The ACN Morning Report -- Wednesday March 3, 2013

"Right To Know" Act -- Jane Henson Dies -- Saudi Arabia Will Let Women Ride...But Only For Fun -- What Goes On In North Korea -- Israel Launches Rockets To Gaza -- The Family Protection Ordinance -- Abortion In Ala. Just Got Harder -- In School Safety Question Are Guns The Answer?

NEW CALIFORNIA "RIGHT TO KNOW" ACT WOULD LET CONSUMERS FIND OUT WHO HAS THEIR PERSONAL DATA AND GET A COPY OF IT

Let’s face it: most of us have no idea how companies are gathering and sharing our personal data. Colossal data brokers are sucking up personal facts about Americans from sourcesthey refuse to disclose. Digital giants like Facebook are teaming up with data brokers inunsettling new ways. Privacy policies for companies are difficult to read at best and can change in a heartbeat. And even savvy users are unlikely to fend off the snooping eyes of online trackers working to build profiles of our interests and web histories.

So what can we do about it? A new proposal in California, supported by a diverse coalition including EFF and the ACLU of Northern California, is fighting to bring transparency and access to the seedy underbelly of digital data exchanges. The Right to Know Act (AB 1291) would require a company to give users access to the personal data the company has stored on them—as well as a list of all the other companies with whom that original company has shared the users' personal data—when a user requests it. It would cover California residents and would apply to both offline and online companies. If you live in California, click here to support this bill.

'MUPPETS' JANE HENSON DIES AT 78

Disney

Jane Henson, who with her future husband and fellow puppeteer Jim Henson was instrumental in bringing the Muppets to life in the 1950s on a TV station in Washington, D.C., died Tuesday at her home in Greenwich, Conn., after a long battle with cancer. She was 78.

Jane met Jim in a puppetry class in 1954 when she was a fine arts education major at the University of Maryland. While still an undergraduate, Jim was offered a job on NBC affiliate WRC-TV in Washington, and he asked Jane to join him as a co-performer and creator.

SAUDI ARABIA WILL LET WOMEN RIDE BICYCLES BUT ONLY FOR FUN

Reuters

Could Saudi Arabia's laws restricting the free movement of women be softening? Reports from the country's Al-Yawm newspaper suggest that women will now be able to ride bicycles and motorbikes in the Saudi kingdom.

NORTH KOREA DEFECTORS RETURN RHETORICAL FIRE

Seoul (CNN) -- The world knows North Korea for its loud and over-the-top warmongering rhetoric about the U.S. But the true war is being fought in whispers, across secret phone lines and smuggled radios. And it's those whispers that reveal how close the peninsula may be to an actual war.

"North Koreans want to go to war soon and unite the country. They want to get out of their difficult lives through war," said Kim Seong Min, with Free North Korea Radio. "North Koreans are not getting any information from the outside world. They think they will win if a war breaks out."

ISRAEL LAUNCHES AIR STRIKES ON GAZA

Israeli warplanes struck targets in the Gaza Strip today in response to rocket fire toward southern Israel.

They were the first air strikes launched by Israel since an informal ceasefire ended eight days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas-ruled Gaza.

An Israeli military statement said its planes targeted "two extensive terror sites" with "accurate hits".

GEORGIA TOWN TO REQUIRE GUN OWNERSHIP

NELSON — After weeks of national media attention and debate among residents, members of the Nelson City Council stuck to their guns Monday and unanimously voted to enact a law that requires every head of household within its city limits to own a firearm.

The Family Protection Ordinance is a brief two-paragraph piece of legislation, which City Councilman Duane Chronic said Monday was “copied and pasted” from a similar law passed by the city of Kennesaw some 30 years ago. 

ALA. LAWMAKERS TIGHTEN RULES FOR ABORTION CLINICS

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers late Tuesday gave final passage to a measure placing stricter regulations on clinics that provide abortions.

The state House voted 68-21 to give final passage to the Women's Health and Safety Act. The vote came hours after the state Senate voted 20-10 to approve the bill after amending the measure to require clinics to tell patients what medications they had received.

NRA DETAILS PLAN FOR ARMED TEACHERS IN SCHOOLS

WASHINGTON — With the Senate set to debate gun control this month, a National Rifle Association task force released a 225-page report on Tuesday that called for armed police officers, security guards or staff members in every American school, and urged states to loosen gun restrictions to allow trained teachers and administrators to carry weapons.

Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas who led the task force, unveiled the report at a packed news conference with unusually heavy security, including a bomb-sniffing yellow Labrador retriever. A dozen officers in plain clothes and uniforms stood watch as he spoke; one warned photographers to “remain stationary” during the event.

The Morning Report -- Tuesday March 5, 2013

Vote Counting Begins In Kenya -- Queen Elizabeth Leaves Hospital -- Cardinals Meet Today, Conclave Due -- U.S. Cardinals Express Concerns -- Venezuela's Chavez Health Worsens -- CA GOP Looks To Rebuild -- House Republicans Propose Shutdown Fix -- Vegas Strip Shooting Fights Extradition -- Menendez Accuser Backs Off Claims -- US Ambassador Asks UN Colleagues To Remain Sober - White House Favors Unlocking Cellphones - Comet Aims For Mars

KENYA ELECTION: VOTE COUNTING BEGINS IN CRUCIAL ELECTION 

Polls were due to close at 17:00 (14:00 GMT) but officials said those in queues at that time would be allowed to vote.

Earlier attacks by machete-wielding gangs around the port city of Mombasa killed at least 15 people.

With more than 10% of votes counted, the two presidential front-runners were well ahead of the other candidates.

The partial preliminary results, from areas where polling ended on time, gave Uhuru Kenyatta a lead over Prime Minister Raila Odinga, although analysts cautioned that these results came from Kenyatta strongholds.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II LEAVES HOSPITAL AFTER STOMACH FLU

Queen Elizabeth II left the London hospital where she'd been treated for the symptoms of a stomach infection Monday, following a brief and rare hospitalization for the 86-year-old head of state.

A smiling Elizabeth walked unassisted out of King Edward VII Hospital Monday afternoon before saying goodbye to staff. She was then driven away in a motorcade.

CARDINALS MEET TODAY, COULD SET CONCLAVE DATE

Cardinals will meet again in secret today at the Vatican, where they may target a date for the formal conclave to select a new pope and hash out the agenda they’d like to see the next pontiff address, including the clergy sex scandals and Vatican management that continue to dominate pre-conclave headlines.

The process is playing out behind closed doors and under an oath of secrecy, though some of the princes of the Church are still making themselves available to the media hordes on hand.

US CARDINALS SEEK ANSWERS ON ABUSE, CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS BEFORE CONCLAVE

VATICAN CITY — Cardinals said Monday they want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave and setting up one of the most unpredictable papal elections in recent times.

The Vatican said 107 of the 115 voting-age cardinals attended the first day of pre-conclave meetings, at which cardinals organize the election, discuss the problems of the church and get to know one another before voting.

CHAVEZ'S BREATHING PROBLEMS WORSEN, HAS SEVERE NEW INFECTION

(Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's breathing problems have worsened and he is suffering from a "severe" new respiratory infection as he struggles to recover from cancer surgery, the government said in a somber medical update on Monday.

The 58-year-old socialist leader has not been seen in public nor heard from in almost three months since undergoing the operation in Cuba. It was his fourth surgery since the disease was detected in mid-2011.

CALIFORNIA GOP TO REBUILD STEP-BY-STEP

Borrowing a theme from Democrat Jerry Brown's first term as governor, California Republicans are embracing a "small is beautiful" philosophy as they seek to rebuild their party from its nadir.

The California GOP has entered an era of diminished expectations.

As the emaciated party wrapped up its three-day statewide convention Sunday, there is little buzz about a 2014 challenge to unseat Brown. There's little hope of picking up more than a seat or two in the Legislature. There's no rush behind a ballot measure.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROPOSE MEASURE TO AVERT SHUTDOWN

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans on Monday introduced a bill that would avoid a government shutdown at the end of March, but that also could mitigate some of the most striking effects of the across-the-board federal spending cuts enacted last week.

Although the proposed shifts would make the sequester slightly less indiscriminate -- particularly for the military -- the measure would leave in place the $85 billion spending reduction, locking in the cuts through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.

SUSPECT IN VEGAS STRIP SHOOTING FIGHTS EXTRADITION FROM CALIFORNIA

(Reuters) - A man accused of fatally shooting an aspiring rapper as he drove a Maserati along the Las Vegas Strip, touching off a fiery car crash that killed two other people, challenged his extradition back to Nevada from California on Monday.

The man insisted through his defense lawyer that police or other authorities from Nevada be summoned to Los Angeles to identify him in court as the fugitive they seek in the February 21 shooting, 26-year-old Ammar Harris.

ESCORT SAYS MENENDEZ PROSTITUTION CLAIMS WERE MADE UP

A woman who said on tape that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex is now backing off those claims, telling police in the Dominican Republican that she was paid to make them, according to documents and two people familiar with the case.

The woman, one of two women who claimed Menendez hired them as prostitutes, now says she has never met the senator.

US AMBASSADOR POLITELY ASKS UN COLLEAGUES TO STOP SHOWING UP DRUNK TO MEETINGS

The United Nations is a pretty fun place. The headquarters hosts all kinds of cultural events. Everyone's open-minded about the dress code. Delegates can even show up hammered to budget negotiations. Or at least they used to be able to.

At a General Assembly budget committee meeting on Monday, the United States ambassador for management and reform at the UN stood up to scold his colleagues for always showing up drunk to negotiations. "There has always been a good and responsible tradition of a bit of alcohol improving a negotiation, but we're not talking about a delegate having a nip at the bar," said Joseph "The Fun Police" Torsella. "We make the modest proposal that the negotiating rooms should in future be an inebriation-free zone."

WHITE HOUSE: IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE CELL PHONE UNLOCKING 

The White House on Monday came out in support of the rights of consumers to unlock their cellphones once they have fulfilled the terms of the contract.

Responding to a petition on WhiteHouse.gov, the executive branch stated, “The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties.”

They went further, saying that the same right should also extend to other mobile devices, namely tablets.

COMET SETS AIM FOR MARS

A PAIR of middle-aged tourists (see previous post) are not the only thing headed for Mars. Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) is also on its way. Discovered on January 3rd, some calculations of its orbit, according to Phil Plait, the rather good “Bad Astronomer”, have it passing 37,000km above the surface of the planet in October 2014—roughly the height at which communication satellites orbit Earth, and a remarkably close shave by cosmic standards. An official NASA website puts the most likely “close-approach” distance between the comet and Mars at something more like 100,000km.

But the minimum close-approach distance is zero. Comets do not move smoothly on their tracks like ball bearings or planets. The gases that blow off their surfaces as the sun warms them up push them hither and yon, changing their trajectories. So, though the odds are strongly against it (how strongly no one can yet say) the comet has a real if small chance of actually hitting the planet.

The Morning Report -- Friday February 1st, 2013

Hackers Infiltrate The Times -- Beyonce Lip-Syncs -- Sen. Hagel Hearings -- Hackers Take Down Amazon -- 3D Printers and Gun Control -- Hispanic Population > White Population --  Ron Jeremy In Hospital -- Alabama Child Hostage -- Texas DA Shot, Killed -- Have It Your Way: BK & Horse Meat -- Mexican Oil Company Explosion

CHINESE HACKERS ATTACK THE NEW YORK TIMES

AP Images

 SAN FRANCISCO — For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.

fter surreptitiously tracking the intruders to study their movements and help erect better defenses to block them, The Times and computer security experts have expelled the attackers and kept them from breaking back in.

The timing of the attacks coincided with the reporting for a Times investigation, published online on Oct. 25, that found that the relatives of Wen Jiabao, China’s prime minister, had accumulated a fortune worth several billion dollars through business dealings. 

BEYONCE SAYS SHE LIP-SYNCED NATIONAL ANTHEM

Getty Images

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) –Beyonce stepped in front of the media Thursday to preview her halftime performance at theSuper Bowl.

After a brief greeting, the superstar asked the audience to stand and immediately belted out an unaccompanied rendition of the “The Star-Spangled Banner” which was received with hoots and applause.

She was promptly asked about her much-discussed rendition of the national anthem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration last week. Her critically praised performance came under scrutiny less than a day later when a representative from the U.S. Marine Band said she wasn’t singing live and the band’s accompanying performance was taped.

CNN: SENATORS 'SHOCKED' AT HOW ILL-PREPARED HAGEL WAS

AMAZON DOWN: ONLINE RETAILER BRIEFLY WENT DARK

Getty Images

First Twitter, now Amazon. Major website have been falling left and right on Thursday.

At about 2:40 p.m. ET, the homepage for Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, went down for approximately a half an hour. Shoppers looking for clothes or books were redirected to a blank page that said "Service Unavailable."

The website "Down For Everyone Or Just Me," not to mention an outpouring of tweets, confirms it, though Amazon URLs besides Amazon.com appeared to be working. As of publication, the site is working again.

3D PRINTERS INSERTED INTO GUN DEBATE

Pictured: FormLabs 3D Printer

A 24-year-old law-school student is bringing a new weapon to the fight over gun control: three-dimensional printers.

The notion may sound far-fetched, but Cody Wilson and a small team of Second Amendment defenders are working to develop ways for people to circumvent some gun-control proposals by furnishing the know-how to make weapons parts at home using 3D printers.

Mr. Wilson has already proved it is possible to make plastic versions of the high-capacity ammunition magazines that President Barack Obama and other mostly Democratic lawmakers are looking to ban. Four days before Mr. Obama unveiled his gun-control agenda, which includes a proposal to ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, Mr. Wilson appeared in a YouTube video firing a Colt M-16—the rifle long favored by the U.S. Army—with a 30-round plastic magazine made by a 3D printer.

CALIFORNIA HISPANIC POPULATION OUTNUMBER WHITE POPULATION BY 2014

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's Hispanic population will equal that of whites this year before becoming the state's largest demographic group in 2014 for the first time since statehood in 1850, a government report showed on Thursday.

That change in the most populous U.S. state will make it the third where whites do not comprise a plurality of the population, after New Mexico and Hawaii.

The shift is occurring alongside nationwide growth in the Hispanic population, which grew to 16.7 percent of the total in 2011 from 12.5 percent in 2000, according to U.S. Census figures.

It also comes amid a national debate on immigration that Democratic President Barack Obama waded into this week when he outlined his goals for immigration reform in a speech in Las Vegas.

PORN STAR RON JEREMY HAS HEART ANEURYSM

Filmmagic

Porn icon Ron Jeremy will remain on a respirator the next few days as doctors assess his recovery from heart-related surgery, a family member told the Daily News Thursday.

"Right now everything is in a holding pattern," Jeremy's 94-year-old dad Arnold Hyatt said. "He's heavily sedated and intubated. The doctors are waiting to see what develops. They anticipate it will be two or three days before they take him off the respirator."

The legendary lothario, 59, drove himself to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center near Beverly Hills around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday after experiencing chest pain, his manager previously told The News.

ALABAMA BOY STILL HELD IN BUNKER

CNN

Midland City, Alabama (CNN) -- Somewhere underneath this red southeastern Alabama dirt is a little boy.

A kindergartner, snatched from the safety of his school bus by a gunman and stashed in an underground bunker;

A boy who needs daily medication;

A child that this Bible Belt community of 2,300 is praying for.

Many details have been released about the man suspected to be the boy's abductor:

How he was supposed to have been in court to face charges that he'd shot at his neighbors over a minor property dispute;

TEXAS DISTRICT ATTORNEY SHOT, KILLED IN FRONT OF COURT HOUSE

A

An assistant district attorney in North Texas was shot and killed as he arrived at the courthouse where he worked on Thursday.

The Associated Press reports:

"Mark Hasse, 57, had exited his vehicle in the parking lot behind the Kaufman County Courthouse annex and was walking toward the building when he was shot multiple times just before 9 a.m., said Kaufman County spokeswoman Pat Laney. Hasse was taken away in an ambulance, but Laney did not know if he died at the hospital or en route.

"Investigators were searching for two suspects believed to have fled in an older model Ford Taurus either brown or silver in color. Officials didn't immediately indicate any motive for the shooting in Kaufman, located about 33 miles southeast of Dallas."

BURGER KING FINDS HORSE MEAT AT EUROPEAN SUPPLIER

 Burger King announced Thursday that it had terminated its relationship with European supplier Silvercrest Foods after finding traces of horse meat in beef patties at a Silvercrest facility.

Silvercrest provided beef for Burger King restaurants in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Burger King said that while samples of beef from restaurants in these countries showed no evidence of contamination, four samples from a Silvercrest plant in Ireland showed "very small trace levels of equine DNA."

Burger King (BKW) said the tainted product was never sold in restaurants, and appeared to have originated from a sub-contracted supplier in Poland.

BLAST KILLS 25 AT MEXICAN OIL PLANT BLAST

AP

MEXICO CITY — An explosion rocked the headquarters of Mexico's state-run oil monopoly Pemex, killing 25 people, injuring 101, and damaging three floors of Mexico's second tallest building before sending plumes of smoke into the Mexico City skyline.

The blast ripped through the lower level of a building adjacent to the Pemex tower in central Mexico City at about 3:45 p.m. local time (4:45 p.m. ET) Thursday, forcing the evacuation of 3,500 employees, company officials said.

The cause of the blast has not been confirmed. Local media reported that machinery exploded in the basement of an administrative center next to thePemex tower in Mexico City, which has more than 50 floors.

The Morning Report - Friday January 25, 2013

Al Qaeda Operative Killed -- Mentally Ill Man 'Tortured' -- Microsoft Surprises -- VA  & The Electoral College -- Senate To Vote On Sandy Aid -- Gun Ban Measure Introduced -- Brown Signals Historical CA -- 

KEY AL QAEDA FIGURE KILLED BY DRONE

AP

SANAA, Yemen — Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Yemen died in a U.S. drone attack last year in southern Yemen, the country's official news agency and a security official said Thursday.

Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was wounded in a missile attack in the southern city of Saada on Oct. 28, according to SABA news agency.

MOM PLANS PROTEST OVER 'TORTURE' OF MENTALLY ILL SON

PNG

A mother whose adult son is being detained in a criminal psychiatric hospital for a crime six years ago is planning to live in a box at the Vancouver Art Gallery for nine days and nights to draw attention to what she calls the “torture” he endures there.

Chahna Verney said her son, Ben, (she doesn’t want his last name published) has been held for almost four years at B.C.’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, where he has spent “the vast majority of his time locked up in an isolation cell.”

MICROSOFT REPORTS RECORD REVENUE IN 2ND QUARTER

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced quarterly revenue of $21.46 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2012. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $7.77 billion, $6.38 billion, and $0.76 per share.

These financial results reflect the net deferral of revenue for the Windows Upgrade Offer, Office Upgrade Offer and Pre-sales, and the Entertainment and Devices Division Video Game Deferral, partially offset by the recognition of previously deferred revenue for Windows 8 Pre-sales. The following table reconciles these financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. We have provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding the company’s performance.

VIRGINIA STATE SENATE MOVES AHEAD WITH ELECTORAL-COLLEGE RIGGING BILL

Getty Images

These guys are swiftly becoming my favorite state legislative body. From the AP:

Virginia's Republican-ruled legislature has taken the first steps toward ending the state's winner-takes-all system of apportioning its 13 presidential electoral votes. A Senate subcommittee recommended Sen. Bill Carrico's bill on Wednesday on a 3-3 party line vote.

SENATE SETS SANDY AID RELIEF VOTE FOR MONDAY

AP

WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to vote Monday on a $50.5 billion emergency relief bill to help victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Northeast lawmakers from both parties hope to win Senate approval of the measure and send it to President Barack Obama, who has said he would sign it. The House passed it last week.

SENATOR FEINSTEIN ROLLS OUT GUN BAN MEASURE

Getty Images

Washington -- - Nearly two decades after she championed a nationwide ban on assault weapons, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and other Democratic lawmakers rolled out a new ban on military-style rifles Thursday in the wake of the mass shooting last month at a Connecticut elementary school.

The measure, proposed more than eight years after the 1994 ban expired, would prohibit 157 rifles, including the Bushmaster XM-15 that Adam Lanza used in the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults. It also would outlaw ammunition magazines with a capacity above 10 rounds.

BROWN DELIVERS UPBEAT STATE OF THE STATE

Sacramento -- - Gov. Jerry Brown, riding a wave of remarkable political success from the first two years of his term in office, delivered a State of the State speech Thursday that cast California as being on the cusp of an era akin to the grand times of state history.

It was the kind of optimistic and enthusiastic address to the people of California that was not possible when Brown came into office two years ago facing a nearly $26 billion deficit.

Jerry Brown's State of the State

Source: Governor's Office CA

On the morning of January 24th Jerry Brown delivered his State of the State address. His topics ranged from education, healthcare, water, jobs, climate change, and transportation. Brown started his speech commending the legislation for making hard cuts and reforming prison spending and the citizens for "using their inherent political power under the Constitution" to pass prop. 30.

Brown was noticeably excited about the state of California. He decried those who said California was on a path of demise, and saluted teachers, union members, business owners, and the average citizen. He made it clear that what has happened in the past two years in California isn't about him, but about the people and their elected officials doing great work. After all of this back slapping and salutes, Governor Brown got right down to business, and he started with what he is known for: being a fiscal hawk. He started with,

"Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them. It is cruel to lead people on by expanding good programs, only to cut them back when the funding disappears. That is not progress; it is not even progressive. It is illusion. That stop and go, boom and bust, serves no one. We are not going back there."

Using the story of Joseph and the Pharaoh Brown compared the seven years of storage for the famine to come with his seven year tax hikes. He wants to leave California with a large rainy-day fund and keep the state safe if the worst were to happen to the economy.

Education

Gov. Brown wants to give back the power of education to be local. He believes that decisions are better made by teachers and the school board in each district. He even proposes a Local Control Funding Formula which would distribute supplemental funds — over an extended period of time — to school districts based on the real world problems they face.

Brown focuses his attention on public universities (2-year and 4-year) and says that it needs to be more streamlined to help students get their degree. He finishes by simply stating, "But tuition increases are not the answer. I will not let the students become the default financiers of our colleges and universities."

Healthcare 

On this subject Gov. Brown was short and to the point. He applauded the speed at which California adopted new Affordable Care Act and said that the legislators need to stay on course, but calls for a special session to deal with it. Keeping with his fiscal ideals Brown finished this topic with this: "Given the costs involved, great prudence should guide every step of the way."

Jobs

Recession cut deep

California lost 1.3 million jobs at the beginning of the recession, but it's coming back strong. A government entity, gobiz, got a lot of attention for helping businesses in California and for landing Samsung's only research and development facility in southern California. Work still needs to be down, Brown went on, citing needed reform in Enterprise Zone Program,  Jobs Hiring Credit, and California Environmental Quality Act.

Something surprising here, Brown talked about working closely with China, so much in fact that he will be opening a new trade and investment office in Shanghai.

Let's go out and get it done

Any Californian will remember how gloom the future of our state looked two and four years ago with the recession hitting the state hard. Today the government isn't only looking at economic issues and focused on people getting back to work, but keeping why California is so great and innovating. By taking bold moves in alternative energy and high-speed rail California will prepare the state for the future while getting the economy flowing. Things are looking up, and 2013 looks like a good year for California. Governor Jerry Brown finished saying, "Two years ago, they were writing our obituary. Well it didn’t happen. California is back, its budget is balanced, and we are on the move. Let’s go out and get it done."

The Morning Report -- Thursday January 24, 2013

North Korea Targets U.S. -- Women In Combat? -- CA School Gets High-Powered Rifles -- Debt Ceiling Raised; History Looms -- Charlie Brown Arrested -- Clinton Takes On Benghazi, GOP

NORTH KOREA TO TARGET U.S. WITH NUCLEAR, ROCKET TESTS

Credit: REUTERS/Bobby Yip/Files

(Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy".

The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction the country for a rocket launch in December that breached its bans.

PENTAGON SAYS YES TO WOMEN IN COMBAT

(Photo: Adek Berry, AFP/Getty Images)

The thought of women dodging bullets and bombs in combat may have seemed jarringly out of place in earlier eras of Doughboys and G.I. Joes and the wars of the previous century.

But for anyone familiar with today's troops and the missions they face — or who has paused to read the names of this nation's combat casualties — the historic move by the Pentagon to open up front-line roles to women is hardly a shock.

FONTANA, CALIFORNIA SCHOOL GETS HIGH POWERED RIFLES

DEBT CEILING RAISED BUT GOP FIGHTS HISTORY

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — All right, so the fight over the U.S. debt ceiling has been put off until late May. Time to celebrate, right?

Photo Credit: AP

Well, no. Republicans are sure to try to force the White House to agree to more spending cuts when a short-term suspension of the debt ceiling expires on May 19. House Republicans passed the temporary extension on Wednesday, and the Senate and White House say they will go along. Read MarketWatch article on debt-ceiling compromise.

The problem for conservatives is, the White House doesn’t have much incentive to play ball. Sure, President Obama might agree to small spending cuts if Republicans pass a longer-term extension of the debt limit. Yet Obama won’t do anything to alienate his political base or put congressional Democrats in a political bind.

What’s more, history says the president doesn’t have to. The fact is, presidents of both parties have won every standoff with Congress over the debt limit since the first major tussle in the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s. Read about history of debt limit.

CHARLIE BROWN VOICE ACTOR ARRESTED OVER ALLEGED THREATS, STALKING

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The former child actor who was the voice of Charlie Brown in the 1960s “Peanuts” animated television specials pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges he threatened his girlfriend and a surgeon who carried out her breast enhancement surgery.

Peter Robbins, 56, from Oceanside, California, pleaded not guilty in San Diego Superior Court to two counts of stalking and 10 counts of criminal threats. If convicted, he could face up to nine years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth McClutchey said.

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON'S BENGHAZI HEARINGS: FIVE THINGS LEARNED

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday took on Republican congressional critics of her department's handling of the deadly September terrorist attack in Libya.

Conservative GOP members challenged Clinton on the lack of security at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi as well as the erroneous account that the attack grew spontaneously from a protest over an anti-Islam film produced in the United States.

At two hearings, which together totaled more than five hours, Clinton acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" cited by an independent review of issues leading up to the armed assault and said her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities.

Here are five things we learned from the hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs committees.