In Brief: Nation & World: 8-30-16

Suddenly unsure on immigration, Trump trying to clear it up

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — It’s been the driving issue of Donald Trump’s campaign. Build a wall along the southern border. Make Mexico pay for it. And expel everyone living in the U.S. illegally with the help of a “deportation force.”

Ten weeks before the election, however, buffeted by conflicting advice from aides and advisers, Trump has seemed to be in full indecision mode.

At a Fox News town hall tall taping last week, in the face of pressing questions, he proceeded to poll the audience at length on the fate of an estimated 11 million people.

Trump is now planning a major speech on Wednesday, during which he’s expected to finally clarify his stance. Supporters are hoping for a strong, decisive showing. But for critics, many already disposed to vote against him, his wavering on what has been his signature issue, seems like a warning that he’s unable to handle a central element of any president’s job — making decisions.

It also underscores how little his Republican campaign has invested in the nitty gritty of outlining what he would do as president, especially when compared with the more detailed plans of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

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Trump plans major ad buy after weeks of being outspent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s campaign is making its biggest general election ad buy to date, with plans to spend upward of $10 million on commercials airing over the next week or so.

The campaign is expecting to air a new ad, which paints rival Hillary Clinton as a job-killer, as soon as Monday in nine states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida, where the campaign has already been on the air, along with New Hampshire, Virginia, Iowa, Colorado and Nevada — all battleground states.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has so far been badly outspent by his Democratic rival and groups supporting her. Since clinching her party’s nomination in early June, Clinton has spent more than $77 million on television and radio advertising, largely targeting voters in battleground states, according to Kantar Media’s political ad tracker.

Trump finally hit the airwaves earlier this month with an ad focused on immigration, and so far has only spent about $5 million.

Clinton has reserved about $9.2 million in airtime this week.

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Clinton proposes plan to address mental health treatment

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Hillary Clinton rolled out a comprehensive plan to address millions of Americans coping with mental illness, pointing to the need to fully integrate mental health services into the nation’s health care system.

Clinton’s campaign released a multi-pronged approach to mental health care on Monday, aimed at ensuring that Americans would no longer separate mental health from physical health in terms of access, care and quality of treatment.

“We’ve got to break through and break down the stigma and shame. We’ve got to make clear that mental health is not a personal failing. Right now it’s our country which is failing people with mental health issues,” she said.

The Democratic presidential nominee’s agenda would focus on early diagnosis and intervention and create a national initiative for suicide prevention. If elected, Clinton would hold a White House conference on mental health within her first year in office.

Clinton’s proposal would also aim to enforce mental health parity laws and provide training to law enforcement officers to deal with people grappling with mental health problems while prioritizing treatment over jail for low-level offenders.

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Airport scare hard to avoid with cascade of false reports

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the moments before reports of gunshots created a panic at the Los Angeles airport, police with weapons drawn had confronted a masked man outside a terminal who was carrying a plastic sword and dressed like Zorro.

Authorities have now determined that there were no gunshots. The only people at the airport with guns Sunday night were officers, but false reports of an active shooter triggered a ripple of chaos that sent frantic travelers racing into the streets and onto the tarmac.

As police tried Monday to sort out the disruption, experts said the incident — the second of its kind at a major U.S. airport in two weeks — highlights one of the challenges faced by airports at a time of terrorism and frequent unsubstantiated reports.

“You can’t always avoid them, and when they occur you need to respond as if it’s a legitimate attack every single time,” said Anthony Roman, who runs a security consulting firm in Lynbrook, New York. “There are false alarms. There are pranksters who pull fire alarms, and we evacuate right away because we’re all terrified of fire.”

Investigators were focusing on what prompted the first of several 911 calls from multiple terminals, airport police officer Rob Pedregon said. The initial call came from Terminal 8 around 8:45 p.m. — about five minutes after officers detained the man dressed as Zorro.

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In Brazil Senate, Rousseff proclaims innocence, blasts VP

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff proclaimed her innocence on Monday, branding her vice president a “usurper” and warning senators that history would judge them harshly if they ousted a democratically elected leader on false charges.

Rousseff’s much anticipated speech to the lawmakers who will decide this week whether to permanently remove her from office was characterized by the same defiance she has shown throughout an impeachment process that has divided Latin America’s most populous nation.

“I know I will be judged, but my conscience is clear. I did not commit a crime,” Rousseff told the senators who listened intently, in contrast to the chamber’s usual raucousness.

In the middle of her second term, the left-leaning leader has been accused of breaking fiscal rules to hide problems in the federal budget. She has denied any wrongdoing, accusing her opponents of a “coup d’état.”

Rousseff reminded those in attendance that she was re-elected in 2014 by more than 54 million votes, asserting that at every moment since she has followed the constitution and sought to do what was best for the country.

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Actor Gene Wilder, star of Mel Brooks movies, dies at 83

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in “The Producers” and the mad scientist of “Young Frankenstein,” has died. He was 83.

Wilder’s nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans.

“He simply couldn’t bear the idea of one less smile in the world,” Walker-Pearlman said.

Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on “The Producers,” ”Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” The last film — with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced “Frahn-ken-SHTEEN” — was co-written by Brooks and Wilder.

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Clinton aide Abedin dumps husband Weiner over new scandal

NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin is done playing the good wife to Anthony Weiner, announcing Monday she is leaving the serially sexting ex-congressman after he was accused of sending raunchy photos and messages to yet another woman.

Abedin, who as vice chair of Clinton’s campaign is destined for big things if the Democrat is elected president, stayed with Weiner after a sexting scandal led him to resign from Congress in 2011 and after a new outbreak of online misbehavior wrecked his bid for New York mayor in 2013. She didn’t leave even when a recent documentary blew up tense moments in their marriage to big-screen proportions.

But on Monday, she effectively declared she had had enough.

“After long and painful consideration and work on my marriage, I have made the decision to separate from my husband,” she said in a statement issued by the campaign. “Anthony and I remain devoted to doing what is best for our son, who is the light of our life.”

The New York Post published photos late Sunday that it said Weiner had sent last year to a woman identified only as a “40-something divorcee” who lives in the West and supports Republican Donald Trump. The photos included two close-ups of Weiner’s bulging underpants.

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Quake survivors erupt in anger at funeral plan; govt relents

ROME (AP) — Italian quake survivors rebelled in anger Monday over the government’s plan to hold a state funeral for their loved ones in an airport hangar in a distant town, where scores of bodies are being kept in refrigerated trucks, and let them watch it on screens from near their emergency tent camp.

One relative of 7-year-old twins who perished in central Italy’s Aug. 24 quake was so upset by the announcement he could barely speak, holding up seven fingers when explaining how old the children were. The mayor of Amatrice, the hardest-hit of the three medieval towns flattened by the quake, was also upset.

“Give us back our dead!” yelled one man in the crowd of several dozen survivors.

Sensing a public relations disaster, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi’s government quickly reversed course, and he said the latest state funeral will take place Tuesday in the devastated Apennines hill town.

So far, 231 of the quake’s 292 victims have been found in Amatrice, with the death toll rising by two Monday afternoon when two bodies were extracted from rubble.

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FAA forecast: 600,000 commercial drones within the year

WASHINGTON (AP) — There will be 600,000 commercial drone aircraft operating in the U.S. within the year as the result of new safety rules that opened the skies to them on Monday, according to a Federal Aviation Administration estimate.

The rules governing the operation of small commercial drones were designed to protect safety without stifling innovation, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told a news conference.

Commercial operators initially complained that the new rules would be too rigid. The agency responded by creating a system to grant exemptions to some of the rules for companies that show they can operate safely, Huerta said.

On the first day the rules were in effect the FAA had already granted 76 exemptions, most of them to companies that want to fly drones at night, Huerta said.

“With these rules, we have created an environment in which emerging technology can be rapidly introduced while protecting the safety of the world’s busiest, most complex airspace,” he said.

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2 slain nuns remembered for helping the needy

DURANT, Miss. (AP) — Hundreds of people filled a cathedral in Mississippi’s capital city on Monday to remember two nuns who spent decades helping the needy and were found stabbed to death last week in their home in one of the poorest counties of the state.

Bail was denied during the initial court appearance for the man charged with two counts of capital murder in the slayings of Sisters Margaret Held and Paula Merrill, both 68. Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, was also charged with one count of burglary grand larceny. He was not represented by an attorney during his appearance Monday afternoon in Durant city court. City Judge Jim Arnold said the state will appoint an attorney for Sanders.

Capital murder is punishable by execution or life in prison; the sisters’ religious orders have issued a joint statement against the death penalty.

Sanders confessed to the killings but gave no reason, said Holmes County Sheriff Willie March, who was briefed by Durant police and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation officials who took part in Sanders’ interrogation. Sanders had been living about 15 miles east of the sisters’ Durant home. He has been held at an undisclosed jail since his arrest late Friday.

Sander’s wife attended the hearing and broke down when addressing the family and friends of the nuns.