Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/347324
ByEricaWerner TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON House Re- publicans announced Tues- day they will recommend dispatching the National Guard to South Texas and speeding Central American youths back home as their response to the immigra- tion crisis that's engulfing the border and testing Wash- ington's ability to respond. The recommendations, to come from a working group established by House Speaker John Boehner, will set up a clash with lead- ing Democrats who oppose changing U.S. law to elimi- nate automatic immigration hearings for Central Amer- ican kids and return them more quickly to Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, where some areas are over- run by brutal gangs. With Democrats and the White House under grow- ing pressure from immigra- tion advocates to hold firm against the GOP approach, a solution for the growing crisis of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children showing up at the U.S.-Mex- ico border is looking in- creasingly elusive with three weeks left before Con- gress leaves Washington for an annual August recess. "It's a critical situation and if we don't deal with it urgently but well, done right, we're facing a crisis of just huge proportions," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R- Fla., who traveled to Hon- duras and Guatemala over the weekend with members of the House GOP working group including its leader, Rep. Kay Granger of Texas. "Time is of the essence." Granger, Diaz-Balart and others said their pro- posals would include send- ing the National Guard to help overwhelmed Bor- der Patrol agents, increas- ing immigration judges, adding assistance to Cen- tral American nations and changing a 2008 traffick- ing victims law that guar- antees hearings for Cen- tral American youths. The law has the practical result of letting the young people stay in the country for years as their cases move through the badly backlogged immi- gration courts. At the same time Repub- licans are working to sig- nificantly pare down Pres- ident Barack Obama's $3.7 billion emergency spend- ing request for the border, hoping to act quickly on a smaller spending bill along with the package of policy changes. The recommenda- tions were to be formally re- leased later in the week, but lawmakers discussed their broad outlines Tuesday. In response, the White House, Democrats and im- migration advocates called for action on a "clean" spending bill without con- troversial changes attached. "There's already been ample opportunity for Congress to take action, and we want to encourage them to move forward with some sense of urgency," said White House Press Secre- tary Josh Earnest. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., de- clared that: "With this money, we can take care of the problem." Republicans made clear that was out of the question. "What I will not do is vote for a blank check for the president for something that will not solve the prob- lem," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Granger said the av- erage immigration case takes a year-and-a-half to five years to go through the court process, even as more than 57,000 unaccompa- nied children have arrived at the border since October. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION House GOP readies response to border crisis ERICGAY‑THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Immigrants from Honduras and El Salvador who crossed the U.S.‑Mexico border illegally are stopped in Granjeno, Texas in June. Just since October, the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector has made more than 194,000arrests, nearly triple that of any other sector. By Tom Raum The Associated Press WASHINGTON Pregnant women have new protec- tions against on-the-job dis- crimination. The government has up- dated 30-year-old guide- lines, citing "the persistence of overt pregnancy discrim- ination, as well as the emer- gence of more subtle dis- criminatory practices." The new guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission make clear that any form of workplace discrimina- tion or harassment against pregnant workers by em- ployers is a form of sex dis- crimination and illegal. They prohibit employ- ers from forcing pregnant workers to take leave and acknowledge that "em- ployers may have to pro- vide light duty for pregnant workers." After childbirth, lactation is now covered as a pregnancy-related medi- cal condition. It's not just women who will benefit. The guidelines say that when it comes to parental leave "similarly situated" men and women must be treated on the same terms. The updated guidelines come two weeks after the Su- preme Court agreed to take under consideration a dis- pute over the EEOC's duty to try to settle charges of job discrimination before filing lawsuits against employers. The issue has gained in- creasing attention and had vexed business groups as the Obama administration ratchets up its enforcement of the nation's anti-discrim- ination laws. "Despite much progress, we continue to see a signif- icant number of charges al- leging pregnancy discrimi- nation, and our investi- gations have revealed the persistence of overt preg- nancy discrimination, as well as the emergence of more subtle discriminatory practices," EEOC Chair- woman Jacqueline A. Ber- rien said in a statement. The latest EEOC data shows a 46 percent increase in pregnancy-related com- plaints to the EEOC from 1997 to 2011. The guidelines were last updated in 1983. The newly revised policy spells out for the first time how the Amer- icans With Disabilities Act, as amended in 2008, might apply to pregnant workers. JOB DISCRIMINATION Protections updated for pregnant workers By Karin Laub The Associated Press GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP Is- rael resumed its heavy bom- bardment of Gaza on Tues- day and warned that Hamas "would pay the price" after the Islamic militant group rejected an Egyptian truce plan and instead unleashed more rocket barrages at the Jewish state, causing the first Israeli death in eight days of fighting. In Gaza, 194 people were killed and more than 1,400 wounded so far, Palestinian health officials said, making it the deadliest confrontation betweenIsraelandHamasin just over five years. The Egyptian proposal, initially accepted by Israel, had been the first attempt to end the fighting. It unraveled in less than a day, a sign that it will be harder than before to reach a truce. Hamas does not consider Egypt's cur- rent rulers — who deposed a Hamas-friendly govern- ment in Cairo a year ago — to be fair brokers. Violence is bound to esca- late in coming days. Hamas believes it has lit- tle to lose by continuing to fight, while a truce on unfa- vorable terms could further weaken its grip on the Gaza Strip, a territory it seized in 2007. Underscoring that po- sition, Gaza militants fired more than 120 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel on Tuesday, during what Egypt had hoped would be a pe- riod of de-escalation. A particularly heavy bar- rage came around dusk, with more than 40 rockets hitting Israel in just a few minutes, including one that fell on an empty school. TV footage showedchildrencoweringbe- hind a wall in Tel Aviv's main square as sirens went off. An Israeli man in his 30s was killed near the Gaza border when he was delivering food to soldiers — the first Israeli death. H a m a s ' de f i a nc e prompted Israeli warnings. In an evening address aired live on TV, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that after Hamas' rejection of the truce, Israel had "no choice" but to respond more forcefully. "Hamas chose to continue fightingandwillpaytheprice for that decision," he said. "When there is no cease-fire, our answer is fire." Afterholdingitsfireforsix hours, the Israeli air force re- sumed its heavy bombard- ment of Gaza, launching 33 strikes from midafternoon, themilitarysaid.Inall,Israeli aircraft struck close to 1,700 timessinceJuly8,whileGaza militants fired more than 1,200 rockets at Israel. Netanyahu said Israel would have liked to see a dip- lomatic solution, but would keep attacking until rocket fire stops and Hamas' mili- tary capabilities are dimin- ished. The Israeli leader said he would "widen and in- crease"thecampaignagainst Hamas, but it remains un- clear if that will include a ground offensive. Israel has warned it might send troops into Gaza and has massed thousands of sol- diers on the border. BOMBARDMENT OF GAZA Is ra el : Ha ma s wi ll ' pa y th e pr ic e' By George Jahn The Associated Press VIENNA The fate of a possible landmark nu- clear deal with Iran sank further into limbo Tues- day, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry not- ing "very real gaps" ahead of a July 20 target date for a deal meant to put firm curbs on Tehran's atomic program. Kerry, who joined the foreign ministers of Brit- ain, France and Germany on the weekend to add dip- lomatic muscle to the talks, said the negotiations would continue until at least Sun- day. In the meantime, he said, he would consult with President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress on where the talks are if no pact is agreed on by July 20. "There has been tangi- ble progress on key issues," Kerry said. "However there are very real gaps on other key issues." He spoke after multiple conversations with Iranian Foreign Minister Moham- med Javad Zarif and sepa- rate meetings with the for- eign ministers of Britain, France and Germany, who also converged on the Vi- enna talks in an attempt to move them forward. An extension of up to six months is possible for the negotiations by mu- tual agreement, and Zarif suggested that is likely. He said there was enough progress "to be able to tell our political bosses back home ... that this is a pro- cess which is worth con- tinuing." "This is my recommen- dation," he told reporters. "And I'm sure Secretary Kerry will make the same decision." But that may be a hard sell. Many Congress mem- bers are already skeptical about the sense of trying to get a negotiated reduc- tion in Iran's nuclear pro- gram and oppose going on with them. Any decision to go past July 20 would also likely be criticized by hard- liners in Iran, who fear the talks will result in a scal- ing-back of their country's nuclear program. Kerry and Zarif spoke separately after conversa- tions with each other. The main dispute is over Iran's nuclear enrichment program. Tehran says it needs to expand enrich- ment to make reactor fuel but the U.S. fears Tehran could steer the activity to- ward manufacturing the core of nuclear missiles and could use its present capacity to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one warhead in only months. The U.S. wants deep enrichment cuts for at least 20 years; Iran wants to greatly expand enrich- ment over less than a de- cade. Neither minister de- tailed the substance of their conversions. But a diplomat familiar with their content said they focused not only on enrichment but on other disputes. 'KEY ISSUES' Ke rr y ci te s ga ps in talks with Iran By Connor Radnovich The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Peace Corps launched a new on- line application Tuesday that allows applicants to choose the countries and programs where they want to serve and removes red tape that was dissuading people from completing the application process. Previously, applicants could only identify pre- ferred countries, mean- ing they could be sent to a country of little interest to them. Being able to pick specific countries to serve in or programs in which they want to serve — such as education or health — will help align their service with personal and profes- sional goals, Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler- Radelet said in an inter- view. Applicants can also search for programs by a country's language, mak- ing it easier for them to use any additional languages they might speak. "We really want to make Peace Corps the interna- tional service opportunity of choice and in order to do that it needed to be a mod- ern, efficient process for our applicants," Hessler-Radelet said. SPECIFIC COUNTRIES Pe ac e Co rp s gi ve s ap pl ic an ts m or e ch oi ce s Cheers Barber Shop 570-230 4 855 Walnut St. $ 8 00 Cuts Monday - Saturday 9 am - 5 pm Whatcanyouaccomplishin11weeks? • First meeting Sat. July 19 th , 10:15am • Bring a Note Book and Dress In Exercise Clothes • Program Lead By Troy Lalaguna TFFC, G.M., Strength and Conditioning Specialist, CrossFlt Coach, and weight loss guru. www.tehamafamilyfitness.com Tehama Family Fitness Center 2498 South Main St. Red Bluff • 528-8656 Free Weight Loss Program 24/77 D.O.C •24/77DaysOfChangeisaFREEweightlossprogramthat encourages individuals to stay focused on their weight loss goals! • Weight loss comes from a strong will and consistency. • Learn what to eat and how to train to accelerate your weight loss and build an attractive body composition! • Join a team of motivated Individuals like yourself! What have you got to lose... oh yeah, some weight! • It's time to stop making excuses! Take advantage of this amazing opportunity while Its FREE! | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2014 8 A