Speaker says House won’t hold formal talks on Senate immigration bill, issue dead for year
Speaker says House won’t hold formal talks on Senate immigration bill, issue dead for year
WASHINGTON — Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday that the House will not hold formal, compromise talks on the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration bill, a fresh signal from the Republican leadership that the issue is dead for the year.
The slow, relatively quiet death came more than four months after the Senate, on a bipartisan vote, passed a far-reaching bill that would provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally and tighten border security.
Fanfare for that bill was quashed by strong opposition among House Republican rank and file who reject a comprehensive approach and question offering citizenship to people who broke U.S. immigration laws to be in this country. House incumbents also are wary of primary challenges from the right.
One of the clearest signs that any action was unlikely was word that Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who had worked for months on the Senate bill, had abandoned the comprehensive approach. Rubio had taken political heat from conservatives after Senate passage of the immigration bill.
Boehner, R-Ohio, reiterated that the House is focused on a piecemeal approach to dealing with the issue. But he declined to say whether lawmakers will consider any legislation this year or whether the issue will slip to 2014, when the politics of congressional elections further diminish chances of action.
Toronto mayor admits to City Council that he bought illegal drugs; still refuses to resign
TORONTO — Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admitted during a heated City Council debate Wednesday that he bought illegal drugs while in office, but adamantly refused to step down despite calls from nearly every councilor to take a leave of absence and get help.
“I’m most definitely keeping this job,” the 44-year-old Ford said, insisting he was “a positive role model for kids.”
The mayor made the admission under questioning by a former ally, Councilor Denzil Minnan-Wong. Ford publicly acknowledged last week that he smoked crack cocaine while in a “drunken stupor” last year, but his comments Wednesday marked the first time he admitted buying illegal drugs.
Ford paused for a long time after Minnan-Wong asked him if he had bought illicit narcotics in the past two years.
Then he replied, “Yes I have.”
Victims’ families call Bulger ‘Satan,’ ‘terrorist’ and blast FBI for protecting him
BOSTON — The families of people killed by South Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger and his gang finally got the chance Wednesday to tell Bulger how his long reign of terror damaged their lives, calling him a “terrorist,” a “punk” and even “Satan.”
A stone-faced Bulger refused to look at them, again declared his trial a sham and didn’t take his opportunity to address the judge.
Bulger, his back to the families, stared straight ahead and scribbled on a legal pad as a dozen relatives stood one by one in a packed courtroom and poignantly described the loss of their loved ones and their contempt for Bulger.
The son of a man who was gunned down by Bulger in 1974 addressed Bulger as “Satan” and described how his father, a member of a rival gang, first disappeared in 1974 but wasn’t found until decades later when his body was discovered in a watery grave.
Sean McGonagle was 11 when his father, Paul, disappeared. He said Bulger called his family’s house the following year and said, “Your father won’t be coming home for Christmas.” When he asked, “Who’s this?” Bulger responded, “Santa Claus,” McGonagle said.
By wire sources