Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 301, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 3, 2013 Page: 3 of 10
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Sweetwater Reporter
Thursday, January 3, 2013 ■ Page 3
Back to school for area students
Area students, including those at Sweetwater Independent School District campuses, returned back to
school on Thursday morning, Jan. 3, after the Christmas holidays. Shown are Lesley Knight, Kara Siras
and Michael Royal, students in Mrs. Kassidi Seaton’s class at Sweetwater Intermediate School on their first
day back to school.
Pedestrian dies after
being struck by DARTtrain
DALLAS (AP) — Police are investigating the death
of a pedestrian who was struck by a Dallas Area Rapid
Transit train on an elevated stretch of track.
A DART spokesman says the incident happened
Wednesday night at the Southwestern Medical District/
Parkland Station. Mark Ball says witnesses told inves-
tigators that the man was standing behind a pole and
stepped in front of the train as it left the station.
The man died at the scene. His name wasn't immedi-
ately released. An autopsy has been ordered.
The DART station was briefly closed following the
incident.
Cliff averted, it's on to
the next fiscal crisis
ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Onward to the next fiscal
crisis. Actually, several of them, potentially. The New
Year's Day deal averting the "fiscal cliff" laystheground-
work for more combustible struggles in Washington
over taxes, spending and debt in the next few months.
President Barack Obama's victory on taxes this week
was the second, grudging round of piecemeal successes
in as many years in chipping away at the nation's moun-
tainous deficits. Despite the length and intensity of the
debate, thedeal to raisethetop incometax rateon fami-
lies earning over $450,000 a year —about 1 percent of
households—and including only $12 billion in spending
cuts turned out to be a relatively easy vote for many.
This was particularly so because the alternative was to
raise taxes on everyone.
But in banking $620 billion in higher taxes over the
coming decade from wealthier earners, Obama and
his Republican rivals have barely touched deficits still
expected to be in the $650 billion range by the end of
his second term. And those back-of-the-envelope calcu-
I at ions assume policymakers can find more than $1 tril-
lion over 10 years to replace automatic across-the-board
spending cuts known as a sequester.
"They didn't do any of the tough stuff," said Erskine
Bowles, chairman of Obama's2010 deficit commission.
"We've taken two steps now, but those two steps com-
bined aren't enough to put our fiscal house in order."
In 2011, the government adopted tighter caps on day-
to-day operating budgets of the Pentagon and other
cabinet agencies to save $1.1 trillion over 10 years.
The measure passed Tuesday and signed Wednesday
by Obama prevents middle-class taxes from going up
while raising rates on higher incomes. It also blocks
severe across-the-board spending cuts for two months,
extends unemployment benefits for the long-term job-
less for a year, stops a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees
paid to doctors and prevents a possible doubling of milk
prices.
The alternative was going over the cliff, an economy-
punching half-tr i 11 ion-dol I ar combination of sweeping
tax increases and spending cuts. Despite the deal, the
government partially went over the brink anyway with
theexpiration of atwo-year cut in Social Security payroll
taxes of two percentage points.
Action inside a dysfunctional Washington now only
comes with binding deadlines. So, naturally, this week's
hard-fought bargain sets up another crisis in two months,
when painful across-the-board spending cuts to the
Pentagon and domestic programs are set to kick in and
thegovernment runs out of the ability to juggle its $16.4
trillion debt without having to borrow more money.
U n I ess Con gress i n creases or al I ows Obam a t o i n crease
that borrowing cap, the government risks a first-ever
default on U.S. obligations. Republicans will use this
as an opportunity to leverage more spending cuts from
Obama, just likethey did in thesummer of 2011.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, vows that any
increase in the debt limit —which needs to be enacted
by Congress by the end of February or sometime in
March —must be accompanied by an equal amount in
cuts to federal spending. That puts him on yet another
collision course with Obama, who has vowed anew that
he won't let haggling over spending cuts com plicate the
debate over the debt limit.
The cliff compromise represented the first time since
1990 that Republicans condoned a tax increase. That
has whipped up a fury among tea party conservatives
and increased the pressure on Boehner to adopt a
hard line in coming confrontations over the borrowing
cap and the spending cuts that won only a two-month
reprieve in this weeks' deal.
Put simply, House Republicans are demanding new
spending cuts — possibly through changes in Social
Security and Medicare benefit formulas — as a scalp,
and they're dead set against raising more revenues
through anything less than an overhaul of the tax code
now that Obama has won higher taxes on the wealthy.
"Now the focus turns to spending," Boehner said after
Tuesday's vote, promising that future budget battles
will center on "significant spending cuts and reforms to
the entitlement programs that are driving our country
deeper and deeper into debt."
Obama is just as adamant on the other side, saying
higher revenues have to be part of any formula for fur-
ther diverting the automatic spending cuts.
While conservative activist Grover Norquist gave
Republicans a pass on violating his anti-tax pledge
with this week's vote, he and other forces on the right
won't be so forgiving on any future effort to increase
revenues.
The refusal of Republicans to consider additional new
taxesissuretostir up resistance among Democratswhen
they're asked to consider politically painful cuts to so-
called entitlement programs like Medicare. Democratic
protests led Obama and Boehner to take a proposal to
increase the Medicare eligibility age off the table in the
recent round of talks.
The upshot? More scorched-earth politics on the
budget will probably dominate the initial few months of
Obama's second term, when the president would pre-
fer to focus on legacy accomplishments like fixing the
immigration problem and implementing his overhaul of
health care.
The relationship between Boehner and Obama has
never been especially close and seemed to have suf-
fered a setback last month after the speaker withdrew
from negotiations on a broader deficit deal. The two get
along personally, but politically, a series of collapsed
negotiations has bred mistrust. The White House has
the view that Boehner cannot deliver while the speaker
is frustrated that matters brought up in his talks with
the president are not followed through by White House
staff.
And on the debt limit, Boehner and Obama at this
point are simply talking past each other.
"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not
have another debate with this Congress over whether or
not they should pay the bills that they've already racked
up through the laws that they passed," Obama said after
thedeal was approval.
Said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel: "The speak -
er'sposition isclear. Any increase in thedebt limit must
be matched by spending cuts or reforms that exceed the
increase."
Up to 10 inches of snow
forecast for West Texas
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — Up to eight inches of
snow, with isolated amounts approaching 10 inches, are
expected across West Texas as a winter storm moves
across the region from northern Mexico.
A winter storm warning is in effect through Thursday
night for the area of West Texas west of the Pecos
River.
The National Weather Service says the heaviest snow,
with 8 to 10 inches accumulating, is expected in the
Davis and Guadalupe Mountains. Up to 8 inches is
expected by Thursday night in the rest of the Trans-
Pecos, with 1 to 4 inches of snow accumulating in the
Permian Basin and Concho River Valley.
A dusting is expected in the rolling plains west of
Fort Worth. Flurries are expected Thursday night and
Friday morning in North and Central Texas with little
accumulation.
DAVE COLLINS
Associated Press
MONROE, Conn. (AP) —Classes resumed Thursday
for the students of Sandy Hook Elementary School for
the first time since last month's massacre in Newtown,
where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educa-
tors.
With their original school still being treated as a crime
scene, the more than 400 students are attending classes
at a refurbished school in the neighboring town of
Monroe. Law enforcement officers have been guarding
the new school, and by the reckoning of police, it is "the
safest school in America."
The school district said parents who want to be close
to their children are welcome to visit and stay in class-
rooms or an auditorium throughout the day. Parents
were encouraged to have their children take the bus to
help them return to familiar routines.
Still, Newtown Superintendent Janet Robinson said
officials will do their best to make the students feel at
ease.
"We will go to our regular schedule," she said. "We will
be doing a normal day."
Returning students, teachersand administrators were
met by a large police presence on a sunny and cold day
with temperatures hovering near 10 degrees Several
police officers were guarding the entrance to the school,
and were checking IDs of parents dropping off chil-
dren.
On Wednesday, the students and their families were
welcomed at an open house at their new school, which
was formerly the Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe
but renamed as the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Students received gift boxes with toys inside and shared
joyful reunions with teachers.
One father, Vinny Alvarez, took a moment to thank
his third-grade daughter's teacher, Courtney Martin,
who protected the class from a rampaging gunman by
locking her classroom door and keeping the children in
a corner.
"Everybody there thanked her in their own way," he
said.
The gunman, Adam Lanza, also killed his mother at
the home they shared in Newtown before driving to
the school and gunning down 26 people, including the
school's principal. Lanza fatally shot himself as police
arrived. Police haven't released any details about a
They say, ' Love is yrand;
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Strong zealous legal advocacy at a
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C. Barrett Thomas
One West Broadway
Sweetwater, TX 79556
325-480-4276
www.thethomasfirm.com
Photo by Melissa Winslow
Cruzto be sworn in as
US Senator from Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —Tea party favorite Ted Cruz
will be sworn in Thursday as the first Hispanic to repre-
sent Texas in the U.S. Senate.
A Cuban-American and former state solicitor general,
Cruz is more fiercely conservative than the woman he
is replacing, fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison of Dallas.
A Houston attorney and former Ivy League debat-
ing champion, Cruz was virtually unknown when he
announced his candidacy.
But he used strong grassroots support to upset Lt.
Gov. David Dewhurst during a July runoff election for
the GOP senatorial nomination.
Cruz then trounced Democrat and former state Rep.
Paul Sadler in November’s general election.
He could be poised to become a rising star among
Capitol Hill conservatives, especially given the retire-
ment of tea party leader U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South
Carolina.
motive.
Numerous police officers on Wednesday guarded the
outside of the Monroe school, which is about 7 miles
from the old school, and told reporters to stay away.
"I think right now it has to be the safest school in
America," Monroe police Lt. Keith White said.
Teachers attended staff meetings at the new school on
Wednesday morning and were visited by Gov. Dannel P.
Malloy before the open house, White said.
Robinson said Chalk Hill School has been trans-
formed into a "cheerful" place for the surviving students
to resume normal school routines. She said mental
health counselors continue to be available for anyone
who needsthem.
During the open house, Alvarez said his 8-year-old
daughter also got to pick out a stuffed animal to take
home from the school library.
"I'm not worried about her going back," he said of
his daughter Cynthia. "The fear kind of kicks back in
a little bit, but we're very excited for her and we got to
see many, many kids today. The atmosphere was very
cheerful."
Several signs welcoming the Sandy Hook students to
their new school were posted along the road leading to
the school in a rural, mostly residential neighborhood.
One said "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary Kids,"
while a similar sign added "You are in our prayers."
Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared
the Chalk Hill school with fresh paint and new furniture
and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elemen-
tary school students can reach the toilets. The students'
desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left
behind following the shooting were taken to the new
school to make them feel at home.
MIDDAY ON WALL STREET
Today’s Trading
Change
DOW
13,378.75
-33.80
NASDAQ
3,105.78
-5.95
S&P
1,459.26
-3.16
General Motors
29.39
+0.26
Ford Motor Co.
13.42
+0.22
AT&T
34.92
-0.08
Pepsico, Inc.
69.19
-0.14
USG Corp.
29.03
-0.27
Archer-Daniels
28.61
-0.06
GE
21.30
-0.05
Deere & Co.
88.29
+0.30
McDonalds Corp.
90.49
+0.37
Chevron Texaco
110.32
-0.07
Exxon Mobil
88.45
-0.26
Fst. Fin. Bnkshs.
40.79
-0.32
Coca-Cola
37.29
-0.31
Dell
10.66
-0.02
SW Airlines
10.50
+0.03
Microsoft
27.47
-0.16
Sears Holdings Co.
41.29
-0.41
Cisco
20.43
+0.08
Wal-Mart
68.44
-0.81
Johnson & Johnson
70.65
-0.19
Sandy Hook kids face first
classes since shooting
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 301, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 3, 2013, newspaper, January 3, 2013; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth851778/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.