House forestalls shutdown
House forestalls shutdown
WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Friday to head off a government shutdown next week by temporarily extending spending on most federal programs at current levels, while boosting lawmakers’ office budgets by more than 8 percent.
The House passed the measure by a 217-190 vote. It would keep the government running for another month and it also patches over problems in the financially struggling Postal Service and funds soon-to-expire highway programs for another month as well.
Egypt warns of arms race
UNITED NATIONS — Egypt’s foreign minister warned Friday that a nuclear-capable Israel and an Iran pursuing nuclear weapons could trigger a nuclear-arms race in the Middle East.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview with The Associated Press that Iran has a right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy but it must be verified.
If the existence of a new uranium plant was kept secret, he said, “that will shed doubts, of course, on the credibility of the Iranian position, no doubt about it.”
Iran kept the facility hidden from weapons inspectors until a letter it sent to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday.
Ex-Manson follower dies
LOS ANGELES — Susan Atkins, a member of the Charles Manson “family” who admitted ruthlessly stabbing pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death in the cult’s 1969 murder spree, has died in prison less than a month after a parole board turned down a bid for compassionate release. She was 61 and had brain cancer.
Atkins, who eventually came to call the crimes a sin, died late Thursday, according to the California Department of Corrections.
Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that at the time of Atkins’ death she had been in prison longer than any woman currently incarcerated in California.
Atkins’ final chance at freedom was denied Sept. 2. Terminally ill, she was brought to a parole board hearing on a gurney and slept through most of it, but managed to recite religious verse with the help of her husband, attorney James Whitehouse.
Atkins was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008, had a leg amputated and was given only a few months to live.
Interim senator sworn in
WASHINGTON — Former Democratic Party chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. stepped in Friday as the temporary replacement in the Senate for his longtime friend, the late Edward Kennedy.
Kirk said taking over the Massachusetts seat left him with mixed emotions, particularly because he was still feeling the “profound absence” of his old pal.
Democrats applauded his arrival. Kirk’s swearing-in by Vice President Joe Biden gave Senate Democrats a filibuster-resistant, 60-vote majority with the health-care fight at a critical juncture. Contentious battles also lay ahead on climate change and financial regulation.
The swearing-in came just a few hours after a Massachusetts judge rejected a Republican request to delay it.
Gitmo closing faces delay
WASHINGTON — The White House acknowledged for the first time Friday that it might not be able to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay by January as President Barack Obama has promised.
Senior administration officials told The Associated Press that difficulties in completing the lengthy review of detainee files and resolving thorny legal and logistical questions mean the president’s self-imposed January deadline may slip. Obama remains as committed to closing the facility as he was when, as one of his first acts in office, he pledged to shut it down, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to more freely discuss the sensitive issue.
Woman implanted with wrong embryo gives birth
TOLEDO — An Ohio woman who had the wrong embryo implanted by a fertility clinic has given birth to a boy.
Sean and Carolyn Savage said in a statement that the “healthy baby boy” was delivered Thursday at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo.
No information about the baby or the circumstances surrounding the delivery was released. The Savages said earlier this week the baby was to be born in the next two weeks via Caesarean section.
The Savages offered their “heartfelt congratulations” to the baby’s biological parents, Paul and Shannon Morell of Michigan. They said their family is going through a very difficult time and requested privacy in the days ahead.
The Savages have said the fertility clinic transferred the wrong frozen embryo to Carolyn’s womb in early February.
Associated Press