NATION/WORLD
Friday, January 16, 2015
BRIEFLY
Two dead, 1 arrest
in shootout during
Belgium anti-
terrorist raid
only 18 percent supported
Romney in 2012, compared
with 81 percent for President
Barack Obama, according to
exit polls.
VERVIERS, Belgium
(AP) — Belgian security
forces killed two terror
suspects with links to Syria
Flu vaccine only 23
percent effective
eastern city of Verviers
on Thursday and arrested
another, foiling a major and
imminent attack against
police buildings, authorities
said.
The raid came amid
an international hunt for
possible accomplices to
attackers who killed 17
people in France last week
before being shot dead by
police. Those attacks, by
men claiming allegiance to
the Islamic State group in
Syria and al-Qaida in Yemen,
have raised fears around
Europe of more attacks.
Belgian federal magistrate
Eric Van der Sypt said in
Brussels that there was no
link at this stage between the
Paris attacks and the Belgian
operation, which he said is
the result of an investigation
that has been underway for a
few weeks.
The suspects immediately
vaccine is doing a pretty
crummy job. It’s only 23
percent effective, primarily
because it doesn’t include
the bug that is making most
people sick, according to a
government study released
Thursday.
That’s one of the worst
performances in the last
decade, since U.S. health
they closed in on them near
the city’s train station, he
said. There was an intense
on an upper level of a
building in Verviers where
the raid took place, which
appears to be residential.
“These were extremely
well-armed men” with
automatic weapons, Van der
Sypt said. Police buildings
were the target of an attack
expected within hours or
days, he said.
Parents of Ohio
terror defendant
say they saw a
change in him
CINCINNATI (AP) —
Christopher Lee Cornell
showed little direction in his
life, spending hours playing
video games in his bedroom
in his parents’ apartment,
rarely going out or working,
and voicing distrust of the
government and the media.
But in recent weeks, his
parents say, they noticed a
change in him.
They thought it was
a change for the better:
The 20-year-old suburban
Cincinnati man was helping
his mother around the house,
cooking meals, sitting with
his parents to watch movies,
and talking about having
become a Muslim.
“He said, ‘I’m at peace
with myself,”’ his father,
John Cornell, recalled
Thursday — a day after
his son was arrested in an
FBI sting and charged with
plotting to attack the U.S.
Capitol with pipe bombs and
guns and kill government
Mitt Romney casts
shade over 2016
CORONADO, Calif.
(AP) — Even among
Mitt Romney’s longtime
supporters, one fear about
his potential return to
presidential politics stands
out: the lingering perception
the former private equity
executive cares only
about the fate of wealthy
Americans.
Romney knows it,
too. In his so-far private
conversations about a
prospective third run for
the White House, he has
told would-be backers that
improving the lives of poor
and middle-class Americans
would be at the top of his
2016 agenda.
“What he was most
passionate about in our
conversation is breaking
the cycle of poverty in this
country,” said Bill Kunkler,
one of Romney’s past top
national fundraisers, who
received a call from Romney
this week. “That really, really
bothers him.”
There are concerns
among Republicans that
Romney is a two-time loser
in the race for president
whose “turn” has come
and gone. But in interviews
with several Romney
supporters, many pointed to
what political professionals
describe as his empathy
problem. Among voters
who wanted a president who
“cares about people like me,”
NEW YORK (AP) — As
tracking how well vaccines
the vaccines were 50 to 60
percent effective.
“This is an uncommon
year,” said Dr. Alicia Fry,
Atlanta-based Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention, who was
involved in the study.
not surprising. In early
warned the vaccine probably
wouldn’t work very well
because it isn’t well matched
to a strain that’s been
spreading widely.
is reformulated, based on
experts’ best guess at which
three or four strains will be
the biggest problem. Those
decisions are usually made in
February, months before the
spray vaccine enough time to
make enough doses.
Google Glass
pulled off market
SAN FRANCISCO
(AP) — Google will stop
selling its Internet-connected
eyewear to consumers until
the company can develop a
more polished and affordable
version that’s less likely to be
viewed as a freakish device.
The sales moratorium
on the nearly 2-year-old
“Explorer” edition of Google
Glass goes into effect Jan.
19. The decision announced
Thursday coincides with
Glass’ spin-off from the
secretive Google X lab
where it was invented.
Glass will now operate in
a division steered by veteran
marketing executive Ivy
Ross, whose past experience
includes stints at fashion-
conscious companies such
as Gap Inc. and Calvin
Klein. Ross will report to
Tony Fadell, who played
an instrumental role in the
design of Apple’s iPod
and now runs the smart-
appliance maker Nest Labs
that Google Inc. bought for
$3.2 billion last year.
Google will still sell
a version of Glass to
companies that have found
uses for the device in their
The Mountain View,
California, company still
plans to come back with
a new consumer model
of Glass, but hasn’t set
a timetable for the next
release.
Teacher convicted
of showing class
violent movie
COLUMBUS, Ohio
(AP) — A former substitute
teacher who showed a movie
featuring graphic sex and
violence to a high school
class has been convicted
of disseminating matter
harmful to juveniles.
Sheila Kearns showed the
Spanish class at East High
School in Columbus in 2013,
prosecutors said. The movie
consists of 26 chapters, each
depicting some form of
grisly death and representing
a letter of the alphabet, such
as “E is for Exterminate,”
‘’O is for Orgasm” and “T is
for Toilet.”
Kearns contended she
didn’t watch the movie
beforehand or while showing
it and was unaware of its
content, The Columbus
Dispatch reported. Her
attorney said she never
would have knowingly
showed it.
A jury convicted Kearns
of four felony counts that
carry possible jail sentences.
But Kearns, 58, is expected
to get probation when she’s
sentenced in March.
East Oregonian
Page 9A
Arizona passes law requiring
students to pass civics test
PHOENIX (AP) — Ar-
in the nation on Thursday
to enact a law requiring
high school students to pass
the U.S. citizenship test on
civics before graduation,
giving a boost to a growing
nationwide effort to boost
civics education.
Both the Arizona House
and Senate quickly passed
the legislation on just the
fourth day of the legislative
session, and newly elected
Republican Gov. Doug Du-
cey signed it into law Thurs-
day evening.
The swift action in Ari-
zona comes as states around
the country take up similar
measures. Arizona’s law re-
quires high school students
to correctly answer 60 of
100 questions on the civics
portion of the test new citi-
zens must pass.
The test is being pushed
nationally by the Arizo-
na-based Joe Foss Institute,
which has set a goal of hav-
ing all 50 states adopt it by
2017, the 230th anniversary
of the U.S. Constitution. The
institute says legislatures
in 15 states are expected to
consider it this year.
The Foss Institute, whose
motto is “Patriotism Mat-
ters,” has created a civics
institute to promote the test
to state legislatures as a way
to increase the understand-
ing of basic government by
students, with the hope they
will be better prepared to be
engaged citizens.
The North Dakota House
of Representatives over-
whelming approved the
same measure Thursday.
The Arizona law requires
students to correctly answer
60 of 100 test questions be-
fore they can earn a high
school or GED diploma
starting in the 2016-2017
school year.
Critics question wheth-
er the test, which relies on
memorization, is the best
way to engage students in
civics education.
Ducey had urged the
Legislature to make the civ-
desk as governor. He said
studies show that students
don’t know enough about
basic government to grow
into effective citizens.
Former U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, an Arizona native,
has supported the initiative.
She’s made civics education
a prime focus in recent years.
Republican Arizona Sen-
ate Majority Leader Steve
Yarbrough, sponsoring the
bill in his chamber, said that
“requiring that students pass
this test is not by any means
a silver bullet, but I think is a
step, a small step forward.”
“And I think we need
to encourage the people of
America to become more
aware of the values of
America,” Yarbrough said.
A Democratic senator
who opposed the bill, David
Bradley, said the test would
do nothing to make good
citizens.
“My point now is tests
don’t make citizens, citizens
are tested by their actions,”
Bradley said.
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