3 Pa. Parole Board Employees Fired In Wake of Murder of Philadelphia Cop « CBS Philly

3 Pa. Parole Board Employees Fired In Wake of Murder of Philadelphia Cop « CBS Philly

Former lawmakers keep Pa. benefits in new jobs - abc27 WHTM

Former lawmakers keep Pa. benefits in new jobs - abc27 WHTM

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A state legislator charged with drunken-driving and assaulting his wife will stay on the House payroll and retain his state health and pension benefits...Full story

War rips apart families, neighbors in Syria

War rips apart families, neighbors in Syria 

Syrian children look through their car window as they cross into Lebanon with their families at the border crossing, in Masnaa, eastern Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 30, 2012.

BEIRUT (AP) -- BEIRUT - It's at night that worries over her children hit the matriarch of the Khayyat family hardest, tormenting her as she tries to sleep.

Four of her sons have joined the tens of thousands of rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. The fifth is a sergeant in Assad's army, a draftee. Worsening her troubles, her own brother no longer speaks to her because of her sons in the rebellion.

"This is what it has come to in Syria," said the 60-year-old Sunni Muslim woman as she sat in the family home on the outskirts of Damascus. "This is my son, and the other is my son, but each is fighting on a different side in this war. It burns my heart." Because of fears of reprisals against any of her children, she spoke on condition she not be identified except by the name of her large, extended family.

More than any of the other uprisings that toppled longtime dictators in the Arab world, the civil war in Syria has sharply polarized the country - ripping apart families and neighbors and bringing a bloody end to decades of coexistence.

The war has riven Syria along sectarian lines. The Sunni majority forms the backbone of the revolt. The minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism, backs the regime of Assad, who is himself an Alawite and has stacked his leadership with members of the community. Other minorities like Christians largely support Assad or stand on the sidelines, worried that Assad's fall would bring a more Islamist rule over them.

But behind the broad outlines, even families within the same community have been wrenched apart.

Some are torn by ideology: In a family, some remain fiercely loyal to Assad, alienating those who became regime opponents. Despite years of discrimination under the Assad family rule, even some Sunni Muslims back him, whether out of fear of the alternative or belief in the regime narrative boasting of Syria as an oasis of secularism and stability in a turbulent region.

Others families are divided by circumstances: Young army conscripts find themselves fighting for a regime they fear defecting from even as their brothers join the rebels.The violence, which activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011, has unleashed animosity and sectarian hatreds that many say they didn't even know existed. Tit-for-tat killings between sects have swelled, as has segregation as Sunnis and Alawites flee each other. On social media web sites, venomous accusations and insults fly between regime opponents and Assad loyalists, who they often deride as "Minhibakjis" - Arabic for "we love you." A third group of Syrians is opposed to both camps.

"Syrian society has been deeply fragmented along multiple lines which may take generations to repair," said Randa Kassis, a Syrian anthropologist opposed to Assad's regime. "Anyone of a different opinion is immediately being cast as an agent or a stooge."

"It will take a lot of work to instill a culture of tolerance and acceptance, of give and take among people," said the Paris-based Kassis, who founded the Movement for a Pluralistic Society, an organization working for a secular and united civil society in Syria.

In that atmosphere, a difference of opinion within a family can swell into a bitter split.

Mohammed, a former sergeant from the southern town of Daraa, where the uprising began, said he defected early on because he could not bring himself to open fire on protesters. He said he "felt like his heart was on the other side."

But his father and his brother, who serves in the air force security department in Daraa, remain hardcore regime supporters, convinced that those protesting are foreign-backed terrorists. Mohammed spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name for fear his brother would be harmed for the connection to an uprising supporter.

"The first few months were hell," he said. "My father forbade any talk at home of the revolution. When I told him I intended to defect, he grabbed me and said: `If you want to defect, go do it somewhere else and don't bring shame to this family.'"

Mohammed said he joined friends in the central province of Homs and has been fighting there since.

"I think my brother is a coward. But I don't blame him, each person's tolerance level is different," he said.

An opposition activist in Damascus said his family's divisions are a generational struggle. He said his family has long opposed the regime but are of a generation that shunned activism, knowing it would bring harsh retaliation.

So "when I quit my job as a magazine editor to dedicate my time to the revolution, they went crazy," he said in an interview through Skype.

"Sometimes they shut me off for days, they don't talk to me, then they ease up," he said.

The rebel sons of the Khayyat family matriarch seemed unsure whether their brother was serving in Assad's military willingly or out of fear if he defected. The brother was drafted six months before the uprising began and is serving in the eastern Deir el-Zour province. Tens of thousands of soldiers have defected over the past 20 months, many now fighting alongside the rebels.

At the Khayyat family home in Kisweh, south of Damascus, the matriarch's eldest son walks in slowly, dragging his foot because of a injury during recent fighting. He was the first of the brothers to join the Free Syrian Army rebels, after he became convinced armed resistance was needed against Assad's brutal crackdown on peaceful protests.

He hasn't seen his army brother for months. He and other members of the family spoke on condition their first names not be used for fear of reprisals.

"I know there may come a day when my brother and I might stand face to face against each other, but this is a war between right and wrong," he said.

Another brother with the rebels is convinced their military sibling is staying unwillingly. The last time he spoke with him was last month during the Eid al-Adha holiday.

"He couldn't say anything beyond `how are you'. He knows he is under surveillance," said the brother, who was fired from his job as teacher at a private school for taking part in an anti-government protest. "If he defects, they would not forgive him, he would be killed."

"The struggle is no longer just between the regime and the opposition. It is now at the workplace, in every family and in every home," he said.

Their father, who was imprisoned several times during the uprising, is now in hiding, a wanted man. Their mother starts to cry as she tells of how her own brother has not spoken to her in a year and a half because of her rebel sons.

"But I stick up to my sons because they are fighting for what they believe in," she said. "As a mother, I don't differentiate between my sons."

"All I want is to have them all gathered around the same meal at home again."

Analysis: Obama, Boehner seek cliff talks leverage

Analysis: Obama, Boehner seek cliff talks leverage 

President Barack Obama waves after speaking at the Rodon Group, which manufactures over 95% of the parts for K'NEX Brands toys, Friday, Nov. 30, 2012, in Hatfield, Pa. The visit comes as the White House continues a week of public outreach efforts, while also attempting to negotiate a deal with congressional leaders.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One month before the deadline, negotiations between President Barack Obama and Republicans to save the economy from a plunge over the fiscal cliff are still in the throat-clearing stage. Serious bargaining is on hold while the two sides vie for political leverage.

Deal or no deal, nothing is likely to become clear until far closer to the year-end deadline, when the lure of getting away for the holidays will sharpen the focus of negotiators.

"There's a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Friday, punctuating the end of a week of political theater by divided government. "Right now we're almost nowhere."

He spoke as Obama all but called Republicans heartless louts from a Charles Dickens story. Their failure to pass an extension of middle class tax cuts would amount to a Christmas "lump of coal" for millions, Obama said in Hatfield, Pa. "That's a Scrooge Christmas," added the recently-re-elected president, who claims a voters' mandate to extend existing tax cuts for all but upper incomes.

Boehner, too, claimed a mandate after voters renewed the House Republican majority on Nov. 6. But the speaker's political hand was weakened - witness his postelection announcement that the GOP would put revenues on the bargaining table. His control seems to have eroded further in the weeks since, as a smattering of the GOP rank and file let it be known they could support the president's tax plan under the right circumstances.

"Rate increase, if the package includes significant entitlement reform that gets you to $4 to $6 trillion (in deficit savings) over 10 years, I would vote for that," a retiring Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, told reporters on Friday.

Rep. Charles Bass made similar comments. "If it gets us past the fiscal cliff and the president is willing to consider meaningful savings in entitlements, it's a legitimate solution," said the New Hampshire lawmaker, who was defeated for re-election this fall.

Yet the speaker also made a little-noticed move this week to shore up his bargaining position.

He issued a statement noting that Senate Democrats are threatening to weaken the Republicans' ability to block legislation in their chamber in the new Congress that convenes in January.

"Any bill that reaches a Republican-led House based on Senate Democrats' heavy-handed power play would be dead on arrival," he warned.

In the talks to date, Democrats have declined to identify a single spending cut they are willing to support, while Republicans avoid specifics on revenue increases they would swallow.

Once each side moves beyond opening gambits, Republicans will have to decide whether they are willing to raise income tax rates on upper incomes, as Obama wants, or hold fast to closing loopholes as a means of producing increased tax revenue.

For their part, Democrats will decide how much savings to pull from benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and possibly Social Security without cutting guaranteed benefits, a line they vowed not to cross in earlier budget negotiations.

Obama's opening proposal, delivered to Boehner and other Republicans by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Thursday, calls for $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and enhancing the president's power to raise the national debt limit.

The new federal revenue would include $950 billion generated by raising taxes on families with incomes over $250,000 and by closing certain tax loopholes by the end of this year, according to administration officials who described the offer Friday only on condition of anonymity. The remainder would be achieved through an overhaul of the tax system next year and would not become effective until 2014, said the officials, who were not authorized to provide the details by name.

Obama is seeking new spending to help the unemployed, homeowners whose property's value is less than their mortgage, doctors who treat Medicare patients and wage-earners.

In exchange, the president would back cuts of an unspecified amount this year, and savings of as much $400 billion from Medicare and other benefit programs in 2013.

The White House plan also counts about $1 trillion in spending cuts agreed to last year, as well as about $800 billion that the administration claims as savings because of the drawdown of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Republicans said they were surprised at the plan, and Democrats wondered aloud why.

"Each side said they'd submit a down payment. We have. Our preference is revenue. What is theirs?" said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Republicans have an opening offer of their own, in line with their conservative anti-tax views, much as Obama's is designed to solidify his own political position. While agreeing to new revenue, GOP lawmakers want to extend expiring income tax cuts at all levels, including the top brackets. They also want to raise the age of eligibility for Medicare and curtail future cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security and other benefit programs. The same adjustment would raise revenue for the government by making a change in annual adjustments of tax brackets.

"We're the only ones with a balanced plan to protect the economy, protect American jobs and protect the middle class from the fiscal cliff," Boehner said on Friday.

That was a jab at Obama, who campaigned for re-election advocating a balanced approach to avoiding the fiscal cliff that combines higher taxes on the wealthy with spending cuts.

Said the president: "In Washington, nothing's easy, so there is going to be some prolonged negotiations."

Ex-Dauphin County insurance manager charged in $490,000 scam against county | PennLive.com

Ex-Dauphin County insurance manager charged in $490,000 scam against county | PennLive.com

Mayor Linda Thompson's 2013 Budget Presentation - Today's The Day Harrisburg

Mayor Linda Thompson's 2013 Budget Presentation - Today's The Day Harrisburg

Mayor Linda Thompson’s 2013 Budget Presentation: 

UPDATED

By Tara Leo Auchey | 11.28.12

This article has been updated to provide a link to the 2013 Budget, accessible in blue at the end of this article.

“2012 is the year of clarity.”

That is Linda Thompson’s theme as she enters her fourth year of her first term as Mayor of the City of Harrisburg. Last night she presented her third budget of her tenure. The Thompson Administration’s 2013 Budget is $56,365,315, an increase of about $2 million from the 2012 Budget. Thompson proclaimed the increase costs are a result of new hires the City will need to make, such as positions in the Bureau of Finance, police officers, code enforcement officers, and though she didn’t highlight it, a Communications Director. The Mayor’s Budget includes a Policy/Communications Director position with a salary of $70,000. She declared she has the blessing of the Receiver who reviewed her budget and agrees with “its premises & rationale.” In fact, throughout her speech, the Mayor referred to her adherence to the Receiver’s Recovery Plan to justify her proposed Budget.
As she has in past budget presentations, Thompson called her budget bared-boned. Looking at City Council, she said, “I ask that you not reduce this budget.”
Every year since she has been Mayor, City Council has reduced Thompson’s budgets. Perhaps in anticipation of this, she made a remark that things must be done differently, that everyone must work together, and that cuts cannot be made arbitrarily or by percentages.
City Council Budget and Finance Committee, Brad Koplinski Chair, begins its review of the 2013 Budget on Wednesday, December 5th at 5;30pm. As of now, a Budget vote is scheduled for December 18th during a Special Legislative Session at 6:00pm. Thus, between the 5th and the 18th, several public meetings will occur to go line by line over the Budget.
The Budget has not been made publicly accessible, so specific line item proposals are not known, but here are a few of the Mayor’s presentation proclamations and points to note:

• Liquidation of city assets with Court approval can be expected by 3rd quarter of 2013
• Forecasting net revenues to be $53.2M in 2013
• Current expenditures are at $56.4M
• Anticipating $3.1M deficit in 2012
• The plan is to eliminate Incinerator debt, eliminate stranded debt, and balance the budget at the end of 2013
• “The Administration has carefully reviewed this budget, department by department and we have eliminated any costs not essential to City operations and the efficient delivery of public services as well as complying with the fiscal recovery plan.”
• 10% personnel and operating costs reduction
• 20% city jobs eliminated
• “We cannot currently cut this budget any further without operationally affecting the services to the City.”
• Utility transfers and the Coordinated Parking Fund transfers are down
• The land value of tax exempt properties in the City is $227,108,200, and the value of tax exempt buildings is $1.3B
• Budget challenges are lack of revenues, unfunded mandates, union legacy costs, fee generating legislation that City Council needs to pass
• The Administration will roll out a “fee reorganization plan” with estimated revenue increase of $100,000
• The City is looking into outsourcing various services such as the phone system and trash removal
• Currently there are 131 police officers compared to 171 in 2010
• 8 officers must be hired in January to maintain a grant with more to be hired by mid 2013
• Hiring of 9 firefighters in 2012 has resulted in a savings of $60,000 per pay period
• Maintaining the City’s public station, HGBTV Channel 20, is crucial because it provides educational programming
• Two more code enforcement officers expected to be hired in 2013
• The Department of Parks, Recreation, and Enrichment encompasses “the Mayor’s guiding principles.”
• The City of Harrisburg exhibits “world class customer service & [is] an employer of choice.”

See: 2013 Thompson Administration Proposed Budget

 For the full story go to: http://www.todaysthedayhbg.com/mayor-linda-thompsons-2013-budget-presentation/

Former Welfare Department Employee Charged In Scheme Intended To Steal Almost $340,000

Former Welfare Department Employee Charged In Scheme Intended To Steal Almost $340,000

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The state attorney general’s office has charged a former Welfare Department employee in a scheme intended to steal almost $340,000 dollars in public assistance benefits.

Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the attorney general, says 23-year-old Kyshima Montgomery of Philadelphia allegedly used her position as a clerk at a state welfare office in the city to place thousands of dollars into the accounts of individuals who were receiving benefits.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Former Athletic Director Sentenced For Explicit Messages To Teen

Former Athletic Director Sentenced For Explicit Messages To Teen

RADNOR, Pa. (CBS) – The former athletic director at Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor is headed to Montgomery County prison for at least five months for sending sexually explicit Facebook messages to a teen he recruited for the football team.

The victim told the court that he’s stopped trusting people because he believes they’ll take advantage of him. He says he tries not to think about what happened and is afraid to talk to anyone about it.

For full story go to:  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Palestinians UN statehood bid gets thumbs up - World - CBC News

Palestinians UN statehood bid gets thumbs up - World - CBC News

"...Vote 'won't change anything', Israel says..."

"The resolution in the UN today won't change anything on the ground," Netanyahu declared. "It won't advance the establishment of a Palestinian state, but rather, put it further off."
Netanyahu said the Palestinians will not win a state until they recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland, declare an end to their conflict with the Jewish state and agree to security arrangements that protect Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the UN General Assembly's recognition of an independent state of Palestine will not advance the Palestinians' quest for a homeland. (Gali Tibbon/Associated Press)The United States was also sharply opposed to the resolution.
"No one should be under any illusion that this resolution is going to produce the results that the Palestinians claim to seek, namely to have their own state, living in peace next to Israel," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
With files from the CBC's Tom Parry, David Common and The Associated Press

NASA: Closest planet to sun, Mercury, harbors ice

NASA: Closest planet to sun, Mercury, harbors ice 

This photo made available by NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 shows a 68-mile-diameter crater, large indentation at center, in the north polar region of Mercury which has been shown to harbor water ice, thanks to measurements by the Messenger spacecraft. Scientists made the announcement Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Just in time for Christmas, scientists have confirmed a vast amount of ice at the north pole - on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

The findings are from NASA's Mercury-orbiting probe, Messenger, and the subject of three scientific papers released Thursday by the journal Science.

The frozen water is located in regions of Mercury's north pole that always are in shadows, essentially impact craters. It's believed the south pole harbors ice as well, though there are no hard data to support it. Messenger orbits much closer to the north pole than the south.

"If you add it all up, you have on the order of 100 billion to 1 trillion metric tons of ice," said David Lawrence of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. "The uncertainty on that number is just how deep it goes."

The ice is thought to be at least 1 1/2 feet deep - and possibly as much as 65 feet deep.

There's enough polar ice at Mercury, in fact, to bury an area the size of Washington, D.C., by two to 2 1/2 miles deep, said Lawrence, the lead author of one of the papers.

"These are very exciting results," he added at a news conference.

For two decades, radar measurements taken from Earth have suggested the presence of ice at Mercury's poles. Now scientists know for sure, thanks to Messenger, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

The water almost certainly came from impacting comets, or possibly asteroids. Ice is found at the surface, as well as buried beneath a dark material, likely organic.

Messenger was launched in 2004 and went into orbit around the planet 1 1/2 years ago. NASA hopes to continue observations well into next year.

Columbia University's Sean Solomon, principal scientist for Messenger, stressed that no one is suggesting that Mercury might hold evidence of life, given the presence of water. But the latest findings may help explain some of the early chapters of the book of life elsewhere in the solar system, he said.

"Mercury is becoming an object of astrobiological interest, where it wasn't much of one before," Solomon said.

UK judge issues damning press verdict

UK judge issues damning press verdict 
 

Britain's Lord Justice Brian Leveson pauses as he delivers a statement following the release of the Leveson Inquiry report at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, London, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. After a yearlong inquiry full of sensational testimony, Lord Justice Leveson released his report Thursday into the culture and practices of the British press and his recommendations for future regulation to prevent phone hacking, data theft, bribery and other abuses.

LONDON (AP) -- Britain's unruly newspapers should be regulated by an independent body dominated by non-journalists with the power to levy steep fines, a judge said Thursday in a report that pleased victims of tabloid intrusion but left editors worrying about creeping state control of the country's fiercely independent press.

Prime Minister David Cameron echoed concerns about government interference, expressing misgivings about a key recommendation of the report - that the new regulator be enshrined in law. He called on the much criticized press to show it could control itself by implementing the judge's proposals quickly - and without political involvement.

"I'm proud of the fact that we've managed to survive hundreds of years without state regulation," he said.

Lord Justice Brian Leveson issued his 2,000-page report at the end of a media ethics inquiry triggered by a scandal over tabloid phone hacking that expanded to engulf senior figures in politics, the police and Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

His key recommendation was to create a new print media regulator, which he said should be established in law to prevent more people being hurt by "outrageous" press behavior that had "wreaked havoc with the lives of innocent people whose rights and liberties have been disdained."

Cameron, under intense pressure from both sides of an issue that has divided his own Conservative Party, welcomed Leveson's proposal for a new regulator and said "the status quo is not an option."

But he said that asking legislators to enshrine it in law meant "crossing the Rubicon of writing elements of press regulation into the law of the land."

"I believe that we should be wary of any legislation that has the potential to infringe free speech and a free press," Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons. "In this House which has been a bulwark of democracy for centuries, we should think very, very carefully before crossing this line."

Leveson insisted that politicians and the government should play no role in regulating the press, which should be done by a new body with much stronger powers than the current Press Complaints Commission.

But the judge said it was "essential that there should be legislation to underpin the independent self-regulatory system."

He said the new body should be composed of members of the public including former journalists and academics - but no more than one serving editor, and no politicians. It should have the power to rule on complaints, demand prominent corrections in newspapers and to levy fines of up to 1 million pounds ($1.6 million), though it would have no power to prevent material being published.

Membership would be voluntary, but newspapers would be encouraged to join in part to stave off expensive lawsuits - the regulator would handle complaints that currently end up in court.

The proposal is similar to the system operating in Ireland, where a press council and ombudsman were set up in 2008 to make the print media more publicly accountable.

Critics of the tabloid press generally backed Leveson's findings.

"I welcome Lord Leveson's report and hope it will mark the start of a new era for our press in which it treats those in the news responsibly, with care and consideration," said Kate McCann, who was the subject of intense press interest after her 3-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared during a holiday in Portugal in 

2007.

Brian Cathcart of the group Hacked Off, which campaigns for victims of press intrusion, said Leveson had produced "a workable, proportionate and reasonable solution to the problems of press abuse."

He said Cameron's "failure to accept the full recommendations of the report is unfortunate and regrettable."

Cameron set up the Leveson inquiry after revelations of illegal eavesdropping by Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid sparked a criminal investigation and a wave of public revulsion.

The furor erupted in 2011 when it was revealed that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the mobile phone voicemails of slain schoolgirl Milly Dowler while police were searching for the 13-year-old.

Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old newspaper in July 2011. His U.K. newspaper company, News International, has paid millions in damages to dozens of hacking victims, and faces dozens more lawsuits from celebrities, politicians, athletes and crime victims whose voicemails were hacked in the paper's quest for scoops.

News International chief executive Tom Mockridge said the company was "keen to play our full part, with others in our industry, in creating a new body that commands the confidence of the public."

"We believe that this can be achieved without statutory regulation - and welcome the prime minister's rejection of that proposal."

Leveson's 4 million pound ($6.4 million) inquiry heard evidence from more than 300 witnesses during months of hearings that provided a dramatic, sometimes comic and often poignant window on the workings of the media. Witnesses ranged from celebrities such as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Hugh Grant - who both complained of intrusive treatment - to the parents of Dowler, who described how learning that their daughter's voicemail had been accessed had given them false hope that she was alive.

Leveson said that the ongoing criminal investigation constrained him from accusing other newspapers of illegal behavior, but concluded there was a subculture of unethical behavior "within some parts of some titles."

While many editors have denied knowing about phone hacking, Leveson said it "was far more than a covert, secret activity, known to nobody save one or two practitioners of the `dark arts.'"

He said newspapers had been guilty of "recklessness in prioritizing sensational stories almost irrespective of the harm the stories may cause."

"In each case, the impact has been real and, in some cases, devastating," the judge said.

The hacking scandal has rocked Britain's press, political and police establishments, who were revealed to enjoy an often cozy relationship in which drinks, dinners and sometimes money were traded for influence and information.

Several senior police officers resigned over the failure aggressively to pursue an investigation of phone hacking at the News of the World in 2007. But Leveson said that "the inquiry has not unearthed extensive evidence of police corruption."

Leveson said over the past three decades, political parties "have had or developed too close a relationship with the press in a way which has not been in the public interest."

Those relationships reached right up to the prime minister's door. Former Murdoch editors and journalists charged with phone hacking, police bribery or other wrongdoing include Cameron's former spokesman, Andy Coulson, and ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, a friend of the prime minister.

Leveson acquitted senior politicians of wrongdoing, but recommended that political parties publish statements "setting out, for the public, an explanation of the approach they propose to take as a matter of party policy in conducting relationships with the press."

Cameron, who is tainted by his own ties to prominent figures in the scandal, said he accepted that proposal.

But politicians remained far apart on the broader issue of how, or whether, to regulate the press.

Cameron was holding talks Thursday with leaders of the other main parties in an attempt to thrash out agreement.

He faced a battle. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of junior government partner the Liberal Democrats, differed from Cameron in backing the call for a new regulator established in law.

"We owe it to the victims of these scandals, who have already waited too long for us to do the right thing," he said.

Analysts say that it was possible for the coalition government's two parties to join forces and push through a version of the recommended legal changes.

But Steven Barnett, a communications professor at the University of Westminster, said that if that does not happen, he would not trust the British press to set up a truly independent regulator.

"One possibility is that in the end (the report) has no effect whatsoever," Barnett said. "The press can make some noises about regulating themselves. But in the end they will want to control themselves in ways that Leveson himself said was unacceptable."

United Nations Recognizes State of Palestine | NBC Southern California

United Nations Recognizes State of Palestine | NBC Southern California

Powerball jackpot climbs to $550M on ticket sales

Powerball jackpot climbs to $550M on ticket sales 

Pat Powell, 30, of Atlanta, buys a Powerball lottery ticket at a convenience store, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, in Atlanta. "I think my odds are zero to zero," says Powell "I don't think I'm going to win but I'll just join the hype. If I did win, I'd open up my own business, an internet café in the West Indies and have a learning center here in Georgia. I'll invest and try to be as smart with it as I can with it. I will say for the past 3 days, for whatever reason, I've been thinking about winning this money and what I'd do with it. There's no ritual but it's just been on my mind so it's like, let me just join the hype and just do it."

CHICAGO (AP) -- As Americans went on a ticket-buying spree, the Powerball jackpot rose to $550 million Wednesday, enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout in U.S. history.

Among them was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."

Tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide - about six times the volume from a week ago. That meant the jackpot could climb even higher before the Wednesday night drawing, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.

The jackpot has already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner, but Powerball officials say they now believe there is a 75 percent chance the winning combination will be drawn this time.

If one ticket hits the right numbers, chances are good that multiple ones will, according to some experts. That happened in the Mega Millions drawing in March, when three ticket buyers shared a $656 million jackpot, which remains the largest lottery payout of all time.

Yvette Gavin, who sold the tickets to Fallie, is only an occasional lottery player herself, but the huge jackpot means she'll definitely play this time. As for the promises she often gets from ticket purchasers, Gavin isn't holding her breath.

"A lot of customers say if they win they will take care of me, but I will have to wait and see," she said.

In the hours before Wednesday's drawing, Associated Press photographers across the nation sought out ticket buyers and asked about their lottery fantasies. Here's a look at what they found:

---

When Atlanta barber Andre Williams buys scratch-off tickets, he typically does a dance in his shop for good luck. As a first-time Powerball player, he plans to reprise the dance - and buy a few extra tickets to enhance his chances.

I don't even know if I'll look at it," said Williams, who bought his ticket at a newsstand. "If I win, I might pass out."

Paralegal Pat Powell was buying her first Powerball ticket at another store in Atlanta, even though she acknowledged her odds were probably "zero to zero."

Still, Powell has specific plans should she win: start an Internet cafe in the West Indies and a learning center in Georgia.

"I've been thinking about winning this money and what I'd do with it," Powell said. "There's no ritual, but it's just been on my mind. So it's like, let me just join the hype and just do it."

Atlanta accountant Benita Lewis, who had never played the lottery before, didn't want to be the only one left in her office without a ticket.

"I did feel nervous buying it like I could be the one," she said. "I'm going to retire and pay off all my family's debt."

---

In Philadelphia, seafood salesman Billy Fulginiti bought 50 Powerball tickets with co-workers and a few more with a small group. He said he only plays when the jackpot is especially large.

"You go to bed at night wishing you wake up a millionaire," Fulginiti said. He planned to take a long vacation and "help a lot of people, a lot of charities," if any of his tickets turn out to be winners.

---

Powerball purchases at the Canterbury Country Store in Canterbury, N.H., have been so steady that the manager has been working extra evening hours to keep up.

Horticulturist Kevin Brags buys tickets at the store two to three times a month. He says he usually picks numbers higher than 32 because so many people use numbers 31 and lower, largely because of birthdays.

The birthday theory didn't scare off Paul Kruzel, a retired doctor who chooses the days his children were born.

Both, however, have the same plans for winning: "make a lot of people happy."

John Olson has a more elaborate idea: He'd like to buy an island.

---

At a downtown Detroit convenience store, Ceejay Johnson purchased five Powerball tickets. If she strikes it rich, the analyst from Southfield, Mich., said she would buy a home for her sister in Florida. Then she would "go into hiding" and take care of her family.

"And the IRS," she added.

Obama says he'll do what it takes to avoid cliff

Obama says he'll do what it takes to avoid cliff 

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, on the White House campus in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, about how middle class Americans would see their taxes go up if Congress fails to act to extend the middle class tax cuts. The president said he believes that members of both parties can reach a framework on a debt-cutting deal before Christmas.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House and a key congressional Democrat hinted at fresh concessions on taxes and cuts to Medicare and other government benefit programs Wednesday as bargaining with Republicans lurched ahead to avoid the year-end "fiscal cliff" that threatens to send the economy into a tailspin.

Increasing numbers of rank-and-file Republicans also said they were ready to give ground, a boost for House Speaker John Boehner and other party leaders who say they will agree to higher tax revenues as part of a deal if it also curbs benefit programs as a way to rein in federal deficits.

"I'll go anywhere and I'll do whatever it takes to get this done," President Barack Obama said as he sought to build pressure on Republicans to accept his terms - a swift renewal of expiring tax cuts for all but the highest income earners. "It's too important for Washington to screw this up," he declared.

For all the talk, there was no sign of tangible progress on an issue that marks a first test for divided government since elections that assured Obama a second term in the White House while renewing Republican control in the House.

"It's time for the president and Democrats to get serious about the spending problem that our country has," Boehner said at a news conference in the Capitol. He, like Obama, expressed optimism that a deal could be reached.

At the same time, he publicly disagreed with one GOP lawmaker, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who said he was ready to go along with Obama's plan to renew most but not all of the expiring income tax cuts. "It'll hurt the economy" to raise rates for anyone, said Boehner.

Separately, at a closed-door meeting with the rank and file, the speaker told fellow Republicans they are on solid political ground in refusing to let tax rates rise. He circulated polling data showing the public favors closing loopholes to raise revenue far more than it supports raising rates on incomes over $250,000.

There were no face-to-face talks between the administration and lawmakers during the day, although the White House is dispatching Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and top legislative aide Rob Nabors to a series of sessions with congressional leaders on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a group of corporate CEOs pushing for a deal met separately with top Democratic and Republican leaders in the House, joined by Erskine Bowles, who was co-chairman of a deficit commission Obama appointed earlier in his term.

Speaking to reporters before a session with business leaders, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said the bargaining ought to begin where deficit talks between Obama and Boehner broke down 18 months ago "and go from there to reach an agreement."

She didn't say so, but at the time, the two men were exchanging offers that called for at least $250 billion in cuts from Medicare over a decade, and another $100 billion from Medicaid and other federal health programs. Among the changes under discussion - with Obama's approval - was a gradual increase in the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67, as well as higher fees for beneficiaries.

Also on the table at the time was a plan to curtail future cost-of-living increases for Social Security and other benefit programs.

Those negotiations faltered in a hail of recriminations after the president upped his demand for additional tax revenue and conservatives balked. At the same time liberals were objecting to savings from Medicare and Social Security.

Now, more than a year and one election later, Obama has said repeatedly he is open to alternatives to his current proposal to raise additional tax revenue. But he also says he will refuse to sign legislation that extends the current top rates on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Instead, he is pushing Congress to renew expiring tax cuts for all income below those levels as an interim measure - an offer Boehner and Republicans generally say is unacceptable because it would mean higher taxes on small business owners.

Bowles said during the day that Obama might be willing to back off his demand that the top rate revert all the way from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, where it was a decade ago before tax cuts sought by then-President George W. Bush took effect.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney sidestepped questions. "If I told you how much flexibility the president had, it would eliminate his flexibility," he said.

He noted that Obama has said he will listen to alternatives, but the spokesman said, "The most basic, simplest, most efficient way to achieve that revenue target is by returning the rates for top earners back to those that were in place in the Clinton era," when the top rate on personal income was the 39.6 percent.

The goal of the talks is to produce a long-term deficit-cutting deal that will allow the cancellation of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the end of the year that numerous economists say threaten a new recession.

While the obstacles are numerous, there are other political imperatives pushing the two sides toward an agreement.

Unemployment benefits expire for some of the long-term jobless at the end of the year. Additionally the government is expected to need an increase in borrowing authority early next year or face the possibility of a default. Any agreement on that is expected to raise the current $16.4 trillion level.

Soldiers: Mexico beauty queen had gun in her hands

Soldiers: Mexico beauty queen had gun in her hands 

In this April 26, 2012 photo, Maria Susana Flores Gamez poses for a photo for a story about her upcoming participation in a beauty pageant in China, in Culiacan, Mexico. Flores, who was voted the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in a beauty pageant in February, was killed in northern Mexico on Nov. 24, 2012 during a running gun battle between soldiers and the gang of drug traffickers she was traveling with.

CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) -- A Mexican beauty queen killed over the weekend in a shootout between suspected drug traffickers and soldiers likely was being used as a human shield, a federal official said Tuesday.

Maria Susana Flores Gamez, crowned 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in February, came out of the car first with a gun in her hands during the confrontation, with the other gunmen hiding behind her, according to the official from the attorney general's office.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

The official said he read the military report of Saturday's shootout in Flores Gamez's hometown of Guamuchil in western Sinaloa state, home to Mexico's most powerful cartel of the same name. The attorney general's investigators are still trying to determine if the 20-year-old fired the gun she was holding.

The report said she went down in a hail of gunfire. She was found dead near an assault rifle along with two others.

"They used the woman as a human shield," the official said.

The slender, 5-foot-7-inch brunette had competed with seven other contestants for the more prestigious state beauty contest, Miss Sinaloa, but didn't win. Miss Sinaloa state winners compete for the Miss Mexico title, whose holder represents the country in the international Miss Universe pageant.

Mexico's Ximena Navarrete was crowned Miss Universe in 2010.

Local media outlets continue to misidentify Flores Gamez on Tuesday as Miss Sinaloa.

The organizers of the Miss Sinaloa pageant issued a statement on the pageant's Facebook page, seeking to make clear Flores Gamez was not their queen.

The misidentification "damages the image and tranquility of our queens, their families and friends," the statement said.

Neither the state nor national pageants responded to requests for comment on Flores Gamez's death.

It was at least the fourth documented case of a beauty queen or pageant contestant becoming involved with Mexican drug traffickers, the theme of the critically acclaimed 2011 movie "Miss Bala," or "Miss Bullet," Mexico's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of Academy Awards.

The film tells the story of a young woman competing for Miss Baja California who becomes an unwilling participant in a drug-running ring, finally getting arrested for deeds she was forced into performing.

In real life, top Sinaloa cartel drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman married local beauty queen Emma Coronel, who later crossed into the United States to give birth to twin girls in 2011.

In 2008, former Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga was stripped of her crown in the Hispanoamerican Queen pageant after she was detained that year on suspicion of drug and weapons violations. She was later released without charges.

In 2011, a Colombian former model and pageant contestant was detained along with Jose Jorge Balderas, an accused drug trafficker and suspect in the 2010 bar shooting of Salvador Cabanas, a former star for Paraguay's national football team and Mexico's Club America. She was also later released.

"A lot of young women are attracted by the false riches of the drug gangs. They offer the fantasy of a life of riches without much work," said Judith del Rincon, a women's rights activist and former Sinaloa legislator. "A lot of beauty queens wind up as girlfriends of some narco."

Del Rincon added that the involvement of drug lords with beauty queens dates back at least to the heyday of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix drug gang in the 1990s.

Sinaloa state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said Flores Gamez was traveling in one of several vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and gun battle. He said two other members of the drug gang were detained.

The shootout began when the gunmen opened fire on a Mexican army patrol. Soldiers gave chase and cornered the gang at a safe house in the town of Mocorito. Some men escaped, and the gun battle continued along a nearby roadway, where the gang's vehicles were eventually stopped. Six vehicles, drugs and weapons were seized following the confrontation.

Higuera said Flores Gamez's body has been turned over to relatives for burial.

A big disconnect as 'fiscal cliff' clock ticks

A big disconnect as 'fiscal cliff' clock ticks 

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks about the Thanksgiving holiday in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. The White House said Tuesday, Nov. 27, that the president plans to make a public case this week for his strategy for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs Friday as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less.

  

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans' newfound willingness to consider tax increases to avert the "fiscal cliff" comes with a significant caveat: larger cuts than Democrats seem willing to consider to benefit programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the president's health care overhaul.

The disconnect on benefit programs, coupled with an impasse between Republicans and the White House over raising tax rates on upper-bracket earners, paints a bleak picture as the clock ticks toward a year-end fiscal debacle of automatic spending increases and harsh cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs.

Democrats emboldened by the election are moving in the opposite direction from the GOP on curbing spending, refusing to look at cuts that were on the bargaining table just last year. Those include any changes to Social Security, even though President Barack Obama was willing back then to consider cuts in future benefits through lower cost-of-living increases. Obama also considered raising the eligibility age for Medicare, an idea that most Democrats oppose.

"I haven't seen any suggestions on what they're going to do on spending," a frustrated Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Tuesday. "There's a certain cockiness that I've seen that is really astounding to me since we're basically in the same position we were before."

Well, says Obama's most powerful ally on Capitol Hill, the Democrats are willing to tackle spending on entitlement programs if Republicans agree to raise income tax rates on the wealthiest Americans - a nonstarter with Republicans still in control of the House.

"We hope that they can agree to the tax revenue that we're talking about, and that is rate increases, and as the president's said on a number of occasions, we'll be happy to deal with entitlements," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday.

But Reid speaks only in the most general terms, wary of publicly embracing specific ideas like boosting Medicare premiums or raising the program's eligibility age.

At the White House, Obama met with more than a dozen small business owners. Participants described the hour-long meeting as a listening session for Obama, with the business owners urging him to reach an agreement.

"They had one message for the president, which is they need certainty. Please get this deal done as soon as possible. They very much want consumers out there knowing that they're going to have money in their pockets to spend. That's why it's so important to pass the extension of the tax cuts for 98 percent of consumers, 97 percent of all small businesses," said Small Business Administration head Karen Mills.

Obama hits the road on Friday, visiting a Pennsylvania toy factory and broadcasting his case to extend current tax rates for all but those families making more than $250,000 a year.

Private White House negotiations with top aides to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and others are cloaked in secrecy, with no evidence of headway.

"There's been little progress with the Republicans, which is a disappointment to me," Reid, a key negotiator, told reporters on Tuesday. "They talked some happy talk about doing revenues, but we only have a couple weeks to get something done. So we have to get away from the happy talk and start talking about specific things."

Republicans say it's Obama and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill who are holding back, and they point to a balance of power in official Washington that is little changed by the president's re-election. Republicans still control the House, despite losing seats in the election. Democrats control the Senate.

"Democrats in Congress have downplayed the danger of going over the cliff and continue to rule out sensible spending cuts that must be part of any significant agreement to reduce the deficit," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Just last year, Obama and top Democrats were willing during budget negotiations with Republicans to take politically risky steps such as reducing the annual inflation adjustment to Social Security retirement payments and raising the eligibility age for Medicare, which provides health care coverage to the elderly.

Now, with new leverage from Obama's election victory and a playing field for negotiations that is more favorable to Democrats than during the talks of the summer of 2011, Democrats are taking a harder line, ruling out any moves on Social Security and all but dismissing ideas like raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65.

"The election spoke very strongly about the fact that the American people don't want to cut these programs that actually really sustain the middle class in America and allow people to become part of the middle class," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

"I think they feel somewhat emboldened by the election," said GOP Rep. Tom Price of Georgia. "How could you not when your president is re-elected after running straight years of trillion dollar-plus deficits?"

Indeed, Obama could be in position to blame Republicans if an impasse results in the government going over the fiscal cliff. Democrats already are portraying GOP lawmakers as hostage-takers willing to let tax rates rise on everyone if lower Bush-era tax rates are not extended for the top 2 percent to 3 percent of earners - those with incomes above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint filers.

"One thing Republicans have to realize - we're in much better shape in January," said Harkin, referring to a 

time when taxes would have already risen and Democrats would be offering to cut taxes for all but the wealthiest Americans. "Fiscal cliff? I don't care."

Obama's opening position in the negotiations calls for $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over the coming decade, balanced by just $340 billion in cuts to rapidly growing health care programs, generally taken from health care providers instead of beneficiaries. That balance would have to change for Republicans to sign onto any agreement.

Given the crunch of time and the complexity of issues such as tax reform and wringing savings from programs like Medicare, negotiators are working on a two-track process: an initial "down payment" of deficit cuts next month, coupled with work next year on overhauling the tax code and curbing entitlement programs.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a leading Senate liberal and a member of Obama's special 2010 deficit panel - which drafted a bold deficit reduction plan blending painful entitlement cuts with $2 trillion in higher tax revenues - weighed in with a demand that any short-term down payment avoid politically sensitive safety net programs.

"Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff," Durbin said in a speech at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank in Washington.

Mexican beauty queen killed in shootout

Mexican beauty queen killed in shootout 

In this April 26, 2012 photo, Maria Susana Flores Gamez poses for a photo for a story about upcoming representation of Mexico at a beauty pageant in China, in Culiacan, Mexico. Flores, who was voted the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in a beauty pageant in February, was killed in northern Mexico on Nov. 24, 2012 during a running gun battle between soldiers and the gang of drug traffickers she was traveling with.

CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) -- A 20-year-old state beauty queen died in a gun battle between soldiers and the alleged gang of drug traffickers she was traveling with in a scene befitting the hit movie "Miss Bala," or "Miss Bullet," about Mexico's not uncommon ties between narcos and beautiful young pageant contestants.

The body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez was found Saturday lying near an assault rifle on a rural road in a mountainous area of the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa, the chief state prosecutor said Monday. It was unclear if she had used the weapon.

"She was with the gang of criminals, but we cannot say whether she participated in the shootout," state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said. "That's what we're going to have to investigate."

The slender brunette was voted the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in a beauty pageant in February. She had earlier competed for the more prestigious Miss Sinaloa state beauty contest, but didn't win.

Higuera said Flores Gamez was traveling in one of the vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and gun battle. Besides Flores Gamez, Higuera said two people were killed and four detained.

The shootout began when the gunmen opened fire on a Mexican army patrol. Soldiers gave chase and cornered the gang at a safe house near the town of Mocorito. They escaped, and the gun battle continued along a nearby roadway, where the gang's vehicles were eventually stopped. Six vehicles, drugs and weapons were seized following the confrontation.

It was at least the third instance in which a beauty queen or pageant contestants have been linked to Mexico's violent drug gangs, a theme so common it was the subject of a critically acclaimed 2011 movie.

In "Miss Bala," Mexico's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of this year's Academy Awards, a young woman competing for Miss Baja California becomes an unwilling participant in a drug-running ring, finally getting arrested for deeds she was forced into performing.

In real life, former Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga was stripped of her 2008 crown in the Hispanoamerican Queen pageant after she was detained on suspicion of drug and weapons violations. She was later released without charges.

Zuniga was detained in western Mexico in late 2010 along with seven men, some of them suspected drug traffickers. Authorities found a large stash of weapons, ammunition and $53,300 with them inside a vehicle.

In 2011, a Colombian former model and pageant contestant was detained along with Jose Jorge Balderas, an accused drug trafficker and suspect in the 2010 bar shooting of Salvador Cabanas, a former star for Paraguay's national football team and Mexico's Club America. She was also later released.

Higuera said Flores Gamez's body has been turned over to relatives for burial.

"This is a sad situation," Higuera told a local radio station. She had been enrolled in media courses at a local university, and had been modeling and pageants since at least 2009.

Javier Valdez, the author of a 2009 book about narco ties to beauty pageants entitled "Miss Narco," said "this is a recurrent story."

"There is a relationship, sometimes pleasant and sometimes tragic, between organized crime and the beauty queens, the pageants, the beauty industry itself," Valdez said.

"It is a question of privilege, power, money, but also a question of need," said Valdez. "For a lot of these young women, it is easy to get involved with organized crime, in a country that doesn't offer many opportunities for young people."

Sometimes drug traffickers seek out beauty queens, but sometimes the models themselves look for narco boyfriends, Valdez said.

"I once wrote about a girl I knew of who was desperate to get a narco boyfriend," he said. "She practically took out a classified ad saying `Looking for a Narco'."

The stories seldom end well. In the best of cases, a beautiful woman with a tear-stained face is marched before the press in handcuffs. In the worst of cases, they simply disappear.

"They are disposable objects, the lowest link in the chain of criminal organizations, the young men recruited as gunmen and the pretty young women who are tossed away in two or three years, or are turned into police or killed."

N. California community mourns family swept to sea

N. California community mourns family swept to sea 

In this photo provided by the Arcata High School Pepperbox, Arcata High School students wear green colored clothing in tribute to fellow student Gregory Kulijan Monday, Nov. 26, 2012, at Arcata High School in Arcata, Calif. The Kuljian family were out for a walk Saturday, Nov. 24 at Big Lagoon beach, playing fetch with their dog when Gregory Kuljian tossed a stick that took their dog down to the water's edge. Kuljian's son ran to save the dog, and struggled as he was captured by the surging surf. Howard Kuljian followed, and later his wife. Both parents' bodies were later recovered, but the boy, presumed dead, is still missing.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Howard Kuljian and his family were out for a walk on a damp, overcast morning at Big Lagoon beach, playing fetch with their dog Fran as 10-foot surf churned the water just feet away like a washing machine.

Signs near the beach warned of "sneaker waves," the kind that suddenly roar ashore.

Kuljian tossed a stick that took the dog down to the water's edge, and in an instant, authorities said, a wave swallowed it, setting off a nightmarish scramble.

"Everything kind of snowballed from there," Coast Guard Lt. Bernie Garrigan said.

Kuljian's 16-year-old son, Gregory, ran to save the dog, only to be captured by the surging surf himself. Kuljian, 54, followed, and then his wife, Mary Scott, 57. On shore, their 18-year-old daughter, Olivia, and Gregory's girlfriend could only watch.

Both parents' bodies were later recovered, but the boy - presumed dead - is still missing.

The dog eventually made it back to shore.

News of Saturday's tragedy shocked many in the small college town of Arcata on the rough Northern California coastline about 280 miles north of San Francisco.

Students at Gregory's high school wore green in his memory Monday.

By late afternoon, more than 1,300 people "liked" a Facebook page set up by the teenager's friends called "Wear Green for Geddie" - using his nickname. Dozens tweeted tributes with the hash-tag (hash)WearGreenForGeddie.

"I will always remember him no matter how long," wrote Emmalaya Owen on the Facebook page. 

"Especially how he was such an upbeat happy person or how he tried to put up `Be Happy' propaganda posters he drew around school."

Others were trying to come to terms with the deaths. His sister graduated last year.

"He was just a friendly guy, and everyone who knew him liked him, and his family was very close," said Day Robins, a high school senior. She said Gregory and his family were active in school athletics and sailing.

At Big Lagoon beach, a short drive from Arcata, signs posted near the parking lot warned beachgoers not to turn their back to the surf and to pay special attention to sneaker waves.

"Because the beach is designed that way, when that 10-foot wall breaks, it surges up on the beach and surges back really fast," said Garrigan, the Coast Guard officer. "It's like a cyclical washing machine."

As the family walked along the beach, Howard Kuljian threw the stick and the dog gave chase, said Dana Jones, a state parks district superintendent.

Seeing his son in the water, Kuljian leapt to action, and disappeared into the frigid water.

Gregory managed to pull himself back onto the sand, but after realizing his father was drowning, both he and his mother went in to save him.

As Olivia and the girlfriend watched in horror, a nearby bystander called police. By the time help arrived, it was too late. Jones said the officer wasn't able to get to the family members because of the high surf.

Garrigan said the search for the teenager was stopped because a person without a wetsuit could not survive for long in the cold surf.

The Coast Guard deployed a helicopter and two motorized life boats to find the teenager, but thick coastal fog made the search difficult. The parks department also called off its search.

"When there is shorebreak like that, you don't even have to go into the water to be pulled into the sea," Jones said. "It's a reminder to be real careful around the ocean."

Benefits fight brings lesbian couple to high court

Benefits fight brings lesbian couple to high court 

In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 12, 2012, Amy Cunninghis, left, and Karen Golinski, right, walk down a street near their home in San Francisco. All Golinski wanted was to enroll her spouse in her employer-sponsored health plan. Four years later, her request still is being debated. Because Golinski is married to another woman and she works for the federal government, her personal personnel problem has morphed into a multi-pronged legal attack by gay rights activists to overturn the 1996 law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Like a lot of newlyweds, Karen Golinski was eager to enjoy the financial fruits of marriage. Within weeks of her wedding, she applied to add her spouse to her employer-sponsored health care plan, a move that would save the couple thousands of dollars a year.

Her ordinarily routine request still is being debated more than four years later, and by the likes of former attorneys general, a slew of senators, the Obama administration and possibly this week, the U.S. Supreme Court.

Because Golinski is married to another woman and works for the U.S. government, her claim for benefits has morphed into a multi-layered legal challenge to a 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing unions like hers.

The high court has scheduled a closed-door conference for Friday to review Golinski's case and four others that also seek to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act overwhelmingly approved by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.

The purpose of the meeting is to decide which, if any, to put on the court's schedule for arguments next year.

The outcome carries economic and social consequences for gay, lesbian and bisexual couples, who now are unable to access Social Security survivor benefits, file joint income taxes, inherit a deceased spouse's pension or obtain family health insurance.

The other plaintiffs in the cases pending before the court include the state of Massachusetts, 13 couples and five widows and widowers.

"It's pretty monumental and it's an honor," said Golinski, a staff lawyer for the federal appeals court based in San Francisco who married her partner of 23 years, Amy Cunninghis, during the brief 2008 window when same-sex marriages were legal in California.

The federal trial courts that heard the cases all ruled the act violates the civil rights of legally married gays and lesbians. Two appellate courts agreed, making it highly likely the high court will agree to hear at least one of the appeals, Lambda Legal Executive Director Jon Davidson said.

"I don't think we've ever had an occasion where the Supreme Court has had so many gay rights cases knocking at its door," said Davidson, whose gay legal advocacy group represents Golinski. "That in and of itself shows how far we've come."

The Supreme Court also is scheduled to discuss Friday whether it should take two more long-simmering cases dealing with relationship recognition for same-sex couples.

One is an appeal of two lower court rulings that struck down California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. The other is a challenge to an Arizona law that made state employees in same-sex relationships ineligible for domestic partner benefits.

The last time the court confronted a gay rights case was in 2010, when the justices voted 5-4 to let stand lower court rulings holding that a California law school could deny recognition to a Christian student group that does not allow gay members.

The time before that was the court's landmark 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which declared state anti-sodomy laws to be an unconstitutional violation of personal privacy.

Brigham Young University law professor Lynn Wardle, who testified before Congress when lawmakers were considering the Defense of Marriage Act 16 years ago, said he still thinks the law passes constitutional muster.

"Congress has the power to define for itself domestic relationships, including defining relationships for purposes of federal programs," Wardle said.

At the same time, he said, the gay rights landscape has shifted radically since 1996, citing this month's election of the first sitting president to declare support for same-sex marriage and four state ballot measures being decided in favor of gay rights activists.

"This is the gay moment, momentum is building," Wardle said. "The politics are profound, and politics influence what the court does."

For Golinski and Cunninghis, getting this far has been a long, sometimes frustrating and sometimes heartening journey.

Citing the act, known as DOMA, the Office of Personnel Management, the federal government's human relations arm, initially denied Golinski's attempt to enroll Cunninghis in the medical coverage she had selected for herself and the couple's son, now 10.

"I got a phone call from OPM in Washington, D.C., asking me to confirm that Amy Cunninghis was female, and I said, `Yes, she is,' and they said, `We won't be able to add her to your health plan," Golinski recalled.

Golinski knew that her employer, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, had a policy prohibiting discrimination against gay workers, so she filed an employee grievance and won a hearing before the court's dispute resolution officer, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski.

As a lawyer for the court, she felt awkward about pursuing the issue, but she was also angry. Lambda Legal and a San Francisco law firm offered to represent her.

"I had been working for the courts since 1990, and I feel, like everybody, I work hard and I'm a valuable employee, and I'm not getting paid the same amount if I have to pay for a whole separate plan for Amy," she said. "It was really hurting our family."

Kozinski ruled that Golinski was entitled to full spousal benefits, but federal officials ordered Golinski's insurer not to process her application, prompting the chief judge to issue a scathing opinion on her behalf.

After the government refused to budge, Golinski sued in January 2010.

The couple had joked about whether they "would make a federal case" out of their situation. Cunninghis noted that their genders would not have been an issue had Golinski worked in the private sector or in state or local government where domestic partnerships are offered.

Because of DOMA, she said, "we don't get access to a whole slew of benefits."

The Department of Justice originally opposed Golinski in court but changed course last year after President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder said they would no longer defend the law.

Republican members of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group, which oversees legal activities of the House of Representatives, voted to hire an outside lawyer first to back the act in Golinski's case and the four others, and to then appeal the rulings on its unconstitutionality.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White handed Cunninghis and Golinski an unequivocal victory in February, finding that anti-gay sentiment motivated Congress to pass DOMA.

In ordering the government to allow Golinski to enroll her wife in a family health plan, White rejected all of the House group's arguments, including that the law was necessary to foster stable unions among men and women.

A group of 10 U.S. senators who voted for DOMA in 1996 have filed a brief with the Supreme Court angrily denouncing the judge's opinion and urging the high court to overturn it.

"It is one thing for the District Court to conclude that traditional moral views, standing alone, do not justify the enactment of DOMA; it is quite another to find that legislators who hold or express such moral views somehow taint the constitutionality of the statute," they said.

Former U.S. Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Edwin Meese also weighed in, telling the court that Obama had failed in his duty and set a dangerous precedent by declining to defend DOMA.

As a result of White's ruling, Cunninghis was allowed in March to be added to Golinski's health plan.

Golinski so far is the only gay American who has been allowed to begin receiving federal benefits while DOMA remains in effect, a development that could be reversed if the Supreme Court upholds DOMA.

Until then, the couple said they are going to trust that the tide of history is moving toward gay rights.

"It seems so simple to us: just put me on the family health plan," Cunninghis said. "It's much bigger than that obviously, yet it isn't."