LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “Right now, I’ve just got to get her well.
It’s time to take care of my family.”Marine Gen. John Allen, citing his wife’s illness in his decision to retire from the military rather than go forward with his nomination to be NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe Article, this pageBiden touts shotgun for home security
WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Americans don’t need semiautomatic weapons to protect their homes because a couple of blasts from a shotgun will scare off intruders.
“Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun,” the vice president encouraged those worried about defending themselves. He was speaking in an online video as part of a Facebook forum hosted by Parents Magazine on the administration’s strategy for reducing gun violence, which he has led at the direction of President Barack Obama.
Biden said he keeps two shotguns and shells locked up at home and he’s told his wife, Jill, to use them if she needs protection.
“I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony ... take that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,”’ Biden said. “You don’t need an AR-15. It’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use, and, in fact, you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself.”
Biden’s answer came in response to a question posted by a Facebook user about whether the administration’s proposal to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would make law-abiding citizens more of a target of criminals since they wouldn’t have a sufficient way of protecting themselves.
Kerry’s first trip to allies skips Israel
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State John Kerry will bypass Israel on his first official trip to the Middle East, U.S. officials said Tuesday as they announced a jam-packed itinerary through nine nations, including several in Europe.
Kerry’s maiden voyage begins Sunday. He will visit close U.S. allies and partners in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar. His diplomacy will focus on the conflicts in Mali, Syria and Afghanistan, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said.
But there will be no stops in Israel or the Palestinian territories, which together have formed an epicenter of American diplomatic efforts over the past six decades.
Nuland said the U.S. was waiting for Israeli political parties to form a new government after their recent elections.
2 sentenced for abducting boy in ’04
SAN AUGUSTINE, Texas - An east Texas jury on Tuesday sentenced two women to prison hours after convicting them of kidnapping a Houston boy when he was 8 months old and hiding him for eight years before he was found.
Jurors in San Augustine on Tuesday sentenced Gloria Walker to 30 years for injury to a child and eight years for kidnapping, to be served concurrently.
Her daughter, Krystle Tanner, was sentenced to eight years for kidnapping and eight years for reckless injury to a child, also to be served concurrently.
Miguel Morin is now 8 and disappeared in 2004.
Both Tanner and Walker had told jurors they did nothing wrong, as the boy had been given to them. Prosecutors said both women neglected Miguel during the time they kept him.
A Houston judge last month placed Miguel with a couple who have also been taking care of Miguel’s four siblings for nearly 10 years under an agreement they have with the boy’s parents.
Obama tries to mend immigration rift
WASHINGTON - The White House sought to keep immigration negotiations on track Tuesday as a key Republican senator further distanced himself from a draft bill President Barack Obama’s aides are readying in case congressional talks crumble. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio’s office said Obama’s plan “injected additional partisanship into an already difficult process.”
After the weekend leak of its draft legislation, the White House insisted that the president wants the bipartisan Senate group of which Rubio is a member to propose its own bill.
Obama spoke with Rubio on Tuesday to reiterate his commitment to the Senate process, but to make clear that he had his own legislation ready, the White House said. The president also called Republicans Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, two other GOP lawmakers involved in the immigration negotiations.
“It is, by far, the president’s preference that the Senate process move forward, that the bipartisan group of eight have success, and that they produce a bill that wins the support of Democrats and Republicans in Senate,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 02/20/2013