HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL
Progress in Senate Democratic health care talks
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats say they may be closer to pushing President Barack Obama's health care bill through the Senate.
That's after a tentative deal was struck that would drop a top liberal priority — a government-run insurance option.
Officials say it will be replaced by a private insurance arrangement that would be supervised by the federal agency that oversees the system through which lawmakers buy coverage. It would also open Medicare to uninsured Americans starting as young as 55.
Later today, senators will likely debate an amendment that would allow importation of prescription drugs from Canada and several other countries. It's seen as a way of holding down consumer costs.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says liberal and moderate Democrats have reached a "broad agreement" on a government-run insurance option, but he's not providing details.
STORMS RDP
Fierce winter storm hits Midwest with snow, wind
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Wind advisories and warnings are in effect from New Mexico to the Mid-Atlantic states as a massive storm brings snow, ice and rain over much of the country.
At least five deaths are being blamed on the weather.
Forecasters say parts of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin could get a foot or more of snow and wind gusts could hit 50 mph. The combination threatens to create 15-foot drifts in parts of the Upper Midwest.
The system has drenched California with heavy rains and brought blizzard conditions elsewhere. It's expected to drop more than three feet of snow over rural New York by week's end. Residents are being told to deflate blow-up Santas so gusty winds won't sweep them away.
Forecasters predict two-thirds of the country will be affected by the storm by the time it moves off the Maine coast tomorrow night.
BAILOUT WATCHDOG
Bailout watchdog: Crisis response worked but problems remain
WASHINGTON (AP) — The panel overseeing the financial bailout is offering a mixed assessment of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The watchdog panel says the $700 billion helped prevent an all-out panic last fall. It says confidence in the nation's financial system has improved, "access to credit is increasing, and the economy is growing." It notes that some of the funds are being repaid and the final cost of the emergency financial policies is "likely to be significantly lower than previously expected."
But the panel's report also points to ongoing problems in the financial system, including limited credit, ongoing bank failures, continued weakness at some large banks, escalating job losses and foreclosures, and the banking system's continued reliance on government support.
The panel's chair notes that Congress set goals for the bailout that "went well beyond short-term financial stability." Harvard Law school professor Elizabeth Warren says "by that measure problems remain."
FDA-DRUG SAFETY
GAO: FDA yet to make safety changes 3 years after Vioxx scandal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators say the Food and Drug Administration has not followed through on changes suggested three years ago to better monitor drug safety.
The recommendations came after an embarrassing and dangerous episode with Vioxx. The FDA had approved the blockbuster pain drug in 1999, but pulled it from the market five years later after linking it to heart attack and stroke.
The Government Accountability Office report says agency officials have made some changes to drug oversight. But the bulk of its decision-making power is still in the hands of the scientists who approve new drugs, rather than those who monitor the side effects.
The FDA says it intends to give its surveillance office more responsibilities, but only after its nearly 200 employees gain the experience and resources needed to take on those tasks.
CHICAGO-TERRORISM CHARGES
Arraignment for Ill. man accused in Mumbai attacks
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man accused of conspiring in the bloody November 2008 terrorist attacks that left 166 people dead in the Indian city of Mumbai is headed for federal court to answer the charges.
David Coleman Headley is set to be arraigned Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber. Officials in Washington say Headley is cooperating with federal prosecutors.
The charge of conspiracy to bomb public places in India that resulted in death carries a possible death penalty on conviction.
The 49-year-old Headley also is charged with scheming to attack a Danish newspaper that in 2005 published 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons set off protests in parts of the Muslim world.
IRAQ
Iraq parliament calls session over deadly bombings
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's parliament is asking security officials to appear before a special session to answer questions over security lapses that allowed bombers to strike government sites.
The spokesman for the parliament speaker says lawmakers want Iraq's ministers of defense and interior to appear at Thursday's session, called over the attacks the previous day that killed at least 127 people.
It was the third large-scale attack against prominent government buildings in the Iraqi capital since August.
Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani agreed Wednesday to attend the session under one condition. A statement from his office said al-Bolani would appear only if the session isn't held behind closed doors.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is also expected to attend the session.
IRAN-NUCLEAR
NEW: Iran official criticizes new UN nuke observatory
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian nuclear official says the purpose of a U.N. warning station set up in Turkmenistan near the border with Iran is "espionage."
The U.N. announced last week the new nuclear warning station — one of dozens such observatories worldwide that monitor for seismic activity and radioactivity.
The station, just miles from the Iranian border, can detect extremely weak blasts and even shock waves from nuclear experiments.
The Iranian official, Abolfazl Zohrehvand, says the station will only give world powers an opportunity to spy on Iran. Zohrehvand, an adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, spoke on Wednesday to state IRNA news agency.
The West worries Tehran seeks to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies.
KENNEDY SUCCESSOR
Kennedy special election puts GOP in spotlight
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Republicans are getting back the political spotlight they've lacked for the past three years in the special election to fill Edward Kennedy's Senate seat.
State Sen. Scott Brown beat perennial candidate Jack E. Robinson on Tuesday to win the GOP primary. He'll face off Jan. 19 against Attorney General Martha Coakley, who won a four-way Democratic race.
Brown's challenge is overcoming the Democrats' advantage in a state where the party controls all statewide offices. Republicans haven't had one since former Gov. Mitt Romney completed his term in 2007 and ran unsuccessfully for president.
Coakley says she wants to go to Washington to help President Barack Obama achieve his agenda.
Kennedy died in August at age 77, ending a nearly 47-year political career that saw him become the fourth-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
CHICAGO-TERRORISM CHARGES
Arraignment for Ill. man accused in Mumbai attacks
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man accused of conspiring in the bloody November 2008 terrorist attacks that left 166 people dead in the Indian city of Mumbai is headed for federal court to answer the charges.
David Coleman Headley is set to be arraigned Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber. Officials in Washington say Headley is cooperating with federal prosecutors.
The charge of conspiracy to bomb public places in India that resulted in death carries a possible death penalty on conviction.
The 49-year-old Headley also is charged with scheming to attack a Danish newspaper that in 2005 published 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoons set off protests in parts of the Muslim world.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA-LOS ANGELES
LA council could vote on pot ordinance
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles City Council may vote on a much-anticipated medical marijuana ordinance on Wednesday that would greatly reduce the number of pot dispensaries.
A vote in favor of the new guidelines would end a bottleneck that resulted in hundreds of marijuana clinics cropping up across the nation's second largest city.
City officials estimate as many as 1,000 dispensaries operate in Los Angeles alone. Only four were around in 2005, when city officials first discussed a local medical marijuana law.
Among the ordinance's provisions is capping the number of dispensaries at 70. The move would shutter many of the shops that would no longer be in compliance with city law.
STRANDED IN THE SKY
NEW: 2 saved after Houston tower scaffold breaks free
HOUSTON (AP) — A pair of window workers have survived a scare in Houston.
Fire crews had to rescue the workers after their scaffold broke free about 10 stories up the side of a high-rise office tower yesterday afternoon.
The workers and their scaffold swayed in the 50 mph wind, breaking several windows, until a fire-rescue team cut a hole in the nearest plate-glass window and hauled them to safety.
Houston Fire Department officials say the workers were stapped into safety harnesses and weren't in danger of falling from the swaying platform.
