Bigger fights looming after cliff deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans looked ahead on Wednesday toward the next round of even bigger budget fights after reaching a hard-fought "fiscal cliff" deal that narrowly averted potentially devastating tax hikes and spending cuts. The agreement, approved late on Tuesday by the Republican-led House of Representatives after a bitter political struggle,...

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House faces test on ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

Vice President Joe Biden gives two thumbs up following a Senate Democratic caucus meeting about the fiscal cliff …The Republican-held House of Representatives faced a tough vote Tuesday on a last-minute “fiscal cliff” compromise to cut taxes on all but the richest Americans and stall some painful spending cuts.  The deal, cut in secret weekend talks and passed by the Senate by a lopsided...

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Obama: Deal to avert fiscal cliff 'in sight'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Working with Congress against a midnight deadline, President Barack Obama said Monday that a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" was in sight but not yet finalized. The emerging deal would raise tax rates on family income over $450,000 a year, increase the estate tax rate and extend unemployment benefits for one year."There are still issues left to resolve but we're hopeful Congress...

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Obama boasts support of American people in ‘fiscal cliff’ fight

As Congress races to pass legislation before the Jan. 1 "fiscal cliff" deadline, President Barack Obama in an interview which aired Sunday publicly touted the support of the American people for the plan he offered to Republicans."We have put forward not only a sensible deal, but one that has the support of the majority of the American people including close to half of Republicans," the president told...

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Make-or-break moment for fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama was preparing to present a limited fiscal proposal to congressional leaders at a White House meeting Friday, a make-or-break moment for negotiations to avoid across-the-board tax increases and deep spending cuts at the first of the year.Lawmakers and White House officials held out a slim hope for a deal before the new year, but it remained unclear whether congressional...

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Reid: U.S. is poised to go off fiscal cliff

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R) (D-NV) hugs Speaker of the House John Boehner as Senate Minority Leader Mitch …With a deal to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff" nowhere in sight, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday predicted a compromise would not be reached in time to avert the tax increases and automatic spending cuts set to be triggered on January 1. Reid also criticized Republican...

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As winter storm bears down on Midwest, death toll climbs

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) -- A powerful storm system that erupted Christmas Day with Gulf Coast tornadoes and snow in the nation's midsection headed for the Northeast on Wednesday, spreading blizzard conditions that slowed holiday travel. The death toll rose to six with car accidents on snow and sleet-slickened highways in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Post-Christmas travelers braced...

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Egypt constitution passes with 63.8 percent

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's disputed Islamist-backed constitution passed with a 63.8 percent "yes" in a referendum, the election commission announced Tuesday, rejecting opposition allegations of significant vote fraud.Turnout of 32.9 percent of Egypt's nearly 52 million registered voters was quite a bit lower than most other elections since the uprising nearly two years ago that ousted authoritarian leader...

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Firefighters ambushed by gunman while responding to house fire

Residence near shooting and fire in Webster evacuated. (Max Schulte/Rochester Democrat&Chronicle via Twitter)A gunman set a trap and shot and killed two firefighters responding to an early morning blaze in Webster, N.Y., police officials said. Two other firefighters were also shot and both are listed in guarded condition at a local hospital."It does appear that it was a trap that was set for first...

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NRA’s defiant LaPierre dismisses critics of school gun plan

LaPierre speaks at Friday's press conference. (Getty)Two days after suggesting a "good guy with a gun" be stationed at every school in the country in response to the deadly shootings in Newtown, Conn., National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre blasted critics of his plan.In an interview broadcast on Sunday's "Meet The Press," LaPierre reiterated the statements he made Friday...

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Final day of funerals for Newtown shooting victims

The final three victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School will be laid to rest today, ending a somber week of funerals.A mass will take place today at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church for Josephine Gay, who had celebrated her 7th birthday on Dec. 11.Friends and family have been asked to wear Josephine's favorite color, purple, in her honor. ...

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NRA calls for armed personnel in schools

The NRA's Wayne LaPierre speaks at Friday's press conference (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)The National Rifle Association on Friday, a full week after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gave its first response to the massacre that killed 26 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn.  Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, argued at a press conference in Washington, D.C., that...

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Midwest storm sparks 25-vehicle crash

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The first widespread snowstorm of the season began a slow crawl across the Midwest on Thursday, creating treacherous driving conditions that, in Iowa, led to a 25-vehicle pileup that killed one person.Drivers were blinded by blowing snow and didn't see vehicles that had slowed or stopped on Interstate 80 about 60 miles north of Des Moines, state police said. A chain reaction...

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'Constant reminder': Newtown holds third day of funerals

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — For a third straight day Wednesday, funeral processions rolled through a grieving Connecticut town trying to make sense of the massacre of 20 first-graders and six adults in an elementary school less than two weeks before Christmas.Dr. Joseph Young, an optometrist, said he has already been to one funeral and plans to attend two or three more."The first few days, all you heard...

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Survivor's dad to NRA: Help make the U.S. safe for kids

Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, calls on Congress to address gun violence at …A teacher saved his 8-year-old son from the massacre in Newtown, and now Andrei Nikitchyuk has a message for the National Rifle Association: Help make the United States safe for kids again."I would offer NRA: Return this country their kids. If they can do it, I would like that very,...

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Why we should politicize the Newtown shooting, starting right now

By Jeff GreenfieldTwo events, each more than a century old, instruct us about how we should act in the face of what happened Friday in Newtown, Connecticut.On March 25, 1911, fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan. Because the owners had locked the doors and stairwells, in an effort to prevent theft and unauthorized work breaks, the garment workers were trapped in the...

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Portraits of Conn. victims show lives at their very start, ended in gunfire

Most died at the very start of their young lives, tiny victims taken in a way not fit for anyone regardless of age. Others found their life's work in sheltering little ones, teaching them, caring for them, treating them as their own. After the gunfire ended Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the trail of loss was more than many could bear: 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman's...

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Evidence at suspected shooter’s home may point to motive, police say

Conn. State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance at Saturday morning's news conference. (Jason Sickles/Yahoo News)NEWTOWN, CT - Evidence recovered at gunman Adam Lanza's home may provide a motive for the massacre that left 26 dead at an elementary school, police said on Saturday.State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance declined to provide specifics about the evidence but said, "we're hopeful it will paint...

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At least 27 dead, mostly children, in Conn. school shooting

More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News.The massacre involved two gunmen and prompted the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today.One shooter is dead and a manhunt is on for a second gunman. Police...

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Why Hillary Clinton won't get a break from public life

By Walter ShapiroThe envelope, please. The 2012 award for the most candid comment by a prominent public official goes to Hillary Clinton. Her uncharacteristic burst of honesty adds a layer of complexity to the premature speculation about her political future. In an interview with the New York Times columnist Gail Collins, Clinton revealed her fantasy for 2013 after she takes her final globe-girdling...

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