Talking jobs, Obama tries to leave troubles behind
BALTIMORE – President Barack Obama tried Friday to leave behind the political battles that have overshadowed his second-term agenda, saying lawmakers should work on creating more middle-class jobs in the slowly growing economy. “Our work is not done, and our focus cannot drift,” Obama said.
Obama’s jobs tour took him to Baltimore after riding through one eruption after the other during the last few weeks, from new questions about his administration’s handling of last year’s deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, to revelations of political targeting at the Internal Revenue Service and a secret probe of The Associated Press and its confidential sources.
“Others may get distracted by chasing every fleeting issue that passes by, but the middle class will always be my number one focus,” Obama said at Ellicott Dredges, maker of equipment for digging and pumping projects including mining.
In his speech to several hundred workers and guests, Obama cited growth in the economy, a drop in unemployment nationwide and improvements in the housing and auto industries.
O.J.’s former lawyer contradicts his testimony
LAS VEGAS – O.J. Simpson’s former lawyer defended himself point by point Friday against allegations he botched the former football star’s armed-robbery trial, and he testified Simpson actually knew his buddies had guns when they went to a hotel room to reclaim some sports memorabilia.
Miami attorney Yale Galanter took the stand at an often combative weeklong hearing about Simpson’s claim that he was so badly represented by his lawyer that his conviction should be thrown out.
Galanter denied giving Simpson the go-ahead to retrieve the photos and footballs he believed had been stolen from him. He denied keeping Simpson in the dark about plea bargain offers that carried only a few years in prison. He said his client agreed all along with the decision not to put him on the stand.
Idaho man charged in Uzbekistan terror plot
BOISE, Idaho – He was a Russian-speaking truck driver who came to Idaho nearly four years ago to join hundreds of other Uzbekistan refugees for whom the state has become a sanctuary from violence in their home country.
But federal officials say in an indictment that Fazliddin Kurbanov also was teaching people to build bombs that would target public transportation.
It’s unclear whether those alleged targets were domestic or abroad – or how far Kurbanov would have gone. Prosecutors said Friday only that they believe he no longer is a threat.
Kurbanov, 30, was arrested Thursday during a raid of his small apartment south of Boise’s downtown.
Prosecutors charged him with felonies in Idaho and Utah after an extensive investigation into his activities late last year and this year. They allege those activities included assisting a militant group in his native Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country with a southern border with Afghanistan.
Associated Press
