January 14, 2016 

By Erica Werner 

AP Congressional Correspondent 

 

With Americans soon to begin choosing his successor, President Barack Obama is casting his seven divisive years as a time of positive change, implicitly asking voters to replace him with a Democrat who would continue his hard-won policies on health care, climate change and Iran.

 

Addressing a hostile Repub­lican-led Congress and a country plunged in a tumultuous, at times angry presidential campaign, Obama used his final State of the Union address to summon an affirmative vision of his administration and for the future. He rebutted critics, naysayers and the GOP White House hopefuls, but also acknowledged his own failure to transform the country’s bitter politics and unite the nation.

 

With a year left in office, he presented that task as more urgent than ever and pleaded with voters to turn away from harsh voices and come together.

 

“Democracy grinds to a halt without a willingness to compromise; or when even basic facts are contested,” Obama said. “Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention.”

 

Conceding that changing Washington was not the job of one person, Obama called on voters to change the system itself by demanding less money in politics, fairly drawn congressional districts and easier access to voting.

 

“There are a whole lot of folks in this chamber who would like to see more cooperation, a more elevated debate in Washington, but feel trapped by the demands of getting elected,” Obama told a Congress unlikely to follow his lead, though many lawmakers might agree with his call.

 

“It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,” the president said.

 

At times, Obama referred sarcastically to the Republicans running to replace him, though without mentioning them by name, just weeks before voting in Iowa and New Hampshire. He countered the negativity of Donald Trump, who promises to keep out Muslims and “Make America Great Again,” and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's vow to “carpet bomb” the Islamic State group.

 

“When politicians insult Muslims ... that doesn't make us safer,” he said. “It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals.”

 

At another point, the president said, “Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.” And he also declared: “The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close.”

 

Referencing terror threats around the globe, Obama defended his own efforts fighting Islamic State militants, and said: “Our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn’t pass muster on the world stage.” Cruz skipped the speech, though his primary opponent, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, was present.

 

Shortly before the speech began, news broke that Iran was holding 10 U.S. Navy sailors and their two small boats that drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems. The development, which Obama did not mention, prompted criticism from Republicans about Obama’s hard-fought Iran nuclear deal, which the president extolled, arguing that “the world has avoided another war."

 

Trump had his own rebuttal over Twitter, remarking: “The #SOTU speech is really boring, slow, lethargic — very hard to watch!” Congressional Repub­licans began filing out even before it was over.

 

Obama addressed a Congress now run by emboldened GOP majorities already planning their agenda under a potential Repub­lican successor, starting with repealing the president's health care law. Behind Obama sat a new House speaker, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who last week celebrated sending legislation to Obama’s desk for the first time uprooting the health legislation.

 

Ryan reacted dismissively to Obama’s remarks, saying in a statement, “I can’t say I was disappointed by the president’s speech, but that’s because I wasn’t expecting much.”

 

Obama defended his health measure Tuesday night, claiming that millions have gained coverage “and our businesses have created jobs every single month since it became law.” Delivering the GOP response, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley reiterated the party’s pledge to “end a disastrous health care program, and replace it with reforms.”

 

However, striking similar notes to Obama, Haley also warned against strident voices in the GOP railing against immigrants and others, a measure of the party’s profound divisions as it struggles to unite to keep Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat from replacing Obama.

 

“During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation,” said Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants.

 

While Tuesday’s speech was light on the lists of proposals typical in such addresses, Obama had some, even confronting a Congress largely hostile to his agenda.

 

He mentioned initiatives that are dead on arrival, including immigration reform and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But Obama held out hope that compromise could be possible — even from divided government in a campaign season — on issues like criminal justice reform and helping people addicted to prescription drugs.

 

And he boasted of the Paris agreement on climate, refuting his critics by saying: “Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it. You'll be pretty lonely.”

 

Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, sat behind him. Obama alluded to Biden’s own loss of his son to cancer this past year in tasking the vice president to lead a new national effort to conquer the disease.

Category: News

January 14, 2016 

By AMANDA LEE MYERS 

Associated Press 

 

The Los Angeles police chief said Tuesday that politics had nothing to do with his decision to recommend criminal charges against an officer who fatally shot an unarmed homeless man in the back — it was simply the right thing to do.

 

Chief Charlie Beck said it’s his obligation to not only publicly stand up for his officers when they’ve acted properly, but also to recognize when they’ve done wrong.

 

Beck recommended that Officer Clifford Proctor be criminally charged in the fatal shooting of 29-year-old Brendon Glenn on May 5 in Venice. He made the recommendation late last month to Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, whose office is conducting its own investigation and can choose to disregard the chief's opinion.

 

Beck’s recommendation came after investigators concluded that Glenn was on his stomach trying to push himself up when Proctor shot him, and that Glenn wasn’t trying to take a gun from Proctor or his partner when he was shot.

 

“This was not only an act that didn’t meet the standards of the Los Angeles police department, but it didn’t meet the legal standards of the use of deadly force,” Beck told reporters at police headquarters.

 

Beck said it was important to make his recommendation public because “this is a national conversation that has to be had.”

 

“It’s important that the public see the police chief as a credible judge of these incidents, so if I stand up for one side, I have to make sure I call it as I see it on the other side,” he said.

 

The decision is the first time Beck has recommended charges against an officer who fatally shot someone while on duty. More than 100 such shootings have occurred since Beck became chief in late 2009.

 

Proctor’s attorney, Larry Hanna, said he thinks politics is playing a big part in Beck’s public recommendation.

 

He said the shooting was justified because Proctor thought Glenn was reaching for his partner’s gun, and that surveillance video that captured the shooting does not show both of Glenn’s hands.

 

“When officers are out there, these decisions are made within split seconds,” Hanna said. “They don’t get to run the tape over and over and over and enlarge it and stop it frame by frame. They’re having adrenaline flowing. They’re seeing it in real time and having the fear and seeing what’s generating that fear.”

 

The police department has declined to release the surveillance video that captured the shooting, despite calls from members of the public that it be made available.

 

Beck said that’s because the video will be used to test the veracity of witness statements and that releasing it could taint a jury pool should Proctor be charged.

 

The district attorney said in a statement on Monday that it's her ethical obligation to remain impartial until her office finishes its own investigation. “Decisions on whether or not to file criminal charges will be based solely on the facts and the law — not on emotion, anger or external pressure,” she said. 

Category: News

January 07, 2016 

By JULIET LINDERMAN 

Associated Press 

 

A settlement was reached Monday in a lawsuit that accused maintenance workers in Baltimore of demanding sex from at least 19 women in exchange for basic repairs at public housing units, representatives for both sides of the case said.

 

The city’s housing authority and a lawyer representing the women confirmed that they’d reached the agreement for an undisclosed amount of money. It must be approved by the court and the U .S. Department of Housing. Settlement talks were held Dec. 18 and Dec. 23.

 

An attorney representing the women would not disclose the settlement amount or comment on its terms, but he said the problems outlined in the lawsuit were addressed before negotiations began.

 

The housing authority fired the accused workers, implemented a new tracking system for work orders and hired 50 new maintenance workers, said Cary J. Hansel.

 

Additionally, Baltimore housing chief Paul T. Graziano met with each of Hansel's clients and toured their units, Hansel said. They have been offered vouchers that would allow them to move into privately owned units, Hansel said, adding that housing authority has “gone to great lengths to improve itself in a very short period of time.”

 

“Every person I can identify who was abusing these women was fired from his job and barred from the property for life. Not only does it get our clients out of harm’s way, it sends a strong message,” Hansel said in a phone interview Tuesday.

 

The lawsuit, filed in September and amended in November, inspired outrage in Baltimore, where economic disparity and housing inequality were thrown into focus during protest and civil unrest following the death of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old black man died after suffering a critical spinal injury while in police custody. The incident drew attention to deep systemic issues in Baltimore, including conditions in its public housing complexes.

 

The lawsuit included accounts by women who alleged they had been victimized by handymen whose neglect resulted in squalid conditions including leaks, insect infestations and dangerous mold growth. Some of the alleged abuses date back to 2008, according to the lawsuit. One woman said she slept next to the oven because a handyman wouldn’t fix her heat without sex in return.

 

Additionally, the lawsuit alleged that the housing authority actively thwarted an investigation conducted by the local chapter of the municipal employees union that resulted in a recommendation that the handymen in question be fired.

 

Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Rochelle Ritchie says a criminal investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Category: News

January 07, 2016 

By JOSH LEDERMAN 

Associated Press

 

Tears streaking his cheeks, President Barack Obama launched a final-year push Tuesday to tighten sales of firearms in the U.S., using his presidential powers in the absence of tougher gun restrictions that Congress has refused to pass.

 

The president struck a combative tone as he came out with plans for expanded background checks and other modest measures that have drawn consternation from gun rights groups, which Obama accused of making Congress their hostage. Palpable, too, was Obama’s extreme frustration at having made such little progress on gun control since the killing of 20 first-graders in Connecticut confronted the nation more than three years ago.

 

“First-graders,” Obama said woefully, resting his chin on his hand and wiping away tears as he recalled the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad.”

 

Obama’s 10-point plan to keep guns from those who shouldn’t have them marked a concession by the president: He’ll leave office without securing the new gun control laws he’s repeatedly and desperately implored Congress to pass.

 

The National Rifle Association, the largest gun group, panned Obama’s plan and said it was “ripe for abuse,” although the group didn't specify what steps, if any, it will take to oppose or try to block it. Even Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat and gun-owner who co-wrote the bipartisan bill Obama supported in 2013, took issue with the president’s move.

 

“Instead of taking unilateral executive action, the president should work with Congress and the American people, just as I've always done, to pass the proposals he announced today,” Manchin said.

 

The centerpiece of Obama’s plan is an attempt to narrow the loophole that exempts gun sales from background checks if the seller isn’t a federal registered dealer. With new federal “guidance,” the administration is clarifying that even those who sell just a few weapons at gun shows, flea markets or online can be deemed dealers and required to conduct checks on prospective buyers.

 

Whether that step can make a significant dent in unregulated gun sales is an open question, and one not easily answered.

 

Millions of guns are sold annually in informal settings outside of gun shops, including many through private sales arranged online. But the Obama administration acknowledged it couldn’t quantify how many gun sales would be newly subjected to background checks, nor how many currently unregistered gun sellers would have to obtain a license.

 

Easily reversible by a future president, the government’s guidance to gun sellers lacks the legal oomph of a new law, such as the one Obama and likeminded lawmakers tried but failed to pass in 2013. The Justice Department said online the guidance “has no regulatory effect and is not intended to create or confer any rights, privileges, or benefits in any matter, case, or proceeding.”

 

What’s more, none of the steps would have probably prevented any of the recent mass shootings that Obama invoked in the East Room: Aurora, Oak Creek, Charleston, Newtown, to name some. But Obama defiantly rejected that critique, dismissing it as the tired trope of gun lobbyists who question “why bother trying?”

 

“I reject that thinking,” Obama said. “We maybe can’t save everybody, but we could save some.”

 

Hoping to give the issue a human face, the White House assembled a cross-section of Americans affected by searing recent gun tragedies, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Mark Barden, whose son was shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School, introduced the president with a declaration that “we are better than this.”

 

Chuck James, a former federal prosecutor who practices firearms law at the firm Williams Mullen, said opponents are likely to challenge Obama’s authority to define what it means to be “engaged in the business” of selling guns beyond what’s laid out in the law. The White House asserted confidence Obama was acting legally, and said Justice Department and White House lawyers had worked diligently to ensure the steps were watertight.

 

Other new steps include 230 new examiners the FBI will hire to process background checks, aiming to prevent delays that enabled the accused gunman in Charleston, South Carolina, to get a gun when the government took too long.

 

Obama is also asking the government to research smart gun technology to reduce accidental shootings and asking Congress for $500 million to improve mental health care. Other provisions aim to better track lost or stolen guns and prevent trusts or corporations from buying dangerous weapons without background checks.

 

Obama’s announcement carved a predictably partisan fault line through the presidential campaign.

 

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, both competing for the nomination from Obama’s party, pledged to build on his actions if elected. The Republican field formed a chorus of voices vowing to annul the whole package, with Marco Rubio claiming “Obama is obsessed with undermining the Second Amendment.”

 

“Rather than focus on criminals and terrorists, he goes after the most law-abiding of citizens,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican. “His words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty.”

 

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Nancy Benac contributed to this report.

Category: News

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