http://reachmorenow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/150831-vin-scully-405.jpg
The Early Morning News with Ray – November 29, 2015
After viewing the first half of this newscast simply wait a moment and the 2nd half will appear.
UCCS police officer, Garrett Swasey (University of Colorado Colorado Springs)
The hero officer killed in the shooting Friday at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic had lived a life devoted to his job, his family and his Christian faith, according to his friends.
The body of the fallen University of Colorado at Colorado Springs officer Garrett Swasey was transported from the crime scene to the El Paso County Coroner’s office early Saturday, accompanied on the snowy 10-mile trip by a long line of police vehicles.
Officers who participated told KRDO-TV they wanted to honor Swasey, 44, who left behind a wife and two young children.
Swasey was killed as cops exchanged gunfire with 57-year-old suspect Robert Dear during a five-hour standoff Friday at the clinic Planned Parenthood runs in Colorado Springs. Dear, of Hartsel, Colo., later surrendered to police.
Police say two civilians were also killed in the rampage. They have not been identified.
Nov. 27, 2015: A police officer outside the venue of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Le Bourget, outside Paris, France. (AP)
President Obama arrives Sunday in Paris to finalize a global climate-change pact that if completed would be a legacy-defining part of his presidency. But he awaits challenges at home and abroad, including questions about who will pay for the changes and whether terrorism is a more imminent concern.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans suggested last week that the GOP-led chamber must approve the Paris deal, or it will withhold billions that the U.S. has pledged, as part of the pact, to help poor countries reduce their carbon output.
Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and 36 other GOP senators said in a letter to Obama “Congress will not be forthcoming with these funds in the future without a vote in the Senate on any final agreement as required in the U.S. Constitution,”.
They also made clear that any deal including taxpayer money and a binding timetable on emissions must have Senate approval. And they argue that Obama has already pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund “without the consent of Congress.”
The United Nations talks will take place on the outskirts of Paris, which has also sparked concerns about whether world leaders should now be more focused on stopping terror groups. “I have to salute the responsibility of the organizations who would have liked to demonstrate but who understand that if they demonstrate in a public place there is a security risk, or even a risk of panic,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told The Guardian.
About 150 heads of state are set to join Obama for talks on Monday and Tuesday as the deal nears the finish line. The goal is to secure worldwide cuts to emissions of heat-trapping gases to limit the rise of global temperatures to about another 2 degrees from now. The concept behind a Paris pact is that the 170 or so nations already have filed their plans. They would then promise to fulfill their commitments in a separate arrangement to avoid the need for ratification by the U.S. Senate.
Latin America countries attending the negotiations reportedly will demand that the wealthiest countries and those that pollute the most pay for the reduction of carbon emissions.
In the United States, the talks are entangled in the debate about whether humans really are contributing to climate change, and what, if anything, policymakers should do about it. Almost all Republicans, along with some Democrats, oppose the steps Obama has taken to curb greenhouse gas emissions, arguing they will hurt the economy, shutter coal plants and eliminate jobs in power-producing states.
Half the states are suing the administration to try to block Obama’s unprecedented regulations to cut power plant emissions by roughly one-third by 2030. The states say Obama has exceeded his authority and is misusing the decades-old Clean Air Act. If their lawsuit succeeds, Obama would be hard-pressed to deliver the 26 percent to 28 percent cut in overall U.S. emissions by 2030 that he has promised as America’s contribution. With the president’s executive power ending at the beginning of 2017, any future president could repeal whatever Obama promises. All Republicans running for president are unanimous in their opposition to Obama’s power plant rules; many say that if elected, they immediately would rip up the rules.
Opponents also are trying to gut the power plant rules through a rarely used legislative maneuver that already has passed the Senate. A House vote is expected while international negotiators are in Paris.
The administration mostly has acted through executive power: proposing the carbon dioxide limits on power plants, which mostly affect coal-fired plants; putting limits on methane emissions; and ratcheting up fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, which also cuts down on carbon pollution.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for sanctions against Turkey, including a ban on some goods and prohibiting extensions of labor contracts for Turks working in Russia.
The mandate published on the Kremlin’s website Saturday follows the downing this week by Turkey of a Russian warplane. This order also comes shortly after Turkey’s presdident told supporters that he was “truly saddened” and wished the incident hadn’t occured.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed supporters in the western city of Balikesir, early Saturday. He apologized for the first time since Turkish F-16 jets shot down the Russian jet on grounds that it had violated Turkey’s airspace despite repeated warnings to change course. Erdogan said neither country should allow the incident to escalate and take a destructive form that would lead to “saddening consequences.”
President Erdogan called again for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in the sidelines of a climate conference in Paris next week, saying it would be an opportunity to overcome tensions. The Associated Press reports that Erdogan’s friendly overture however, came after he defended Turkey’s action and criticized Russia for its operations in Syria.
“If we allow our sovereign rights to be violated … then the territory would no longer be our territory,” Erdogan said.
Putin denounced the Turkish action as a “treacherous stab in the back,” and insisted that the plane was downed over Syrian territory in violation of international law. He has also refused to take calls and meeting requests from Erdogan.
Since the incident, Russia has deployed long-range S-400 air defense missiles system to an air base in Syria to protect Russian warplanes and the Russian military warned it would shoot down any aerial target that would pose a potential threat to its planes. Both countries have urged its citizens to delay non-urgent and unnecessary travel.
Putin’s new sanctions now call for chartered flights from Russia to Turkey to be stopped and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in Turkey.
(CNN)Flooding has led today to three deaths in the Dallas, Texas, area after severe rains that have also left tens of thousands without power on this wintry day.
More than 7 inches of rain have fallen in the Dallas area from Friday through this afternoon, leading to widespread flooding, and more rain is expected into Sunday.
The victims include a man in Garland, northeast of Dallas. Benjamin Floyd, 29, was on his way to work Friday when raging floodwaters swept his car off the road, according to CNN affiliate WFAA. Garland city officials said the man was unable to get out of his vehicle before it was submerged.
A 70-year-old woman remains missing and presumed dead in Tarrant County (where Georgia and I live), a situation that led to the dramatic attempted rescue of a sheriff’s deputy who got caught up in floodwaters while trying to save her. Sheriff’s department spokeswoman Terry Grisham said the woman’s car was swept away by high waters Friday morning. During an attempt to rescue her, sheriff’s deputy Krystal Salazar got caught in the surging waters and had to hold on to a tree for two hours. Salazar was then rescued.
Meanwhile in Oklahoma, state Department of Transportation crews continue to treat highways and bridges with salt and sand in several affected areas, according to CNN affiliate KFOR. Drivers are advised to be alert to downed limbs and power lines in roadways.
The rains affecting Dallas were part of a system that was leaving dangerously icy travel conditions to west and north Saturday, from western Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas. Freezing rain was expected from Amarillo, Texas, to just west of Kansas City.
As of Saturday morning, ice storms had left nearly 60,000 people in Oklahoma City without power, according to power company OG&E’s Twitter account. Downed power lines have been reported in nearly every community across central Oklahoma.
Another 6.5 million people are still under a winter weather or freezing rain advisory.
Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman Cody Boyd told KFOR “If temperatures continue to fall, we’ll definitely see some refreezing of the wet roads. The roadways will ‘become ice overnight."”
Flash flood watches are in effect for 11 million people from Texas to Missouri.
CNN’s
Sam Roth, Michael Guy and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
The Early Morning News with Ray – November 29, 2015
The Early Morning News with Ray – November 29, 2015