Nation Briefs December 2, 2011
Powerful winds topple trees, down power lines
PASADENA, Calif. - The most powerful winds to tear across California in years kept 9-year-old Dalen Guyton up late into the night. Then, around midnight, came the boom.
The great yawning tree that stood next to his grandmother's house, the one with the rope swing he and his sisters played on, had toppled, coming within inches of their one-story home.
On Thursday, the siblings stood out front surveying the damage, like thousands across the West where high winds toppled countless trees, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and brought gusts of 123 mph.
Senate backs $662 billion defense bill
WASHINGTON - Ignoring a presidential veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a massive, $662 billion defense bill that would require the military to hold suspected terrorists linked to al-Qaida or its affiliates, even those captured on U.S. soil, and detain some indefinitely.
The vote was 93-7 for the bill authorizing money for military personnel, weapons systems, national security programs in the Energy Department, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Reflecting a period of austerity and a winding down of decade-old conflicts, the bill is $27 billion less than what President Barack Obama requested and $43 billion less than what Congress gave the Pentagon this year.
Shortly before final passage, the Senate unanimously backed crippling sanctions on Iran as fears about Tehran developing a nuclear weapon outweighed concerns about driving up oil prices that would hit economically strapped Americans at the gas pump. The vote was 100-0.
Herman Cain campaigns but recovery unlikely
ATLANTA - Herman Cain is still campaigning for president. But by most measures, his White House bid is all but over.
His standing in polls is cratering. Supporters are wavering if not fleeing. Fundraising is suffering.
And, these days, the former pizza company executive is less a serious candidate than the butt of late-night comedy jokes after a string of accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior and, now, an allegation of a 13-yearlong extramarital affair.
"His chance at winning the presidency are effectively zero," said Dave Welch, a Republican strategist who worked on both of John McCain's presidential bids.
Senate rejects extending payroll tax, for now
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday sidetracked rival plans to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut, in dueling votes that pave the way for negotiations on a compromise on a core component of President Barack Obama's jobs program.
First, Republicans defeated Obama's plan to extend the tax cut through the end of next year while also making it more generous for workers.
Minutes later, in a vote that exposed rare divisions among Senate Republicans, more than two dozen of the GOP's 47 lawmakers also voted to kill an alternative plan backed by their powerful leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, to renew an existing 2 percentage point payroll tax cut.
Romney facing threats from Gingrich, Obama
WASHINGTON - Suddenly Mitt Romney is fighting a two-front war.
The Republican presidential contender has skated along for much of the year as GOP challengers surged and faded. But now he faces an unexpected, more serious threat from Newt Gingrich - just as Barack Obama's team is sharpening its criticism of Romney, whom the president's aides view as his likeliest foe next fall.
With only a month before the Iowa caucuses kick off the nominating fight, Gingrich's rise has forced Romney's campaign to evaluate a new reality: He no longer has the luxury of staying above the Republican primary fray, avoiding tough questions about his own record and hammering Obama at will while essentially ignoring his GOP rivals.
- Associated Press