Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/79792
8A Daily News – Thursday, August 23, 2012 Romney's big economy show threatened by party rifts TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — This is the convention prelude of the Republi- cans' dreams — their nightmares, that is. Mitt Romney wanted to preside over a made- for-TV gathering show- casing his economic cre- dentials and GOP unity. Instead, he's heading to Tampa with the national debate focused on rape and abortion and with the divisions within his party — and with running mate Paul Ryan — on full dis- play. ''It's a huge distrac- tion,'' Saul Anuzis, a RNC member from Michigan and a top Rom- ney backer, said of the emotional quarreling touched off by embattled Missouri Rep. Todd Akin earlier this week. ''We should be talking about the economy and here we are consumed by these side issues.'' Even the weather is threatening to spoil Rom- ney's party. As Wednes- day's rain pounded the arena and hotel complex where the convention is scheduled for next week, Anuzis lamented the trop- ical storm churning toward Florida, saying that ''it could cause havoc; it could be a chaot- ic situation from a trans- portation and security standpoint.'' has drawn Lebanon deep- er into the unrest — a troubling sign for a coun- try that has gone through its own 15-year civil war and has an explosive sec- tarian mix as well as deep divisions between pro- and anti-Syrian factions, many of which are armed. The chaos could give Sunni Muslim fighters in northern Lebanon more leeway to establish supply lines to the rebels inside Syria in their battle to oust President Bashar Assad. Tensions and intermit- The bloodshed in Syria tent fighting in the north- ern Lebanon city of Tripoli continued Wednesday following two days of clashes between pro- and anti-Assad groups that killed at least six people and wounded more than 70. All this as a new Asso- ciated Press-GfK poll showed a neck-and-neck race between Romney and President Barack Obama just over two months before the elec- tion. Some 47 percent of registered voters say they plan to vote for Obama, while 46 percent favor Romney. That's virtually the same as last month — and evidence that Rom- ney didn't get a bounce of support by choosing Ryan as his vice presidential nominee. Assad declining BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian civil war has spilled over into Lebanon, bringing with it sectarian street clashes, mob vio- lence and general govern- ment paralysis in Beirut. But it was the dramatic arrest earlier this month of a former Lebanese gov- ernment minister and prominent supporter of Syria's embattled presi- dent that has suggested the conflict may be caus- ing Lebanon to slip fur- ther away from Damas- cus' long domination. influence in Lebanon in meth ring INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A prison inmate coor- dinated a methampheta- mine ring that involved at least two Indiana prisons using cellphones and drugs smuggled in by guards, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday that charges 40 people in con- nection to the scheme. At least three inmates are among those charged, including the alleged ringleader, Oscar Perez, who's serving time for murder and attempted murder. At least 17 people appeared in court Wednesday in Indianapo- lis after about 300 FBI agents fanned out across the state and made arrests. Prosecutors said the defendants were flight risks, and the judge ordered them to remain in custody. Prison guards aided WORLD BRIEFING Spanier and his lawyers attacked the university- backed report on the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scan- dal on Wednesday, calling it a ''blundering and inde- fensible indictment'' as they fired a pre-emptive strike while waiting to hear if he'll be charged in the case. Lawyer Timothy Lewis called Louis Freeh, the former FBI director and federal judge behind the report, a ''biased investi- gator'' who piled specula- tion on top of innuendo to accuse Spanier in a cover- up of early abuse com- plaints. ''The Freeh report, as it pertains to Dr. Spanier, is a myth. And that myth ... ends today,'' Lewis said at a downtown Philadelphia news conference. but he told media outlets in stories published hours later that he never under- stood the early complaints about Sandusky, who this year was convicted of molesting 10 boys and awaits sentencing, to be sexual. ''I'm very stunned by Spanier did not attend, pneumoniae that resists treatment by one of the last lines of defense, antibiotics called carbapenems. ''We never want this to happen again,'' said Dr. Tara Palmore, deputy hos- pital epidemiologist at the NIH Clinical Center. Train was going Freeh's conclusion that — I don't think he used the word 'cover-up'; but he uses the word 'con- cealed,''' Spanier told The New Yorker magazine. ''Why on earth would anybody cover up for a known child predator? Adverse publicity? For heaven's sake! Every day I had to make some deci- sion that got adverse pub- licity.'' Genetic sleuthing solves The activity, which also included heroin traf- ficking, occurred at the Westville Correction Facility in northern Indi- ana and the Wabash Val- ley Correction Facility in southwestern Indiana, according to the indict- ment. allege that one corrections officer, Jon Dobbins, was found ''in possession'' of nearly 21 grams of a mix- ture and substance con- taining meth, and had a cellphone that he was going to ''clandestinely bring'' into the prison and leave with an inmate. Court documents 'blundering' PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ousted Penn State President Graham Lawyers for ex-Penn State president call sex abuse report claims it derailed ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) — A coal train that derailed in Maryland was going the authorized speed of 25 miles per hour with an engineer-in-training at the controls before the accident that killed two young women, a federal investiga- tor said Wednesday. Investigators were checking videos, track con- ditions and maintenance records to learn whether the college students sitting on a railroad bridge over the town's main street con- tributed to the Monday night crash or if their pres- ence was just a tragic coin- cidence. authorized 25 mph when Ryan, in an interview with a Pennsylvania TV sta- tion, emphasized Romney's role at the top of the ticket, saying he was proud of his record on the social issue. ''I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It's something I'm proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration,'' he said. Tropical Storm Isaac swirls toward pass ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Leaders across much of the Caribbean closed schools and govern- ment offices Wednesday as Tropical Storm Isaac churned toward the region, and the U.S. military post- poned hearings for Sept. 11 prisoners ahead of a storm that could sweep across Cuba and perhaps eventual- ly menace Florida as a hur- ricane. National Transportation Safety Board investigator Jim Southworth wouldn't speculate on the cause of the derailment. ''This is just not the time for any kind of analysis,'' he said Wednesday. ''This is purely fact-finding.'' So far, Howard County superbug police have said that the two 19-year-old women were sitting on one side of the bridge with their backs to the tracks as the train passed a few feet behind them; their bodies were found buried under coal dumped from the train cars. outbreak WASHINGTON (AP) — Over six frightening months, a deadly germ untreatable by most antibi- otics spread in the nation's leading research hospital. Pretty soon, a patient a week was catching the bug. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health locked down patients, cleaned with bleach, even ripped out plumbing — and still the germ persisted. It all stemmed from a single patient carrying a fairly new superbug known as KPC — Klebsiella By the end, 18 people harbored the dangerous germ, and six died of bloodstream infections from it. Another five made it through the outbreak only to die from the dis- eases that brought them to NIH's world-famous cam- pus in the first place. It took gene detectives teasing apart the bacteria's DNA to solve the germ's wily spread, a CSI-like saga with lessons for hos- pitals everywhere as they struggle to contain the growing threat of super- bugs. Abortion debate The storm was 25 miles (40 kilometers) south- southeast of the French Caribbean island of Guade- loupe late Wednesday after- noon, with maximum sus- tained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). Isaac was moving west at 22 mph (35 kph) and was expected to become a hurricane by Thursday night or Friday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. ter Roosevelt Skerrit urged people to stay home from work Wednesday. ''I want us all to be safe,'' he said. ''I don't want lives to be lost.'' Dominica Prime Minis- differences RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Republicans Mitt Rom- ney and Paul Ryan found themselves dragged into a debate Wednesday over hot- button social issues and answering for differences between their personal posi- tions on abortion, just days before a national convention aimed at showing a unified Republican party. The dis- cussion lingered while Pres- ident Barack Obama and Romney tangled from afar over issues like education and the deficit. The GOP ticket dealt with a renewed focus on abortion in the wake of comments about ''legiti- mate rape'' from Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, remarks that have caused an uproar and gener- ated demands from Rom- ney and party leaders for the congressman to quit the race. highlights Romney, Ryan Authorities in Puerto Rico reported that a 75- year-old woman died in the northern city of Bayamon when she fell from a sec- ond-floor balcony while fill- ing a barrel with water in preparation for the storm. tion overshadowed events by Romney and Ryan in the battleground states of Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia — three states which Obama carried in 2008 — ahead of next week's Republican convention in Tampa, Fla. Obama rallied supporters in Nevada, the state with the nation's high- est unemployment rate of 12 percent, before heading to New York for a basket- ball-themed fundraiser. Since selecting Ryan as his running mate, Romney has faced questions about how his policy positions dif- fer from those espoused by Ryan, the architect of a con- troversial budget blueprint that would dramatically alter Medicare. On abortion, Romney does not oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest or if it will save the mother's life, while Ryan does oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest. The questions over abor- 3 Bs for fall LOS ANGELES (AP) — The B-list rules Holly- wood's fall and holiday movie season: Bond, Bella and Bilbo. Hollywood's Daniel Craig is back as James Bond in ''Skyfall,'' the super-spy's first adventure in four years, one of the longest 007 hiatuses in the franchise's 50-year history. Kirsten Stewart returns for her swan song as Bella Swan, alongside vampire hubby Robert Pattinson and jealous werewolf pal Taylor Lautner in ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2,'' the franchise finale. goes jewelry shopping for an evil ring in ''The Hob- bit: An Unexpected Jour- ney,'' the first installment in Peter Jackson's three- part prelude to his Acade- my Award-winning adap- tation of J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings.'' And Bilbo Baggins DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY redbluffdailynews.com Subscribe Now! To get started, go to: www.redbluffdailynews.com/websubscribe