Senate OKs defense bill; veto threatened

Senate OKs defense bill; veto threatened

WASHINGTON

Congress has sent President Barack Obama a sweeping $612 billion defense policy bill that he has threatened to veto over an ongoing partisan battle about government spending.

The Senate vote Wednesday to approve the measure was 70-27.

If Obama vetoes the bill, it would be only the fifth time a president has vetoed a defense authorization bill in the past half-century.

The House passed it last week, 269-151. There were enough Democratic votes to sustain a presidential veto.

Overhaul of charter schools OK’d in Ohio

COLUMBUS

After years of emotional public debate, Ohio lawmakers passed an overhaul of the embattled charter-school system with new performance, accountability and reporting requirements, which supporters say should assure federal officials that millions of dollars in charter funding headed to the state will be wisely spent.

The sweeping reform legislation received overwhelming support in the state House on Wednesday and unanimously cleared the Senate. Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign it.

Carson defends remarks on shooting

NEWARK, N.J.

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Wednesday defended his comments that he would try to overwhelm a shooter and “would not just stand there” in a mass-shooting attack.

Critics have said his remarks appeared to blame the victims of shootings, including the latest one at an Oregon community college. Carson said his remark was intended as advice for future attacks.

“I want to plant in people’s minds what to do in a situation like this. Because, unfortunately, this is probably not going to be the last time this happens,” he told CBS.

Board settles in case of hypnotized teens

NORTH PORT, Fla.

The families of three high- school students who died after being hypnotized by a former principal will receive $200,000 each from the Sarasota County School District under a settlement agreement unanimously approved by the school board on Tuesday.

The Herald-Tribune reports that the $600,000 settlement closes a bizarre, yearslong case that began after former North Port High School Principal George Kenney admitted that he hypnotized 16-year-old Wesley McKinley a day before the teenager killed himself in April 2011.

Among others who were hypnotized were 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo and 16-year-old Marcus Freeman. Palumbo killed herself in 2011. Freeman was in a fatal car crash after apparently self-hypnotizing, a technique Kenney taught the teenager, also in 2011.

Clinton opposes Pacific trade deal

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa

Hillary Rodham Clinton declared her opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord Wednesday, marking her most significant break with President Barack Obama and the policies she once promoted as his chief diplomat.

“I think there are still a lot of unanswered questions,” she said of the sweeping trade deal in an interview with PBS’ “Newshour.” ‘’As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it.”

Associated Press