Briefs 1231

GOP governors face unpredictable politics over health care law

ATLANTA — Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who made a fortune as a health care executive, long opposed President Barack Obama’s remake of the health insurance market. After the Democratic president won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. He said he wanted to “have a conversation” with the administration about implementing the 2010 law. With a federal deadline approaching, he also said while Florida won’t set up the exchange for individuals to buy private insurance policies, the feds can do it.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie held his cards before saying he won’t set up his own exchange, but he’s avoided absolute language and says he could change his mind. He’s also leaving his options open to accept federal money to expand Medicaid insurance for people who aren’t covered. The caveat, Christie says, is whether Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius can “answer my questions” about its operations and expense.

Both Republican governors face re-election in states that Obama won twice, Christie in 2013 and Scott in 2014. And both will encounter well-financed Democrats.

Their apparent struggles on the issue, along with other postures by their GOP colleagues elsewhere, suggest political uncertainty for Republicans as the Affordable Care Act starts to go into effect two years after clearing Congress without a single Republican vote. The risks also are acute for governors in Democratic-leaning or swing-voting states or who know their records will be parsed should they seek the presidency in 2016 or beyond.

Landlord charged with murder in shooting deaths of teen tenants

PORTLAND, Maine — A 74-year-old Maine man was charged in the shooting deaths of two tenants inside an apartment he rented out at his home, possibly over a dispute about where they parked their cars during a snowstorm, state police said Sunday.

James Pak was arrested at about 10 p.m. Saturday following a standoff at his suburban neighborhood home in Biddeford, about 15 miles south of Portland, police said. He is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Derrick Thompson, 19, and Thompson’s girlfriend, 18-year-old Alivia Welch.

Thompson’s mother, Susan Johnson, 44, called police to report the shootings at about 7 p.m. She and her 6-year-old son also live in the apartment, which is attached to the main house where Pak lived.

Before the shootings, Biddeford police were called to Pak’s home regarding a dispute between Pak and his tenants over their cars being parked in his driveway during the snowstorm, said state police spokesman Steve McCausland. Biddeford banned street parking during the night so city crews could plow the streets.

Minutes after officers left the home, they received the call reporting the shootings. Upon their return, Biddeford police rescued Johnson and her young son, and Pak retreated to his part of the house, where he lived with his wife, McCausland said.

Brazil debates how to address drug problem

RIO DE JANEIRO — Bobo has a method: Cocaine gets him through the day, when he cruises with a wheelbarrow around a slum on Rio’s west side, sorting through trash for recyclables to sell. At night, he turns the day’s profit into crack.

“Sometimes I don’t sleep at all; I’m up 24 hours,” says Bobo, a former soldier who doesn’t use his given name for safety reasons.

On the shantytown’s streets, life can be hell: Addicts use crack day and night, begging, stealing, prostituting themselves, and picking through trash to make enough for the next hit.

With a boom in crack use over the past decade, Brazilian authorities are struggling to stop the drug’s spread, sparking a debate over the legality and efficiency of forcibly interning users.

By wire sources