News Headlines
Rivals pounce as Romney says: “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me’
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — Republican front-runner Mitt Romney stumbled down the homestretch of the New Hampshire primary on Monday, declaring, “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me” as his rivals intensified already fierce criticism.
“Gov. Romney enjoys firing people. I enjoy creating jobs,” said former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has staked his candidacy on a strong showing in Tuesday’s primary and has shown signs of gaining ground in recent polls.
Adding insult to any injury, Texas Gov. Rick Perry posted a ringtone to his campaign website that consisted of Romney saying, “I like being able to fire people,” over and over.
Romney is the odds-on favorite in New Hampshire, and Huntsman as well as other Republicans who are contesting the state have generally been content to vie for second place in hopes of emerging as his main rival in the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21.
“Second place would be a dream come true,” said former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, as he raced through a final full New Hampshire campaign day that began before sunrise and stretched for more than 14 hours. The former Pennsylvania senator finished a surprising second in last week’s Iowa caucuses, but without money for television ads he has appeared to struggle as he seeks to convert that into momentum.
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In surprise, Daley leaving as White House chief of staff Daley; budget’s Lew to replace him
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a jolt to the White House, President Barack Obama announced Monday that chief of staff William Daley was quitting and heading home, capping a short and rocky tenure that had been expected to last until Election Day. Obama budget chief Jack Lew, a figure long familiar with Washington’s ways, will take over one of the most consuming jobs in America.
Daley’s run as Obama’s chief manager and gatekeeper lasted only a year. It was filled with consequential moments for the White House, like the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, but also stumbles with Congress and grumbles that Daley was not the right choice to coordinate an intense operation of ideas, offices and egos.
Obama said he reluctantly accepted the news and at first refused to accept Daley’s post-holidays resignation letter last week.
Daley did not waver, expressing to his boss a desire to get back to his family in Chicago, where Daleys have dominated city politics for decades. But he offered no explanation on Monday about what accelerated his decision; he had committed to Obama that he would stay on through the election.
It apparently became clear that the fit was no longer working for either side. Senior adviser Pete Rouse had already taken on more of the day-to-day management.
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US denies espionage by young American sentenced to die in Iran, family says he was railroaded
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration Monday rejected Iran’s charge that a young Iranian-American man used a family trip to Iran as cover for espionage, after the Tehran government issued the first death penalty against a U.S. citizen since the Islamic Revolution 33 years ago. The U.S. suggested the decision was a political ploy.
In a case that surely will heighten tensions with Tehran, Iran charged Amir Mirzaei Hekmati with receiving special training and serving at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before traveling to Iran on an intelligence mission. A court convicted him of belonging to the CIA and trying to incriminate Iran for involvement in terrorism, according to a state radio report Monday.
The United States denied the accusations. The State Department called them a “complete fabrication” and White House spokesman Tommy Vietor added that “allegations that Mr. Hekmati either worked for or was sent to Iran by the CIA are false.”
“The Iranian regime has a history of falsely accusing people of being spies, of eliciting forced confessions and of holding innocent Americans for political reasons,” Vietor said in a statement.
The case sheds light on the legal but risky travel of U.S. citizens to Iran, common among many first-generation and second-generation Iranian-Americans but a practice largely hidden to the larger American populace. Thousands are believed to make the trip each year, though the State Department doesn’t have firm figures because people must travel through third countries and most dual nationals enter the Islamic republic using Iranian passports.
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Iran’s Ahmadinejad seeks support of Chavez and his allies amid rising tensions with US
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez defended his close ally Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday and warned of “U.S. warmongering threats” amid tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a death sentence against an American man convicted of working for the CIA.
The two leaders met in Caracas on the first leg of a four-nation tour that will also take Ahmadinejad to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador.
“We are very worried,” Chavez said of the pressures being put on Iran by the United States and its allies, which he accused of being a threat to peace.
“They present us as aggressors,” he said during an earlier break in his talks with his Iranian counterpart at the presidential palace.
“Iran hasn’t invaded anyone,” he added. “Who has dropped thousands and thousands of bombs … including atomic bombs?”
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Authorities: Suspected Islamic extremist arrested in plan to bomb, shoot up Tampa-area sites
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Kosovo-born man was charged with plotting to attack Tampa-area nightclubs and a sheriff’s office with bombs and an assault rifle to avenge wrongs done to Muslims, federal authorities said Monday.
According to a federal complaint, 25-year-old Sami Osmakac recorded an eight-minute video shortly before his arrest explaining why he wanted to bring terror to his “victims’ hearts” in the Tampa Bay area. Osmakac is a naturalized American citizen born in Kosovo, then part of the former Yugoslavia in eastern Europe.
In the video, Osmakac is seen cross-legged on the floor with a pistol in his hand and an AK-47 behind him. Osmakac said in the video that Muslim blood was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam, according to the complaint. He said he wanted “payback” for wrong that was done to Muslims, according to the complaint.
There is no indication that Osmakac planned to attack the Republican National Convention, which will be held in Tampa in August, federal authorities said.
The area’s Muslim community helped provide authorities with information, said Steve Ibison, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Tampa division.
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Annual growth in US health care spending at historic lows; experts debate if relief will last
WASHINGTON (AP) — Is health-care relief finally in sight?
Health spending stabilized as a share of the nation’s economy in 2010 after two back-to-back years of historically low growth, the government reported Monday.
Experts debated whether it’s a fleeting consequence of the sluggish economy, or a real sign that cost controls by private employers and government at all levels are starting to work.
The answers will be vital for Medicare’s sustainability, as well as for workplace coverage.
U.S. health care spending grew by 3.9 percent in 2010, reaching $2.6 trillion, according to the report by the Health and Human Services department.
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Authorities: Ark. woman stabbed granddaughter, 7, then set home on fire in murder-suicide
CONWAY, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas woman who adopted her granddaughter after her son’s death in Iraq stabbed the 7-year-old girl in the chest and then set fire to their home in an apparent murder-suicide, authorities said Monday.
Janice Robbins, 63, left a suicide note in her pickup truck before killing her granddaughter, Abby Robbins, and herself on Saturday, Faulkner County sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Andy Shock said. In the note, she wrote that she didn’t want to leave the girl behind.
Robbins stabbed the girl once in the chest, but it was the smoke from the fire, not the stab wound, that killed Abby and her grandmother, the county coroner said.
“We can’t speculate at this point whether or not they were conscious … but we do know they were alive during the time of the fire,” said coroner Patrick F. Moore.
Authorities found a gas can next to each of the bodies inside the lakeside home, which was engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived early Saturday morning.
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Possible tornado damages roof, wall at Houston-area mall as storms flood roads, cut power
HOUSTON (AP) — City roads were flooded and thousands of Houston residents lost power Monday after powerful thunderstorms plowed through the area, with a possible tornado damaging and shutting down a nearby mall.
The skies over Houston turned pitch black as the massive storms raced through the drought-stricken area, dropping several inches of rain over a two-hour period. Roads rapidly flooded and drivers became stranded on major arteries that connect the city’s sprawling neighborhoods and suburbs.
In Texas City, a town about 40 miles southeast of Houston, a possible tornado damaged the roof and wall of the Mall of the Mainland, and Fire Chief Joe Gorman evacuated and shut down the building. In North and West Texas, meanwhile, the National Weather Service said a cold, steady downpour will drop an inch or two of much-needed rain.
The drought, however, is far from over.
“We’re not going to end the drought this winter even if we have above-normal rainfall,” said State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.
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Unorthodox, divisive and a winner: Tim Tebow’s success keeps him in the limelight
DENVER (AP) — He kneels in prayer at times when many players would be pounding their chest, and is winning with a style the experts insist cannot work for long.
Tim Tebow’s formula for success and fame is not typical for the NFL. So, is it a football miracle? Or the perfect blend of luck, timing and big plays? That’s the debate that makes the tale of the Denver Broncos quarterback one of the most compelling stories in America these days.
Hardly anyone stands on neutral ground when it comes to the purveyor of this unorthodox mix of throwing mechanics, big-time sports and devout religion, a 24-year-old Christian who is the subject of comedy skits on Saturday nights and serious sermons on Sunday mornings.
But what most people will agree on is that it’s hard to take your eyes off Tebow these days — a man who unapologetically uses football to take his message beyond the field while also taking his team on an unexpected ride through the playoffs.
“I’m just very thankful for the platform that God has given me, and the opportunity to be a quarterback for the Denver Broncos — what a great organization,” Tebow said after his latest shocker — an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime Sunday to beat Pittsburgh 29-23 in the wild-card playoffs.
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Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin elected to baseball Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (AP) — Barry Larkin was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Monday with plenty of room to spare.
The former Cincinnati Reds shortstop was chosen on 495 of 573 ballots (86 percent) in voting announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, well above the necessary 75 percent. Larkin was on the ballot for the third time after falling 75 votes short last year.
He will be inducted July 22 in Cooperstown along with the late Ron Santo, elected last month by the Veterans Committee.
“I am so humbled by the experience and so excited about being the newest member of the Hall of Fame,” Larkin said on a conference call.
Playing from 1986-04 — all with his hometown Reds — Larkin hit .295 with 198 home runs, 960 RBIs, 2,340 hits and 379 stolen bases. A 12-time All-Star, he won the 1995 NL MVP award, three Gold Gloves and the 1990 World Series. In 1996, he became the first shortstop to have 30 homers and 30 steals in a season.
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