Anthony Weiner: I will survive

NEW YORK?Anthony Weiner predicted he would survive the sexting scandal that has overwhelmed his campaign for mayor, insisting voters are more interested in ?ideas? than his personal life.

But in an interview with the New York Daily News, the Democratic mayoral hopeful offered a vague answer when asked whether he is ?sexting? with anyone now and admitted he didn?t know if more communications with women he met online would be made public between now and the Sept. 10 primary.

?These are people who I thought were friends, people I trusted when I communicated with them. But who knows what they might do now,? Weiner told the Daily News. ?But none of it is new. It's all old stuff. So I'll be in this race for at least the next 44 days. And I think I can win.?

Asked directly if there was anyone ?you are sexting now,? Weiner offered a less than definitive answer.

?You can quibble about beginnings, middles and ends but what we're talking about is over a year ago,? Weiner replied.

The former congressman again refused to quit the race and said he wasn?t listening to chatter from his rivals and pundits who have encouraged him to drop out. Asked about stories suggesting Bill and Hillary Clinton, who are close to his wife Huma Abedin, are anxious for him to leave the race, Weiner insisted he didn?t care.

?I don't pay much attention to outsiders who want to say what this campaign should be about,? Weiner replied. ?There are going to be maelstroms, controversies, and crises when I'm mayor. That doesn't mean I'm going to curl up in a corner and not go out that day. I'm going to lead. If you want to run this town you have to be prepared to have people say tough things about you.?

But while he insisted he and his wife have moved on from his personal behavior, Weiner admitted it?s been difficult to have the subject come up again and said it was ?unfair? for people to attack his wife for things he did.

?It's hard, because remember that what's at the foundation of all this is something that I did to my wife,? Weiner said. ?So it's very hard to have it come back no matter how much we might have expected it. It?s hard to be reminded how much dishonor I brought upon not just myself but especially my wife.?

He added, ?You must remember this isn't something that happened yesterday. For us, this is an issue that's over a year old. And we'd gotten to this really great place with each other and we'd put it behind us to a place where we felt comfortable enough to move ahead to run for mayor. For us, this was a distant event. That doesn't change the fact that it's very hard to have it come up again.?

Still, Weiner said his wife was ?committed? to his mayoral bid and would likely campaign for him between now and the primary. And the former lawmaker predicted he would ultimately survive the scandal, even if other women make their communications with him public.

?I have a sense that I am different than the other people running,? Weiner said. ?I?m running a different kind of campaign. I believe at the end of the day New Yorkers want to make this decision for themselves. They are more interested in ideas that affect their lives than my private life.?

He added, ?I can tell you this: No other candidate in this race is getting tested like this. But I'm still talking about important issues no matter how difficult it is to get them out. I'm fighting for the middle class every day. Having 200 cameras around me in a senior center is not going to stop me from saying what I have to say. People can see how I can deal with pressure as mayor. I'm under pressure now and I'm gonna show them that I handle it head on.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weiner-insists-he-will-survive-sexting-scandal-124405873.html

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O.J. Simpson wins small victory in bid for freedom

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) ? O.J. Simpson won a small victory Wednesday in his bid for freedom as Nevada granted him parole on some of his 2008 convictions for kidnapping and armed robbery involving the holdup of two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas hotel room.

But the decision doesn't mean the 66-year-old Simpson will be leaving prison anytime soon. The former NFL star was convicted on multiple charges and still faces at least four more years behind bars on sentences that were ordered to run consecutively.

The Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners released its decision in favor of Simpson's parole request. Commissioners noted Simpson's "positive institutional record" and his participation in programs addressing "behavior that led to incarceration."

The board noted Simpson had no previous criminal convictions and still has consecutive sentences to serve in the Las Vegas case.

In Los Angeles, Simpson was tried for murder and acquitted in the 1994 deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

In a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press, Goldman's father and sister, Fred and Kim Goldman, said they respect the legal process but now feel a "sense of vulnerability."

"This is not our personal case against Simpson but since he's been incarcerated there has been a reprieve and calm for us," they said. "It is unsettling for our family to know that the person we believe responsible for Ron and Nicole's murder could soon have his freedom."

Simpson and his legal team were pleased with the ruling.

"We expected it," Patricia Palm, one of Simpson's current lawyers, told the AP shortly after the order was issued. "There is no reason not to grant him parole. I'm glad they did what they should have done."

Palm said Simpson called from prison to let her know of the board's decision.

"He's very happy and grateful," she said.

The parole becomes effective Oct. 2. Then, Simpson will begin serving the minimum term on four concurrent sentences imposed for using a weapon during the 2007 robbery. He will have another parole hearing on those sentences in a year.

After that, he has two more consecutive terms for assault with a deadly weapon, said David Smith, spokesman for the board.

Simpson appeared before a two-member Nevada parole panel on July 25 to plead for leniency. He expressed regret for his actions and said he's tried to be a model inmate while behind bars.

Lovelock Correctional Center officials say he's had no disciplinary actions against him.

Simpson was convicted in December 2008 on charges including kidnapping, robbery, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to nine to 33 years for the 2007 stickup of two memorabilia dealers, Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

During last week's parole hearing, a graying Simpson told Parole Commissioner Susan Jackson and hearing officer Robin Bates, a retired Nevada prison warden, that he was sorry for his actions.

"I just wish I never went to that room," Simpson said. He added that he has made amends with Beardsley and Fromong.

While in prison, Simpson has earned pennies an hour working in the prison gym, keeping equipment sanitized, and umpiring and coaching games in the prison yard.

He said he made a promise to the warden when he arrived at Lovelock, 90 miles east of Reno, that he would be the "best person" they ever had at the facility. He added, "I think for the most part I've kept my word on that."

Simpson also said he's acted as jailhouse counselor of sorts to other inmates, some of whom are serving time for similar crimes.

But he said his deed was different.

"They were trying to steal other people's property," Simpson said of other prisoners. "They were trying to steal other people's money. My crime was trying to retrieve for my family my own property."

Simpson's best chance at freedom lies with Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell, who is considering whether he deserves a new trial.

During a May hearing, Palm and Ozzie Fumo, Simpson's current lawyers, argued that his trial attorney, Yale Galanter, botched Simpson's defense and had a conflict of interest in the case.

Bell has yet to issue a decision. If she rules in Simpson's favor, prosecutors will have to decide wither to retry him, offer a plea deal, or set him free with credit for time served.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/o-j-simpson-wins-small-victory-bid-freedom-171711789.html

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Franklin makes it 3 for 3 at swimming worlds

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) ? Missy Franklin climbed to the top of the podium to collect a prize she really wanted.

That bid for eight gold medals?

It can wait.

Franklin held off hard-charging Federica Pelligrini to win the 200-meter freestyle on Wednesday night, the 18-year-old American claiming her third victory of the world championships and justifying the decision to cut back her program in Barcelona.

"We're coming down the mountain now," Franklin said.

She had been scheduled to swim two races in the evening session: the semifinals of the 50 backstroke, followed about 20 minutes later by the final of the 200 free.

But Franklin and her coach, Todd Schmitz, decided it was best to drop the non-Olympic event so she could focus on a race that's been the focus of so much work since she just missed a medal at the London Olympics.

Franklin finished fourth last summer ? a hundredth of a second off the podium.

This time, she was the one touching ahead of everyone else.

"We decided that maybe the risk kind of outdid the rewards," Franklin said. "I'm really happy with the decision to scratch and just do this."

Initially, with the 50 back added to the seven events she competed in at London, Franklin had a chance to match Michael Phelps as the only swimmers to win that many events at a major championship.

Phelps, of course, won eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

After a tough double on Tuesday and the 13th-best time in the morning preliminaries, Schmitz persuaded Franklin to scratch the 50 back, an event she swims mainly for fun though she did take bronze at the 2011 worlds in Shanghai.

"That will leave me with seven events," Franklin said.

Only seven, someone asked kiddingly.

"Just the seven," she replied, with a big laugh.

Schmitz said a lot of factors went into his decision, including the short break between races and the long walk from the warm-up pool ? set up under a tent outside the Palau Sant Jordi ? to the competition pool inside the arena.

"I really just felt the best decision for my athlete was to take her out of it," Schmitz said. "I've been her coach for 11 years. She knows when I make a decision, I try to have all the information I possibly can ... So I told her, 'I don't think this will benefit us.' And she said, 'OK.'"

France's Camille Muffat went out hard, leading after the first lap and 0.75 under the world-record pace. But Franklin edged ahead at the midway point and held off Pelligrini, the Italian world-record holder, to win in 1 minute, 54.81 seconds, a personal best.

Pelligrini claimed silver, 0.33 behind the winner, while Muffat settled for the bronze.

At the midway point of the swimming championships, Franklin still has four events to go. She'll be a big favorite in the 200 back, and there's a good shot at more gold on the two remaining relays. The 100 free presents her biggest challenge, though it would be foolish to put anything past Franklin.

She was fifth in that event at the Olympics, but has spent the past year working diligently to improve her freestyle stroke.

That was obvious Wednesday night.

"This is what we prepared for, this kind of event through eight days," Franklin said. "You kind of use each swim to motivate you for the next swim."

It was also a good night for South Africa, which claimed two gold medals.

Chad le Clos, best known for his upset win over Phelps at the Olympics, showed he's still the man to beat in the 200 butterfly. He went back and forth with Poland's Pawel Korzeniowski before turning it on the final lap to win in 1:54.32.

After conceding it was a bit nerve-racking to be looked at as the favorite, Le Clos hopped up on a lane rope, splashed water and pumped his fist. Korzeniowski held on for the silver in 1:55.01, while China's Wu Peng took the bronze at 1:55.09.

"I definitely think that this year I had more pressure. I remember feeling really relaxed last year," Le Clos said. "Just before they announced my name I started feeling the butterflies, shaking a little bit. I just wanted to get out here and control the race."

With Phelps retired, at least for now, the Americans were shut out of the medals. Tom Luchsinger was fifth and Tyler Clary seventh.

If Franklin and fellow American Katie Ledecky are the biggest stars on the women's side so far, China's Sun Yang is looking like he'll be remembered as the top male swimmer.

Sun claimed his second gold of the meet, turning on the speed over the final three laps to win the 800 freestyle going away. His winning time in the non-Olympic race was 7:41.36, adding to his dominating victory in the 400 free. Sun was even more animated than Le Clos, straddling the rope, pounding his chest and pointing toward a group of fans waving the Chinese flag.

"I am very proud of myself," Sun said through a translator. "Everyone has their way to express their feelings, and that's my way."

Michael McBroom of the U.S. took the silver, 2.24 seconds behind Sun. Canada's Ryan Cochrane rallied for the bronze, edging out American Connor Jaeger by 0.56 seconds.

Americans went 1-2 in the semifinals of the 100 freestyle, with Olympic champion Nathan Adrian putting up the top time (47.95), followed by Jimmy Feigen (48.07). Australia's James Magnussen, who went fastest in the morning prelims, tied for fourth in the evening at 48.20 ? good enough to earn a lane in swimming's signature event.

Ryan Lochte bounced back from a disappointing fourth-place showing in his first individual event, moving into the final of the 200 individual medley as the fastest qualifier (1:57.07). He was followed by Japan's Kosuke Hagino and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh.

"I felt like myself again," Lochte said. "The first couple of days, I was worried about winning, worried about the times I went. It wasn't me. It wasn't Ryan Lochte. I woke up this morning without a care. I'm just going out there and having fun."

___

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/franklin-makes-3-3-swimming-worlds-165510654.html

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WeChat?Not Weibo?Is the Chinese Social Network to Watch

Tencent's text messaging service has aggressively targeted international markets. Will it work?

WeChat, a text messaging service from Tencent, has begun to set its sights beyond China. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

One of the ways to think about China's Internet is as a Bizarro version of the World Wide Web. Facebook and Twitter are banned, but social networking sites like Sina Weibo and Kaixinwang operate freely. Instead of YouTube, there is Youku Tudou. And while Google does operate in China -- albeit intermittently -- the Chinese company Baidu dominates the search engine market. A foreign observer of the Chinese internet might conclude, to paraphrase Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction:?"They've got the same stuff there that we do here, it's just ... a little bit different."

This so-called "Chinese intranet" though is a relatively new phenomenon; Facebook and Twitter only became firewalled following the Iranian protests of 2009, the same year that Sina launched its Twitter-like Weibo service. And while censorship is a major reason why Western social media services remain behind the Great Firewall, it isn't an accident that their absence has allowed domestic competitors to grow.

Of all the Chinese social media products to join the market in the last few years, none has had as great an effect as Sina's Weibo. Presenting a (relatively) unfettered space for speech, Weibo has intrigued foreign observers with its irreverent discussions of sensitive issues. In just four years, the site has attracted over 500 million members, more than the population of all but two countries in the world.

For all its success, though, Weibo has confined itself to China; Until this year, when Sina introduced an English-language version and allowed users to login via Facebook, Weibo made virtually no effort to expand to foreign market and focused instead on recruiting users from within China. Given the country's large population -- and still-modest level of internet penetration -- this strategy makes sense; there are still plenty of people in China who don't use Weibo.On the other hand, new research suggests that Sina may have to re-think its strategy: Weibo seems to have peaked in popularity. A recent survey by the tracking service WeiboReach released this month revealed that user activity has dropped by more than 30 percent from its peak last October. Part of this decline is due to government policy -- Beijing has passed laws demanding real name registration on Weibo, deterring would-be users who valued the service's privacy. But another issue is the rise of a rival service, Tencent's WeChat, which first launched in late 2011.Similar to the text messaging service WhatsApp -- with elements of Instagram and Skype tossed in -- WeChat has accumulated over 300 million users in its first two years by embracing an entirely different strategy from Weibo: going after the international market head on. Unlike Weibo, which released an English-language web version only this year, WeChat is available in 18 languages and has already produced a Spanish-language advertisement featuring the Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi. Tencent is planning to establish an office in the United States and has already recruited Nike and Starbucks, among other major brands, to interact with customers on the service. While few outside of China use Sina Weibo, WeChat already has 70 million non-Chinese users -- almost a fourth of its overall total.

Despite its drop in user activity, it's too early to dismiss Weibo. As Beijing-based media consultant Jeremy Goldkorn told me, Weibo is "still massive, very popular, and still the most active and powerful platform for public expression in China today." It's worth noting, too, that Weibo and WeChat aren't necessarily competitors -- the two services have different functions, and given their huge subscriber bases within China, many people must use both. But it's hard to escape the sense that WeChat has, as Goldkorn says, "taken the wind out of Weibo's sails."?

In the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of social media, WeChat has a long way to go before it can supplant Weibo's reputation as China's "it' service. But by focusing on the international market, WeChat has upended the industry and also challenged the stereotype that Chinese brands?cannot compete abroad. It doesn't want to just be the hot new Chinese Internet fad -- it wants to be the hot new Internet fad that happens to be Chinese.Whether or not WeChat succeeds remain to be seen. But the early returns are promising. Speaking to Network World, tech consultant Duncan Clark had this to say about it:

"If you didn't know WeChat was from China, you wouldn't be aware of that fact. It has transcended its Chinese-ness."

Other Chinese companies are surely taking notice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/theatlantic/TZRn/~3/M7ihGe55x84/story01.htm

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New worker visa program could help Kansas add farm jobs, says report

TOPEKA ? Kansas could add 757 new farm jobs that would bolster the state?s agriculture sector and generate tax revenue for state and federal governments if Congress approves immigration reforms that include a new worker visa program, according to a new report from the Obama administration.

Meanwhile, the report shows Kansas stands to lose $7.6 million to $13.7 million of agriculture production if immigrant labor were eliminated.

In a conference call Monday, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the report provides new evidence of the need for comprehensive immigration reform that has been approved by the Senate but has yet to be formally debated in the House.

?The bottom line is simply that the lack of labor will today and will in the future, if it continues, result in a decrease in agriculture production, a decrease in agriculture outputs and exports, which obviously will cost farm income and jobs in the economy,? he said.

The study says there aren?t enough U.S.-born workers to meet agriculture?s labor needs. One survey between 2007 and 2009 found 71 percent of crop workers were foreign born.

Nearly three-fourths of farm workers who have been working for less than two years don?t have workers visas or other authorization, the study shows.

A USDA survey found the share of hired crop farm workers who were not legally authorized to work in the country hovers around 50 percent.

A bill approved by the Senate would create a pathway to citizenship for people who immigrated illegally as long as they pass national security and criminal background checks, pay any back taxes and pay penalties. Agriculture workers could get blue cards that allow them to work legally and travel outside the United States. They could apply for permanent residency after five years of work, and they could eventually become citizens.

The Congressional Budget Office projects 1.5 million agriculture workers and their dependents would obtain legal status by 2018.

The bill requires 700 miles of fencing on the Mexican border, doubling the current length of the fence, before people who immigrated illegally could be on the path to citizenship.

Kansas Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts opposed the Senate bill.

In a statement, Roberts criticized the bill?s 1,000-plus page size and scope. ?It didn?t work with Obamacare and it?s not going to work with immigration,? he wrote.

?And as for the path to citizenship?? he asked in a statement after his vote. ?Who do we honestly expect to raise their hand, identify themselves as an illegal immigrant, agree to pay years of back taxes, pay an additional fine, get in line for a chance, just a chance, at getting citizenship in about a decade??

Moran also said he?s skeptical of scope of the reform bill, and he has said the first priority should be secure borders.

?Rather than focusing on tackling the problem in manageable increments and delivering the reforms Americans are asking for, the Senate chose to lump every immigration and border security problem together into one massive and flawed bill,? he said in a statement after his vote.

Source: http://www.kansas.com/2013/07/29/2913091/new-worker-visa-program-could.html

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How Spain?s Train Tragedy Is a Blow to Spanish National Pride

The man at the helm of the train that derailed in northwestern Spain on July 25, killing 79, admitted his responsibility Sunday night. Appearing before an investigating judge in Santiago de Compostela, conductor Francisco Jos? Garz?n Amo confessed that a ?distraction? led him to enter the tight curve at an excessively high speed, causing the train to jump the track and slam into a concrete retaining wall. It was the same explanation that Spanish railway officials, denying a system failure and instead blaming human error, had been urging all weekend. But Garz?n?s acceptance of guilt failed to completely resolve questions about whether something had gone wrong with Spain?s famed high-speed rail network. And because that network is perhaps the country?s most successful example of technological innovation, those doubts extend not merely to its transportation industry, but to Spain?s very identity.

In his testimony, Garz?n confirmed that the train was moving at 190 kilometers an hour (118 mph) through a curve where the speed limit was 80. The Madrid-Ferrol line upon which the train was traveling combines high-speed and conventional track, and railways officials took pains to point out both that the crash was due to human error, and that it occurred on the latter, not along the AVE (the acronym stands for Spanish High Velocity) section.

They had good reason to want to protect the AVE?s reputation. When it was launched in 1992, the high-speed train seemed nothing short of miraculous. Sleek and comfortable, with chicly-attired attendants who handed out candy and headphones for the overhead movies, the AVE cut the journey from Madrid to Sevilla from six hours down to 2.5 and, perhaps even more remarkably in a country not known for its punctuality, promised to refund any fare if the train arrived more than five minutes late. Since then, the network has expanded to connect the capital with Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, and Malaga; other high-speed lines are underway for Bilbao, Cadiz, and Galicia. ?Every region in the country wants its own AVE, whether they need it or not,? says Ricard Roil, president of the Barcelona-based Association to Promote Public Transportation. ?It?s become a symbol of economic and technological progress.?

It is also big business, and one of the few positive elements in an otherwise dismal economic scene. In 2012, the country won a 6.5 billion euro contract with Saudi Arabia to build a high-speed line that connects Medina with Mecca. Since then, it has continued to expand internationally?with projects underway in California, Kazakhstan, and Russia, a full 60% of the company?s 5 billion euros annual earnings now comes from exports. And that percentage may go up: Spain is currently bidding on a 12-billion-euro contract in Brazil to build a high-speed line that would connect Rio de Janeiro and S?o Paulo. Possibilities like that help explain why the AVE is the leading example of what the government, eager to attract foreign investors, labels ?the Spanish brand.?

Galician regional president Alberto N??ez Feijoo no doubt had that label in mind when he spoke to the Spanish press on July 27. ?It?s obvious that there are many interests, including economic interests, on the part of certain companies or suppliers,? he said. ?Spain is one of the best in the world in high-speed connections and safety, and many countries might wish that weren?t the case.?

Some speculate that the accident will diminish Spain?s chances in the Brazilian bid. ?Of course it will negatively affect the AVE?s reputation, because it calls into question what has been, up until now, a sacred cow: its safety record,? says Riol of the PPT. ?But we can?t talk of an international conspiracy. Spain has to accept its responsibility. Whether its Eurovision or this accident, we can?t always be throwing the blame for our failures onto foreigners.?

If that?s so, some of that responsibility may lie with the train?s braking system. Along the high-speed parts of its rail network, Spain employs the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), which not only monitors track constantly for speed and other conditions, but is capable of overriding the driver if it detects any anomalies. However, conventional track in Spain, including the section where the accident occurs, relies on an older system, called ASFA. It uses periodic signals to detect velocity, and alert the driver. In other words, explains Juan Antonio Santamera, president of Spain?s College of Road, Channel, and Port Engineers, ?The ERTMS is a type of automatic pilot that has proven to be very reliable. The ASFA doesn?t control speed.?

The contents of the train?s two black boxes have not yet been revealed, but several engineers have suggested that a crash of this magnitude likely had more than one cause.?Despite attempts to nail the cause down to a single person, accidents of this type are usually a conjunction of human and technical factors,? says Elias Fereres, president of the Royal Spanish Academy of Engineering. ?In this case, I think the most important lesson that will come out of it is that more redundancy?backup?is needed in the security system.?

But whatever the exact ratio of human and technical error proves to be, the accident also represents another blow to Spanish national pride. The economic crisis has popped the bubble of prosperity in which Spaniards lived as recently as five years ago, while massive corruption scandals involving the royal family and the highest levels of government have eroded Spaniards? confidence in their own democracy. Even Leo Messi, star of Barcelona?s acclaimed soccer team and, for many (except Real Madrid supporters) a national hero despite the fact he was born in Argentina, has been charged with tax evasion. ?The crisis made us realize that our prosperity was fleeting and that our political class was not at the level that a country like this deserves,? says Jaime Gonz?lez, a columnist for the national ABC newspaper. ?So we took solace in what we had left, which was our success in sports, and the Spanish brand, of which the AVE is the leading representative. Then something like this happens and it?s as if we?re stripped of even that. So we become even more pessimistic.?

There was, however, one bit of brightness among the overwhelming sense of tragedy. After the accident occurred, locals poured out to offer assistance in any way possible, endangering themselves to help extract victims from the wreckage, then bringing blankets and water to the injured and lining up by the thousands to donate blood. In the accident?s aftermath, more than one columnist called the humanitarian response the ?real Spanish brand.? It may not be economically or technologically advanced, but at least it?s sustainable.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spain-train-tragedy-blow-spanish-national-pride-165654936.html

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Obama?s day: Clinton, baseball, and voting rights

Obama?s day: Clinton, baseball, and voting rights

by David Jackson on Jul. 29, 2013, under News

Source: USA TODAY

President Obama begins the week on Monday by lunching with an old rival-turned-ally, basking in the glow of baseball?s world champions, and speaking with lawmakers about updating the Voting Rights Act.

After a string of meetings in the morning, Obama has a private lunch with former Secretary of State ? and 2008 Democratic primary rival ? Hillary Rodham Clinton. The White House did not provide an agenda, but many people wonder if Clinton will seek to replace Obama after the 2016 presidential election.

Following lunch, Obama gets to do one of the fun things about being president, greeting sports champions. The San Francisco Giants, the reigning World Series champions of baseball, visit the White House for a presidential ceremony.

Obama gets back to more serious work in the late afternoon, meeting with civil rights leaders as well as state and local officials about the fate of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.

Congress is pondering changes to the Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court last month struck down a key provision, one that had required federal pre-clearance of changes to the voting systems in certain southern states.

The president and his guests will ?discuss strengthening the Voting Rights Act and safeguarding every eligible American?s right to vote,? said the White House schedule.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Labor Secretary Tom Perez will also attend the meeting.

Copyright ? 2013 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 29th, 2013 at 3:33 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2013/07/29/obamas-day-clinton-baseball-and-voting-rights/

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