A torch goes out: Edward Kennedy, Senate legend and last in a storied line of brothers
HYANNIS PORT, Mass. AP) — The greatest heights eluded Ted Kennedy over a lifetime of achievement and pain. No presidency. No universal health care, chief among his causes.
Instead, Kennedy built his Washington monument stone by stone, his imprint distinct on the Senate's most important works over nearly half a century. He toiled across the Potomac River from the graveyard of his fallen brothers.
The last of the Kennedys who fascinated the nation with their ambition, style, idealism, tragedies — and sometimes sheer recklessness — Edward Moore Kennedy died late Tuesday night at 77. A black shroud and vase of white roses sat Wednesday on his Senate desk, which John Kennedy had used before him.
So dropped the final curtain on "Camelot," the already distant era of the Kennedy dynasty.
The Massachusetts senator's extended political family of fellow Democrats and rival Republicans, steeled for his death since his brain-tumor diagnosis a year ago yet still jarred by it, joined in mourning. Kennedy was the Senate's dominant liberal and one of its legendary dealmakers.
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Obama on Kennedy: 'The extraordinary good that he did lives on.'
CHILMARK, Mass. (AP) — Edward M. Kennedy was much more than just former Senate colleague and influential legislator to Barack Obama, evident in the president's personal, mournful tribute on Wednesday.
Obama lauded the Massachusetts senator's tireless work for legislation that reshaped the lives of millions of Americans — "including myself," the nation's first black president added in a poignant hint of affection. Also clearly not forgotten as a grieving president took a break from his summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard to mark Kennedy's death from brain cancer late Tuesday night: the great political debt Obama owes Kennedy.
"His fight has given us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you — and goodbye," Obama said.
Obama owes his ascension to the White House perch that was denied Kennedy in part to the senator's help.
At a crucial moment in the brutal, marathon primary contests, Kennedy endorsed Obama over Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. During his endorsement, Edward Kennedy painted Obama as heir to the legacy of his slain brothers. That connection, to the dynasty of John, Robert and Edward Kennedy, lent the young contender immeasurable credibility with establishment Democrats and cemented a personal friendship.
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SC gov says he won't be 'railroaded' out of office after lt. gov asks him to resign
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford rebuffed his lieutenant governor's call to resign Wednesday, saying he will not be "railroaded" out of office and plans to finish the last 16 months of his term.
Sanford returned from a nearly weeklong disappearance in June to admit an affair with an Argentine woman, a revelation that led to questions about the legality of his travel on state, private and commercial planes.
At a news conference hours after Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer called for him to step down, Sanford said the people of South Carolina want to move past the scandals.
"I'm not going to be railroaded out of this office by political opponents or folks who were never fans of mine in the first place," Sanford said. "A lot of what is going on now is pure politics, plain and simple."
Bauer and Sanford are Republicans who have served together for two terms but were elected separately and have never been friends.
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Nothing clunky here: Govt' program generates 690,000 new car sales and comes in under budget
WASHINGTON (AP) — The popular Cash for Clunkers program generated nearly 700,000 new car sales during the past month, giving the U.S. auto industry a badly needed jolt of activity during the deepest decline in auto sales in two decades.
The government, releasing final data on the car incentives, said Wednesday that dealers submitted 690,114 sales totaling $2.88 billion, bringing the program to a close under its $3 billion budget. Japanese auto manufacturers led American companies in new car sales through the program, which ended late Monday.
Many dealers are still waiting to be repaid for the Cash for Clunkers incentives they gave car buyers and were allowed to submit paperwork seeking reimbursement until late Tuesday.
Despite the summertime frenzy at dealerships, analysts said the growth in auto sales may be short-lived. Sales in July rose to 11.2 million when converted to an annual rate, the first month in 2009 in which sales had risen above the 10 million level. A drop in consumer confidence late last year sent sales plunging to depths not seen since the early 1980s, prompting lawmakers to create the program.
Jeremy Anwyl, CEO of the auto Web site Edmunds.com, said dealers and automakers clearly gained from the big boost in sales. But while the incentives helped consumers, average prices for vehicles went up as buyers less concerned about prices rushed to take advantage of the rebates.
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CDC distances itself from grim estimates of swine flu's toll but says early season likely
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government health officials are urging people not to panic over estimates of 90,000 people dying from swine flu this fall.
"Everything we've seen in the U.S. and everything we've seen around the world suggests we won't see that kind of number if the virus doesn't change," Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a C-SPAN interview taped Wednesday.
While the swine flu seems quite easy to catch, it so far hasn't been more deadly than the flu strains seen every fall and winter — many people have only mild illness. And close genetic tracking of the new virus as it circled the globe over the last five months so far has shown no sign that it's mutating to become more virulent.
Still, the CDC has been preparing for a worst-case flu season as a precaution — in July working from an estimate slightly more grim than one that made headlines this week — to make sure that if the virus suddenly worsened or vaccination plans fell through, health authorities would know how to react.
On Monday the White House released a report from a group of presidential advisers that included a scenario where anywhere from 30 percent to half of the population could catch what doctors call the "2009 H1N1" flu, and death possibilities ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. In a regular flu season, up to 20 percent of the population is infected and 36,000 die.
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Influential Iraqi Shiite leader who rose to power in post-Saddam era dies in Iran from cancer
BAGHDAD (AP) — Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who channeled rising Shiite Muslim power after the fall of Saddam Hussein to become one of Iraq's most influential politicians and maintained ties with both the U.S. and Iran, died Wednesday in Tehran. He was 59.
The calm, soft-spoken al-Hakim was a kingmaker in Iraq's politics as the head of the country's biggest Shiite political party, and his death from lung cancer left a vacancy at the helm with just five months to go before crucial parliamentary elections.
For many in Iraq's Shiite majority, al-Hakim was a symbol of their community's victory and seizure of power after decades of oppression under Saddam's Sunni-led regime. His family led a Shiite rebel group against Saddam's rule from their exile in Iran, where he lived for 20 years, building close ties with Iranian leaders.
After Saddam's 2003 fall, al-Hakim hewed close to the Americans even while maintaining his alliance with Tehran, judging that the U.S. military was key to the Shiite rise.
The top two U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill, offered condolences in a joint statement, praising al-Hakim for "contributing to the building of a new Iraq."
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Karzai widens lead in Afghan election count with 45 percent of vote
KABUL (AP) — President Hamid Karzai extended his lead over his top challenger in Afghanistan's presidential election, new vote results showed Wednesday, but remains short of the 50 percent threshold that would allow him to avoid a two-man runoff.
Afghan election officials are slowly releasing results from last week's presidential election, and final certified results will not be ready until at least mid-September, after dozens of serious complaints of fraud have been investigated.
Low voter turnout and the fraud allegations have cast a pall over the vote, seen as critical to efforts to stabilize the country, which is wracked by Taliban insurgents and doubts over its fragile democracy. Top challenger Abdullah Abdullah has accused Karzai of widespread rigging, including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation, claims Karzai's camp has denied.
The latest returns boost Karzai's standing to 44.8 percent. Abdullah, a former foreign minister, now has 35.1 percent. The count is based on returns from 17 percent of polling stations nationwide, meaning the results could still change dramatically. Tuesday's returns had Abdullah trailing Karzai by just 3 percent.
Although millions of Afghans voted last Thursday, apathy and fear of militant attacks meant turnout was down on the nation's first direct presidential election in 2004 that was swept by Karzai.
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Hammered by bank failures, FDIC may need to draw cash from banks or government
NEW YORK (AP) — The government agency that guarantees you won't lose your money in a bank failure may need a lifeline of its own.
The coffers of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have been so depleted by the epidemic of collapsing financial institutions that analysts warn it could sink into the red by the end of this year.
That has happened only once before — during the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s, when the FDIC was forced to borrow $15 billion from the Treasury and repay it later with interest.
On Thursday, the agency reveals how much is left in its reserves. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair may also use the quarterly briefing to say how the agency plans to shore up its accounts.
Small and midsize banks across the country have been hurt by rising loan defaults in the recession. When they fail, the FDIC is responsible for making sure depositors don't lose a cent.
It has two options to replenish its insurance fund in the short run: It can charge banks higher fees or it can take the more radical step of borrowing from the U.S. Treasury.
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Dominick Dunne, who wrote stories of shocking crimes among rich and famous, dies in NYC at 83
NEW YORK (AP) — Author Dominick Dunne, who told stories of shocking crimes among the rich and famous through his magazine articles and best-selling novels such as "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," died Wednesday in his home at age 83.
Dunne's son, actor-director Griffin Dunne, said in a statement released by Vanity Fair magazine that his father had been battling bladder cancer. But the cancer had not prevented Dunne from working and socializing, his twin passions.
In September 2008, against the orders of his doctor and the wishes of his family, Dunne flew to Las Vegas to attend the kidnap-robbery trial of O.J. Simpson, a postscript to his coverage of Simpson's 1995 murder trial, which spiked Dunne's considerable fame.
In the past year, Dunne had traveled to Germany and the Dominican Republic for experimental stem cell treatments to fight his cancer. He wrote that he and actress Farrah Fawcett were in the same cancer clinic in Bavaria but didn't see each other. Fawcett, a 1970s sex symbol and TV star of "Charlie's Angels," died in June at age 62.
Dunne discontinued his column at Vanity Fair to concentrate on finishing another novel, "Too Much Money," which is to come out in December. He also made a number of appearances to promote a documentary film about his life, "After the Party," which was being released on DVD.
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Rex Ryan chooses rookie Mark Sanchez as Jets starting quarterback
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The future is now for the new face of the New York Jets, Mark Sanchez.
Sanchez was selected as the team's starting quarterback by coach Rex Ryan on Wednesday, making him the first rookie slated to open a season under center for the Jets.
"This comes with a lot of responsibility," a beaming Sanchez said. "As happy as I am, I know that this is just the beginning and I'm just excited, really excited, to get to play with such great players."
The fifth overall draft pick out of Southern California beat out Kellen Clemens for the job and will make his regular-season debut at Houston on Sept. 13.
"This is something I've always wanted to do and dreams are coming true now," Sanchez said. "It's a special opportunity."
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