Conservatives slam GOP proposal to increase taxes

November 30, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

WASHINGTON

Conservative groups and lawmakers are lining up against a proposal by Senate Republicans to impose automatic tax increases on millions of Americans – if their sweeping tax package doesn’t grow the economy and raise tax revenues as much as projected.

The opposition comes as the tax package cleared a key procedural vote in the Senate on Wednesday. The Senate voted 52-48 to start debating the bill. Wednesday’s vote potentially could pave the way for the Senate to pass the package later this week. The Senate could start voting on amendments this evening.

Opposition to the tax “trigger” could doom a delicately negotiated proposal aimed at mollifying deficit hawks who worry that tax cuts for businesses and individuals could add trillions to the mounting national debt.

Rancher refuses judge’s offer of release during trial

LAS VEGAS

A Nevada rancher and states’ rights figure refused a federal judge’s offer to be free on house arrest during his trial with two sons on charges in an armed standoff with government agents that stopped a cattle round-up in 2014.

The 71-year-old rancher, Cliven Bundy, declined Wednesday to be freed while others are still in jail awaiting trial in the case.

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro said Ammon Bundy and co-defendant Ryan Payne can be freed today to home detention.

The judge also said another Bundy son, Ryan Bundy, can now split time between home and a halfway house while serving as his own attorney in the case.

The decision involving the four defendants came amid questions about whether federal prosecutors in Las Vegas have turned over complete evidence records to defense lawyers.

Doctor: Girl, 3, had some signs of abuse

daLLAS

A physician says he found several bone fractures last March on Sherin Mathews, a 3-year-old girl adopted from India who was found dead in suburban Dallas last month.

Dr. Suzanne Dakil testified that she suspected abuse and reported her concerns to Child Protective Services.

The girl’s adoptive parents, Wesley and Sini Mathews, are seeking to recover from the state custody of their biological child, who also is 3. The couple, who face criminal charges arising from Sherin’s death, invoked their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions Wednesday.

Sherin’s body was found Oct. 24 in a culvert, more than two weeks after Wesley Mathews had reported her missing.

Croat general drinks poison at trial, dies

ZAGREB, Croatia

Slobodan Praljak, a former film and theater director turned wartime general, was always known for theatrics.

So, when the former Bosnian Croat military commander suddenly threw back his head and drank what he said was poison from a small bottle after his 20-year war crimes sentence was upheld by a U.N. court on Wednesday, many Croats watching the drama unfold on live TV thought it was yet another bluff.

But it wasn’t. The 72-year-old silver-bearded Praljak died soon after being rushed from the U.N. tribunal to a nearby hospital.

The shocking scene was not unlike the suspenseful plays he once directed before becoming a military commander during the Balkan wars of the early 1990s.

“Judges, Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal! I reject, with contempt, your verdict,” Praljak shouted before drinking from the bottle.

Associated Press