Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/813078
ByKathleenFoodyand Bill Barrow The Associated Press ALPHARETTA, GA. Repub- licans are pushing to pre- vent a major upset in a conservative Georgia con- gressional district where Democrats stoked by op- position to President Don- ald Trump have rallied be- hind a candidate who has raised a shocking amount of money for a special elec- tion. Tuesday'sprimarylumps all 18 candidates —Repub- licans, Democrats and in- dependents — on one bal- lot in a race that is testing both parties' strategies for the 2018 midterm elections with Trump in the White House. Democrats are ex- pected to have a better shot at snagging the typically Republican seat than they did in last week's closer- than-expected GOP victory in a Kansas special House election. Trump did not perform as well as other Republi- cans in the suburban At- lanta district, an afflu- ent, well-educated swath filled with the kind of vot- ers Democrats need if they hope to reclaim a House majority next year. Republicans essen- tially concede that Demo- crat Jon Ossoff, a former congressional staffer, will lead Tuesday's voting. That leaves 11 Republican candi- dates hoping the 30-year- old investigative filmmaker fails to reach a majority. If he doesn't, Ossoff and the top GOP vote-getter would meet in a June 20 runoff. Five Democrats will ap- pear on the ballot, but Os- soff is the GOP's greatest threat. He raised more than $8.3 million, most from outside the district. Two independent candi- dates also are running. The winner will succeed Tom Price, who resigned to become Trump's health secretary. Cedrick Gulley, a 25-year-old Georgia State University stu- dent from Sandy Springs, compared Ossoff to Pres- ident Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker. He said both "make me feel like my generation is be- ing heard." He said Democrats were shocked into action by Trump's victory in No- vember. "I've always said that Democrats can be a lit- tle lazy, and I do believe since November there's an emergence of people fight- ing," Gulley said. "I think we have a chance to pull it out today." The president took to Twitter on Tuesday morn- ing, declaring Ossoff "would be a disaster in Congress." A day earlier, Trump blasted an unnamed "su- per liberal" Democrat in the contest, saying that candidate "wants to pro- tect criminals, allow ille- gal immigration and raise taxes!" In a statement Monday, Ossoff, who has used anti- Trump sentiments in his campaign, answered that Trump is "misinformed," but added that he's "glad the president is interested in the race." POLITICS Tr um p, R ep ub li can s face test in Georgia co ng re ss io na l ra ce By Claire Galofaro The Associated Press LEWISTON,MAINE Richard Rodrigue stood in the back of a banquet hall, watching his blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter mingle among her high school classmates. These teenagers speak doz- ens of languages, and hail from a dozen African na- tions. They fled brutal civil war, famine, oppressive regimes to find themselves here, at a pre-prom fete in this once- dying New England mill town, revived by an influx of some 7,500 immigrants over the last 16 years. Ro- drigue smiled and waved at his daughter, proud she is a part of it. "It will help her in life," he said. "The world is not all white." Rodrigue believes the ref- ugees resuscitated his town — plugging the population drain that had threatened to cripple it, opening shops and restaurants in boarded- up storefronts. But he also agrees with Donald Trump thatthereshouldbenomore of them, at least not now. His working-class com- munity, built along the banks of the Androscog- gin River in the whit- est state in America, is a place that some point to as proof that refugee in- tegration can work. And yet for the first time in 30 years, voters in Androscog- gin County chose a Repub- lican for president, endors- ing Trump's nativist zeal against the very sort of im- migrants who share their streets and their schools. The mills that line the river sit mostly shuttered today, and a quarter of chil- dren grow up poor in the county. So Trump's support- ers here tie their embrace of hisimmigrationclampdown to their economic anxieties. "There's got to be a point in time when you have to say, 'Whoa, let's get the working peoplebackup.Let'sbringthe moneyin.Buttheykeepcom- ing, keep coming," Rodrigue said."Iguessitjustboilsdown to: What's enough?" No one invited the So- mali refugees to Lewiston. They fled bullets and war- lords to eventually be cho- sen for resettlement in big American cities. In early 2001, a few ref- ugee families struggling to afford housing in Port- land ventured 30 miles north and found a city in retreat. Empty downtown stores were ringed by sag- ging apartment buildings. The refugees saw possi- bility in Lewiston's decay. Friends and families fol- lowed. The town morphed in a matter of months into a laboratory for what hap- pens when culture suddenly shifts. Maine's population is 95 percent white, and its citizens were abruptly con- fronted with hundreds of black Muslims, barely able to speak English. IMMIGRATION How a community changed by refugees came to embrace Trump By Jill Colvin and Seth Borenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON A White House meeting Tuesday where President Donald Trump's aides were to hash out whether to keep the U.S. as part of an in- ternational agreement to reduce climate-warming carbon emissions has been postponed. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed the postponement on scheduling conflicts among some of the advis- ers who were expected to attend the meeting. She said the meeting will be rescheduled. Officials had planned to discuss options, with the goal of providing a recom- mendation to Trump, ac- cording to an administra- tion official who spoke on condition of anonymity de- spite the president's criti- cism of the use of anony- mous sources. The non-binding inter- national agreement was forged in Paris in Decem- ber 2015 and allowed rich and poor countries to set their own goals to reduce carbon dioxide. It went into effect last November after the U.S., China and other countries ratified it. Trump's top advisers are divided on the issue. Some, including Environ- mental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, are ea- ger for the U.S. to leave the deal. "Paris is something that we need to really look at closely, because it's some- thing we need to exit, in my opinion," Pruitt said in an interview last week with Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends." "It's a bad deal for America. It was an America second, third or fourth kind of approach." Trump pledged during the presidential campaign to pull out of the Paris ac- cord, but has wavered on the issue since he won the presidency. He told the editorial board of The New York Times in an interview last year that he was "looking at it very closely.... I have an open mind to it. We're going to look very care- fully." ENVIRONMENT White House cancels meeting to decide stance on climate pact DAVIDGOLDMAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A U.S. flag hangs at the Franco American Heritage Center as a woman enters to attend the local high school's pre-prom fashion show in Lewiston, Maine. By Catherine Lucey And Scott Bauer The Associated Press KENOSHA, WIS. Turning back to the eco- nomic populism that helped drive his election campaign, President Donald Trump signed an order Tuesday he said should help Ameri- can workers whose jobs are threatened by skilled immi- grants. At the headquarters of hand and power tool man- ufacturer Snap-on Inc., Trump signed an order aimed at curbing what his administration says are hiring abuses in a visa pro- gram used by U.S. technol- ogy companies. Dubbed "Buy American and Hire American," the directive follows a series of recent Trump reversals on eco- nomic policies. "We are going to defend our workers, protect our jobs and finally put Amer- ica first," Trump declared, standing in front of an American flag fashioned out of wrenches. Much like some prior or- ders, however, Trump's ex- ecutive action Tuesday es- sentially looks for detailed reports rather than mak- ing decisive changes. In this case, the reports are about granting visas for highly skilled foreign workers and ensuring that government purchasing programs buy American made goods as required by law. Trump chose to sign the directive at Snap-on Inc., based in Wisconsin, a state he narrowly carried in No- vember on the strength of support from white, work- ing-class voters. Trump cur- rently has only a 41 percent approval rating in the state. He campaigned last year on promises to overhaul U.S. trade and regulatory policy, but his executive or- ders on those issues reflect the administration bow- ing somewhat to the limits of presidential power. Also, he has recently reversed several populist promises, including standing up to China, which he contended was manipulating its cur- rency and stealing Amer- ican jobs, and eliminating the Export-Import Bank, which he billed as wasteful subsidy. But Trump returned to Tuesday to the economic tough talk of his cam- paign, saying: "We're go- ing to make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA for once and for all," referring to the Clinton-era U.S. trade pact with Canada and Mexico. In his new directive, the president is targeting the H-1B visa program, which the White House says un- dercuts U.S. workers by bringing in large numbers of cheaper, foreign workers and driving down wages. The tech industry has ar- gued that the H-1B program is needed because it encour- ages students to stay in the U.S. after getting degrees in high-tech specialties — and because companies can't al- ways find enough American workers with the skills they need. The new order would di- rect U.S. agencies to pro- pose rules to prevent im- migration fraud and abuse in the program. They would also be asked to offer changes so that H-1B visas are awarded to the "most- skilled or highest-paid ap- plicants. The number of requests for H-1B visas declined this year by about 15 percent, or roughly 37,000 applications, but the total was still nearly 200,000, far more than the 85,000 limit. Tuesday's order also seeks to strengthen requirements that American-made prod- ucts be used in certain fed- eral construction projects, as well as in various grant- funded transportation proj- ects. The commerce secre- tary is to review how to close loopholes in existing rules and provide recom- mendations to the presi- dent. The order asks for a review of waivers of these rules in free-trade agree- ments. The trip brought Trump to the congressional dis- trict of House Speaker Paul Ryan, but Ryan was out of the country on a congres- sional trip. The president was greeted by Gov. Scott Walker outside Snap-on's headquarters. During his remarks, Trump weighed in on an- other economic issue, prom- ising to find a solution to a trade dispute with Canada that has left dairy farmers in Wisconsin and New York without a market they had for their product. IMMIGRATION Trump targets visa program for highly skilled workers Foreclosure Sale USDA - Rural development will offer at public auction the property located at: 1703 EL CERRITO DRIVE, RED BLUFF, CA 96080 On05/09/2017,at02:00PMatthemainentranceto the historic Tehama County Courthouse, 633 Washington Street, Red Bluff, CA Estimated Opening Bid: $90,251.00 Appraised Value: $156,000.00 Sale information may be obtained online at www.servicelinkasap.com or Default Resolution Network 916-636-0114 TS #: 16-00383-2 Information contained herein is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed. Bids are subject to change at any time. 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