Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/6196
Obama's health
care bid in limbo
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Though reeling from a seismic
political loss, House Democ-
rats rejected the quickest fix to
their health care dilemma
Thursday and signaled that any
agreement on President Barack
Obama's signature issue will
come slowly, if at all.
Democrats weighed a hand-
ful of difficult options as they
continued to absorb Republi-
can Scott Brown's election to
the Massachusetts Senate seat
long held by Edward M.
Kennedy. Several said Obama
must forcefully help them find
a way to avoid the humiliation
of enacting no bill, and they
urged him to do so quickly, to
put the painful process behind
them.
House leaders said they
could not pass a Senate-
approved bill, standing by
itself, because of objections
from liberals and moderates
alike. Such a move could have
settled the matter, because it
would not have required fur-
ther Senate action. Brown's
stunning victory restored the
GOP's power to block bills
with Senate filibusters.
Democratic leaders weighed
two main options, both prob-
lematic. The first would
require congressional Democ-
rats to muscle their way past
stiff GOP objections despite
warning signs from Massachu-
setts voters and worries about
next November's elections.
The other would pare down
the original health care legisla-
tion in hopes of gaining some
Republican support. But the
compromise process is more
difficult than many lawmakers
suggest.
Rescue hopes
dim for Haitians
trapped in quake
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti
(AP) — The rubble from the
epic earthquake now deathly
quiet, search-and-rescue teams
packed their dogs and gear
Thursday as the focus shifted
to keeping injured survivors
alive, fending off epidemics
and getting help to hundreds of
homeless camps.
''We're so, so hungry,'' said
Felicie Colin, 77, lying outside
the ruins of her Port-au-Prince
nursing home with dozens of
other elderly residents who
have hardly eaten since the
earthquake hit on Jan. 12.
As aftershocks still shook
the city nine days later, aid
workers streamed into Haiti
with water, food, drugs,
latrines, clothing, trucks, con-
struction equipment, tele-
phones and tons of other relief
supplies. The international Red
Cross called it the greatest
deployment of emergency
responders in its 91-year histo-
ry.
But the built-in bottlenecks
of this desperately poor, under-
developed nation and the sheer
scale of the catastrophe still
left many of the hundreds of
thousands of victims without
help. The U.S. military report-
ed a waiting list of 1,400 inter-
national relief flights seeking
to land on Port-au-Prince's sin-
gle runway, where 120 to 140
flights were arriving daily.
Four ships have managed to
unload cargo at the capital's
earthquake-damaged port,
holding out the promise of a
new avenue for getting aid to
the city.
Supreme Court
eases limits on
campaign
spending
WASHINGTON (AP) — A
bitterly divided Supreme Court
vastly increased the power of
big business and unions to
influence government deci-
sions Thursday by freeing
them to spend their millions
directly to sway elections for
president and Congress.
The ruling reversed a centu-
ry-long trend to limit the polit-
ical muscle of corporations,
organized labor and their mas-
sive war chests. It also recast
the political landscape just as
crucial midterm election cam-
paigns are getting under way.
In its sweeping 5-4 ruling,
the court set the stage for a
wave of likely repercussions —
from new pressures on law-
makers to heed special interest
demands to increasingly bois-
terous campaigns featuring
highly charged ads that drown
out candidate voices.
The election-season bliz-
zard of ads on Americans TV
screens is bound to increase.
While the full consequences
of the decision were hard to
measure, politicians made
clear whom they believed ben-
efited. Democrats, led by Pres-
ident Barack Obama, con-
demned the decision while
Republicans cheered it.
Combative
Obama aims at
big banks
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Embracing Depression-era
policy and populist politics, a
combative President Barack
Obama chastised big Wall
Street banks Thursday and
urgently called for limits on
their size and investments to
stave off a new economic melt-
down.
Investors responded by
dumping bank stock.
Obama's rhetoric covered
the whole financial industry,
but the key changes will affect
only a few high-profile players,
including JPMorgan Chase &
Co., while sparing investment
banks like Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. The move could
undercut Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner's strategy of
maintaining close ties with the
financial industry as part of the
administration's overhaul
efforts.
''We have to get this done,''
Obama said at the White
House. ''If these folks want a
fight, it's a fight I'm ready to
have.''
''We've come through a ter-
rible crisis,'' the president said,
pivoting the White House
focus from health care to an
economy that has been slow to
recover during his first year in
office. ''The American people
have paid a very high price. ...
That's why we're going to rein
in the excess and abuse that
nearly brought down our finan-
cial system.''
Scripture on
rifles stoked
concerns over
proselytizing
WASHINGTON (AP) — A
Michigan defense contractor
will voluntarily stop stamping
references to Bible verses on
combat rifle sights made for
the U.S. military, a major buyer
of the company's gear.
In a statement released
Thursday, Trijicon of Wixom,
Mich., says it is also providing
to the armed forces free of
charge modification kits to
remove the Scripture citations
from the telescoping sights
already in use. Through multi-
million dollar contracts, the
Marine Corps and Army have
more than 300,000 Trijicon
sights.
The references to Bible pas-
sages raised concerns that the
citations break a government
rule that bars proselytizing by
American troops in
Afghanistan and Iraq, which
are predominantly Muslim
countries.
A spokesman for U.S. Cen-
tral Command initially said the
Trijicon sights didn't violate
the ban and compared the cita-
tions on the sights to the ''In
God We Trust'' inscription
printed on U.S. currency.
On Thursday, however,
Army Gen. David Petraeus,
Central Command's top offi-
cer, called the practice ''dis-
turbing.''
''This is a serious concern to
me and the other commanders
in Iraq and Afghanistan,''
Petraeus told an audience at the
Center for Strategic and Inter-
national Studies in Washing-
ton.
Obama, GOP
fight for control
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Terrorism is creeping back to
the forefront of the American
mindset, creating an election-
year issue for emboldened
Republicans and forcing Presi-
dent Barack Obama to reassert
himself after a wobbly period
of homeland protection.
Republican Scott Brown's
startling Senate win in Massa-
chusetts, propelled in part by
his opposition to Obama's ter-
ror-fighting approach, has
weakened Obama's legislative
hand just as Congress is
demanding answers about
security. And although health
care reform is the matter most
immediately affected by
Obama's sudden loss of the
minimum 60 votes he needs in
the Senate on big legislation,
his entire agenda will be
reshaped in some way by the
political fallout.
Public concern about terror-
ism is at its highest levels in
months, according to a new
Associated Press-GfK poll.
In Obama's favor: More
than half of people, 54 percent,
approve of his handling of ter-
rorism, the poll found. That's a
higher rating than Obama gets
for his handling of the econo-
my, health care, Iraq, the bud-
get deficit or taxes.
Yet Republicans traditional-
ly claim security as a political
strong suit, and recent events
have not helped the party in
power.
Stepbrother
testifies at IL
'hearsay' hearing
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — The
stepbrother of a former Illinois
police officer accused of
killing his third wife told a
hushed courtroom Thursday
that he believed he might have
helped his relative dispose of
the body of his fourth wife,
who has not been seen for
more than two years.
Thomas Morphey testified
at a hearing to decide whether
prosecutors can use ''hearsay''
evidence to try and prove alle-
gations that Drew Peterson
killed his third wife, Kathleen
Savio, in 2004. Peterson hasn't
been charged in the 2007 dis-
appearance of his fourth wife,
Stacy, but authorities say he is
the only suspect.
While the Will County hear-
ing is about the death of Savio,
Thursday's testimony focused
on the day Stacy Peterson dis-
appeared. Prosecutors would
not say why Morphey was
being asked to testify about
Stacy Peterson, but Will Coun-
ty state's attorney's office
spokesman Chuck Pelkie said
the reasons would become
clear in the proceedings.
In a packed but quiet court-
room, Morphey said Peterson
suggested when they talked on
Oct. 27, 2007, that he intended
to kill Stacy because she
planned to divorce him, win
custody of their children and
take Peterson's money.
Morphey said he drank
heavily the next day.
John Edwards
fathered child
in affair
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) —
Former Democratic presiden-
tial candidate John Edwards
finally admitted Thursday he
fathered a child during an affair
before his second White House
bid, dropping long-standing
denials just ahead of a book by
a former campaign aide who
initially took the fall.
Edwards released a state-
ment admitting paternity of the
girl, Frances Quinn Hunter,
who was born in 2008 to
videographer Rielle Hunter as
the result of an affair Edwards
has already confessed to.
''It was wrong for me to
ever deny she was my daugh-
ter,'' Edwards said, adding he
was providing financial sup-
port for the child and mother.
''I am Quinn's father.''
Elizabeth Edwards, who has
been battling an incurable
return of cancer since 2007,
said in an interview with The
Associated Press that ''the
whole family is relieved.'' She
declined to discuss the couple's
marital status and said she did-
n't know where things will go
from here.
''If somebody has a crystal
ball, they can let me know,''
she said when asked what was
next for her and John Edwards.
Landlord sues
Mischa Barton
NEW YORK (AP) — Mis-
cha Barton's landlord says the
Friday, January 22, 2010 – Daily News
– 3B
LEGAL NOTICE
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
TCCAA Proposal Number:
2010 - 01 RFP
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the
County of Tehama, Community Action
Agency, announces its intention to pro-
vide Community Service Block Grant
(CSBG) funding for projects and serv-
ices that promote family self-sufficiency
in Tehama County. Interested parties
will be asked to participate in a Request
for Proposal (RFP) process to provide
the following service:
The Tehama County Community Action
Agency (TCCAA) has set aside up to
$87,500.00 in funding for individuals
and/or agencies to develop and imple-
ment programs, services, and/or strat-
egies to foster family self-sufficiency in
Tehama County. This project is funded
by Community Services Block Grant
(CSBG) funds in cooperation with the
California Department of Community
Services and Development Depart-
ment. The Tehama County Community
Action Agency is a division of the Teha-
ma County Department of Social Serv-
ices. Examples of family self-sufficien-
cy projects, but not limited to include:
· Distribute food in conjunction with pro-
viding food stamp application informa-
tion.
· Credit counseling and/or financial liter-
acy training
· Assist in accessing permanent hous-
ing for low-income and homeless peo-
ple
· Developing a Community Needs As-
sessment on local needs of low-income
people.
· Providing nutrition education
· Providing outreach and education on
the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
program.
Private and public agencies or individu-
als interested in providing the service
listed above must submit an application
packet no later than February 19, 2010,
to Lisa Tadlock, Tehama County Com-
munity Action Agency, P. O. Box 8263,
Red Bluff, CA 96080, or by hand deliv-
ery at 310 S. Main Street, Red Bluff,
CA. Postmarks will not be accepted as
meeting the required submission date.
Requests for the application packet
may be submitted via e-mail to ltad-
lock@tcdss.org, can be downloaded by
going to www.tcdss.org