Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/14398
6A – Daily News – Friday, August 6, 2010 WORLD BRIEFING Senate confirms Elena Kagan WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan Thursday as the Supreme Court’s 112th justice and the fourth woman in its histo- ry, granting a lifetime term to a lawyer and aca- demic with a reputation for brilliance, a dry sense of humor and a liberal bent. The vote was 63-37 for President Barack Obama’s nominee to suc- ceed retired Justice John Paul Stevens. Five Republicans joined all but one Democ- rat and the Senate’s two independents to support Kagan. In a rarely prac- ticed ritual reserved for the most historic votes, senators sat at their desks and stood to cast their votes with ‘‘ayes’’ and ‘‘nays.’’ Kagan watched the vote with her Justice Department colleagues in the solicitor general’s conference room, the White House said. Obama, traveling in Chicago, said her confir- mation was an affirmation of her character and judi- cial temperament, and called the addition of another woman to the court a sign of progress for the country. Medicare trust fund solvency extended WASHINGTON (AP) — Medicare is in better shape because of Presi- dent Barack Obama’s sweeping health care overhaul, and the hospital fund for the elderly will stay afloat a dozen years said he was hiding in the building, but would not say where. ‘‘You probably want to know the reason why I shot this place up,’’ he said, his voice steady. ‘‘This place is a racist place. They treat me bad over here. They treat all the black employees bad over here, too. ‘‘So I took into my longer than earlier pro- jected, trustees forecast Thursday. But that depends on cuts in care that the system’s top ana- lyst says are highly doubt- ful. The annual report by the trustees who oversee Medicare and Social Security, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geith- ner, gives backers of the new health care law evi- dence of a positive impact on government entitle- ment programs, but it also undercuts the findings with a host of caveats. In what amounted to a dissenting opinion, top Medicare actuary Richard Foster warned that the report’s financial projec- tions ‘‘do not represent a reasonable expectation.’’ Kathleen Sebelius, sec- retary of health and human services and one of the trustees, said they were required to assume current law in making their projections, includ- ing a cut in Medicare pay- ments to doctors. She, too, doubted the cuts would ever happen, ‘‘which is why we contin- ue to provide cautionary notes’’ in the report. The trustees projected the Medicare Hospital trust fund would be exhausted in 2029, or 12 years later than estimated last year. Gulf can rebound from oil spill BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Want to know the future of the oil- stained Gulf of Mexico ecosystem? Look first to its muddy, polluted past. The recent ecological history of the Gulf gives scientists reason for hope. In an extensive survey of Gulf of Mexico researchers by The Asso- ciated Press, at least 10 of them separately volun- teered the same word to describe the body of water: ‘‘resilient.’’ This is buttressed by a government report Wednesday that claims that all but 53 million gal- lons of the leaked oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon well are gone. The report says the cleanup extracted a lot of it, but the natural processes that break up, evaporate and dissolve oil took care of 84 million gallons — more than twice the amount human efforts removed. At the same time, more progress was made in sealing the well for good as BP finished pumping cement into it on Thurs- day. The Gulf’s impressive self-cleanup makes sense given its history and makeup. The Gulf regu- larly absorbs environmen- tal insults: overfishing, trawlers raking sea floors, frequent hurricanes. And then there’s the dead zone, an area starved of oxygen because 40 per- cent of America’s runoff pours from the Mississip- pi River into the Gulf. Man who killed 8 was angered by racism HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The man who went on a shooting ram- page at a beer distributor calmly told a 911 operator that it was ‘‘a racist place’’ and that he had taken matters into his own hands to ‘‘handle the problem.’’ Omar Thornton, 34, called 911 after shooting 10 co-workers — eight fatally — on Tuesday morning at Hartford Dis- tributors. He introduced himself as ‘‘the shooter over in Manchester’’ and ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● own hands and handled the problem,’’ he said. ‘‘I wish I could have got more of the people.’’ Connecticut State Police released the audio of the 911 call on Thurs- day, the same day compa- ny and union officials rebutted suggestions that the company had ignored Thornton’s complaints of racism. 14 accused of supporting terrorism in Somalia WASHINGTON (AP) — The government announced Thursday that it has charged 14 people as participants in ‘‘a deadly pipeline’’ to Somalia that routed money and fighters from the United States to the terrorist group al-Shabab. The indictments unsealed in Minneapolis, San Diego and Mobile, Ala., reflect ‘‘a disturb- ing trend’’ of recruitment efforts targeting U.S. res- idents to become terror- ists, Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference. In one case, two women pleaded for money ‘‘to support vio- lent jihad in Somalia,’’ according to an indict- ment. FREE KIDS HAIR CUTS Sun. Aug. 15 2-6 pm Red Bluff River Park FREE FOOD ★ KIDS GAMES LIVE MUSIC 529-4074 Beauticians needed Come see us at the Children’s Fair on April 24th Recently expanded and moved near Bidwell Elementary License # 525405817 My qualifications include: B.A. in Elementary Education and experience teaching grades K-8. Accepting state pay programs & cash pay, etc. (530) 209-8743 ! The attorney general credited Muslim commu- nity leaders in the United States for regularly denouncing terrorists and for providing critical assistance to law enforce- ment to help disrupt ter- rorist plots and combat radicalization. ‘‘We must ... work to prevent this type of radicalization from ever taking hold,’’ Holder said. At least seven of the 14 people charged are U.S. citizens and 10, all from Minnesota, alleged- ly left the United States to join al-Shabab. Seven of the 10 had been charged previously in the probe. Al-Shabab is a Somali insurgent faction embrac- ing a radical form of Islam similar to the harsh, conservative brand practiced by Afghanistan’s Taliban regime. Its fighters, num- bering several thousand strong, are battling Somalia’s weakened gov- ernment and have been branded a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida by the U.S. and other West- ern countries. Senate OKs $26B bill to stop teacher, police layoffs WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is moving rapidly just weeks before the start of the school year to speed billions of dollars in emergency education aid to states in hopes of revers- ing the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers. Some $10 billion in aid to school districts is set to flow after a 61-39 Senate vote Thursday — to be fol- lowed quickly by a House vote next week — in hopes that it will come in time for many school districts to reconsider teacher layoffs. Thursday’s vote was a hard-earned but partial vic- tory for Democrats and President Barack Obama. Advocates said it could save the jobs of up to 300,000 teachers, police and other public workers. The measure would pro- vide another $16 billion to help states fund their Med- icaid budgets — and there- fore free money for other budget priorities such as avoiding tax increases and preserving the jobs of state employees. About three- fifths of state governments have already factored in the federal help when drawing up budgets for the ongoing fiscal year. The vote caps months of effort by governors of both parties, public employee unions and others seeking to extend programs enacted in last year’s economic stimu- lus law. That measure pro- vided budget relief to states and local school districts hurt by slumping tax rev- enues as the U.S. economy has struggled to emerge from recession. Chinese missile raises concerns ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHING- TON (AP) — Nothing projects U.S. global air and sea power more vivid- ly than supercarriers. Bristling with fighter jets that can reach deep into even landlocked trouble zones, America’s virtually invincible carrier fleet has long enforced its domi- nance of the high seas. China may soon put an end to that. U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with what analysts say is a game-changing weapon being developed by China — an unprecedented car- rier-killing missile called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from land with enough accura- cy to penetrate the defens- es of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 1,500 kilome- ters (900 miles). AMERICAN SELF-STORAGE ★★ ★ 64 Mulberry Ave., Red Bluff • 527-1755 • Fully Fenced • Onsite Manager • Well Lit Property website: www.americanselfstorage.biz • RV & Vehicle parking now available $ $ $25 $50 MOVES YOU IN SMALLER UNITS MOVES YOU IN LARGER UNITS Call now for rates. Lowest Price Guaranteed!