Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/27144
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 – Daily News – 5A Republicans balk at spending bill WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Republi- cans on Capitol Hill began Monday to come out against a measure to keep the government running for three more weeks while the White House and Republi- can lawmakers seek a longer-term agreement on spending cuts. Rep. Jim Jordan, R- Ohio, who chairs the Republican Study Com- mittee, which makes up a sizable majority of House Republicans, said the mea- sure should include a ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood and that Congress needs to do better than cutting spend- ing a few billion dollars at a time. Jordan's opposition reflects widespread unhap- piness among conserva- tives with the must-pass legislation. The measure is needed to prevent a partial government shutdown when a stopgap funding bill expires Friday at mid- night. The House is set to vote Tuesday on a measure cut- ting $6 billion as the price for keeping the govern- ment open until April 8. Democrats and Republi- cans remain deadlocked over legislation funding day-to-day agency opera- tions "With the federal gov- ernment facing record deficits and a mammoth debt hanging over our economy and our future, we must do more than cut spending in bite-sized pieces," Jordan said in a statement. Obama calls for 'new discussion' on gun control WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama once said it was a "scandal" that then-President George W. Bush didn't force renewal of a federal assault weapons ban. Now it's Obama himself who's steering clear of that and other politically sensitive gun-control measures, even while calling for a new discussion on weapons and "how we can keep America safe for all our people." The president asked for the new conversation on gun safety in an opinion column in Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' hometown paper, the Arizona Daily Star, over the weekend. He pro- posed strengthening and enforcing existing laws requiring gun sellers to per- form background checks. But to the disappoint- ment of gun-control advo- cates, the president didn't mention the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 — when Congress failed to renew it — even though it barred sales of high-capacity magazines like the one used by Gif- fords' shooter, and even though Obama was once an outspoken supporter of Linda M. Fourby, LUTCF Your Red Bluff Agent LASSEN STEAK HOUSE “Home of the Sizzling Platter” Corned Beef & Cabbage - all day DRINK SPECIALS OPEN: 11AM-9PM Corner of Hwy 99E & Vina Rd. 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During a debate while running for Senate in 2004, he said: "I think it's a scandal that this president did not force a renewal of this assault weapons ban." Gadhafi's government controls the skies by day TOBRUK, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi's warplanes, artillery and mortar shells can control huge swaths of territory by day, including oil ports, rebel supply routes and even hostile towns. Rebels say anti-government forces can still return in darkness to take advantage of Gad- hafi's own thin supply lines and overstretched ground troops. The eastern port city of Brega has gone back and forth with the setting of the sun in recent days and is key to the battle for Libya's oil centers — so key that both sides claimed control of it nearly simultaneously K W I K K U T S Family Hair Salon 1064 South Main St., Red Bluff • 529-3540 with coupon $200 REGULAR HAIRCUT off Not good with other offers Reg. $13.95 Expires 3/31/11 on Monday. The regime offensive appears to be hampered by a lack of manpower: They can drive out rebels with barrages, but not necessarily hold the territory. Rebels, on the other hand, didn't dare come out in the open on Monday in Brega, with a spokesman saying they were taking cover instead in the indus- trial oil area where they believed Gadhafi forces wouldn't fire. Brega and the city of Ajdabiya about 35 miles (70 kilometers) away again came under government bombardment on Monday, freshly exposing their importance as key cross- roads for rebel supply lines, a main weakness in the Libyan region that con- tains most of its oil wealth. To get ammunition, rein- forcements and arms to the front, they must drive along open desert highways, exposed to airstrikes. Gad- hafi warplanes struck at least three targets Monday morning in Ajdabiya, miss- ing a weapons storage site but hitting rebel fighters at a checkpoint in an attempt to stop supplies, rebels said. Oil installations — and the ports that allow Libyan crude exports — are just as key as supply lines, and so the government and rebels both went out of their way late Monday to claim vic- tory in Brega at nearly the same time, with a state television reporter in the town going so far as to show the hour on his BOOK BARN Used Books Tues-Fri 10-5 Sat 10-2 Serving Tehama County since 1994 619 Oak St., Red Bluff (530) 528-2665 watch. Wisconsin unions rush to reach new deals MADISON, Wis. (AP) — School boards and local governments across Wis- consin are rushing to reach agreements with unions before a new law takes effect and erases their abil- ity to collectively bargain over nearly all issues other than minimal salary increases. The law doesn't go into effect until the day after Secretary of State Doug La Follette publishes it and it doesn't supersede contracts already in place, fueling unions' desire to reach new deals quickly. La Follette said Monday that he will delay publication until the latest day possible, March 25, to give local govern- ments as much time as pos- sible to reach agreements. Republican Gov. Scott Walker had asked La Fol- lette to publish the law Monday, but the Democra- tic secretary of state said he didn't see any emergency that warranted him doing so. La Follette opposed the bill and said he sat in his office watching parts of a weekend protest that brought as many as 100,000 people out in opposition to the law. "This is the biggest change in Wisconsin labor management history in 50 years," La Follette said, describing his reasoning for holding off on its enact- ment. The law ends collective bargaining for public workers over everything except salary increases no greater than inflation. It also forces state workers to make benefit concessions that amount to an 8 percent pay cut on average. Aflac fires voice of duck COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Aflac has fired Gilbert Gottfried, the comedian who is the voice of the insurer's quacking duck in the U.S. Gottfried, who has voiced the duck in numer- ous commercials since 2000, posted a string of mocking jokes about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on Twitter over the weekend. "I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, 'They'll be another one floating by any minute now," he tweeted Saturday. Aflac Inc., which does 75 percent of its business in Japan, says the jokes do not represent the feelings of the company. Chief Marketing Officer Michael Zuna said "there is no place for any- thing but compassion and concern during these diffi- cult times." The insurer says it will start a casting search for a replacement. Gottfried is not the voice of the duck in Japan. Dr. Andrew PomazalD.O. 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