MORNING UPDATE:
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop reported: The 2009 budget process, thus far, has been in stark contrast to last year's statewide nightmare. The Senate Republicans have moved budget bills far BELOW the Governor's budget recommendations, SAVING TAXPAYERS $147 MILLION DOLLARS - and we're just getting started! The Senate originated bills are only half of the overall fiscal year budget. We look forward to finding continued savings on the House originated budget bills in the upcoming weeks.
I forwarded you the original E-mail from Senator Bishop yesterday! Thank you Senate Republicans!
DNC Chairman Howard Dean is calling on the backroom political "super" delegates to decide who their nominee is by July 1st. Light up those cigars, cut those deals.this is where the Clintons shine and could steal it back or Obama could threaten defeat and put it away. This fiasco only keeps getting better every day!
Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released the first television ad of the general election. The ad, entitled "624787," poses important questions to the American people about what values they want in their next president, and highlights John McCain's experience, character, and optimistic vision for our future. "624787" will run statewide in the important battleground state of New Mexico. VIEW THE AD HERE.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Here is where you can go for good, public policy information...check out these sites:
The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets, and peace. Toward that goal, the institute strives to achieve greater involvement of the intelligent, concerned lay public in questions of policy and the proper role of government.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to improving the quality of life for all Michigan citizens by promoting sound solutions to state and local policy questions. The Mackinac Center is broadening the debate on issues that have for many years been dominated by the belief that government intervention should be the standard solution. Center publications and programs, in contrast, offer an integrated and comprehensive approach that considers the important role of voluntary associations, business, community, and family, as well as government.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
Release of texts in doubt
Federal statute may stop disclosure, says judge in newspapers' lawsuit.
David Josar and Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Text messages that led to perjury and other charges against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick could remain shielded for at least another three months -- and a judge reviewing the case is expressing doubts they can ever be made public.
Wayne County Judge Robert Colombo, backtracking slightly, said the federal Stored Communications Act may prevent him from obtaining the messages from the city's provider, SkyTel, with just a subpoena. But Colombo said he may be able to get the messages by ordering Christine Beatty, the mayor's former chief of staff, to request them from the company.
"There are questions," he said. The delay Friday is fueling speculation about whether the same federal law could block the text messages from being used against Kilpatrick and Beatty in their criminal case. Their lawyers argue it should. But some experts disagree.
Rep. Kilpatrick may face primary challenge amid son's legal fight
by Ken Thomas | The Associated Press
Friday March 28, 2008, 6:05 PM
WASHINGTON — Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick may face a challenge in the Democratic primary this summer while her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, battles criminal perjury charges stemming from a text-messaging scandal.
Former state Rep. Mary Waters of Detroit said Friday she was collecting signatures to take on the six-term incumbent in the August 5 primary. And Gary Brown, a former Detroit police officer whose lawsuit over his dismissal led to criminal charges against the mayor, said he was also considering a congressional campaign.
Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, leads the Congressional Black Caucus and has faced little opposition since she was first elected to Congress in 1996. Messages seeking comment were left by The Associated Press with a Kilpatrick spokeswoman.
Detroit's improving image takes hit with mayor's arrest, scandal
By COREY WILLIAMS
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT (AP) -- Kwame Kilpatrick relished the moment. It was Detroit's time to shine amid the national glare of Super Bowl XL and the maligned, troubled city passed the intense scrutiny under his watch.
But a text-messaging sex scandal that has evolved into perjury and misconduct charges this week against the beleaguered mayor is thrusting Detroit back into the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons and at possibly the worst of times.
Former Michigan Gov Blanchard says DNC has lost its way
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
AP Political Writer
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Former Michigan Gov. James Blanchard said Friday that the Democratic National Committee is so focused on punishing Michigan and Florida for moving up their primaries that it has lost sight of winning the November election.
The DNC stripped the two states of their national convention delegates for breaking the rules. Neither has been able to come up with a way acceptable to the DNC, state party leaders and the campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama that would get the delegates seated.
Blanchard, a co-chairman of Clinton's Michigan campaign, said the Republican National Committee handled the matter better than the DNC. The RNC stripped the two states of only half their GOP delegates and applied the same punishment to New Hampshire and other states that moved up their GOP elections.
Blanchard: DNC 'flirting with a McCain victory'
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF • FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU • March 28, 2008
EAST LANSING – Former Gov. James Blanchard blamed the Democratic National Committee’s rigid rules for the party’s presidential deadlock, saying its refusal to seat Michigan and Florida delegates at the national convention could hand Republicans the White House. “The national Democratic Party is flirting with a McCain victory if someone doesn’t step in and make sure Michigan voters’ voices are heard,” said Blanchard, co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s Michigan campaign.
The national party won’t recognize delegates from Michigan’s Jan. 15 primary because it was held too early, in violation of party rules. But there’s been no agreement on holding a second primary or Democratic caucus that would be recognized by the natinoal party. “They’re treating the rules like the U.S. Constitution or the 10 Commandments. They’ve lost their way,” Blanchard said of the DNC. He added, “I do think the presidential election process is broken. It’s broken, we have a heck of a mess.”
Dem chief says drawn-out nomination battle between Clinton, Obama could hurt party's chances in November.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Michigan and Florida will eventually win their places at the Democratic National Convention, but not until the presidential campaigns agree on how, said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean in an interview published Friday.
"You bring both sides together and say, 'Don't you think it's time that the two campaigns made a deal on how we're going to do this?' " Dean told The Associated Press. "Let me just say that the campaigns believe that kind of a deal is premature right now."
His statements match those of Michigan Democrats who have been negotiating for weeks for a solution to Michigan's dispute with the national party, which banned delegations from Michigan and Florida as punishment for the states' decision to hold January primaries.
State party leaders, including a committee of four officials who are neutral in the presidential race, have been in talks with Dean and aides to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Democrats: Ruling makes do-over less likely
By CHARLES CRUMM
Of The Oakland Press
State Democrats say they're still in negotiations with the political camps of presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over a "do-over" election that would allow Michigan's delegates to be seated at the national convention.
But they acknowledged that a judge's ruling Wednesday lessens the odds of it happening.
The judge ruled the portion of Michigan's Jan. 15 primary law that allowed for lists of voters to be sent to the Republican and Democratic parties was unconstitutional.
Democrats say they need the lists to prove that only Democrats vote in any do-over election that can be negotiated. "It certainly makes a do-over much less likely," said Liz Kerr, spokeswoman for the Michigan Democratic Party. "Without the lists, we can't verify who is who."
Will 'Dr. Death' be Knollenberg's Nader?
News that Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a convicted felon who last year completed prison time for assisting in suicides, is running for Congress has been dismissed by onlookers and his would-be opponents, who say he won't likely affect the outcome of the race.
Dr. Kevorkian announced yesterday that he will undertake an independent bid in the ninth district of Michigan, hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg, an eight-term incumbent.
It is unclear whether Dr. Kevorkian could serve as a spoiler in the race by attracting enough voters to throw the race to either Mr. Knollenberg or his likely Democratic opponent, Gary Peters, though both campaigns told The Washington Times that voters are more concerned about the economy and jobs than euthanasia, which will likely be the physician's central campaign issue.
Secretary of State visits Marshall Township
The Enquirer
MARSHALL TOWNSHIP — Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land visited Marshall Township Hall today to view the township’s improved facilities. The township received a grant for $18,250 to improve its polling place access for voters with disabilities.
The work was completed in October, according to Township Clerk Cindy Sink.
It includes an automatic door and improved ramp for people who use wheelchairs, walkers and canes.
“It means anybody can come into the office without needing assistance,” Sink said. “It goes along with what the ADA (American Disabilities Act) really is striving for — equal access for all voters.” The funds are awarded under Michigan’s Improving Access for All program, which reimburses communities for their precinct enhancement projects.
Mich. officials approve pesticide effective against emerald ash borer
Matthew Miller
Lansing State Journal
The emerald ash borer is about to meet its new worst enemy. On Thursday, officials from the Michigan Department of Agriculture gave special approval to the most effective pesticide yet found against the Asian beetle, which has destroyed an estimated 25 million of the state's ash trees and an additional 5 million between Canada and Virginia.
In preliminary studies conducted by Michigan State University researchers last year in Genessee and Ingham counties, the pesticide killed more than 99 percent of ash borer larvae in treated trees and 100 percent of the adult beetles that nibbled on their leaves.
"This is as close to ... a silver bullet as possible," said Jim Bowes, spokesman for Michigan's emerald ash borer programs. The pesticide will be sold under the name Tree-äge. Its active ingredient is emamectin benzoate. It was developed over the past four years by the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta and the Massachusetts firm Arborjet. It should be available in Michigan by mid-April.
Granholm OKs zoo authority
Counties can form governing body, seek tax from communities
By Charles Crumm
Journal Register News Service
Legislation was signed into law Thursday by Gov. Jennifer Granholm that would allow for an authority to be formed to manage the Detroit Zoo and seek a property tax to support its operations. The zoo, located in Royal Oak and Huntington Woods, along with the Belle Isle Nature Zoo, are operated by the Detroit Zoological Society, and operations subsidies from the City of Detroit are being phased out. Detroit owns the land and buildings.
"We're very happy," said state Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods. "It's just one leg of the journey." The law authorizes the county commissions in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties to each form authorities and seek a small property tax to support the zoo. Supporters are planning for a one-tenth of a mill property tax question on the August primary ballot.
Granholm to discuss fund in visit to high school
Labor Temple officials also expect to meet with governor
By BOBBY AMPEZZAN
Times Herald
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm may encourage the Port Huron Area School District today to downsize its high schools. Liz Boyd, the governor's press secretary, confirmed Granholm will arrive at Port Huron High School at 9:30 a.m. and will stay for an hour for a roundtable discussion about the 21st Century Schools Fund.
The meeting is not open to the public, but local media and representatives from community groups and area hospitals have been invited to attend. Officials at the Blue Water Labor Temple in Port Huron Township said Granholm also plans to meet today with union officials.
Boyd would not confirm the stop, saying it is not on the "public schedule."
The governor has been visiting school districts across the state for roundtables on the schools fund. This week she has visited Flint and Escanaba. The fund would draw on more than a quarter billion dollars to help underperforming, large high schools in the state downsize to a few hundred students.
Business Tax Sticker Shock
By JIM DALGLEISH
H-P City Editor
BENTON HARBOR — Chris Cook’s chin just about fell to his engineering firm’s conference table this spring when he cracked open his state business tax bill and read it.
The CEO of Abonmarche Consulting in Benton Harbor said he was so shocked that he instantly called his accountant just to make sure the bill wasn’t some kind of nasty joke.
It was no joke.
Meanwhile, Indiana’s economic development agency has been buying billboard space along Interstate 94 to remind motorists of the tax advantages of doing business in the Hoosier state. The presumption is that some of those motorists are people like Cook who say they can move their businesses out of Michigan in a heartbeat.
State Rep. John Proos said the images of sticker-shocked businessmen and women and the billboards should force state legislators into cutting spending and finding tax relief for business.
Judge tosses voter record law
Ruling: Limiting access to info violated other parties' rights
Jeff Karoub
Associated Press
DETROIT - A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Michigan law that allowed only the Republican and Democratic parties access to voter information from the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds' ruling does not affect the primary's outcome. But a spokeswoman for the Michigan Democratic Party said the ruling essentially ends any chance of a Democratic do-over election in the state because the judge prohibited the Michigan secretary of state from giving the lists to the parties.
"We need those lists to prevent people who voted in the Republican primary from voting in the Democratic do-over. Those are DNC rules," said spokeswoman Liz Kerr, referring to the Democratic National Committee. "This is basically the final straw in preventing us from having a do-over election."
Bidders find deals on foreclosed homes
by Erin Albanese | The Grand Rapids Press
Friday March 28, 2008, 10:24 AM
Kim Bultsma got her husband his dream home Thursday night, a 3,000-square-foot ranch sitting on a channel of Gun Lake near Wayland. "He's always wanted to live on a lake. This is a dream come true," said Bultsma, who made the high bid of $285,000 on the house at 2371 S. Patterson Road, where she and her husband, Doug Bultsma, plan to live.
The three-bedroom, four-bath house was listed at $414,000 last summer, she said. The house was the shining star of about 40 foreclosed homes sold at the Hudson & Marshall real estate auction at the Hilton-Grand Rapids hotel, three of which received high bids of just $5,000. The banks still may refuse offers.
Cottage & Lakefront show opens in DeVos Place
Friday, March 28, 2008By Cami ReisterThe Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- Mother Nature may be sporadically spewing her last gasps of freezing temps and snow flurries, but step into DeVos Place this weekend and you will be surrounded by blooming daffodils, sand castles, speed boats and other warm weather diversions.
The second annual Cottage & Lakefront Living Show opened today at the convention center, offering a wooden boat building demonstration, a 10-by-90-foot indoor beach, a nature and wildlife art exhibit, seminars and 300 exhibitors. Two fully furnished cottages, complete with electricity and landscaping, were constructed on site to get people in the mood.
Impact of American Axle strike spreading
Effects of shortages hitting GM hard as factories idle
Tom Krisher
Associated Press
DETROIT - The increasingly bitter monthlong strike at auto parts maker American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. is starting to hit General Motors Corp. where it hurts.
Two GM factories that make cars in Michigan and Ohio soon will be affected by the strike, which already has fully or partially shut down 28 GM plants in the U.S. and Canada due to parts shortages.
GM confirmed Thursday that the strike will force it to idle the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant after today's lone shift, and a local union president in Lordstown, Ohio, said Thursday that his complex will be shut down on April 4. Previously, the strike had affected only plants that assemble or supply parts for slow-selling pickups and sport utility vehicles.But GM spokesman Dan Flores said Thursday the Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which makes the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS sedans, is nearing the end of its parts supply from American Axle.
UAW membership falls below 500,000 to lowest level since WWII
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- United Auto Workers union membership has fallen below 500,000 for the first time since World War II, reflecting the massive restructuring undertaken by Detroit's automakers. The union reported Friday in a filing with the Labor Department that it had 464,910 members by the end of 2007, compared with 538,448 at the end of 2006. UAW membership peaked in 1979 at 1.5 million but has been dropping ever since.
Mike Smith, director of the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University, said the last time the UAW had fewer than 500,000 members was in 1941. By 1945, UAW membership had surpassed one million.
UAW membership drops 14%
BY JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • March 28, 2008
WASHINGTON — The ranks of the United Auto Workers declined last year by more than 73,538, or nearly 14%, as the domestic auto industry shed thousands of jobs and the union made little headway in organizing.
According to its annual financial report filed late Thursday with federal regulators, the UAW counted 464,910 members at the end of 2007 – less than a third of its 1.5 million peak in the 1970s, and the smallest since the UAW was still organizing Detroit automakers before World War II.
Despite the membership decline, the union’s revenues rose 8% to $327.6 million in 2007.
Much of the union’s retreat comes from the grinding economics of the U.S. auto industry and other manufacturing. The United States employs fewer people in manufacturing today than in 1950, at 13.7 million, as jobs have moved overseas for cheaper labor or been eliminated by more efficient factories.
NATIONAL STORIES
Bush seeks financial regulation overhaul
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the way the nation's financial industry is regulated. In an effort to deal with the problems highlighted by the current severe credit crisis, the new plan would give major new powers to the Federal Reserve, according to a 22-page executive summary obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The proposal would designate the Fed as the primary regulator of market stability, greatly expanding the central bank's ability to examine not just commercial banks but all segments of the financial services industry.
McCain Forcloses Early
NY TIMES EDITORIAL
I don’t see how anybody could deny that John McCain is a straight-talker. The country is terrified of economic collapse and he’s been sounding like Mr. Potter, the banker in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” You can’t get more forthright than that. How did this happen so fast? We haven’t even heard from Pennsylvania!
The Republicans, with their unfair but very, very efficient winner-take-all primaries, closed the deal while the Democrats were still trying to count the votes in Texas. (Results are due any minute!) Now, the Democrats are terrified that McCain will have months and months to raise money and ingratiate himself with the American people while their candidates are spending every cent they can get their hands on to make each other less popular.
Race begins to define McCain
TV ad for likely GOP presidential nominee cites leadership; Dems tie his policies to Bush.
Liz Sidoti / Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- The race is on to define John McCain. The likely Republican nominee launched his first television ad of the general election campaign Friday, casting himself as a ready-to-lead wartime president in advance of a biographical tour to pivotal places in his life. Son of a military man, midshipman, Navy pilot, Vietnam POW, member of Congress for nearly three decades -- this is the resume of the 71-year-old McCain.
"In some ways, I'm well-known to the American people. In other ways, I'm not well-known," McCain told the Associated Press on Friday. The Democratic Party and its supporters offer a starkly different portrait. In their view, McCain is a Washington insider, backer of an unpopular war in Iraq, hair-trigger quick on Iran and indifferent on the economic woes of average Americans. They cast McCain as four more years of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Huckabee remains 'very active and outspoken
Posted by Chronicle News Service March 28, 2008 02:20AM
Categories: Election News
GRAND RAPIDS -- A pro-life emphasis and support for traditional marriage will remain at the forefront of the Republican Party platform if Mike Huckabee holds sway.
The 52-year-old former Arkansas governor and former Republican presidential nominee is in Grand Rapids today, speaking at a fundraising dinner for North Hills Classical Academy, a private Christian school at 2777 Knapp NE.
"I hope to remain very active and outspoken on issues that got me into the presidential race in the first place," Huckabee said this afternoon at Kent Country Club, prior to an evening speech.
"I think (Arizona Sen. John) McCain understands he has to have the strong, conservative values voters. The fabric of a nation is like that of the fabric of a family."
Obama campaign says splitting Michigan delegates would be fair
Posted by Associated Press March 21, 2008 03:12AM
Categories: Election News
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's campaign said Thursday that evenly splitting Michigan's delegates with rival Hillary Rodham Clinton would be a fair way to distribute them, now that the chances of a do-over primary are essentially dead.
The Michigan Senate adjourned Thursday without taking up a bill for a June 3 repeat primary. While there still is a possibility a last-minute deal can be reached, lawmakers' lack of enthusiasm for a second election paid for by private donors means that's unlikely.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, an Obama supporter and former presidential candidate, promoted the idea of splitting the delegates 50-50 in a statement Thursday. "The best outcome is to come to an arrangement where the delegates are apportioned fairly between Senators Obama and Clinton, so the Michigan delegation can participate fully in the Denver convention," the statement said.
Obama pastor building home in Odyssey
March 28, 2008
From staff reports
A $1 million home is being built in Tinley Park for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., the controversial pastor to Barack Obama. Plans filed with the village show a 10,340-square-foot, four-bedroom home under construction in the Odyssey subdivision is for the Trinity United Church of Christ minister. The church is paying for the home. Wright made news this month when video surfaced showing him using racial slurs while blasting Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Wright also blamed global terrorism on American foreign policy, saying this country's "chickens had come home to roost." Wright's two-story house will have finished basement, along with two decks, a circular driveway, room for a future swimming pool or theater, a four-car garage, elevator, family room with bar, master bathroom with whirlpool and custom shower and master bedroom with fireplace and under-counter fridge.
Obama gets boost; Clinton urged to quit
by Devlin Barrett | The Associated Press
Friday March 28, 2008, 5:37 PM
She said that was just a sign of Obama's growing worry about her chances. Clinton leads by double-digits in Pennsylvania polls, and Obama hopes Casey's endorsement will earn him a second look from the state's white, working class and Catholic voters -- groups that have leaned toward Clinton in other Democratic contests this year.
Clinton: In the race for the long run
by Beth Fouhy | The Associated Press
Friday March 28, 2008, 8:47 PM
"There are millions of reasons to continue this race: people in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, and all of the contests yet to come," Clinton told reporters Friday. "This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted."
The former first lady weathered a two-pronged blow Friday, with influential Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. endorsing Obama and another Senate colleague, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, urging her to step aside. But to hear Clinton tell it, it was just another day in an epic primary battle whose result is still not known.
Democrats Divided? Bill: 'That's a Bunch of Bull'
Share March 28, 2008 2:28 PM
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: At a campaign stop for his wife in Kannapolis, North Carolina, former President Clinton weighed in on the protracted Democratic nomination fight.
Clinton dismissed talk about whether the nomination battle between Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is dividing Democrats.
"That's a bunch of bull," he said. "I wasn't nominated until June 2nd, 1992," he argued, then said maybe it was June 3rd. He told several hundred North Carolinians that the race should continue because, "you have a right for your votes to get counted."
Disloyalty That Merits An Insult
By James Carville
Saturday, March 29, 2008; Page A15
Last Friday the New York Times asked me to comment on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president. For 15 years, Richardson served with no small measure of distinction as the representative of New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District. But he gained national stature -- and his career took off -- when President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and later made him energy secretary.
So, when asked on Good Friday about Richardson's rejection of the Clintons, the metaphor was too good to pass by. I compared Richardson to Judas Iscariot. (And Matthew Dowd is right: Had it been the Fourth of July, I probably would have called him Benedict Arnold.)
I believed that Richardson's appointments in Bill Clinton's administration and his longtime personal relationship with both Clintons, combined with his numerous assurances to the Clintons and their supporters that he would never endorse any of Sen. Hillary Clinton's opponents, merited a strong response.
Treasury Dept. Plan Would Give Fed Wide New Power
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: March 29, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department will propose on Monday that Congress give the Federal Reserve broad new authority to oversee financial market stability, in effect allowing it to send SWAT teams into any corner of the industry or any institution that might pose a risk to the overall system.
Democratic lawmakers are all but certain to say the proposal does not go far enough in restricting the kinds of practices that caused the financial crisis. Many of the proposals, like those that would consolidate regulatory agencies, have nothing to do with the turmoil in financial markets. And some of the proposals could actually reduce regulation.
Fed's reach may expand
Bush wants central bank to help stabilize credit markets
Martin Crutsinger / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the way the nation's financial industry is regulated. In an effort to deal with the problems highlighted by the current severe credit crisis, the new plan would give major new powers to the Federal Reserve, according to a 22-page executive summary obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The proposal would designate the Fed as the primary regulator of market stability, greatly expanding the central bank's ability to examine not just commercial banks but all segments of the financial services industry. The administration proposal, which is to be formally unveiled in a speech Monday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, also proposes consolidating the current scheme of bank regulation.
Pelosi says Olympic boycott would be wrong
ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 28, 2008
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime critic of China’s human rights policies, said Friday it would be wrong to boycott the Beijing Olympics.
She said in a statement that while the Chinese government has failed to live up to its commitments to improve human rights conditions in China and Tibet, “I believe a boycott of the Beijing Olympics would unfairly harm our athletes who have worked so hard to prepare for the competition.”
The California Democrat, who has long contended that expanded trade and political ties to China should be tied to improvements in Beijing’s human rights record, said she believed the International Olympic Committee made a mistake in awarding the 2008 summer games to China and sponsored a resolution at the time expressing that view.
Remains ID'd in Iraq kidnapping
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
The FBI on Friday identified the remains of an Austrian contractor who was kidnapped in Iraq with four Americans. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko confirmed the victim was Bert Nussbaumer, who was working for Crescent Security Group when he and the others were abducted in November 2006. The FBI notified Nussbaumer's family Friday night, Kolko said.
The remains will be sent to Austria. In all, six contractors were kidnapped in two separate incidents over a two-month span. Their case received attention earlier this month when the severed fingers of five of the men were sent to the U.S. military in Iraq.
Raul Castro: Cubans can have cell phones
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) -- First microwaves, now cell phones. Is this the new Cuba? Raul Castro is revolutionizing his brother's island in small but significant ways - the latest in a decree Friday allowing ordinary Cubans to have cell phone service, a luxury previously reserved for the select few. The new president could be betting greater access to such modern gadgets will quell demand for deeper change.
Many Cubans hope cell phones and new appliances are only the beginning for a post-Fidel Castro government that will improve their lives. Communist bureaucracy currently limits everything from Internet access to home ownership.
Baghdad, Basra boil over with aggression
Protesters criticize al-Maliki as Bush lauds Iraqi progress
BY LEILA FADEL • MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS • March 28, 2008
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- As gun battles raged in the southern port city of Basra, parts of Baghdad and neighboring provinces, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in effect declared war on Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, saying he would fight the militia "to the end" and never negotiate.
In Ohio on Thursday, President George W. Bush praised al-Maliki's bold decision to confront the militias and said it was evidence the Iraqi military is increasingly confident and able to act on its own. But three days into a U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive, the Mahdi Army retained control of key Basra neighborhoods.
