhouse gas emissions) and much of the evolution of our culture. Like it or not, we have become an increasingly urban species. Visionaries like Jonathan Rose are showing the way to regenerative cities with his timely publication of A Well-Tempered City. At the same time, rural culture, small towns, and life-sustaining rural landscapes, historically understood as essential extensions of the City State, have never been more vital, as I will discuss below.
Cities are also where many of the world's great challenges must be met. The migration crisis and terrorism are urban affairs. Since most cities are on coastlines or rivers, climate change will increasingly dominate the agenda of cities. And cities will be the target of a nuclear attack if dangerous men go unrestrained. Wise and competent city governance is a matter of life and death, not political theater among self-important globalist and nationalist bureaucrats.
In response to the governance failures of the global system of Nation States, political theorist Benjamin Barber wrote an important book in 2013 called, If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. The Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM), which he inspired, held its inaugural meeting in The Hague, two months before rural America elected Donald Trump against the wishes of a strong democratic majority of citizens living in America's cities.
Interesting.
Mayors must be pragmatists first. Ineptitude, ignorance, and ideology give way to the concreteness of real problems of real people living in real communities. New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia once famously said, "There is no Democratic or Republican way of fixing a sewer." So too for dealing with rising sea levels or, God forbid, a nuclear attack.
When our centralized governing bodies fail to uphold their responsibilities, a power vacuum ensues, creating an opening for dangerous "strongman" responses, as we are now witnessing in the U.S and abroad. Our present moment is particularly dangerous, with the simultaneous failure of other critical and powerful institutions - banking and the media in particular - to uphold their civil responsibilities and serve the health of the whole rather than their narrow self-interests.
Banking's consequential leadership failures are now a matter for the history books. But the media's complex leadership failures are still unfolding, perhaps best epitomized by CBS CEO Leslie Moonves' shamefully cynical comment at a Morgan Stanley analyst conference earlier this year:
"It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS," he said of the election circus. "Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going."
Well, the young crowd at Morgan Stanley chuckled, "Donald kept going," and we have elected a man to the highest office in the land who numerous respected psychologists believe has a (dangerous to the world) incurable mental illness known as "Narcissistic Personality Disorder."
Not so funny, is it, Mr. Moonves? Enjoy your good quarterly profits. Just as the reckless behavior of Wall Street was not funny, its ongoing consequences leading directly to the rise in authoritarian movements across the globe are not funny.
A core principle of sustainable systems is that a system must adapt to its changing context or it will collapse. The current context of accelerating, unpredictable (by definition) complexity and too powerful, dysfunctional critical institutions - Nation States, banking and finance, and the media, together providing much of the essential fabric of our modern democratic and free society - creates the pressure for real change and the very real prospect of possible collapse.
Our response most certainly lies in the concept of subsidiarity, one of four tenets of Catholic social doctrine, balancing power away from the center and closer to where the inclusive and democratic will of the people is still expressed: the modern City State. Rise up Mayors! And, rise up regional banks and community newspapers!
Looked at through a regenerative systems lens, this is a return to the natural "fractal" ordering of things, demanding an emergent network of City States to counterbalance the corrupted power at the center. Indeed, such a response is already underway with the numerous networks of city-based initiatives such as the prescient GMP, the C-40 focused on climate change, UN-Habitat, the Strong Cities Network, and numerous "Smart Cities" initiatives.
Rural communities, too, have a vital role to play. In addition to preserving the ageless wisdom embedded in the diversity of rural cultures and communities, they have the critical responsibility to steward our essential landscapes - our forests, our soils, our watersheds, all under threat from our short-sighted, extractive, industrial economy. Critically, the regenerative management of forestry and agriculture, with the potential to massively increase natural carbon sequestration, now holds perhaps the missing critical dimension of our ability to respond in time to climate change. Therefore, City States have a self-interest in valuing and supporting the culture of land stewardship, the very foundation of human civilization and still very much alive in rural communities. No soil, no water, no life.
We are passing from the 500-year-old Modern Era in which great progress including the Nation State emerged in response to pressures from a different context. We are entering the "Integral Era," in response to new pressures and a new context. Power is shifting from corrupted institutions of an extractive and overly powerful center to a regenerative and more distributed network of interconnected City States.
Happy New Era!
Follow John Fullerton on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CapInstitute | John Fullerton;Founder;President;Capital Institute;Follow John Fullerton On Twitter;Www.Twitter.Com Capinstitute | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-fullerton/city-states-rising_b_13932212.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics | LEFT |
3,933,543 | 2017-01-02 23:26:30 | HuffPost | What Democrats Must Do To Stop A Right-Wing Hijacking Of The Judiciary | More than two hundred years ago, the Framers of the Constitution insisted that the United States have a strong independent judiciary to defend the civil ... | Yuri Gripas / Reuters
More than two hundred years ago, the Framers of the Constitution insisted that the United States have a strong independent judiciary to defend the civil liberties of ordinary people from the arbitrary exercise of executive power.
The Judicial Branch was intended as the most potent weapon in America’s arsenal to defend itself against the emergence of a tyrannical, authoritarian government that scapegoats minorities, and deprives ordinary people of their democratic rights.
Rarely in American history has an independent judiciary been more important to defend American democracy than it will be during the Trump era.
But throughout the Obama administration, the Republican Senate leadership has used unprecedented obstruction in a systematic attempt to hijack the judiciary and transform it from an independent defender of civil liberties into a rubber stamp for right wing ideology.
As of December 25 there were an estimated 103 judicial vacancies that President Trump will have the power to fill immediately, compared to the 54 vacancies that President Obama inherited from the Bush administration.
Most of these vacancies resulted from the Senate’s failure to take action, or because it slow-walked Obama nominees. In fact, when the Senate left Washington for the holidays, 25 Obama court nominees were actually pending on the Senate floor, after having been approved out of committee with bi-partisan support, but none got a vote before the Senate adjourned.
Most outrageous, the right is trying to steal a Supreme Court seat that should have been filled by President Obama and hand it to Donald Trump.
As the New York Times points out in a Christmas day editorial: (The seat) was stolen from Barack Obama, a twice –elected president who fulfilled his constitutional duty more than nine months ago by nominating Merrick Garland, a highly qualified and widely respected federal appellate judge.
It was stolen by top Senate Republicans, who broke with longstanding tradition and refused to consider any nominee Mr. Obama might send them, because they wanted to preserve the court’s conservative majority. Renowned University of Chicago Constitutional scholar Geoff Stone put it this way: By refusing to confirm President Obama’s appointment of Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, Senators Mitch McConnell, Charles Grassley, and their Republican cronies betrayed our constitutional traditions and undermined a central principle of American democracy. Although they maintained that their unconscionable behavior was “justified” by the fact that the vacancy arose during President Obama’s final year in office, this was a blatantly dishonest assertion. In fact, a long line of presidents have made appointments to the Supreme Court in the final year of their terms, including such historic figures as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Stone is no novice to these matters. He has taught constitutional law to generations of law students; served as a law clerk to Justice William J Brennan, Jr; was co-author of one of the nation’s leading constitutional law textbooks; is an editor of the Supreme Court Review and is editor of a 20-volume series titled “Inalienable Rights.”
So what can Democrats do?
For any nomination to the Garland seat on the Supreme Court, and for the first 100 vacancies to the lower courts, Democrats should use one simple criterion for approving any nominee:
Would the nominee be similar to those who would have been proposed by Barack Obama?
If the answer is no, Democrats in the Senate should simply refuse to vote yes – ever.
The other side will no doubt argue that President Trump has been elected and the Senate is somehow “obligated” to consider his appointments. The GOP will say that they were refusing to consider Garland and other nominees so that the “voters” could weigh in.
Well, the voters did weigh in and, of course Hillary Clinton was supported by almost 3 million more of them than Donald Trump – they just happened to be in the wrong states to count in our archaic presidential election system.
What’s more, under the Constitution, these vacancies should have been filled by President Obama, and were instead, stolen by the GOP leadership through unprecedented obstruction and refusal to do their job.
In foreign affairs we all know that in many circumstances if a foreign actor takes a hostile action against the United States, it may be necessary to take proportionate retaliatory action to prevent that actor from repeating those hostile actions with impunity.
The same is true here. If Democrats allow the right wing to steal these seats in the judiciary – if Democrats offer no proportionate response – the right will create a judiciary that is a right-wing ideological rubber stamp – not the independent judiciary that is so necessary today to protect our civil liberties.
Under current Senate rules, Supreme Court nominees are still subject to a filibuster. In order to approve any nominee, Republicans – who have only 52 Senate seats – need eight Democratic votes. That means that if Trump proposes a nominee to fill the Garland seat that has a more right-wing record than Garland himself, every Democrat should simply vote no until Trump proposes someone at least as progressive as Garland – or until Trump’s term ends four years from now.
When it comes to lower court nominations, the Senate has eliminated the filibuster rule and allows passage with a simple majority. Democrats need to do everything they can to put Republican leaders through every procedural hoop imaginable before they get an up or down vote.
And we all must insist that Republican senators are held accountable if they vote to confirm nominees for “stolen seats” who are not at least as progressive as President Obama’s choices were – or would have been.
We don’t need some elaborate justification, or other arguments about qualifications – although any thing that is useful should be used in these fights. We simply need to make clear that when it comes to these stolen seats in the judiciary, a candidate can be the most “qualified” and experienced person on earth, but if he or she does not have a record similar to one that an Obama nominee had, or would have had, they will be summarily rejected. No more justification is required than that.
That is the best justification there is. Voters will not punish senators for refusing to vote to fill stolen seats with right-wing clones. Voters might not always understand arcane legal doctrines, but they certainly understand right and wrong. People who steal things – including judicial seats – should not ever be rewarded, simple as that. That’s just plain wrong.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com. He is a partner in Democracy Partners and a Senior Strategist for Americans United for Change. Follow him on Twitter @rbcreamer. | Robert Creamer;Political Organizer;Strategist;Author;Partner Democracy Partners | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-democrats-must-do-to-stop-right-wing-attempts_us_586ade11e4b068764965c3e3?ir=Politics&utm_hp_ref=politics | LEFT |
3,969,545 | 2017-01-02 23:27:30 | HuffPost | Mr. Trump if you want a better deal on Cuba, just apply your own 11 negotiating tactics | Mr. Trump, if as President you want to get a better deal on Cuba, I suggest you just apply your time proven 11 negotiating tactics to the analys... | Mr. Trump, if as President you want to get a better deal on Cuba, I suggest you just apply your time proven 11 negotiating tactics to the analysis:
1.Get to know your market. With all due respect Sir, many of your Cuba advisors have never set foot on the island or left it a very (very!) long time ago. And for most of them, opposing relations with Cuba is a career. They are experts in scuttling other people's business deals. And many of them have never sat across the table from a Cuban official and successfully negotiated a tough deal. What in the world do these people really know about making good deals down there?
2.Maximize your options. Why would you engage in a policy that limits your options to simply saying NO and locking up the relationship in a permanent limbo? If you say YES, you have years to work on all sorts of deals with them, not just in business, but also in all kinds of areas-immigration, human rights, drug enforcement, oil exploration. That is a lot of balls in the air you can play with. And on political deals, trust me, with the Cubans, honey works better than vinegar.
3.Use your leverage. There are a lot of business opportunities and really tough bilateral issues on the table for the very first time in decades. Use what you've got. And if you don't like the outcomes, you've made it clear that you would walk away from the negotiating table. And the Cubans are terrific deal makers. But you've got to know how to play them. And let me tell you, intimidation doesn't work. And this goes for business deals as well as for any policy negotiation. I think you would actually like them a lot.
4.Deliver the goods. You want to create jobs, increase exports and create business opportunities for Americans. You know terrific people all over the country who work in industries like tourism, travel, entertainment, agriculture and construction. If you apply your own negotiating tactics they can make great deals that will create jobs in America. If you roll back the existing policies they will lose credibility-and a heck of a lot of money. Millions! Many Cubans already don't trust American business and the American government. This is going to get in the way of Americans getting the best deals in the future. What would we get out of this except grief in our own backyard?
5.Fight back -The real fight is with our competitors - the Europeans, the Canadians and the Chinese. Let's fight to present the best proposals and get the pick of the litter. Don't give up any gained territory. Go for more. So, play hard - but play.
6.Location, location, location. The U.S. is Cuba's natural market. Only ninety miles away! In this game of Monopoly, America owns Boardwalk! You've got the other countries beat. And even if Cubans import and export stuff from them, why not route container traffic through southern ports? But we have to make it legal to do so.
7.Get the word out. OK, when Cuban-Americans were dancing in the streets of Miami celebrating Fidel's death, it made sense for you to get the word out by sending a hardline pro-embargo message. Their grievances are real. But life goes on. Fidel's brother Raul and his successors are going to be around for a long time no matter what we do and how many people dance on Fidel's grave. If you stick to the normalization process, you will be able to get the word out hundreds of times. Who knows, maybe your kids could really expand the Trump brand down there.
8.Protect from the downside. Cubans are the only immigrants who can just set foot in the U.S and, presto, they get to stay. That's not fair to all of the people who are patiently waiting their turn to get approval to immigrate. Your immigration reform will have to get rid of the Cuban Adjustment Act. But - if you cut off the escape valve at the same time that you put the screws on Cuba's economy, the whole place could just blow up. The result would be thousands of (by then illegal) Cuban boat people on U.S waters just like the Syrian refugees in Europe. Some regime-change advocates may think this is a dream come true, but it would be messy and hugely expensive in money, lives and votes.
A rafters mess would also make the human rights and repression situation in Cuba worse. Why? Because for the Cuban government this would be a 'law and order' problem.
When you build the wall, the border with Mexico will get harder to cross. Smugglers will then have to bring drugs into the U.S. via Gulf waters. The Cuban Coast Guard already works really well with the American Coast Guard to prevent this sort of thing. We can't risk not getting their cooperation on drugs and, and for that matter, on oil spills.
9.Contain the costs. Once you take office, you will have hundreds of major issues to worry about. Why complicate matters by getting into a side fight with a tiny little country that is neither a military nor an economic threat?
10.Think Big. Granted, Obama opened the door. But you can be the President who really makes ' The Big Time Deals with the Cubans! ' Not just in business. If the Cubans can take more control over their own economic future, they can also start taking more control over their political lives. If you talk to the average Cuban on the street and even to most of the dissidents, they will tell you, loud and clear, that normalization has given them hope and a possibility for a better life. And there are hundreds of small business flourishing all over the place. Give them a chance to succeed.
11.And, you could have fun too.
OK - Why am I telling you all this?... Who am I?
I am a Cuban-American exile who can claim as much family hardship from the Castro brother's regime as any other exile can. I came to this country, went to school on scholarships, worked hard and even became part of "the elite". And yes, I am a Democrat. And yes, I was with 'her'. By the way - I already moved to Canada (30 years ago and for personal reasons). But because I have been able to travel to Cuba as a business professor for over two decades, I have seen with my own eyes what works and what doesn't work.
Mr. Trump, you didn't win Florida or the blue-collar vote or the American heartland or the business vote by promising that you would be tough on Castro. That is not their fight. They want jobs, opportunities...a better future.
Only you, through your executive power, can decide which way this will all go. Stick to the opening and Americans will reap huge rewards. Go back to a useless fight and it will cost both sides a lot, for nothing.
Thank you for your time.
(A version of this article was posted on the Cuba Standard website in December 2016) | Julia Sagebien;Associate Professor Of Business At Dalhousie University In Halifax | www.huffingtonpost.com | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-sagebien/mr-trump-if-you-want-a-be_b_13932968.html | LEFT |
5,004,868 | 2017-01-02 23:32:16 | CNN | Dylann Roof ruled competent for sentencing | A federal judge ruled Monday that Dylann Roof, convicted of killing nine people inside an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, is mentally competent to represent himself at the sentencing phase of his trial. | Story highlights Sentencing phase is scheduled to begin on Wednesday
Dylann Roof was convicted of all 33 charges on December 15
(CNN) A federal judge ruled Monday that Dylann Roof, convicted of killing nine people inside an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, is mentally competent to represent himself at the sentencing phase of his trial.
That phase is scheduled to begin Wednesday morning at 9:30. Roof could be sentenced to death.
Roof was evaluated over the weekend by Dr. James Ballenger of Charleston, a specialist in forensic psychiatry, with the results presented in court on Monday.
US District Judge Richard Gergel closed that part of the proceeding to the public, saying he wanted to protect Roof's right to a fair trial and right to self-representation.
Ballenger previously evaluated Roof in November, before Roof was found competent after a two-day hearing, Gergel's order said. But the court "felt that the serious nature of the proceedings" against Roof indicated the need for another evaluation by the court-appointed Ballenger "to confirm there were no material changes in his mental status" since then, the order said. | Ralph Ellis;Khushbu Shah | www.cnn.com | http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/us/dylann-roof-competency-hearing/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Most+Recent%29 | UNDEFINED |
39,012,908 | 2017-01-02 23:34:59 | The Guardian | Syrian rebels freeze peace talks after Assad abuses ceasefire | It had been hoped that negotiations being prepared by Moscow would follow the ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey | Syrian rebel groups announced on Monday that they had decided to freeze any talks about their possible participation in Syrian peace negotiations being prepared by Moscow in Kazakhstan unless the Syrian government and its Iran-backed allies end what it said were violations of a ceasefire.
Briton killed while fighting against Isis in Syria Read more
In a statement, the rebel groups also said that any territorial advances by the army and Iran-backed militias that are fighting alongside it would end the fragile ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey – which back opposing sides – that came into effect on Friday.
“The regime and its allies have continued firing and committed many and large violations,” said the statement signed by a number of rebel groups.
On Saturday the UN security council gave its blessing to the ceasefire deal, which is slated to be followed by peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana. The statement said the main violations were in an area north-west of Damascus in the rebel-held Wadi Barada valley, where government forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group have been trying to press their advances.
Rebels say the Syrian army is seeking to recapture the area, which contains a spring that provides most of Damascus’s water and which lies on a major supply route from Lebanon to the Syrian capital which is used by Hezbollah.
Like previous ceasefire deals in Syria, it has been shaky from the start, with repeated outbreaks of violence in some areas, but it has largely held.
The rebel groups questioned Russia’s ability to force the Syrian government and their allies to abide by the terms of the ceasefire deal. | Reuters In Amman | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/02/syrian-rebels-freeze-peace-talks-after-assad-abuses-ceasefire | LEFT |
55,422,580 | 2017-01-02 23:36:00 | The Wall Street Journal | Corrections & Amplifications | Corrections & Amplifications for the edition of Jan. 3, 2017 | Tesla Motors Inc. was misspelled as Telsa in the year-end news quiz Friday in the Business & Finance section.
Departing presidents have given farewell addresses in the final weeks of their terms. President Barack Obama’s final major address the week before the inauguration may be unusual, though, because he is considering a farewell that goes beyond the typical addresses in both scope and intensity, people familiar with... | null | www.wsj.com | http://www.wsj.com/articles/corrections-amplifications-1483400168 | UNDEFINED |
2,951,103 | 2017-01-02 23:42:51 | Reuters | ANZ sells Shanghai Rural stake for $1.3 billion | Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ.AX) said on Tuesday it will sell its 20 percent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd [SHRCB.UL] for A$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion), as part of its broader sell-down of Asian assets. | The logo of the Australia New Zealand Bank Group (ANZ) is displayed on their main office building in Melbourne, Australia, July 27, 2016.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ.AX) said on Tuesday it will sell its 20 percent stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd [SHRCB.UL] for A$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion), as part of its broader sell-down of Asian assets.
"The sale reflects our strategy to simplify our business and improve capital efficiency," ANZ Deputy Chief Executive Graham Hodges said in a statement.
China COSCO Shipping Corp and Shanghai Sino-Poland Enterprise Management Development Corp were named as the purchasers in the deal, representing a price-to-book ratio of about 1.1 times Shanghai Rural's net assets as of December 2015.
The move is part of ANZ's move to reduce its Asian exposure, which includes the sale of wealth and retail businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia to DBS Group (DBSM.SI).
For banks, holding minority stakes in lenders like Shanghai Rural is proving to be expensive under new rules that require them to set aside equity capital against such investments.
ANZ invested a total of A$568 million to acquire the stake in 2007, but has since come under investor pressure to exit minority stakes in Asia and to boost its Tier-I capital ratio, the core measure of a bank's financial strength.
ANZ said the sale would boost its tier-I capital ratio by about 40 basis points. The bank said its ratio was 9.6 percent in its annual report in November.
The sale, agreed on Saturday, is subject to conditions and regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by mid-2017. | Reuters Editorial;Reuters Staff;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-anz-bank-china-idUSKBN14M18L | CENTER |
2,023,432 | 2017-01-02 23:55:03 | Reuters | U.S. judge rules South Carolina church gunman can act as own lawyer | A U.S. judge on Monday ruled Dylann Roof was mentally fit to serve as his own lawyer in the penalty phase of his trial, when a jury will decide whether to sentence him to be executed for the 2015 massacre at a South Carolina church. | South Carolina church massacre shooting suspect Dylann Roof is seen in U.S. District Court of South Carolina evidence photo which was originally taken from Roof's website. Courtesy U.S. District Court of South Carolina/Handout via REUTERS
CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ruled Dylann Roof was mentally fit to serve as his own lawyer in the penalty phase of his trial, when a jury will decide whether to sentence him to be executed for the 2015 massacre at a South Carolina church.
Roof, 22, an avowed white supremacist, was found guilty in December on all federal charges in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina in 2015.
The shooting where Roof had waited for members of a Bible study group to close their eyes in prayer before opening fire sent shockwaves across the United States.
The same jury that convicted him of 33 charges that included hate crimes resulting in death will meet on Wednesday for the penalty phase, where they will decide whether he should be executed.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel issued his ruling after hearing testimony from forensic psychiatrist James Ballenger, who examined Roof for five hours over the weekend.
Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, U.S., June 18, 2015. Jason Miczek
Gergel had kept the competency hearing closed in order to avoid sequestering the jury.
Gergel said he was concerned jurors would inadvertently hear potentially prejudicial information from the hearing if reporters were allowed to cover it, ruling that protecting Roof's right to a fair trial outweighed the media's right to view the hearing.
The judge rejected arguments from press attorney Jay Bender and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Richardson, who wanted an open hearing. Gergel also banned relatives of the victims from attending.
The judge previously found Roof competent to stand trial after a hearing held in November ahead of the guilt phase. Roof represented himself during one week of jury selection in November during which prominent capital defense lawyer David Bruck was appointed standby counsel.
That same defense team filed a motion ahead of the penalty phase arguing that Roof was not competent to represent himself after he revealed at a hearing last week that he would not present any evidence or witnesses. | Harriet Mcleod;Min Read | www.reuters.com | http://www.reuters.com/article/us-south-carolina-shooting-roof-idUSKBN14M0HT | CENTER |
39,190,703 | 2017-01-02 23:58:44 | The Guardian | Minister defends Centrelink over welfare debt compliance system | It is ‘as reasonable a process as you could possibly derive’, says Christian Porter of controversial automated system | The social services minister, Christian Porter, has defended Centrelink’s automated compliance system as “about as reasonable a process as you could possibly derive”.
The system, which began in July, has been the subject of a string of complaints in the past month, as anger grows over its crude use of data-matching to compare income reported to Centrelink with information held by the Australian tax office.
Centrelink's debt mistake: 'there's no way I could explain to them' Read more
Roughly 169,000 Australians, including those with disabilities, have now received letters from the government, warning them the data-matching has detected a discrepancy in their income information.
Those individuals are given 21 days to prove they are eligible for welfare received up to six years ago, or they will incur a debt and a 10% “debt recovery fee”. If they fail to pay, individuals are referred to debt collectors, and the human services minister, Alan Tudge, has previously threatened them with jail.
Porter defended the system on Tuesday morning, saying it was fair and reasonable, and that only 276 complaints had been received so far.
“I think that this is about as reasonable a process as you could possibly derive,” Porter told ABC Radio National.
A formal complaint, however, is different from lodging a dispute against a welfare debt. Porter would not say how many disputes had been lodged against welfare debts.
He dismissed calls for the system to be suspended, saying it had now identified $300m of overpayments to welfare recipients.
Porter said individuals who disagreed with Centrelink’s notice had plenty of opportunity to contest it.
“Ultimately, if a real discrepancy does exist then eventually we raise a debt, and that happens much later than this initial letter, and even then, there are many days in which you can dispute that debt, if you think that a mistake has been made,” he said.
“Then, when a repayment is arranged, it is arranged in a way that is financially suitable to the individual.
“It really is an incredibly reasonable process, the question is why wasn’t the previous government, Labor, when they were in charge, engaging in this process.”
He sought to clarify that the initial letters sent out to welfare recipients were not “debt letters”, despite the fact that, if not responded to, they will automatically lead to a debt.
The data-matching process appears to suffer from two main errors.
In some cases, it has been shown to have crudely averaged out ATO information on a person’s yearly income across all of Centrelink’s 26 fortnightly reporting periods.
Queenslander Michael Griffin, for example, was taken to have earned $1,000 every fortnight because his annual income was $26,000.
That does not take into account circumstances where a person has only worked for part of year, and is otherwise eligible for benefits.
A Centrelink whistleblower previously told Guardian Australia that many of those contacted by the agency were simply paying the debt without question.
The source, who reviewed hundreds of cases where disputes were lodged, said only about 20 had turned out to be genuine.
Legal Aid Victoria also fears that many individuals are not receiving correspondence from Centrelink, and are being lumped with the debt by default.
Others say long waiting times on Centrelink’s phone system or problems with its online portal have prevented them from lodging a dispute within 21 days. | Christopher Knaus | www.theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/03/minister-defends-centrelink-over-welfare-debt-compliance-system | LEFT |
52,919,644 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Motorist Amped Up On Caffeine Is Pulled Over By Authorities | In California, a man was pulled over after police saw him weaving in and out of traffic. When they did a blood test, the only thing that came up was caffeine — drunk driving charges were dropped. | Motorist Amped Up On Caffeine Is Pulled Over By Authorities
In California, a man was pulled over after police saw him weaving in and out of traffic. When they did a blood test, the only thing that came up was caffeine — drunk driving charges were dropped.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin, and I'm not going to lie. I drink a ton of coffee in the morning before I drive to work. It makes me feel safer on the roads because I'm more awake, right? But in northern California, Joseph Schwab was pulled over after authorities saw him weaving in and out of traffic. Officials said his pupils were dilated. He seemed amped up. But when they did a blood test, the only thing that came up was caffeine, and drunk driving charges were dropped. So fine, make mine a decaf, please. It's MORNING EDITION.
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | null | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/507983954/motorist-amped-up-on-caffeine-is-pulled-over-by-authorities?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition | LEFT |
55,222,890 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | Restricting Dylann Roof's Courtroom Movement Could Pose Problems: Experts | Death penalty experts said an order that restricts the movement of Dylann Roof could unfairly prejudice the jury. | With the sentencing of Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof's capital trial set to begin in South Carolina on Wednesday, a federal judge on Monday imposed what some death penalty experts described as an unusual — and potentially problematic — set of restrictions.
Roof, who is representing himself, will not be allowed to approach the jury, the witness stand or the bench during the proceedings, federal district court judge Richard Gergel said in the one-paragraph order.
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The document, which was issued during a closed-door hearing on whether Roof was competent to represent himself and stand trial — Gergel ruled that he is — instead orders Roof to remain at a courtroom lectern during the proceedings.
Gergel did not cite a reason for the restrictions, and it's unclear if the judge will require similar rules for prosecutors — a point, said Richard Dunham, executive director of the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center, that could bias the jury against Roof and unfairly influence its decision to execute him.
Related: Dylann Roof, Facing Death, Will Present No Evidence During Sentencing
"At this stage of the proceeding, he is still presumed innocent of death," Dunham told NBC News. "Restrictions on defendants and their movements and anything that has the appearance of a security restriction can only be constitutional if they are supported by findings of fact that the restrictions are necessary for safety reasons."
Dunham added that if the order was not for security, but was instead to maintain the court's decorum, the rules should apply equally to prosecutors and the defense.
"They can't advantage one side over the other," he said.
A spokesperson for the United States Attorney's office in South Carolina declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the court's administrative office in Washington, D.C.
Sarah Gannett, a lawyer on Roof's defense team, also declined to comment.
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Chris Adams, a criminal defense lawyer in Charleston who has handled death penalty cases, said he expects Gergel to clarify the order on Wednesday so that it applies equally to prosecutors and Roof.
"It will be significant symbolically if the lawyers for the government and for Mr. Roof are treated differently," he told NBC News. "That would certainly create a problem."
But, Adams added: "Apparently the only person who doesn't get that is Dylann Roof, because he hasn't objected to the order."
John Blume, a professor of trial techniques at Cornell University and director of the school's Death Penalty Project, said it's possible the case was handled similarly during the initial phase of the trial, when Roof briefly represented himself.
"Maybe the order is no more than the judge trying to put down [the rules] so Roof can see what he's supposed to do," Blume told NBC News. "If they didn't handle it that way, it's strange."
Sheri Lynn Johnson, a law professor who co-founded Cornell's Death Penalty Project in 1993, told NBC News that she'd never heard of such an order before — though she added it was very rare for a death penalty defendant to represent himself.
Related: Dylann Roof Says He Won't Call Mental Health Experts During Sentencing
The closest case law, she said, forbids the shackling of such defendants during sentencing because of its "prejudicial effect," as Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer put it in a majority opinion on the subject in 2005.
In Roof's case, Johnson said, requiring him to stand at a lectern could do the same thing.
"It will impair his ability to be persuasive to the jury," she said. "Part of the drama of the trial is approaching the jury and making eye contact."
Roof has said he plans to make an opening statement during his sentencing, though he does not intend to present evidence or call witnesses.
The government, meanwhile, plans to call 38 victims to the witness stand.
Still, Johnson said, Roof can always decide to handle his sentencing differently, and he can cross-examine witnesses if he chooses to. | Tim Stelloh | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/charleston-church-shooting/restricting-dylann-roof-s-courtroom-movement-could-pose-problems-experts-n702466 | CENTER |
59,519,971 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Vermont utility apparently not a target of Russian hacking | null | As federal officials investigate suspicious Internet activity found last week on a Vermont utility computer, they are finding evidence that the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility, according to experts and officials close to the investigation.
An employee at Burlington Electric Department was checking his Yahoo email account Friday and triggered an alert indicating that his computer had connected to a suspicious IP address associated by authorities with the Russian hacking operation that infiltrated the Democratic Party.
Officials told the company that traffic with this particular address is found elsewhere in the country and is not unique to Burlington Electric, suggesting the company wasn't being targeted by the Russians.
Indeed, officials say it is possible that the traffic is benign, since this particular IP address is not always connected to malicious activity.
The investigation by officials began Friday, when the Vermont utility reported its alert to federal authorities, some of whom told The Washington Post that code associated with the Russian hackers had been discovered within the system of an unnamed Vermont utility.
On Friday evening, The Post published its report, and Burlington Electric released a statement identifying itself as the utility in question and that the firm had "detected the malware" in a single laptop. The company said in its statement that the laptop was not connected to its grid systems.
The Post initially reported incorrectly that the country's electric grid had been penetrated through a Vermont utility. After Burlington Electric released its statement saying that the potentially compromised laptop had not been connected to the grid, The Post immediately corrected its story and later added an editor's note explaining the change.
U.S. officials are continuing to investigate the laptop. In the course of their investigation, though, they have found on the device a package of software tools commonly used by online criminals to deliver malware. The package, known as Neutrino, does not appear to be connected with Grizzly Steppe, which U.S. officials have identified as the Russian hacking operation. The FBI, which declined to comment, is continuing to investigate how the malware got onto the laptop.
Initially, company officials publicly said they had detected code that had been linked by the Department of Homeland Security to Grizzly Steppe.
Over the weekend, the company issued a statement, saying only that it had "detected suspicious Internet traffic" on the computer in question.
The murkiness of the information underlines the difficulties faced by officials as they try to root out Grizzly Steppe and share with the public its findings on how the operation works. Experts say the situation was made worse by a recent government report, which they described as a genuine effort to share information with the industry but criticized as rushed and prone to causing confusion.
Authorities also were leaking information about the utility without having all the facts and before law enforcement officials were able to investigate further.
The incident comes as President-elect Donald Trump has cast doubt on the findings of intelligence officials that the Russians conducted a hacking operation designed to help him win the White House.
Experts also said that because Yahoo's mail servers are visited by millions of people each day, that a Burlington Electric employee checking his email touched off an alert is not an indication that the Russian government was targeting the utility.
"It's not descriptive of anything in particular," said Robert Lee, chief executive of Dragos, a cybersecurity firm.
The company said it was told much the same thing by authorities. "Federal officials have indicated that the specific type of Internet traffic, related to recent malicious cyber activity that was reported by us [on Friday], also has been observed elsewhere in the country and is not unique to Burlington Electric," company spokesman Mike Kanarick said in a statement.
The FBI and DHS released a report last week intended to prompt companies to search their systems for any evidence of a Russian hacking operation that they concluded had infiltrated Democratic Party servers.
The document was intended to help companies mitigate Russian hacking and report any suspicious activity to the government. That report itself contained a caution regarding the suspicious IP addresses it listed: "Upon reviewing the traffic from these IPs, some traffic may correspond to malicious activity, and some may correspond to legitimate activity."
The discovery of the laptop issue has prompted criticism that the government provided overly broad information to companies that was not effective in isolating Russian government hacking.
"That report offered no technical value for defenders," Lee said. "It was very much high level and nothing in there was specifically descriptive of Russian activity."
Some in the administration are concerned that this episode with the Vermont utility will cause industry officials to avoid sharing information with the government, for fear that it will be leaked. The company in this case, the U.S. official said, "did what it was supposed to do."
Experts also expressed concerns regarding the report released by DHS and the FBI on the Russian hacking operation. The report said it was providing "technical details regarding the tools and infrastructure used by the Russian civilian and military intelligence services" to "compromise and exploit" political, government and private computer networks.
The government released the document on the same day it announced a series of measures taken to punish the Russian government for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, including the DNC hacks.
But a range of cybersecurity experts say that although the intention of the report was good, it lacked specific details that would enable firms to detect Russian government hackers.
At least 30 percent of the IP addresses listed were commonly used sites such as public proxy servers used to mask a user's location, and servers run by Amazon.com and Yahoo. (Amazon's founder and chief executive, Jeffrey Bezos, owns The Washington Post.) Moreover, IP address information alone is not useful, experts noted. Moreover, a server that is used by Russian spies one year might be used by "granny's bake shop" the next, Lee said. | Ellen Nakashima;Juliet Eilperin | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-russian-hackers-vermont-utility-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
52,977,168 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Turkish Authorities Are On The Hunt For Istanbul Nightclub Gunman | Thirty-nine people were killed in the shooting. A Turkish news channel says a passport belonging to a man from Kyrgyzstan matches a man identified by officials as the suspect in Sunday's attack. | Turkish Authorities Are On The Hunt For Istanbul Nightclub Gunman
Thirty-nine people were killed in the shooting. A Turkish news channel says a passport belonging to a man from Kyrgyzstan matches a man identified by officials as the suspect in Sunday's attack. | Peter Kenyon | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/507983940/turkish-authorities-are-on-the-hunt-for-istanbul-nightclub-gunman?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world | LEFT |
52,947,583 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Cambodian Government Closes Investigation Into Murder Of Activist | In Cambodia, the brutal murder of a prominent activist and government critic six months ago shocked many. But the whitewash that's followed hasn't surprised anyone in a country where the culture of impunity remains strong. Last week, investigators closed their case and said they have the man who did it. But many say it's just the latest in a series of murders of political opponents in the run up to elections later this year. | Cambodian Government Closes Investigation Into Murder Of Activist
In Cambodia, the brutal murder of a prominent activist and government critic six months ago shocked many. But the whitewash that's followed hasn't surprised anyone in a country where the culture of impunity remains strong. Last week, investigators closed their case and said they have the man who did it. But many say it's just the latest in a series of murders of political opponents in the run up to elections later this year. | Michael Sullivan | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508075250/cambodian-government-closes-investigation-into-murder-of-activist?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world | LEFT |
55,053,917 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Los Angeles Times | LAPD investigate anti-gay vandalism as hate crime at Van Nuys home | null | Anti-gay graffiti and extensive vandalism at a Van Nuys home prompted a hate crime investigation Tuesday night by Los Angeles police officers.
The vandalism was reported about 6 p.m. at a home in the 7400 block of Vista Del Monte Avenue, according to Officer Mike Lopez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Sgt. Carl Taylor said someone broke into the home, sprayed anti-gay graffiti, kicked in walls and destroyed water pipes.
“It’s pretty extensive damage,” said Taylor, who confirmed that detectives were treating the burglary and ransacking as a suspected hate crime.
When officers arrived at the property, the home’s door was open. Police made sure no one was inside and noticed the large amount of property damage.
It’s unclear who lives at the property. No one was injured during the ransacking and there was no description of a suspect or suspects, Lopez said.
The suspected hate crime comes after a period in which Los Angeles County has seen an increase in such targeted violence.
According to a report issued in September by the county’s Commission on Human Relations, the number of hate crimes in the county rose sharply in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. A total of 483 hate crimes were reported, a 24% increase from 2014.
Of those, 120 hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation — an 11% increase from the previous year.
Officials said the overall spike came after a roughly seven-year period that saw a downward trend for reported hate crimes.
Still, experts have cautioned that the statistics on hate crimes against LGBT people may not be accurate because of concerns about reporting incidents to authorities and exposing one’s sexual identity.
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Twitter: @MattHjourno. | Matt Hamilton | www.latimes.com | http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-anti-gay-vandalism-20170103-story.html | LEFT |
52,906,405 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | South Korea's President Refuses To Testify At Impeachment Trial Hearing | Park Geun-hye was absent from a hearing Tuesday in a case that will decide her political future. She has been facing intense scrutiny over a corruption scandal involving a close friend and adviser. | South Korea's President Refuses To Testify At Impeachment Trial Hearing
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kim Hong-ii/AP Kim Hong-ii/AP
South Korea's beleaguered president, Park Geun-hye, refused to testify at her impeachment trial Tuesday, days after she publicly denied allegations of corruption.
The country's Constitutional Court was forced to delay the start of oral arguments because of Park's absence. She was asked to testify on Thursday, according to The Associated Press, when several of her current and former aides are scheduled to testify.
The AP says court "cannot force her to appear but can proceed without her if she refuses twice to appear at the hearings."
A lawyer for Park, Lee Joong-hwan, told reporters that the president wouldn't attend future hearings "unless there are special circumstances," South Korean news agency Yonhap reports.
"Citing law, he also said an impeachment trial is meant to proceed in the absence of the defendant," the news agency added.
Last month, South Korean lawmakers voted 234 to 56 to impeach Park. As NPR's Elise Hu has reported, prosecutors say Park "conspired in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme, led by her close friend and spiritual adviser, Choi Soon-sil" and that Choi "enjoyed extraordinary power to make decisions in state affairs, despite holding no official position."
The court will decide whether to uphold the impeachment vote.
Elise reported last month that:
Enlarge this image toggle caption AP AP
"Weeks of protests, with crowds numbering in the millions, added fuel to growing outrage over Park, who has served four years as president but is viewed as aloof and out of touch with the concerns of everyday Koreans. ... "Opposition lawmakers were originally reluctant to bring up an impeachment measure, but after Park didn't step down on her own, her reluctance, coupled with swelling protests, spurred lawmakers to take action."
Park is immune from criminal charges while she remains in office. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, she denied the allegations of corruption and abuse of power.
However, Elise adds, "she has yet to answer questions of investigators and, now, the court. She admitted to allowing [Choi] to meddle in state affairs — and prosecutors believe the friend financially benefited as a result."
Following the Dec. 9 impeachment vote, the AP reports, the Constitutional Court has six months to decide whether Park should step down or be returned to office. | Jason Slotkin | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/03/508011324/south-koreas-president-refuses-to-testify-at-impeachment-trial-hearing?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world | LEFT |
52,925,149 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Republicans Take The First Step To Repeal Obamacare | Senate Republicans introduced a budget resolution that starts the process to defund key chunks of the Affordable Care Act. President-elect Donald Trump says he'll sign a bill. | Republicans Take The First Step To Repeal Obamacare
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Lawmakers returned to Washington and wasted no time getting to work on the repeal of Obamacare.
Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., introduced a resolution just hours after the new Congress convened Tuesday that will serve as the vehicle for repealing much of the president's signature health care law.
"Today, we take the first steps to repair the nation's broken health care system, removing Washington from the equation and putting control back where it belongs: with patients, their families, and their doctors," Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a press release posted on his website Tuesday.
It's the first step in Republican lawmakers' plan to fulfill their most ardent campaign promise — to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a Republican alternative.
Republicans have to use a special legislative maneuver, called a budget resolution, to undo the ACA because they don't have enough votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Budget bills aren't subject to filibuster, so lawmakers will be able to repeal the parts of the law that have budget and tax implications.
That means they can essentially gut the law, removing all the subsidies that help low- and middle-income people buy health insurance and getting rid of the smorgasbord of taxes — on medical devices, insurance companies and wealthy individuals — that pay for those subsidies
Enzi's resolution calls on the Senate to get a bill to the Senate Budget Committee by Jan. 27.
Republican lawmakers say they don't want the 20 million people who have newly gained insurance because of the ACA to lose their coverage. So they plan to phase out Obamacare over time while they devise a replacement plan that they say will make affordable health insurance available to everyone, without the much-hated mandate to buy insurance if you don't want it.
Many analysts are skeptical that this "repeal and delay" strategy will work.
"The most likely end result of 'repeal and delay' would be less secure insurance for many Americans, procrastination by political leaders who will delay taking any proactive steps as long as possible, and ultimately no discernible movement toward a real marketplace for either insurance or medical services," said Joe Antos and James Capretta of the conservative American Enterprise Institute in a blog published Tuesday in Health Affairs.
Antos and Capretta say a partial repeal with no replacement would lead insurance companies to pull out of the Obamacare market altogether, leaving those who get coverage there today with no insurance at all.
It's not clear exactly what will be included in the actual repeal bill. The best model we have now is a bill passed by the House and Senate and vetoed by President Obama last year.
That bill eliminated the mandate for individuals to have insurance coverage right away but delayed the other parts of the repeal for two years.
"I can see how it would be hard for Republicans to maintain the individual mandate, which is possibly the most objectionable part of the ACA in their view," says Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "On the other hand, getting rid of the individual mandate immediately risks a collapse of the individual insurance market."
The ACA includes the mandate to ensure that both sick and healthy people buy insurance to spread the costs across a broad population and keep premiums low. If Republicans follow the model of last year's bill and eliminate the mandate immediately, many healthy people would forgo insurance, and the price of coverage for sick people would spiral out of control, analysts say.
"That is a prescription for health plan disaster during this transition and brings into question just how many plans would stay in the program for 2018," says Robert Laszewski, a health policy consultant. | Alison Kodjak | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/03/508074966/republicans-take-the-first-step-to-repeal-obamacare?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | LEFT |
115,898,806 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | US-Trained Dolphins to Help Locate Mexico's Vaquita Porpoise | US-Trained Dolphins to Help Locate Mexico's Vaquita Porpoise | U.S. Navy-trained dolphins and their handlers will participate in a last-ditch effort to catch, enclose and protect the last few dozen of Mexico's critically endangered vaquita porpoises to save them from extinction.
International experts confirmed the participation of the Navy Marine Mammal Program in the effort, which is expected to start sometime this spring.
Jim Fallin of the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific said Tuesday that the dolphins' participation is still in the planning stage.
The dolphins will use their natural sonar to locate the extremely elusive vaquitas, then surface and advise their handlers.
"Their specific task is to locate" vaquitas, which live only in the Gulf of California, Fallin said. "They would signal that by surfacing and returning to the boat from which they were launched."
The dolphins have been trained by the Navy for tasks like locating sea mines.
The vaquitas, the world's smallest and most endangered porpoise species, have been decimated by illegal fishing for the swim bladder of a fish, the totoaba, which is a prized delicacy in China.
Although the vaquita has never been held successfully in captivity, experts hope to put the remaining porpoises in floating pens in a safe bay in the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, where they can be protected and hopefully breed.
Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho, chairman of the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, wrote that "an international group of experts, including Navy personnel, have been working on two primary goals: determining the feasibility of locating and catching vaquitas, as a phase One. And as a second phase, to determine the feasibility of temporarily housing vaquitas in the Gulf of California."
Rojas-Bracho said the effort by the international team of experts "would involve locating them, capturing them and putting them in some kind of protective area," probably a floating enclosure or pen in a protected bay where they would not be endangered by fishing nets. Mexico has banned gill nets that often trap vaquitas in the area, but has had trouble enforcing it because the totoaba draws very high prices on the illegal market.
"At the current rate of loss, the vaquita will likely decline to extinction by 2022 unless the current gillnet ban is maintained and effectively enforced," Rojas-Bracho wrote.
According to rough estimates, with vaquita population numbers falling by 40 percent annually, and only 60 alive a year ago, there could be as few as three dozen left.
Some experts, like Omar Vidal, Mexico director of the World Wildlife Fund, oppose the capture plan, which could risk killing the few remaining vaquitas and open up a free-for-all of illegal fishing once they are removed from their natural habitat. "We must strive to save this porpoise where it belongs: in a healthy Upper Gulf of California," he said.
Catch-and-enclose is risky. The few remaining females could die during capture, dooming the species. Breeding in captivity has successfully saved species such as the red wolf and California condor, but the vaquita has only been scientifically described since the 1950s and has never been bred or even held in captivity.
Experts including Rojas-Bracho; Barbara Taylor, leader of Marine Mammal Genetics Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and Sarah Mesnick of the NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center, stressed that the capture program "should not divert effort and resources away from extension and enforcement of the gillnet ban, which remains the highest-priority conservation actions for the species."
Veterinarians will evaluate vaquitas' reactions and release stressed individuals, they wrote. Should a death occur, the team will re-evaluate the sanctuary strategy.
"It is important to stress that the recovery team goal is to return vaquita from the temporary sanctuary into a gillnet-free environment," they wrote. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/us-trained-dolphins-locate-mexicos-vaquita-porpoise-44537360 | CENTER |
52,963,779 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Trump Nominates Robert Lighthizer As U.S. Trade Representative | Donald Trump nominated Robert Lighthizer to be the U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer will be tasked with helping to implement an overhaul of U.S. trade policy that will feature tariff threats against a number of U.S. trading partners. | Trump Nominates Robert Lighthizer As U.S. Trade Representative
Donald Trump nominated Robert Lighthizer to be the U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer will be tasked with helping to implement an overhaul of U.S. trade policy that will feature tariff threats against a number of U.S. trading partners.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump was scathing in his criticism of U.S. trade policy, policy that had been supported by Republicans for decades. Today Trump announced Robert Lighthizer as his pick to be the U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer is an establishment Republican. But as NPR's John Ydstie reports, he doesn't toe the traditional party line on trade.
JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE: On the campaign trail, Donald Trump often sounded more like a Democrat union leader than a Republican. He said he would tear up NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and be quick to tax imports if trading partners misbehaved. Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, who's a longtime liberal opponent of trade agreements like NAFTA, says Trump's nominee, Robert Lighthizer, also has a healthy skepticism about the free-trade doctrine.
LORI WALLACH: What has always set him apart from other Republican trade experts is that he has never really been based on ideology or theory but rather the actual outcomes of different policies.
YDSTIE: Outcomes, says Wallach, that protected American companies and workers. In the 1980s, Lighthizer was a deputy U.S. trade representative under Ronald Reagan. More recently, in an opinion piece for The New York Times, he argued the Republican Party should not blindly embrace free-trade dogma. But the Trump campaign rhetoric on trade has made some free-trade advocates nervous. Derek Scissors is a resident fellow and trade expert at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
DEREK SCISSORS: This is not going to be a conventional Republican administration. There are going to be steps which could be protectionist steps. Or they could be sensible adjustments of U.S. trade policy. But it's not going to be conventional.
YDSTIE: Scissors says he supports sensible adjustments but not a radical departure.
SCISSORS: There are things in U.S. trade policy that should be improved. And that's on the table. Then there is an abandonment of an American commitment to free trade, which should not occur and which would be very harmful to the U.S. That also seems to be on the table.
YDSTIE: Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller has said that Wilbur Ross, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, will actually take the lead on formulating trade policy. Free-trade skeptic Lori Wallach says exactly where the billionaire Ross comes down on trade is a big question.
WALLACH: Ross has supported trade policies, basically, that suit his business interests and opposed others that didn't. And it remains to be seen if Ross will see the American worker as his client or he'll see big businesses as his client.
YDSTIE: Wallach is concerned that other Trump cabinet appointees with corporate backgrounds could also convince the president-elect to move away from his populist positions on trade. She says that makes Lighthizer's nomination very consequential. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | John Ydstie | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508075257/trump-nominates-robert-lighthizer-as-u-s-trade-representative?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=allthingsconsidered | LEFT |
4,662,452 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | I'm a frustrated Democrat. I'm not sure Obama could have beaten Trump. Here's why | Late last year President Obama expressed confidence that a majority of the American people would have given him a third term had he ran for reelection. Not surprisingly, President-elect Donald Trump promptly disagreed. | Late last year President Obama expressed confidence that a majority of the American people would have given him a third term had he ran for reelection. Not surprisingly, President-elect Donald Trump promptly disagreed.
Is Obama right?
Hillary Clinton ran as the President’s heir-apparent, embracing Obama’s legacy and promising to continue many of his policies. In short, Americans understood that a Clinton White House would be – by and large – an extension of the President’s.
Her message worked (sort of): Clinton won the popular vote. By doing so, she accomplished Obama’s goal of convincing a majority of voters to support his third term.
But American democracy doesn’t work that way. Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College. How could that have happened? Consider that Republicans won more votes than Democrats in the House (63.1 million to 61.7 million).
That’s how we lost our Blue Wall.
Simply put, the 2016 election came down to an electorate desiring change. Clinton’s promise of four more years didn’t fit the bill. Americans chose a TV entertainer instead.
Still, it’s impossible to know whether another Obama ticket could have changed hearts and minds. And frankly, I don’t care. As a frustrated Democrat, I’m more interested in asking whether we would have wanted him to run again in the first place.
Here’s why.
For a moment, set aside the debate about Obama’s domestic and foreign policy record. Focus instead on his eight years as Democrat in Chief, where his singular goal was to leave the party stronger than how he found it.
The result? Democrats are in a weaker position today than at any point in nearly 100 years. Republicans control 32 State Legislatures, 33 Governorships, the U.S. House, Senate, and – now – the Presidency.
And it’s a trend that started happening well before the 2016 wipeout.
While the President’s a good man, he is a terrible manager. He simply lost control of the Democratic National Committee, hiring a cast of leaders that delivered embarrassment instead of good candidates. Case in point: our current chairwoman, Donna Brazile, was caught in a cheating scandal and then lied about it on national TV; she claimed “persecution” as “a Christian woman.”
Disagree with that assessment? Consider Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV) take on the DNC. He recently called it “worthless.”
Still, Smart Democrats understand that it’s time to focus on the future. We accept our electoral defeat; we offer no excuses. We’re willing to work with President-elect Trump on areas of mutual concern like building infrastructure and taking a tougher line with China. Meanwhile, we’re presenting common sense solutions that show the American people how we’d govern if given the chance.
Yet our task is made all the more difficult by a President who should understand that words matter. From his inspiring convention speech to his address in Cairo, Obama is a gifted orator who can electrify audiences. Why then would he engage in a pointless conversation about winning a third term? It’s a distraction that’s not even constitutionally allowed.
We have no time to dillydally. In less than a month, the American people expect us to serve as a faithful opposition.
Fair or not, Monday’s interview with President Obama showed that even the best of us can waste our talents on foolish chatter. It’s a disappointing footnote to eight years of great promise.
It’s time for the party – and the country – to move on.
Bryan Dean Wright is a former CIA ops officer and member of the Democratic Party. He contributes on issues of politics, national security, and the economy. Follow him on Twitter @BryanDeanWright. | Bryan Dean Wright | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/01/03/im-frustrated-democrat-im-not-sure-obama-could-have-beaten-trump-heres-why.html | RIGHT |
4,660,818 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Ryan vows ‘results’ after re-election as speaker; Schumer opens Senate with shots at Trump | House Speaker Paul Ryan vowed Tuesday to deliver results for voters who handed control of Washington to his party in the November election, as he easily won re-election to the top congressional post at the opening of the 115th Congress. | House Speaker Paul Ryan vowed Tuesday to deliver results for voters who handed control of Washington to his party in the November election, as he easily won re-election to the top congressional post at the opening of the 115th Congress.
Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who ascended to the speakership in late 2015 after John Boehner’s abrupt retirement, was elected to his first full term with 239 votes. He then took the gavel stressing the need for unity and the need to listen to voters he said “let out a great roar” during the election.
“I want to say to the American people, we hear you. We want to do right by you, and we will deliver,” Ryan said.
Ryan advised colleagues they have a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” after voters installed a “unified government” under Republican control. Ryan cautioned that voters expect “results” and Washington should not let them down.
The opening day in Washington was otherwise marked by pomp and photo ops – and some party drama.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., delivered his maiden floor speech as Senate Democratic leader, issuing a battery of warnings to President-elect Donald Trump about his party’s plans to keep the next president's agenda in check.
But in a sign of lingering tensions within the Democratic ranks, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi saw a handful of Democrats defect from her side in the speaker vote. She ultimately received 189 votes to 239 for Ryan, whose victory was never in doubt.
On the Republican side, House GOP leaders also dealt with an intra-party headache when Trump tweeted his criticism Tuesday morning of a plan to overhaul a congressional ethics office. Just as the new Congress gaveled in, House Republicans reversed course and dropped the plan.
Ryan, though, is sure to keep the focus on Republican priorities like rolling back ObamaCare, pursuing tax reform and other agenda items – with Trump’s inauguration just weeks away and Republicans set to claim full control of Washington for the first time since the George W. Bush administration.
The new House includes 241 Republicans and 194 Democrats, including 52 freshmen.
On the Senate side, Republicans will keep a 52-48 seat majority after staving off Democratic attempts in November to take control of the upper chamber.
While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will remain at the helm, Sen. Schumer took over Tuesday for now-retired former Sen. Harry Reid as Senate minority leader.
In doing so, Schumer delivered a combative floor speech vowing to hold Trump and majority Republicans “accountable” to voters.
“This will be an accountability Congress,” he said. Schumer said Democrats would work with Trump on issues like infrastructure and trade but would “resist” on other fronts.
“Mr. President, it is not our job to rubber stamp,” Schumer said.
Schumer warned that if “hard-right” forces “run the show,” Trump’s presidency “will not succeed.” And, taking a shot at Trump’s favorite mode of communication, the senator said Americans cannot afford a “Twitter presidency.”
He also previewed a hard slog ahead for certain Trump nominees in the Senate, complaining that his Cabinet is “stacked with billionaires, corporate executives, titans of Wall Street.”
Schumer, meanwhile, chided his own party for its electoral shortcomings, saying Democrats “did not do enough to show American workers that we are the party that has their backs” and should take a “hard look” at ways to improve. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/03/ryan-wins-full-term-as-house-speaker-schumer-opens-senate-with-shots-at-trump.html | RIGHT |
115,973,908 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Business Highlights | Business Highlights | ___
Ford cancels plan to build new Mexican plant, adds US jobs
FLAT ROCK, Mich. (AP) — The auto industry's relationship with President-elect Donald Trump took a dramatic turn Tuesday as Ford Motor Co. decided to shift investment dollars targeted for Mexico to the U.S., while Trump threatened General Motors with a tax on some imported small cars.
Ford is canceling plans to build a new $1.6 billion factory in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and will instead invest some of that money in a U.S. factory that will build new electric and autonomous vehicles.
Ford said last spring it would move production of the Ford Focus small car to the new plant from Michigan. Trump has repeatedly criticized the plan, and Ford was among the companies he threatened to hit with a 35-percent tariff on products made in Mexico and exported to the U.S.
Trump added General Motors to that group today, saying in a tweet that the Cruze small cars GM makes in Mexico and sends to U.S. dealers could face "a big border tax!"
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Megyn Kelly leaving Fox News, will host 2 shows on NBC
NEW YORK (AP) — Megyn Kelly, the Fox News star who's had a contentious relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, said Tuesday that she's leaving the network for NBC News, where she will host a daytime talk show and a weekend newsmagazine, as well as contribute to breaking news coverage.
NBC News made the announcement Tuesday, ending months of speculation over whether she would re-up with Fox, where she has flourished while suffering bruised feelings in recent months, or start a new chapter in her career. Her contract with Fox expires this summer. Her last show on Fox will be Friday night.
Kelly's departure deprives Fox News of its second-most-watched host, behind only Bill O'Reilly, and a hole at 9 p.m. in its prime-time lineup.
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Here come 'smart stores' with robots, interactive shelves
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tomorrow's retail stores want to take a page from their online rivals by embracing advanced technology — everything from helpful robots to interactive mirrors to shelves embedded with sensors.
The goal: Use these real-world store features to lure shoppers back from the internet, and maybe even nudge them to spend more in the process.
Amazon's new experimental grocery store in Seattle, opening in early 2017, will let shoppers buy goods without needing to stop at a checkout line. Sensors track items as shoppers put them into baskets or return them to the shelf. The shopper's Amazon account gets automatically charged.
Kroger, Neiman Marcus and Lowe's are among the companies already experimenting with futuristic retail stores. Robots, for instance, could help guide shoppers to the right aisle, while augmented reality apps could help you see how a particular shade of paint will look in the living room — or how you might look in a pair of jeans. Many of these technologies will be unveiled or demonstrated at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, which begins Tuesday with media previews.
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Beantown as Shoetown: Sneaker makers stake claim in Boston
BOSTON (AP) — Shoe makers are racing to the Boston area as they compete for millennial talent.
Reebok picked the city's rapidly growing Seaport District for its new global headquarters in December. New Balance and Converse both opened splashy new headquarters in 2015 that helped redefine the city skyline.
Wolverine, which owns Saucony, Keds, Sperry and other brands, moved a regional campus in Waltham, just outside Boston, this summer from Lexington, Massachusetts. And shoe maker Rockport in January will open a new headquarters in the affluent Boston suburb of Newton.
The new locales recognize that younger, more skilled workers prefer to be closer to cities and the amenities they provide rather than distant suburbs, industry watchers say.
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Trump names lawyer Lighthizer as top trade rep
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will nominate lawyer Robert Lighthizer as U.S. trade representative, picking an experienced trade official who has questioned the conservative movement's commitment to free trade.
Lighthizer, who served as deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan, would play a key role in Trump's trade agenda. The president-elect has vigorously opposed the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, but has said he would ink one-on-one trade deals with individual countries. Trump has also signaled a tough stance on trade with China, including levying a hefty tariff on Chinese imports.
Lighthizer, who played a senior role during Bob Dole's 1996 campaign, has more recently worked on trade issues as a lawyer, representing manufacturing, agricultural and high-tech companies, according to his law firm biography. Lighthizer's bio also states that he focused on "market-opening trade actions on behalf of U.S. companies seeking access to foreign markets."
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FDA probes dangers of exploding e-cigarette batteries
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is probing the dangers of exploding batteries in e-cigarettes, following dozens of reports of devices that have combusted, overheated or caught fire and sometimes injured users.
The agency announced a two-day public meeting for April, according to an online posting.
The Associated Press reported last month that 66 explosions were identified by the FDA in 2015 and early 2016.
E-cigarettes are hand-held devices that vaporize liquid nicotine. Their safety has not been extensively studied and there's no scientific consensus on whether they help reduce rates of cigarette smoking.
———
US construction spending hits highest level in 10 years
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. builders boosted spending on construction projects for a second straight month in November, pushing activity to the highest level in more than a decade.
Construction spending rose 0.9 percent in November after a 0.6 percent increase in October, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. The increase reflected solid gains in home construction, nonresidential building and government construction activity.
The gains in all three categories pushed total construction to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.18 trillion, the highest point since April 2006 when a housing boom fueled building.
Economists believe construction will continue to show gains in 2017, reflecting a strong job market with unemployment at the lowest point in nine years.
———
US factory activity hit 2-year high in December
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturing activity expanded in December to its highest level in two years, as new orders and production jumped in a positive sign for economic growth.
The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its manufacturing index came in at 54.7 last month, up from 53.2 in November and the highest reading since the end of 2014. Any reading over 50 signals growth.
U.S. factories are steadily rebounding from a rough patch hit in late 2015 and early 2016. A prior decline in energy prices caused cutbacks in orders for equipment and pipelines, while a stronger dollar and slower economic growth abroad hurt exports.
New orders registered a reading of 60.2 and production improved to 60.3, evidence of greater demand for factory goods. The employment reading was a weaker but still expanding 53.1.
———
APNewsBreak: US yanks funds from unbuilt windmill farm
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A plan to build windmills off the New Jersey coast that has already burned through nearly $11 million and remains dead in the water is being cut off from further government funding.
The U.S. Department of Energy says Fishermen's Energy failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to have a power purchase agreement in place.
The department is revoking most of the $47 million in funding it pledged to the project in 2014; about $10.6 million has been spent already on preliminary work.
The project would have involved building six windmills about three miles off the coast of Atlantic City, which could have generated enough electricity to power 15,000 homes.
———
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 119.16 points, or 0.6 percent, to 19,881.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,257.83. The Nasdaq composite gained 45.97 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,429.08.
U.S. crude gave up $1.39, or 2.6 percent, to $52.33 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, skidded $1.35, or 2.4 percent, to $55.47 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 5 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $1.62 a gallon. Heating oil lost 5 cents, or 3 percent, to $1.68 a gallon. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/business-highlights-44535209 | CENTER |
52,904,219 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | House Republicans Act In Secret To Weaken Ethics Panel | GOP members voted to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence. Rachel Martin talks to Richard Painter, the chief ethics counselor for President George W. Bush. about the vote. | House Republicans Act In Secret To Weaken Ethics Panel
GOP members voted to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence. Rachel Martin talks to Richard Painter, the chief ethics counselor for President George W. Bush. about the vote.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Republicans in the House of Representatives held a secret vote last night and decided to weaken ethics oversight for the House. They voted to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence. The full House is set to vote later today to approve the new rules. For reaction, we've called Richard Painter. He was chief ethics counsel to President George W. Bush. Mr. Painter has been a frequent guest on our show expressing concerns about President-elect Donald Trump's potential conflicts of interest. Mr. Painter, welcome back to the show.
RICHARD PAINTER: Well, thank you very much.
MARTIN: This could seem to some like an obscure bureaucratic move, what House Republicans did, just a change on an org chart. Can you explain the significance here?
PAINTER: Well, it's a lot more than a bureaucratic move. The Office of Congressional Ethics was set up to be independent of the members of the House of Representatives, whereas the House Ethics Committee is staffed by, controlled by, the members of the House with the majority votes, of course, being with the majority party. So when they do this, they are undermining the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics by putting it under the thumb of the House Ethics Committee. I mean, this is putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop with American taxpayers being the chickens. This is not the way they ought to be doing it in Washington. We need independent oversight of the ethics of Congress.
MARTIN: So just to take a step back, so this - the independent nature of this panel was established around 2008. These new rule changes would mean the panel would move under the auspices of the House Ethics Committee, so, as you say, would be members of the House policing their own ethics behavior to some degree.
PAINTER: Well, exactly. You would have no independent investigations. You'd have no ability of the House Ethics Committee to stand up to the members of the House. They'd, in effect, be policing themselves, which they don't do from either party. This is not a partisan issue. We need independent oversight of ethics in Congress. And they put it in in 2008...
MARTIN: Although the...
PAINTER: And now they want to destroy it.
MARTIN: The House Ethics Committee, which is now going to be in charge of overseeing this panel, does have both Democrats and Republicans on it, so doesn't that create some kind of accountability?
PAINTER: That really just creates a partisan food fight. That's not ethics supervision. That's just using ethics as a partisan weapon. And that's what we get from Congress and these committees. We have that House Oversight Committee that, when it was controlled by Democrats, gave the Bush White House a very hard time. But then when things switched, the Republicans there wanted to do nothing but go after Hillary Clinton. I mean, that's not oversight. That's just politics. And then they get the FBI involved and so forth.
We've been through all that. We need independent oversight of the ethics in Congress, and they're not - they're taking it away. They put it in in 2008, and now they want to take it away. And if that's their attitude, I think the American people are going to have to think twice about who they're sending to Congress.
MARTIN: What about the claim that some Republicans say that with the way it was, with this Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent panel, this allowed people to make anonymous ethics complaints that were difficult for House members to defend themselves against. Do they have a point there?
PAINTER: Well, I - we have this, the executive branch, inspectors general and the agencies that were independent of the political appointees in the agencies. We have the Office of Public Integrity in the Justice Department. We have the Office of Government Ethics. Although they don't investigate complaints. They give guidance on ethics. But we have an independent apparatus in the executive branch. I don't see why Congress shouldn't play by the same rules. And I've disagreed sometimes with investigations of the House Office of Congressional Ethics. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have it. And this is - that's just an excuse for taking away the oversight that these members of Congress badly need.
MARTIN: Richard Painter served President George W. Bush as chief ethics lawyer. Thank you so much for your time on this.
PAINTER: Well, thank you.
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
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59,496,849 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Prison riots across Brazil leave at least 60 dead, dozens of inmates on the run | null | An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.
Authorities said the riot that raged from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning grew out of a fight between two of the country's biggest crime gangs over control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.
In a separate incident Monday evening, four inmates were killed at another Amazonas prison. Police were investigating whether there was a connection between the mass killings at the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex and the later ones at Unidade Prisional do Puraquequara.
Amazonas authorities initially reported 60 dead in the Anisio Jobim prison in Manaus, but the state public security secretary's office later reduced that figure to 56. Officials also said 112 inmates escaped during the riot.
There were 1,224 inmates in the prison, which was built to hold 592, Amazonas state public security's office said. The prison is run by a private company that is paid according to the number of inmates.
Brazil prison riot Marcio Silva / AFP/Getty Images Relatives of inmates ask for information at the main gate of the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex after a riot in Manaus, Brazil. Relatives of inmates ask for information at the main gate of the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex after a riot in Manaus, Brazil. (Marcio Silva / AFP/Getty Images) (Marcio Silva / AFP/Getty Images)
Twelve prison guards were held hostage by the inmates during the riot, though none was injured.
"This is the biggest prison massacre in our state's history," Public Security Secretary Sergio Fontes said at a news conference. "What happened here is another chapter of the war that narcos are waging on this country and it shows that this problem cannot be tackled only by state governments."
Fontes confirmed that many of the dead had been beheaded. Judge Luis Carlos Valois, who negotiated the end of the riot with inmates, said he saw many bodies that had been quartered.
"I never saw anything like that in my life. All those bodies, the blood," Valois wrote on Facebook.
It was the largest death toll during a Brazilian prison riot since the killing of 111 inmates by police officers in the Carandiru penitentiary in Sao Paulo in 1992. Police said they acted in self-defense then.
Brazil prison riot AFP/Getty Images This undated handout picture released Jan. 2, 2017, by the SESIP shows the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Manaus, Brazil. This undated handout picture released Jan. 2, 2017, by the SESIP shows the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Manaus, Brazil. (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty Images)
Two other prisons in Manaus also reported riots since Sunday. At one, 72 prisoners escaped, including an inmate who posted a picture of himself on Facebook as he left. Amazonas police were also looking for any links between those two incidents and the riot at Anisio Jobim.
Authorities said that of the 184 inmates who escaped Amazonas prisons the last two days, only 40 had been recaptured.
Fontes said the inmates at Anisio Jobim made few demands to end the riot, saying that hinted at a killing spree organized by members of a local gang, the Family of the North, against those of the First Command of the Capital that is based in Sao Paulo.
Valois said that during the negotiations at Anisio Jobim, inmates asked only "that we did not transfer them, made sure they were not attacked and kept their visitation" rights.
Authorities said officers found a hole in a prison wall through which weapons entered the building. A police officer was wounded in exchange of gunfire with the inmates. Several firearms were found when police searched the prison after the riot.
BRAZIL-PRISON-RIOT Marcio Silva / AFP/Getty Images Military police officers track inmates from the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex who escaped after a riot Jan. 2, 2017, in Manaus, Brazil .. Military police officers track inmates from the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex who escaped after a riot Jan. 2, 2017, in Manaus, Brazil .. (Marcio Silva / AFP/Getty Images) (Marcio Silva / AFP/Getty Images)
Jose Vicente da Silva, a former national public security secretary, said the incidents in Manaus were a result of Brazil's severe recession and poor management of the prison system.
"Since 2014 homicides in prisons of Amazonas are double the national average, and last year they cut their public security budget by 50 percent due to austerity measures. This incident is a repetition in a bigger scale," Da Silva told The Associated Press. "Every year 500 inmates die in Brazilian prisons. With the current economic crisis and the budget cuts, the gangs get even bolder."
The First Command, nationally known as PCC, is the most powerful drug and prison gang in Brazil and it has been trying to extend its reach to northern prisons dominated by the Family of the North. To counter, Family of the North associated with the Red Commando of Rio de Janeiro, the second biggest crime gang in Brazil.
To avoid another wave of killings of PCC members, Amazonas authorities said they had relocated 130 inmates to a prison that was opened in 1907 but deactivated in October because of substandard conditions.
Associated Press | Tribune News Services | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-brazil-prison-riot-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
4,637,722 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Trump’s Team: Who’s who in president-elect’s Cabinet, White House | President-elect Donald Trump has quickly announced his picks for key Cabinet and White House positions since the November election. The following are his selections so far – Cabinet nominees are subject to Senate confirmation. | President-elect Donald Trump has quickly announced his picks for key Cabinet and White House positions since the November election. The following are his selections so far – Cabinet nominees are subject to Senate confirmation. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/03/trump-s-team-who-s-who-in-president-elect-s-cabinet-white-house.html | RIGHT |
115,970,595 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Chicago's Record Violence Spills Into 2017 With 28 Shot on New Year's Day | Chicago's Violence Spills Into 2017 With 28 Shot on New Year's Day | The record-setting violence Chicago saw in 2016 extended into the New Year -- with 28 people shot in the city on the first day of January alone, according to data from the Chicago Police Department.
The first shooting of 2017 happened at 1:05 a.m. Sunday, when two men were taken to the hospital after one man was shot in the chest and the other in the back in a drive-by, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Three men were killed in the shootings. Of those shot, five victims were women and three of the victims were minors.
The last shooting of the day occurred at 10:55 p.m., when three men were shot while standing on the street in another drive-by shooting, according to the data.
Chicago saw 3,550 shooting incidents and 762 murders in 2016, which works out to an average, per day, of more than 9.7 shootings and more than two murders. The 20 shootings on New Year's Day are more than twice the daily average from 2016.
Shootings have reached a record level since police began tracking them in 2011, rising nearly 50 percent over last year and nearly doubling since 2013.
The police department did not immediately comment about the New Year's Day shootings and the mayor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shooting Incidents in Chicago on New Year's Day:
1:05 a.m.: Two men were injured in a drive-by shooting. A 21-year-old was taken to the hospital in "unknown condition" after he was shot in the chest, and a 19-year-old was transported to the hospital in stable condition after he was shot in the back.
1:41 a.m.: A 23-year-old woman was sitting in a car when she was shot in the back in a drive-by shooting. She was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
2 a.m.: Three people were shot while attending a house party when an unknown gunman entered the home and opened fire. A 20-year-old man was shot in the left hand and was taken to the hospital in good condition. In addition, a 31-year-old woman was shot in the chest and a 33-year-old man was shot in the back. Both were taken to the hospital in stable condition.
2:13 a.m.: A 22-year-old man was grazed by a gunshot wound on his eyebrow. The victim told police that he heard shots and felt pain. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
2:15 a.m.: A 29-year-old woman was on a sidewalk with several friends when an unknown gunman across the street fired shots. She was grazed by a bullet in her left leg and was treated by emergency responders on the scene, but refused further treatment.
2:20 a.m.: A 26-year-old woman was exiting her car when she was shot in the left arm in a drive-by shooting. She was taken to the hospital in good condition.
2:30 a.m.: A 24-year-old man was walking into a home when a gunman in a black sedan shot him in the right leg. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
3:46 a.m.: Three men were shot in the same location, where police found a 19-year-old with a gunshot wound in his lower back. Two other victims were found at a different location but told officers that they were shot in the same place the 19-year-old was found. One of the victims, age 21, was taken to the hospital in critical condition after suffering a gunshot wound to his throat. The other victim, age 20, sustained a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
3:55 a.m.: A 26-year-old man was sitting in a car when three men exited another car and fired shots at him. The victim was grazed in the head but was transported to the hospital in good condition.
4:25 a.m.: Two men were pronounced dead at the hospital after a police investigation discovered that they had been shooting at each other inside of a business. A 38-year-old man sustained gunshot wounds to his chest and right leg, while an unidentified man sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his right side.
5:30 a.m.: A 52-year-old man was in his home when a bullet penetrated his window and struck him in the right leg. He was taken to the hospital in good condition.
5:53 a.m.: A 39-year-old was pronounced dead on the scene after police found him lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his body.
11:16 a.m.: A 27-year-old man was driving and felt pain after hearing gunshots, he told police. He was taken to the hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds to his left shoulder, both hands and his buttocks. Two persons of interest have been taken into custody for questioning.
12:06 p.m.: A 15-year-old boy was walking in an alley when he heard gunshots, he told police. He sustained a gunshot wound to his right leg and was taken to the hospital in good condition.
1:40 p.m.: A 17-year-old was walking on a sidewalk when he was shot by a gunman in a black Nissan with up to three other men inside. He was transported to the hospital in stable condition.
2:35 p.m.: A 19-year-old transported himself to the hospital in serious condition after he suffered gunshot wounds to his back and left leg. He told police he was getting into a car when two men in a passing vehicle began to shoot at him.
3:30 p.m.: A 31-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk when he was shot in the hand. He was transported to the hospital in good condition.
7:28 p.m.: A 16-year-old was standing on a corner when he was shot by a gunman in a sedan. He was transported to the hospital in good condition.
9:40 p.m.: A 48-year-old woman was inside her apartment when an unknown gunman fired shots through her door. She sustained gunshot wounds to her buttocks and both of her legs and was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
10:55 p.m.: Three men were on the street when all three were shot in a drive-by shooting. A 26-year-old man was shot multiple times and taken to the hospital in critical condition. A 31-year-old man sustained a graze wound to his head, and a 19-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and right arm. Both were taken to the hospital in stable condition.
ABC News' Emily Shapiro contributed to this report. | Abc News;More Julia | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/chicagos-record-violence-spills-2017-28-shot-years/story?id=44532135 | CENTER |
4,549,528 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | More than 50 inmates killed in Brazil prison riot | An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992. | An attack by members of one crime gang on rival inmates touched off a riot at a prison in the northern state of Amazonas, leaving at least 56 dead, including several who were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.
Authorities said the riot that raged from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning grew out of a fight between two of the country's biggest crime gangs over control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.
In a separate incident Monday evening, four inmates were killed at another Amazonas prison. Police were investigating whether there was a connection between the mass killings at the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex and the later ones at Unidade Prisional do Puraquequara.
Amazonas authorities initially reported 60 dead in the Anisio Jobim prison in Manaus, but the state public security secretary's office later reduced that figure to 56. Officials also said 112 inmates escaped during the riot.
There were 1,224 inmates in the prison, which was built to hold 592, Amazonas state public security's office said. The prison is run by a private company that is paid according to the number of inmates.
Twelve prison guards were held hostage by the inmates during the riot, though none was injured.
"This is the biggest prison massacre in our state's history," Public Security Secretary Sergio Fontes said at a news conference. "What happened here is another chapter of the war that narcos are waging on this country and it shows that this problem cannot be tackled only by state governments."
Fontes confirmed that many of the dead had been beheaded. Judge Luis Carlos Valois, who negotiated the end of the riot with inmates, said he saw many bodies that had been quartered.
"I never saw anything like that in my life. All those bodies, the blood," Valois wrote on Facebook.
It was the largest death toll during a Brazilian prison riot since the killing of 111 inmates by police officers in the Carandiru penitentiary in Sao Paulo in 1992. Police said they acted in self-defense then.
Two other prisons in Manaus also reported riots since Sunday. At one, 72 prisoners escaped, including an inmate who posted a picture of himself on Facebook as he left. Amazonas police were also looking for any links between those two incidents and the riot at Anisio Jobim.
Authorities said that of the 184 inmates who escaped Amazonas prisons the last two days, only 40 had been recaptured.
Fontes said the inmates at Anisio Jobim made few demands to end the riot, saying that hinted at a killing spree organized by members of a local gang, the Family of the North, against those of the First Command of the Capital that is based in Sao Paulo.
Valois said that during the negotiations at Anisio Jobim, inmates asked only "that we did not transfer them, made sure they were not attacked and kept their visitation" rights.
Authorities said officers found a hole in a prison wall through which weapons entered the building. A policeman was wounded in exchange of gunfire with the inmates. Several firearms were found when police searched the prison after the riot.
Jose Vicente da Silva, a former national public security secretary, said the incidents in Manaus were a result of Brazil's severe recession and poor management of the prison system.
"Since 2014 homicides in prisons of Amazonas are double the national average, and last year they cut their public security budget by 50 percent due to austerity measures. This incident is a repetition in a bigger scale," Da Silva told The Associated Press. "Every year 500 inmates die in Brazilian prisons. With the current economic crisis and the budget cuts, the gangs get even bolder."
The First Command, nationally known as PCC, is the most powerful drug and prison gang in Brazil and it has been trying to extend its reach to northern prisons dominated by the Family of the North. To counter, Family of the North associated with the Red Commando of Rio de Janeiro, the second biggest crime gang in Brazil.
To avoid another wave of killings of PCC members, Amazonas authorities said they had relocated 130 inmates to a prison that was opened in 1907 but deactivated in October because of substandard conditions. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/03/more-than-50-inmates-killed-in-brazil-prison-riot.html | RIGHT |
4,424,283 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | House Republicans drop ethics office overhaul after Trump criticism | House Republicans on Tuesday abruptly dropped a proposal seeking controversial changes to the Office of Congressional Ethics after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the plan, as the 115th Congress opened on a contentious note. | House Republicans on Tuesday abruptly dropped a proposal seeking controversial changes to the Office of Congressional Ethics after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the plan, as the 115th Congress opened on a contentious note.
The new Republican-controlled Congress gaveled into session at noon, and the opening day largely will be spent finalizing the vote for speaker and dealing with other matters.
But GOP leaders worked quickly to resolve the dispute with Trump after he challenged fellow Republicans Tuesday morning on the ethics office plan. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., held a short meeting and moved to pull the language.
The semi-independent ethics body was created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison. Under the change initially pushed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the non-partisan office would fall under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers.
While Democrats decried the plan, Trump earlier took to Twitter to nudge Republicans to focus more on repealing ObamaCare, pursuing tax reform and other priorities.
He wrote: “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it … may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!”
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
........may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
The ethics change that had been sought by House Republicans Monday was part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday. The package also includes a means for Republican leaders to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.
The House still plans to vote on the overall rules package – but GOP leaders plan to deal with the ethics issue later, sometime before the August recess.
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader McCarthy already had argued against making a unilateral ethics change in a meeting on Monday, pressing for a bipartisan approach at a later date, but rank-and-file Republicans defied their leadership.
Under the proposed ethics change, the office would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, and the rule change would require that "any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members," according to Goodlatte's office.
Lawmakers would have the final say on their colleagues under the change.
Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reacted angrily.
"Republicans claim they want to `drain the swamp,' but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions," the California Democrat said in a statement. "Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress."
In a statement, Goodlatte said the rules amendment "builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics."
But others said the new system would make it easier for corruption to flourish under Ryan and his leadership team.
The OCE was created in March 2008 after the cases of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases involving former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and pleaded guilty to corruption charges, and former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., convicted on corruption in a separate case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/03/house-republicans-drop-ethics-office-overhaul-after-trump-criticism.html | RIGHT |
4,639,221 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | House GOP votes to gut independent ethics office | House Republicans on Monday voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison. | House Republicans on Monday voted to eviscerate the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison.
The ethics change, which prompted an outcry from Democrats and government watchdog groups, is part of a rules package that the full House will vote on Tuesday. The package also includes a means for Republican leaders to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over gun control.
Under the ethics change pushed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics would fall under the control of the House Ethics Committee, which is run by lawmakers. It would be known as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, and the rule change would require that "any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members," according to Goodlatte's office.
Lawmakers would have the final say under the change. House Republicans voted 119-74 for the Goodlatte measure despite arguments from Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., against the change. They failed to sway rank-and-file Republicans, some of whom have felt unfairly targeted by the OCE.
"The amendment builds upon and strengthens the existing Office of Congressional Ethics by maintaining its primary area of focus of accepting and reviewing complaints from the public and referring them, if appropriate, to the Committee on Ethics," Goodlatte said in a statement.
Democrats, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, reacted angrily.
"Republicans claim they want to 'drain the swamp,' but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions," the California lawmaker said in a statement. "Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress."
Chris Carson, president of the League of Women Voters, said Ryan should be ashamed of himself and his leadership team.
"We all know the so-called House Ethics Committee is worthless for anything other than a whitewash — sweeping corruption under the rug. That's why the independent Office of Congressional Ethics has been so important. The OCE works to stop corruption and that's why Speaker Ryan is cutting its authority. Speaker Ryan is giving a green light to congressional corruption."
The OCE was created in March 2008 after the cases of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who served more than seven years in prison on bribery and other charges; as well as cases of former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was charged in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and pleaded guilty to corruption charges and former Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., convicted on corruption in a separate case. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/03/house-gop-votes-to-gut-independent-ethics-office.html | RIGHT |
4,505,480 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | NYC's taxi fleet could be replaced by 3,000 ridesharing vehicles, MIT study says | Perfect situation. | New York City's entire taxi fleet -- nearly 13,250 vehicles -- could be replaced by just 3,000 ridesharing cars if these services were optimized, according to a new study from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
CSAIL's Daniela Rus and her team created an algorithm that crunched data from three million New York City taxi rides, calculating routes and schedules for two-person, four-person, and ten-person vehicles. The results showed that 3,000 four-person cabs could help handle 98 percent of the City's demand (with a waiting time of 2.3 minutes), while 3,000 two-person cabs could handle 94 percent and just 2,000 ten-person vehicles could handle 95 percent.
"To our knowledge, this is the first time that scientists have been able to experimentally quantify the trade-off between fleet size, capacity, waiting time, travel delay, and operational costs for a range of vehicles, from taxis to vans and shuttles," Rus said in a press release. "What's more, the system is particularly suited to autonomous cars, since it can continuously reroute vehicles based on real-time requests."
More: More the merrier: Study shows driverless truck platooning saves time and energy
Many of today's ridesharing systems, like those used by Uber and Lyft, are relatively inflexible when it comes to planning and assigning routes. In contrast, Rus' system can rematch rides to different vehicles when appropriate and could prepare for high demand by sending idle cars to busy areas. The researchers said this lets the service run 20 percent faster than standard services.
"Ridesharing services have enormous potential for positive societal impact with respect to congestion, pollution and energy consumption," Rus said. "I think it's important that we as researchers do everything we can to explore ways to make these transportation systems as efficient and reliable as possible."
Rus and her team published an article titled "Ride-Vehicle Assignment and Analysis of the Benefits of High Capacity Vehicle Pooling" in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/01/03/nycs-taxi-fleet-could-be-replaced-by-3000-ridesharing-vehicles-mit-study-says.html | RIGHT |
4,606,434 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Mom spends holidays with teen who received son's donated heart | The mother of a Georgia teen who died two years ago celebrated the holidays with a boy who is alive today because of her son’s heart. | The mother of a Georgia teen who died two years ago celebrated the holidays with a boy who is alive today because of her son’s heart. Tyler Liebl's organs, bone and tissue went to 23 different people across the country after he was declared brain dead in 2014, but his heart ended up with now-19-year-old Lance Frye in Pittsburgh, Inside Edition reported.
“Tyler wanted to help others,” Janece Risty, Tyler’s mother, told Inside Edition. “I just felt it was the right thing to do.”
Tyler, who complained of a headache before suddenly collapsing and suffering massive bleeding on the brain, saved Frye, who was born with a congenital heart defect and had three unsuccessful heart surgeries. At the time of Tyler’s death, Frye’s heart was failing.
“My entire family felt extremely grateful for us being able to get a heart,” Frye told Inside Edition. “You can never express how grateful you are to them.”
The families, who first connected in 2016, now consider themselves relatives of one another, and got together over Christmas in Newnan, Georgia, to celebrate both boys.
“It gives me a lot of joy, especially since Christmas is celebrating Christ’s life and we celebrate Tyler’s life because he is with Jesus,” Risty told Inside Edition. “We celebrate Lance’s life because of Tyler. It’s great to know how Lance’s life improved because of Tyler.” | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/01/03/mom-spends-holidays-with-teen-who-received-sons-donated-heart.html | RIGHT |
4,379,320 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Russia aims to beef up military ties with Philippines as 2 ships visit | Russia is eyeing naval exercises with the Philippines and deployed two navy ships for a goodwill visit to Manila on Tuesday as Moscow moves to expand defense ties with a Filipino president known for being hostile to the U.S. | Russia is eyeing naval exercises with the Philippines and deployed two navy ships for a goodwill visit to Manila on Tuesday as Moscow moves to expand defense ties with a Filipino president known for being hostile to the U.S.
SPICER HINTS OBAMA'S RUSSIAN SANCTIONS 'POLITICALLY MOTIVATED'
Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov, deputy commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet, led the five-day visit of vessels including an anti-submarine ship and showcased what his country can offer to a Southeast Asian nation that's long been a staunch American treaty ally.
"You can choose ... to cooperate with United States of America or to cooperate with Russia," Mikhailov told reporters through an interpreter at the Manila harbor after a welcoming ceremony. "But from our side we can help you in every way that you need."
RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS EXPELLED IN CONNECTION WITH CYBER HACKS LEAVE USA
"We are sure that in the future we'll have exercises with you. Maybe, just maneuvering or maybe use of combat systems and so on," he said.
The anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs and sea tanker Boris Butoma have a wide range of combat features. Filipinos will be allowed to tour the huge ships and Russian marines will demonstrate their combat capability during the high-profile visit, according to the Philippine navy.
With an underfunded and underequipped military, the Philippines has struggled to deal with attacks by ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf militants and allied gunmen, who have kidnapped crewmen of tugboats and ships from neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia in the Sulu Sea and outlying waters.
Russia can help through future combat drills, Mikhailov said. "We have an experience in fighting these (threats)," he said. "We will share to you our knowledge on these problems, how to solve piracy and terrorism."
After Russian and Philippine officials met in Manila in August, the two countries began drafting a proposed defense cooperation accord that could be signed during a planned visit by President Rodrigo Duterte to Russia in April.
The visit by the Russian navy ships is the third to the Philippines and the first under Duterte, who took office in June. Duterte has lashed out at outgoing President Barack Obama and his administration for criticizing Duterte's deadly crackdown on illegal drugs which is feared to have left more than 6,000 suspected drug users and dealers.
Contrastingly, Duterte has reached out to China and Russia -- whose leaders he has met recently -- in a dramatic shift in Philippine foreign policy that has put Washington in a dilemma.
The Philippines has depended heavily on the U.S., its treaty ally, for weapons, ships and aircraft for years, although it has turned to other countries for defense equipment. After visiting Moscow last month, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippine military was considering purchasing sniper rifles from Russia.
Duterte has repeatedly threatened to scale back U.S. troop presence and joint exercises with the Americans in the Philippines. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/03/russia-aims-to-beef-up-military-ties-with-philippines-as-2-ships-visit.html | RIGHT |
115,921,852 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Emu Roams the Roads of a Small California Community | One family in the area has nicknamed the elusive big bird "George." | A lone emu has been looking more like a road runner, roaming the streets of the central California community of Valley Springs.
The flightless running bird was first spotted some time last last week, according to ABC affiliate KXTV in Sacramento, California.
Word of the bird traveled fast and numerous residents have since said they have witnessed the emu roaming around and even stopping traffic in the area for the past few days, KXTV reported. However, no one seems to know where the bird -- which is native to Australia -- is from, the station added.
On Tuesday, KXTV reporter John Bartell went on a mission to track down the elusive emu.
"I can honestly say as a reporter I’ve been on many wild goose chases," Bartell said, "but this is the first time I’ve ever been on a wild emu chase."
Bartell first caught up with Valley Springs resident Charles White who told him that the large bird showed up late last week. White said that at one point, the emu had been "sleeping by my son's house."
KXTV
"He just roams around," White added. "We don’t know if it’s a male or female, but we named it George."
Another resident told Bartell that the emu actually walked onto his driveway and "almost came into my garage."
Bartell eventually spotted the emu on Tuesday walking down a road in the town and stopping traffic for a little while.
KXTV reported that numerous people, including Bartell, filed a report with the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office about the emu on the loose.
The Calaveras County Sheriff's Office and Calaveras County Animal Services did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests today for comment and information on the origin and whereabouts of the big bird and whether it's been corralled. | Abc News;More Avianne | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/emu-roams-roads-small-california-community/story?id=44525239 | CENTER |
115,956,641 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Republicans Primed for Push to Dismantle Obama's Policies | Republicans Primed for Push to Dismantle Obama's Policies | Members of the 115th Congress will be sworn in at noon Tuesday, setting off an aggressive campaign by Republicans who control the House and Senate to dismantle eight years of President Barack Obama's Democratic policies.
One of the biggest and most immediate targets is Obama's Affordable Care Act, which many Republicans have long sought to gut and has been blamed as a primary cause for a lackluster economic recovery. But decades-old programs that millions of Americans rely on every day, such as Social Security and Medicare, also will be in the crosshairs as congressional Republicans seek to shrink both the size of the federal budget and the bureaucracy in Washington.
"We have a lot to do — and a lot to undo," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a letter to fellow Republicans.
Democrats will try to block the far-reaching conservative agenda by swaying public opinion and using the power they have in the Senate to filibuster legislation. But that strategy has its political limitations. Twenty-three Senate Democrats are up for re-election in 2018, including 10 from states won by President-elect Donald Trump, and they could break ranks and side with the GOP.
"Democrats will not sit idly by and watch the Affordable Care Act be dismantled and tens of millions lose their insurance and protections," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters Monday.
Obama plans a rare trip to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with congressional Democrats and discuss strategy for saving the health care law. Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with Republicans.
The first week of the new Congress will be a preview of the hectic pace planned by Republicans.
The House will vote on Tuesday on a rules package that would gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, placing it under the purview of the lawmaker-run House Ethics Committee. Democrats and watchdog groups angrily denounced the notion of Congress' self-policing.
The rules package also would give Republican leaders the tools to punish lawmakers if there is a repeat of the Democratic sit-in last summer over the failure to move gun control legislation.
Votes also are expected on resolutions to denounce the United Nations for condemning the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Republicans blasted the Obama administration for refusing to veto the decision. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pledged "to reverse the damage done by this administration, and rebuild our alliance with Israel."
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, is scheduled to testify Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee on an intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered in the U.S. election by hacking into Democratic email accounts. Allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. political process will be examined by individual congressional committees, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected a bipartisan call for a special, high-profile select panel to investigate.
Obama last week slapped Russia with sweeping penalties over the hacking allegations, yet Trump has not publicly accepted the conclusion that Moscow was behind the election year intrusions. Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that "there doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence" that the Russians were responsible.
The House is slated to vote Friday to certify Trump's victory in the presidential election over Democrat Hillary Clinton. She is the fifth presidential candidate to win the popular vote and lose the Electoral College. She received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump, according to an Associated Press analysis, giving her the largest popular vote margin of any losing presidential candidate and bringing renewed calls to abolish the Electoral College.
Other must-do items on the GOP's agenda are an overhaul of the U.S. tax code. Conservatives also want to scuttle rules on the environment and undo financial regulations created in the aftermath of the 2008 economic meltdown, arguing they are too onerous for businesses to thrive.
The Senate plans to begin repealing Obama's health care law on Tuesday, with consideration of a procedural measure that would shield the initiative from Democratic filibusters.
Lawmakers will then spend the next few months working on legislation canceling broad swaths of the law. Likely to go are its mandate that people buy health insurance or face IRS fines, and its expansion of Medicaid coverage to more lower-earning Americans. But several elements of the repeal likely wouldn't go into effect for two to four years.
Amid the busy legislative schedule, the Senate will exercise its advice and consent role and consider Trump's picks for his Cabinet.
————
Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter: http://twitter.com/rplardner | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/republicans-primed-push-dismantle-obamas-policies-44521720 | CENTER |
115,928,395 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Missing 6-Year-Old Colorado Boy Focus of Amber Alert, Reward | Missing 6-Year-Old Colorado Boy Focus of Amber Alert, Reward | Police are searching for a 6-year-old boy who is believed to have wandered away from his home in suburban Denver on New Year's Eve, authorities said.
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies helped in the hunt for David Puckett on Monday, going door-to-door within 2.5 miles of his home in Aurora. Bloodhounds and a helicopter have also been used.
An Amber Alert was issued and police said a $10,000 reward was offered.
Aurora police appealed for help to find David as quickly as possible partly because of coming cold weather, with lows expected in the upper teens.
"The public can help by physically searching their homes, automobiles, and any structures on their property where a child may be able to hide," a police statement said.
Authorities have said that foul play isn't suspected, but they said they have contacted registered sex offenders who live in the area and have searched nearby bodies of water.
Monday evening, police disclosed that someone outside the family had seen the boy the day he went missing, but they didn't elaborate.
The FBI told the Denver Post that the agency assigned 50 agents to the case, including one who is highly specialized in missing children searches.
His mother on Sunday issued a tearful appeal for people to help find him and said he was only wearing a light jacket.
Police said David has wandered off before. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/missing-year-colorado-boy-focus-amber-alert-reward-44521847 | CENTER |
52,953,081 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Republicans Plan To Repeal Affordable Care Act In New Session | Congress is expected to take up repeal of the Affordable Care Act this week. The plan is still sketchy, but some details are starting to emerge. | Republicans Plan To Repeal Affordable Care Act In New Session
Congress is expected to take up repeal of the Affordable Care Act this week. The plan is still sketchy, but some details are starting to emerge.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Let's talk more now about how Republicans are planning to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act. NPR health policy correspondent Alison Kodjak is here. Hi, Alison.
ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What are you hearing Republicans are likely to do?
KODJAK: Well, what they're looking to do, at least they tell me, is that they want to gut the law essentially by removing all the taxes that pay for subsidies for people to buy insurance. There's a whole bunch of taxes in Obamacare, taxes on medical devices, taxes on health insurance companies. Wealthy people pay a surtax. And all the money used by those taxes goes to subsidies so that lower- and middle-income people can buy insurance at an affordable price.
SHAPIRO: If those subsidies and those taxes go away, are people who are currently getting their insurance through the Affordable Care Act going to lose their coverage?
KODJAK: Well, that's unclear. Republicans say they don't want millions of people to suddenly lose their coverage. They want to sort of allow a transition period so that they can come up with a replacement for Obamacare after they vote on this repeal.
So what they would do is phase out the parts of the law that they want to repeal over time, probably a two-year period or something. We don't know exactly how that's going to work. The best model we have is a law that they passed a year ago that President Obama vetoed where they phased out most of the law over two years.
But one thing they did was they got rid of the individual mandate that requires people to buy insurance immediately, and that could undermine their whole plan if that is in the new version of the bill.
SHAPIRO: Because if they get rid of the individual requirement that everybody buy insurance, then healthy people won't buy it. Sick people will, and it costs the insurance company a whole lot more money.
KODJAK: Right, exactly because, you know, then they raise premiums, and healthy people are even less likely to buy insurance - just this spiral that goes out of control.
SHAPIRO: So we know that Republicans say they don't want people to lose their insurance, but if it looks like a repeal vote will come as far as two years before a replace vote and we don't know what the replace vote looks like, sounds like it's hard to say for sure whether people will lose their insurance or not.
KODJAK: It is. It - there's just so much up in the air. And you know, what you have is people not sure if they're going to lose their insurance, less motivated to buy insurance. Plus, you have the insurance market, which is a big wildcard here. Insurance companies haven't been making a lot of money or have been losing money on the Obamacare market over the last few years. They've remained committed because the law was there, and they were trying to figure out how to make a product that would be profitable.
If they know the law is going away, there's not a lot of motivation for them to continue trying to sell insurance into this market. And so what you'll have is Republicans trying to keep this market going while they come up with a replacement, but they can't always get the insurance companies to cooperate. They can't force them to sell insurance into the market.
SHAPIRO: If Republicans in Congress have known for years that repealing and replacing Obamacare was one of their top priorities - and this is one of Donald Trump's top priorities for the entire year-plus of the presidential campaign - why wouldn't they have a replacement model all set up and ready to go the minute they took power?
KODJAK: You know, that's a good question. There's been a lot of talk about why over six to eight years they haven't come up with a plan. There have been a lot of proposals out there. They're details vary. And I think the issue is that there's different motivations behind different Republican plans.
Some want to keep as many people covered as are covered now. Others want to give people the option of having insurance and the option of not having insurance. Others are really focused on lowering health care costs.
So what you're finding now - what we're seeing is the variety of different policies out there seem to be focused on universal access to insurance, making insurance available to everybody but getting rid of that mandate that Republicans can't stand which is requiring people to have insurance.
SHAPIRO: Alison, open enrollment in these insurance exchanges is happening now and scheduled to continue through the Trump inauguration and beyond. What happens to that?
KODJAK: Well, the Trump administration will have to at least see this open enrollment through, which, you know, will last a few weeks after he's inaugurated. And then depending on how long it takes for the Republicans to come up with a replacement plan if they want to keep Obamacare going while they - through this transition, they may be into another open enrollment period next fall.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Alison Kodjak, thank you.
KODJAK: Thanks, Ari.
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | Alison Kodjak | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508075278/republicans-plan-to-repeal-affordable-care-act-in-new-session?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=allthingsconsidered | LEFT |
4,416,028 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Michigan sheriff's officer accuses female superior of serial sexual harassment | A Michigan sheriff’s officer is alleging serial sexual harassment by a female superior in a new lawsuit aimed not at the woman but his employer. | A sheriff’s officer in Michigan claimed a female superior sexually harassed him again and again, in a new lawsuit aimed not at the woman but at his employer.
ROUND-THE-CLOCK MANHUNT ON FOR EX-ARMY RESERVIST WHO ESCAPED RHODE ISLAND DETENTION CENTER
Wayne County Sheriff’s Officer Philip Kozlowski, 53, said when he tried complaining about the abuse, other supervisors laughed at him and a co-worker told him to “take one for the team,” The Detroit Free Press reported.
“That's one of the problems you have in these reverse cases. A lot of men might think, ‘Well, where's the harassment?’” Kozlowski’s attorney, Scott Batey, said.
PHILADELPHIA POLICE INVESTIGATE VIDEO OF OFFICER FIGHTING TEEN
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, contains a bevy of scandalous alleged details and quotes attributed to the female superior.
The woman once locked herself in an office to be alone with Kozlowski, according to the lawsuit. Kozlowski also claimed she lobbed raunchy comments at him, such as: "Did you see '50 Shades of Grey'? I bet you are just like him in bed."
In addition, she suggested he get his wife drunk so the three could have sex, the lawsuit stated.
The sheriff's office declined comment.
Kozlowski first filed a written complaint on Oct. 24, 2015; however, he said his superior turned the tables, accusing him of sexual assault. Though he was never charged with a crime, Kozlowski was eventually demoted.
“It’s been devastating to his career,” Batey told The Free Press. “The very fact that he had to file a lawsuit is devastating to his career. What a lot of employers don't get is that they can have an employee who is harassing someone, and all they have to do is take prompt remedial actions and stop it.”
Click for more from The Detroit Free Press. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/03/michigan-sheriffs-officer-accuses-female-superior-serial-sexual-harassment.html | RIGHT |
115,912,132 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | UK Stock Market Hits Record as Manufacturers Win Business | UK Stock Market Hits Record as Manufacturers Win Business | Britain's main stock index struck a record high Tuesday as a survey showed manufacturers gaining business from the slide in the value of the pound since the country's decision in June to leave the European Union.
In early-afternoon trading, the FTSE 100 index was up 0.4 percent at 7,174. Though the index is down slightly from its earlier all-time high of 7,205.21, it remains on course to better the previous record high of 7,142.83.
One of the main reasons why the FTSE 100 has hit a series of highs over the past few months relates to the near 20 percent fall in the value of the pound across an array of currencies since June's "Brexit" decision. On the eve of the vote, the pound was trading as high as $1.50. Now it's around $1.23.
A weaker pound can help exporters win business abroad and paradoxically boosts the earnings of many companies listed on the FTSE 100 that make the bulk of their revenue in other currencies. They include oil giants BP and Shell, mining firms Anglo American and BHP Billiton, and Europe's largest bank, HSBC.
Another survey released Tuesday confirmed the boon provided by the pound's fall.
The monthly survey of manufacturers from financial information company IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply showed the sector enjoying a strong rise in new business in December. The so-called purchasing managers' index — a broad gauge of business activity — rose to a two-and-a-half year high 56.1 points in December from the previous month's 53.6.
The survey shows output expanded to meet the higher inflows of new work. The growth rates in output and new orders were among the fastest seen during the survey's 25-year history.
"The boost to competitiveness from the weak exchange rate has undoubtedly been a key driver of the recent turnaround, while the domestic market has remained a strong contributor to new business wins," said Rob Dobson, Senior Economist at IHS Markit.
The British economy has fared better since the Brexit vote than many forecasters had predicted. Instead of falling into recession as many had expected, it continued to grow. That was again largely due to the export-boosting fall in the pound as well as further stimulus measures from the Bank of England, including a cut in its main interest rate to a record low of 0.25 percent.
Though manufacturing is improving, the consensus is that the British economy as a whole will falter this year as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit ratchets up. Prime Minister Theresa May has indicated that she will trigger the two-year process by which Britain leaves the EU by the end of March. That move is expected to undermine British economic activity as businesses and individuals delay or scrap investment and spending amid the uncertainty.
One negative aspect stemming from the fall in the pound is that it raises the prospect of higher inflation by making import costs more expensive, which could undermine business and consumer spending. Tuesday's survey also confirmed that trend: rates of inflation for input costs — things like raw materials and energy — and output charges both remained elevated in December, albeit down slightly from October's highs.
"The impact of rising input costs continued to be felt, as the rate of cost inflation stood at one of the highest in the survey's 25-year history," said David Noble, Group CEO at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-stock-market-hits-record-manufacturers-win-business-44522455 | CENTER |
115,924,428 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Hillary and Bill Clinton to Attend Donald Trump Inauguration, Aides Say | Hillary, Bill Clinton to Attend Trump's Inauguration | Hillary and Bill Clinton plan to attend the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration, their respective aides say.
Former presidents from both parties typically attend inaugurations, but her presence takes on added meaning given that the former first lady was President-elect Donald Trump’s main opponent in the 2016 race.
Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by more than 2.9 million votes, but Republican Trump won the Electoral College, securing him the presidency.
The last time Clinton and Trump were in the same room together was at the October Al Smith Dinner in New York after the third presidential debate.
A similar situation unfolded in 2000 when outgoing Vice President Al Gore attended the inauguration of George W. Bush, who had defeated Gore in a contentious election. | Abc News;Meghan Keneally;More Josh;More Meghan | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-bill-clinton-attend-donald-trump-inauguration-aides/story?id=44531786 | CENTER |
52,937,615 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | House Republicans Act In Secret To Weaken Ethics Panel | GOP members voted to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence. Rachel Martin talks to Richard Painter, the chief ethics counselor for President George W. Bush. about the vote. | House Republicans Act In Secret To Weaken Ethics Panel
GOP members voted to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence. Rachel Martin talks to Richard Painter, the chief ethics counselor for President George W. Bush. about the vote. | null | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508008421/house-republicans-act-in-secret-to-weaken-ethics-panel?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=politics | LEFT |
52,897,293 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Researchers Link Gun Violence To Public Health In Chicago Study | Every day in the United States more than 200 people are murdered or assaulted with a firearm. Researchers studying gun violence in Chicago looked at arrests and other data over an 8-year period to explain how gun violence can spread like an infectious disease. | Researchers Link Gun Violence To Public Health In Chicago Study
Every day in the United States more than 200 people are murdered or assaulted with a firearm. Researchers studying gun violence in Chicago looked at arrests and other data over an 8-year period to explain how gun violence can spread like an infectious disease. | Cheryl Corley | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508075299/researchers-link-gun-violence-to-public-health-in-chicago-study?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=us | LEFT |
116,006,512 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Inmates Involved in Brazil Prison Massacre to Be Transferred | Inmates Involved in Brazil Prison Massacre to Be Transferred | Brazilian authorities said Tuesday that the inmates responsible for the killings of 56 rivals at a prison in the Amazon will be transferred to high security federal institutions in addition to being prosecuted. Many of those slain were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.
Three other prisons in the state of Amazonas also saw riots Sunday and Monday. In total, 60 inmates died and 184 escaped. Only 48 were recaptured, according to the local police.
Amazonas Gov. Jose Melo said the transfers to federal prisons are likely to focus on members of local Family of the North gang that attacked those of Sao Paulo-based First Command, Brazil's biggest criminal organization. The two are clashing over the control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.
"They are fighting for space outside the prisons, and this time it was inside the penitentiary," Melo said in a press conference after meeting federal authorities. "This is part of a national movement that happened in prisons of Roraima, Acre and Rondonia states. Now it is with us. What shocked us was the aggressive way it was done."
Transfers of gang leaders to federal prisons often have been followed by more violence and Amazonas authorities said they are worried that the First Command may retaliate for the slayings in the coming days.
The Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Manaus held 1,224 inmates when the riot began, although it is designed for only 592, the state public security office said. The prison is run by a private company that is paid according to the number of inmates.
The governor also announced a public-private partnership to invest $30 million in a new penitentiary with capacity of 3,200 inmates to address the state's growing problem of crowded prisons — an issue all over Brazil.
Late Monday, Melo ordered that 130 prisoners linked to the First Command be transferred to a prison built in 1907 that had been deactivated in October due to poor conditions.
Robert Muggah of the Instituto Igarape, a Rio de Janeiro-based security and social issues think tank, believes that the transfer of prisoners "is an important measure, but it doesn't address the structural problems of Brazil's poorly managed prison system."
"There still needs to be a better separation of dangerous and not as dangerous inmates. There are a lot of new problems when juveniles enter adult prisons," he said. "This is a long-running problem with no end in sight."
Brazil's Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said federal government is sending $17 million extra to help Amazonas. Part of that will go to help forensic experts, who are having difficulties identifying the bodies due to the extreme brutality of the killings.
The incident was the most deadly in a Brazilian prison since at least 111 inmates were killed by police forces during a 1992 riot at the Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/inmates-involved-brazil-prison-massacre-transferred-44526398 | CENTER |
115,903,858 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Arkansas Judge Accused of Sexual Misconduct Steps Down | Arkansas Judge Accused of Sexual Misconduct Steps Down | An Arkansas judge has left office and agreed to never serve on the bench again after a disciplinary panel said it was prepared to administratively charge him with trading sexual favors with female defendants in exchange for their release.
The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission announced Tuesday that Carroll County District Court Judge Timothy Parker resigned when his term was already set to end Saturday. The panel said Parker admitted to releasing and lowering bail for defendants who were friends or former clients. Parker denied the sexual misconduct charges, but agreed to step down and not serve again after the panel said it was prepared to charge him on those counts.
Parker's resignation comes as another ex-judge accused of trading sexual favors with defendants for lighter sentences faces federal charges. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/arkansas-judge-accused-sexual-misconduct-steps-44528661 | CENTER |
52,907,549 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Retirement Account Pioneers Regret What They Started | NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Timothy Martin about why the creators of the retirement investment accounts known as the 401(k) worry about what they started. | Retirement Account Pioneers Regret What They Started
Audio will be available later today.
NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Timothy Martin about why the creators of the retirement investment accounts known as the 401(k) worry about what they started. | null | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508075236/retirement-account-pioneers-regret-what-they-started?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=business | LEFT |
4,552,394 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Gingrich: Democrats know they’re under siege. Here’s what the GOP must do to stay ahead of them | When I was Speaker we made sure that we set the table and defined the agenda. This is how we reformed welfare, achieved the largest capital gains tax cut in history, and balanced four budgets. | In Washington when people say they want to put an idea "on the table" it’s important to ask on whose table will it be.
All too often Republicans win elections only to lose their negotiations in Washington.
When President George W. Bush came to town he had a history of working with conservative Democrats in Austin as governor. He thought he could do the same in Washington. What he didn't realize was that there weren't any conservative Democrats with real power in Washington.
When I was Speaker we made sure that we set the table and defined the agenda. This is how we reformed welfare, achieved the largest capital gains tax cut in history, and balanced four budgets.
After we were elected as the first Republican House majority in 40 years, I announced just three days later that as Speaker I would be “very prepared to cooperate with the Clinton Administration," but that I was “not prepared to compromise.” Referring to the Contract with America, I said “We’re going to try and pass all 10 items, period…and we're not going to compromise on that."
When I was Speaker we made sure that we set the table and defined the agenda. This is how we reformed welfare, achieved the largest capital gains tax cut in history, and balanced four budgets.
A year later, during the budget negotiations, I said again, "We will cooperate with the president to reach an agreement but we will not compromise."
Standing firm by inviting your opponents to negotiate at your table within your parameters -- while refusing to be lured into allowing them to set the terms of the negotiation -- is vital if you want real change.
I was reminded of this on Sunday. I was on ABC's "This Week" with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile as she suggested "there are also other Democrats who are saying, look, put something on the table. Let us work together."
Democrats understand that their values, their interest groups and their power structure are all under siege.
Now that they can no longer hide behind President Obama's personal popularity they have begun to realize how badly the Democratic Party has decayed during his presidency.
Today there are over 4,100 Republican state legislators (the most in history), 34 Republican Governors, 52 Republican Senators and 239 Republican House members.
Faced with the fact that the Democratic Party is weaker today than at any time since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the New Deal majority in the 1930s, Democrats are scrambling and finding themselves in three camps.
The ‘Hard Left’ camp is headed by Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders. This is the true faith, socialist, and big bureaucracy is good for America, camp. Congressman Keith Ellison is a good example of this anti-Israel, pro-government wing. This wing will offer bold, radical government solutions and hope to build an ideological majority.
The ‘Hard Partisan’ camp is led by Minority Leader (former Speaker) Nancy Pelosi who seems to have learned nothing from her party's collapse under her leadership (from 257 the year President Obama was elected to 196 this year). Pelosi's model will be to fight virtually every day, on every issue and try to rebuild the partisan base.
Third, there is a smattering of Democrats who are interested in working with the incoming president. This is a small group so far but as the Trump program develops there might be a real opportunity to grow a Trump wing of the Democratic Party.
The challenge to President-elect Trump and to the congressional Republicans is to insist that the negotiations be defined and built upon the values they have collectively created.
School choice, for example, is central to the Trump vision of hope for poor children. Any Democrat who wants to help think through and improve a school choice initiative should be invited to the table. Those Democrats who insist on trapping poor children in bad schools should not be part of the discussion.
President Reagan attracted Democrats to his positions while convincing the American people that he was right. When we passed his three-year tax cut proposal, the heart of his economic recovery program, one out of every three House Democrats voted with us. We didn't go to them. They came to us because of public pressure and because they thought we were doing the right thing to get the economy growing.
As you watch the next few months, check to see who is setting the table: the new administration or the Democrats. Then you will know if we are making progress or being sweet talked into bad ideas.
Newt Gingrich, a Republican, was speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. He is the author of the new novel "Treason" (Center Street, October 11) and co-author, with his wife Callista Gingrich, of "Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation's History and Future" (Center Street, May 17, 2016). | Newt Gingrich | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/01/04/gingrich-democrats-know-re-under-siege-here-s-what-gop-must-do-to-stay-ahead-them.html | RIGHT |
115,905,220 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Judge Orders Ohio to Let Company Reopen Brine Injection Well | Judge Orders Ohio to Let Company Reopen Brine Injection Well | An Ohio judge has ruled that the state's oil-and-gas regulator must allow a company to resume pumping brine from fracking operations into an injection well ordered closed in 2014 after small earthquakes were recorded nearby.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Kimberly Cocroft ruled last month the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management should have considered American Water Management Services' plan to reduce volumes and pressures at the Trumbull County injection well ordered closed after two small earthquakes were detected below ground.
State officials argued in court they've been waiting for new policies based on national guidelines to be written before deciding whether the company can resume injecting brine.
A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said attorneys are reviewing Cocroft's order to reopen the well. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-orders-ohio-company-reopen-brine-injection-44528217 | CENTER |
115,859,567 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Ugandans at Chinese Company Strike Over Alleged Harassment | Ugandans at Chinese Company Strike Over Alleged Harassment | At least 400 Ugandan workers at a Chinese-owned construction company have gone on strike to protest alleged sexual harassment by managers and poor pay.
The angry employees staged a demonstration on Tuesday outside the offices of the state-owned China Railway Seventh Group in Uganda's capital, Kampala.
One of the workers, Agnes Namusisi, says managers pay employees who agree to their sexual advances and that she hasn't been paid for the last three months because she refused advances from her boss.
Namusisi says the alleged mistreatment also includes long hours and supervisors beating workers who are delayed getting to their jobs. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ugandans-chinese-company-strike-alleged-harassment-44532373 | CENTER |
116,026,966 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | The Latest at CES: Outlook for Wearable Gadgets Declines | The Latest at CES: Outlook for Wearable Gadgets Declines | The Latest on CES gadget show in Las Vegas (all times local):
10:20 a.m.
Neither the holiday season nor New Year's fitness resolutions seem to be helping wearable gadgets break into the mainstream.
Research firm eMarketer has lowered its outlook for smartwatches and fitness trackers such as the Apple Watch and Fitbits. It's not that the craze has died down — it's more like there never was one to begin with.
The research comes as gadget makers large and small prepare to unveil new wearable devices at the CES tech show in Las Vegas this week.
In October 2015, eMarketer expected wearable gadget to grow more than 60 percent among U.S. adults in 2016. That's now down to less than 25 percent. While fitness trackers are relatively cheap and straightforward to use, eMarketer says smartwatches haven't caught on because they are expensive and lack a well-defined purpose.
But multinational corporations — no, really — could save the day. Gartner predicts that by 2019, nearly all big employers will encourage the use of fitness trackers to "improve corporate performance." Big Brother, apparently, won't just be watching, but tracking your steps.
———
8:30 a.m.
Technology may soon change the way you shop in brick-and-mortar stores, not just online.
Last month, Amazon unveiled a test store that lets shoppers fill their bags and walk out without seeing a cashier or scanning any items.
Many other stores have been experimenting with digital enhancements aimed at luring shoppers back from online sites. Many of these technologies will be unveiled or demonstrated at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, which begins Tuesday with media previews.
Robots, for instance, could help guide shoppers to the right aisle, while augmented reality apps could help you see how a particular shade of paint will look in the living room — or how you might look in a pair of jeans.
But plenty of retailers have learned through trial — and error — that technology can't get too far ahead of shoppers. It has to be easy to use and beneficial to shoppers in some way.
———
7:30 a.m.
TVs, drones, robots and a slew of other gadgets will showcase the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas this week.
CES is one of the world's largest trade shows and is the forum for many tech companies and startups to unveil their plans for the year. Its influence has waned over the years, given that many leading companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft hold their own events. But the CES show still draws a lot of attention.
The event starts Tuesday with two days of company announcements on new products and services. The show floor itself opens on Thursday.
Gadgets expected include TVs with new capabilities and better picture quality, as well as all sorts of household products with internet connections, including refrigerators, doors and security cameras. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/latest-ces-smart-stores-draw-shoppers-web-44527793 | CENTER |
115,855,287 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Severe Bolivian Drought Hurts Crops, Threatens Capital | Severe Bolivian Drought Hurts Crops, Threatens Capital | Last year, the flowering quinoa plants painted Florencio Tola's farmlands in vibrant sepia and ochre tones.
But this season, all that could be seen was the straw color of dried-out stalks that never germinated amid Bolivia's worst drought in 30 years. Nearby a collection of scrawny cows, with their ribs protruding and flaccid udders, grazed on what little vegetation could be found on the sere ground.
"It's as if I had never sown anything," said Tola, 60, who like thousands of other farmers planted his quinoa in October ahead of the rainy season that usually runs through March.
He and thousands of other farmers in the Bolivian high plains believe they have been hit by a particularly strong weather phenomenon known as El Nino, caused by warming waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Crops and livestock were decimated, and reservoirs that supply the capital of La Paz and other cities have dropped to alarming levels. Lake Poopo, Bolivia's second-largest, has dried up entirely.
"The 2015-2016 (El Nino) is one of the strongest in 30 years, although scientists' verdict on its role in the current drought has not been concluded yet," said Dirk Hoffmann, a glacial and climate specialist who directs the Bolivian Mountain Institute, a research and advisory foundation.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has warned that if the rainy season is delayed further, it could deplete food supply next year. In October he approved a $250 million emergency plan to support those affected by the drought by drilling wells to stave off potential water shortages.
While there have been isolated heavy rains in recent weeks, they haven't yet been enough to compensate for months of drier than usual weather.
Authorities say reservoir levels are at their lowest level ever. According to Humberto Claure, manager of the Social Public Enterprise for Water and Sanitation, even generous rains will not fill up the five dams that serve La Paz, so the emergency is expected to last through the end of 2017.
The city relies on rain for 80 percent of its water, and this season has seen just 10 percent of normal rainfall, according to hydrological scientist Edson Ramirez of the Higher University of San Andres.
In some parts of the capital, water no longer flows through the pipes and people are forced to rely on trucked deliveries. Several weeks ago, La Paz's largest hospital limited surgeries to only the most urgent cases because of low water pressure. Public schools ended the academic cycle early. The popular professional soccer club The Strongest even asked its players to shower at home.
But the drought has hit hardest in the countryside, including the eastern region that is often punished by deluges and flash floods. The Agricultural Chamber of the East reported the loss of nearly 50 percent of production over the South American winter in that part of the country, equivalent to 448,000 tons of soy, corn and wheat.
Although the South American summer has already begun, fields in the Andean region retain the yellowish hue of autumn. In the eastern lowlands, rice paddies dried out before germination due to the drought, which aggravated pest infestations, according to growers. In the central valleys, you can see skeletons of animals that died looking for watering holes.
Farmers' groups say 30 percent of the quinoa crop has been lost to the delayed rains.
Often referred to as the "golden grain of the Andes," quinoa cultivation has helped thousands of farmers climb out of poverty after it became widely popular overseas among organic-oriented consumers during the last decade.
Many in Bolivia turned to the crop as prices rose from $11 per hundredweight in the early 2000s to as high as $259 at the end of 2014.
That fell last year to $100 per hundredweight, but the drought remains the worst enemy of farmers like Tola.
This season, nothing has sprouted on his lands in Caracollo, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) east of La Paz.
"As a teen I went to the city of Oruro to make a living because the countryside didn't allow you to live," Tola said. "But I returned to my family when quinoa got better and had a good price. I improved my little home and built more rooms for my children."
In many rural villages, farmers' desperation is so great that Roman Catholic saints have been brought out in processions and offerings have been made to the Pachamama, or Mother Earth of indigenous tradition, beseeching her for the rains to arrive.
"Families are beginning to migrate," said Mayor Jaime Mendieta of Pasorapa, a village in the high valleys of central Bolivia. "You see it in the schools. Children are enrolled in neighboring municipalities where there is water because parents know there will be production there."
Tola said that if it weren't for his cattle, he would have already joined his eldest son, who left for eastern Bolivia to find work as a day laborer. But he hopes to never again have to abandon his home like he did in his youth.
"I wouldn't want to leave my town again," Tola said. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/severe-bolivian-drought-hurts-crops-threatens-capital-44529335 | CENTER |
59,635,834 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Preckwinkle names fourth chief of staff in 16 months | null | Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday named a new chief of staff, her fourth in the past 16 months.
Preckwinkle promoted longtime political confidant and aide John Keller to the post, a promotion from his previous job as director of external affairs for county government. There, he worked with community groups and businesses, as well as professional and ministerial organizations. He also filled in for Preckwinkle at events she could not attend.
"I have known John for more than a decade, and his breadth of experience equips him well for the chief of staff role," Preckwinkle said in a written statement. "He has a demonstrated ability to work well across the county's vast landscape of responsibilities. Most recently, his efforts in helping guide our efforts to pass a balanced and fiscally responsible FY2017 budget were critical to our success."
Keller replaces Brian Hamer, who was appointed in March to the $186,000-a-year chief-of-staff position. Hamer resigned Friday.
Hamer's nine-month tenure was longer than that of his predecessor, Tasha Green Cruzat, who left after just seven months to become president of Voices for Illinois Children, a children's advocacy agency.
Cruzat had replaced Kim Foxx, who gave up the job to run for Cook County state's attorney. Foxx, a protege of Preckwinkle, went on to defeat Anita Alvarez in last year's Democratic primary and win the general election. She was sworn in last month.
Keller graduated from Lake Forest College with a bachelor's degree in political science in 2006. Since then, he has held many posts for Preckwinkle and her political allies. In 2006 and 2007, he was director of her re-election campaign when she was 4th Ward alderman. When Preckwinkle first ran for her current post, he was deputy campaign manager during the primary election and then campaign manager during the general election.
After Preckwinkle first took office in late 2010, he served as her deputy chief of staff, under now-city Treasurer Kurt Summers, who was Preckwinkle's first chief of staff. Keller went on to become chief deputy director of homeland security and emergency management at the county, before a running a successful campaign that got Preckwinkle ally Christian Mitchell elected to the Illinois House.
Following that election, he worked for 14 months as director of local government affairs for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity under then-Gov. Pat Quinn and then 10 months as an independent political consultant. He returned to county government in June 2014, first as legislative coordinator and then as director of external affairs.
[email protected] | Hal Dardick | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-toni-preckwinkle-chief-of-staff-met-0104-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,490,994 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Talk of the County | null | Treat all people the same
I was watching the news this morning. A white person was choking a little boy. The black mother called the police. When they arrived, instead of talking to the person who called, they talked to a white person. Then they got into an argument with the mother. The daughter came out and told the mother to stand back. Then the police threw the mother and daughter on the ground and cuffed them. Most police know how to treat people. I say you have to treat them all the same. That's a sorry police department.
Think before you speak
This is in response to a Talk of the County comment. Besides running the empty-headed Right Wing Republican stupidity, there was a comment about the need for a balanced budget. The caller doesn't understand that the budget for teacher retirement in the southern part of the state, which really means south of Chicago, is paid for by the state. It's not the case in Chicago in the northern part of the state. Those fees are paid for in the local budget. Gov. Rauner is an absolute disaster. He's just as bad as Donald Trump will be. It would be nice if people would get their heads on straight before they open their mouths.
Stop rants about coal plant
A caller said he saw our "dirty" coal plant on television. He said NRG Energy Services can convert it to produce cleaner fuel, retain jobs and give Waukegan cleaner air. That coal plant was put into operation in 1926. To the people who moved into the area of the coal plant, that's your problem. It's just like people who move near O'Hare Airport and complain about the noise. The power plant is one of the more efficient coal plants. It has efficient production and efficiently clean fuel. Years ago, it wasn't. Now it is. You people keep harping at them. If your kids have asthma, it's not from NRG. It's most likely from sitting on the couch playing video games and never breathing fresh air.
Kudos to Lake County News-Sun
To the Lake County News-Sun, what a wonderful issue for Dec. 24 and 25 showing Christmas in 1941. Thank you very much.
Bothered about Blagojevich
I am so sick and tired of reading about former Gov. Blagojevich trying to get his sentence lessened. He has all these letters from other criminals in jail saying what a great guy he is. Really? We're supposed to take the word of a bunch of convicted felons. Blagojevich is a convicted thief. He is just where he deserves to be.
Don't blame Obama
For the person who blamed President Obama for the stupid raise we got on Social Security that we didn't really get, we got the same thing as last year. You are blaming the wrong person. Blame the Republican-led Congress. It's not Obama. They want to get rid of us completely.
Twitter @NewsSun
Editor's Note
Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email [email protected]. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, go to newssunonline.com/talk. | Chicago Tribune | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/talk/ct-lns-talk-of-the-county-st-0106-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,635,646 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | One dead, one injured in Aurora shooting, police say | null | Aurora police are investigating a shooting late Monday afternoon that left one man dead and another injured, officials said.
According to an email from the Aurora Police Department, police responded at 5:18 p.m. to a report that two men had been shot at State and Spring streets.
One of the men, a 24-year-old from Aurora, was taken to an Aurora hospital by paramedics and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival, police said. The other man, a 33-year-old from Aurora, was taken to a different Aurora hospital and was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, police said.
No suspects had been identified as of late Monday, police said. No motive had been established, but police were not ruling out gang involvement, according to the email.
Police are asking anyone with information to call Aurora police investigators at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000, or to submit a tip via the Aurora Police Department's "My PD" app. People who call Crime Stoppers with information that leads to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $5,000, police said.
More information on the investigation is expected Tuesday. Check back later for updated information. | Aurora Beacon-News | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-aurora-shooting-ideath-investigation-st-0104-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
55,240,908 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | Pentagon to Pay Back Soldiers Whose Reenlistment Bonuses Were Garnished | The veterans were being forced to pay back bonuses they'd gotten for returning to the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. | Thousands of veterans who were forced to pay back the millions of dollars in bonuses they'd gotten for reenlisting to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan will get their money back.
The Pentagon announced Tuesday it has set up a process to reimburse or eliminate the debts of some 17,000 members of the California Army National Guard who got the bonuses between 2004 and 2010.
California Army National Guard soldiers watch the arrival of the body of soldier Sean Walsh, who died on Nov. 16 during a combat operation in Afghanistan, at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, California in 2011. Paul Sakuma / AP file
"The process is in place," said acting Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Peter Levine. "We believe that we can complete all these cases well before the July 1st deadline."
Levine's announcement came three months after Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Pentagon to stop grabbing-back those bonuses, which were improperly awarded during the Bush Administration when it was struggling to find soldiers willing to fight in two unpopular wars.
Related: DoD Sec. Ash Carter Orders Pentagon to Stop Reclaiming Reenlistment Bonuses
"The error was an error on the part of the government as to whether they were eligible" for the bonuses, Levine said. "They may have been misled as to whether they were eligible."
The soldiers were then targeted by auditors after federal investigators discovered in 2010 that thousands of those bonuses, as well as student loan payments, were improperly approved.
The next year, Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, the California National Guard's bonus and incentive manager, pleaded guilty to filing $15.2 million in false claims and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
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But instead of forgiving the botched bonuses, which were no fault of the soldiers, the California National Guard sicced auditors on the service men and women, arguing that the law demanded it.
It wasn't until California lawmakers began hearing from hard-pressed soldiers that the Pentagon realized what was happening and ordered it stopped.
"We don't give somebody a free education; we give them a free education in exchange for a service commitment and that's ... that's part of the bargain," Levine said. "The cases in California are different for several reasons. One is that many of these service members fulfilled their obligation." | Courtney Kube;Corky Siemaszko | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pentagon-pay-back-soldiers-whose-reenlistment-bonuses-were-garnished-n702726 | CENTER |
55,100,307 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Los Angeles Times | Research on gun violence is severely underfunded compared with other causes of death | null | Over the last 10 years, influenza has claimed on average just short of 33,000 lives a year in the United States. Motor vehicle accidents take just over 35,000 lives each year. Cancers of the urinary system kill just over 32,000.
Gun violence claims an average of about 33,000 lives a year.
All but one of the above causes of death have a large and active community of medical or public health researchers exploring ways to reduce or prevent fatalities. Fueled largely by federal funds, these researchers publish articles and attend conferences to share their findings.
Most years, the collective effect of that research may be to shave death numbers at the margins. But every once in a while, federally funded research leads to breakthroughs, and fatality statistics in some corner of medicine or public health plummet.
Gun violence is the exception. New research finds that, given the number of U.S. fatalities linked to firearms, public health research on them is very underpowered.
Given its role in U.S. deaths, research aimed at curbing gun violence could be expected to command about $1.4 billion yearly in federal funding, the authors of a new study reckoned. In fact, from 2004 to 2015, the federal government spent an average of $22 million annually to support research on gun violence.
That’s a meager 1.6% of the amount the study authors expected to be spent.
Not surprising, that deficit translates directly into fewer articles published on the subject.
In a research letter published Tuesday in JAMA, Dr. David E. Stark, a researcher at New York's Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Nigam H. Shah of Stanford University estimated that, given its importance as a cause of death, there should have been about 38,897 scholarly articles published on the subject of gun violence. When they scoured Medline, the federal government’s comprehensive digital catalog of biomedical and public health publications, they found only 1,738 such articles.
“Gun violence killed about as many individuals as sepsis,” the authors wrote. But while sepsis — a complication of infection that can be fatal — has a designated “World Sepsis Day” and has been the subject of high-level federal meetings, gun violence research bumps along on a shoestring.
“Funding for gun violence research was about 0.7% of that for sepsis and publication volume about 4%,” Stark and Shah wrote. “In relation to mortality rates, gun violence research was the least-researched cause of death and the second-least funded cause of death after falls.”
That mismatch did not occur by happenstance. In a 1996 funding bill, gun rights advocates and their allies on Capitol Hill forbade the use of any money appropriated for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “to advocate or promote gun control.” Over the ensuing years, that ban was extended to other agencies, including the National Institutes of Health.
The prohibition did not explicitly ban research on guns and public health. But what agency head was going to risk a run-in with lawmakers over research that might underscore the wisdom of a change in the design, sale or use of guns? The ban cast “a pall over the research community,” Stark and Shah wrote.
The Obama administration has increased research funds for gun violence and backed a wide range of initiatives aimed at making firearms safer. But the future of those efforts is uncertain at best under President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism about measures that would extend limits on access to firearms.
Caption Explore the 'Jacuzzi of Despair,' a lake so salty it kills almost everything inside What was once a center of commerce has now become more of a residential neighborhood, expected to grow even more once the Purple Line subway is built. What was once a center of commerce has now become more of a residential neighborhood, expected to grow even more once the Purple Line subway is built. Caption Explore the 'Jacuzzi of Despair,' a lake so salty it kills almost everything inside What was once a center of commerce has now become more of a residential neighborhood, expected to grow even more once the Purple Line subway is built. What was once a center of commerce has now become more of a residential neighborhood, expected to grow even more once the Purple Line subway is built. Caption Rosetta's last mission The European Space Agency's Rosetta orbiter will commit operational suicide early Friday morning, but first it has just a little bit more science to do. The European Space Agency's Rosetta orbiter will commit operational suicide early Friday morning, but first it has just a little bit more science to do. Caption MacArthur winner Victoria Orphan showed how deep-sea microbes keep greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere MacArthur winner Victoria Orphan showed how deep-sea microbes keep greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere. MacArthur winner Victoria Orphan showed how deep-sea microbes keep greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere. Caption New Planet Proxima b Scientists have found an Earth-sized planet orbiting the closest star to our solar system and are calling it Proxima b. Scientists have found an Earth-sized planet orbiting the closest star to our solar system and are calling it Proxima b. Caption How scientists use satellite data to track poverty in Africa This video explains how satellite imagery and machine learning can be combined to map poverty around the world. This video explains how satellite imagery and machine learning can be combined to map poverty around the world.
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Cheetahs are experiencing alarming declines and should be listed as endangered, scientists say | Melissa Healy | www.latimes.com | http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-gun-violence-research-20170103-story.html | LEFT |
4,633,957 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Trump to Rahm: Get Chicago violence under control or feds will step in | President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that if Mayor Rahm Emanuel can’t turn the tide on Chicago's soaring murder rate, Washington may need to step in. | President-elect Donald Trump said Monday that if Mayor Rahm Emanuel can’t turn the tide on Chicago's soaring murder rate, Washington may need to step in.
Trump, who frequently cited Chicago’s violence during the presidential campaign, tweeted about The Windy City a day after the Chicago Police Department released year-end crime stats showing homicide numbers that dwarfed those of New York and Los Angeles combined.
“Chicago murder rate is record setting - 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help!” Trump tweeted.
Chicago murder rate is record setting - 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can't do it he must ask for Federal help! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017
Most of the Chicago statistics were grim, showing the nation’s third-largest city recorded 1,100 more shooting incidents than in 2015 and had homicides spike by 278 – the largest increase in 60 years.
CHICAGO'S BLOODIEST YEAR ENDS WITH 762 HOMICIDES
Trump and Emanuel broached the topic of Chicago’s surging violence during a Dec. 7 sit-down. While Emanuel later told reporters most of the meeting focused on immigration, infrastructure and education, he also acknowledged the two had “talked about public safety.”
A spokesman for Emanuel released a statement Sunday, obtained by The Chicago Tribune, that alluded to the December meeting, but did not directly address Trump’s call for possible federal intervention.
“As the president-elect knows from his conversation with the mayor, we agree the federal government has a strong role to play in public safety by funding summer jobs and prevention programming for at-risk youth, by holding the criminals who break our gun laws accountable for their crimes, by passing meaningful gun laws, and by building on the partnerships our police have with federal law enforcement,” the statement from Adam Collins said. “We are heartened he is taking this issue seriously and look forward to working with the new administration on these important efforts.”
Sunday’s tweet wasn’t the first time Trump has taken a public swipe at Emanuel’s handling of the violence epidemic. During an August interview with Fox News' Bill O’Reilly on “The O’Reilly Factor", Trump said Chicago's crime problem couldn’t be solved “because they don’t have the right people in charge.”
“When I was in Chicago, I got to meet a couple of very tough police,” Trump said. “I said, ‘How do you stop this? How do you stop this? If you were put in charge to a specific person, do you think you could stop this?’ He said, ‘Mr. Trump I would be able to stop it in one week,’ and I believed him 100 percent.”
On the campaign trail, Trump also backed the use of the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic, saying “Chicago needs” it.
“But they asked me about Chicago and I think stop-and-frisk with good strong, you know, good strong law and order,” Trump said during a September event. “But you have to do something. It can’t continue the way it’s going.” | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/03/trump-to-rahm-get-chicago-violence-under-control-or-feds-will-step-in.html | RIGHT |
59,459,784 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Hinsdale hearing on County Line Road development to continue | null | The public hearing on Edward James Homes' proposed development for 55th Street and County Line Road will continue Jan. 11.
The development, called Hinsdale Meadows, would have 29 single-family homes and 30 duplexes.
To some residents, that sounds too dense for a site of about 24.5 acres. But because of the style of homes and the buyers it would attract, developer Edward James said the new plan would result in less traffic and fewer school-age children than the proposal the Village Board approved after James bought the property back in 2002.
The property is zoned for 36 single-family homes.
James estimates the average price for the homes in Hinsdale Meadows would be between $900,000 and $1.1 million.
Plan Commission Chairman Steve Cashman asked James whether the selling price would be lower if there were more duplexes, which could be accomplished by replacing some of the single-family homes in the plan with duplexes.
James said it would not necessarily lower his development costs because much of the infrastructure already was installed based on the 36-house plan.
The electrical system and transformers may have to be moved to accommodate the revised site plan, but James plans to keep the roads and major sewer and water lines intact, he said.
James said his team continue to look for ways to reduce the cost of the homes without lowering their quality.
They and village officials also are considering how the development can include features that would be of benefit to the general public, such as a dog park or a sled hill. Those two ideas have been rejected, however.
Some members of the Plan Commission continue to believe the duplexes and single-family homes with first-floor master bedrooms, designed for couples without children or those who are looking to downsize, will attract families with children.
James insists that families who want their children to attend Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills District 181 or Hinsdale District 86 schools would want to live in neighborhoods where there are other children and where they can have trampolines and play sets in the backyards. James said the bylaws of the new homeowners association would prohibit that type of recreational equipment.
The village and the school district also would see additional tax revenue from the increase in property value on the site.
"It all adds up to a long-term public benefit which you may not realize today, but you will realize it over years," James told the Plan Commission in December.
The public hearing will continue at the commission's meeting, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11, at the Memorial Building, at 19 E. Chicago Ave., Hinsdale.
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Twitter @kfdoings | Kimberly Fornek | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/hinsdale/news/ct-dhd-edward-james-tl-0105-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
115,917,134 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Video Shows Suspect in Pain After Iowa Trooper's Gun Strike | Video Shows Suspect in Pain After Iowa Trooper's Gun Strike | An Iowa trooper jammed the barrel of his loaded rifle into the shoulder of a surrendering suspect at the end of a chase, police video shows, leaving the man with an injury and pain that he says lasted for weeks.
The video sheds light on the unusual use of force, one that the Iowa Department of Public Safety had largely kept secret since it happened 18 months ago. The Associated Press obtained the video through an Iowa open records law request, with the department agreeing to release it only after suspect Shanne Arre pleaded guilty in December to eluding and operating while intoxicated.
Arre, 28, admits he was high on drugs when he fled from an officer trying to stop him for speeding in northwest Iowa near LeMars in June 2015. After driving through farm fields, he eventually crashed in a ditch as several patrol cars pursued him.
Squad car video shows officers using flashlights to search for Arre for three minutes before one spots him on the ground in tall grass and tells him to put his hands up. Iowa State Patrol officer Jeremy Probasco approaches Arre, telling him not to move and twice directing him to put his hands "in the small of your back." Probasco stuck the barrel of his rifle into Arre's shoulder blade after the first command.
Policing experts say the rifle strike appears to be excessive, noting that officers are discouraged from hitting suspects with their guns due to the potential that they could discharge.
"It's hard to say I can see any justifiable reason to go to that length there," said David O'Laughlin, director of training at the Municipal Police Institute in Massachusetts. "I don't see for myself or hear any resistance offered other than the guy concealing himself."
He added: "It's kind of risky to be poking somebody with a rifle. What if the thing goes off? That's crazy."
Arre said that after crashing, he crawled out of the car and lay down with his hands up in the grass to surrender.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety said officers didn't know that Arre was unarmed. Arre moved his hands so they were hidden in the grass "and it appeared to the trooper that Arre was either going to push himself up off the ground and/or grab a weapon," the agency said in a statement. Probasco didn't have time to use a Taser or baton, so he "poked" Arre with the barrel of the rifle to gain control of him before he was cuffed, the statement said.
Arre denies hiding his hands and says he moved them only to comply with Probasco's order. He said the "poke" felt more like a hard punch.
In the video, Arre says he's trying to comply but expresses pain, saying: "You hit me for no reason, dude." Probasco denies hitting him. Arre then reacts in pain that he says was caused by an officer kneeing him in the back: "Ow, ow! What the (expletive) dude? Come on. You are smashing my (expletive) spinal cord."
"You should have thought about that before you ran," an officer responds.
Arre told the AP he believed the force was "extreme," saying he was unarmed and not resisting. The rifle strike left him with the red circle outline of the barrel marked on his back and pain that he says was recurring for the rest of that summer and fall. He said he couldn't lift his arm for a couple days, even though he declined medical treatment.
"It was kind of reckless of him to hit me with a rifle like that, loaded up. I understand his frustration, but at the same time, it was very inconsiderate of what could have happened," he said. "Just like it was inconsiderate of me to run, not knowing what kind of danger that I put them in. But I'm on drugs. What's his excuse?"
Plymouth County refused to release photos an investigator took of Arre's injuries, saying they're part of a police investigative file and exempt from disclosure. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/video-shows-suspect-pain-iowa-troopers-gun-strike-44525391 | CENTER |
4,421,906 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | North Korea official says ICBM launch could come at 'anytime' | A North Korean official said Sunday that Pyongyang could launch an ICBM at “anytime” and reserves the right to conduct a test wherever it sees fit. | A North Korean official said Sunday that Pyongyang could launch an ICBM at “anytime” and reserves the right to conduct a test wherever it sees fit.
North Korea’s state news agency quoted an anonymous foreign ministry spokesman in a report, adding that the timetable would be determined by the “supreme headquarters of the DPRK.” DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
U.S. officials countered the official’s bluster saying that if Pyongyang launched anything that threatens the territory of the U.S. or its allies, it will be shot down.
The possibility of a successful ICBM launch has been in the back of the minds of the U.S. The launch would be seen as a serious concern to Washington and its allies. Kim Jong Un announced in his annual New Year's address that the country had reached the "final stages" of ICBM development.
President-elect Trump himself responded with a tweet two days later, saying the possibility of the North developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the U.S. "won't happen!"
Defense Secretary Ash Carter told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the North’s missile and nuclear weapons development was a “serious threat.” He said the U.S. military would shoot down any missiles launched by the North that appeared to be headed toward American territory or the territory of any U.S. allies.
Beyond the rhetoric, however, the KCNA report suggested Pyongyang is hoping Trump will take a new approach toward relations.
Throughout his tenure, President Barack Obama followed a policy of "strategic patience," which essentially focused on punitive sanctions while ruling out any significant talks or contacts until North Korea made the first move toward denuclearization. The KCNA report slammed U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken for saying last week that sanctions must be maintained to keep the pressure on Pyongyang.
"Anyone who wants to deal with the DPRK would be well advised to secure a new way of thinking after having a clear understanding of it," KCNA quoted the foreign ministry official as saying.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/01/09/north-korea-official-says-icbm-launch-could-come-at-anytime.html | RIGHT |
59,621,895 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Hillary and Bill Clinton to attend Trump's inauguration | null | Bill and Hillary Clinton plan to attend Donald Trump's inauguration, putting the 2016 presidential rivals on the same platform only weeks after their tough campaign.
Aides to the former president and former secretary of state say the Clintons will attend the Jan. 20 inauguration. The announcement came shortly after former President George W. Bush's office said he would attend along with former first lady Laura Bush.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, has largely avoided the public eye since Trump's come-from-behind victory in November. As a former president and first lady, the couple faced the difficult decision of whether to attend the ceremony.
Associated Press | Tribune Wire Reports | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-trump-inauguration-hillary-bill-clinton-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
115,994,283 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Congress Prepares to Battle Over Obamacare | Republicans, Democrats Prepare to Battle Over Future of Obamacare | The GOP-led House and Senate returns to Washington Tuesday to start dismantling President Obama’s signature healthcare law.
Republicans, who vowed during the election to replace the Affordable Care Act, are planning early votes to repeal elements of the law in the first days of the Trump administration. But they plan to phase out the law over several years, giving them time to craft a comprehensive replacement.
Meanwhile, Democrats are digging in, vowing to oppose major changes.
“We will not be accomplices in the breaking up and dismantling of affordable healthcare,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a call with reporters Monday.
On Wednesday morning, President Obama will huddle with Democrats on Capitol Hill to discuss how to protect Obamacare in the next Congress. Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with House Republicans at the same time to discuss repealing the law.
Republicans voted dozens of times to repeal the law under President Obama, going so far as to send repeal legislation to his desk last year, where it was vetoed.
That most recent effort, which would have blocked funding for Planned Parenthood, was seen as a trial balloon to illustrate how Republicans would roll back the law with a Republican president. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, that proposal would have increased the number of people without health insurance by roughly 22 million.
Now, with President-elect Donald Trump preparing to take office, Republicans are expected to utilize the same budget reconciliation process to push through select changes over Democratic opposition, a repeal effort that would take effect over several years.
“Clearly there will be a transition and a bridge so that no one is left out in the cold, so that no one is worse off,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel last month.
Democrats warn that some of the approximately 20 million Americans insured under Obamacare could lose coverage with Republicans actions, though House Republicans aim to provide “universal access” to health care for Americans seeking insurance, according to a House GOP leadership aide.
“The ball is in their court,” Pelosi said of Republicans Monday.
Roughly 6.4 million Americans signed up for 2017 Affordable Care Act health care plans in December, according to the Obama administration.
Trump, Ryan and House GOP leaders favor keeping some elements of Obamacare, including a requirement for insurers to cover pre-existing conditions, and another that would allow children to stay on their parents’ healthcare until they turn 26.
“It happens to be one of the strongest assets,” Trump said about the pre-existing conditions provision in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” shortly after winning the election. | Abc News;More Benjamin | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/congress-prepares-battle-obamacare/story?id=44519872 | CENTER |
59,489,243 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Charleston church gunman Dylann Roof found competent to represent himself in sentencing | null | After a judge ruled Monday that Dylann Roof is competent to represent himself, the same jury that last month unanimously found him guilty in the slayings of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church will return to court to begin contemplating his punishment.
With the 22-year-old representing himself, the process is sure to be unconventional. But even if Roof is sentenced to death, it's highly unlikely he'd be executed anytime soon.
While prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 slaughter during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Roof said last week he plans on calling no witnesses and presenting no evidence.
Roof was found guilty last month on 33 federal charges, including hate crimes and obstruction of the practice of religion. A jury took less than three hours to return its verdict, and a judge dismissed the jury for a break over the holidays. That same jury returns to court Wednesday.
Typically in what's known as the sentencing phase, defense attorneys call relatives and other witnesses to testify about their client's unsteady state of mind before and during the crimes. Given that background, the defense hopes, a jury might be more likely to spare the defendant's life and opt against the death penalty.
But Roof, who is acting as his own attorney, has said he plans to do no such thing.
In his journal, which was read in court during his trial, Roof said his doesn't believe in psychology, which he called "a Jewish invention" that "does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they don't."
Roof also seems determined to try to keep evidence embarrassing to him or his family out. Not only did he take over his own defense, but he asked the judge at a hearing last week if he could file a motion limiting what prosecutors can introduce.
Roof also was adamant that a transcript of a hearing where he was found mentally competent not be released to the public.
"I know this is not a legal argument, but the unsealing of the competency hearing defeats the purpose of me representing myself," Roof said at last week's hearing.
Neither Roof, nor U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel nor prosecutors have given specifics on the evidence Roof is objecting to.
On Thursday, Gergel ordered another competency evaluation of Roof "in an abundance of caution," after his standby counsel filed a sealed motion again questioning Roof's mental ability to proceed.
On Monday, over the objection of an attorney representing media outlets including The Associated Press, Gergel ordered the competency hearing to be closed to the public. Saying he'd have to sequester jurors if he opened up the proceedings, the judge promised to release a transcript after Roof is sentenced.
"This is an incredibly sensitive moment in this proceeding," Gergel said. "We are putting in the hands of 12 people the life and death of a person."
After a daylong hearing, Gergel ultimately ruled Roof is competent to stand trial and also to represent himself at sentencing. He also granted Roof's request for an extra day to prepare for his case.
Roof's lawyers tried repeatedly both to stop him from being his own lawyer and to work mental health-related evidence into the first phase of his trial, saying they feared Roof fired them because he feared the attorneys would present evidence that would embarrass him when trying to save his life.
Prosecutors objected at every turn, and Gergel wouldn't allow any of it into court, ruling mitigation evidence is allowable during sentencing and not before.
Court papers show prosecutors are expected to present evidence showing Roof picked his victims because of their race, killed them to incite more violence, showed no remorse and killed three particularly vulnerable people who were 70 years old or older.
Evidence speaking to Roof's mental state, one expert argues, could make the difference between life and death.
"The Dylann Roof case is a classic example of the type of problem you can have when an obviously mentally ill or emotionally disturbed defendant is permitted to represent himself," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "There's a huge difference in the eyes of a jury between someone they perceive as evil or despicable and someone they perceive as being seriously mentally ill. ... If you take mental health out of it, you are putting a thumb on the scale of death."
Both the judge's decision to allow Roof to represent himself and waive the introduction of mental health evidence are sure to be raised in an inevitable appeal, Dunham argued.
Roof also faces nine murder charges in state court, where prosecutors have also said they will seek the death penalty in a trial likely to begin later this year.
Whether he's sentenced to death or not, it's unlikely Roof would be executed anytime soon, in either jurisdiction. The federal government hasn't executed anyone since 2003, and there are years of appeals between a death sentence being levied and carried out.
South Carolina's death chamber hasn't been used since 2011, due at least in part to a lack of availability for the drugs the state uses for lethal injection.
Associated Press | Tribune News Services | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-dylan-roof-sentencing-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,500,789 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Arkansas judge accused of trading sexual favors in exchange for release steps down | null | An Arkansas judge has left office and agreed to never serve on the bench again after a disciplinary panel threatened to administratively charge him with trading sexual favors with female defendants in exchange for their release.
The case marks the second time in a little over a year that an Arkansas judge has faced sexual misconduct accusations.
Carroll County District Court Judge Timothy Parker denied the sexual misconduct charges when he resigned Saturday on the last day of his current term in office, the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission said Tuesday. The panel said Parker admitted to releasing and lowering bail for defendants who were friends or former clients and, in some cases, giving rides to defendants in his own vehicle after he released them.
Parker, who was appointed to the judgeship in 2013, also faces a criminal investigation over the accusations. Jason Barrett, a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case, said Tuesday that he was reviewing JDDC's evidence to see if charges were warranted.
The panel said it had video statements from more than a dozen women, recordings of conversations Parker had in jail with women, as well as text messages that back up the allegations. The allegations were outlined in a letter, made public Tuesday, that the board sent to Parker.
"Bonds would be set, or release of the women on their own recognizance was ordered by going to the jail or via telephone. The bonds or release of these women or their family or friends were done by their request in exchange for sexual favors," David Sachar, the panel's executive director, said in the letter dated Saturday.
Parker denied the sexual favor allegations when contacted by The Associated Press Tuesday. Asked why he didn't contest the allegations before the panel, he responded: "I have young children and I don't want them exposed to that kind of crap."
Parker's resignation comes just months after another former Arkansas judge was charged with giving lighter sentences to defendants in exchange for sexual favors. Former Cross County District Court Judge Joseph Boeckmann was indicted in October on several federal charges, including wire fraud and witness tampering.
Boeckmann resigned in May after a JDDC investigation. The commission's investigators found thousands of photos on Boeckmann's home computers of naked and semi-naked men, many of whom were identified by the commission as former defendants whose cases had gone before Boeckmann both as a judge and as a deputy prosecutor.
Former Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Parker to the part-time judgeship in 2013. Parker told a local newspaper at the time that he wanted to look into using community service for misdemeanor offenders.
"I am a small man with a small ego," he told the Carroll County News. "There is no room for ego on the bench. I plan to be a humble judge that follows the law. It's justice with compassion." | Chicago Tribune | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-arkansas-judge-sexual-favors-accusation--20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,619,533 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Sanders, Cuomo call for free tuition at New York public colleges | null | Hundreds of thousands of New York students would be able to attend college for free under a proposal announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to make state universities tuition-free for residents earning $125,000 or less.
The Democrat unveiled his plan Tuesday at LaGuardia Community College in Queens alongside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sanders, who pushed for free tuition at all U.S. public colleges during his Democratic presidential campaign, called Cuomo's proposal "revolutionary."
Comparing student loan debt to "starting a race with an anchor tied to your leg," Cuomo said his Excelsior Scholarship program, if approved by lawmakers, would apply to full-time students who attend State University of New York or City University of New York colleges, including two-year community colleges.
"It should be a wake-up call to this nation," Cuomo said, "to say if you really want to be competitive globally, we have to have the best educated workforce, and that means we have to have college for every child, man or woman who wants to attend."
Concerns about the nation's collective $1.3 trillion in student loan debt — more than either credit card or auto loan debt — have prompted the federal government, states and some schools to offer debt forgiveness or relief programs. Tennessee and Oregon have enacted programs to cover residents' tuition costs at community colleges and some cities have tuition-free programs for eligible students headed to certain colleges.
Under Cuomo's more expansive plan, an estimated 940,000 New York households with college-aged children would be eligible. The program would be phased in over three years, beginning this fall, with those earning up to $100,000. About 80 percent of all New York households earn less than the $125,000 threshold.
The program would cover tuition costs that remain once other state and federal aid is applied, at an estimated cost of about $163 million per year, Cuomo's office said.
SUNY and CUNY annual tuition averages about $6,500 for a bachelor's degree and $4,350-$4,880 for an associate's degree.
"If New York state does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow," Sanders said.
New York has the nation's largest public university system, with 440,000 students spread among 64 campuses across the state.
Members of the Assembly's Democratic majority have sponsored similar proposals in the past, said spokesman Michael Whyland, who called affordable higher education a priority.
A spokesman for the Republican-controlled state Senate said majority members have long supported expanding eligibility for the state's Tuition Assistance Program to help middle-class families.
"While we will have to review the specifics when the governor releases his Executive Budget, this proposal appears to move us in a positive direction," spokesman Scott Reif said.
State higher education leaders said the plan, which also drew praise from U.S. Education Secretary John King Jr., would incentivize both full-time enrollment and college completion.
"Gov. Cuomo's plan will ensure true success for our students while also protecting the state's investment in public higher education," SUNY Chairman H. Carl McCall and Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said in a statement.
New York has the nation's largest public university system, with 440,000 students spread among 64 campuses across the state.
Associated Press | Tribune News Services | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-new-york-colleges-free-tuition-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,472,976 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Talk of the County | null | Show respect for the flag
I called last week about a company in Fox Lake. They have an American flag just hanging in tatters. Maybe people today don't respect our flag, but I do. I know a number of veterans who are also upset about it. I wish someone could take a look at this. It's a disgrace to his business and a disgrace to our veterans.
Irked about illegal immigrants
They are floating a new term now for illegal immigrants. They are people living in the country without legal permission. I'm going to kill you without legal permission. I'm going to rob you without legal permission. Does that make it sound better? It's still illegal and it's still a crime. Anyone harboring illegal immigrants should also be arrested.
Thanks for police escort
I'm calling to thank the Sheriff's Office. When the VFW had their huge party, the police came forward and escorted our buses to the party. They were responsible for getting us up there safely. Everyone at the post thanks them.
Losing hope
I read an article about Michelle Obama saying that with President Obama in office, at least we had hope. Now she says we have no hope. During his term in office, we had no hope. He used Air Force One like a local taxicab. He did nothing for the black people who voted for him. He increased racial tension in this country. His whole life is a secret. We knew nothing about him.
Lights out
To the caller who said they need to enforce leaving headlights on — that will never happen. The police in Waukegan and Gurnee don't put their lights on. It will never happen.
Prison problems
I see Gov. Rauner is trying to reduce the state's prison population by 25 percent by the year 2025. There is a simple way to accomplish this. Once you've been in prison, that's strike one. If you get in trouble again, your second strike is going to land you in the next in a line of bad prisons. You start with middle security and end up in a super max where the worst of the worst are. Eventually you will only need a county jail and a couple of super max prisons in this country. The prisoners will take care of incoming prisoners. If they have a loud mouth or they are a punk, they will be dead by sunrise. We can't keep going with the way courts are going. Plea bargaining everything down to a slap on the wrist. Keeping guys locked up in county jail for more than their prison terms. Giving them day for day in county. Any 10-year sentence is only two and a half years by the time they get done. We don't need more laws. The judges need to enforce the laws we already have. The governor wants to reduce the prison population, but to straighten the population out, I think we need to put more in there.
Twitter @NewsSun
Editor's Note
Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email [email protected]. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, go to newssunonline.com/talk. | Chicago Tribune | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/talk/ct-lns-talk-of-the-county-st-0104-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,629,241 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Chicago cop who shot unarmed man is stripped of police powers | null | A Chicago police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man on the Northwest Side on Monday has been stripped of his police powers by Superintendent Eddie Johnson, the department said on Tuesday.
The measure represents the "strongest step a department can take" during an open investigation, according to police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
The shooting occurred on Monday morning in the 2500 block of North Lowell Avenue. Jose Nieves, 39, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, officials said.
In a brief statement to reporters on Monday afternoon at the scene of the shooting, Johnson said the officer knew the man he shot and that the two had recently argued.
Johnson said the two men got into an argument about 9:30 a.m. Monday and that the off-duty officer, who is 57 years old and part of the transit detail but was not further identified, shot the man "several times." The dead man was not armed, Johnson said.
"I have a lot more questions than I have answers at this time," Johnson told reporters.
The officer still will be paid in accordance with department policy, Guglielmi said.
"The Chicago Police Department continues our fact-based investigation of the incident, in parallel with the Independent Police Review Authority," Guglielmi said in a statement.
Off-duty officer involved police shooting Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks in the 2500 block of North Lowell Avenue after an off-duty officer fatally shot a man Jan. 2, 2017, in the Belmont Gardens neighborhood. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson speaks in the 2500 block of North Lowell Avenue after an off-duty officer fatally shot a man Jan. 2, 2017, in the Belmont Gardens neighborhood. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune) See more videos
Johnson used similar language about having more questions than answers in a departmentwide memo last August after videos of the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Paul O'Neal were released. Three officers involved in the O'Neal shooting were stripped of their police powers.
[email protected] | Nereida Moreno | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-police-officer-stripped-of-powers-0104-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
55,250,052 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | Obamacare: Five Things You May Not Know About the Health Care Law | President Obama's signature legislative achievement is at risk — even as the majority of Americans say they'd like to keep most of what the law offers. | Republicans are returning to Congress on Tuesday with President Barack Obama's signature health care law squarely in their sights.
Some GOP leaders say they want to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act as soon as possible and figure out how to replace it later. Others say they may want to move more cautiously, changing certain aspects while keeping others. President-elect Donald Trump, for his part, appears keen on shredding a key piece of his predecessor's legacy:
The Democrat Governor.of Minnesota said "The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is no longer affordable!" - And, it is lousy healthcare. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
What's clear is that big changes are in the works — even as the majority of Americans say they'd like to keep most of what the law offers.
Here are five important things to know about Obamacare:
1. It isn't just health insurance
Most of the news about the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, focuses on the health insurance exchanges, which are a major part of the law's goal — to help get health insurance to people who don't already have it.
But the law also has provisions aimed at making sure health care is better overall.
Related: Congress Returns to Washington With Aggressive Conservative Agenda
One big objective is to encourage doctors to not only treat people when they are sick, but to take an active role in keeping them well. Some of the tools the law employs include changes in the way doctors are paid and the establishment of Accountable Care Organizations — groups that help hospitals and doctors work together in ways that cut down on mistakes and keep patients healthy.
The overall aim of the legislation was to bring down costs and improve the health of Americans.
Pedro Rojas holds a sign directing people to an insurance company where they can sign up for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle / Getty Images, file
2. It's not government insurance
Many people believe Obamacare is government insurance. But there is no new government health insurance plan offered under the law. What Obamacare did was create a system for private health insurance companies to offer coverage to people who can't get affordable coverage another way.
The federal government subsidizes the premiums for some of the plans offered on the health insurance exchanges. It varies depending on income and on the plan offered.
States regulate health insurance, and companies decide which states they'll offer health insurance in.
Related: Obamacare Repeal Would Take Insurance From 30M People
The Affordable Care Act does add a layer of federal regulation onto health insurance. Insurers must provide a certain minimum of coverage, including paying the full cost of preventive medicine visits, cancer screening, vaccines and birth control. The law requires insurance companies to take all comers, even if they've been sick, prevents them from excluding coverage for "pre-existing conditions" and stops the once-common practice of capping payouts.
And the law has the federal government paying the full cost of expanding Medicaid to cover more people. Nineteen states have chosen not to.
Plus, the law requires that virtually everyone get health insurance. This was something the health insurance companies demanded. They argued that without such a requirement, people would wait until they were sick to buy health insurance.
3. It's not even most people's health insurance
More than 60 percent of Americans get health insurance through an employer. Another 16 percent use Medicare or Medicaid. There's the VA and Tricare for the military. Only a few people buy their own insurance on what's called the individual market. Less than 10 percent of the population gets insurance from the private plans offered on the Obamacare exchanges.
4. It probably didn't make your premiums go up
Health insurance premiums have been rising for years. One Commonwealth Fund analysis found that health insurance premiums rose by 62 percent for family coverage between 2003 and 2011 — before Affordable Care Act provisions even kicked in. Part of the impetus behind healthcare reform was to bring premiums down.
Related: Most Americans Don't Want Obamacare Fully Repealed
Premiums for family coverage offered by employers rose 3 percent from 2015 to 2016, the Kaiser Family Foundation found. Premiums for plans offered via the Obamacare exchanges will go up by 22 percent on average next year as companies work to find a way to make the plans they offer profitable, and the federal government is eating 85 percent of that.
5. U.S. health care was lousy long before Obamacare
Before Obamacare was invented, Republicans and Democrats alike agreed strongly that healthcare reform was vital. They just didn't agree on all the details of how to fix the system.
The U.S. has by far the most expensive health care system in the world, and demonstrably gets far less for all its spending. Most other wealthy countries have a single-payer or nationalized health system.
Last year, Americans spent $3.2 trillion on health care — nearly $10,000 a head. Australia spends $4,400 per capita; Canada spends $4,600. Only Luxembourg comes close to the U.S., spending $7,700 per person.
Yet report after report finds Americans coming in dead last on various health measures compared to people in other comparable countries. Americans fare worse than citizens of other rich countries in rates of infant mortality; injury and homicide rates; drug abuse; obesity and diabetes; heart disease and lung disease.
U.S. life expectancy ranks 31st internationally, behind Costa Rica, Chile and Cyprus but ahead of Cuba, Mexico and Russia, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It ranks 43rd out of 201 countries, according to the World Health Organization. | Maggie Fox | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-year-in-review/obamacare-five-things-you-may-not-know-about-health-care-n699651?cid=public-rss_20170106 | CENTER |
59,466,840 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Syria rebels suspend peace talks over alleged cease-fire violations | null | Syrian government forces pressed ahead with their offensive in the water-rich Barada Valley northwest of Damascus on Tuesday as 10 rebel groups said they were suspending talks about planned peace negotiations because of what they describe as ongoing government violations of a cease-fire deal.
The cease-fire, brokered by Russia and Turkey, is meant to be followed by talks later this month in the Kazakh capital of Astana between mainstream rebel factions and government representatives.
The U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously adopted a resolution supporting efforts by Russia and Turkey, which support opposing sides of the Syria war, to end the nearly six-year conflict and jump-start peace negotiations.
But the nationwide four-day-old truce is looking increasingly shaky, with opposition factions angered in particular about the ongoing military offensive in the strategically important Barada Valley.
The government and the opposition disagree about whether the region is part of the cease-fire agreement, which excludes extremist factions such as the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's affiliate, known as Fatah al-Sham Front. The text of the document was never released to the public.
The Syrian government says the mountainous region is not part of the cease-fire because of the presence of Fatah al-Sham Front. Local activists deny any militant presence in the area.
Opposition activists, including the Barada Valley Media Center, on Tuesday reported heavy bombardment of villages in the region. The opposition's Civil Defense first responders reported at least nine government airstrikes since Sunday, as well as acute shortages of medical supplies. Six people have been killed and 73 have been wounded, it said.
In a statement posted late Monday, 10 rebel factions said they were "freezing all discussions regarding the Astana negotiations or any other consultations regarding the cease-fire agreement until it is fully implemented." They include the powerful Army of Islam group, which operates mainly outside the Syrian capital.
It said the violations in the Barada Valley are continuing and "threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of people." The statement also said that the opposition will consider any military changes made on the ground to be a serious violation of the cease-fire agreement "that renders it null."
The Barada Valley, which is controlled by rebels and is surrounded by pro-government forces including the Lebanese Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, is the primary source of water for Damascus and surrounding areas. The fighting has cut off the capital's main sources of water, resulting in severe shortages since Dec. 22.
Images from the valley's Media Center indicate its Ain al-Fijeh spring and water processing facility have been destroyed, apparently by airstrikes. The government says rebels spoiled the water source with diesel fuel, forcing it to cut supplies to the capital.
The cease-fire agreement, which went into effect early Friday, is supposed to pave the way for the government and the opposition to meet for talks for the first time in nearly a year in the second half of January. Those talks will be mediated by Russia, Turkey and Iran, though Russian officials have said other key players, including the United States, are welcome to participate.
Associated Press | Tribune News Services | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-syria-peace-talks-cease-fire-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
55,307,614 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | Turkey Attack: American Survivor Jake Raak Played Dead, Stayed Silent | Jake Raak, 35, of Greenville, Delaware, recounted to NBC News how he survived Sunday's ordeal in Istanbul, Turkey. | Play Facebook
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ISTANBUL — An American shot during the Istanbul nightclub rampage told NBC News he survived the ordeal by playing dead, remaining silent and motionless even after the gunman shot him.
Jake Raak was one of about 60 people injured during a rampage in and around the Reina nightclub early New Year's Day. Thirty-nine people were killed — most of them foreigners.
Authorities were engaged in an international manhunt Monday for the suspect, who fled the scene after the shooting. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş told reporters Monday that investigators had recovered his fingerprints and expected to be able to identify him soon.
Kurtulmuş said eight people were already in custody as authorities pursued others connected to the gunman.
Raak, 35, of Greenville, Delaware, recalled that as the gunman moved through the club spraying bullets, he targeted people who were lying on the floor.
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"When he shot me, I didn't move — I just let him shoot me," he said. "I was shot when I was already on the ground. He was shooting people that he had already shot."
ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting Monday, identifying the attacker as "a heroic soldier of the caliphate." It said the attack had been carried out "in response to a call" from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, although it didn't say whether it directed or merely inspired the perpetrator.
The gunman fired 120 rounds during his rampage in and around the nightclub about 1:30 a.m. Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET Saturday), police told NBC News. The incident lasted less than 10 minutes.
Raak was shot in the hip, and the bullet traveled to his knee. He added that he didn't move or make a sound even after he was hit, fearful that the gunman might realize he was alive.
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"You just have to stay as calm as you can," he said. "I took a bullet."
Raak was with a group of nine people, he said, seven of whom were shot.
Raak said he came within inches of the shooter, who walked along a bench that he was lying underneath.
"I saw him coming, and he shot us all," he said. "Somebody said there were shots fired, and I initially did not believe it until I saw the gunman and he started shooting up the whole place."
Raak said he felt utterly helpless as the gunman fired his rounds.
The main suspect in the Istanbul nightclub attack in a video released by Turkish police and Dogan News Agency. Dogan News Agency via AFP - Getty Images
"As you'd imagine, you're looking at a guy with a gun, and you do not have a gun," he said. "You're thinking of ways you can take him down in some way, but there's not much you can really do — it's a terrorist."
Still, he said, "I was probably the luckiest person in the whole thing."
Police in Istanbul released what they said was an image of the suspect taken from security video.
Twenty-eight of the dead were foreigners, Turkish Health Ministry officials said. Canadian, Iraqi, Saudi, Indian, Lebanese, Tunisian, Kuwaiti and Syrian citizens are among the dead. | Richard Engel | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-attack-american-survivor-jake-raak-played-dead-stayed-silent-n702181?cid=public-rss_20170103 | CENTER |
115,935,737 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | SKorean President Refuses to Testify in Impeachment Trial | SKorean President Refuses to Testify in Impeachment Trial | South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday refused to testify in a case that will decide her future following her impeachment over a corruption scandal, forcing the Constitutional Court to delay the start of oral arguments.
After Park's refusal, the nine-justice court asked her to testify on Thursday, when some of her current and former aides are also scheduled to testify. Her no-show brought criticism from lawmakers, who serve as prosecutors in the trial.
The court has said it cannot force Park to appear in the hearings, which under law can proceed without her if she refuses for a second time to appear.
Lawmaker Kweon Seong Dong, the chief prosecutor in the trial, questioned why Park cannot defend herself in court when just two days ago she vehemently rejected the accusations of corruption in a hastily arranged meeting with reporters at Seoul's presidential Blue House.
"It's not good etiquette to the justices and also inappropriate for the president, as the defendant of the impeachment trial, to say this and that to the media outside of court," Kweon told reporters.
Lee Jung-hwan, Park's lawyer, said she does not plan to appear Thursday and will probably not testify during the impeachment trial.
The trial in the Constitutional Court will decide if Park should permanently step down or be reinstated. If the court formally removes Park from office, a presidential election will be held within 60 days.
South Korea's opposition-controlled parliament voted last month to impeach Park, weeks after state prosecutors accused her of colluding with a close confidante to extort money and favors from companies and allow the friend to manipulate government affairs.
After indicting Park's friend, Choi Soon-sil, Choi's niece, and several former government and presidential officials for allegedly helping Choi, state prosecutors handed over the investigation to a special prosecution team, which has been focusing on proving bribery suspicions between Park and business giant Samsung.
The investigators want to bring home Choi's daughter, Yoora Chung, who was arrested in Denmark, as they look into the suspicions that Samsung sponsored Choi in exchange for government favors.
The inquiry has led to the arrest of the country's former Health Minister, Moon Hyung-pyo, who allegedly forced the National Pension Service to support a merger between two Samsung affiliates last year. The deal shaved the fund's stake in one of the companies by an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars, but allowed Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong to promote a father-to-son succession of leadership and boost corporate wealth at the group.
Lee has apologized for the use of corporate funds to buy a horse for Chung, an equestrian athlete, but denied that Samsung sought favors from Choi or Park's administration. There are also questions as to why Samsung financially supported a winter sports center run by Choi's niece and a sports management firm Choi established in Germany. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/skorean-president-refuses-testify-impeachment-trial-44520226 | CENTER |
52,895,603 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Rush Is On To Get Cleared Guantanamo Detainees Out Before Trump Takes Over | The White House is pushing to get the 23 cleared detainees out of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp before Donald Trump is sworn in. Rachel Martin talks to reporter Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald. | Rush Is On To Get Cleared Guantanamo Detainees Out Before Trump Takes Over
The White House is pushing to get the 23 cleared detainees out of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp before Donald Trump is sworn in. Rachel Martin talks to reporter Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The Obama administration is really in a race against the clock. There are 59 detainees still at Guantanamo Bay. Nearly half of them have been cleared to be sent to third-party countries. Congress has been given the 30 days' notice before they can be moved, as the law requires.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
But the administration has only a matter of weeks to get them out of Guantanamo because when Donald Trump is sworn in, he could reverse those decisions.
Carol Rosenberg reports on the prison at Guantanamo for the Miami Herald. She's been writing about the last-minute efforts to get third-party countries to take these detainees. I asked her why it's been so difficult to transfer the prisoners who've already been cleared for release.
CAROL ROSENBERG: Some of these countries have gotten a little squishy, let's say. There's a new president coming, Donald Trump. He has a new vision for Guantanamo. He says that he wants to load it up. He says that he has no intention of closing it.
So some of the countries, it's - it seems that they're a little bit uncertain about whether they want to please the departing president and continue these deals and resettle the men who were cleared to go or they want to wait and see a little bit the lay of the land of what's going to happen when Donald Trump becomes president.
MARTIN: Do we have any idea at this point whether or not he wants to continue reviewing the cases of the people who are currently in Gitmo, or does he just want to do away with that altogether?
ROSENBERG: The answer is, I don't know, and if you find someone who knows, they should give me a call because we know very little beyond what Donald Trump said during his campaign about what he intends to do with Guantanamo. I think what you're getting at, Rachel, is if we have review boards and the review boards approve people for release with security guarantees and this administration doesn't want to release them, what do you have down there?
You have 10 men currently who are charged with crimes, facing trials - six death penalty trials. You have these 23 who were cleared, some of whom will get to go before Obama leaves the White House, and then you have what we call the forever prisoners, 26 men whom the boards have decided are too dangerous to release but for whom there's no crime that they found to charge them with. And we don't know in the next administration what will become of these people.
MARTIN: So what does that mean, Carol, that they can't be charged with anything - that there's just no evidence to charge some of these people who are knowingly connected to terrorist organizations?
ROSENBERG: So you have to remember that Guantanamo was set up as a kind of POW location. They didn't call them POWs because they didn't want to give them all the privileges. They wanted to be able to interrogate them, and they wanted to be able to deny them certain aspects of the Geneva Conventions.
But the short answer is they're war prisoners. But you have to have found an act, a crime, a war crime under the international laws of war to charge them with.
MARTIN: It's not enough to just be a foot soldier for al-Qaida or some affiliate. You have to be connected to a specific act of terror.
ROSENBERG: And the courts have proven that in the intervening years. You know, the Bush administration set up military commissions, and they intended to charge all these foot soldiers with something called material support for terror. And in the intervening years, the federal courts have said that's not a war crime.
In a way, that's a little bit the irony of Guantanamo because that is a crime in federal court. Had they brought these men into federal court, they probably would have been able to charge them in many instances with being foot soldiers. They can't at Guantanamo.
MARTIN: President Obama campaigned in 2008 on a promise to close Gitmo. He spent eight years trying to make that happen. Why did he fail in the end, do you think?
ROSENBERG: The short answer is that Congress made it impossible for him to do it, but the long answer is, when he came into office, he thought he was going to look at the prisoners of Guantanamo and either try them or let them go. But he realized that there was a third category, these forever prisoners - people he couldn't put on trial, people he was unwilling and his administration was unwilling to send away to other places.
So it became - to close Guantanamo meant to move Guantanamo, to pick up these forever prisoners and the people who would be charged and move them to the United States, what we call Guantanamo North. Create Guantanamo on U.S. soil. Congress systematically blocked that. And when you can't move Guantanamo, you can't close Guantanamo.
MARTIN: Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, thank you so much.
ROSENBERG: Thank you
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | null | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/507983961/rush-is-on-to-get-cleared-guantanamo-detainees-out-before-trump-takes-over?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition | LEFT |
115,924,050 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Agency Orders TransUnion, Equifax to Pay $23M for False Ads | Agency Orders TransUnion, Equifax to Pay $23M for False Ads | Federal regulators have ordered credit-reporting agencies TransUnion and Equifax to pay about $23 million for falsely advertising that the credit scores they sell consumers are the same ones lenders use to make credit decisions.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday that TransUnion and Equifax must pay fines totaling $5.5 million and return about $17.6 million to wronged consumers. The agency also said the two companies lured consumers into payments of $16 or more per month for credit scores and related products such as credit monitoring.
TransUnion, based in Chicago, and Atlanta-based Equifax Inc. are two of the three major credit-reporting agencies in the U.S., along with Experian. The credit scores they generate are used to determine whether consumers can qualify for a mortgage, a car loan, a cellphone plan and a range of other loans.
The reporting agencies base the scores on a consumer's history of paying off debt, how much debt they carry and other factors.
The CFPB said the scores sold to consumers by TransUnion and Equifax were not typically used by lenders to make credit decisions.
The alleged violations occurred between July 2011 and March 2014, according to the agency.
TransUnion and Equifax agreed to clearly inform consumers about the nature of the scores they're selling and to provide an easy way to cancel products and services.
TransUnion said in a statement it continues to believe that its advertising has been clear and has complied with laws.
"Our trial credit monitoring service has given consumers low-cost access to their credit report and credit score and allowed them to conveniently cancel monitoring services at any time online or by phone," the company said. "However, we are committed to making improvements to our consumer experience, and over the past several months we have worked cooperatively with the CFPB to be the industry leader in designing the enhanced, voluntary marketing disclosures that go beyond the current legal and regulatory requirements to which we agreed as part of this settlement."
Equifax noted that the CFPB's investigation continued for nearly three years, and said it made changes to address the agency's concerns soon after the investigation began. "While Equifax does not believe it has violated any laws and has not admitted any liability, Equifax determined it was in its best interest to resolve the matter with the CFPB," the company's statement said. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/agency-orders-transunion-equifax-pay-23m-false-ads-44535369 | CENTER |
59,549,613 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Former students fight for a stake in ITT Educational Services bankruptcy | null | Creditors, federal regulators, state attorneys general and jilted employees of ITT Educational Services have laid claim to the remaining assets of one of the nation's largest for-profit college operators in bankruptcy court. Absent from the line of those seeking redress, however, are the thousands of students who say they were defrauded by the chain. That is, until now.
A group of former students at ITT Technical Institutes on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the parent company to ensure participation in bankruptcy proceedings. The group is asserting claims against the company of consumer protection violations and breach of contract, and asks for class-wide status to cover anyone who attended ITT Tech in the past 10 years. The group is also seeking an injunction to stop the collection of private loans administered by ITT, which ran an in-house lending program that is at the center of two federal lawsuits.
"There are a lot of people making claims on the estate, and it's really important to get students' experiences out there and that they're creditors of ITT as well," said Eileen Connor, counsel for the students, who filed the bankruptcy lawsuit in the Southern District of Indiana.
She estimates the students' claims at $7.3 billion, roughly the amount of student loan revenue ITT Tech took in over the past 10 years. Connor, who is also an attorney at the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard Law School, said it was critical to file the lawsuit now because the claim deadline is at the end of the month, something she suspects few students know.
ITT filed for bankruptcy protection to liquidate its business in September, days after shutting down 137 campuses across the country and leaving 35,000 students and 8,000 employees in the lurch. The closure followed the Education Department's decision to curtail ITT's access to federal student aid because an accrediting body threatened to pull its accreditation amid mounting lawsuits and investigations.
Before ending its operations, ITT was being investigated by more than a dozen state attorneys general and two federal agencies for fraud, deceptive marketing or steering students into predatory loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for instance, said ITT provided zero-interest loans to students but failed to tell them that they would be kicked out of school if they didn't repay in a year. When students could not pay, ITT allegedly forced them to take out high-interest loans to repay the first ones.
Tuesday's complaint included 108 pages of attestations from 521 former ITT students, many of whom accused school administrators of misleading them about the nature and terms of the in-house loans. In one instance, a former student recalls an adviser pushing the in-house loan as comparable to federal student loans and telling her she would not qualify for anything else. Instead of the 6.8 percent interest rate promised, the student wound up paying 14.75 percent in interest on the debt.
All of the uncollected student debt sponsored by ITT is considered one of its major assets and has become a point of contention in the bankruptcy proceedings. Deborah Caruso, the trustee appointed to dismantle the company, has tried unsuccessfully to block the CFPB case, which could result in restitution for students, if not the outright cancellation of the debt. Caruso did not return requests for comment on the students' lawsuit.
"It's almost the elephant in the room in this bankruptcy that there are potential liabilities of ITT toward students," Connor said. "The students need to be recognized so they can have a voice in whatever negotiations might be happening between ITT and other creditors."
The students are also asking for a legal finding from the bankruptcy court that ITT engaged in widespread consumer protection violations to create a clearer path to federal debt cancellation. Despite filing "borrower defense to repayment" claims - a statute that discharges government loans when schools use deceptive tactics to persuade people to borrow money for college -ITT students say they have yet to receive relief. ITT Tech students have submitted more than 1,500 claims, according to the Debt Collective, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement working with former students.
Jorge Villalba, one of four plaintiffs in the case, submitted a claim to the Education Department a year ago, but said he has yet to receive a response. He graduated with $70,000 in federal and private student loans from ITT Tech in California, where he earned a bachelor's degree in digital entertainment. Villalba, 36, said it was "nearly impossible" to get a job after leaving ITT Tech because he never learned any of the skills needed to be an animator. The job he eventually landed paid less than what he was earning before entering ITT Tech, Villalba said.
"Every time I applied for a position, they wanted two years of experience or a portfolio showing your animation and design work. I didn't do any of those things in school. I applied for everything, even internships and never heard back from anyone," he said. "I got a degree that is worthless. I feel ripped off." | Danielle Douglas-Gabriel | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-itt-tech-students-bankruptcy-20170103-story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chicagotribune%2Fbusiness+%28Chicago+Tribune+news+-+Business%29 | UNDEFINED |
4,522,957 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Fox News | Violence spreads like a contagious infection among friends | Adolescents who engaged in violent activities were more likely to have friends - and friends of friends - who had been violent, a new study shows. | Adolescents who engaged in violent activities were more likely to have friends - and friends of friends - who had been violent, a new study shows.
"Violent acts tend to cluster through social networks, and they spread like a contagious disease spreads from one person to another," the study's senior author Brad Bushman said in a phone interview.
A psychology and communications professor at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Bushman analyzed interviews from the 1990s with nearly 6,000 American students in grades seven through twelve.
Compared to students whose friends had never hurt anyone, kids with a friend who had badly hurt someone were themselves 183 percent more likely to report having badly hurt someone, too, the report in the American Journal of Public Health shows.
If a friend had pulled a weapon on someone, the youth were 140 percent more likely to have pulled a weapon, and if a friend had been involved in a serious fight, the youth were 48 percent more likely to have been in a serious fight.
Interviewers asked the students to name up to five boys and five girls they considered friends at their schools.
In male students alone, the likelihood of seriously hurting someone rose 82 percent for each additional friend who had seriously hurt someone.
The association extended beyond immediate friends and friends of friends with four degrees of separation for serious fights and three degrees of separation for threatening someone with a weapon.
"It's the first study we know of to see how far it spreads - up to four degrees, which is pretty amazing," Bushman said.
Dr. Gary Slutkin, an epidemiologist and infectious-disease control specialist, fully expected the results.
"You're doing what your friend is doing, who's doing what his friend is doing, who's doing what his friend is doing," he told Reuters Health. "You're not thinking about consequences. You're thinking about what your friends do."
"This is one of now hundreds of studies that, if you add them all up, there's no way of seeing it other than violence being a contagious epidemic health problem," said Slutkin, founder of Cure Violence at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.
He has long thought about violence as a contagious disease and has worked to stop it in communities throughout the world by identifying the perpetrators and intervening in the same way he did with HIV carriers.
When it was his mission to figure out how to stop the spread of HIV in Africa, Slutkin realized that explaining the deadly nature of AIDS failed to convince young men to wear condoms. But they would use condoms to protect themselves against the disease if they thought their friends wore them.
Slutkin has applied his understanding of friends motivating friends for better or for worse in his work fighting street violence throughout the world.
By employing former gang members to interrupt and prevent violence, he has seen communities slash violent crimes by 40 to 100 percent, he said.
Punishment has not worked to control the spread of violence, Slutkin said.
"People are very comfortable with punishment, and it is not the way of out this problem," he said. "It's like treating a patient over and over again with the wrong medicine."
It's possible that the cure for violence could be spread through the same networks of friends as the violence itself, Bushman said.
"Punishment is not a main driver of the changing of behavior," Slutkin said. "In order to get behaviors to change, you have to be interactive with people in your own peer group and see that you're getting approval from your own peer group," he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2ifRaip American Journal of Public Health, online December 20, 2016. | null | www.foxnews.com | http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/01/03/violence-spreads-like-contagious-infection-among-friends.html | RIGHT |
55,330,521 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | 7.2 Earthquake Off Fiji But Not Expected to Cause Much Damage | The relatively shallow quake wasn't felt in Suva, the Fijian capital, an official at the U.S. Embassy told NBC News. | A 7.2-magnitude was recorded Wednesday morning about 100 miles off the Fiji Islands, but little damage or threat to life was expected.
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded Wednesday morning more than 100 miles off the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific. U.S. Geological Survey
The quake was recorded at 10:52 a.m. (4:52 ET Tuesday) 115 miles southwest of the South Pacific islands, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami threat notice, but it was soon canceled.
The quake wasn't felt in Suva, the capital, an official at the U.S. Embassy told NBC News.
Don Blakeman, geophysicist for the USGS, told NBC News that the quake was relatively shallow, at a depth of about 9½ miles, "which is a little more of a concern."
But "I don't think it will be a devastating quake for them," Blakeman said. "It's far enough away that they may feel it, but it likely won't cause any damage." | Alex Johnson;Niven Mccall-Mazza;Emma Ong | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/7-2-earthquake-fiji-not-expected-cause-much-damage-n702801 | CENTER |
55,259,058 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | Opinion: An Obama 'Apprenticeship' that Trump Should Continue | Opinion: The Registered Apprenticeship program may be the only thing Republicans and Democrats agreed on in 2016, and Trump would do well to keep it. | Donald J. Trump is going to have a busy 2017. He's staying on as executive producer of "Celebrity Apprentice" while becoming the 45th Chief Executive of the United States. If there's one redeeming quality the president-elect possesses, it's that he's never met a marketing opportunity he couldn't resist. I have an offer he can't refuse.
Sitting on my old desk at the Department of Labor right now is a memo detailing a ready-made, low risk, high reward and bipartisan federal jobs program that bears a similar name to Trump's television program. It's called Registered Apprenticeship.
Ammar Campa-Najjar Kevin Kennedy
"Apprenticeships," explains U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez in a statement, "are a time-tested, earn-while-you-learn model that helps create opportunities for American workers to succeed while providing employers with the reliable pipeline of skilled talent they need to thrive in today's global economy."
It almost sounds too good to be true: Someone hires you, trains you and unlike most internships, you're earning a living wage while learning. And unlike college, apprenticeship is "education without the debt," as Secretary Perez frames it, with a guaranteed job at the end of the program. Apprentices gain while they train.
Today, apprenticeship is not just the preferred recruitment model for employers in traditional industries like construction and manufacturing, but also for a diversified set of high-growth sectors, including information technology, financial services, advanced manufacturing and health care. It's the answer for the blue collar worker who sees times are changing and wants to retool, learn new skills, and remain employable in today's economy.
This program may be the only thing Republicans and Democrats agreed on in 2016. For the first time ever last year, Congress made a bipartisan decision to appropriate over $90 million specifically toward financing apprenticeship programs.
To date, the Obama administration has invested more than $300 million to deliver on President Obama's challenge to double the number of registered apprenticeships within five years. Double and diversify, that's the future of apprenticeship.
Trump and his team should try to surpass our goal. Apprenticeship is a win-win for both job seekers and businesses alike.
The average apprentice earns above $60,000 a year; that's more than double the median individual income in America. Studies also show that for every dollar spent on apprenticeship, businesses get an average of $1.47 back in increased productivity and greater front-line innovation.
RELATED: Ford Commits to $700M U.S. Plant as Trump Blasts GM on Mexican-Made Chevy
These job training programs are part of why president-elect Trump is inheriting a far better economy than the one we inherited in 2008. If Trump really wants to make it morning in America for his 62 million supporters, he should invest aggressively in apprenticeship.
There's an undeniable tailwind guiding our economy in the right direction. The economic headlines are good, but the trend lines are where the work needs to continue.
We've created almost 16 million jobs since 2010, so roughly nine million more jobs exist today than compared to late 2007, before the Great Recession. If you look at the demographic breakdown, however, Hispanics secured more than half of those net new jobs. Other minority groups also gained millions more jobs than they lost during the recession. But white workers, who account for 78 percent of the labor force, lost more than 700,000 net jobs over the nine years. Why is that?
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First, minority populations are growing more rapidly than their counterparts, so naturally jobs are trending in the same direction. Still, it's inaccurate to assume these populations aren't struggling. American Indians and Alaska Natives have the highest poverty rate (close to 30 percent), followed by African Americans (27 percent), Hispanics (26 percent), and whites (10 percent). We need to attack the problem of poverty and unemployment on all fronts.
Second, the data shows the economy is growing in a way that favors specific regions, not races. Before a company invests in an area, one of the first criteria is whether the location will attract the most costumers.
Considering that 95 percent of the world's consumer market exists outside the United States, businesses are trending towards areas that have a global reach, places that welcome tourism and are a direct flight or metro ride away, or at the very least freeway accessible. This is why America's big cities - which are densely and diversely populated - are enjoying a majority of the economic gains compared to rural areas which are predominantly white.
RELATED: Is Universal Basic Income the Answer to an Automated Future?
We need to fix this. Like generations before us, one of the most defining issues of our time is ensuring that economic prosperity is broadly shared, across every geography and demography.
In an opinion piece penned by Secretary Tom Perez and Secretary Tom Vilsack, we see a promising trend emerging. With the cost-saving incentive to offshore jobs in sharp decline, businesses are seizing the opportunity to bring well-paying IT jobs to rural areas. Tech apprenticeships are working in all fifty states in places like central Jonesboro, Arkansas; Kearney, Nebraska; eastern Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee where the highest poverty rate in the nation exists.
Apprenticeship can help the worker in rural America who was laid off because of forces beyond his control - technology that's automated his job or a worker on the other side of the world who will do the job for half the cost. If the next administration invests the right way, he won't have to leave his community for a big city job; the big city job will come to him.
RELATED: 'Made in USA' fuels new manufacturing hubs in apparel
But as I learned from Secretary Perez, who makes frequent "house calls" to workers around the country, this problem isn't just about the economy, it's about empathy. That laid off worker's job meant more than just a steady paycheck. For years, that factory worker broke down his body to build up his family, just like his father before. He knew if he worked hard and took on a few extra shifts during the holidays, he'd make and save enough for the ones he loved. He took pride in working with his hands, and hoped to pass down the family trade to his children. Every evening he'd pull up to the driveway just in time for dinner, rinse his oil-stained hands under the kitchen sink, and look at his children with eyes that said, "one day, these will be your hands."
That factory stored more than goods and supplies; it housed cherished memories and a revered history. It was a sacred place, once re-purposed during World War II, where his mother went to work to build the tanks and planes that joined his father on the shores of Normandy. It was a workplace and a place of worship. It was both a family and national monument.
So it's not just about a factory worker losing his job — it's about an American letting go of his dream. There are millions more just like him, whose dreams are being crushed by the rapid realities and demands of a 21st century global economy.
We can't force businesses to hire workers for jobs they no longer need, but we also can't force people to give up on their dreams. As an apprentice, that factory worker will be creating the code and building the automated machine that once replaced him. And with tech jobs paying about 50 percent more than the average job, that paycheck would go a long way for his family.
Americans are a resilient people. By retooling and retraining our workers, we can help them reimagine their lives and cast their dreams anew.
RELATED: Could Trump Really Bring Back Manufacturing Jobs?
I'm proud of the work my colleagues and I did under President Obama's leadership. Together, we implemented programs and policies that led to the most successful economic recovery in history. I can honestly say we left it all on the field, but there still remains a lot of unfinished work ahead.
The change promised eight years ago was always going to take longer than one presidency; it's why many people don't yet feel the benefits of an economic comeback they helped build. It's why I hope the next presidency continues to build on the gains we've made until every community feels fully recovered.
I know we live in divided times, but I remain hopeful. Through every trial and every triumph, Americans have always found a way to come together in the end. We need to break down barriers and swing open the doors of opportunity, long enough and wide enough, so that our entire country can walk through and pave a path toward a unified future. Let us recommit ourselves, today and every day, to the common cause of building an America that works for everyone - state by state, community by community, one worker's dream at a time.
Ammar Campa-Najjar is a former Obama administration official.
Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. | Ammar Campa-Najjar | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/opinion-obama-apprenticeship-trump-should-continue-n702756 | CENTER |
59,470,275 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Morning Spin: What you missed in Illinois politics over Christmas vacation | null | Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield.
Topspin
Happy New Year. If you're just getting back from some time off around the holidays, here's a quick look at what you may have missed:
First, you didn't miss any meetings between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and top Illinois Democrats to talk about the state budget. So as of Sunday, the state is once again operating without a spending plan in place.
About 190 new laws took effect the same day, though.
And 2017 will bring a smattering of new tax and fee increases for Chicago and suburban residents. You can see the breakdown here.
Finally, here's why open records experts find potential loopholes in which of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's emails were released as part of a lawsuit settlement. If you missed the original emails story, that's here, complete with a full list of the emails you can read yourself.
What's on tap
*Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no public schedule.
*Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public events.
*Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth will be sworn in as U.S. senator, succeeding Republican Sen. Mark Kirk.
*January look-ahead: The Illinois General Assembly isn't scheduled to be back in until noon Jan. 9, for a couple of lame-duck days before the next legislature is sworn in Jan. 11. President Barack Obama is in town for his farewell speech on Jan. 10. The next Chicago City Council meeting isn't until Jan. 25. The next Cook County Board meeting is Jan. 18.
*The City Club of Chicago doesn't start back up until next week, but when it does, it'll be with David Axelrod, former senior counsel to President Obama, appearing at a luncheon Jan. 9.
What else we've written
*Trump on Twitter: Does Emanuel need federal help to quell Chicago violence?
*Obama confirms Chicago for farewell speech next week.
*A Troubled Transition: In the rush to close institutions, Illinois ignored serious problems in group homes.
*There won't be any more trials for Redflex executives if the company's cooperation continues.
*Ex-Ald. Sandi Jackson says she's borrowing from friends and selling belongings.
*Future campus sex assault investigations uncertain under Trump.
*Republican officials hoped Vice President-elect Mike Pence's fundraiser in Chicago would raise as much as $1 million.
*Two residents from now-shuttered group homes found.
*Lottery's scratch-off payouts got little state oversight.
*Amid enrollment woes, CPS considers new $75 million South Side high school.
What we're reading
*The best albums of 2016. | Chicago Tribune | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-morning-spin-what-you-missed-over-christmas-vacation-20161228-story.html | UNDEFINED |
52,949,010 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | The Water Supply To Damascus Is Disrupted By Syria's Civil War | A cease-fire is still technically in place but some fighting continues. The government is pressing an offensive on the valley of the Barada River and Damascus' water supply is badly affected. | The Water Supply To Damascus Is Disrupted By Syria's Civil War
A cease-fire is still technically in place but some fighting continues. The government is pressing an offensive on the valley of the Barada River and Damascus' water supply is badly affected.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
OK, let's turn now to the latest in Syria where a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey is in place - well, at least in theory. Rebels say President Bashar al-Assad's forces are violating that cease fire, and NPR's Alice Fordham tells us where.
ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE: The fighting is in a string of villages along the Barada River northwest of Damascus. Forty years ago, this was a lush rural area of farms and fruit trees. But under Assad and his father before him, the farmland was confiscated and the river water diverted to Damascus. So it's no surprise it's been rebellious since uprisings began in 2011. People there say they are enduring airstrikes from Assad or his Russian allies.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).
FORDHAM: In this video posted at the weekend, a man watches a plane fly overhead...
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
FORDHAM: ...And drop a bomb nearby. In the fighting, the water supply to Damascus has been severely disrupted. The rebels blame the regime, and the regime blames the rebels. I speak to a journalist originally from the area, anonymous to protect his family who are still there. He fears the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: The cease-fire is part of the plan of conducting a massacre. First of all, you block out the area, you bomb it harshly and then say they are terrorists, they are smugglers, they are extremists, they are ISIS.
FORDHAM: The regime says there were groups there with links to al-Qaida, so the cease-fire doesn't apply. Although activists deny that, this journalist I spoke to says it's probably true. But there's also maybe a hundred-thousand civilians there. The opposition say they won't participate in peace talks till the assault stops. But their leverage is limited now, they lost their part of the city of Aleppo last month. And their key backer, Turkey, has moved closer to Assad's Russian allies who are ascendant in the region. Here's analyst Emile Hokayem from the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the short term.
EMILE HOKAYEM: In the short term, the game is up. So the Turks are basically looking to tactically adjust to all that. And that is not necessarily a retreat, but it's something that's awfully close to that.
FORDHAM: He says Turkey's shift away from the rebels will have long consequences in Syria and beyond. Alice Fordham, NPR News, Beirut.
(SOUNDBITE OF IBRAHIM MAALOUF SONG, "ILLUSIONS")
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. | Alice Fordham | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/507984019/syrian-army-blames-rebels-for-polluting-water-supplies?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition | LEFT |
59,470,988 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | In tweet, Trump rails against General Motors for importing Mexican-made cars to U.S., but GM says most cars are made in Ohio | null | In another tweet targeting a U.S. company, President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to slap a tax on General Motors for importing compact cars to the U.S. from Mexico.
But GM makes the vast majority of compact Chevrolet Cruzes at a sprawling complex in Lordstown, Ohio, east of Cleveland.
Trump tweeted early Tuesday that GM is sending Mexican-made Cruzes to the U.S. tax-free. He told GM to make the cars in the U.S. "or pay big border tax!"
GM imports only hatchback versions of the Cruze from a factory in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, and it sold only about 4,500 of them in the U.S. last year, spokesman Patrick Morrissey said. The company sold about 172,000 Cruzes through November. The hatchback, which went on sale in the U.S. in the fall, is built in Mexico for global distribution, Morrissey said.
GM shares fell by about 1 percent in premarket trading immediately after the tweet, but bounced into positive territory after the market opened Tuesday.
Cruze hatchback production amounts to less than a day of output at the Lordstown plant, said Glenn Johnson, president of a United Auto Workers union local at the factory. The union, he said, is not protesting the move to build the hatch in Mexico.
"It makes for news, that's all," Johnson said of Trump's tweet. The Lordstown factory, he said, is not equipped to build the hatch.
GM did import some Cruze sedans from Mexico last year to meet demand as it was rolling out a new version of the compact car, Morrissey said, but that has stopped and all sedans sold in the U.S. are now made in Ohio, he said.
The tweet was the latest threat from Trump to tax companies that move production to Mexico and ship products back to the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Last year Trump went after Ford for plans to shift production of the compact Focus to Mexico. Jobs at the Detroit-area factory that now makes Focuses would be preserved because the plant is to get a new small pickup truck and SUV. Ford's CEO says the company will not change the plans.
Trump's targets have ranged from U.S. retailers and defense contractors, to tech companies. Amazon.com, Boeing and Macy's have been the subject of Trump tweets in the past.
Last year Trump touted a deal to keep 800 jobs at the Carrier furnace factory in Indianapolis from going to Mexico. He has promised to lower corporate tax rates to preserve factory jobs inside the United States, while threatening harsh penalties for companies that produce goods overseas to save on labor costs. On Twitter, Trump warned that he will impose a 35 percent tariff on the goods imported by companies that outsource production.
In November, GM said it would lay off about 1,250 workers at the Lordstown plant due to sagging demand for cars as U.S. buyers take advantage of low gasoline prices to buy trucks and SUVs. The workers on the third shift at Lordstown will go in indefinite layoff starting Jan. 23, although some may move to other GM factories.
Sales of the Cruze were down more than 18 percent through November.
Shifting demand from cars to trucks and SUVS is forcing General Motors to lay off more than 2,000 workers. Last month, 61.5 percent of U.S. new vehicle sales were trucks and SUVs, according to Autodata Corp., and analysts say there's no sign that will change anytime soon.
Associated Press | Tribune News Services | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-trump-tweet-general-motors-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
55,249,084 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NBC News | First Read's Seven Questions for 2017 | First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. | First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
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Our seven questions for 2017
With the brand-new year, with a new Congress that begins today, and with a new administration taking office in less than three weeks, here are our seven questions for 2017:
What will define the incoming Trump administration -- change or inexperience?
There is little doubt that change is coming to Washington with Donald Trump as president, whether it's the rollback of President Barack Obama's policies or the Tweeter-in-Chief who's willing to defy the norms and previous protocols. ("General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!" he tweeted this morning.) But don't forget: Trump and his team are the most inexperienced ever to run the White House and executive branch. Trump, after all, has never served in government before, and his top aides (Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon) have never worked in a White House. So what will be the early defining characteristic of Team Trump? The change they promised? Or their inexperience for the daunting job ahead?
Are Republicans prepared to own health care?
Remember the Pottery Barn Rule? You break it, you own it? Well, Republicans are poised to break Obamacare, one of the key promises they've made to their voters since 2010. The political question, however, is whether they're equally prepared to own it and everything that goes with it -- the inevitably rising premiums, the changing health-care markets, and the millions of Americans who gained health insurance under the law, as well as those who currently like their health care. It appears Republicans will first repeal the law and then delay passing its replacement to help forestall some of these changes. But repeal would immediately discourage private health insurers from participating in the exchanges, which would collapse those markets and send those premiums soaring. We're about to find out what happened to the dog who finally catches the car.
Who's Trump's upcoming Supreme Court pick?
This upcoming nomination to replace the late Antonin Scalia is probably guaranteed to set off Washington's latest ideological battle.
How much do Democrats have to change? A lot? Or just a little?
That question will be initially answered next month, when the party elects its new Democratic National Committee chair. And that's maybe the best way to view the Keith Ellison vs. Tom Perez (vs. others) DNC chair race: Does the party need a whole lot of change (as Bernie Sanders and his supporters have argued), or does it need just incremental change (after coming thisclose to winning a third-consecutive White House term, which has happened just once in the modern era)? Another way to look at it: What is conclusion for the Democrats' loss -- that Clinton uniquely lost the presidential race, or that there's a deeper problem?
Will congressional Democrats borrow from the GOP playbook?
As it turns out, Republicans enjoyed a tremendous amount of political success by simply opposing almost everything Obama and a Democratic Congress proposed. (The one big exception to the GOP's success here was Obama's 2012 re-election.) So will congressional Democrats return the favor? So far, they've extended an open hand to Trump when it comes to building more infrastructure. But is that real for a party who wants government to work? Or is it just for show before the inauguration?
Will the economy keep humming along?
Before even he takes office, Trump has been taking credit for a growing economy. "The U.S. Consumer Confidence Index for December surged nearly four points to 113.7, THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN MORE THAN 15 YEARS! Thanks Donald!" he tweeted over the holidays. The good news for Trump is that he's inheriting a much stronger economy than his predecessor did. The bad news is that, after several years of economic expansion and with an unemployment rate now at 4.6%, will the economy keep humming, especially heading into the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential race?
Will Trump's cozy ties/stance to Russia become a liability?
That question will be put to the test with Rex Tillerson's nomination to be Trump's secretary of state, especially after the incoming president once again praised Vladimir Putin after the Obama administration sanctioned Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential race. "Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!" Trump tweeted. Remember, Trump's bromance with Putin could very well be the biggest fault line between him and some congressional Republicans (like John McCain and Lindsey Graham). On "Today" this morning, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Trump will have his briefing with intelligence officials later this week to discuss Russia's interference in the '16 election.
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The 115th Congress begins
The 115th Congress officially kicks off today, and NBC's Alex Moe breaks down the activity in the House of Representatives:
The vote for speaker happens today: Just after noon, the House will gavel in for the 115th Congress and begin a roll call vote for House speaker. It is expected that Paul Ryan will get re-elected to the position, but it is always interesting to watch how many members of his party will vote against him. Also this year, following the tense battle within the Democratic Party after their loss in November, we will see how many Democrats vote for someone other than Nancy Pelosi.
President Obama heading to the Hill Wednesday: Per NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Kasie Hunt, President Obama will meet with House and Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill Wednesday to discuss ways to protect the health-care law in the new Congress.
More electoral-vote counting: On Friday at 1:00 pm Et, the House will convene for a Joint Session of Congress to count the electoral ballots for president and vice president of the United States.
Israel: Congress will take up a resolution disapproving of the UN Security Council's Resolution 2334 relating to Israel rebuking President Obama's lack of a veto of the resolution. The House will possibly take up this resolution this week and then send to the Senate.
So much for draining the swamp
NBC's Moe also has this dispatch: "Just hours before the 115th Congress gavels in, House Republicans voted to weaken the independent ethics office that investigates House lawmakers and staff accused of misconduct. During a closed-door meeting Monday, by a vote of 119 to 74, House Republicans defied their leadership to adopt an amendment by Rep Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to place the Office of Congressional Ethics, known as OCE, under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee. The move effectively gives the ethics oversight and investigative role to the lawmakers themselves and prevents information about investigations from being released to the public." More from Moe: "Goodlatte's office said the amendment was intended to increase protection of due process rights for House representatives of staffers under investigation and grant them more access to basic 'evidentiary standards.' The amendment bars the office, which would be renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review, from considering anonymous complaints and complaints about activity from before 2010." On "Today" this morning, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said the incoming president hasn't yet weighed in on this move, but she appeared to defend it, saying that Congress would still have recourse to pursue ethics investigations.
And it makes it easier for Democrats to tie Trump's ethics issues to House Republicans
Remember, outside of the Iraq war, Republicans lost control of the House in 2006 due to ethics issues (hello, Jack Abramoff!) So of all of the things House Republican could do, weakening the ethics office is puzzling and politically problematic. And it makes it harder for House Republicans to distance themselves from any Trump ethics issues that arise.
Trump Cabinet Watch
NBC's Kristen Welker and Hallie Jackson reported that former Reagan administration official Robert Lighthizer will be Trump's pick to be U.S. trade representative; Lighthizer was deputy USTR under Reagan. The three positions that haven't been filled yet: Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and Director of National Intelligence. Below is our full list: | Chuck Todd;Mark Murray;Carrie Dann | www.nbcnews.com | http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/first-read-s-seven-questions-2017-n702576?cid=public-rss_20170103 | CENTER |
115,950,295 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Syria Rebels Suspend Talks With Government Over Violations | Syria Rebels Suspend Talks With Government Over Violations | A group of Syrian rebel groups say they are suspending talks about planned peace negotiations to be held later this month, because of what they describe as ongoing government violations of a four-day old cease-fire deal.
The cease-fire deal brokered by Russia and Turkey is to be followed by talks between mainstream rebel factions and government representatives in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
But in a statement posted late Monday, 10 rebel factions said they are suspending any talks related to the Astana negotiations or any discussions related to the cease-fire "until it is fully implemented." They include the powerful Army of Islam group which operates mainly outside the Syrian capital.
Opposition factions are angered in particular about an ongoing military offensive in the water-rich Barada Valley northwest of Damascus. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syria-rebels-suspend-talks-government-violations-44521845 | CENTER |
79,087,689 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Politico | Trump adds two additional deputy chiefs of staff | The move, which adds two seasoned Washington operatives to Trump’s White House roster, was widely expected. | Katie Walsh will join her former colleague Reince Prebius in Donald Trump's White House. | Getty Trump adds two additional deputy chiefs of staff
Donald Trump has tapped Joe Hagin and Katie Walsh to serve as deputy chiefs of staff in the White House alongside Rick Dearborn, a transition official confirmed to POLITICO.
The move, which adds two seasoned Washington operatives to Trump’s White House roster, was widely expected.
The trio of Dearborn, Walsh and Hagin will serve under incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Steve Bannon, and counselor Kellyanne Conway, who form the top tier of Trump's inner circle.
Walsh worked alongside Priebus at the Republican National Committee, where she was chief of staff. Hagin worked as deputy chief of staff for operations in the George W. Bush White House.
Matthew Nussbaum is a reporter. | Alex Isenstadt;Matthew Nussbaum | www.politico.com | http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/trump-adds-two-additional-deputy-chiefs-of-staff-233122 | UNDEFINED |
115,854,927 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | British EU Envoy Departs Ahead of Brexit Negotiations | British EU Envoy Departs Ahead of Brexit Negotiations | Underscoring the hectic preparations for Britain's divorce proceedings from the European Union, London's envoy to the EU has unexpectedly resigned only months before the negotiations are due to start and on the heels of a nasty controversy.
Ivan Rogers decided to leave now so that a successor could be in place ahead of the official triggering of the exit talks set for the end of March, the British government said. Rogers was named to the Brussels post of permanent representative in 2013 and was due to stay until November and help oversee the critical first half year of negotiations.
Rogers was awarded a knighthood in 2016 for services including to European policy and his expertise on complicated issues from trade to fisheries to foreign policy was considered a major asset.
British preparations for its divorce from the bloc after the June referendum have been anything but smooth and the sudden departure of the top diplomat is set to add to that.
Rogers came under pressure last month following the leak of his suggestion to the prime minister that it could take up to a decade to have a trade deal with the EU in the wake of the so-called Brexit. Politicians backing an exit called him overly negative.
The UK Independence Party immediately latched on to the news, with MEP Gerard Batten calling Rogers a "Europhile" and saying Prime Minister Theresa May should "have removed him long before."
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said Rogers was one of the very few people at the top of the government "who understand EU." His departure, Grant said, "makes a good deal on Brexit less likely."
May has repeatedly said that she will officially trigger the divorce negotiations before the end of March.
———
Gregory Katz in London contributed to this report. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/british-eu-envoy-departs-ahead-brexit-negotiations-44526464 | CENTER |
115,960,410 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | China Confirms Its Carrier Held Drills in South China Sea | China Confirms Its Carrier Held Drills in South China Sea | China has confirmed that its aircraft carrier has for the first time conducted drills in the South China Sea with a formation of other warships and fighter jets, a move that could raise concerns among its neighbors.
The Defense Ministry said several J-15 fighter jets took off and landed from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Liaoning on Monday. The Liaoning, China's first and only aircraft carrier, sailed into the South China Sea last week.
The confirmation comes days after Taiwan's defense ministry said the carrier and five other warships had passed south of Taiwan. The self-ruled island deployed fighter jets to monitor the fleet.
China calls the drills part of a routine open-sea exercise, but they could add to tensions between Beijing and Taipei. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-confirms-carrier-held-drills-south-china-sea-44521721 | CENTER |
115,864,333 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Virginia Governor Vows to Veto 20-Week Abortion Ban Bill | Virginia Governor Vows to Veto 20-Week Abortion Ban Bill | Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is promising to veto legislation banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, saying such a "socially divisive" proposal hurts the state's image.
The legislation, proposed by a Republican delegate, mirrors similar measures supported by Congressional Republicans and one signed into law in Ohio last month. Abortion-rights opponents have been emboldened by the election success of Donald Trump and the Republican Party and plan a broad push both at the state and federal level this year.
McAuliffe, a Democrat, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wants to send a clear message to the Republican-controlled General Assembly not to "waste time" trying to be part of that effort.
The General Assembly's 2017 legislative session starts next week and McAuliffe does not typically comment on proposed legislation until after it passes both chambers. But the governor said he needed to make clear to companies looking to invest in Virginia that the legislation had no hope of passage.
"I can't sit back and have that sitting out the same time I am traveling the globe recruiting businesses to Virginia," McAuliffe said, adding that he is going on an important recruiting trip this weekend. "If there's something that would be damaging toward business, and to our image around the country and the globe, I'll veto it, you bet I will."
He also noted that he has a perfect record of having his vetoes upheld in the General Assembly.
The abortion legislation failed to pass the House last year, but the bill's sponsor, Del. Dave LaRock said public support is growing.
"It's outrageous for a person with any compassion to turn a blind eye while this torture takes place," LaRock said.
The legislation is based on the assertion that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks, which opponents characterize as scientifically unsound.
Kentucky Republicans on Tuesday also introduced a 20-week abortion ban, along with a requirement that women undergo ultrasounds before having abortions. With overwhelming House and Senate majorities and control of the governor's office, these bills are considered likely to pass. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/virginia-governor-vows-veto-20-week-abortion-ban-44531319 | CENTER |
115,945,826 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Markets Right Now: US Stocks Open the Year With Solid Gains | Markets Right Now: US Stocks Open the Year With Solid Gains | The latest on developments in financial markets (All times local):
9:35 a.m.
The stock market opened the year on a strong note, led by big gains in banks and energy companies.
Major U.S. indexes were broadly higher in the first few minutes of trading Tuesday as markets reopened after the New Year's Day holiday.
Marathon Petroleum rose 6 percent and oil rig operator Transocean climbed 4 percent in the first few minutes of trading.
The price of crude oil rose 2 percent to $55 a barrel.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 162 points, or 0.8 percent, to 19,918.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 16 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,254. The Nasdaq composite increased 38 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,421. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/markets-now-us-stocks-open-year-solid-gains-44525168 | CENTER |
115,985,235 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | New UN Chief Has Big Goals but Says He's 'No Miracle Maker' | New UN Chief Has Big Goals but Says He's 'No Miracle Maker' | The new U.N. secretary-general said Tuesday he's "no miracle maker" but Antonio Guterres has big ambitions: He wants to shake up the global body and get all 193 member nations to come together to solve the "terrible problems" the world is facing.
Speaking on his first day at U.N. headquarters after taking the organization's reins from Ban Ki-moon, Guterres said conflicts are multiplying and interlinked, and have triggered "this new phenomenon of global terrorism."
At the same time, he said, there are massive human rights violations and inequalities "have grown quite dramatically."
In a world which has become globalized and interconnected, Guterres said exclusion is "even more unbearable because people now can see how others live, can see the prosperity in other parts of the world." And "that more easily triggers revolt, anger, and becomes a factor in the instability" of conflicts, he said.
The former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief said "only global solutions can address global problems, and the U.N. is the cornerstone of that approach."
But Guterres said this belief isn't shared by many people around the world, pointing to the growing divide between the public and governments and political establishments in many countries,
"We also see in relation to international organizations like the U.N. a lot of resistance in many parts of the world," Guterres said. "There's a lot of skepticism about the role the U.N. can play."
One such skeptic, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, questioned the United Nations' effectiveness after the Obama administration allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Dec. 23 in a stunning rupture with past practice.
"The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!," Trump tweeted on Dec. 26.
Guterres, asked whether he was concerned about the "good time" remark, replied "no." But he said he is concerned about "all the terrible problems we face in the world" and "I hope we will be able to come together to solve these problems."
This has proven impossible in the past, with Syria the most visible example.
Trump has also shown little interest in multilateralism and great attachment to an "America First" agenda.
The new secretary-general told several hundred U.N. staff and diplomats at a welcome ceremony that it's very important to be proud of what the United Nations has done to help millions of people.
But he said it's also crucial to recognize the U.N.'s shortcomings and failures and "to recognize situations where we are not able to deliver as we should for the people we care for."
Guterres said the United Nations needs to be able to respond to the aspirations, concerns and anxieties of people around the world — "and let's be honest, we are not yet entirely ready to do it properly."
He called for reform and "collective engagement" to address the U.N.'s shortcomings, pointing to its failure to prevent and resolve conflicts; difficulties in recognizing that peace, security, development and human rights must be tackled together, and getting rid of the "straitjacket of bureaucracy that makes our life so difficult in many of the things we do."
Guterres won the U.N.'s top job after receiving high marks from almost every diplomat for his performance in the first-ever question-and-answer sessions in the General Assembly for the 13 candidates vying to replace Ban, whose second five-year term ended on Dec. 31.
Referring to the expectations that his election generated, Guterres said: "I think it's useful to say that there are no miracles, and I'm sure I am no miracle maker, and the only way for us to be able to achieve our goals is to really work together as a team." | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chief-big-goals-miracle-maker-44527759 | CENTER |
52,977,885 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | NPR | Nonreligious Americans Remain Far Underrepresented In Congress | Only one member of Congress is religiously unaffiliated, but more than one-in-five Americans are. | Nonreligious Americans Remain Far Underrepresented In Congress
Enlarge this image toggle caption JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
One-in-five Americans are religiously unaffiliated. Yet just one of 535 members of the new Congress is.
That's what the latest data from the Pew Research Center show on the opening day of the 115th Congress. The nation's top legislative body remains far more male and white than the rest of the U.S. population, as well, but religion is one of the more invisible areas where legislators in Washington simply aren't representative of the people they represent.
Only Arizona Democratic Representative Kyrsten Sinema admits to being "unaffiliated," which Pew defines as people who are atheist, agnostic or who describe their religion as "nothing in particular." That means only 0.2 percent of Congress is unaffiliated, compared to 23 percent of U.S. adults. That group is faster-growing than any religious group in America, as Pew found in 2015.
Meanwhile, nearly 91 percent of congressional members are Christian, compared to 71 percent of U.S. adults. Here's a full breakdown of how Congress' religious affiliations compare to those of the U.S. population:
America's nonreligious are young — and not politically organized
Why the massive gap? For one, religiously unaffiliated people tend to be young, and Congress just isn't that young. In the 114th Congress, the average age for House members was 57-years old and for senators it was 61. (To a modest extent, this is a reflection of age rules: senators must be 30 or older, and representatives have to be at least 25.)
But groups that identify as "nothing in particular," agnostic, and atheist — the three groups that make up the unaffiliated in Pew's definition — are among the youngest "religious" groups in America. So it may be that once Americans start electing more Millennials into Congress, there will be a greater share of nonreligious people elected as well.
In addition, younger Americans tend to have much lower voting rates than older people. That may also contribute, though the logic requires a couple of leaps — if this means the (relatively young) religiously unaffiliated population isn't voting as much, and if the religiously unaffiliated are more drawn to likewise unaffiliated politicians — that could also help explain the lack of "nones" in Congress. Likewise, the inverse is true: if older (and more religious) Americans are voting for more religious politicians, it means less room for the nonreligious ones.
(Perhaps unsurprisingly, the unaffiliated Sinema is also relatively young for a congressional member at 40.)
One more potential reason why unaffiliated people aren't in power: not being affiliated often also means not being politically cohesive.
"They may be unaffiliated; they may be atheist; they may be agnostic ... but they're not part of some club," said Margie Omero, a Democratic strategist at Purple Strategies, to NPR in 2015. "You could certainly argue that evangelicals are not monolithic in terms of their policy beliefs, but there's no denying that there's more of an organization around organized religion than there is around disorganized atheism."
Atheism doesn't poll well
It's true that Americans remain at least somewhat open to atheist office-holders. In one regular polling question, Gallup asks Americans what types of people they would (or would not) vote for as president. For example, 91 percent of Americans say they would vote for a Jew and 81 percent say a Mormon. Fifty-eight percent of Americans would vote for an atheist. That's not only a majority but a record high for atheists.
Then again, it's very low compared to Jews and Mormons (and Christians in general, who have made up all of the presidents to date), and the numbers altogether suggest that America's nonreligious have a long way to go before they become mainstream as politicians. That 58 percent put atheists next to last on Gallup's list, above socialist (at 47 percent) and on par with Muslim (60 percent).
Not only that, but atheist is still far more of a minus than a plus for voters. According to one 2014 Pew poll, just over half of Americans said that knowing a presidential candidate was atheist would make them less likely to vote for that candidate; only 5 percent said "more likely" (the remaining 41 percent said it "wouldn't matter").
It's not exactly "nones" (atheists are only one subset of unaffiliated Americans), and it's a question about voting for president, but it at least sends a message: being nonreligious is still not a big selling point for many voters. | Danielle Kurtzleben | www.npr.org | http://www.npr.org/2017/01/03/508037656/non-religious-americans-remain-far-underrepresented-in-congress?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=politics | LEFT |
115,951,108 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Fate of Hunger-Striking Activist in Iran Sparks Rare Protest | Fate of Hunger-Striking Activist in Iran Sparks Rare Protest | The fate of a hunger-striking activist imprisoned in Iran has sparked a rare unauthorized protest near the prison where he's being held.
Videos posted online show dozens of people taking part in a protest Monday supporting Arash Sadeghi.
Iranian local media did not report on the protest, though opposition websites abroad featured it.
Sadeghi is serving a 15-year sentence. Amnesty International says he was convicted of "spreading propaganda against the system" and "insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic."
Sadeghi began his hunger strike after his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, was arrested in late October.
Amnesty says she is serving a six-year prison sentence over an unpublished fictional story found in her home about a woman burning a Quran in anger over another woman being stoned to death for adultery. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fate-hunger-striking-activist-iran-sparks-rare-protest-44521846 | CENTER |
59,544,451 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | After 18 years, TV fraudster Kevin Trudeau's case is over, 'we hope,' judges rule | null | TV conman Kevin Trudeau made his fortune pitching "miracle" cures for everything from obesity to poverty in infomercials for years as the feds pursued him.
Even getting sent to prison for a decade in 2014 by a Chicago judge for lying didn't shut the smooth-talking pitchman up, or put an end to his seemingly inexhaustible legal battles.
But now — 18 years after he was first pursued by the Federal Trade Commission for his fraudulent claims — Trudeau's case is finally toast, U.S. Court of Appeals judges are praying.
"This decision marks the end of litigation about Kevin Trudeau's frauds — or so we hope," Seventh Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote in an opinion published last week.
Easterbrook and Judges Richard Posner and Diane Sykes rejected an appeal by lawyers for one of the many companies that Trudeau, who claims he is destitute, set up to hide his money from a $38 million contempt judgment. Previous appeals over his conviction and sentence already had been tossed, while the U.S. Supreme Court last month declined to hear his case.
Though Trudeau's lawyer, Kimball Anderson, agreed Tuesday that Trudeau "has exhausted his appeals," the judges' fears that Trudeau's frauds will end up back in court are understandable.
On Facebook last week, Trudeau's backers continued to solicit donations to his legal defense fund from his 29,000 followers, promising them they could "DOUBLE YOUR MONEY."
And in a pre-Christmas message presumably relayed through supporters from his cell at the Montgomery, Alabama federal prison camp, Trudeau told his fans he would "share 2 secrets that will give you success in every area of your life."
If they followed his advice, the convicted fraudster, formerly of Oak Brook, wrote, they would "vibrate frequencies that will allow you to create the life you want."
Trudeau also has boasted that he predicted Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, noting that he knew his fellow tanned TV salesman would win because "the overwhelming energy of the people is consistent with Trump's vibration."
He will surely be delighted, then, to learn that the president-elect is said to be considering a "fantastic" woman for nomination to the Supreme Court: U.S. Appellate Court Judge Diane Sykes.
[email protected]
Twitter @kimjnews | Kim Janssen | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chicagoinc/ct-kevin-trudeau-0104-chicago-inc-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,509,977 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Medical Examiner: Off-duty SEAL died from drowning, exposure | null | A medical examiner says an off-duty Navy SEAL died from drowning with hypothermia as a contributing factor after his kayak overturned last week in the Chesapeake Bay.
Donna Price, district administrator for Virginia's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, wrote in an email Tuesday that the death was ruled an accident.
Petty Officer First Class Devon Grube was kayaking with a friend Wednesday when his vessel overturned near Cape Charles. The U.S. Coast Guard brought him ashore unconscious. He later died in a hospital.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the water temperature was about 45 degrees.
U.S. Navy Lt. Trevor Davids said last week that the Navy is conducting a full investigation. Grube was stationed with a Naval Special Warfare unit in Virginia Beach.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | Associated Press | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-bc-va--kayak-overturns-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
115,863,194 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Massive Manhunt Continues for Escaped Rhode Island Inmate | The inmate "has the potential to be dangerous and could be armed," said U.S. Marshal Jamie Hainsworth. | A massive manhunt continued today for an inmate who escaped a maximum security prison in northeast Rhode Island over the weekend, according to federal and state officials in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
James Morales, 35, escaped from the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Center Falls, Rhode Island, this past Saturday, Dec. 31, around 6:45 p.m., Massachusetts State Police said in a wanted poster released today.
Officials said Morales broke out of the prison by climbing a basketball hoop to reach a rooftop, cutting through a fence and then climbing through razor wire, reported ABC affiliate WCVB in Boston.
Morales had been in federal custody for the "theft of numerous firearms from the Worcester Army Reserve Armory in 2015," and he is wanted "for an alleged violent and brutal sexual assault of a child," Massachusetts State Police said.
Morales "may have suffered significant lacerations during his escape," according to Massachusetts State Police. Authorities noted that he was last seen wearing "gray sweatpants, a gray sweatshirt and black sneakers," and "had a beard at the time of the escape and has balding/shaved brown hair."
Morales also has a "large tattoo of an eagle on the left side of his neck" and "additional tattoos on his chest, arms and hands," Massachusetts State Police added.
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Jamie Hainsworth, U.S. Marshal for the district of Rhode Island, said at a news conference this afternoon that law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels were working "around the clock" to catch Morales.
"Mr. Morales has the potential to be dangerous and could be armed," Hainsworth said. He urged anyone who encounters Morales not to approach him and to instead call 911.
Hainsworth also asked anyone with information to please call a hotline established by the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-800-336-0102.
While Hainsworth repeatedly said at the news conference today that authorities' current priority is to catch Morales, he noted that they would also take a "hard look" at the procedures of the prison Morales escaped from and investigate whether the community of Center Falls was properly and timely notified of the escape.
According to Hainsworth, Morales was only discovered missing by prison staff at 10 p.m. on Dec. 31 -- about three hours after he escaped.
Hainsworth declined to talk about specific details of Morales' escape and the evidence collected in the manhunt and investigation so far.
When asked by reporters what he wanted to say to Morales, Hainsworth said, "Turn yourself in." | Abc News;More Avianne | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/US/massive-manhunt-continues-escaped-rhode-island-inmate/story?id=44532256 | CENTER |
115,910,740 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Iva Drapalova, Former AP Prague Correspondent, Dies at 91 | Iva Drapalova, Former AP Prague Correspondent, Dies at 91 | Iva Drapalova, a former Associated Press correspondent in Prague who covered Czechoslovakia with courage for two decades following the 1968 Soviet-led invasion has died. She was 91.
Drapalova's family announced Tuesday that she died "quietly and suddenly" on Saturday.
After her years with the AP, she worked for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the Washington Post and other major U.S. newspapers.
Born April 4, 1925 in Svepravice near Prague, Drapalova spent World War II in Britain. After she returned to Czechoslovakia, she and her family were persecuted by the country's communist regime during the 1950s.
The AP hired her as a translator by the AP in 1968, the year that the brief period of liberal reforms under leader Alexander Dubcek known as the Prague Spring were crushed. Drapalova rose to become the news agency's Prague correspondent, covering events after Warsaw Pact troops reasserted Moscow's authority.
At one point authorities banned her from writing stories, and ordered her to provide only translations to the AP. Drapalova initially obeyed, but later resumed reporting under relentless surveillance.
"My approach to the whole thing was that anybody I meet with can be reporting on me," Drapalova said in a 2012 interview for The Associated Press Oral History Program. "And anything I do, anything I say can be reported. And if you accept it then you are not that worried about it."
Her telephone was tapped, secret agents followed her and even her assistant turned out to be an informant for the spy agency. After the anti-Communist Velvet Revolution in 1989, Drapalova discovered all the details in a file of more than 1,000 pages the secret police had on her.
Her career as an AP reporter almost began by accident. After Prague correspondent Gene Kramer left Czechoslovakia, Drapalova was the wire service's only representative in the country.
"Nobody told me anything," she recalled. "They gave me the right to sign the checks. I thought I was just there until somebody else comes. So I started writing."
One of the first major stories she covers came in 1972, when a Yugoslav Airlines Douglas DC-9 airliner exploded in flight over a snowy mountain range in Czechoslovakia. Twenty people died, but a stewardess survived.
"I did again what I saw Gene doing. That is, I called the hospital and I talked with a doctor (who) had good story. I talked with everybody there who was willing to talk. So I sent the story. Next morning, I saw the story ... on the wire and it was bylined, but not my name. When it came to New York, nobody knew anything about me, but they wanted a byline. So, they put the name of the Belgrade correspondent on my first story," she laughed.
Drapalova's devotion and writing skills were highly valued, and her bosses at the control bureau in Frankfurt repeatedly rejected her requests to retire.
After she left the AP, Drapalova helped other reporters cover the Velvet Revolution, and cooperated mainly with the Los Angeles Times until her 2003 retirement.
Alison Smale, a former AP correspondent and now the Berlin bureau chief for The New York Times, said Drapalova was "key to the understanding of Czechoslovakia for a crucial two decades."
"I will always be grateful to her for the insights she offered in subtle reading of shifting Communist party politics, for her vivid memories of her own repression, and for always reminding me, gently or with force, that it was important to look at what was happening in the society for what it was, and not as the product of some often mistaken Western desire," Smale said.
Drapalova is survived by her two sons, Dan and Ales. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iva-drapalova-ap-prague-correspondent-dies-91-44530485 | CENTER |
59,503,989 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | More than 1,100 law school professors oppose Jeff Sessions's nomination as attorney general | null | A group of more than 1,100 law school professors from across the country is sending a letter to Congress Tuesday urging the Senate to reject the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for attorney general.
The letter, signed by law professors from 170 law schools in 48 states, is also scheduled to run as a full-page newspaper ad aimed at senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be holding confirmation hearings for Sessions on Jan. 10 and 11.
"We are convinced that Jeff Sessions will not fairly enforce our nation's laws and promote justice and equality in the United States," says the letter, signed by prominent legal scholars including Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School, Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago Law School, Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School and Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Irvine School of Law.
The professors from every state except North Dakota and Alaska, which has no law school, highlight the rejection of Sessions's nomination to a federal judgeship more than 20 years ago. Robin Walker Sterling of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, one of the organizers of the letter, said that 1,000 professors signed on within 72 hours. "Clearly, there are many, many law professors who are very uneasy with the prospect of Attorney General Sessions, and they are willing to take a public stand in opposition to his nomination," she said.
The law professors wrote that some of them have concerns about Sessions's prosecution of three civil rights activists for voter fraud in Alabama in 1985, his support for building a wall along the nation's southern border and his "repeated opposition to legislative efforts to promote the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ community."
"Nothing in Senator Sessions's public life since 1986," the letter says, "has convinced us that he is a different man than the 39-year-old attorney who was deemed too racially insensitive to be a federal district court judge."
William Smith, former chief counsel to Sessions, who is African American, has said that people who call Sessions racially insensitive are "just lying. And they should stop the smear campaign."
"The people making these allegations against Sen. Sessions don't know him," Smith said in an interview. "In the last 30 years, they probably haven't spent 10 hours with him. I spent 10 years working with him . . . as his top legal adviser. There are not statements that he made that are inappropriate."
Allegations of racial insensitivity were made against Sessions at a 1986 Senate hearing when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to be a federal judge. His nomination was defeated, after being opposed by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, People for the American Way and the NAACP, which is now protesting his nomination for attorney general, calling it "despicable and unacceptable."
Supporters of Sessions note that his nomination has been endorsed by Gerald Reynolds, the former chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In a letter to the ranking members of the Judiciary Committee, Reynolds, who is African American, said, "Session is a man of great character and integrity with a commitment to fairness and equal justice under the law."
Here are the people who have been nominated for positions in President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet.
Sarah Flores, spokeswoman for Sessions, said Friday in response to the NAACP statement that Sessions "has dedicated his career to upholding the rule of law, ensuring public safety and prosecuting government corruption."
"Many African-American leaders who've known him for decades attest to this and have welcomed his nomination to be the next Attorney General," Flores said. "These false portrayals of Senator Sessions will fail as tired, recycled, hyperbolic charges that have been thoroughly rebuked and discredited. From the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Sheriffs Association to civil rights leaders and African-American elected officials, to victims' rights organizations, Senator Sessions has inspired confidence from people across the country that he will return the Department of Justice to an agency the American people can be proud of once again." | Sari Horwitz | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-jeff-sessions-attorney-general-law-professors-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
115,961,237 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | ABC News | Magnitude 7.2 Quake Hits Near Fiji; Tsunami Alert Issued | Magnitude 7.2 Quake Hits Near Fiji; Tsunami Alert Issued | A powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Fiji on Wednesday, prompting a brief tsunami warning for the Pacific island nation. There were no immediate reports of damage.
The magnitude 7.2 quake, which hit at 9:52 a.m. local time, struck about 220 kilometers (135 miles) southwest of the tourist hub of Nadi, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was a relatively shallow 15 kilometers (9 miles) deep. Shallower quakes generally cause more damage than ones that strike deeper.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for coastlines within 300 kilometers (190 miles) of the epicenter, then lifted the warning about an hour later. A tsunami of just 1 centimeter (less than an inch) was observed in the capital of Suva, the center said.
An official with the Disaster Management Office in Suva, who did not give his name, said there had been no reports of damage from the quake or tsunami.
Radio New Zealand reported that people evacuated Nadi, a city of about 42,000 on Fiji's main island, after the earthquake. | Abc News | abcnews.go.com | http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/magnitude-72-quake-hits-fiji-tsunami-alert-issued-44535159 | CENTER |
59,484,909 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | Talk of the County | null | Election shock
It was an interesting article by Kathleen Parker. I think it's hilarious that liberals are in shock of Donald Trump winning the presidency. If she's going to be miserable for the next four years, I'm happy. I've been unhappy for the last eight years. President Obama has been a disaster for this country. He set us back in many ways. We're not respected throughout the world. Trump hasn't been sworn in yet, but the liberals know exactly what's going to happen. I wonder what kind of crystal ball they have. It sure didn't work on Election Night.
Stand up for unions
This is in response to Illinois union dues. I've been in a union, and unions represent the workers. We may not like everything about the unions. For people who don't want to pay union dues, and I know the dues are a lot, they need to know unions help them keep their jobs and their benefits. You can't just say you won't pay union dues. Then the employer will pay you just the minimum wage. This is the benefit of having a union, and we should keep it.
Save the building
I'm wondering about this rumor regarding the building at the corner of Sheridan and Washington. It went into foreclosure and is going to be torn down. That would be a great travesty of justice. That building has so much potential. If you give it to Donald Trump, the apartments will fly off the shelves. Go into the trendy part of Chicago and sell raffle tickets to win an apartment. There must be a solution besides tearing it down. Those apartments are just sitting there waiting like gifts. Throw a boat in with it. Have the apartments sold as second homes for the weekend warriors. Don't make a mistake. Do something with that property.
Miffed about Motley
Waukegan Mayor Motley was recently interviewed regarding coal, pollution and the city. He stated that he can't possibly imagine how they can make up the $1 million revenue that is generated by the coal plant. Arithmetic shows you that $1 million a year is $114 per hour. If he can't look around the city and find something that can generate that small of an amount, he needs to be replaced.
Need for Electoral College
This is concerning the Electoral College. I think I have a good scenario. Illinois has 22 counties that are basically Democrat counties. The rest are 70 plus Republican counties. We live under Democrat control even though they have less counties. It's not fair. That's why we have Electoral College. Even those people out in the sticks have a voice in government.
Kudos to Libertyville couple
This is my message about people with feelings for others. A couple from Libertyville, who were strangers driving by, saw me shoveling snow at the end of my driveway. They got out with their shovels and you know the rest of the story.
Call about good and bad news
We received a phone call from the City of Waukegan regarding a celebration of Belvidere Park's 25th anniversary. That's terrific. It's too bad the city can't call us and warn us about break-ins going on.
Twitter @NewsSun
Editor's Note
Talk of the County is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-4554 or email [email protected]. For a continuously updating blog of Talk of the County comments, go to newssunonline.com/talk. | Chicago Tribune | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/opinion/talk/ct-lns-talk-of-the-county-st-0105-20170103-story.html | UNDEFINED |
59,528,346 | 2017-01-03 00:00:00 | Chicago Tribune | How will the workplace change under Trump? Here are a few clues, issues | null | The incoming Trump administration could make numerous changes that affect the workplace, and while it's anyone's guess what shape those changes will take, the president-elect's Cabinet picks and campaign rhetoric offer some clues.
Here are six workplace issues to watch in 2017.
E-Verify. A chief rallying cry of President-elect Donald Trump's campaign involved limiting immigration to boost employment among native-born Americans, and a position paper outlining how he would do that includes mandating E-Verify nationwide to keep employers from hiring those in the country without legal permission. E-Verify, a system for employers to electronically check a new hire's identity information against government databases before permitting them to work, has been required of federal contractors and vendors since 2007. Some states require public or private employers to use the system; Illinois does not. Critics of E-Verify raise concerns about privacy, implementation burdens and inaccuracies that keep legal immigrants from working.
Quickie union election rule. The National Labor Relations Board in 2014 issued a rule that, among other things, shortened the time period between when a union files for an election and the election itself, which critics believe makes it easier for unions to organize workers because employers have less time to present their arguments against union representation. That rule is among several pro-worker policies adopted by the NLRB's Democratic majority that could be walked back if Trump appoints more conservative members to the board, or he could restrict its funding to limit enforcement. The five-member panel currently has two vacancies, plus the general counsel who decides which cases are heard by the board will see his term expire this year.
Joint employer standard. One of the NLRB's most controversial moves under the Obama administration was to broaden the definition of joint employer such that more companies could be held liable for labor law violations by their subcontractors or franchisees, and be brought to the bargaining table should workers employed by subcontractors unionize.
The agency's closely watched Browning-Ferris decision in 2015 said a company can be a joint employer if it exerts "indirect control" over workers, or "reserves" control even if it does not exercise it. The decision has been appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. But the new joint employer standard, opposed by congressional Republicans, might not last under Trump, who "would presumably sign into law any congressional effort to legislate the reversal of a controversial Board decision — such as the Browning-Ferris joint employer case — that does not align with his policies," according to an analysis by the law firm Littler Mendelson, which represents management in employment cases.
Trump's pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, is a fast-food executive who has denounced the broadening of the joint employer definition. "I would be close to shocked if the joint employer guidance and the emphasis on joint employers from the administrative standpoint isn't completely walked backwards," said Jeff Risch, chair of the labor and employment practice at SmithAmundsen. Still, he said, the Obama administration has shone a spotlight on the issue and spurred lawsuits that are being evaluated by the courts, so the floodgates already may be opened.
Mandatory arbitration agreements. A hotly debated topic in labor law is whether it's legal for employers to require workers to resolve disputes through arbitration rather than class-action lawsuits — a big money- and headache-saver for employers. Though the NLRB has argued that such requirements violate workers' right to concerted activities under the National Labor Relations Act, circuit courts have been split on the issue, and the Supreme Court previously has held that such requirements are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. The lower-court split sets the stage for potential review by the Supreme Court.
EEOC pay reporting rule. Amid a national conversation about a persistent wage gap between men and women, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that employers will have to start providing data on employee pay and hours by sex, race and ethnicity in order to help the agency investigate pay discrimination. The first reports are due in March 2018. Many employers, who already report how many people they employ by race and gender, have complained it's a major paperwork headache. While Trump didn't mention the EEOC guidelines on the campaign trail, some observers say a more conservative EEOC under his administration could revise or rescind the regulations before they take effect.
Overtime rule. A last-minute injunction against a new Labor Department rule that would double — to nearly $48,000 — the minimum salary someone must make before they can be exempt from overtime pay has left the rule's fate in question. A Texas federal judge blocked the planned Dec. 1 implementation of the rule, a signature Obama administration initiative meant to boost middle-class incomes, until he decides whether it's lawful, though there's no timeline on when that decision might come. Labor nominee Puzder, who has criticized the overtime rule, could modify or roll it back.
[email protected]
Twitter @alexiaer | Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz | www.chicagotribune.com | http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-workplace-under-trump-0103-biz-20170103-story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fbusiness+%28L.A.+Times+-+Business%29 | UNDEFINED |
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