Daily News Summaries for Friday, December 3, 2010
The Washington Post
By Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray
The White House and congressional Republicans have begun working behind the scenes toward a broad deal that would prevent taxes from going up for virtually every U.S. family and authorize billions of dollars in fresh spending to bolster the economy.
By Paul Kane and David A. Fahrenthold
In the final minutes as the votes were tallied on the board above him, Rep. Charles B. Rangel stood alone, his mouth open, watching the count rise. After 21/2 years of pleading his innocence and $2 million in legal fees, the moment the New York Democrat had so feared - a vote of censure by his colleagues - had arrived.
By Nick Anderson
The Democrat-led House voted Thursday to send President Obama a bill that would enable more poor children to receive free meals at school, raise the nutritional quality of cafeteria fare and reduce the junk food and sugary beverages sold in school vending machines.
By Spencer S. Hsu
A federal judge sentenced Christopher J. Ward to 37 months in prison on Thursday for stealing more than $844,000 from the National Republican Congressional Committee and other political fundraising committees for which he worked as treasurer.
"I am truly sorry for what I did and I take full responsibility," said Ward, 42, formerly of Bethesda.
By Ann Scott Tyson
A Metro board panel approved a $10 million project Thursday to replace track circuits as well as a plan to increase the capital funds available for safety upgrades the National Transportation Safety Board recommended after the June 2009 Red Line crash.
By Christy Goodman
Potomac Greens residents are continuing their fight against a special tax district to raise money for the Potomac Yard Metro station project in Alexandria.
"They are targeting us and it is ridiculous," said Roger Nisley, a Potomac Greens resident. "This is not about Metro. It is about the fairness of it."
City officials had proposed two special tax districts in the 295-acre Potomac Yard -- 10 cents or 20 cents per $100 of assessed value on a property tax bill -- that would supplement developer contributions and tax increment financing (TIF) to cover the cost of the $240 million Metro station and its debt service, totaling an estimated $496.6 million.
The New York Times
By MOTOKO RICH
In a jolting surprise to the economic recovery and market expectations, the United States economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, according to the Department of Labor.
By MARC LACEY
PHOENIX — Even physicians with decades of experience telling patients that their lives are nearing an end are having difficulty discussing a potentially fatal condition that has arisen in Arizona: Death by budget cut.
USA Today
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
Army investigators launched a criminal probe after eight urns were found in a single grave marked "unknown" at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
"When there's eight sets of human remains in one grave, it's most likely not a mistake, so we have to look into whether there is any criminality involved," Chris Grey of the Army's Criminal Investigation Command said of the latest controversy at the nation's renowned military burial ground.
By Carla K. Johnson, The Associated Press
CHICAGO — Heath care providers are pledging to stop the overuse of radiation on patients during medical exams in a new, nationwide safety effort launched this week in Chicago.
The first step in the Image Wisely campaign is a pledge — signed so far by nearly 700 health care providers — to use the least radiation necessary on patients for a procedure. An expert panel at a radiology meeting Thursday said the campaign may lead to more review of protocols, more accreditation of imaging facilities and more widely shared standards on proper radiation doses.
By Rhonda Abrams, USA TODAY
Listen to politicians talk about taxes, and sooner or later, they're going to tell you the real victim or beneficiary is "small business." Never is this more true than in the current debate over the extension of what are commonly-referred to as the Bush era tax cuts. Politicians are grandstanding that failure to extend these tax cuts are going to cripple small businesses — lead to an end of all small business hiring — virtually be the end of small companies as we know it.
Slate
Sonia Van Gilder Cooke
By Nick Bravin
Besides providing the public with unprecedented access to classified government documents, Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks enterprise may provide an answer to a question left open since the Supreme Court decided the Pentagon Papers case almost 40 years ago: Can a publisher be prosecuted for disseminating truthful information illegally obtained by a source without offending the First Amendment?
The Los Angeles Times
By Hector Tobar
It bothered Sandra Robbie that she didn't know.
She'd grown up in 1970s Westminster, the daughter of a Mexican American family.
She'd learned all about Selma and the March on Washington.
But Robbie, 54, graduated from high school and college without ever being told about Mendez et al vs. Westminster, the battle waged for civil rights in her own community.
By Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Bureau
Reporting from Washington —
Republicans rolled out a confrontational, no-compromise strategy this week that may carry long-term risks, but has put them in position to dominate the lame-duck session of Congress and marginalize President Obama's agenda.
By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times
Working Californians have seen the cost of their employer-based health insurance shoot up about 40% over the last six years, but they may be surprised to find that workers in many other states fared even worse.
Associated Press
MANAMA, Bahrain—Hillary Rodham Clinton said her work as U.S. secretary of state will be her final public position.
She told an interviewer in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain that she doesn't plan to run for president. And she appeared to rule out taking any other public role, saying that instead she expects to return to private life as an advocate for women and children around the globe.
By VICTORIA MCGRANE And DEBORAH SOLOMON
WASHINGTON—The Obama administration's latest attempt to jump-start small-business lending is facing headwinds even before it launches.
The U.S. Treasury Department plans to release in coming days the criteria banks must meet to tap a $30 billion lending fund aimed at helping small businesses.
Media Post
by Wendy Davis
Expanding on the Federal Trade Commission's do-not-track proposal, consumer protection head David Vladeck told lawmakers on Thursday morning that a no-tracking mechanism could end the current "arms race" to circumvent consumers' privacy choices.
Politico
By BEN SMITH & BYRON TAU
The stimulus bought Castleton United Methodist Church in Indianapolis a new heating and cooling system. In Laramie, Wyo., it bought the Church of St. Laurence O'Toole new windows for the Roman Catholic school it runs. And in Harrisburg, Pa., Christian Churches United of the Tri-County Area spent its $120,000 in stimulus funding on food and shelter for local homeless people.
By JENNIFER EPSTEIN
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says GOP leaders must work quickly next year to repeal the new health care law or else face an "insurrection" from rank-and-file members.
Incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) will face stiff opposition from within their party, Bachmann said, unless they make repealing health care a priority.
By ROBIN BRAVENDER
Rep. Joe Barton wants House Republicans to work overtime — including weekends — next year to roll back the Obama administration’s health care and environmental policies.
“We need to work, work, work,” said the Texas Republican, who’s campaigning to win the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Huffington Post
By Simon Johnson
In Sunday's New York Times magazine, Roger Lowenstein profiles Jamie Dimon, head of JP Morgan Chase. The piece, titled "Jamie Dimon: America's Least-Hated Banker," is generally sympathetic, but in every significant detail it confirms that Mr. Dimon is now -- without question -- our most dangerous banker.
By Nick Wing
Outgoing Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) did the double duty Thursday of going after some of his biggest Republican enemies -- conservative pundits and former president George W. Bush -- and keeping his trusty Capitol Hill print shop in business.
By Howard Fineman, Ryan Grim and San Stein
WASHINGTON -- An informal deal to hold four "test votes" with Republicans was canceled late Thursday night, according to a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Instead, Democrats planned to file cloture Thursday night and hold votes Saturday on two separate measures.
By Arthur Delaney
WASHINGTON -- Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso blocked a request to reauthorize extended unemployment benefits on Thursday, saying a better way to help the unemployed would be to improve the economy by giving "certainty" to businesses on taxes.
Talking Points Memo
Brian Beutler
It's back to plan A.
A tentative agreement between Republican and Democratic Senate leaders to hold four tax cut votes today fell through late last night, over the objections of a GOP member.
Ryan J. Reilly
You know that scene in "It's A Wonderful Life" where George Bailey is standing on the bridge ready to end it all? That's where White House Director of Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes sees liberals now, as they await the GOP takeover of the House. In her metaphor, Barnes is a guardian angel of sorts, trying her best Thursday night to pull progressives back from the brink.
Max Read | Gawker
White separatist Mark Eliseuson made a snowman on the front lawn of his Hayden, Idaho home this week. A hooded snowman. With a noose hanging from its wrist. What a great way to spread holiday cheer!
Jillian Rayfield
Bryan Fischer, the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association, doesn't think that taxpayers should fund AIDS research anymore, since "we know what causes AIDS: homosexual sex and injection drug use," and "since we know the cause, we know the cure: stop engaging in homosexual sex and stop shooting up with drugs."
RAPHAEL G. SATTER and LOUISE NORDSTROM
AP News
WikiLeaks battled to stay online Friday after attacks on its servers forced it to change the name of its main website and heavy traffic crippled an online question-and-answer session with the group's founder.
The American company EveryDNS said that it stopped hosting the website wikileaks.org late Thursday after cyber attacks on the site threatened the rest of its network. WikiLeaks responded by moving to a Swiss domain name, wikileaks.ch — and calling on activists for support.
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