AFL-CIO outlines campaign to aid Dems in fall elections
Washington – The weakened AFL-CIO on Wednesday mapped an attempted political comeback with a $40 million campaign designed to help Democratic candidates in the Nov. 7 elections.
The effort marks the first nationwide political campaign by the once-powerful union coalition since the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union broke ranks last year to form a rival coalition to focus on recruiting non-union workers instead of political action.
“This Labor Day, it appears (that) a perfect storm is gathering that may sweep away Republican control of the Congress this fall,” AFL-CIO president John Sweeney told a news conference.
Political director Karen Ackerman promised the AFL-CIO’s turn-out-the-vote effort would be “larger and more effective than in any previous off-year election” in hopes of generating 12.4 million votes for 92 Democrats running for the House, Senate or governor in 21 states.
The union-delivered votes “will be an indispensable boost to candidates who champion the interests of working families,” Ackerman said.
The AFL-CIO effort targets 56 House candidates, 15 Senate candidates and 21 candidates for governor, Sweeney said.
LEXINGTON, Ky.
Controller had little sleep before crash
The lone air traffic controller on duty the morning Comair Flight 5191 crashed had only two hours of sleep before starting work on the overnight shift, a federal investigator said Wednesday.
National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman said the controller had only nine hours off between work shifts Saturday. That was just enough to meet federal rules, which require a minimum of eight hours off between shifts, Hersman said.
The controller, whose name has not been released, worked from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. He came back to work at 11:30 p.m. the same day to begin an eight-hour overnight shift.
The commuter jet crashed Sunday morning, in the final hours of the controller’s shift, while trying to take off from Blue Grass Airport. Officials have been looking for explanations why Flight 5191 mistakenly tried to take off from a runway that was too short, crashing in a field and killing 49 of 50 people aboard.
KAMPALA, Uganda
Army allows rebels to reach camps in truce
Ugandan government forces began withdrawing to neutral positions Wednesday to provide northern rebels safe passage to camps in southern Sudan where they can be monitored until a final peace deal is reached to end 19 years of civil war.
Peace talks were to resume today in Juba, Sudan, focusing on details of a final agreement to end the insurgency by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
A truce signed Saturday is aimed at ending the war between the Ugandan government and the rebels, notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of innocent civilians, enslaving thousands of children and driving nearly 2 million people from their homes.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
Life sentence sought in Bosnian genocide
War crimes prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for a former top Bosnian Serb politician charged with genocide for allegedly helping orchestrate atrocities during Bosnia’s 1991-95 war.
Momcilo Krajisnik was speaker of parliament and the right- hand man of Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader indicted on genocide charges stemming from the war in which an estimated 200,000 people died.
Prosecutors argue Krajisnik was part of an inner circle of Bosnian Serb leaders who masterminded atrocities targeting Bosnia’s Muslim and Croat populations. Krajisnik has pleaded not guilty at the U.N. Yugoslav tribunal to eight charges including genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity.
BOGOTA, Colombia
Punishment vowed for abortion doctors
A leading cardinal said the Vatican will excommunicate the doctors who performed Colombia’s first legal abortion on an 11-year old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather.
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, made the announcement in an interview with RCN television Tuesday. “Every Christian Catholic who submits to an abortion, whether it be directly or indirectly, will be excommunicated,” Lopez said.
In May, Colombia’s constitutional court legalized abortion in cases where fetuses were severely malformed, the pregnancy was the result of a rape or incest, or the mother’s life was in danger.
Initially, doctors refused to perform abortions, wary of later facing prosecution. But the court issued a ruling compelling doctors to abide by its decision if the woman’s case fell within the criteria.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
State reaches deal to cut greenhouse gases
California would become the first state to impose a limit on all greenhouse gas emissions, including those from industrial plants, under a landmark deal reached Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats.
The agreement marks a clear break with the Bush administration and puts California on a path to reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an estimated 25 percent by 2020.
