President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate to fill vacancies on a labor relations panel, a federal appeals court panel ruled Friday.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said that Obama did not have the power to make three recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board.
The unanimous decision is an embarrassing setback for the president, who made the appointments after Senate Republicans spent months blocking his choices for an agency they contended was biased in favor of unions.
The ruling also throws into question Obama's recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray's appointment, also made under the recess circumstance, has been challenged in a separate case.
Obama claims he acted properly in the case of the NLRB appointments because the Senate was away for the holidays on a 20-day recess. But the three-judge panel ruled that the Senate technically stayed in session when it was gaveled in and out every few days for so-called "pro forma" sessions.
GOP lawmakers used the tactic - as Democrats have in the past as well - to specifically to prevent the president from using his recess power. GOP lawmakers contend the labor board has been too pro-union in its decisions. They had also vigorously opposed the nomination of Cordray.
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Carney: Court's NLRB ruling "novel and unprecedented"
White House spokesman Jay Carney today said the administration "respectfully but strongly" disagrees with the court decision. He said there have been more than 280 intra-session recess appointments dating back to 1867.
"The decision is novel and unprecedented," he said. "It contradicts 150 years of practice by Democratic and Republican administration."
Carney also said the decision does not apply to Cordray's appointment, since it was written about a specific case the court considered.
The Obama administration is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, though Carney referred questions with respect to the administration's next steps to the Justice Department. A Justice Department spokesperson, said, "We disagree with the court's ruling and believe that the president's recess appointments are constitutionally sound."
If the decision stands, it means hundreds of decisions issued by the board over more than a year are invalid. It also would leave the five-member labor board with just one validly appointed member, effectively shutting it down. The board is allowed to issue decisions only when it has at least three sitting members.
On Jan. 4, 2012, Obama appointed Deputy Labor Secretary Sharon Block, union lawyer Richard Griffin and NLRB counsel Terence Flynn to fill vacancies on the NLRB, giving it a full contingent for the first time in more than a year. Block and Griffin are Democrats, while Flynn is a Republican. Flynn stepped down from the board last year.
Obama also appointed Cordray on the same day.
The court's decision is a victory for Republicans and business groups that have been attacking the labor board for issuing a series of decisions and rules that make it easier for the nation's labor unions to organize new members. House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement the ruling was "a victory for accountability in government."
"The Obama administration has consistently used the NLRB to impose regulations that hurt our economy by fostering uncertainty in the workplace and telling businesses where they can and cannot create jobs," he said. "Instead of operating under a shroud of controversy, the NLRB should meet the highest standards of transparency, starting with having its members approved by the people's representatives."
President Obama is giving his West Wing team an extreme make-over for the second term, with the departure of top strategist David Plouffe and the naming of Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough to be his next chief of staff.
Once again, the President is keeping a comfort zone around him, promoting from within. He is plucking a favorite aide from his national security team to become the new White House Chief of Staff. McDonough has been a popular figure in the Obama inner circle since the Senate days.
McDonough was widely expected to become Obama’s fifth chief of staff as he replaces Jack Lew who has been nominated as Treasury Secretary.
“Welcome to the announcement of one of the worst kept secrets in Washington,” Obama joked as he announced McDonough’s new position in the East Room of the White House.
The president heaped praise on his longtime adviser and close friend, as McDonough stood beaming by his side.
“I have been counting on Denis for nearly a decade — since I first came to Washington, when he helped set up my Senate office,” Obama said. “He was able to show me where the restrooms were and how you passed a bill… At that time, I relied on his intellect and his good judgment, and that has continued ever since.”
“I cannot imagine the White House without you. Thank you for signing up for this very, very difficult job,” Obama said. ”I know you’ll always give it to me straight, as only a friend can — telling me not only what I want to hear, but more importantly what I need to hear to make the best possible decisions on behalf of the American people.”
Plouffe’s departure from the tiny office next to the president’s makes room for strategist Dan Pfeiffer’s promotion to senior adviser. Pfeiffer is a combative planner who has been orchestrating the administration’s message for the last four years.
“I thought I’d take the occasion to just embarrass somebody. Some of you may know that today is David Plouffe’s last day in the White House,” Obama said to laughter from the audience comprised largely of White House staff. ”I had to hide this in the end of my remarks because I knew he wouldn’t want me to bring it up. So we had some secret squirrel stuff going on here to avoid him thinking that we were going to talk about him.”
“I can’t tell you how lucky I have been to have him manage our campaign back in 2008, then join the White House during these very challenging last two years. He’s built a well-deserved reputation as being a numbers genius and a pretty tough combatant when it comes to politics,” he said. “Were it not for him, we would not have been as effective a White House and I probably wouldn’t be here.”
Pfeiffer’s deputy, Jennifer Palmieri, a long-time Democratic figure, moves up to communications director. Rob Nabors was a key figure in negotiating with Congress and he’s getting promoted to the top policy job in the West Wing’s chief of staff office.
From the Department of Justice, Lisa Monaco will come in as the new counter-terrorism adviser, taking John Brennan’s chair if he is confirmed as CIA Director.
The only other outsider coming into the West Wing is David Simas who worked on the re-election campaign. Simas will do communications. There are no announced changes in Jay Carney’s press office.
CAIRO/ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - On the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, demonstrators clashed with police during protests across Egypt against the Islamist president they accuse of betraying the revolution.
At least 186 civilians and 45 security personnel were injured, officials said.
Thousands of opponents of President Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square - the cradle of the revolt against Mubarak - to rekindle the demands of a revolution they say has been hijacked by Islamists.
Street battles erupted in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said. Arsonists attacked at least two state-owned buildings as symbols of government were targeted. An office used by the Muslim Brotherhood's political party was also torched.
The January 25 anniversary laid bare the divide between the Islamists and their secular rivals. This schism is hindering Mursi's efforts to revive an economy in crisis and reverse a plunge in Egypt's currency by enticing back investors and tourists.
Inspired by the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt's revolution spurred further revolts across the Arab world. But the sense of common purpose that united Egyptians two years ago has given way to internal strife that last month triggered bloody street battles.
"Our revolution is continuing. We reject the domination of any party over this state. We say no to the Brotherhood state," Hamdeen Sabahy, a popular leftist leader, told Reuters.
The Brotherhood decided against mobilizing for the anniversary, wary of the scope for more conflict after December's violence that was stoked by Mursi's decision to fast-track an Islamist-tinged constitution rejected by his opponents.
The Brotherhood denies accusations that it is seeking to dominate Egypt, labeling them a smear campaign by its rivals.
STONE-THROWING YOUTHS
Before dawn, police battled protesters who threw petrol bombs and firecrackers as they tried to approach a wall blocking access to government buildings near Tahrir Square.
Clouds of tear gas filled the air. At one point, riot police used one of the incendiaries thrown at them to set ablaze at least two tents erected by youths, a Reuters witness said.
Skirmishes between stone-throwing youths and the police continued in streets around the square into the day. Ambulances ferried away a steady stream of casualties.
Protesters echoed the chants of 2011's historic 18-day uprising. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted. "Leave! Leave! Leave!" chanted others as they marched towards the square.
"We are not here to celebrate but to force those in power to submit to the will of the people. Egypt now must never be like Egypt during Mubarak's rule," said Mohamed Fahmy, an activist.
There were similar scenes in Suez and Alexandria, where protesters and riot police clashed near local government offices. Black smoke billowed from tires set ablaze by youths.
In Cairo, police fired tear gas to disperse a few dozen protesters trying to remove barbed-wire barriers protecting the presidential palace, witnesses said. A few masked men got as far as the gates before they were beaten back.
Tear gas was also fired at protesters who tried to remove metal barriers outside the state television building.
Outside Cairo, protesters broke into the offices of provincial governors in Ismailia and Kafr el-Sheikh in the Nile Delta. A local government building was torched in the Nile Delta city of al-Mahalla al-Kubra.
BADIE CALLS FOR "PRACTICAL, SERIOUS COMPETITION"
With an eye on parliamentary elections likely to begin in April, the Brotherhood marked the anniversary with a charity drive across the nation. It plans to deliver medical aid to one million people and distribute affordable basic foodstuffs.
Writing in Al-Ahram, Egypt's flagship state-run daily, Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie said the country was in need of "practical, serious competition" to reform the corrupt state left by the Mubarak era.
"The differences of opinion and vision that Egypt is passing through is a characteristic at the core of transitions from dictatorship to democracy, and clearly expresses the variety of Egyptian culture," he wrote.
Mursi's opponents say he and his group are seeking to dominate the post-Mubarak order. They accuse him of showing some of the autocratic impulses of the deposed leader by, for example, driving through the new constitution last month.
"I am taking part in today's marches to reject the warped constitution, the 'Brotherhoodisation' of the state, the attack on the rule of law, and the disregard of the president and his government for the demands for social justice," Amr Hamzawy, a prominent liberal politician, wrote on his Twitter feed.
The Brotherhood says its rivals are failing to respect the rules of the new democracy that put the Islamists in the driving seat via free elections.
Six months into office, Mursi is also being held responsible for an economic crisis caused by two years of turmoil. The Egyptian pound has sunk to record lows against the dollar.
The parties that called for Friday's protests list demands including a complete overhaul of the constitution.
Critics say the constitution, which was approved in a referendum, offers inadequate protection for human rights, grants the president too many privileges and fails to curb the power of a military establishment supreme in the Mubarak era.
Mursi's supporters say enacting the constitution quickly was crucial to restoring stability needed for economic recovery.
(Additional reporting by Ahmed el-Shemi, Ashraf Fahim, Marwa Awad and Shaimaa Fayed in Cairo and Yousri Mohamed in Ismailia; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Robert Woodward)
DAVOS: British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted Thursday he was not turning his back on Europe as he came face to face with world leaders for the first time since unveiling plans for an EU referendum.
The global elite gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos and discussed issues ranging from the civil war in Syria and the conflict in Mali to the need to counter tax avoidance by multinational corporations.
But the hot topic at the snowy Swiss ski resort was Cameron's relations with his European Union partners one day after he unveiled his controversial proposal to let the British public vote whether to stay in the bloc.
Cameron held talks with German Chancellor and EU powerbroker Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands at the annual forum as he tried to win their backing for his plans.
"This is not about turning our backs on Europe -- quite the opposite," Cameron told the audience of business leaders, top politicians and journalists.
"It's about how we make the case for a more competitive, open and flexible Europe, and secure the UK's place within it."
His announcement on Wednesday that he wants to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels and then hold an "in-or-out" referendum on membership by the end of 2017 has delighted his increasingly anti-EU party at home.
European leaders in Davos called on Britain to stay in the 27-nation group and made encouraging noises in public, but there were signs he has a mountain to climb to convince them of his case.
Dutch premier Mark Rutte warned that without the EU, Britain would be "an island somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere between the United States and Europe".
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said the EU would be "stronger if Britain is part of it."
Merkel meanwhile sidestepped the topic but reached out to Cameron by vowing more action on one of the key reforms he wants for Europe -- boosting competitiveness.
"I say this expressly to my colleague David Cameron. You too have addressed competitiveness, see this as a central issue to ensure Europe's prosperity for the future," she said.
Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger told the forum that the "idea of European unity needs to be resolved" for the continent to fully recover from the three-year eurozone debt crisis.
But Cameron rejected any idea of a European superstate or of Britain ever adopting the euro and added that he did not agree that "there should be a country called Europe".
Cameron said in his speech that Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight leading world economies -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- would focus on tackling tax avoidance.
He said multinational corporations must "pay their fair share" of taxes and that too many businesses were abusing tax schemes.
Looking farther afield, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged members of the Security Council to "overcome the deadlock" and find a solution to the bloodshed in Syria, where 60,000 people have died in the past 22 months.
Russia and China have blocked three previous resolutions threatening sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but Ban said letting the conflict go on was an "abdication of our collective responsibility to protect."
Ban also called for the world to help end the crisis in Mali, where a French-led military offensive against Islamist militants is under way.
Davos lived up to its reputation as a venue where deals are sewn up on the sidelines as Ukraine and global oil giant Royal Dutch Shell signed a US$10-billion shale gas deal.
The invitation-only meeting is also known for its lavish cocktail parties -- but with the glitzy guest list comes tight security, with around 5,000 police and military guarding the venue and helicopters buzzing overhead.
Mulch, one of hundreds of heroes on 365 Supers, originated after a "horticulturist's super grass-growing solution explodes all over him transforming him into the Hulking Mulch," said artist Everett Downing.
(Credit: Everett Downing)
Everett Downing knows a thing or two about drawing. After all, he's a story artist for Pixar, and has worked on such classics as "Up," "Wall-E," and other major films.
Given how much drawing he does during work hours, it might surprise you that one of Downing's hobbies is even more drawing. Several years ago, Downing created a blog called 365 Supers, a site that would eventually house hundreds of his original superheroes. The goal? Overcome a creative rut, and have a little fun in the process. We took a moment to highlight a few of Downing's heroes (and heroines) for your pleasure.
What got this accomplished Pixar artist involved with animation in the first place? "I've always been interested in drawing, but I think my interest in supers blossomed when I was introduced to the Uncanny X-men in high school. X-Men 173, specifically," Downing told Crave. "Something about mutant outcasts forced to rely on each other against a world that fears and misunderstands them really appealed to me. Still does."
Of his original superheroes, Downing cites Lance-a-lot, The Fallguy, Doberman and the pincher, Mulch, and Gargrrrl as favorites.
Downing has a tip for Crave readers looking to stay motivated with art: "If you love drawing and you're looking to challenge yourself, I encourage you to try something like this. It's not easy to do, and it'll test your resolve (and your sanity), but the lessons I've learned have been incredibly insightful."
As President Obama faces opposition from gun rights advocates over his recent proposals to combat gun violence, the challenge he faces of fixing flaws in the mental health care system may prove just as difficult a battle.
Mr. Obama outlined plans aimed at preventing mass shootings and reducing broader gun violence in the United States last week, while signing 23 executive actions that did not require Congressional approval. Alongside proposed changes to gun laws including universal background checks, a stronger ban on assault weapons and new restrictions on ammunition and magazines, mental health emerged as a core feature of the president's plan to prevent further tragedies like the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The executive actions related to mental health included:
A letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities
Incentives for schools to hire school resource officers
A letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover
Finalization of regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within health insurance exchanges
A commitment to finalizing mental health parity regulations
The launch of a national dialogue led by the departments of Health and Human Services and Education on mental health
A Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence
Clarification that the new health care law does not prohibit doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes
Noting that it was the first of its kind to focus on mental health since 2007 -- and long overdue -- Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin chaired a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Thursday.
Harkin laid out that while Newtown has brought the issue to the forefront of discussion, mental illness only accounts for a small proportion of violent crimes.
Experts estimate only a small percentage of violent crimes -- less than 5 percent -- are caused by mentally ill people.
"People with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than perpetrators of violence," said Harkin, who called mental health care's shortcomings a public health problem.
A common theme throughout the hearing was to avoid stigmatizing people with mental illness while discussing gun violence and problems facing mental health care.
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Mental health expert: "We can and must intervene early"
Pamela S. Hyde, administrator for the government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) laid out the scope of the mental health care problem during the hearing (video at left). Of the 45 million U.S. adults suffering from mental illness, only 38.5 percent receive the treatment they need, she said. For children, only one in five receive necessary treatment for diagnosable mental disorders. Despite showing symptoms, many children and adults experience significant delays getting into treatment. Hyde argues that if the system shifts to a focus on early intervention, more people can be helped.
"Cost, access and recognition of the problems are the primary reason this treatment is not received. However it doesn't have to be this way," said Hyde. "For most of these conditions, prevention works, treatment is effective and people do in fact recover."
Unfortunately, mental health care spending has been dramatically cut in recent years. A 2011 report from the National Alliance on Mental Health that looked at state-by-state mental health budgets reported $1.6 billion in state funding cuts from 2009 through 2012. Medicaid cuts at this time also negatively affected mental health care, the report showed. States are mulling increases in funding in light of the Newtown shooting.
And the health care system may only become more burdened in the near future: A July 2012 study by the Institute of Medicine, an advisory medical organization to the government, found an aging baby boomer population could cause a mental health care crisis by 2030, when the number of U.S. seniors is expected to double and necessary resources will be woefully lacking.
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The dangerous stigma of mental illness
Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, chairman of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, told CBS News senior correspondent John Miller in December that mental health care is a societal problem because the U.S. has not taken on the treatment of mental illness as effectively as it could.
"I think mental health is a big issue," Lieberman said at the time. "It's definitely related to the frequency of these seemingly senseless and wanton killings that occur. And the way it relates is that unfortunately, individuals who have specific forms of mental illness, if untreated, can be more prone to act in a way which is socially destructive and results in harm or killing like we saw happen."
Lieberman said a person who needs treatment for mental illness often faces barriers such as insurance coverage and accessibility to care, in addition to stigma -- while people getting treated for a disease like cancer face fewer "disincentives" to getting the best care.
Following the president's announcement, Lieberman told CBSNews.com that the new proposals are "on the right track" in terms of addressing issues in the mental health system, but much work remains to clarify how these actions will be implemented.
By getting more people with mental illness, impulse disorders and substance abuse issues into constant treatment, he said, they may be prevented from ever getting to a point where they are showing symptoms of mental illness -- and acting on violent impulses.
"Trying to say we should only do something when they get dangerous is very late in the process," said Lieberman.
Details on the president's proposals still need to be worked out, said Lieberman, who is also president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. For example, the Mental Health Parity Act, which the president wanted to finalize in his executive actions, requires that mental health benefits are covered by insurance, similar to non-psychiatric health care benefits. However, the rules to determine what services are covered, how people become reimbursed and other stipulations have not been established, he said. The president also asked for clarification on Medicaid mental health services, which now typically covers people who have severe forms of mental illness. Lieberman argues policymakers may find that these services are not adequate, and broader services are needed.
Right now, doctors cannot provide mental health care services in what Lieberman refers to as a "financially viable way." He explains that patients seeking help for mental health may require a lot of support, not only from a doctor who may provide medication, but from therapists, case managers and social and vocational rehabilitation counselors who need to be more actively involved in the patient's lives. These team-based "multi-element treatment approaches" have been shown in studies to be effective, however these types of paid services just aren't available for people suffering from mental health problems. Meanwhile, a person with heart disease may see a cardiologist, a surgeon, a different doctor about stent management, a nutritionist for lifestyle tips, and other providers all covered by insurance.
"In mental health care it's the same thing -- you can't just see a psychiatrist and get a prescription," he said. "This is not just throwing different services at the problem, there's good evidence that these things work."
Dr. Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine, who has published several research papers on gun violence and mental health for more than a decade, agrees the current mental health system represents a complex public health problem facing the United States.
"The mental health system in the country, if you can call it that, is fragmented and grossly under-resourced," Swanson told CBSNews.com in an email. "It needs a lot of things, and more research into how to fix it -- at a time when there are more mentally ill people incarcerated than in hospitals -- is one of the needed things," he said.
A 2011 paper by Swanson published in Psychiatric Services examines the lack of data available on firearm use against strangers, and how it is impossible to reliably predict which specific individuals would engage in the most serious acts of violence.
But even if more CDC research stemming from the president's proposals strengthens the available data pool, Swanson argues these egregious acts of violence may still be impossible to predict.
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Can a mental disorder make someone violent?
"I think more access to evidence-based treatment and less access to guns, taken together, would have an impact on gun violence, at least on the margins. But prevent mass shootings? That's hard to say," Swanson said. "Those are almost inherently unpredictable, and often perpetrated by people with no gun-disqualifying mental health or criminal record -- until it's too late. Most of the measures in the President's proposal, even if enacted and implemented perfectly, would not necessarily have prevented the shootings in Tucson, Aurora, or Newtown."
While concerns persist on how the president's proposals will be implemented, the announcement was supported by various health organizations that had previously submitted recommendations to Vice President Joe Biden's White House Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention.
"NAMI applauds the President's plan for its significant provisions to strengthen and expand mental health services," Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness said in a statement following the proposals. "The mental health care system has long been broken. The challenge is not to fix it, but to build it anew, focusing on early screening, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The President's plan takes important steps toward meeting that challenge."
Dr. Dilip V. Jeste, president of the American Psychiatric Association, added in statement, "We are heartened that the Administration plans to finalize rules governing mental health parity under the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicaid. "We are glad that the President has clarified that doctors are not prohibited from asking their patients about guns in their homes. The APA has consistently advocated for such a position."
The American Academy of Pediatrics also offered its support.
"In addition to addressing firearm regulations, we must improve access to quality mental health care both to help prevent violent acts and to assist victims of trauma," AAP President Dr. Thomas K. McInerny, said in a statement following the proposals. "The AAP agrees with the President that we must improve the identification of mental illnesses through increased screening, address inadequate insurance coverage and high out-of-pocket costs that create barriers to access, strengthen the overall quality of mental health access, and improve and expand the Medicaid reimbursement policy to include mental health and developmental services.
Manti Te'o still doesn't know why he was the victim of a hoax that left him scared, confused and the butt of countless jokes, he said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Katie Couric.
Te'o says Ronaiah Tuiasosopo has spoken to him by Twitter and then in a phone call to confess to engineering the elaborate hoax, but gave little explanation for his actions.
"He just basically... explained what he did and why he did it," Te'o told Couric. But he added, "He didn't say why [he did it]. He just explained that he wanted to help people and that was his way of helping people, of being someone that he wasn't..."
The star linebacker for Notre Dame added, "Obviously, it didn't really help me out, but, you know, I didn't really say anything. I was still speechless. I just found out everything that I believed to be my reality wasn't actually reality at all."
Click here for an infographic that breaks down the connections between the key players.
Te'o, 21, has been alternately questioned and lampooned over his role in the hoax that led him and the public to believe that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua died of leukemia as Te'o led the Notre Dame football team to an undefeated season that culminated in the national championship game.
Lorenzo Bevilaqua/Disney-ABC
Manti Te'o Girlfriend Hoax: Katie Couric Interview Watch Video
Manti Te'o Girlfriend Hoax: Could Alleged Scammer Be Charged? Watch Video
Te'o said Tuiasosopo broke the news to him about the prank in a direct message on Twitter on Jan. 16.
An excerpt of the message said, "It's the 16th. I wanted to tell you everything today. I will not say anything to anyone else before I tell you everything. I would and will never say anything bad about you or your family. I completely accept the consequences to the pain I've caused and it's important that you know the entire truth before anyone else."
Te'o has struggled with becoming a national punching bag and the butt of many jokes.
"It's been difficult," he said. "Not only for myself, but to see your last name and just to see it plastered everywhere and to know that I represent so many people and that my family is experiencing the same thing. I think that's what was the most hard for me."
Click here for a who's who in the complex hoax.
In terms of his prior relationship to Tuiasosopo, Te'o said that it is not true that he and Tuiasosopo were family or even family friends.
"Previous to that conversation that he and I had on Jan. 16, I had only talked to Ronaiah twice and he, from my understanding, was Lennay's cousin," Te'o said. "The only time I would talk to Ronaiah was when I couldn't find Lennay."
Te'o said his greatest regret is lying to his father about meeting Lennay.
"I think the biggest lie that I'm sorry for is the lie that I told my dad," he said. "As a child, your biggest thing is to always get the approval of your parents and for me I was so invested in Lennay and getting to know her that when dad asked me, 'Hey, did you meet her?" I said, 'Yeah.'"
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama will go ahead with his nomination of General John Allen to command NATO after he was cleared in a saga related to the sex scandal that felled CIA director David Petraeus, officials said Wednesday.
"The investigation is now complete and General Allen's nomination to serve as the next Supreme Allied Commander Europe will proceed. We hope the Senate will consider it in a timely manner," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
The Defense Department's inspector general exonerated Allen, currently the top general in Afghanistan, over emails sent to Florida socialite Jill Kelley, who threw parties for top brass at US Central Command.
The FBI came upon the emails from Allen in its probe of Petraeus, and defense officials had said the tone of the messages had been potentially "inappropriate" and possibly violated rules applying to military officers.
The scandal, over an affair with a biographer, prompted Petraeus to resign abruptly in November from his CIA post, ending a storied career marked by his tenure as military commander in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Initially, officials had said there were 25,000 to 30,000 pages of correspondence between Allen and Kelley, raising questions that his emails could reflect a distracted commander.
But officials later said the inquiry was only focused on a few hundred messages.
The scandal broke after Allen was nominated to take over as NATO's supreme allied commander, and his confirmation hearings before the US Senate were put on hold.
The soap market has traditionally been geared toward women buyers. That focus may be shifting with a line of Man Soaps from ManHands. Available scents include bacon, baseball glove, brewed coffee, muscle rub, fresh-cut grass, and top soil. Democrat and Republican scents are also on offer.
The soaps all have enticing descriptions designed to beguile men into making a purchase. Here's the description for beer soap: "There is perhaps no manlier smell than the scent of a cold pint of beer. Why wait until the drunk guy dumps it over you in the packed bar?" Unfortunately, it doesn't specify which beer it smells like. I'm guessing it's more Budweiser than Stone IPA.
There are a few scents on the list that may cause some head-scratching. Margarita, for one. What's so manly about a drink that involves a blender? That's one step away from a paper umbrella embellishment, fellas. I can see the appeal of bacon soap, but I expect it to be a crossover hit with both sexes.
Each bar is 3 ounces and made by hand from coconut oil, propylene glycol, palm oil, glycerine, water, sorbitol, fragrance, and color. I don't see any actual bacon or beer on the ingredients list.
The soap that may well be destined for a long life of manly gag gift-giving is surely the urinal mint scent. Fortunately, it smells like an unused urinal mint.
Each bar of soap costs $7.95 (let me tell you, that's way more than I pay for my lady soaps), and there's nothing to stop buyers from mixing and matching soaps. You could go for a red wine/top-soil combination or make yourself smell overwhelmingly outdoorsy with a mix of top soil and bonfire.
MADISON, Wis. The Upper Midwest remained locked in a deep freeze Wednesday as the bitter temperatures crept eastward where at least one mountain resort warned it was too cold even to ski.
Overnight, ice-covered Chicago firefighters spent hours fighting a massive fire at a warehouse on the city's South Side, hindered by the single digit chill.
The cold snap arrived Saturday night as waves of Arctic air swept south from Canada, pushing temperatures to dangerous lows and leaving a section of the country well-versed in winter's pains reeling. The National Weather Service said states from Ohio through to the far northeast of Maine could expect to be slammed by that Arctic blast on Wednesday.
The numbers so far are chilling in themselves: 35 below at Crane Lake, Minn., on Tuesday; Embarrass, Minn., at 36 below on Monday; and Babbitt, Minn., at 29 below on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
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Frigid weather could precede Northeast snowstorm
Meteorologist Mike Augustyniak, of CBS station WCCO, says the overall weather pattern won't change Wednesday and Thursday "with really cold stuff settled in across the Northeast and now back again to the Upper Midwest."
But he added that the Northeast could get a nasty surprise at the end of this cold snap.
"By the weekend, a (warmup) will be happening. But as that happens, late Friday into Saturday, there could actually be several inches of snow moving through the mid-Atlantic," Augustyniak reports.
The weather service issued a wind chill warning for Wednesday in the far north of Maine. In Presque Isle and Caribou, temperatures are not expected to rise above 7 below. And the wind chill could make it feel more like 40 below. Vermont was similarly afflicted, with wind chill advisories and highs peaking in the single digits. Forecasters said Boston and New York City could expect temperatures in the double digits, but that the wind chill would make it feel 5 below. And in mid-Massachusetts, high winds up to 30 mph in Worcester will add to the weather misery.
At least one ski resort in New Hampshire was planning to close Wednesday and Thursday because of the extraordinary cold. Wildcat Mountain in the White Mountains region said it was expecting temperatures in the negative double digits and a wind chill of 48 degrees below zero — conditions that would not be safe for guests or employees on the slopes.
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Deadly freeze grips Midwest
Late Tuesday, some 170 Chicago firefighters — approximately one third of the city's fire department — turned out in frigid temperatures to battle a blaze at a warehouse on the South Side. Officials said the fire prompted the department's biggest response in recent years, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Despite the scale of the fire, firefighters' soaked jackets and hats froze, and icicles formed and dangled from hoses and hydrants.
Authorities said exposure has played a role in at least four deaths.
On Sunday, a 70-year-old man was found frozen in his unheated home in Des Plaines, Ill. And in Green Bay, Wis., a 38-year-old man was found dead outside his home Monday morning. Authorities in both cases said the victims died of hypothermia and cold exposure, with alcohol a possible contributing factor.
A 77-year-old Illinois woman also was found dead near her car in southwestern Wisconsin on Saturday night, and a 61-year-old Minnesota man was pronounced dead at a hospital after he was found in a storage building Saturday morning.
The bitter conditions were expected to persist into the weekend in the Midwest through the eastern half of the U.S., said Shawn DeVinny, a National Weather Service meteorologist in suburban Minneapolis.
Ariana Laffey, a 30-year-old homeless woman, kept warm with a blanket, three pairs of pants and six shirts as she sat on a milk crate begging near Chicago's Willis Tower on Tuesday morning. She said she and her husband spent the night under a bridge, bundled up under a half-dozen blankets.
"We're just trying to make enough to get a warm room to sleep in tonight," Laffey said.
