Obama dealt big blow to Iran nuclear deal
PHOENIX – Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, the lone Republican senator who was considering support for the Iran nuclear deal, announced plans Saturday to vote no, dealing a significant blow to the White House’s efforts to garner bipartisan backing for the controversial accord.
Flake, a freshman who had praised President Barack Obama for seeking a diplomatic solution, had been publicly undecided, making him a top target of the White House’s concerted lobbying campaign. Senate vote-counters had considered Flake the only truly undecided GOP vote, although his fellow Republicans had expressed confidence he would oppose it.
“I cannot vote in support of this deal,” Flake said.
In a statement issued while Congress was on its annual August recess, Flake said he was concerned that the deal severely limits lawmakers’ ability to sanction Iran for activities unrelated to its nuclear program. Obama has argued that multilateral sanctions under the United Nations umbrella will be lifted under the deal, but that the U.S. will retain sanctions punishing Iran for other issues such as human rights and its support for extremist groups such as Hezbollah.
“As written, this agreement gives Iran leverage it currently doesn’t have,” Flake said.
Clinton says email ‘facts are the same’
DES MOINES, Iowa – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated Saturday that she did not send or receive emails marked classified from her homemade email server while secretary of state, an issue that continues to overshadow her campaign.
Clinton told reporters at the Iowa State Fair that she would let the inquiry into her email use continue, while she blamed her Republican challengers and House GOP members for turning the issue into a partisan affair.
“The facts are the same as they have been from the very beginning,” she said.
Clinton recently turned her server over to the FBI to investigate the security of her email setup, which The Associated Press in March traced to an Internet connection at her home in Chappaqua, New York.
Clinton later said she set up her own system – rather than use a State Department account – for the convenience of using one BlackBerry device.
Thousands of pages of her emails publicly released in recent months show Clinton did, in fact, receive messages later marked classified, including some that contained material regarding the production and dissemination of U.S. intelligence information.
FAA blames delays on technical issue
WASHINGTON – Air traffic was snarled and passengers’ tempers frayed Saturday as many flights to and from airports throughout a large swath of the Northeast stretching from New York down to the Carolinas were delayed or cancelled.
The Federal Aviation Administration blamed the problem on “technical issues” at an air traffic control center in Leesburg, Va. Around 4 p.m., the agency said the problem was resolved, and officials were working to lift any remaining orders to hold planes on the ground.
Delays began building about 9:45 a.m., according to FlightRadar24, a flight monitoring website. Flights bound for airports in the Washington area were some of the most affected, including Washington’s Reagan National Airport and Dulles International, as well as Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.
By mid-afternoon, 50 percent of inbound flights and 42 percent of outbound flights had been cancelled at Reagan National, and delays were averaging about three hours, according to FlightRadar24. In Baltimore, 58 percent of inbound flights and 36 of outbound flights had been cancelled, and delays were averaging over an hour.
Flights departing from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York that normally fly over the Washington region as they head southward were also affected, although the FAA had said it was trying to route the flights around the affected area.
Nine arrested after man’s killing in 2012
SAN FRANCISCO – A long and largely forgotten death investigation in California’s Central Valley has led to a vast and unexpected set of arrests that included three current and former Highway Patrol officers and a prominent defense attorney.
They were among nine people arrested in the 2012 disappearance and killing of Korey Kauffman, stemming from the belief that he was stealing antiques, car parts and other objects from Modesto attorney Frank Carson’s home, law-enforcement officials said at a news conference Friday in Modesto, California.
Those arrested either played a part in the killing of the 26-year-old Kauffman or helped cover it up and misled investigators, the officials said.
Friends last saw Kauffman on March 30, 2012. On the night of his disappearance, Kauffman left the home of friends and brothers Mike and Rickey Cooley to steal irrigation pipes from Carson’s property. The brothers’ home was adjacent to Carson’s property, according to a 326-page court filing authorities used to get arrest warrants.
Mike Cooley said he believes the pipes were put there to lure him or other thieves to the property.
Associated Press
