The nation in brief

Saturday, February 9, 2013

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as they’re saying, but I said that with Sandy, too.”

Lavel Samuels, 42, as she filled her tank at a gas station in Queens,

N.Y., as a blizzard began its descent on the Northeast Article, 1A

Panetta says farewell: Serving an honor

ARLINGTON, Va. - Calling it “the honor of my life,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said farewell to the U.S.

military Friday, capping a venerated public-service career that spanned four decades and included stints as a lawmaker, a top White House official and the spy chief who oversaw the killing of Osama bin Laden.

President Barack Obama, honoring his first-term Pentagon chief at a ceremony at a military base outside Washington, said Panetta would be remembered for welcoming more Americans into the military by opening combat roles to women and overseeing the repeal of a ban on gays serving openly.

“Every decision he has made has been with one goal in mind: taking care of our sons and our daughters in uniform and keeping America safe,” Obama said.

“It’s been, for me, a hell of a ride,” said Panetta, who served in Congress and in the Clinton administration before becoming Obama’s CIA director and ultimately serving a brief but pivotal term as defense secretary.

Panetta has said he will remain on the job until the Senate confirms a successor.

Won’t delay Hagel vote, chairman says

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday that he will press ahead with a vote on former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary, rejecting Republicans demands for more financial information from President Barack Obama’s choice as setting an unprecedented standard.

In a letter, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., dismissed GOP requests for data on Hagel’s paid speeches and foreign donors to private entities he’s been affiliated with, arguing that the requirements exceed the committee’s rules and what has been asked of previous defense secretaries, Republican and Democrat.

Levin’s letter was in response to a Wednesday letter from 26 Senate Republicans to Hagel insisting that they needed more information before they could vote on his nomination.

Republicans have asked the Nebraska Republican to disclose all compensation of more than $5,000 from the past five years - three years more than the law or committee rules require. Levin said the panel’s two-year requirement on disclosure is consistent with the Ethics in Government Act.

Bipartisan 4 join on immigration effort

WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is part of a new bipartisan group that will push for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws and a path to citizenship for estimated 11 million illegal aliens in the United States.

The other co-chairmen of the new effort are former Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell; former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, a Democrat; and former Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, several people involved told The Associated Press on Friday.

The high-profile group, brought together by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, will aim to keep up momentum behind overhauling immigration and serve as a sounding board for policymakers, Rendell said.

Alabama kidnapper’s motive baffling

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. - A prosecutor said Friday that authorities may never know why a south Alabama man killed a school-bus driver and held a little boy captive for six days in an underground bunker.

Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, wanted to go on live television to make a statement, said District Attorney Kirke Adams, but he never told negotiators exactly what he wanted to say.

Dykes never clearly stated a motive for his actions, Adams said, although he was due in court the day after the standoff began for a hearing on a menacing case filed in December. Adams said officials don’t know whether the menacing charge played a role in the standoff.

Authorities said Dykes fatally shot bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, and grabbed a boy identified only as Ethan off the bus, retreating to a handmade underground bunker where he held the child for six days.

Dykes died of what the coroner said were multiple gunshot wounds during an exchange of gunfire with FBI hostage rescuers Monday. The now-6-year-old boy was safely rescued.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 02/09/2013