News Headlines
Republicans fail to overturn Obama mandate for birth control coverage; tight vote in Senate
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election year battle mixing birth control, religion and politics, Democrats narrowly blocked an effort by Senate Republicans to overturn President Barack Obama’s order that most employers or their insurers cover the cost of contraceptives.
The 51-48 vote on Thursday killed a measure that would have allowed employers and insurers to opt out of portions of the president’s health care law they found morally objectionable. That would have included the law’s requirement to cover the costs of birth control.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, who this week dropped her re-election bid and cited frustration with the polarized Congress, cast the lone Republican vote to block the measure. Two Democrats up for re-election and one who is retiring voted against Obama’s requirement.
Majority Democrats said the legislation would have allowed employers and insurers to avoid virtually any medical treatment with the mere mention of a moral or religious objection.
“We have never had a conscience clause for insurance companies,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. Insurers, she said, don’t need an invitation to deny coverage for medical treatment. “A lot of them don’t have any consciences. They’ll take it.”
___
Syrian rebels withdraw from besieged enclave in central city of Homs; Red Cross to get access
BEIRUT (AP) — After a punishing, monthlong military siege, Syrian rebels made what they called a “tactical retreat” Thursday from a key district in Homs, saying they were running low on weapons and the humanitarian conditions were unbearable.
Within hours of the rebels’ withdrawal, President Bashar Assad’s regime granted permission for the International Committee of the Red Cross to enter the neighborhood of Baba Amr, which had become a symbol of the resistance.
Human rights workers have been appealing for access for weeks to deliver food, water and medicine, and to help evacuate the wounded from an area that has been sealed off and attacked by the government since early February.
The Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent received a “green light” from the Syrian authorities to enter Baba Amr on Friday “to bring in much-needed assistance including food and medical aid, and to carry out evacuation operations,” ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan told The Associated Press in Geneva.
Also Thursday, Syria’s main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, formed a military bureau to help organize the armed resistance and funnel weapons to rebels — a sign of how deeply militarized the conflict has become over the past year.
___
2 more US troops killed by Afghan partners as anti-Americanism rages following Quran burning
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two U.S. troops were gunned down by two Afghan soldiers and an accomplice Thursday, the latest of six American service members killed by their Afghan partners since the burning of Muslim holy books at a U.S. base last week sent anti-Americanism soaring in a nation that has long distrusted foreigners.
The killings come at a time when international troops have stepped up training and mentoring of Afghan soldiers, police and government workers so the Afghans can take the lead and the foreign forces go home. Success of the partnership, the focus of the U.S.-led coalition’s exit strategy, is threatened by a rising number of Afghan police and soldiers — or militants disguised in their uniforms — who are turning their guns on their foreign allies.
The latest victims were killed on a joint U.S.-Afghan base in Zhari district of southern Kandahar province by two Afghan soldiers and Afghan civilian literacy instructor who fired from a sentry tower, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. NATO forces shot and killed two of the assailants, apparently the soldiers, said Pentagon press secretary George Little.
On Feb. 25, two U.S. military advisers were found dead with shots to the back of the head inside the Afghan Interior Ministry in Kabul. Two U.S. troops were killed Feb. 23 by an Afghan soldier during an anti-Western protest over the Quran burning.
The U.S. apologized for the burning, saying the Islamic texts were mistakenly sent to a garbage burn pit Feb. 20 at Bagram Air Field, north of Kabul. But the incident raised what had been simmering animosity toward outsiders to a full boil. Deadly protests raged around the nation for six days — the most visible example of a deep-seated resentment bred by what Afghans view is a general lack of respect for their culture and religion.
___
Election officials, voters worry about postal closures, saying the move could delay ballots
Elections officials in several states are concerned that the closing of mail-processing centers and post offices could disrupt vote-by-mail balloting this year, a potential problem that has led some members of Congress to call for a delay until after the November elections.
The U.S. Postal Service recently announced that it is moving ahead with plans to close at least 223 processing centers and thousands of post offices, adding to the 153 centers and 965 post offices that have closed since 2008. The moves are part of a wide-ranging cost-cutting strategy for an agency that estimates it will lose up to $18 billion a year by 2015.
Voting officials are raising a variety of concerns, depending on the circumstances in their states. Meanwhile, postal customers have security concerns about leaving ballots in their mailboxes to be picked up by postal carriers.
In California and Arizona, officials say the closing of processing centers could delay the delivery of mail-in ballots beyond the deadline to have them counted.
The state registrar in Ohio wrote the postmaster general with concerns about ensuring the security of ballots sent to processing centers that will be across state lines.
___
7 Americans, other foreign pro-democracy workers fly out of Egypt, easing US-Egypt crisis
CAIRO (AP) — Seven Americans on trial over charges their pro-democracy groups fomented unrest flew out of Egypt Thursday after the U.S. posted nearly $5 million in bail for them and nine others who managed to leave before a travel ban was imposed.
The departure of the seven eased a deep diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and Egypt that had been building for two months, following a crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights groups by the Egyptian government.
Though the Americans were safely on their way home, Washington indicated that its anger over the affair has not abated.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed relief that the Americans were free, but she pointedly noted that no decision has been made about U.S. aid to Egypt.
As the crisis unfolded over the past two months, furious officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, warned the $1.3 billion in military aid and $250 million in economic assistance slated for Egypt this year was in jeopardy. Nuland pointed out Thursday that the court case against the pro-democracy groups is not over.
___
Md. governor signs measure legalizing gay marriage; opponents pushing ballot referendum
BELTSVILLE, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s governor signed into law Thursday a bill to legalize gay marriage, although opponents vowed to rally voters to reverse the change this fall in a referendum that’s even anticipated by advocates of the new law.
“Religious freedom was the very reason for our state’s founding and at the heart of religious freedom is the freedom of individual conscience,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said before signing the legislation that made Maryland the eighth state in the U.S. to legalize gay marriage. The law takes effect in 2013.
Six states and the District of Columbia currently recognize gay marriages. The state of Washington also has legalized gay marriage — its law takes effect in June. Voters there also are expected to petition the measure to referendum this fall.
Maine legalized the unions for same-sex couples in 2009, but later that year became the only state overturn a such a law passed by a legislature. About 30 states have constitutional amendments that seek to prohibit gay marriage, most by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
In order to put the measure on the November ballot, opponents of the new Maryland law will need to collect nearly 56,000 valid voter signatures, equivalent to 3 percent of the people who cast ballots in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Last week, opponents submitted draft language for a ballot referendum to overturn the gay marriage measure after it passed in the state legislature.
___
Ohio man accused of raping and prostituting 10-year-old adopted boy; 2 other men jailed
TROY, Ohio (AP) — A 10-year-old boy shook when asked about being prostituted to two other men by an adoptive father who regularly had sex with him, according to police, who said the boy was fearful of talking because he didn’t want to be taken from his home or separated from his new siblings.
The adoptive father has been charged with raping three boys in his care and compelling prostitution by hiring the 10-year-old out for sex. He and two other men remained in jail Thursday on rape charges.
Federal and local law enforcement officials said they’re widening the investigation into child sexual exploitation allegations against the father, who worked out of his home as an insurance claims adjuster. His name is being withheld by The Associated Press to protect the children’s identities.
Troy police said they impounded the father’s truck and seized four laptops from the home and a video camera and two wooden paddles from the master bedroom.
School officials said the man had recently withdrawn the three adopted children from school, saying he would home school them. A neighbor said he had no idea anything lurid might be going on in the home.
___
AT&T reacts to complaints, raises limit before slowing down service on ‘unlimited data’ plans
NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T Inc. backed away from an unpopular service policy after smartphone subscribers complained that the company placed unreasonable limits on its “unlimited data” plans.
The cellphone company said Thursday that it will slow down service for “unlimited data” subscribers after they reach 3 gigabytes of usage within a billing cycle.
The change relaxes a previous policy under which AT&T had been throttling service when subscribers entered the heaviest 5 percent of data users for that month and that area.
Under the now scuttled program, there was no way for subscribers to find out what the limit was ahead of time. AT&T would send a text message warning to people who approached the limit. The data throttling would then kick in a few days later. Thousands of subscribers complained about the policy online.
“Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect,” AT&T said in a statement Thursday.
___
Utah woman gives birth on third consecutive Leap Day; ties record set in 1960s in Norway
PROVO, Utah (AP) — In one of the rarest feats in the annals of family planning, a Utah woman has given birth on a third consecutive Leap Day, tying a record set in the 1960s.
David and Louise Estes’ daughter Jade was born Wednesday morning in Provo, an hour south of Salt Lake City, four years after their son Remington was born on Feb. 29, 2008, and eight years after their son Xavier was born Feb. 29, 2004.
Baby Jade was already five days overdue when doctors induced labor and the family hit the elusive date.
“I have never gone over so I wasn’t sure if she was going to wait,” Louise told The Daily Herald of Provo (http://bit.ly/zTkeILhttp://bit.ly/zTkeIL ). “As soon as we passed midnight I knew it really, really could happen.”
The only other known case of triple Leap Day babies is the Henriksen family of Norway, which logged Feb. 29 births in 1960, 1964 and 1968, according to the Guinness World Records press office. The family holds the Guinness record for most siblings born on Leap Day.
___
Prosecutors: Ex-Penn State coach abused boys ages 8 to 17; most alleged assaults on campus
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Prosecutors claim Jerry Sandusky sexually abused boys ranging in age from 8 to 17, eight of whom were molested on the Penn State campus, according to a document with new details about the case filed Thursday.
The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said in the document that crimes involving one of the 10 alleged victims took place in Florida and Texas, while another boy was abused at his own school.
Prosecutors were more specific in the document about the ages of the boys than in earlier reports, but much of the information is similar to details revealed in grand jury presentments issued last year that formed the basis for charges against the former Penn State assistant football coach.
Sandusky, 68, is confined to his home while he awaits trial on 52 criminal counts. He denies the allegations, and his lawyer said he did not think anything in the latest filing would change his defense strategy.
“We are continuing with the preparation of Jerry’s defense with the goal of obtaining an acquittal on all the charges filed against him,” attorney Joseph Amendola said in an email message Thursday.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In