Jeb Bush: Paul ‘wrong’ about Patriot Act
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said that Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul is “wrong” on his efforts to end post-Sept. 11 surveillance laws used against suspected spies and terrorists.
Bush, a likely GOP presidential candidate in 2016, called for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act enacted under the presidency of his brother George W. Bush.
“What I admire most about my brother was he kept us safe,” Jeb Bush said at a Tennessee Republican Party fundraiser. “And I believe people will respect him for a long time because of that.”
Without action by midnight Sunday, a number of tools that permit law enforcement to pursue and investigate suspected terrorists will expire. Paul, a senator from Kentucky, has said he will use his right to delay a final vote and let the powers lapse.
Texas sees sunshine and flood damage
DALLAS – Most of Texas was set to get its first period of extended sunshine in weeks, allowing surging rivers to recede as emergency-management officials turn their attention to cleanup efforts in such places as Houston, where damage estimates top $45 million.
Parts of the state finally were beginning to recover Sunday from weeks of rain and flooding that have made Texas a place of extremes: severe drought conditions that have given way to unprecedented rainfall in some areas. At least 31 people have been killed in storms that began in Texas and Oklahoma over Memorial Day weekend. Twenty-seven of the deaths have been in Texas, and at least 10 people still were missing over the weekend.
The plentiful sun forecast for much of the state this week was expected to allow engorged rivers such as the Trinity in North and East Texas, the Brazos southwest of Houston and Nueces in South Texas to flush massive volumes of water into the Gulf of Mexico.
More than 10 inches of rain has fallen during the last 30 days across nearly the entire central and eastern portion of the state. Isolated areas have received 15 to more than 20 inches.
San Francisco still at war with soda pop
SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco lawmakers are taking another stab at curbing soda consumption seven months after local voters rejected taxing sugary drinks in the name of public health.
A Board of Supervisors committee is expected to take up three pieces of legislation Monday that represent a new front in the sweetened-beverage wars, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
One proposal would require soda ads posted on buses, billboards and other city surfaces to carry warnings stating that drinks with added sugar contribute to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay. The rule would also apply to sports venues. The other laws under consideration would ban soda ads on public property and prohibit city funds from being used to buy soda.
GOP battles Obama over global warming
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration says a new federal rule regulating small streams and wetlands will protect the drinking water of more than 117 million people in the country. Not so, insist Republicans. They say the rule is a massive government overreach that could even subject puddles and ditches to regulation.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is promising to “rein in” the government through legislation or other means.
Associated Press
