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ByLisaRathke TheAssociatedPress MONTPELIER, VT. Fearing a return to violent protests that roiled campuses in the 1970s, colleges and univer- sities are re-examining how to protect free speech while keeping students and em- ployees safe in a time of po- litical polarization. Campus police are trying new tactics to try to keep events peaceful, while other schools have abruptly can- celed controversial speak- ers over safety concerns, as the University of Califor- nia, Berkeley, did with con- servative writer Ann Coul- ter's appearance, originally scheduled for Thursday. In response to earlier ri- oting at Berkeley, the In- ternational Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators last month put on daylong protest preparation and response training sessions at Chap- man University in Orange, California, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the University of Maryland, attended by law enforce- ment from about 40 col- leges and universities. An- other training session will take place Thursday at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. "Our mission is basi- cally to protect the univer- sity's mission, which is to have civil debate and pres- ent both sides of an issue and have things be done in a way that's civil," said the association's president, Randy Burba, police chief at Chapman. "It's a challenge to make that happen when there's really opposing sides and views, but that's really what we're supposed to do." Burba declined to offer specifics about the training, to avoid disclosing proprie- tary police tactics. But, he said, the ses- sions were a chance to re- mind campus police of best practices: to know and be engaged with the college community, do research on speakers, look at what's happened at other cam- puses, and meet with the leaders of protest groups ahead of time to talk about their plans and the college rules. At Vermont's Middlebury College last month, protest- ers shouted down guest speaker Charles Murray, a social scientist who crit- ics say used pseudoscience to link intelligence to race in the 1994 book "The Bell Curve." Afterward, protest- ers surrounded Murray and professor Allison Stanger, with a protester pulling Stanger's hair, police said. The protesters also climbed onto the car car- rying Stanger and Murray and rocked it. Stanger, who was treated for a neck in- jury and a concussion, said she feared for her life. Middlebury said last week that 70 people may be subject to discipline, and that more than 30 stu- dents so far had been pun- ished, but officials did not elaborate. Stanger wrote an edito- rial about her experience, saying the country's "con- stitutional democracy will depend on whether Amer- icans can relearn how to engage civilly with one an- other, something that is ad- mittedly hard to do with a bullying president as a role model. But any other way forward would be antithet- ical to the very ideals of the university and of liberal de- mocracy." Bertram Johnson, chair- man of the political science department that co-spon- sored the event, last week wrote in the college news- paper that it was a mistake for him to offer a co-spon- sorship without wider con- sultation. Complicating efforts to keep the peace is that pro- testers and event sponsors sometimes aren't connected to the schools hosting them. Auburn University last week cited safety concerns in canceling an appearance by white nationalist Rich- ard Spencer, arranged by an outside organization, but a federal judge prevented the school from doing so. Three people were arrested for disorderly conduct. Texas A&M University has begun requiring that speakers be sponsored by a student, faculty or staff or- ganization after a former student arranged a speech by Spencer in December. The school held a simul- taneous counter-event in the stadium called Aggies United, with speakers and musical acts, instead of a potential confrontation at the building where the speech was held, spokes- woman Amy Smith said. Berkeley's cancellation of Coulter's appearance came days after violent clashes at a rally in support of President Donald Trump off campus, in downtown Berkeley. Students who in- vited her have sued the uni- versity, saying it is violating their right to free speech. Coulter has said she might come to Berkeley on Thursday anyway. The uni- versity says it's bracing for possible violence whether she shows up or not. Protests on the Berke- ley campus that stopped a speech of right-wing com- mentator Milo Yiannopou- los on Feb. 1 resulted in inju- ries to six people and three arrests. Prosecutors have declined to press charges in two of those cases, the school said. About 20 more people, including seven students, were possibly involved, school spokesman Dan Mo- gulof said. More arrests are possible. Berkeley student Gabriel Davtyan, who was at the Yiannopoulos protest, said he's all for police trying to keep the community safe and thinks they do as much as they can, confronting groups not affiliated with the university wreaking damage while also protect- ing individual free speech. "I think Berkeley as an institution, their No. 1 pri- ority is to make sure their students and whoever is giving these speeches are safe. Unfortunately, obvi- ously, that gets difficult be- cause you have sort of these outside groups that come in and ... they don't care about destroying property or any- thing like that," he said. Fights also broke out in February at New York University when far-right men's club founder Gavin McInnes appeared at the school, leading to 11 ar- rests. No students were ar- rested. The school had ear- lier canceled an appearance by Yiannopoulos in Novem- ber out of safety concerns, while Florida Atlantic Uni- versity postponed his ap- pearance in September be- cause of threats of violence. Associated Press writer Cory Dawson contributed to this report. POLITICAL POLARIZATION US colleges confront a new era of sometimes-violent protest By Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor The Associated Press WASHINGTON The conser- vative House Freedom Cau- cus announced its support Wednesday for a newly re- vised GOP health care bill, a month after the group's opposition forced Republi- can leaders to pull the leg- islation in an embarrassing retreat. The group's support, while significant, does not necessarily guarantee pas- sage of the Republican bill to partially repeal and re- place former President Barack Obama's Affordable CareAct.Agroupofmoder- ateRepublicanswasstillre- viewing the changes to the bill, and an unknown num- ber remained opposed. The developments came days ahead of the 100-day mark of Donald Trump's presidency, as the White House pushes for fast ac- tion to revive the stalled health care measure and make good on seven years of GOP promises to get rid of"Obamacare"andreplace it with something better. The proposed changes would let states get federal waivers to some coverage requirements Obama's law imposed on insurers. The revisions were authored in part by Rep. Tom Ma- cArthur of New Jersey, a leaderoftheTuesdayGroup of House moderates, but a number of other members of the group feared the re- sult could be to weaken im- portant protections. Underscoring centrists' concerns, another Tuesday Group leader — Rep. Char- lie Dent, R-Pa. — opposes the proposed changes and said he was unaware of any moderate opponents of the healthcarebillswitchingto become supporters. Dent suggested that the changeswere"simplyanex- ercise in blame-shifting" by conservatives because the health legislation would be "gutted" in the Senate. Many GOP senators oppose the House-written bill and its future should it reach that chamber is bleak. Another nagging issue was the revelation that the legislation would allow members of Congress and their staffs to continue to receive certain benefits un- der the health law — even if their state opted out from the federal requirement to provide such services as maternity and newborn care, preventive care and wellnessvisitsandprescrip- tion drug coverage. In a statement, the Free- dom Caucus said it could support the proposal as amended by MacArthur. "While the revised ver- sion still does not fully re- peal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcarecosts,"thestate- ment said. "We look for- ward to working with our Senate colleagues to im- provethebill.Ourworkwill continue until we fully re- peal Obamacare." Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said the changes were help- ing the legislation gain sup- port, but he stopped short of saying the plan has the votes the GOP would need tofinallypushthehigh-pro- file measure through the House. CONGRESS Co ns er va ti ve c au cu s backs GOP health bill but fate uncertain By Stephen Ohlemacher and Josh Boak The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Donald Trump proposed dramatic cuts in corporate and personal taxes Wednes- day in an overhaul his ad- ministration asserts will spur national economic growth and bring jobs and prosperity to America's middle class. But his ambi- tious plan is alarming law- makers who worry it will balloon federal deficits. The plan would reduce investment and estate taxes, helping the wealthy. But administration offi- cials said several other tax breaks that help well-to-do taxpayers would be elimi- nated and the plan would largely help the middle class. The White House has yet to spell out how much of a hole the tax cuts could cre- ate in the federal budget, maintaining that the result- ing economic growth would eliminate the risk of a soar- ing government deficit— if not actually cause the red ink to diminish. The outlined changes to the tax code are the most concrete guidance so far on Trump's vision for spurring job growth and fulfilling his promise to help work- ers who have been left be- hind by an increasingly glo- balized economy. "He understands that there are a lot people who work hard and feel like they're not getting ahead," said Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council. "I would never, ever bet against this president. He will get this done for the American peo- ple." Still, the proposal leaves a series of open questions that could affect its impact on taxpayers and the econ- omy. The administration wants to reduce the num- ber of tax brackets to three from seven, but it has yet to determine the income lev- els for people who would be put in each bracket. It also has yet to spell out how the plan would stop wealthier Americans from exploiting a lower corporate tax rate to reduce how much they pay. And the White House has downplayed the threat that the tax cuts could cause the deficit to surge, possi- bly eroding support for the plan among lawmakers in Trump's own Republican Party. Cohn said Trump and his administration recognize they have to be "good stew- ards" of the federal bud- get. But the plan as it cur- rently stands could cause the federal deficit to climb, unless it sparks a massive and lasting wave of growth that most economists say is unlikely. Administration officials intend to hash out addi- tional details with members of the House and Senate in the coming weeks for what would be the first massive rewrite of the U.S. tax code since 1986. "We know this is diffi- cult," Cohn said. "We know what we're asking for is a big bite." As Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explained it in an interview, the plan would reduce the number of personal income tax brackets to three from seven: rates of 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. Itwoulddoublethestandard deduction for married cou- ples to $24,000, while keep- ingdeductionsforcharitable giving and mortgage inter- est payments. The adminis- tration plans to provide tax relief for families with child care expenses, too, although the specifics have yet to be included. On the other hand, the proposal would trim other deductions utilized by wealthier Americans. These would include deductions for state and local tax pay- ments, a change that could alienate support from law- makers in states such as California and New York with higher state taxes. "It's not the federal gov- ernment's job to be subsi- dizing the states," Mnuchin said. OVERHAUL Trump plan would cut taxes for companies — and people, too CAROLYNKASTER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, joined by National Economic Director Gary Cohn, speaks in the briefing room of the White House on Wndnesday. STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! 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