Snow response in DC, NYC comes down to money, manpower
Snow response in DC, NYC comes down to money, manpower
WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital and its largest city both got walloped by the same near-record blizzard this weekend. But while Washington struggled to recover, New York City was mostly up and running on Monday.
In the District of Columbia, schools and government offices, monuments and memorials and museums were all shut down on Monday. The Metro had an extremely reduced schedule, providing free rides as a goodwill gesture. Digging out remained such a huge challenge that Mayor Muriel Bowser sought federal disaster aid.
In New York, the subway and schools were open, just a day and a half after the last flakes fell, and leaders praised themselves for getting this one right.
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AP INVESTIGATION: Feds’ failures imperil migrant children
LOS ANGELES — As tens of thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America crossed the border in search of safe harbor, overwhelmed U.S. officials weakened child protection policies, placing some young migrants in homes where they were sexually assaulted, starved or forced to work for little or no pay, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Without enough beds to house the record numbers of young arrivals, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lowered its safety standards during border surges in the last three years to swiftly move children out of government shelters and into sponsors’ homes. The procedures were increasingly relaxed as the number of young migrants rose in response to spiraling gang and drug violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, according to emails, agency memos and operations manuals obtained by AP, some under the Freedom of Information Act.
First, the government stopped fingerprinting most adults seeking to claim the children. In April 2014, the agency stopped requiring original copies of birth certificates to prove most sponsors’ identities. The next month, it decided not to complete forms that request sponsors’ personal and identifying information before sending many of the children to sponsors’ homes. Then, it eliminated FBI criminal history checks for many sponsors.
Since the rule changes, the AP has identified more than two dozen children who were placed with sponsors who subjected them to sexual abuse, labor trafficking, or severe abuse and neglect.
“This is clearly the tip of the iceberg,” said Jacqueline Bhabha, research director at the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. “We would never release domestic children to private settings with as little scrutiny.”
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Cruz, Clinton call for calmer talk ahead of Iowa contest
IOWA FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton both called for lowering the temperature in the presidential primary race Monday, even as their campaigns and supporters kept up their attacks with a week to go until the Iowa caucuses.
Campaigning at a pizza place, Cruz passed up an opportunity to take a swipe at Donald Trump, who has been hitting Cruz as the Texas senator has climbed in the polls. Until recently, Trump and Cruz had avoided direct confrontation on the campaign trail, but Trump’s description of his opponent as a “nasty guy” seemed to invite a response.
“I will not engage in insults,” Cruz said in Manchester, Iowa. “I will not engage in personal attacks. Donald has changed how he has approached me. He is now insulting me every day. He can do that. That is his prerogative. I do not intend to respond in kind.”
But behind the scenes, Cruz’s campaign was on the air with an ad assailing Trump over his business practices, while a super PAC supporting Cruz unleashed its own ads criticizing Trump. Cruz said he would “continue to sing Donald’s praises personally” while pointing out policy differences with the real estate mogul.
Cruz’s reluctance to bash his opponent too directly reflects the delicate balance both he and Trump are trying to strike. Even as they work to take each other down, neither wants to alienate the other’s supporters.
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Clinton courts youth with celebs, but many prefer Sanders
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Hillary Clinton has a lot of celebrity pals on her side, like actress Lena Dunham and singers Katy Perry or Demi Lovato, the latter of whom belted out hits at a campaign concert at the University of Iowa.
It’s a play to help the former secretary of state connect with younger voters. But so far, the star power isn’t swaying the college set. Many say they prefer her rumpled 74-year-old rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, regardless of whether he got star power behind him or not.
“Bernie appeals more to my cool,” said Alex Bare, 19, a University of Iowa student who plans to caucus for Sanders, but said he likes Clinton and came for the free concert in Iowa City Thursday. “He refuses to take money from super PACs. That’s a really bold move and for me, that makes him cool.”
The push for younger voters comes amid an intensifying battle for the Democratic nomination. While Clinton and Sanders are locked in a tight race in Iowa, and Clinton has held the lead nationally, Sanders has a clear advantage among younger voters. A recent Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa poll forecast that Sanders will have 59 percent of Democratic caucus-goers 45 and under, compared to the 27 percent expected to back Clinton. And in the latest CBS News/New York Times poll Sanders led 60 percent to 31 percent among Democratic primary voters under 45.
“He has the hipster vote,” said Erin Kelleher, 26, a graduate student at the University of Iowa, who said she was deciding between Clinton and Sanders. But she said the Lovato show wouldn’t sway her because “I don’t care about the celebrities.”
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Justices won’t let North Dakota enforce tough abortion law
BISMARCK, N.D. — The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to review lower court rulings overturning North Dakota’s ban on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they’re pregnant.
The justices turned away the state’s appeal of decisions striking down the 2013 fetal heartbeat law as unconstitutional. The law never took effect, and abortion-rights supporters said it was the strictest anti-abortion measure in the country.
The high court last week rejected Arkansas’ bid to enforce its own fetal heartbeat law, banning some abortions at 12 weeks. Both measures had been struck down by a unanimous panel of three judges appointed by President George W. Bush to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We knew it was unlikely and it came as no surprise,” North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said of the high court’s refusal to review the case.
The Supreme Court gets about 7,500 requests each year but takes on fewer than 100 cases.
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Teen suspended for helping friend won’t return to school
KILLEEN, Texas — A Texas teenager who was suspended from school after helping a classmate who was having an asthma attack won’t return to the school, the teen’s mother said Monday.
Mandy Cortes said she will home-school her 15-year-old rather than have him return to Gateway Middle School in Killeen.
Anthony Ruelas was suspended for a day last week when he disobeyed his teacher by picking up his classmate and leaving the classroom to carry her to the nurse’s office.
The teacher had emailed the nurse when the girl began suffering the attack and fell to the floor. A disciplinary form explained the teacher was awaiting a response from the nurse when Anthony uttered an expletive about not waiting and picked up the girl, Cortes said.
School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. The Killeen school district last week issued a statement that read, in part, that the district “applauds the efforts of students who act in good faith to assist others in times of need.”
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Apple’s iPhone success may be reaching its peak
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple could soon face one of its biggest challenges to date: Peak iPhone.
Most analysts believe Apple surpassed its own record by selling more than 74.5 million units of its flagship product in the final three months of 2015. But there are signs that iPhone sales in the first three months of 2016 will — for the first time ever — show an abrupt decline from the same period a year earlier.
That could mark a pivotal moment for the Silicon Valley giant. Apple is the world’s biggest company, in terms of stock value, thanks to the iPhone’s surging popularity around the world. In business terms, Apple makes most of its money from iPhone sales.
But concerns about slowing growth have sent the stock into a months-long slump, fueling debate about what kind of company Apple will be in the future.
The iPhone contributed nearly two-thirds of Apple’s $234 billion in revenue last year. None of the other new products Apple has launched in recent years have emerged as blockbusters. That’s led some critics to suggest Apple has lost its innovative touch, while others say it’s evolving to depend on a broader base of related tech products and services.