QUOTE OF THE DAY ”I would expect all sorts of litigation related to this, but nobody is interested in filing that now because they need the cooperation of
these same people to get their systems up and running.” Joe Onek, a longtime Washington attorney and health-law expert, as states running their own health-insurance enrollment operations experience technical difficulties Article, 1AObama signs spending, defense bills
President Barack Obama, while vacationing Thursday in Hawaii, signed a bipartisan budget deal easing spending cuts and a defense bill cracking down on sexual assault in the military.
The bill-signings mark one of Obama’s last official acts in a year beset by a partial government shutdown, a near-default by the Treasury Department, a flawed healthcare rollout and near-perpetual congressional gridlock.
The spending deal reduces across-the-board cuts already scheduled to take effect, restoring about $63 billion over two years. It includes a projected $85 billion in other savings and should prevent another government shutdown for nearly two years.
The defense bill provides $552.1 billion for the regular military budget, plus $80.7 billion for the Afghanistan war and other overseas operations. It gives military personnel a 1 percent pay raise.
The bill also caps a year-long campaign by some lawmakers to address sexual assault in the military. Under the bill, military commanders no longer will be permitted to overturn jury convictions for sexual assault.
Utah counties relent on gay marriage
SALT LAKE CITY - The last of the Utah counties that were holding out on issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples reversed course Thursday and decided to hand out licenses to all eligible applicants.
Officials for Box Elder, Utah, Piute and San Juan counties said they had little choice after an appeals court declined Tuesday to intervene and halt gay marriages in the state. U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled last week that Utah’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, sending gay couples rushing to county clerk offices for licenses.
The state plans to take its fight against gay marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court as early as today while it prepares an appeal of Shelby’s ruling to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Ryan Bruckman, a spokesman for the Utah attorney general’s office.
Bruckman has said counties could be held in contempt of federal court if they refused to comply.
The holdouts said they decided to obey Shelby’s ruling despite reservations and questions about their legal liability.
Utah law makes it a misdemeanor for county clerks to sanction a same-sex marriage.
New schools await 1,300 Joplin pupils
JOPLIN, Mo. - More than 1,300 students who have been attending classes in temporary quarters since Joplin’s May 2011 tornado will head to newly built schools in January.
Ten schools in the Joplin district were destroyed or heavily damaged by the EF5 tornado that devastated parts of the city and the neighboring town of Duquesne.
The new Irving Elementary School will open Jan. 6 when classes resume after the Christmas break. The school will serve students from the old Irving Elementary as well as Emerson Elementary, which also was destroyed.
Joplin school district students from the towns of Duquesne and Duenweg will attend Joplin’s new Soaring Heights Elementary. The school will share a kitchen and auditorium with the new East Middle School, which was only 2 years old when it was destroyed.
Airport-gunfire suspect pleads innocent
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - The man authorities have accused of killing a Transportation Security Administration screener and wounding three other people during a rampage at Los Angeles International Airport last month pleaded innocent Thursday to murder and other felony charges.
Paul Anthony Ciancia, 23, acknowledged his name and that he had read his 11-count indictment. His trial was set for Feb. 11 in a downtown Los Angeles federal court.
Authorities said the unemployed motorcycle mechanic arrived at the airport’s Terminal 3 on Nov. 1 with the intention of killing Transportation Security Administration workers. Officials have said Ciancia had a grudge against the agency, but they have not indicated what is behind it.
Officer Gerardo Hernandez was killed. Two other agency officers and a traveler were wounded.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/27/2013