$601B defense bill clears House
$601B defense bill clears House
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House defied the Pentagon on Thursday, overwhelmingly backing a $601 billion defense authorization bill that saves the Cold War-era U-2 spy plane, military bases and Navy cruisers despites warnings that it will undercut military readiness.
A White House veto threat — reiterated just hours before the vote — had little impact in an election year as lawmakers embraced the popular measure that includes a 1.8 percent pay raise for the troops and adds up to hundreds of thousands of jobs back home. The vote was 325-98 for the legislation, with 216 Republicans and 109 Democrats backing the bill.
Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services committee that wrote the bill, rejected the suggestion that the measure was a “sop to parochial interests,” arguing that the bill makes “the tough decisions that put the troops first.”
But the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, complained that the House rejected the Pentagon’s cost-saving proposals and came up with no alternatives.
“We ducked every difficult decision,” Smith said.
With the ending of two wars and diminishing budgets, the Pentagon had proposed retiring the U-2 and the A-10 Warthog close air support aircraft, taking 11 Navy cruisers out of the normal rotation for modernization and increasing out-of-pocket costs for housing and health care.
Woman, abductor married, had kids
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A California woman who says she was kidnapped a decade ago by her mother’s boyfriend lived a seemingly ordinary life with her alleged captor year after year, but was too scared to go to authorities until she recently reunited with her mother, police said Thursday.
The woman, who disappeared when she was 15, eventually married the man and started a family with him. Neighbors said she worked for a nearby janitorial service, took Zumba classes and went on trips to the beach and Disneyland.
Orange County prosecutors on Thursday filed five felony charges against the alleged abductor, Isidro Garcia, including rape and kidnapping to commit a sexual offense. He did not enter a plea, and his arraignment was continued until June 9. He was jailed on $1 million bail.
Garcia’s attorney said the woman’s claims of physical and sexual abuse are lies made up because the couple is separating. Neighbors in a working-class city south of Los Angeles described an outwardly happy family, while authorities and psychologists cautioned that both could be true — Garcia could have been a doting husband who controlled his wife without physically restraining her through years of abuse.
Court delay for ‘Shield’ actor
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has delayed the arraignment of actor Michael Jace on a murder charge filed over his wife’s shooting death earlier this week.
Attorneys for Jace, who played a police officer in the hit TV series “The Shield,” sought a continuance during the actor’s first court appearance in Los Angeles on Thursday.
He’s due back in court June 18.
The 51-year-old was charged Thursday with a single count of murder and he is accused of shooting his wife April multiple times in their home Monday evening.
The couple’s two young sons were at home at the time of the shooting and were unharmed. Authorities say the boys are now living with relatives.
If convicted, Jace faces 50 years to life in prison.