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Continue readingBy DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) - Hours past a self-imposed deadline for action, the Senate passed legislation early New Year's Day to neutralize a fiscal cliff combination of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that kicked in at midnight. The pre-dawn vote was a lopsided 89-8. Senate passage set the stage for a final showdown in the House, where a vote was expected later Tuesday or perhaps Wednesday on the measure, which also raises tax rates on wealthy Americans. Even by the recent dysfunctional standards of government-by-gridlock, the activity at both ends of historic Pennsylvania Avenue was remarkable as the administration...
Continue readingEnter your tip here and it will be sent straight to Editor Leslie Johnson, Ralph Ellis, Kevin Madigan, Gail Moore, Theresa Waldrop, and Hunt Archbold, Stone Mountain-Lithonia Patch's (incredibly grateful) editors. ...
Continue readingBy KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) - Blood was found inside a car borrowed by a Las Vegas Strip card dealer last seen with a missing 10-year-old girl and later arrested in the razor blade slashing of a co-worker at the posh Bellagio resort, a prosecutor said Friday. Brenda Stokes Wilson was identified in court Friday as the prime suspect in the slaying, although prosecutor Robert Daskas told a judge that authorities haven't positively identified the girl found dead Thursday in an undeveloped housing tract in North Las Vegas. "It's no secret the defendant is the suspect in the murder of 10-year-old...
Continue readingBy MICHAEL MELIA Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Some of the police officers who responded to the school shooting in Newtown are so traumatized they haven't been working, but they have to use sick time and could soon be at risk of going without a paycheck, a union official said Wednesday. The union, Council 15 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is seeking more generous assistance in talks with the town's insurer. It is also reaching out to lawmakers and the governor's office with proposals to modify state law and expand workers' compensation benefits for officers who witness...
Continue readingBy RAQUEL MARIA DILLON and SUE MANNING Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rain arrived Wednesday to help in the assault on a 3,800-acre fire in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. Remnants of Tropical Storm John brought the precipitation and darkened the skies over the Angeles National Forest where firefighters have been working on steep slopes since Sunday to put out a blaze in chaparral that hasn't burned in 15 or 20 years. With the showers came the risk of dry lightning, which has already started more than 50 fires in California this summer, said National Weather Service specialist Stuart Seto. The...
Continue readingBy BEN FELLER and DAVID ESPO Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama declared that Republican rival Mitt Romney should be penalized for "unnecessary roughness" on the middle class and accused him in a ringing labor Day speech of backing higher taxes for millions after opposing the 2009 auto industry bailout. "I've got one piece of advice for you about the Romney-Ryan game plan: Punt it away. It won't work. It won't win the game," Obama said, blending sports-themed remarks with economic barbs before a cheering crowd in the nation's industrial heartland. He backed...
Continue readingBy STACEY PLAISANCE and VICKI SMITH Associated Press BELLE CHASSE, La. (AP) - As Isaac's drenching rains and cooling winds drifted north of the Gulf Coast, heat and humidity moved back in - along with frustration, exhaustion and uncertainty. People stuck inside stuffy, powerless homes were comparatively lucky. Thousands of others were displaced by floodwaters and had no idea where they would end up next. Some boarded buses to faraway shelters. "I'm with my family, and my wife's with her family," said 35-year-old construction worker Jarvis Mackey as the couple and their two children boarded a bus to Shreveport, 5½ hours away from their...
Continue readingBy DAVID ESPO and ROBERT FURLOW Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Mitt Romney launched a full-speed fall campaign for the White House on Thursday with a prime-time speech to a unified Republican convention and a nation divided politically as it struggles in a weak economy. Though Romney has been pursuing the presidency for the better part of a decade, his acceptance speech was an important chance to introduce himself and forge a connection with millions of Americans who feel they need to know him better. "We believe in America, even though the last four years have been full of difficulties and disappointments, doubt...
Continue readingBy DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Making up for lost time, Republican delegates streamed into their storm-delayed national convention Tuesday to certify Mitt Romney's nomination for the White House and tear into his Democratic foe in a close presidential race in dreary economic times. The criticism and mocking of President Barack Obama began almost instantly from the podium at a convention postponed once and dogged still by Hurricane Isaac. He's "never run a company. He hasn't even run a garage sale or seen the inside of a lemonade stand," declared Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party. Ann Romney's speech...
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