LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s not pleasant to reduce spending. I get that.This is what the American people sent
us here to do.This is what the American people elected 87 freshman Republicans to do, just this sort of thing.”
Rep. Jim Jordan,
R-Ohio Article, 1AOfficer among 3 killed in N.Y. gunfire
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - A police officer died hours after being shot in the head Friday during an exchange of gunfire with a man suspected of killing a woman near a train station, authorities said. The gunman also was killed.
Poughkeepsie Police Chief Ron Knapp released a statement in the evening saying the 44-year-old officer had died.
The name of the officer, an 18-year veteran, was withheld pending notification of his relatives.
Officers were called to the train station area about 1 p.m. amid reports of a shooting. The gunman killed a woman in a car, then was fatally shot himself minutes later in a struggle with police. One of the first officers at the scene took a 3-year-old from the man and handed the child to a bystander, police said.
Knapp said it appeared that the officer who was wounded was shot by the gunman, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether the gunman was then killed by police or he shot himself. Police didn’t say whether the wounded officer was the one who’d taken the child from the man.
Knapp said he believes that the man and woman who were killed were husband and wife and weren’t from Poughkeepsie, a city of about 30,000 people about 70 miles south of Albany in New York’s Hudson Valley. Their names were released.
A second officer suffered minor injuries, Knapp said.
Mayor John Tkazyik called it a tragic day for the city.
Some postal rates on way up in April
WASHINGTON - The Postal Service said Friday that mail price changes it announced last month have been approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission. Some postage rates will increase April 17.
The 44-cent price of a first-class stamp won’t change, but heavier letters will cost more. That basic rate covers only the first ounce; the price for each extra ounce up to 3 1/2 ounces will rise from 17 cents to 20 cents.
Rates for large envelopes, now called flats on the Postal Service’s website, will remain at 88 cents for the first ounce with 20 cents for each additional ounce, up to 13 ounces.
Parcels, also called packages on the website, will increase to $1.71 for the first ounce, up from $1.22. Each additional ounce, up to 13 ounces, will cost 17 cents.
The increase comes under a formula that allows the agency to raise prices within the rate of inflation. That would permit an increase of 1.7 percent averaged over all mail.
Other decisions on rates were:
Postcards will rise by a penny to 29 cents.
Letters to Canada or Mexico increase to 80 cents, from 75 cents to Canada and 79 cents to Mexico.
Letters to other international destinations will remain unchanged at 98 cents.
Express Mail and Priority Mail prices are not affected.
There will be a variety of price changes for other mailing services, including advertising mail and periodicals.
Delayed shuttle liftoff on for next week
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA will try next week to launch space shuttle Discovery on its final voyage after a four-month delay for fuel-tank repairs.
Liftoff is set for late Thursday afternoon. Senior managers voted unanimously Friday on the new launch date after discussing the fixes made since the shuttle’s grounding in early November.
Cracks in the external fuel tank were discovered after a launch attempt was foiled by leaking hydrogen gas. It’s taken this long to understand and repair the cracking, which could have harmed the shuttle during liftoff.
The shuttle will carry six astronauts and a humanoid robot, along with a full load of supplies, to the international space station. One of the human crew is a substitute, replacing astronaut Timothy Kopra who was injured last month in a bicycle crash.
The flight will represent the end of Discovery’s flying career. NASA is retiring the three remaining shuttles this year.States get deadline in health-plan suit
PENSACOLA, Fla. - A federal judge in Florida on Friday gave the 26 states suing to stop President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul until Thursday to respond to the administration’s contention that they must implement the law even though it has been declared unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson issued the order in response to the government’s motion a day earlier. It asks Vinson to clarify his January ruling declaring the law unconstitutional.
Two other U.S. district judges have upheld the law and a third ruled against one of its provisions. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to have the final say.
Some Republican-led states are refusing to implement the law, citing Vinson’s ruling.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 02/19/2011