Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts

Foreign investors major force behind deal


Take a guess. Which of these put more pressure on US lawmakers to strike a deal and avoid the “fiscal cliff” – voters or global financial markets?


If you picked markets, you may be right.


On the day after the last-minute agreement, an uptick in global stock prices seemed far more welcome in Washington than the reaction of voters. The reason is that foreign creditors to the US Treasury had been near a tipping point in wanting their money back, possibly forcing a crisis for US debt.


Investors worldwide now demand the US government display more stability and trust. Globalization has given them a big say in the policy logjams of many countries, and the United States is not immune. Its lingering disputes over issues like taxes and spending have become a prime indicator of its ability to remain innovative, reliable, and productive.


MONITOR'S VIEW: Why American can 'make stuff' again


Elections do have consequences, for sure. But today so does a country’s economic competitiveness, measured in part by its level of dependability, openness, and flexibility in governance. On those sorts of attributes, the US needs work. Consider these latest rankings:


On a global index of innovation, the US has dropped from No. 1 in 2007 to 10th. On economic competitiveness, it has dropped to seventh in the last few years. And compared with other countries, the trust by Americans in their government ranks 54th.


The greatest weakness of the US is seen in its lack of macroeconomic stability. On that measure it fell last year from 90th to 111th.


Economic freedom in the US has been falling and now ranks 10th – behind even the African country of Mauritius. It ranks fifth in the ease of doing business, according to the World Bank.


In 2012, the US fell from the top tier of a “global prosperity index,” which measures such nonmaterial factors as entrepreneurship, safety, education, and governance. It now ranks 12th.


Within two decades, China is expected to have as many college graduates as the entire workforce in the US. The number of Chinese universities in the world’s top 500 has risen from 12 to 22 in just eight years.


The US must compete much more aggressively for foreign investment even as the flow of those investments has declined. Last year, the US was no longer the No. 1 destination for foreign investments. China beat it out.


MONITOR'S VIEW: From DARPA to Google, the search for innovation


Policy disputes over entitlements and taxes are important, but resolving them is even more important if the US is to enjoy a healthy economy. Lawmakers who fight over how to divide up the economic pie must, at some point, collectively agree on how to expand the pie. Prolonged bickering doesn’t do that.


The rest of the world still looks to the US economy as one of the most stable, open, innovative, and competitive places to invest. The limited fiscal-cliff deal shows some political ability to build on those qualities. Investors, as much as voters, demand more – and, when it comes to dealmaking, they may even have more influence.



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GOP balks at lack of spending cuts, House could vote tonight


House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, with Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, head into a closed-door …Updated 7:27 pm ET


Republican House leaders are giving their fractious caucus a choice: Try to amend a fiscal cliff compromise passed in the Senate early Tuesday morning or go for a straight up-or-down vote on the original deal.


Either way, it apppeared the fate of the measure would be known Tuesday night.


A hard-fought bipartisan compromise hatched by Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to spare all but the richest Americans from painful income-tax hikes teetered on the edge of collapse on Tuesday as angry House Republicans balked at the package’s lack of spending cuts.


The legislation sailed through the Senate shortly after 2 a.m. by a lopsided 89-8 margin. But it landed with a thud in the House, where Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor surprised lawmakers by coming out flatly against the deal.


Amending the Senate plan could jettison the entire deal.


At a 5:15 p.m. closed-door meeting, Cantor and Republican House Speaker John Boehner  “cautioned members about the risk in such a strategy,” according to a GOP leadership aide. House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, emerging from the gathering, bluntly told reporters “it’s pretty obvious” that amending the legislation and sending it back to the Senate would kill it. Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber had signaled that lawmakers there would not take up a modified version of what was already a difficult deal.


The resulting pressure on GOP leaders was immense: Absent action to avert the fiscal cliff, Americans would face hefty across-the-board income-tax hikes, while indiscriminate spending cuts risked devastating domestic and defense programs. Skittish financial markets were watching the dysfunction in Washington carefully amid warnings that going off the so-called cliff could plunge the fragile economy into a new recession.


House Republicans appeared to be rejecting a bipartisan compromise that Boehner himself asked the Senate to negotiate without him, leaving the party likely facing the lion’s share of the blame from angry voters. And final passage could require a majority of Democratic votes, a tricky thing for Boehner two days before he faces reelection as speaker.


Time was running short for another reason: A new Congress will take office at noon on Thursday, forcing efforts to craft a compromise by the current Congress back to the drawing board.


Under the compromise arrangement, taxes would rise on income above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for households, while exemptions and deductions the wealthiest Americans use to reduce their tax bill would face new limits. The accord would also raise the taxes paid on large inheritances from 35% to 40% for estates over $5 million. And it would extend by one year unemployment benefits for some two million Americans. It would also prevent cuts in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients and spare tens of millions of Americans who otherwise would have been hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax. And it would extend some stimulus-era tax breaks championed by progressives.


The middle class will still see its taxes go up: The final deal did not include an extension of the payroll tax holiday. A report released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office Tuesday complicated matters further. It said that the Senate-passed compromise would add nearly $4 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years.


Efforts to modify the first installment of $1.2 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense programs over 10 years -- the other portion of the “fiscal cliff,” known as sequestration -- had proved a sticking point late in the game. Democrats had sought a year-long freeze but ultimately caved to Republican pressure and signed on to just a two-month delay while broader deficit-reduction talks continue.


That would put the next major battle over spending cuts right around the time that the White House and its Republican foes are battling it out over whether to raise the country's debt limit. Republicans have vowed to push for more spending cuts, equivalent to the amount of new borrowing. Obama has vowed not to negotiate as he did in 2011, when a bruising fight threatened the first-ever default on America's obligations and resulted in the first-ever downgrade of the country's credit rating. Biden sent that message to Democrats in Congress, two senators said.


The day-long political drama flared up when Cantor told House Republicans meeting behind closed doors Tuesday morning that he could not back the bill in its current form, aides and lawmakers leaving the discussions said. With conservatives already ready to oppose the measure over its lack of spending cuts, the majority leader’s bombshell spelled potential doom for the legislation.


“The Speaker and Leader laid out options to the members and listened to feedback,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement about the discussion. “The lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today’s meeting.”


As House Republicans raged at the bill, key House Democrats emerging from a closed-door meeting with Biden expressed support for the compromise and pressed Boehner for a vote on the legislation as currently written.


“Our Speaker has said when the Senate acts, we will have a vote in the House. That is what he said, that is what we expect, that is what the American people deserve…a straight up-or-down vote,” Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters.


Conservative activist organizations like the anti-tax Club for Growth warned lawmakers to oppose the compromise. The Club charged in a message to Congress that “this bill raises taxes immediately with the promise of cutting spending later.”


Efforts to modify the first installment of $1.2 trillion in cuts to domestic and defense programs over 10 years -- the other portion of the “fiscal cliff,” known as sequestration -- had proved a sticking point late in the game. Democrats had sought a year-long freeze but ultimately caved to Republican pressure and signed on to just a two-month delay while broader deficit-reduction talks continue.


That would put the next major battle over spending cuts right around the time that the White House and its Republican foes are battling it out over whether to raise the country's debt limit. Republicans have vowed to push for more spending cuts, equivalent to the amount of new borrowing. Obama has vowed not to negotiate as he did in 2011, when a bruising fight threatened the first-ever default on America's obligations and resulted in the first-ever downgrade of the country's credit rating. Biden sent that message to Democrats in Congress, two senators said.


“This agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay,” President Barack Obama said in a written statement shortly after the Senate vote.


There were signs that the 2016 presidential race shaped the outcome in the Senate. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, widely thought to have his eye on his party’s nomination, voted no. Republican Senator Rand Paul, who could take up the libertarian mantle of his father Ron Paul, did as well.


Biden's visit -- his second to Congressional Democrats in two days -- aimed to soothe concerns about the bill and about the coming battles on deficit reduction.


“This is a simple case of trying to Make sure that the perfect does not become the enemy of the good,” said Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings, one of the chamber’s most steadfast liberals. “Nobody’s going to like everything about it.”


Asked whether House progressives, who had hoped for a lower income threshold, would back the bill, Cummings said he could not predict but stressed: “I am one of the most progressive members, and I will vote for it.”



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Fiscal cliff tumble looms despite Senate efforts


By Richard Cowan and Roberta Rampton


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States was on track to tumble over the "fiscal cliff" at midnight on Monday, at least for a day, as lawmakers held back from supporting an eleventh-hour plan from Senate leaders to avert severe tax increases and spending cuts.


The U.S. House of Representatives looked unlikely to vote on a Senate "fiscal cliff" plan before midnight, possibly pushing a legislative decision into New Year's Day, when financial markets will be closed.


The plan was heavy on tax increases and light on spending cuts, which was unlikely to appeal to Republicans in the House.


It would raise income taxes on high-income Americans, but leave taxes at current levels for the middle class, a key goal of President Barack Obama.


But there was discontent among Senate Democrats worried that the proposal did not go far enough in taxing the rich. The Democrats asked for a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden to have him explain the talks he was having with Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.


"The caucus as a whole is not sold" on the plan, said a Senate Democratic aide. "We just don't have the votes for it."


If Congress fails to act, about $600 billion in tax increases - much steeper than those in the Senate plan - and government-wide spending cuts will begin taking effect after midnight, harsh measures that could lead to a recession.


But lawmakers could still vote for a deal on New Year's Day or later and prevent the worst of the fiscal cliff effects.


The House expects to reconvene on Tuesday at noon, Republican Representative Steven LaTourette said. He added that House members had been told to stay close on Monday evening and that they may be called back to continue negotiations.


Under the Senate plan, income above $450,000 per household or $400,000 per individual would be taxed at 39.6 percent, up from 35 percent. Income up to those levels would be taxed at the current, reduced tax rates put in place under former President George W. Bush.


The Senate plan would raise estate taxes on inherited wealth and permanently fix the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, so that it did not threaten each year to sweep in millions of middle-income Americans for whom it was not intended.


The plan also postpones for two months the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts in defense and domestic programs that are part of the fiscal cliff, Senator John McCain said.


SENATE DEMOCRATS UNSURE


Some Senate Democrats did not like the $450,000 threshold for raising taxes on the rich - they wanted $250,000 - or the higher threshold for raising estate taxes. Democrats also are upset there is no agreement yet to put off the first round of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts.


Republicans already are pushing for switching those across-the-board cuts to savings in the Medicare and Social Security healthcare and retirement programs and threatening to block a debt limit increase in February unless they get their way. But that is a fight that would most likely play out in January and February.


Some Senate Democrats aides were dispirited that Biden, a fellow Democrat, had gone further than they wanted in the fiscal cliff talks, just as he did in December 2010 when all Bush tax cuts were extended for two years.


Shortly after the plan emerged, Obama said agreement was within sight, but he sounded a cautious note.


"There are still issues to resolve, but we're hopeful that Congress can get it done, but it's not done," Obama, a Democrat, said at a White House event.


U.S. stocks rose on the day, with the market closing before the latest news broke about the House not voting. The benchmark Dow Jones industrial average closed up 1.3 percent at 13,104.


Even if the country tumbles over the cliff, legislative action afterward could soften the blow.


Final legislation can be backdated to January 1, for instance, said law firm K&L Gates partner Mary Burke Baker, who spent decades at the Internal Revenue Service.


"The important date is the date in the legislative language ... no matter what day the Senate or House pass the law, or the date the president signs it," she said.


Former Obama administration Treasury Department tax official Michael Mundaca agreed, although he said there would likely be delays in filing for many taxpayers as the IRS gets its computers into gear.


A deal on Tuesday will likely leave unsolved the issue of the "debt ceiling," which caps how much debt the federal government can hold.


Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a letter to congressional leaders that the government would suspend some investments in pension and health benefit funds for federal workers beginning on Monday in a move that allows it to keep borrowing for the meantime.


(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal, Tabassum Zakaria, Kim Dixon, Jeff Mason, Rachelle Younglai and David Morgan, Writing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)



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Fiscal cliff negotiations stall; Senate to resume talks New Year's Eve


Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaks on the Senate floor. (Reuters/C-SPAN/Handout)Bottom line: Still no "fiscal cliff" deal. And none seems imminent.


The U.S. Senate on Sunday ended the day still sharply divided over how to avoid the automatic  income-tax hikes and deep government spending cuts set to kick in Jan. 1 that could plunge the economy into a new recession.


Despite pleas from President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner for the Senate to resolve the stalemate, Democrat Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, announced lawmakers would not return to work until 11 a.m. on Monday -- New Year's Eve -- for one last chance to avoid going over the so-called fiscal cliff.


Reid tried to sound a note of optimism, saying closed-door discussions would carry on.


“There is still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue,” he said. “There is still time left to reach an agreement and we intend to continue negotiations.”


But senators on both sides sounded less than optimistic as they emerged from separate closed-door meetings -- one for Democrats, one for Republicans.


"We've all been told not to make plans for New Year's Eve," Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill told reporters.


Some said they remained hopeful.


The Senate's number two Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois,  told reporters he was "definitely" encouraged that Republicans had dropped a demand for reducing Social Security benefits as a condition for extending unemployment benefits set to expire for some two million Americans. Obama has said extending the unemployment benefits is one of his top priorities for any deal.


"Now that they’re backing off of it, maybe we can make some progress --  I hope," Durbin said.


Obama had previously offered to index Social Security benefits with a "chained" consumer price index -- essentially adopting a less generous measure of cost-of-living increases -- but only with safeguards for the poorest beneficiaries and only as part of a broader deficit-reduction plan.


Earlier, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell complained that Democrats had not yet given him a counteroffer to a GOP proposal delivered at 7 p.m. Saturday night. And McConnell spoke by telephone at least twice with Vice President Joe Biden in an effort to "jump-start" the stalled negotiations.


Even if McConnell and Reid could put together a last-minute compromise, that deal would still need to clear the Senate and the House of Representatives -- no mean feat with time running very short.


The two sides have been starkly at odds for the last year over which Bush-era income tax cuts to extend past their Jan. 1 expiration. Obama campaigned on letting taxes rise on income above $250,000, Republicans aim to set the threshold higher.


And the income tax threshold was far from the only bone of contention.


Obama and most Democrats want to extend unemployment benefits, but Republicans linked that request to the “chained CPI” for Social Security. With that change off the table, it was not clear what would happen to the jobless help, Durbin said.


Obama and most Democrats want to see the estate tax paid on large inheritances rise. Republicans want to exempt more estates from what they call the “death tax.”


The two sides are also looking at sparing millions of Americans from suddenly having to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax and eyeing a way to keep the reimbursement rate paid to doctors on Medicare-covered treatment from being slashed.


Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe on Sunday blasted the last-minute negotiations as a "travesty" that had left American taxpayers disgusted and scared.


"It starts with beginning of this Congress -- in the last two years we’ve seen historic failure after historic failure," Snowe said.  "Both parties and both branches of government ... it imposes a tremendous hardship and burden on the average American."


Snowe, who is retiring after 34 years in Congress, has said the intense partisanship in Washington largely drove her decision to leave.



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Obama ‘optimistic’ Senate leaders will reach ‘fiscal cliff’ deal this weekend


(Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)(Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)


Following talks with congressional leaders that yielded no news of  a "fiscal cliff" agreement, President Barack Obama on Friday evening pressured lawmakers to reach a deal this weekend as the public's patience wears thin.


"America wonders why it is that in this town for some reason they can't get stuff done in an organized timetable, why everything always has to wait for the last minute," Obama said during a statement delivered in the White House briefing room. "The American people are not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy, not right now."


The president confirmed that following his Friday afternoon meeting with congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been tasked to reach an agreement to reduce the deficit and avoid the "fiscal cliff"—automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to go into effect Jan. 1.


But in the absence of a deal, Obama said he will "urge" Reid to "bring to the floor a basic package for an up-or-down vote" that would increase taxes on households earning more than $250,000, extend unemployment insurance and disarm a sequestration—provisions the president has supported.


But Republicans have been rejecting any tax increases, even for the wealthiest earners.


"If members of the House or Senate want to vote 'no,' they can," Obama said of his plan. "But we should let everybody vote. That's the way this is supposed to work."


The president referred to Friday's meeting, which also included House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Joe Biden and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, as "good and constructive" and said he remained "modestly optimistic" about Congress' ability to reach a deal.


But he blamed Congress for the 11th-hour holdup.


"The economy is growing, but sustaining that trend is going to require elected officials to do their jobs," Obama said.


No details on the proposals offered Friday were released by the White House or the lawmakers present.


According to a readout from the speaker's office, Boehner began the meeting by reminding those gathered "that the House has already acted to avert the entire fiscal cliff and is awaiting Senate action." Plan options were discussed and the speaker said the House will consider Senate-amended, House-passed legislation.


Following the meeting, McConnell said on the Senate floor that he was "hopeful and optimistic" about a deal.


"We had a good meeting down at the White House. We are engaged in discussions—the majority leader and myself and the White House—in the hopes that we can come forward as early as Sunday and have a recommendation that I can make to my conference and the majority leader can make to his conference," McConnell said. "And so we’ll be working hard to try to see if we can get there in the next 24 hours."



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Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf dies


WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who topped an illustrious military career by commanding the U.S.-led international coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait in 1991 but kept a low public profile in controversies over the second Gulf War against Iraq, died Thursday. He was 78.


Schwarzkopf died in Tampa, Fla., where he had lived in retirement, according to a U.S. official, who was not authorized to release the information publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.


A much-decorated combat soldier in Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was known popularly as "Stormin' Norman" for a notoriously explosive temper.


He served in his last military assignment in Tampa as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, the headquarters responsible for U.S. military and security concerns in nearly 20 countries from the eastern Mediterranean and Africa to Pakistan.


Schwarzkopf became "CINC-Centcom" in 1988 and when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait three years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, he commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by then-President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out.


At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf — a self-proclaimed political independent — rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.


While focused primarily in his later years on charitable enterprises, he campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2000 but was ambivalent about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying he doubted victory would be as easy as the White House and Pentagon predicted. In early 2003 he told the Washington Post the outcome was an unknown:


"What is postwar Iraq going to look like, with the Kurds and the Sunnis and the Shiites? That's a huge question, to my mind. It really should be part of the overall campaign plan," he said.


Initially Schwarzkopf had endorsed the invasion, saying he was convinced that former Secretary of State Colin Powell had given the United Nations powerful evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. After that proved false, he said decisions to go to war should depend on what U.N. weapons inspectors found.


He seldom spoke up during the conflict, but in late 2004, he sharply criticized then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon for mistakes that included inadequate training for Army reservists sent to Iraq and for erroneous judgments about Iraq.


"In the final analysis I think we are behind schedule. ... I don't think we counted on it turning into jihad (holy war)," he said in an NBC interview.


Schwarzkopf was born Aug. 24, 1934, in Trenton, N.J., where his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., founder and commander of the New Jersey State Police, was then leading the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnap case, which ended with the arrest and 1936 execution of German-born carpenter Richard Hauptmann for stealing and murdering the famed aviator's infant son.


The elder Schwarzkopf was named Herbert, but when the son was asked what his "H'' stood for, he would reply, "H." Although reputed to be short-tempered with aides and subordinates, he was a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who didn't like "Stormin' Norman" and preferred to be known as "the Bear," a sobriquet given him by troops.


He also was outspoken at times, including when he described Gen. William Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam, as "a horse's ass" in an Associated Press interview.


As a teenager Norman accompanied his father to Iran, where the elder Schwarzkopf trained the country's national police force and was an adviser to Reza Pahlavi, the young Shah of Iran.


Young Norman studied there and in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, then followed in his father's footsteps to West Point, graduating in 1956 with an engineering degree. After stints in the U.S. and abroad, he earned a master's degree in engineering at the University of Southern California and later taught missile engineering at West Point.


In 1966 he volunteered for Vietnam and served two tours, first as a U.S. adviser to South Vietnamese paratroops and later as a battalion commander in the U.S. Army's Americal Division. He earned three Silver Stars for valor — including one for saving troops from a minefield — plus a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and three Distinguished Service Medals.


While many career officers left military service embittered by Vietnam, Schwarzkopf was among those who opted to stay and help rebuild the tattered Army into a potent, modernized all-volunteer force.


After Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Schwarzkopf played a key diplomatic role by helping to persuade Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to allow U.S. and other foreign troops to deploy on Saudi territory as a staging area for the war to come.


On Jan. 17, 1991, a five-month buildup called Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as allied aircraft attacked Iraqi bases and Baghdad government facilities. The six-week aerial campaign climaxed with a massive ground offensive on Feb. 24-28, routing the Iraqis from Kuwait in 100 hours before U.S. officials called a halt.


Schwarzkopf said afterward he agreed with Bush's decision to stop the war rather than drive to Baghdad to capture Saddam, as his mission had been only to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait.


But in a desert tent meeting with vanquished Iraqi generals, he allowed a key concession on Iraq's use of helicopters, which later backfired by enabling Saddam to crack down more easily on rebellious Shiites and Kurds.


While he later avoided the public second-guessing by academics and think tank experts over the ambiguous outcome of Gulf War I and its impact on Gulf War II, he told the Washington Post in 2003, "You can't help but... with 20/20 hindsight, go back and say, 'Look, had we done something different, we probably wouldn't be facing what we are facing today.'"


After retiring from the Army in 1992, Schwarzkopf wrote a best-selling autobiography, "It Doesn't Take A Hero." Of his Gulf war role, he said, "I like to say I'm not a hero. I was lucky enough to lead a very successful war." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and honored with decorations from France, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain.


Schwarzkopf was a national spokesman for prostate cancer awareness and for Recovery of the Grizzly Bear, served on the Nature Conservancy board of governors and was active in various charities for chronically ill children.


"I may have made my reputation as a general in the Army and I'm very proud of that," he once told the AP. "But I've always felt that I was more than one-dimensional. I'd like to think I'm a caring human being. ... It's nice to feel that you have a purpose."


Schwarzkopf and his wife, Brenda, had three children: Cynthia, Jessica and Christian.


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Pyle contributed from New York.


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Former President George H.W. Bush in intensive care


HOUSTON (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush has been admitted to the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital "following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever," but he is alert and talking to medical staff, his spokesman said Wednesday.


Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, said in a brief email that Bush was admitted to the ICU at Methodist Hospital on Sunday. He said doctors are cautiously optimistic about his treatment and that the former president "remains in guarded condition."


No other details were released about his medical condition, but McGrath said Bush is surrounded by family. Bush has been hospitalized since Nov. 23.


Earlier Wednesday, McGrath said a fever that kept Bush in the hospital over Christmas had gotten worse and that doctors had put him on a liquids-only diet.


"It's an elevated fever, so it's actually gone up in the last day or two," McGrath told The Associated Press earlier in the day. "It's a stubborn fever that won't go away."


But he said the bronchitis-like cough that initially brought the 88-year-old to the hospital has improved.


Bush was visited on Christmas by his wife, Barbara, his son, Neil, and Neil's wife, Maria, and a grandson, McGrath said. Bush's daughter, Dorothy, was expected to arrive Wednesday in Houston from Bethesda, Md. The 41st president has also been visited twice by his sons, George W. Bush, the 43rd president, and Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida.


Bush and his wife live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.


The former president was a naval aviator in World War II — at one point the youngest in the Navy — and was shot down over the Pacific. He achieved notoriety in retirement for skydiving on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House in 1992.


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Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP


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Newtown celebrates Christmas amid signs of mourning


NEWTOWN, Conn. - Newtown celebrated Christmas amid piles of snow-covered teddy bears and heaps of flowers as volunteers manned a 24-hour candlelight vigil in memory of the 20 children and six adults shot to death in the second-largest school shooting in U.S. history.


Well-wishers from around the country showed up Tuesday morning to hang ornaments on memorial Christmas trees, while police officers from around Connecticut took extra shifts to give local police a day off.


"It's a nice thing that they can use us this way," Ted Latiak, a police detective from Greenwich, Connecticut, said as he and a fellow detective came out of a store with bagels and coffee for other officers.


A steady stream of residents, some in pyjamas, relit candles that had been extinguished in an overnight snowstorm. Others dropped off toys and fought back tears at a huge sidewalk memorial filled with stuffed animals, poems, flowers, posters and cards.


In the morning, resident Joanne Brunetti watched over 26 candles that had been lit at midnight in honour of those slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She and her husband, Bill, signed up for a three-hour shift and erected a tent to ensure that the flames never went out throughout the day.


"You have to do something and you don't know what to do, you know? You really feel very helpless in this situation," she said. "My thought is if we were all this nice to each other all the time maybe things like this wouldn't happen."


Julian Revie played "Silent Night" on a piano on the sidewalk at the downtown memorial. Revie, from Ottawa, Canada, was visiting the area at the time of the shootings. He found a piano online and chose to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day playing for the people of Newtown.


"It was such a mood of respectful silence," said Revie. "But yesterday being Christmas Eve and today being Christmas Day, I thought now it's time for some Christmas carols for the children."


At a town hall memorial, Faith Leonard waved to people driving by and handed out Christmas cookies and children's gifts. She had driven from Arizona, at almost the other end of the country, to volunteer on Christmas morning alone.


"I guess my thought was if I could be here helping out, maybe one person would be able to spend more time with their family or grieve in the way they needed to," Leonard said.


Many residents attended Christmas Eve services and spent Tuesday morning at home with their families. Others attended church services in search of a new beginning.


At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which eight of the child victims of the massacre attended, the pastor told parishioners that "today is the day we begin everything all over again."


Recalling the events of Dec. 14, the Rev. Robert Weiss said: "The moment the first responder broke through the doors, we knew good always overcomes evil."


"We know Christmas in a way we never ever thought we would know it," Weiss said. "We need a little Christmas and we've been given it."


Police have yet to offer a theory about a possible motive for gunman Adam Lanza's rampage. The 20-year-old resident killed his mother in her bed before carrying out the massacre and killing himself.


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Firefighters killed in house fire 'ambush'



A man with a criminal history shot and killed two West Webster, N.Y. firefighters and seriously injured two others as they responded to a fire at his home, police say.


William H. Spengler, Jr., 62, apparently started a 5:35 a.m. fire at his home on Lake Road  and then waited with an armament of weapons for first responders to arrive, Webster N.Y. Police Chief Gerald Pickering said at an afternoon news conference.


“He was shooting from high ground or a berm," Pickering said. "He was barricaded with weapons to shoot first responders."


After a brief exchange of gunfire with police, Spengler then shot and killed himself at the scene, Pickering said.


Spengler was convicted in 1981 in the death of his 92-year-old grandmother a year earlier. He served time in prison and was released in 1998, Pickering said.


Spengler beat Rose Spengler to death with a hammer 1980, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. Rose Spengler had lived in the home next to William Spengler on Lake Road at the time of her death.


Local police had not noted any criminal activity in his recent past, Pickering said.


Pickering said they are looking into the apparent disappearance of Spengler's sister who is unaccounted for at this time.


Police and fire officials are continuing to gather evidence and will inspect the seven homes that were destroyed in the fire that spread to nearby houses in the small lakeside town located 10 miles east of Rochester.


The victims in the shooting are Mike Chiapperini, also a lieutenant and public information officer with the local police department, and Tomasz Kaczowka, Pickering said.


"These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires. They don't expect to be shot and killed," a tearful Pickering said at the press conference.


Chiapperini was described by Pickering as a lifelong firefighter who started with the department's explorer program and had about 20 years of experience. Kaczowka was a younger firefighter who was on the force for about two years and was also a 911 dispatcher, he said.


West Webster firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were seriously injured and are at Strong Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds, a hospital spokeswoman said.  Scardino  has  injuries to his chest and lungs. Hofsetter was injured in the pelvis, the spokeswoman said at a media briefing. Both are in guarded condition, she said.


An off-duty police officer from nearby Greece, N.Y., John Ritter was also injured by shrapnel during the shooting, Pickering said.


Pickering said that one of the firefighters who survived made his way across a bridge to safety. The other three did not make it across, Pickering said. Police arrived and rescued the other three firefighters, but two were fatally shot, Pickering said.


The morning scene was described as chaotic as police and firefighters dealt with an immense blaze as well as gunshots,  local news station WHAM-TV  reports.


“I’m not aware of anything like this happening in Webster, obviously not a firefighter being fired upon,” Webster Fire Marshal Rob Boutillier told the Democrat and Chronicle.  Pickering described Webster as resort lakeside community that is quiet and usually peaceful.


WHAM reported that an outpouring of support has come through the Webster community. Black flags reportedly have been draped at some homes and offices to honor those killed and injured.


N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted of the incident: We as the community of #NY mourn their loss as now 2 more families must spend the holidays without their loved ones #Webster



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NRA’s LaPierre: New gun laws won't work


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 at a press conference in Washington, when he said the answer to preventing shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary Sch00l is armed security in every school--in effect, protecting children with guns.


“If it’s crazy to call for putting police in and securing our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre said. “I think the American people think it’s crazy not to do it."


At one point during the often contentious exchange, host David Gregory held up a high-capacity magazine clip that carries 30 bullets, asking if the NRA would support a federal limit on the capacity of such clips.


"Isn't it just possible that we could reduce the carnage in a situation like Newtown?" Gregory asked.


"I don't believe that's going to make one difference," LaPierre responded.


"You're telling me that it's not a matter of common sense that if you don't have an ability to shoot off 30 rounds without reloading, that, just possibly, you could reduce the loss of life?" Gregory asked.


"I don't buy your argument for a minute," LaPierre said. "There are so many different ways to evade that, even if you had that."


“Is there no new gun regulation you would support?” an exasperated Gregory asked. LaPierre refused to answer.


At Friday's press conference, LaPierre--who did not take questions from reporters--argued that had someone at the school been armed, "innocent lives might have been spared."


"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.




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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.



PHOTOS: Victims of Sandy Hook Massacre



A homegoing celebration will take place at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn., for Ana Marquez-Greene. The 6-year-old with a beaming voice sang in a home video with her brother, who was also at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the massacre, and seemed destined to take after her father, a jazz musician.



Emilie Parker, the budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere, will be laid to rest in Ogden, Utah today.



The 6-year-old would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman's bullets not claimed her life, her father said.



"My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that's the kind of kid she is," her father, Robbie Parker, said last Saturday.



"She always had something kind to say about anybody," Parker said. "We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch."



WATCH: Emilie's father speaks about his daughter


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Meet the man spearheading the effort to get armed guards in schools


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In 2006, a political ad swept through the state of Arkansas, touting Asa Hutchinson's values as "shaped in rural Arkansas, a half-mile down a dirt road."


In his unsuccessful bid for governor, the former federal prosecutor and U.S. congressman touted his conservative political views and garnered a strong endorsement from the National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. gun lobby.


On Friday, the NRA announced that Hutchinson - also a former Homeland Security official and now a lawyer predominantly focused on white-collar crime - will spearhead an effort to put armed guards at schools in hopes of preventing mass shootings like the one on December 14 in Connecticut that killed 20 young children and 6 adults.


"School safety is a complex issue with no simple, single solution," Hutchinson said at Friday's news conference. "But I believe trained, qualified, armed security is one key component among many that can provide the first line of deterrence as well as the last line of defense.


His effort, dubbed the National School Shield Program, would have a "budget provided by the NRA of whatever scope the task requires." It will focus on producing a security model, which may rely on local volunteers as armed security guards and would be offered for adoption at every school in America free of charge, NRA officials said.


Opponents of the plan say the United States needs to tighten gun controls rather than introduce more guns into school environments.


NRA has contributed more than $30,000 to Hutchinson's various political campaigns for state and federal offices over more than a decade, becoming one of his top backers, according to the Sunlight Foundation that tracks money in politics.


In a brief stint as a registered lobbyist at Washington law firm Venable LLP Hutchinson in 2007 represented Point Blank Body Armor, a maker of body armor for the U.S. Army, according to another money-tracking group Center for Responsive Politics,.


Hutchinson, now 62, was the youngest U.S. Attorney in the country, when Republican President Ronald Reagan appointed the then-31-year-old to the post in 1982.


In what his political ads later touted as a character-forming experience, Hutchinson at the time put on a flak jacket to negotiate a stand-off between local, state and federal law enforcement and a white supremacist group known as The Covenant, The Sword and The Arm of the Lord.


After unsuccessful bids for Senate and Arkansas state attorney general, Hutchinson became a congressman in 1996, replacing his brother Tim Hutchinson in the U.S. House of Representatives. He later serving as one of the managers during the impeachment of Democratic President Bill Clinton.


At the time, he voted for a bill that would have shortened the waiting time for gun buyers for any necessary background checks to 24 hours.


Hutchinson later went on to become the administrator at the Drug Enforcement Administration and the first under-secretary of the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security under Republican President George W. Bush.


In 2006, he returned to Arkansas for his unsuccessful run for governor, during which he briefly came under fire from his Democratic opponent Mike Beebe for airing an attack ad that featured children delivering the anti-Beebe message, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at the time.


In an interview with the newspaper in October 2006, Hutchinson also shared his enthusiasm for hunting deer and other game and said his favorite hunting firearms were "a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a Remington bolt-action .308 deer rifle."


"I think promoting hunting and shooting sports in general is a strong tradition in Arkansas, and it's a tradition that dies out if it is not passed on to the next generation," he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.


When asked about the connection between hunting weapons and the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Americans the right to bear arms, he said: "To me, it's a matter of freedom, it's a matter of history and tradition, and it's a matter of self-protection."


(Additional reporting by Suzi Parker in Arkansas; editing by Andrew Hay)



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Blizzards, tornadoes, blackouts hit Midwest


CHICAGO (Reuters) - The first major winter storm of the year hit the U.S. Midwest on Thursday, bringing a blizzard to the Plains and tornadoes to Alabama and Arkansas, and leaving some 133,000 customers without electricity.


Bad driving conditions led to a 25-car pileup on a highway near Clarion, Iowa, that left three people dead, authorities said. Blizzard warnings were in effect in eastern Iowa and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.


"It's going to be very windy with considerable blowing and drifting of snow," said Bruce Terry, a senior National Weather Service forecaster at the HydroMeteorological Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. He called the pre-Christmas storm "a major winter snowstorm" for the Midwest and western Great Lakes.


Accumulations of up to a foot of snow were expected in some areas, Terry said, adding there was a potential for severe weather on the so-called "warm side" of the storm in the U.S. Southeast.


Blowing snow led to school closures in parts of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, plus the closure of all state government offices in Iowa.


"Thunder" snow was reported in Iowa Wednesday night, especially in southeastern Iowa, as thunder and lightning accompanied the storm as it surged across the state.


Travel was not advised on Iowa roads for the rest of the day, according to Annette Dunn with the Iowa Department of Transportation.


"We're going to have visibility and drifting problems through midnight," she said.


Late Thursday morning, troopers responded to a 25-car crash which killed three people on southbound Interstate 35 in northern Iowa. Iowa DOT closed I-35 at Highway 30 due to deteriorating conditions.


The Iowa National Guard has deployed about 80 soldiers from across the state to help highway assistance teams cope with the storm.


In Nebraska, portions of I-80 were closed Thursday due to snow-packed and icy road conditions. The entire road was expected to reopen before 4 p.m. local time.


In Chicago, rain was expected to change to snow Thursday night, with wind gusts of as much as 50 miles per hour, the NWS said.


Due to low visibility, airlines at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport were reporting delays of up to 90 minutes and have canceled more than 200 flights. At Midway Airport in Chicago, airlines canceled 150 flights and Southwest Airlines canceled all flights after 4:30 p.m.


A twister near downtown Mobile, Alabama, damaged buildings, snapped trees, downed power lines and flipped vehicles early on Thursday, but there were no reports of injuries, authorities said.


"The potential is there certainly for some isolated tornadoes," Terry said, referring to a broad swath of Gulf of Mexico coast and inland territory stretching from southeast Louisiana through the western Florida Panhandle.


The National Weather Service confirmed on Thursday that a tornado destroyed a mobile home southwest of Sheridan, Arkansas. There were no reports of injuries.


High winds of around 45 miles per hour in Tennessee knocked down trees and power lines.


While the heavy snow in the Upper Midwest will create potentially dangerous travel conditions, meteorologist Jeff Masters said it put an end to this year's "record-length snowless streaks in a number of U.S. cities."


Writing on his website weatherunderground.com, Masters said the storm would also provide "welcome moisture for drought-parched areas of the Midwest."


The winter storm, named Draco by the Weather Channel, began Tuesday in the Rocky Mountains and marked a dramatic change from the mild December so far in most of the nation.


High winds kicked up a dust storm in West Texas on Wednesday, leading to at least one death in a traffic accident near Lubbock.


Power companies reported electrical outages in Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, with a peak of 400,000 customers without power Thursday morning. That fell to 133,000 by Thursday afternoon.


(Writing by Tom Brown and Nick Carey; Reporting by Mary Wisniewski in Chicago, Eileen O'Grady in Houston, Kaija Wilkinson in Mobile, Alabama and Keith Coffman in Denver, Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Kay Henderson in Des Moines, Iowa, Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Matthew Waller in San Angelo, Texas and Suzi Parker in Little Rock, Arkansas.; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Greg McCune, Tim Dobbyn and Jim Marshall)



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Scam artists creep in as families grieve


NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The family of Noah Pozner was mourning the 6-year-old, killed in the Newtown school massacre, when outrage compounded their sorrow.


Someone they didn't know was soliciting donations in Noah's memory, claiming that they'd send any cards, packages and money collected to his parents and siblings. An official-looking website had been set up, with Noah's name as the address, even including petitions on gun control.


Noah's uncle, Alexis Haller, called on law enforcement authorities to seek out "these despicable people."


"These scammers," he said, "are stealing from the families of victims of this horrible tragedy."


It's a problem as familiar as it is disturbing. Tragedy strikes — be it a natural disaster, a gunman's rampage or a terrorist attack — and scam artists move in.


It happened after 9/11. It happened after Columbine. It happened after Hurricane Katrina. And after this summer's movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.


Sometimes fraud takes the form of bogus charities asking for donations that never get sent to victims. Natural disasters bring another dimension: Scammers try to get government relief money they're not eligible for.


"It's abominable," said Ken Berger, president and CEO of Charity Navigator, which evaluates the performance of charities. "It's just the lowest kind of thievery."


Noah Pozner's relatives found out about one bogus solicitation when a friend received an email asking for money for the family. Poorly punctuated, it gave details about Noah, his funeral and his family. It directed people to send donations to an address in the Bronx, one that the Pozners had never heard of.


It listed a New York City phone number to text with questions about how to donate. When a reporter texted that number Wednesday, a reply came advising the donation go to the United Way.


The Pozner family had the noahpozner.com website transferred to its ownership. Victoria Haller, Noah's aunt, emailed the person who had originally registered the name. The person, who went by the name Jason Martin, wrote back that he'd meant "to somehow honor Noah and help promote a safer gun culture. I had no ill intentions I assure you."


Alexis Haller said the experience "should serve as a warning signal to other victims' families. We urge people to watch out for these frauds on social media sites."


Consumer groups, state attorneys general and law enforcement authorities call for caution about unsolicited requests for donations, by phone or email. They tell people to be wary of callers who don't want to answer questions about their organization, who won't take "no" for an answer, or who convey what seems to be an unreasonable sense of urgency.


"This is a time of mourning for the people of Newtown and for our entire state," Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said in a statement this week. "Unfortunately, it's also a time when bad actors may seek to exploit those coping with this tragedy."


But scam artists know that calamity is fertile ground for profit, watered by the goodwill of strangers who want to help and may not be familiar with the cause or the people they're sending money to.


After the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., scammers asked for credit card donations for victims' families. After the 9/11 attacks, the North American Securities Administrators Association warned investors to be wary of Internet postings encouraging them to invest in supposed anti-terrorist technologies.


In 2006, the FBI warned about an email widely circulated after the Sago, W.Va., mine explosion, which claimed to be from a doctor treating one of the survivors and asking for donations to cover medical bills.


"As was learned after the tragic events of 9/11/01, the tsunami disaster, and more recently with Hurricane Katrina, unscrupulous cyber criminals have shown the desire and means to exploit human emotion by attempting to defraud the public when they are perceived to be most vulnerable," the FBI said at the time.


This fall, the police in Aurora, Colo., accused a local woman of trying to profit off the deadly movie theater rampage by a gunman who killed 12 people. The woman told people that she was the caretaker for a little girl named Kadence, whose mother had died in the shooting. The police said the child was made up. The scam unraveled when a donor got a phone call from what seemed to be a woman imitating a child's voice.


When the government doled out disaster aid after Hurricane Katrina, scammers asked for money to rebuild houses they never lived in or to pay benefits for relatives who never existed.


The government later set up the National Center for Disaster Fraud to try to root out such scams in the federal relief programs administered after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. It has since expanded its mandate to other disasters.


The cases brought since then by the Justice Department sketch a colorful picture of fraud:


— A woman who filed for small-business disaster benefits after the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill, even though she'd sold the business before the accident.


— A judge and a commissioner in Texas who, after Hurricane Ike, were accused of awarding debris removal contracts to a company in return for kickbacks. The judge also commandeered a 155-kilowatt generator meant for the county to power his convenience store, according to the government.


— A pastor who submitted inflated claims to a government-funded program that reimbursed groups sheltering Hurricane Katrina evacuees.


Bob Webster, spokesman for the NASAA, knows the sad pattern.


"We know cons try to cash in on headlines, and any who would even think about stooping to capitalize on the tragedy in Newtown are the lowest of the low," he said.


___


Rexrode reported from New York. Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner and writer Allen Breed contributed to this report.


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NRA breaks silence on 'horrific' massacre


Tasha Devoe, left, of Lawrence, Mass., joins a march to NRA headquarters in Washington on Dec. 17, 2012. (Manuel …The National Rifle Association on Tuesday broke its silence on last Friday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., denouncing the "horrific and senseless murders" and vowing to "help make sure this never happens again."


Facing a fierce push for new restrictions on gun ownership in the tragedy’s aftermath, the group said it would hold "a major news conference" in Washington on Friday. It did not elaborate.


"The National Rifle Association of America is made up of four million moms and dads, sons and daughters—and we were shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown," the organization said in a statement emailed to reporters.


"The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again," it said.


In keeping with its past practice after other mass shootings, the NRA kept quiet after the killings of 20 children and six adults at the school, plus the gunman's mother. Gun control advocates, however, have ramped up calls for new restrictions to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future. And President Barack Obama himself has called for a strong response to the massacre.


"Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting," the NRA said in its statement.



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Newtown boy remembered as 'old soul'





Though he was only in first grade, Daniel Barden was very much an "old soul," his family said today. He was one of the 20 children who died Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.



At the age of 4, he displayed an empathy for others remarkable for a child so young. It didn't go unnoticed - teachers chose Daniel to be paired with a special education student at his school.



PHOTOS: Connecticut Shooting Victims



His mother, Jackie Barden, said she was always struck by "how unusual he was."



"Our neighbors always said, 'He's like an old soul,'" Barden said during an interview on "Katie."



He carried that kindness with him as he got older.



"He would hold doors open for adults all the time," said his father, Mark Barden.



He laughed, remembering the times he'd be "halfway" across a parking lot and see his son still holding a door for strangers.



"Our son had so much love to give to this world," Barden said. "He was supposed to have a whole lifetime of bringing that light to the world."



Complete Coverage: Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting



Daniel had two older siblings, James, age 12, and Natalie, age 10, who doted on their little brother.



"He was just so sweet and kind and thoughtful," James said.



On Friday, 7-year-old Daniel, who was one of the 20 young victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School, woke up early. He played foosball with his mother.



As usual, Daniel won, she said. The score was 10 to 8.



His father also taught him how to play "Jingle Bells" on the piano that morning.



"We did a lot in that half hour," he said.



A celebration of Daniel's life will be held Tuesday at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. A funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.

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Newtown residents seek solace in church and prepare to bury their dead


A couple leaves a morning service at Trinity Church not far from the Sandy Hook School on Sunday. (Getty)


NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Residents of this shell shocked community attended church services and prepared to bury their dead two days after a gunman mowed down more than two dozen people in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.


President Barack Obama left the White House mid-afternoon Sunday to head to Newtown, where he was to meet with first responders and families of the 20 children and 6 adults who perished Friday at Sandy Hook School. Funeral directors across the state were lending their help in preparing the dead, including 20 children, for burial.


But the ritual of Sunday worship even turned chaotic for some residents. St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church was evacuated during its noon mass after an unidentified man called in threats to the congregation.


At Newtown United Methodist Church, senior pastor Mel Kawakami said he's not sure he's ready to forgive the suspected shooter, identified by police as 20-year old Adam Lanza. Lanza allegedly shot and killed his mother in the home they shared before blasting into the school he once attended.


"I'm not sure I'm there yet. My heart is still broken," Kawakami told the packed congregation at  the 10 a.m. service. Pews were lined with Kleenex boxes in the church, which is located less than a half-mile from the school.


Before Rev. Kawakami's sermon, many parents dropped their children off on a lower floor to shield them from a discussion of the tragedy.


Prayers were offered for the victims and for an end to gun violence. One father asked that the congregation pray for his son's best friend, who died at the school.


The altar was lit with 28 candles, one for each of the dead. "Yes, even the shooter," Kawakami said.


Kawakami said the community might one day find forgiveness. Meanwhile, he said, "We have more to mourn, and children and adults to bury."


Funeral directors across the state were already at work helping the lone Newtown funeral home prepare the victims for burial.


Six Connecticut funeral directors have traveled to Newtown's Honan Funeral Home, a family-owned facility located two miles from the site of the shooting, to help coordinate with families of the deceased.


The Connecticut Funeral Director's Association, which has 220 members, is matching the funeral directors receiving bodies of the deceased with others who have offered support in the form of transportation, caskets and cosmetics, spokeswoman Laura Soll said.


Soll said offers for help have come from all corners—everything from Canadian funeral homes to a tent company offering to donate a tent for guests at the Honan location.


At St. Rose of Lima's early morning mass, signs saying "No Press" greeted churchgoers.


Some hugged each other in the parking lot before making their way into the church, pausing briefly at a table filled with at a table dotted with candles. Others paused, pointing to the crush of media camped along the side of the road.



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Sandy Hook shooter a mystery to neighbors and former classmates


Police prohibited access on Saturday to the neighborhood where gunman Adam Lanza lived. (Jason Sickles/Yahoo N …


NEWTOWN, CONN. -- Even to his neighbors, the gunman who massacred 26 kids and educators at an elementary school here still remains somewhat of a mystery.


"I want to know more," said Len Strocchia, who lives less than half mile away from the shooter's house.


Authorities say Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their well-to-do home Friday morning before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary where he stormed in and committed one of the worst mass school shootings in U.S. history. The victims were 20 first-graders and six staffers, including the principal.


Adam Lanza's parents divorced a few years ago. Messages left with his father, Peter Lanza, were not returned.


On Saturday, Strocchia walked down the street to see the shooter's house firsthand, but was forbidden to go past a police barricade near the Lanza home.


"I want to know which house and why I didn't know them," the father of two teenagers told Yahoo News.


Another neighbor did know Adam Lanza. Megan, who declined to give her last name, was a classmate of the shooter from kindergarten through middle school.


"He wasn't like a weird kid as a child," Megan told Yahoo News. "He was just quiet. He didn't put off a friendly vibe."


But she said he was one of the smartest students in school.


"He was always participating in class and everything," Megan said.


But she said her former classmate with whom she rode the school bus sort of vanished after their junior high years.


"He almost fell off the radar in middle school," Megan told Yahoo News.


The shooter's aunt, Marsha Lanza, told ABC News that his mother pulled him out of Newtown public schools because of a dispute over the district's plan for her son.


"She mentioned she wound up home-schooling him because she battled with the school district," the aunt told ABC News.


Police said Adam Lanza, dressed in all black, was armed with two handguns and a semi-automatic Bushmaster .223 rifle when he barged into the school.


Dr. Carver, the medical examiner, said it appears that all the children where gunned down by the military-style rifle. Authorities said all the weapons were legally owned and registered by Nancy Lanza, the shooter's mother.


Newtown school superintendent Janet Robinson told reporters Saturday that Nancy Lanza had no connection to Sandy Hook school, despite initial reports Lanza was on the faculty or a substitute teacher there.


"I'm sickened that this mass murder was done with legal guns," said Strocchia, the neighbor. "I'd like to find out why. Why did she have guns?"


But acquaintances of Nancy Lanza told The New York Times that the 52-year-old mother was a big fan of guns.


"She had several different guns," Dan Holmes told the newspaper. "I don't know how many. She would go target shooting with her kids."


Reports that Adam Lanza may have suffered from a personality disorder are being supported by people who knew the mother to have a troubled son.


According to the Times story, a friend said Nancy Lanza was "handling a very difficult situation with uncommon grace."


Investigators revealed on Saturday that evidence found in the Lanza might provide a possible motive for the massacre.


State police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance declined to provide specifics about the evidence but said, "we're hopeful it will paint a complete picture."


Neighbors like Strocchia are searching for answers too. However, he said, said he harbors no anger.


"I'm thankful my children are alive," he said. "I have compassion and mercy. There was something wrong with him."



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20 children, 6 adults killed at Conn. school shooting



Twenty children died today when a heavily armed man invaded a Newtown,
Conn., elementary school and sprayed staff and students with bullets.



The gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, 20, was found dead in the school.



Lt. Paul Vance said 18 children died in the school and two more died
later in a hospital. Six adults were also slain, bringing the total to
26.



In addition to the casualties at the school, Lanza's mother Nancy Lanza
was killed in her home, federal and state sources told ABC News.



According to sources, Lanza shot his mother in the face, then left his
house armed with at least two semi automatic handguns, a Glock and a Sig
Sauer, and a semi automatic rifle. He was also wearing a bullet proof
vest.



Lanza drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School and continued his rampage,
killing 26 people, authorities said. He was found dead at the school. It
appears that he died from what is believed to be a self inflicted
gunshot wound. The rifle was found in his car.



In the early confusion surrounding the investigation, federal sources
initially identified the suspect as Adam's older brother Ryan Lanza, 24.
He is being questioned by police.



LIVE UPDATES: Newtown, Conn., School Shooting



"Evil visited this community today," Gov. Dan Malloy said at a news conference this evening.



First grade teacher Kaitlin Roig, 29, locked her 14 students in a class bathroom and listened to "tons of shooting" until police came to help.



"It was horrific," Roig said. "I thought we were going to die."



She said that the terrified kids were saying, "I just want Christmas…I don't want to die. I just want to have Christmas."



A tearful President Obama said there's "not a parent in America who doesn't feel the overwhelming grief that I do."



The president had to pause to compose himself after saying these were
"beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10." As he continued
with his statement, Obama wiped away tears from each eye.



He has ordered flags flown as half staff.



CLICK HERE for more photos from the scene.



The alert at the school ended when Vance announced, "The shooter is deceased inside the building. The public is not in danger."



The massacre prompted the town of Newtown to lock down all its schools
and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today. Authorities
initially believed that there were two gunmen and were searching cars
around the school, but authorities do not appear to be looking for
another gunman.



It is the second worst mass shooting in U.S. history, exceeded only by
the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 when 32 were killed before the
shooter turned the gun on himself. Today's carnage exceeds the 1999
Columbine High School shooting in which 13 died and 24 were injured.



The Newtown shooting comes three days after masked gunman Jacob Roberts
opened fire in a busy Oregon mall, killing two before turning the gun
on himself.



Today's shooting occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, which
includes 450 students in grades K-4. The town is located about 12 miles
east of Danbury.



State Police received the first 911 call at 9:41 a.m. and immediately
began sending emergency units from the western part of the state.
Initial 911 calls stated that multiple students were trapped in a
classroom, possibly with a gunman, according to a Connecticut State
Police source.



Lt. Paul Vance said that on-duty and off-duty officers swarmed to the
school and quickly checked "every door, every crack, every crevice" in
the building looking for the gunman and evacuating children.



A photo from the scene shows a line of distressed children being led out of the school.



Three patients have been taken to Danbury Hospital, which is also on lockdown, according to the hospital's Facebook page.



"Out of abundance of caution and not because of any direct threat
Danbury Hospital is under lockdown," the statement said. "This allows us
simply to focus on the important work at hand."



Newtown Public School District secretary of superintendent Kathy June
said in a statement that the district's schools were locked down because
of the report of a shooting. "The district is taking preventive
measures by putting all schools in lockdown until we ensure the safety
of all students and staff," she said.



State police sent SWAT team units to Newtown.



All public and private schools in the town were on lockdown.



"We have increased our police presence at all Danbury Public Schools due
to the events in Newtown. Pray for the victims," Newtown Mayor Boughton
tweeted.



State emergency management officials said ambulances and other units were also en route and staging near the school.



A message on the school district website says that all afternoon
kindergarten is cancelled today and there will be no midday bus runs.




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Why Rice took her name off the list


Ambassador Susan Rice stunned Washington Thursday afternoon by withdrawing her name for consideration as secretary of State. President Obama accepted her decision.


Currently the US envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Rice was widely seen as a top prospect to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is retiring at the end of Mr. Obama’s first term. But her star was tarnished in September after she made erroneous statements on TV about the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.


High-profile Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona, had promised a major fight if Obama had sent her name to the Senate for confirmation. By accepting her withdrawal, Obama has avoided expending political capital in trying to get her through the Senate, and also avoided refocusing the national spotlight on what went wrong in Benghazi.


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“If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities,” Rice wrote in a letter to Obama and obtained by NBC News. “That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country…. Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time.”


The White House released a statement from the president indicating that he had spoken with Rice, and accepted her request to remove her name from consideration. He lauded her service as “an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant.”


“While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first,” the president’s statement said.


At issue were her statements over what had precipitated the attack on the US mission in Benghazi. In a round of Sunday morning TV interviews five days after the Sept. 11 incident, she said it had resulted from spontaneous protests over an anti-Islamic video and was not a coordinated terrorist attack, possibly linked to Al Qaeda affiliates.


In late November, Rice acknowledged that her initial explanation was partially inaccurate, but that did not mollify her critics. She met on Capitol Hill with Senator McCain and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte (R) of New Hampshire, but they did not back down in their opposition to her potential nomination as secretary of State.


McCain slammed the handling of Benghazi as either a coverup or incompetence. Fox News also kept up the drumbeat of pressure with in-depth coverage. The suggestion was that the Obama administration did not want to acknowledge a successful terrorist attack – one that led to the first killing of a US ambassador since 1979 – at the height of the presidential campaign.


In his statement, Obama indicated that Rice will remain as UN ambassador, and lauded her service.


“Already, she has secured international support for sanctions against Iran and North Korea, worked to protect the people of Libya, helped achieve an independent South Sudan, stood up for Israel’s security and legitimacy, and served as an advocate for UN reform and the human rights of all people,” Obama said.


“I am grateful that Susan will continue to serve as our ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team, carrying her work forward on all of these and other issues.”


Now all eyes turn to Sen. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts, another top prospect for secretary of State. Senator Kerry is an experienced foreign-policy hand, and has long been thought to want the job. But having him leave the Senate could cost the Democrats his seat.


Massachusetts’s other senator, Scott Brown (R), just lost reelection to Democratic firebrand Elizabeth Warren. But he remains popular in the Bay State and would be a strong candidate in a special election to replace Kerry. The Democrats don’t have an obvious choice – unless Gov. Deval Patrick (D) were to jump in.


Obama also must soon decide his nominee for another about-to-be-vacant post: secretary of Defense. News reports Thursday indicated that former US Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Republican, may have the edge to replace Leon Panetta, who has made clear his intention to step down.


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