Chron - Politics

Court rejects suit over stem cell research

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

WASHINGTON - A lawsuit that had threatened to end the Obama administration's funding of embryonic stem cell research was thrown out Wednesday, allowing the U.S. to continue supporting a search for cures to deadly diseases over protests that the work relies on destroyed human embryos. President George W. Bush also permitted stem cell research but limited the availability of taxpayer funds to embryonic stem cell lines that were already in existence The Obama administration's rules expanded the number of stem cell lines created with private money that federally funded scientists could research, up from the 21 that Bush had allowed, to 128 and counting. The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by two scientists who argued that Obama's expansion jeopardized their ability to win government funding for research using adult stem cells - ones that have already matured to create specific types of tissues - because it will mean extra competition.

Shell exec: Gulf drilling suit may become 'back-door' ban

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

The Natural Resources Defense Council of New York and Oakland, Calif.-based Earthjustice said Obama administration approval of a Shell exploration plan for the Gulf's deep waters violates environmental laws and should be withdrawn, according to June 9 petitions. Shell, Europe's largest oil company, was first to win approval for its deep-water drilling plans after the BP oil spill led the U.S. to toughen the environmental reviews.

Study finds no cancer link between kids cellphones

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

WASHINGTON - A new European study concludes a few years of cellphone use didn't raise children's risk of brain cancer. Repeated studies in adults have been reassuring, too, although an arm of the World Health Organization said this spring that there is a possibility cellphones pose a risk.

Lawmaker: 40 Americans joined terrorists in Somalia

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

The findings, discussed in a congressional hearing on Wednesday, are an indication the group has an even deeper reach into the U.S. More than 40 Americans have traveled to Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabab, an investigation by Republican staff on the House Homeland Security Committee found. Details of the findings came out during the third in a series of congressional hearings examining the radical Islamic terror threat in the U.S. [...] in 2010, Homeland Security alerted Houston law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for Mohamed Ali, a suspected member of al-Shabab believed to be trying to cross the Texas-Mexico border into the U.S. His whereabouts remain unknown. While Democrats on the committee said the threat from al-Shabab has been overstated, their assessment is in direct contrast to that of some intelligence officials in the Obama administration.

NH activists' search for candidate leads to Texas

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

EXETER, N.H. (AP) - Still searching for a 2012 candidate, Republican activists from New Hampshire plan to visit Texas next week to encourage Gov. Rick Perry to run for president. The New Hampshire delegation, to be led by former Republican National committeeman Sean Mahoney and former state GOP executive director Paul Young, also intends to stress the importance of the state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Perry's aides have been laying the groundwork for a White House bid and Perry has been talking to influential Republicans in early voting states. Perry has yet to travel to New Hampshire this year, but he telephoned prominent Republican officials in New Hampshire and Iowa this month to gauge their interest in his candidacy.

Storied Walter Reed hospital closes doors after 102 years

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

WASHINGTON - Maj. Walter Reed's sword was symbolically handed over to the Navy at a ceremony Wednesday marking the closure of the Army hospital bearing his name, where hundreds of thousands of the nation's war wounded have been treated for more than a century. The tone was somber at times, but mostly celebratory, as more than 1,000 former and current staff members and patients - some of them wounded troops from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who have lost limbs - gathered under a white tent to say goodbye to the Army's flagship hospital. The Army band played, paratroopers jumped out of a plane, and flags representing various units on the hospital grounds were symbolically cased in black. [...] in 2007, that reputation was scarred by a scandal about substandard living conditions on its grounds for wounded troops in outpatient care that led to improvements in care for the wounded throughout the military.

SC lawmakers take credit for shift in Boehner plan

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) - The five Republicans in South Carolina's congressional delegation collectively are taking credit for pushing House Speaker John Boehner to take a more conservative approach to finding a debt deal. [...] the GOP lawmakers, who withheld initial support for Boehner's plan to raise the debt ceiling, say they're happy they stuck to their principles.

Clemens defense seeks case dismissal

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 06:12:00 GMT

WASHINGTON - Defense lawyers for baseball pitching ace Roger Clemens asked a federal trial judge on Friday to dismiss a six-count perjury indictment against him and block a retrial, contending that the experienced federal prosecutors deliberately torpedoed the high profile case to get "a second bite of the apple" after courtroom setbacks. Federal prosecutors had no response to the submission, said William Miller, a Justice Department spokesman handling inquiries in the case. "Because the judge's gag order remains in effect, the U.S. Attorney's Office has no comment," Miller said.

Job worries surge as debt-limit issue recedes

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

The news that credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the nation's credit rating a notch for the first time ever only added to the tension. [...] he and Republican leaders finally ended a months-long game of brinkmanship with a bipartisan agreement to raise the government's debt ceiling and to trim spending. The deal kept the government from beginning to run out of cash last Tuesday, averting a first-ever U.S. default and a possible global financial meltdown. [...] stock markets around the world tumbled during the week as grim new economic figures suggested the U.S. recovery has stalled and as debt default tensions climbed in Europe. Terms of the deal to extend the U.S. government's borrowing authority and trim federal spending contributed to investor angst. The credit rating agency said it was cutting the country's top AAA rating by one notch to AA-plus because the deficit reduction plan passed by Congress did not go far enough to stabilize the country's debt situation. [...] in the past few days, investors have been fleeing stock and commodity markets for the perceived safety of U.S. Treasury bonds and bills. Friday's jobs report - a net increase of 117,000 new jobs in July and an unemployment rate ticking down to 9.1 percent from 9.2 percent in June - was better than expected by forecasters, but it did little to ease fears of a new recession. "There's not a lot of precedent for an incumbent president getting re-elected in economic circumstances like this," said William A. Galston, who was President Bill Clinton's top domestic policy aide in 1993-95. White House and Treasury officials reject the idea that a double-dip recession looms, insisting that the economy will continue to grow and create jobs, if slowly. According to Pew, 72 percent of poll respondents described the negotiations in negative terms, using words such as "disgusting," "ridiculous" and "stupid."

Consumer borrowing up in June by most in 4 years

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans borrowed more money in June than during any other month in nearly four years, relying on credit cards and loans to help get through a difficult economic stretch. The category that measures credit card use increased by $5.2 billion - the most for a single month since March 2008 and only the third gain since the financial crisis. [...] an increase in credit card debt could also signal that people are falling on harder times. Americans have been struggling this year with high unemployment, scant raises and steep gas prices. During that period, Americans felt wealthier and more willing to take on increased debt because of the soaring value of their homes. The Federal Reserve's borrowing report includes auto loans, student loans and credit cards.

Almost half of Perry campaign cash from big donors

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

Perry's biggest contributors include Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who bankrolled the negative "Swift Boat" campaign against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in Sunday's edition. The only bigger source of campaign funds for Rick Perry has been the Republican Governors Association, which has given $4 million to the Texas Republican's gubernatorial campaigns. Bob Perry donated almost $4.5 million to the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign that challenged 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's account of his Vietnam War record. Michael Beckel, spokesman for the nonprofit monitor of federal campaign spending, Center for Responsive Politics, said Perry "is One of the most high-profile conservative donors out there." Speculation on whether Bob Perry will be a major backer of a Rick Perry presidential campaign is premature, said Anthony Holm, the homebuilder's spokesman.

CEOs' 'wishy-washy' tack on debt-limit fight blasted

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

While the chamber last week began to issue almost daily pleas for the debt ceiling to be raised and business groups sent letters to Congress calling for a resolution to the standoff, company lobbyists and executives for the most part steered clear of the fight in the months leading up to the crisis, which had lawmakers negotiating through the weekend before a breakthrough. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, contrasted the lobbying, television advertisements and political giving the chamber invested fighting off President Barack Obama's health-care legislation in 2009 and 2010 with its "wishy-washy" approach on the debt ceiling. Warren Bennis, a professor of business at the University of Southern California who has written about corporate leadership for four decades, says CEOs may have been silenced by positions advocated by some Republicans, such as tea party enthusiasts who support an increase in the debt limit only if it's accompanied by greater spending cuts than the increase and doesn't raise taxes. [...] after negotiations between Republicans and Obama broke down last week, chief executives of companies such as General Electric, BlackRock and Citigroup started to push harder for a breakthrough, mainly by signing group letters sent to Congress and the administration.

J&J says it has OK'd Risperdal settlement

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

The Justice Department and the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia are still pursuing other criminal and civil actions against the company, according to the filing. Since 2004, J&J's Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit has been served with numerous subpoenas over Risperdal from federal and state prosecutors.

Far right questions Rick Perry on immigration

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

What he may have to explain on the stump is how illegal immigrants have contributed to that success, adding as much as $17.7 billion a year to the state gross product and enjoying such benefits as in-state tuition at public universities. "Gov. Perry is very eager to appear tough on illegal immigration, but upon closer inspection he's part of the problem," complained William Gheen, who runs the North Carolina-based political action committee Americans for Legal Immigration. The Texas Association of Business, which has backed Perry in all his gubernatorial campaigns and has members who individually have provided Perry with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash, touted that report in its firm support of comprehensive immigration reform. Illegal immigrants have access to services for drug treatment, mental health and children with special health care needs. "Gov. Perry has continued to push for the federal government to fulfill their responsibilities in a number of areas including border security and illegal immigration," spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. For the first time in his decade-long tenure, Perry pushed a bill that would have prohibited Texas cities from acting as "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants and would allow local law enforcement to become more involved in immigration enforcement. Perry passed $2 million in federal grants to a border sheriff's coalition for 200 cameras along the border allowing anyone to watch through the Internet and then email reports of suspicious activity.

Conservatives give Perry a wary look

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

[...] why are some conservative bloggers and activists warning others on the political right about a Perry presidential candidacy? [...] when Perry crossed the line and said he was "fine" with New York adopting a law legalizing same-sex marriage, the Religious Right erupted, saying the federal government had the power to trump states' rights on abortion and gay marriage, among other social issues. Perry quickly amended his Houston declaration, saying he favored constitutional amendments outlawing same-sex marriage and criminalizing abortion, but the entire episode left some conservatives uneasy. Liberals complain about his support for legislation cracking down on so-called "sanctuary cities" and his demands for additional troops along the Mexican border. Perry's support for undocumented immigrants paying in-state tuition at Texas' state colleges and universities. According to some of his immigration critics, Perry's cardinal sin was his 2010 comment that he had concerns about portions of Arizona's tough immigration enforcement law and "it would not be the right direction for Texas." "Governor Perry is very eager to appear tough on illegal immigration, but upon closer inspection he's part of the problem," said William Gheen, who runs the North Carolina-based political action committee Americans for Legal Immigration. Steven E. Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota, says the tax issue could hurt Perry if primary rivals make it stick. Some conservatives chafe at Perry's endorsement of expanded toll roads in Texas, a concept they consider a back-door tax increase. Not only was it another toll road, they say, it would have resulted in the government seizing about 81,000 acres of rural land through its "eminent domain" powers. Some anti-government types wonder how Perry can square his condemnation of Washington power grabs with his own 2007 executive order requiring that sixth-grade girls in Texas be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, a sexually transmitted disease that has been found to cause cervical cancer. [...] during his time in charge of the state government in Austin, state borrowing has more than doubled. According to PolitiFact, a nonpartisan fact-checking website, "Texas had $34.08 billion in outstanding bonds and notes" at the end of the 2009 fiscal year, up from $13.7 billion at the end of fiscal 2001, Perry's first year as governor.

Symptoms of health care problem grow in Texas

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

While Perry trumpets the state's balanced budget, he fails to mention that lawmakers this year cut $805 million from doctors serving Medicaid patients, and that they also postponed $4 billion in Medicaid costs for payment in the next budget cycle. The state's population growth of 4 million new residents over the last decade, coupled with budget cuts to medical education and Medicaid providers, has put Texas health care access on a dangerous trajectory. In addition to cutting the loan repayment program, lawmakers this year reduced state support to graduate medical education by almost 40 percent, ensuring that many medical school graduates will leave Texas to other states for residency programs. Since statistics show that doctors usually begin their careers where they train, that means Texas taxpayers have footed the bill to educate doctors who move to others states. Other budget cuts - particularly an 8 percent cut in reimbursement rates to hospitals - could undo the settlement of a federal lawsuit by constricting the availability of health care available to Medicaid recipients, experts say. In all, he said, the new state budget will "increase costs to those with health insurance, require higher local taxes and reduce access to health care services in communities statewide."

No apologies from Perry for Texas-style tough talk

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

WASHINGTON - Texas Gov. Rick Perry found himself fending off criticism of his Texas-style tough talk on Tuesday, just as the first major poll since he became an official presidential candidate showed him opening up a double-digit lead over the rest of the Republican field. Campaigning in Iowa, Perry refused to back down from comments he made a day earlier about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and President Barack Obama, despite criticism from Democrats and some members of the Bush administration. At a Monday night event in Iowa, Perry warned about "almost treacherous or treasonous" behavior by Bernanke and suggested that Texans might want to treat the Republican economist "pretty ugly" if he "prints more money between now and the election." The governor, in the midst of a swing through the first state to pick presidential delegates in 2012, also drew fire for asserting that members of the armed services would prefer a commander in chief who served in the military. [...] he isn't as well-known by voters outside Texas, and Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University, says Perry risks becoming known as a shoot-from-the-lip Texan if he doesn't "tone his act down by about 25 percent." Presidential scholars noted that Perry's dust-up is a common occurrence when prominent state politicians face the glare of the national media. [...] Texas isn't exactly the minor leagues by any stretch of the imagination, and there's a reputation for Texas politics being rough and tumble at times, but it still jumps to a different level when someone hits the national stage.

Once a fringe candidate Paul shaping 2012 race

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Ron Paul, once seen as a fringe candidate and a nuisance to the establishment, is shaping the 2012 Republican primary by giving voice to the party's libertarian wing and reflecting frustration with the United States' international entanglements. The Texas congressman placed second in a key early test vote Saturday in Ames, coming within 152 votes of winning the first significant balloting of the Republican nominating contest. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota won the nonbinding Iowa straw poll, but Paul's organizational strength and a retooled focus on social issues set him up to be a serious player in the campaign. All life is precious, he said, opening his remarks with an anti-abortion appeal to the social conservatives who have great sway here in Iowa's leadoff caucuses. Four years ago, Paul sought the GOP nomination while talking about economic policy, liberty and the Federal Reserve. [...] the tea party has risen and seized on those issues, and some regard Paul as one of the movement's godfathers. Paul's campaign notes that it won more votes this year than Romney won four years ago during his first bid for the GOP nomination. "In previous presidential campaigns, we might have chalked extreme fringe-type candidates like Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul as an anomaly, (and) the Ames straw poll didn't mean as much," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

Spokesman says Rick Perry running

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

AUSTIN - Texas Gov. Rick Perry is running for president. That's the word from Perry spokesman Mark Miner. Miner is telling The Associated Press that Perry will announce his intentions to run for the GOP nomination on Saturday as he visits early primary states of South Carolina and New Hampshire. Perry's candidacy is likely to shake the GOP field. His announcement that he is joining the field would come two days after a debate in Iowa and on the same day as his rivals participate in a test vote in the leadoff caucus state.

Retail sales rose 0.5 percent in July

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:12:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Consumers spent more on autos, furniture, clothing and gas in July, pushing up retail sales by the largest amount in four months. Even after excluding sales at gas stations, which were influenced by an increase in gas prices, sales rose 0.3 percent last month. "The fact that retail sales held up over the last few months even though the labor market was foundering is a positive economic development," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. [...] the true test will be to see if consumer activity held up in the face of recent financial market gyrations and slumping economic confidence. The rebound in sales should help to bolster shaky business sentiment and spur further inventory restocking in coming months. Demand for cars has been low this year, and many dealers have also had a hard time stocking popular models because of supply chain disruptions stemming from the Japan crisis. Purchases of furniture rose 0.5 percent, electronics store sales increased 1.4 percent, and sales at specialty clothing stores climbed 0.5 percent. Economists had expected them to show a rise following reports from big retailers that they had a decent start to the back-to-school shopping season. Many economists, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, had thought the economic slowdown was mostly because of temporary factors, such as high gas prices and the parts shortage out of Japan.