The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“That is a bad strategy for America, it’s a bad strategy for your businesses and it is not a game that I will play.”

President Barack Obama,

addressing the Business Roundtable as he warned Republicans not to use the debt ceiling as leverage on spending and tax decisions Article, 1A

Dock strike settled, 2 ports reopen

LOS ANGELES - Work resumed Wednesday at the nation’s busiest port complex after a crippling strike was settled, ending an eight-day walkout that affected thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in cargo.

Gates at the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors reopened, and dockworkers were ready to resume loading and unloading dozens of ships that had been stuck for days, Los Angeles port spokesman Phillip Sanfield said.

“It’s going to take a few days, maybe a week or two to get back to normal,” Long Beach port spokesman Art Wong said.

Clerical workers who said shippers were outsourcing their jobs struck on Nov. 27 and thousands of dockworkers in the same union refused to cross picket lines, paralyzing much of the port complex that handles 44 percent of all container cargo that arrives by sea nationwide.

Negotiators reached a tentative agreement to end the strike late Tuesday.

The union said the proposed contract between clerical workers and 14 shipping-terminal operators contained new protections against outsourcing of their well-paid jobs out of state and overseas.

Obama to ask $50 billion for storm-hit

President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress for about $50 billion in emergency spending to help rebuild the states ravaged by superstorm Sandy, according to administration and congressional officials briefed on the discussions.

The White House is assembling a spending request to send to Capitol Hill as early as this week, and while the final sum is still in flux, it should fall between $45 billion and $55 billion.

The amount is significantly less than the states sought.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were seeking a combined $82 billion in federal help both to clean up and restore damage from the storm as well as to upgrade and harden infrastructure to prepare for future storms.

Unless an austerity-minded Congress adds to the president’s plan, state leaders would have to figure out other ways to finance tens of billions of dollars of storm-related expenses or do without them.

GOP visa plan blocked in Senate

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked Republicans from bringing up an immigration bill offering permanent residence visas for foreigners with advanced degrees. The measure passed the House last week despite the opposition of most Democrats.

Senate Republican John Cornyn of Texas sought unanimous consent to consider the bill that would provide some 55,000 green cards a year to foreigners with master’s and doctorate degrees from U.S. colleges in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

However, Democrats objected to a provision that eliminated another visa program that benefits less-educated people, particularly from Africa.

The Republican bill also would have made it easier for the spouses and families of people with green cards to enter the United States.

2 water-tower cleaners fall; 1 dies

EAGLEVILLE, Pa. - Two workers were cleaning an empty water tower Wednesday when scaffolding collapsed under them, sending one man plummeting to his death and leaving another hanging for three hours in a safety harness until he could be rescued.

Three men from Corrosion Control Corp., based in Pedricktown, N.J., were working inside the 100-foot-tall tower outside Philadelphia when an apparent equipment malfunction occurred, Lower Providence Police Chief Francis “Bud” Carroll said.

One man fell roughly 50 feet to his death, while the other dropped only partway and dangled from a harness. It took a rescuer more than three hours to free the trapped worker by going through the top of the tower, descending and attaching a second safety harness so they could be lowered together and leave through a small exit at ground level.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/06/2012

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