Cousin Sam: In the news, Sunday, March 24, 2013

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SAT 23 INDEX MON 25

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from Addicting Info

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Ayn Rand And The Sociopathic Society

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from KREM 2 News (CBS Spokane)

Space Needle goes dark for 'Earth Hour'

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from KXLY 4 News (ABC Spokane)

Family rebuilding after massive fire

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from The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle

Okanogan County 2013 ATV Guide

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from POLITICO

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Photo Gallery of President Obama's trip to Israel

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from PreventDisease.com

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Gender Medicine:
It's Time To Stop Focusing On The Male Model of Disease
by DR. MARIANNA POCHELLI

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from The Spokesman-Review

Obama takes in sights at end of Mideast trip
Four-day visit saw modest successes

Pope Francis visits predecessor Benedict XVI

Obama unafraid of using powers

Mayor seeks greater control over police, fire department slots

Cyprus, eurozone still have no deal

Russian Berezovsky found dead in England
Self-exiled tycoon sought asylum after angering Putin

Senate passes budget plan
All-night debate ends with 50-49 vote

Mayor group buys gun control ads

Lawmakers call for more US involvement in Syria

Ankle bracelets proposed for Alzheimer’s patients

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In Brief: From Wire Reports:

Heavy snows hit Colorado, Great Plains

Kansas City, Mo. – An early spring snowstorm forced the cancellation of more than 100 flights at Denver International Airport and closed several roads Saturday as it moved eastward, dumping more than a foot of snow in some places.

The snow started falling around midnight in northeast Colorado and then moved into northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska.

Ten to 15 inches of snow had fallen by Saturday afternoon north of Interstate 70 in northwest Kansas and northeast Colorado, said Ryan Husted, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Goodland, Kan., where 15 inches of snow had fallen.

The storm also dropped up to 7 inches of snow in southwestern Nebraska before tapering off Saturday afternoon, said David Pearson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service near Omaha, Neb.

Husted said winds gusting at speeds of up to 45 mph were creating snow drifts of 2 to 3 feet in parts of Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska.

I-70 was shut down Saturday from Denver to Colby, Kan., because of poor visibility. The northbound lanes of Interstate 25 also were closed south of Fort Collins, Colo., because of multiple accidents.

N.C. drops pink stripe from licenses

Durham, N.C. – Transportation officials in North Carolina have backed down from a plan to issue driver’s licenses with a prominent pink stripe to single out young immigrants who were brought into the U.S. illegally.

After protests from immigration and civil rights groups, the North Carolina Department of Transportation has quietly removed the pink stripe from the proposed special licenses, which it will begin issuing Monday.

The licenses would be for young immigrants who qualified for the federal Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals program, announced in June. It offers work permits and a two-year deferral from deportation to certain young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Opponents of the North Carolina proposal have said the pink stripe and the phrase “NO LAWFUL STATUS” on the licenses would stigmatize young immigrants who have earned temporary lawful status.

The new version, posted on the agency’s website, features the same dark blue background as the state’s standard license. It still contains the phrase “NO LAWFUL STATUS,” but adds the words “LEGAL PRESENCE.”

France confirms death of al-Qaida-linked warlord

Paris – The al-Qaida-linked warlord Abou Zeid was killed in combat with French-led troops in Mali in February, France said Saturday, ending weeks of uncertainty about whether one of the group’s leading commanders in the region was dead.

In a statement Saturday the office of French President Francois Hollande said the death was “definitively confirmed” and that the killing “marks an important step in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel.”

Chad’s president had said earlier this month that Chadian troops killed Abou Zeid while fighting to dislodge his al-Qaida affiliate in northern Mali. French officials have maintained for weeks that the Algerian was “probably” dead but waited to conduct DNA tests to verify.

Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, thought to be 47, was a pillar of the southern realm of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, responsible for the death of at least two European hostages and a leader of the extremist takeover of the north.

U.S. and Afghanistan reach agreement on important prison

Washington – The U.S. has reached an agreement with the Afghanistan government to transfer the Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan control, the Pentagon said Saturday, two weeks after negotiations broke down over whether the U.S. would have the power to block the release of some detainees.

According to a senior U.S. official, a key element to the agreement is that the Afghans can invoke a procedure that ensures prisoners considered dangerous would not be released from the detention center. The agreement also includes a provision that allows the two sides to work together to resolve any differences.

Transfer of the Parwan detention center on Monday is critical to the ongoing effort to gradually shift control of the country’s security to the Afghans as the U.S. and allies move toward the full withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014.

Afghans demanded control of the center, but U.S. officials have worried that the most threatening detainees would be freed once the U.S. transferred control. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday as officials finalized the agreement after days of intense negotiations.

Syrian forces earn key victory along Israel-Syria border

Beirut – Syrian regime forces routed rebels in fighting on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week, leaving at least 35 dead, activists said Saturday, as the country’s civil war reached the doorstep of the strategic plateau.

The rebel effort to overrun the Quneitra region along the cease-fire line separating Syria and Israel has heightened worries that Islamic extremists among those fighting President Bashar Assad could take over the front line with Israeli troops and gain a potential staging ground for attacks on the Jewish state.

Despite more bee colonies, Idaho honey production down

IDAHO FALLS – The United States Department of Agriculture says honey production has dropped 2 percent in Idaho despite an increase of 9,000 honey bee colonies in the state.

Idaho Falls beekeeper Wayne Jones said cool, wet weather last spring killed a lot of blossoms, leading to fewer flowers for bees to visit.

He said colony collapse disorder could also be a factor.

Jones said the reason Idaho might appear to have an increase in honeybee colonies is because more beekeepers are registering with the state.

Experts say honeybees pollinate 80 percent of the insect-pollinated plants.

Oregon Senate approves immigrant tuition bill

SALEM – The Oregon Senate has voted to allow some young illegal immigrants to pay resident college tuition if they were brought to the United States as children.

The Senate’s 19-11 vote on Thursday sends the measure to Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who said he will sign it.

Illegal immigrants in Oregon pay college tuition at the rate charged to nonresident students, which is about $20,000 more than the cost for Oregon residents. Proponents say young people shouldn’t be priced out of college because their parents chose to immigrate illegally.

Critics say the state shouldn’t be subsidizing a college education for people who violated immigration laws.

At least 14 other states allow young illegal immigrants to pay in-state college tuition. Colorado’s Legislature approved similar legislation this month, and the governor said he’ll sign it.

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