World/Nation Briefs March 16, 2011

House passesspending stopgap bill

WASHINGTON - The House Tuesday passed a measure blending $6 billion in budget cuts with enough money to keep the government running for an additional three weeks.

The measure would buy additional time for talks between Capitol Hill Republicans and the Obama administration on a bill to fund the day-to-day operations of the government through the end of September. Those negotiations haven't gotten very far yet and House GOP leaders haven't shown much flexibility.

The measure passed by a 271-158 vote despite opposition from some tea party-backed conservatives who said it "kicks the can down the road" instead of imposing steep and immediate spending cuts. The $6 billion cut by the measure includes many items that the Obama administration and Democrats agree can be axed. Fifty-four Republicans opposed the bill, which meant that Democratic support was required to pass it - a prospect that GOP leaders must avoid to keep control of the debate in future rounds.

The measure moves to the Senate, which is likely to clear it for Obama's desk later this week. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement after the vote that Obama supports the bill but signaled the White House is impatient with the lack of progress on a final measure.

Gadhafi's forces roll toward stronghold

TOBRUK, Libya - Moammar Gadhafi's forces overwhelmed rebels in the strategic eastern city of Ajdabiya, hammering them with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery Tuesday in an assault that sent residents fleeing and appeared to open the way for an all-out government offensive on the opposition's main stronghold in the east, Benghazi.

In desperation, rebels sent up two antiquated warplanes that struck a government ship bombarding Ajdabiya from the Mediterranean. But as tanks rolled into the city from two directions and rockets relentlessly pounded houses and shops, the ragtag opposition fighters' defenses appeared to break down.

Only 10 days ago, the rebellion was poised to march on Tripoli, the capital, and had appeared capable of sweeping Gadhafi out after 41 years in power, but the regime's better armed and organized military has reversed the tide. Efforts led by France and Britain to create a no-fly zone to protect the rebels have gone nowhere, and some rebels lashed out at the West for failing to come to their aid.

Gingrich funnels $150K to Iowa groups

Potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich quietly lined up $150,000 to help defeat Iowa justices who threw out a ban on same-sex marriage, routing the money to conservative groups through an aide's political committee.

Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker who has aggressively courted the conservatives who dominate Iowa's lead-off presidential caucuses, raised the money for the political arm of Restoring American Leadership, also known as ReAL.

That group then passed $125,000 to American Family Association Action and an additional $25,000 to the Iowa Christian Alliance - two of the groups that spent millions before last November's elections that removed three of the state's seven state Supreme Court justices. The court had unanimously decided a state law restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated Iowa's constitution.

The financial transfers, which appear to comply with campaign finance laws, were part of a steady flow of cash into Iowa from conservative groups such as the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council.

Is Obama right about 'failing' schools?

President Barack Obama declared this week that four of five public schools could be labeled as "failing" this year under the No Child Left Behind Act if Congress does not take action to rewrite the law.

"That's an astonishing number," he said Monday at a Virginia middle school. "We know that four out of five schools in this country aren't failing."

Obama's terminology wasn't quite right, though. There is no "failing" label in the No Child Left Behind Act. And schools that do not meet growth targets - aimed at getting 100 percent of students proficient in math, reading and science by 2014 - for one year are not subject to any intervention.

Those unable to do so for two or more consecutive years are considered "in need of improvement." The consequences then become stiffer each year, starting with offering students an opportunity to attend another school, and escalating if the targets remain unmet.

For those schools, there's at least the implication of failure, and that's one reason Obama says the 2001 law needs to be changed. There are many ways for a school to fall short of its requirements, even if most of its students are improving and succeeding. A school where all but one group of students are considered proficient in reading, science and math would be lumped into the same category as schools where no students are proficient in those subjects.

Ex-nurse found guilty of online suicide help

FARIBAULT, Minn. - A former nurse accused of seeking out depressed people online and encouraging them to kill themselves was found guilty Tuesday of aiding the suicides of an English man and Canadian woman.

William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, was charged in April with two counts of aiding suicide for allegedly advising and encouraging two people to take their own lives. Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, England, hanged himself in 2005, and 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji of Brampton, Ontario, jumped into a frozen river in 2008. Melchert-Dinkel declined a jury trial and left his fate to a judge.

- The Associated Press