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Purveyor's JournalDetroit Review Team Finds 'Financial Emergency' In City
Source: WDIV-TV Detroit
DETROIT -According to the Michigan State Treasurer's Office, the six-member financial review team appointed in December to examine the city of Detroit’s finances has unanimously determined that a local government financial emergency currently exists in the city, and no satisfactory plan is in place to resolve it.
"This review team spent two months pouring over the city’s finances, taking careful
consideration of both long and short-term issues, including recent actions by the administration and City Council,” said State Treasurer Andy Dillon, a member of the six-person panel. “While we appreciate the steps the city has taken over the past number of weeks, key reform measures have not occurred quickly enough, if at all. The team collectively believes the city needs assistance in making the difficult decisions necessary to achieve the significant reforms that are so crucial to the city’s long-term viability."
--SNIP
“Each member of the Review Team came into this process with an open mind, and no preconceptions. However, it became clear as we moved forward, that the city continues to struggle mightily beneath the weight of chronic deficits and its long-term liabilities,” said Ronald Goldsberry, an independent consultant and one of Governor Snyder’s appointees to the Review Team. “Add to the mix a city governance structure that resists meaningful, structural change, and you have what we have deemed to be a financial emergency.”
Under PA 72, the Governor now has 30 days to review the report and make a determination on whether or not a financial emergency exists in the City.
Read more: http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/Detroit-review-team-finds-financial-emergency-in-city/-/1719418/18988204/-/format/rss_2.0/-/c4x4c1z/-/index.html
"Emergency Manager" pending if the governor can find anyone to take the job. Sadly, considering the buffoons on the Detroit City council...it is probably for the best.
OMG, OMG, OMG! Secretary Kerry To Skip Israel In First Trip
John Kerry will skip Israel as part of his first trip abroad as secretary of State, the Obama administration announced Tuesday.
Kerry had been expected to visit Israel and push for restarting peace talks with the Palestinians ahead of President Obama's own trip to the country next month. Kerry will instead visit nine nations in Europe and the Middle East – Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar – from Feb. 24 until March 6.
In Italy, Kerry will notably participate in a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the civil war in Syria. The Obama administration has been under increased pressure to arm the rebels fighting Bashar Assad's regime following revelations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta urged such a policy last summer; Kerry has said he's considering a range of options as the new head of State and would talk to Syria's neighbors before advocating next steps.
“We're expecting eight to 10 of the countries who have been the biggest supporters of the opposition to be there and also for the opposition to be in that meeting to present its views on how it's going and ho the international community can continue to support [the opposition],” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “And then there'll be a separate meeting that the secretary will have with the [Syrian Opposition Council] leadership.”
Here's the full itinerary, per the State Department:
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/283769-kerry-to-skip-israel-in-first-trip-as-secretary-of-state#ixzz2LNFLMmTd
General John Allen To Retire, Not Take NATO Nomination
Source: REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General John Allen has decided to retire rather than proceed with his nomination as the NATO supreme allied commander, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday.
"Today, I met with General John Allen and accepted his request to retire from the military so that he can address health issues within his family," Obama said in a statement.
Read more: http://www.tidewaterreview.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-obama-allenbre91i0zf-20130219,0,5710845.story
U.S. Top Court Rules For Army Father In Custody Battle
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court sided with an American father on Tuesday in an international custody dispute over a girl who has been living outside the country under a lower court order.
By a 9-0 vote, the court ruled that U.S. Army Sergeant Jeffrey Chafin had a right to seek custody of his 6-year-old daughter, Eris, who had been taken to Scotland by her mother, Lynne Chafin, a Scottish national.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had dismissed Jeffrey Chafin's appeal, saying the issue was moot because the girl by then was already in Scotland and beyond its control.
The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the appeals court should have considered the merits of Jeffrey Chafin's claim.
MORE...
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130219/update-1-us-top-court-rules-army-father-custody-battle
Supreme Court Says Police Don't Have To Prove Dog Training
WASHINGTON—Police don't have to extensively document and log the work of drug-sniffing dogs in the field to be able to use the results of their work in court, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
Instead, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for a unanimous court, courts should apply the same tests to dog sniffs they do when they look at other issues of whether police have probable cause to take an action.
"The question —similar to every inquiry into probable cause—is whether all the facts surrounding a dog's alert, viewed through the lens of common sense, would make a reasonably prudent person think that a search would reveal contraband or evidence of a crime," Kagan said. "A sniff is up to snuff when it meets that test."
The court's ruling overturns a decision by the Florida Supreme Court in the case of Aldo, a drug-sniffing police dog used by the Liberty County sheriff.
MORE...
http://www.twincities.com/ci_22619847/court-says-police-dont-have-prove-dog-training
White House Pre-Empts Israeli Request For Jonathan Pollard Release On Obama Visit
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (EJP)---The White House appeared to pre-empt an inevitable repeat request from Israel for the release of convicted Israeli-American spy Jonathan Pollard on US President Barack Obama’s next month’s visit to Jerusalem.
“Our position has not changed and will not change today. Mr Pollard was convicted of extremely serious crimes,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
On Monday, Obama’s Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres evaded a question from the media at the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organisations in an apparent effort to avoid a rift with the US which has been uncompromising in its insistence across several administrations that the issue of Pollard’s release was not up for negotiation.
The President’s spokesman Ayelet Frish later told Israeli press that Peres had met with the imprisoned Pollard’s wife Esther as recently as several weeks ago along with members of the Justice for Pollard Committee and would continue to do everything in his power to secure the convicted spy’s release.
MORE...
http://www.ejpress.org/article/64980
Obama Warns Looming Sequester Would Devastate Economy
Source: NBC NEWS
President Barack Obama used his bully pulpit Tuesday to warn of calamitous consequences for the U.S. economy should the automatic spending cuts known as the “sequester” go into effect next Friday.
The president warned that the automatic cuts, totaling about $85 billion over the course of this year, would prompt job losses, weakened national security and canceled government services – among other consequences.
“So these cuts are not smart, they are not fair, they will hurt our economy, they will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls,” Obama said in a statement at the White House. “This is not an abstraction; people will lose their jobs. The unemployment rate might tick up again.”
The speech featured no new, concrete proposal from the president detailing how he would prefer for Congress to replace the sequester. Democrats in Congress released a plan last week that called for $55 billion in new revenues from closing tax loopholes and deductions, and additional cuts by $27.5 billion to each the defense and discretionary spending budgets over the course of the next decade.
Read more: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/19/17017721-obama-warns-looming-sequester-would-devastate-economy?lite
Several Dead In Southern California Shooting Spree
Source: Associated Press
TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) -- A chaotic 25-minute shooting spree through Orange County early Tuesday left a trail of dead and injured victims before the shooter stopped and killed himself, police said.
There were at least six crime scenes, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino told KNBC-TV.
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Officers found one dead person and one wounded at State Route 55 and McFadden Street, two shot and wounded at Interstate 5 and Red Hill Avenue, and one dead at Del Amo Boulevard and Edinger Avenue. The alleged shooter then drove to the intersection of Wanda Road and Katella Avenue and shot himself in the middle of the intersection, Kanoti said.
The conditions of the wounded victims were unknown.
It is possible more people were shot at because some people may have chased the shooter, Kanoti said.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_SHOOTING_SPREE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-02-19-11-13-14
McCready’s Death Renews Questions For Dr. Drew
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The criticism of Dr. Drew Pinsky spread on the Internet almost as quickly as news of Mindy McCready's death.
The country singer with the tumultuous personal life became the fifth cast member of his "Celebrity Rehab" series to die since appearing on the show and the third from Season 3. The previous deaths stirred up rumors of a curse and a debate about the show's helpfulness. McCready's apparent suicide upped the pitch of the reaction, however.
Singer Richard Marx on Twitter compared Pinsky to Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the so-called suicide doctor: "Same results."
Marx backed off later Monday, saying the crack went too far. But he restated his thoughts in a way that summed up much of the reaction in the first 24 hours since the 37-year-old McCready's death Sunday afternoon in Heber Springs, Ark.
"It is, however, my opinion that what Dr. D does is exploitation and his TV track record is not good," Marx wrote.
More...
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130219/entlife/702199878/
US Business Hits Out At ‘Obamacare’ Costs
By Barney Jopson in New York and Alan Rappeport in Washington
US retailers and restaurants chains that employ millions of low-wage workers are considering cutting working hours or paying fines rather than enrolling employees in health insurance plans under Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law.
Employers are concerned that the law increases the cost of insuring employees on existing plans, partly by broadening the range of benefits. It also requires companies to insure some employees not previously covered.
David Dillon, chief executive of the Kroger supermarket chain, told the Financial Times that some companies might opt to pay a government-mandated penalty for not providing insurance because it was cheaper than the cost of coverage.
Nigel Travis, head of Dunkin’ Brands, said his doughnut chain was lobbying to change the definition of “full-time” employees eligible for coverage from those working at least 30 hours a week to 40 hours a week.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2bce37c-7644-11e2-8eb6-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2LMQJNyIU
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