Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/13714
Friday, July 23, 2010 – Daily News – 7A WORLD BRIEFING Obama signs extension of long-term jobless benefits WASHINGTON (AP) — Fed- eral checks could begin flowing again as early as next week to mil- lions of jobless people who lost up to seven weeks of unemployment benefits in a congressional stand- off. President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a restoration of benefits for people who have been out of work for six months or more. Congress approved the measure earlier in the day. The move ended an inter- ruption that cut off payments aver- aging about $300 a week to 2 1/2 million people who have been unable to find work in the after- math of the nation’s long and deep recession. At stake are up to 73 weeks of federally financed benefits for people who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state jobless benefits. About half of the approximately 5 million people in the program have had their benefits cut off since its authorization expired June 2. They are eligible for lump-sum retroactive payments that are typi- cally delivered directly to their bank accounts or credited to state- issued debit cards. Many states have encouraged beneficiaries to keep updating their paperwork in hopes of speeding payments once the program was restored. In states like Pennsylvania and New York, the back payments should go out next week, officials said. In others, like Nevada and North Carolina, it may take a few weeks for all of those eligible to receive benefits. Judge hears arguments over immigration law PHOENIX (AP) — A judge held two hearings in a courtroom packed with spectators and top Arizona officials Thursday on case, the committee and Rangel’s attorney tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement. The offi- cials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private dis- cussions. A settlement would have required Rangel to agree that he violated ethics rules. Sherrod gains Obama apology WASHINGTON (AP) — Flooded with apologies from everywhere, Shirley Sherrod got the biggest ‘‘I’m sorry’’ of all Thursday — from a contrite Pres- ident Barack Obama, who person- ally appealed to the ousted worker to come back. whether the state’s new immigra- tion law should take effect amid a flurry of legal challenges against the crackdown. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer attended the second hearing, as did the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke. Judge Susan Bolton did not issue a ruling at the end of the first hearing. The afternoon hearing focused on the U.S. Justice Department requesting a prelimi- nary injunction blocking key sec- tions of the law from taking effect next week. During the morning hearing, Bolton told lawyers for the Amer- ican Civil Liberties Union that she’s required to consider block- ing only parts of the law, not the entire statute as they had request- ed. She said the law has a section allowing parts to still take effect even if other parts are struck down. ACLU attorney Omar Jadwat said the law’s provisions are sup- posed to work together to achieve a goal of prodding illegal immi- grants to leave the state. He called it unconstitutional and dangerous. Panel charges Rangel with ethics misdeeds WASHINGTON (AP) — A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, dealing a serious blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and complicat- ing Democrats’ election-year out- look. The panel did not immediately specify the charges against the Democrat, who has served in the House for some 40 years and is fourth in seniority. The charges by a four-member panel of the House ethics committee sends the case to a House trial, where a separate eight-member panel of Republi- cans and Democrats will decide whether the violations can be proved by clear and convincing evidence. The timing of the announce- ment ensures that a public airing of Rangel’s ethical woes will stretch into the fall campaign, and Republicans are certain to make it an issue as they try to capture majority control of the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had once promised to ‘‘drain the swamp’’ of ethical misdeeds by lawmakers in arguing that Democrats should be in charge. Rangel led the tax-writing Ways and Means panel until he stepped aside last March after the ethics committee criticized him in a separate case — finding that he should have known corporate money was paying for his trips to two Caribbean conferences. Officials said that in the current Sherrod, who was forced to resign on Monday because of racial comments she made at an NAACP gathering, was asked by Obama to rejoin the federal gov- ernment and transform ‘‘this mis- fortune’’ into a chance to use her life experiences to help people, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Obama had stayed out of the public brouhaha that followed Sherrod’s ouster from the Agricul- ture Department after a conserva- tive blog posted a clip of the black woman’s comments and por- trayed her as racist. Once it became clear that the speech in question was advocating racial reconciliation, not racism, Agri- culture Secretary Tom Vilsack apologized to her and offered her a new job Wednesday. Gibbs also apologized publicly ‘‘for the entire administration.’’ Thursday morning, Obama spoke by phone with Sherrod and said he hoped she would accept Agriculture’s offer of a new posi- tion, Gibbs said. Sherrod said she hadn’t decid- ed whether she would accept the invitation to come back, but she did accept the apologies. BP’s leaky well to stay corked during storm ON THE GULF OF MEXICO (AP) — The temporary cap on BP’s ruptured oil well will stay closed even if ships evacuate the Gulf of Mexico during a tropical storm, the federal government’s spill chief said Thursday. Growing confidence in the mechanical plug’s security con- vinced scientists it was safe to leave it unmonitored for a few days, Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said. He said they’ll decide Thursday evening whether dozens of ships in the area will leave. ‘‘While this is not a hurricane, it’s a storm that will have probably some significant impacts, so we’re taking appropriate cautions,’’ Allen said. Forecasters at the U.S. Nation- al Hurricane Center in Miami say the storm system already has caused flooding in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It could become Tropical Storm Bonnie later Thursday and reach the Gulf of Mexico by Sat- urday. Work on plugging the well is at a standstill just days before the expected completion of a relief tunnel to permanently throttle the free-flowing crude. Records reveal Greene’s military failures, mistakes COLUMBIA, S.C. 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