The ACN Morning Report Thursday March 28, 2013

James Holmes To Plead Guilty -- Ashley Judd's Senate Outlook -- Microsoft Looks Past Windows 8 -- Casualties In Joint Nato-Afghan Operation -- Pakistani Girl Seals Book Deal -- Newtown Investigation Details Coming -- Loughner Details Released -- SCOTUS's Reluctance On Gay Marriage -- N. Korea Cuts Communications With South -- Obama Charm Offensive

JAMES HOLMES OFFERS TO PLEAD NOT GUILTY IN COLORADO MASSACRE

Pool Photo

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — James E. Holmes, accused of unleashing the Aurora movie theater massacre in July, has offered to plead guilty to killing 12 people and injuring 70 if prosecutors do not seek the death penalty.

In an unusual court filing, defense lawyers revealed Wednesday that they had made the standing offer weeks ago for Holmes to serve life in prison without possibility of parole for the July 20 mass shooting.

So far the prosecution has declined the offer, the document said.

Dist. Atty. George Brauchler of Colorado's 18th Judicial District is to announce Monday whether he will seek the death penalty. Capital punishment is rare in Colorado, with only three people on death row.

ASHLEY JUDD DECLINES KENTUCKY SENATE BID

Getty Images

ABC News’ Michael Falcone and Shushannah Walshe report:

After months of flirtation, actress Ashley Judd announced on Wednesday that she will not pursue a Senate bid against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

She made the announcement in a series of tweets late Wednesday afternoon:

“After serious and thorough contemplation, I realize that my responsibilities & energy at this time need to be focused on my family. Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader. While that won’t be me at this time, I will continue to work  as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!”

A source familiar with Judd’s decision-making process said the news that Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes has also been considering a Senate run “gave her the space to really make a decision and decide what was best for her.”

MICROSOFT PREPARES WINDOWS BLUE

Microsoft has finally broken its silence about Blue, a code name that not only refers to a Windows 8 operating system update, but also encompasses a large swath of the software giant's product and services portfolio.

Apart from some fleeting job ads or casual mentions like the ones in a TechFest 2013 presentation featuring an upcoming version of the Fresh Paint app, Microsoft has largely remained mum on the topic of Blue. Lately, however, the company has been opening up a little.

After recounting some recent company milestones and accomplishments in a blog post, Microsoft's vice president of corporate communications, Frank X. Shaw, made one of the first official mentions of Blue. Just don't expect the code name to survive the journey to a commercial launch, he warned.

CIVILIANS KILLED IN JOINT NATO-AFGHAN EXERCISE

PAKISTANI GIRL SHOT BY TALIBAN SEALS BOOK DEAL

AP PHOTO

Malala Yousufzai will not go quietly.

The 15-year-old Pakistani activist was shot in the head at point-blank range by the Taliban for advocating girls' education. After a miraculous recovery, she returned to school in Britain last week, and today it was announced she will publish her life story in the memoir, I Am Malala.

The Guardian reported the deal was inked for around $3 million, though a spokesman for the publisher, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, would not confirm reports about the value of the deal.

SEARCH WARRANTS TO BE RELEASED FOR NEWTOWN INVESTIGATION

AP

NEW HAVEN, Conn. –  Search warrants used in the investigation of the Newtown school shooting are being released along with a statement from prosecutors about their work to unravel the motives of the 20-year-old gunman.

The warrants, which were to be released on Thursday, are related to searches of gunman Adam Lanza's home and car. They have been sealed under an order that expired Wednesday, and prosecutors have made few details available, despite pressure to do so.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has expressed concern about leaked information appearing in the news, and state lawmakers have requested a more complete accounting of the case as they address gun control and other issues raised by the shooting.

REPORTS DETAIL JARED LOUGHNER'S BEHAVIOR BEFORE SHOOTING

Pima County Sheriff's Department

TUCSON — In hindsight, the red flags seem to be everywhere.

By the time Jared Lee Loughner shot and killed six people, wounding 13 — including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — his parents had already taken away his shotgun, tested him for drugs and forbade him from using the family vehicle after dusk. Months earlier, officials at his community college had refused to allow him to return to campus until he passed a mental evaluation. Hours before he went on a shooting rampage, a Wal-Mart clerk had declined to sell him ammunition.

These details emerged Wednesday when authorities released nearly 3,000 pages of investigative reports, painting a picture of a man who had become unhinged and the people who had tried to intervene, worried he was a danger to himself and others.

JUSTICES SHOW RELUCTANCE ON BROAD GAY MARRIAGE RULING

WASHINGTON—Two days of arguments on same-sex marriage revealed a Supreme Court uneasy about making sweeping moves on gay rights and holding doubts about whether the cases belonged before the justices at all.

The arguments also brought to life more familiar fissures between the court's liberal and conservative wings. On Wednesday, liberal justices suggested that a 1996 federal law denying benefits to lawfully married same-sex couples was motivated by animus against gays, while Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, challenged assertions that gays and lesbians need judicial protection from repressive majorities.

NORTH KOREA SAYS IT IS CUTTING TIES WITH SOUTH KOREA

CNN

The Obama administration on Wednesday slammed North Korea's pugnacious rants toward South Korea and the West and a U.S. intelligence official called the strident remarks worrisome.

"The ratcheting up of rhetoric is of concern to us," the official said.

The question is whether this is "just rhetoric," he said. Or, "are things happening behind the scenes indicating the blustering has something to it."

Another U.S. official said there is a lot of uncertainty about North Korea's intentions.

"North Korea is not a paper tiger so it wouldn't be smart to dismiss its provocative behavior as pure bluster," that official said.

OBAMA, SENATE REPUBLICANS PLAN SECOND DINNER

Getty Images

Senate Republicans and President Obama plan a second dinner next month to talk about such legislative items as the budget, immigration and gun control, officials said.

An aide to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said Obama called Isakson this month and asked him to line up another dozen or so GOP senators who were not able to attend a similar dinner on March 6.

The purpose of the get-together now scheduled for April 10 is "to build on the first dinner," said Joan Kirchner, Isakson's deputy chief of staff.

The ACN Morning Report -- Wednesday March 27 2013

SCOTUS Reconvenes For Second Gay Marriage Case -- Group Balks At Paying $1.3 Million Reward -- Obama Appoints First Female Director Of Secret Service -- C.R. Keeps Washington At Work, More Work Needed -- Patraeus Apologizes For Affair -- Earthquake Hits Taiwan -- T-Mobile Gets iPhone 5

Supreme Court Reconvenes For Second Gay Marriage Case

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today again will confront the issue of gay marriage, hearing arguments on a U.S. law that denies federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

Almost two hours of oral argument before the court will focus on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), just a day after the nine justices considered the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage.

The Obama administration's lawyers agree that DOMA is unconstitutional, and U.S. Solicitor Gen. Donald B. Verrilli Jr. will urge justices to invalidate it.

Group Balks At Paying $1.3 Million Reward For Chris Dorner

LAPD/AP

When ex-cop Christopher Dorner was hunting down Los Angeles police and their families, more than$1 million in reward money was raised for help in his capture and conviction.

Now that there are two sets of claims to the reward money, the groups that pledged the money are balking at paying because Dorner wasn’t captured or convicted. He died Feb. 12 when he shot himself in the head after being cornered by police and the subsequent gunbattle set fire to the house where he was barricaded.

The $1 million reward was offered by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after Dorner had killed two officers, the daughter of an officer and her fiance, and wounded two other cops. It is unclear how many groups and individuals pledged the $1 million, however, the Peace Officers Research Association of California along with police unions, civil organizations and private citizens all contributed to the reward.

President Obama Appoints First Female Director Of Secret Service

New Continuing Resolution Keeps Government Funded, White House Says GOP Must Compromise

President Barack Obama signed the new continuing resolution on Tuesday to keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year. The new CR doesn't eliminate sequestration but does provide some spending flexibility in various departments.

The measure sets spending at $984 billion and keeps sequestration's $85 billion cuts in place. The previous CR expires today. The new one freezes federal worker civilian pay and Congressional salaries for a third consecutive year but breaks out separate appropriation bills dealing with Agriculture; Commerce; Justice and Science; Defense; Homeland Security; and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Patraeus Apologizes For Extramarital Affair

AP

Former CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) director David Petraeus has publicly apologized for the extramarital affair that led to his resignation and damaged his once-sterling reputation.

Petraeus offered the apology during a speech Tuesday night in Los Angeles before a group of military veterans and students in the Reserve Officer Training Corps . He said he was "keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey" were caused by his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

6.1 Magnitude Earthquake Injures 20 In Taiwan

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhuanet) -- A strong earthquake has struck rural central Taiwan. Transport was suspended and at least 20 people have been injured. The island’s earthquake authority says the magnitude-6.1 tremor jolted Nantou County just after 10 A-M, at a depth of 15 kilometers. At least 20 people were injured, mostly by falling ceilings. The quake was felt 250 kilometers away in the capital Taipei. Does T-Mobile Have The Cheaper iPhone-5 Now that the iPhone 5 is finally available on T-Mobile, it's time to figure out where you can get it the cheapest. We've compared prices in the chart below to help you figure out which carrier is right for you. Note that the prices listed here are for the iPhone 5, but should apply to just about any smartphone on each of these carriers. It turns out that, even though T-Mobile is charging you for the full price of your phone, you're still paying the least amount of money in the long run (the amount you see in the chart includes your monthly $20 phone payment). Additionally, now that T-Mobile is contract-free, you're able to leave at any point you please. You'll either need to give up your phone or pay for the remainder, but you're not tethered to the carrier in any other way. Of course, you can still get out of your contract on AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon, but it's going to cost you.

Three Senators Reverse Position On Defense Of Marriage Act

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Three Democratic senators have reversed their stance on the Defense of Marriage Act in the past three days before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the law that limits marriage to one man and one woman.

Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., John “Jay” Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said today and Sunday that they no longer support a federal law banning gay marriage. The Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments in a case challenging that law Wednesday, after it considers a law banning same-sex marriage in California Tuesday.

McCaskill made the announcement on her Tumblr blog Sunday.

“I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love. While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry,” McCaskill wrote. “Good people disagree with me. On the other hand, my children have a hard time understanding why this is even controversial. I think history will agree with my children.”

Read more at ABC News. 

The ACN Morning Report Monday March 18, 2013

Good Morning! Today is Monday March 18th, 2013. Here are today's top and most interesting headlines from ACN: 

Venezuela Urges Obama To Halt 'Plot' -- Body, Explosives Found At FL Dorm -- There And Back Again, A Student's Spy Story -- S. Korea Cyber Warfare Soldiers Prepare -- "Talk Of Tax Increases Is Over" -- Republican: Congress Can Reach Grand Bargain -- U.S. Doesn't Have A Debt Crisis -- Bailout Looms For EU -- Earthquakes Have The Midas Touch -- Plane Crash In Indiana -- Perez As Labor Secretary -- SCOTUS Hears Voting Rights Case 

VENEZUELA'S MADURO URGES OBAMA TO HALT "PLOT" AGAINST RIVAL

CARACAS, March 17 (Reuters) - Venezuela's acting president urged U.S. leader Barack Obama to stop what he called a plot by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency to kill his opposition rival and trigger a coup before an April 14 election.

Nicolas Maduro said the plan was to blame his opponent's murder on the OPEC nation's government and to "fill Venezuelans with hate" as they prepare to go to vote following the death of socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

Maduro first mentioned a plot against his rival, Henrique Capriles, last week, blaming it on former Bush administration officials Roger Noriega and Otto Reich. Both rejected the allegations as untrue, outrageous and defamatory.

UCF DEATH: MALE COMMITS SUICIDE AT DORM, POLICE FIND GUNS AND EXPLOSIVES

Law-enforcement officers investigating an apparent suicide inside a University of Central Florida residence hall have found several weapons and improvised explosive devices, a school spokesman said early Monday.

UCF spokesman Grant Heston said a fire alarm call registered for Tower 1, a residence hall for about 500 students located near the Arena and Bright House Networks stadium, about 12:20 a.m. Monday.

While UCF police were on the way, officers received a 911 call for a male with a gun in the residence hall.

FROM STUDENT TO SPY, AND BACK AGAIN

BAKERSFIELD — Fernando Jara is something of a star in Kern County — and a mystery.

From humble beginnings, Jara founded a program to rehabilitate drug addicts and felons on a five-acre farm. He is completing a master's degree at Claremont School of Theology and will soon begin work on a doctorate and a law degree.

The energetic 37-year-old and his wife, a Kern County supervisor and rising political star, attended President Obama's inauguration in January at the invitation of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

SOUTH KOREA'S 'TOP GUN' CYBER WARRIORS PREPARE FOR BATTLE AGAINST NORTH KOREA

AFP

Cheon Joon-Sahng may not look like an elite warrior, but the shy, South Korean high school student has been fully trained for a frontline role in any future cyber battle with North Korea.

Cheon, 18, was one of 60 young computer experts chosen in July from many applicants for a government programme providing specialist training in vulnerability analysis, digital forensics and cloud-computing security.

At the end of December their number was narrowed to 20 who completed a further two months survival-of-the-fittest training in cyber warfare.

HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: "TALK OF TAX INCREASES IS OVER."

AP

Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Budget Committee, compared the U.S. debt situation with being “the healthiest-looking horse in the glue factory.”

“So we do not have a debt crisis right now, but we see it coming. We know it’s irrefutably happening, and the point we’re trying to make with our budget is, let’s get ahead of this problem,” said Mr. Ryan on “Face the Nation.” “If we keep kicking the can down the road, if we follow the president’s lead or if we pass the Senate budget, then we will have a debt crisis.”

CORKER: CONGRESS CAN REACH A GRAND BARGAIN, BUT ONLY IF OBAMA "GETS SERIOUS"

FOX NEWS

Republican Sen. Bob Corker expressed optimism Sunday about Democrats and Republicans reaching a long-term budget deal, but only if President Obama provides leadership and gets "serious” about entitlements.

"When the president is serious will be when he begins using the podium to explain to the American people that the average American family is only paying one-third of the cost of Medicare," Corker told “Fox News Sunday.”

RYAN: U.S. DOESN'T HAVE A DEBT CRISIS YET

(CBS News) The United States does not have a debt crisis, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said today on "Face the Nation," corroborating what House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama have said as both chambers of Congress scramble to concoct a budget plan to shore up the federal deficit. But, Ryan added, a crisis is "irrefutably" on its way.

"To borrow a phrase from my friend Erskine Bowles" - President Clinton's former chief of staff and Washington's go-to budget guru - "we are the healthiest-looking horse in the glue factory," Ryan said. "That means America is still a step ahead of the European nations who are confronting a debt crisis, of Japan, that's in its second lost decade. It's probably because of our resilient economy, because of our world currency status.

CYPRUS BAILOUT CRISIS 

GETTY IMAGES

Global markets traded lower and the euro hit a three-month low against the dollar on Monday as a weekend decision by the euro zone to force bank depositors in Cyprusto contribute towards a bailout provided a stark reality check for investors.

The losses were limited however, on reports the Cyprus government would put forward a new proposal on Monday to reduce the levy imposed on bank deposits.

EARTHQUAKES HAVE THE MIDAS TOUCH, NEW STUDY CLAIMS

Water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold, according to a model published in the March 17th issue of the journal Nature Geoscience. The model provides a quantitative mechanism for the link between gold and quartz seen in many of the world's gold deposits, said Dion Weatherley, a geophysicist at the University of Queensland in Australia and lead author of the study. 

When an earthquake strikes, it moves along a rupture in the ground — a fracture called a fault. Big faults can have many small fractures along their length, connected by jogs that appear as rectangular voids. Water often lubricates faults, filling in fractures and jogs. 

SOUTH BEND PLANE CRASH KILLS 2 INJURES THREE

Two people were killed and three people hospitalized when a small plane crashed into three homes in South Bend, Ind., Sunday afternoon.

The crash happened about 3:15 p.m. as the plane, which had taken off from a Tulsa, Okla., airport, made an approach to South Bend, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, an FAA spokeswoman.

The pilot radioed the airport tower as he was approaching the airport, signaling that he was having electrical problems, Cory said. The pilot made multiple approaches to the airport, and the airplane stalled and fell, hitting at least one structure, Cory said.

OBAMA TO NOMINATE THOMAS E. PEREZ AS LABOR SECRETARY 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — President Obama plans to nominate the government's top-ranking civil rights lawyer as the new secretary of Labor on Monday, a key position as the administration prepares to take on immigration reform.

Thomas E. Perez's nomination had been expected, but the administration said last week that the announcement was not imminent. If confirmed by the Senate, Perez would be the only Latino in Obama's second-term Cabinet. He is the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

SUPREME COURT TAKES UP VOTING RIGHTS CASE

Voting rights advocates are sounding the warning sirens as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments Monday on a low-profile but important case on whether states may require people to submit proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

At issue is whether the Arizona law, known as Proposition 200, violates a federal law that requires states to let people register to vote while renewing drivers licenses or applying for social services. The form provided by the National Voter Registration Act requires people to attest that they are U.S. citizens, but not to provide documented proof, like the Arizona law does.

The Morning Report -- Friday March 1, 2013

Sequester Arrives To Cold Welcome -- Sinkhole Swallows Florida Man -- Congressional Democrats Urge Supreme Court On DOMA -- Woodward, Axelrod Clash -- Bradley Manning Pleads Guilty -- Cardinals Summoned For Conclave -- Congress Skips Town -- A $2,500 iPad Bill

GOVERNMENT STARES DOWN START OF STEEP CUTS

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government hurtled on Friday toward deep spending cuts that threaten to hinder the nation's economic recovery, after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on an alternative deficit-reduction plan.

Locked in during a bout of deficit-reduction fever in 2011, the time-released “automatic” cuts can only be halted by agreement between Republican lawmakers and the White House. 

FLORIDA MAN SWALLOWED BY MASSIVE SINKHOLE IN BEDROOM

www.myfoxtampabay.com

A large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa, trapping a 36-year-old man in the rubble.

The home collapsed late Thursday in a Seffner neighborhood. By early Friday, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials determined the home had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts.

"Right now, the potential for a collapse is very, very high," Jessica Damico, a Hillsborough Fire and Rescue spokeswoman told MyFoxTampaBay.com. 

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS URGE SCOTUS TO STRIKE DOWN DOMA

WASHINGTON — More than 200 congressional Democrats are urging the Supreme Court to overturn a key provision of the federal law against gay marriage.

The lawmakers are filing a friend-of-the-court brief with the justices Friday, asking them to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA. The provision denies all federal benefits to same-sex couples.

The Democratic brief is meant as a counterweight to House Republicans, who have been defending DOMA in court ever since President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department to stop doing so. The president believes the measure is unconstitutional, but it will remain federal law unless it is repealed by Congress or overturned by the court.

BOB WOODWARD, DAVID AXELROD CLASH ON TV

David Axelrod and Bob Woodward clashed Friday over The Washington Post reporter’s claim that a top White House official had sent him an inappropriate email.

Axelrod and Woodward argued over the same two topics the White House has been disputing for the past week — whether President Barack Obama had “moved the goalposts” on the sequester and whether economic aide Gene Sperling had warned Woodward in an email.

BRADLEY MANNING SAYS HE LEAKED WIKILEAKS TO SPARK PUBLIC DEBATE

FORT MEADE, Md. -- After almost three years in custody, the Army private accused in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history said he did it because he wanted the public to know how the American military was fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with little regard for human life.

Bradley Manning, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday at a military hearing at Fort Meade, Md., to 10 charges that could carry a maximum sentence of 20 years. Prosecutors plan to pursue 12 more charges against him at court-martial, including a charge of aiding the enemy that carries a potential life sentence.

VATICAN SUMMONS CARDINALS FOR CONCLAVE

ROME -- The Vatican is moving quickly to start the process of selecting the next pope, announcing Friday that the official invitation had gone out to the 115 eligible cardinals who will take part in selecting the next pope.

The Vatican said that "congregations" leading up to the actual conclave will start Monday.

CONGRESS HEADS OUT AS SEQUESTER BLOWS IN

One day before automatic spending cuts were due to hit the Pentagon and other federal agencies, Congress on Thursday abandoned efforts to avert the reductions and left town for the weekend. The sequester is here, and policymakers have no plans to end it.

President Obama is scheduled to meet Friday at the White House with congressional leaders, but expectations for the meeting are low. House Republicans are already turning their attention to the next deadline on March 27, drafting a measure that would avoid a government shutdown while leaving the sequester in place through the end of September.

FIVE YEAR OLD RUNS UP $2,500 BILL ON iPAD IN TEN MINUTES

Danny Kitchen had asked for the passcode for the device so that he could download a game, Zombie v Ninja, from the Apple store.

Greg and Sharon Kitchen eventually agreed and left their son alone with the tablet computer as they entertained friends at their home in Warmley, near Bristol.

But after downloading the free app Danny found his way into the game's online store and innocently ordered dozens of costly add-ons - totalling £1,710.43.

Obama Administration Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down California Anti-Gay Marriage Ban

From Buzz Feed: 

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Thursday to declare that it was unconstitutional for California to pass an amendment in 2008 excluding same-sex couples from marriage — a dramatic turnaround from just four years ago, when the White House defended the federal law that bans recognition of such marriages.

"California law provides to same-sex couples registered as domestic partners all the legal incidents of marriage, but it nonetheless denies them the designation of marriage allowed to their opposite-sex counterparts. Particularly in those circumstances, the exclusion of gay and lesbian couples from marriage does not substantially further any important governmental interest. Proposition 8 thus violates equal protection," Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. wrote for the administration.

The administration's new stance is outlined in a brief filed to the Supreme Court in the challenge to California's Proposition 8. While it stops short of calling on the court to declare a nationwide end to bans on marriage for same-sex couples, it calls for the court to strike down Proposition 8 — the only issue directly before the court — and sets up a strong argument against other bans.

The filing comes on the last day the court is accepting amicus curiae, or friend of the court, briefs in the case that was brought in 2009 by the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Although the administration has told the court that it should hold the Defense of Marriage Act's federal definition of marriage as unconstitutional, it had not taken a position until Thursday on whether California could deny same-sex couples the right to marry.

In a statement, Attorney General Eric Holder said, "In our filing today inHollingsworth v. Perry, the government seeks to vindicate the defining constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law. Throughout history, we have seen the unjust consequences of decisions and policies rooted in discrimination. The issues before the Supreme Court in this case and the Defense of Marriage Act case are not just important to the tens of thousands Americans who are being denied equal benefits and rights under our laws, but to our Nation as a whole."

The position is another long step forward in President Obama's long evolution on LGBT rights.

In 1996, when he was running for the state Senate in Illinois, Obama told Chicagoans in the Outlines newspaper, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." When running for U.S. Senate and later for president, however, he had stepped back, supporting civil unions but not full marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Once elected president, his administration defended the Defense of Marriage Act in court, first vigorously — with language and arguments that led LGBT advocates to protest outside the White House — and later with a more scaled-back defense.

On February 23, 2011, however, Attorney General Eric Holder told House Speaker John Boehner that he and Obama had concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, the provision that prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex couples' marriages, is unconstitutional, and the administration began opposing the law in court.

The most significant element of the administration's move at that time was the broad decision, under constitutional guarantees of equal protection, that laws classifying people based on sexual orientation should be subjected to a closer scrutiny by courts. Heightened scrutiny, as it is called, is what courts use to examine laws that classify people based on race, religion or sex. Since DOMA classifies people based on sexual orientation, the administration argued, the law should be found unconstitutional.

It wasn't until more than a year later, on May 9, 2012, that Obama announced his personal support for marriage equality, telling ABC's Robin Roberts, "I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." Since then, however, Obama had been silent on whether he believed the Constitution required that states allow same-sex couples to marry.

Although Thursday's filing only addresses the specifics of the Proposition 8 case, it applies that heightened scrutiny standard to the amendment and determines that, under that standard, it should be found unconstitutional.

The brief filed in Hollingsworth v. Perry is signed by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the administration's lawyer before the Supreme Court, but it was prepared in consultation with the White House. This past week, Obama noted he had to be careful not to "interjecting [him]self too much into this process."

Thursday's filing lays out the constitutional argument that advocates of marriage equality, including Ted Olson and David Boies, who are representing the couples challenging Proposition 8, have been arguing for years.

The filing does not go so far as to say that the Constitution requires all states to allow same-sex couples to marry — something that LGBT advocates had been seeking but that does not necessarily need to be resolved by the court in this case — but it does utilize much of the same reasoning that such a decision would entail.

The Supreme Court is slated to hear oral arguments in the Proposition 8 challenge on March 26 and in the DOMA challenge the next day, March 27. Although the administration wasn't scheduled to participate in the arguments in the Proposition 8 case, Thursday's filing could change that.

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The Morning Report -- Thursday, February 21, 2013

U.S. Military Milestone In Afghanistan -- Pentagon Braces For Sequester -- Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Jobs Dwindle -- Supreme Court To Take Up Donation Limits -- Mars Curiosity Rover Breakthrough -- Senator Fathers Son With Senator -- Skeleton Found On Mars? -- Stanford Raises $1 Billion

30 DAYS WITHOUT A U.S. MILITARY DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN 

Getty Images

A milestone was reached in Afghanistan Wednesday that has not happened in six years:  30 days without a U.S. military fatality.

It is the longest gap between U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan since February and March of 2007, when there was a similar 30 day gap.

The winter months in Afghanistan always see a relative reduction  in American military casualties as the cold weather and the elements restricts combat engagements.

But this winter season has seen one of the lowest casualty rates in years.

PENTAGON INFORMS CONGRESS OF 800 THOUSAND CIVILIAN WORKER FURLOUGHS

The Pentagon notified Congress on Wednesday it will be furloughing its civilian workforce of 800,000 employees if sequestration goes into effect March 1

defense officials have warned lawmakers that sequestration will devastate the military and lead to a hollow force, but the civilian furloughs will be one of the first major impacts felt by the across-the-board cuts.

The Pentagon furloughs will affect civilians across the country. Pentagon officials have said that civilians could face up to 22 days of furloughs, one per week, through the end of the fiscal year in September. The employees would receive 30 days' notice before being furloughed.

KEYSTONE'S 'THOUSANDS' Of JOBS FALL TO 20

Bloomberg

TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline, heralded by supporters as a major job creator, will add few permanent positions once the $7 billion project is built.

The number of people needed to operate and maintain the 1,661-mile (2,673-kilometer) pipeline may be as few as 20, according to the U.S. State Department, or as many as a few hundred, according to TransCanada.

“I don’t see a big jobs impact,” Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, said in an interview. “It gets the oil into refineries that already exist. It’s like replacing a bridge on the highway.”

JUSTICES TO HEAR APPEAL OF INDIVIDUAL DONATION LIMITS

Roll Call

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider taking another step toward dismantling campaign finance laws, potentially freeing wealthy donors to give as much as they want in any election cycle and raising the possibility that it could overturn limits that apply to individual candidates as well.

In its landmark Citizens United decision, the court ruled in 2010 that corporations, unions and individuals could spend unlimited sums on campaign ads so long as they are independent of the candidates and political parties. That triggered the creation of so-called "super PACs," which can raise and spend huge sums on politics, so long as they are ostensibly independent of a candidate or party.

NASA CONFIRMS FIRST DRILLED MARS ROCK SAMPLE

NASA

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has relayed new images that confirm it has successfully obtained the first sample ever collected from the interior of a rock on another planet. No rover has ever drilled into a rock beyond Earth and collected a sample from its interior.

Transfer of the powdered-rock sample into an open scoop was visible for the first time in images received Wednesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Seeing the powder from the drill in the scoop allows us to verify for the first time the drill collected a sample as it bore into the rock," said JPL's Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer for Curiosity. "Many of us have been working toward this day for years. Getting final confirmation of successful drilling is incredibly gratifying. For the sampling team, this is the equivalent of the landing team going crazy after the successful touchdown."

SENATOR FATHERS CHILD WITH DAUGHTER OF ANOTHER SENATOR

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Former Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico fathered a son outside of his marriage more than 30 years ago with the then-24-year-old daughter of a Senate colleague, the retired Republican has acknowledged.

The revelation stunned many who know the state's longest-serving senator as a family man who advocated honesty.

Domenici and Michelle Laxalt sent statements to the Albuquerque Journal identifying their son as Nevada attorney Adam Paul Laxalt. They said they decided to go public with their decades-old secret because they believed someone was about to reveal the information in an attempt to smear Domenici.

FOSSILIZED SKELETON FOUND ON MARS?

A video making the rounds on the web has alien hunters and Mars watchers excited with what looks remarkably like a fossilized skeleton of a lizard-like creature photographed by the Mars Curiosity rover. What is it?

Paranormal bulletin boards are on fire with still images, enhanced and enlarged, which do bear a striking resemblance to fossils of ancient creatures found on Earth.

The video, uploaded to YouTube on Feb. 19, is a vignette made from a single photo taken by Curiosity earlier in the month. The photo seems to show the outline of animal vertebrae snaking into what looks like a tail and exposed above the rocky Martian soil.

STATE UNIVERSITY RAISES RECORD BREAKING $1BN

Stanford University has become the first US college to raise more than $1bn (£650m) in a year.

The California institution ranked first in the 2012 Council for Aid to Education's survey, for the eighth straight year.

The report found that 3,500 US universities raised a total of $31bn, 2.3% more than the previous year.

The top 10 schools, including Harvard and Yale, accounted for 17% of the total fundraising efforts.

But the total was just short of the all-time record in 2008.