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Feb 18, 2012

Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post: How Benjamin Cardin helped secure the federal pension deal

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post
Economy News: Get the latest headlines and in-depth coverage of economic news, policy, analysis and more from The Washington Post.
How Benjamin Cardin helped secure the federal pension deal
Feb 17th 2012, 02:29

Congressional negotiators put the finishing touches Thursday on a new economic plan worth more than $150 billion that relies in part on forcing new federal employees to pay more for their retirement benefits.

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post: Jeremy Lin inspires other Asian Americans to pursue sports

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Economy: Economic News, Policy & Analysis - The Washington Post
Economy News: Get the latest headlines and in-depth coverage of economic news, policy, analysis and more from The Washington Post.
Jeremy Lin inspires other Asian Americans to pursue sports
Feb 18th 2012, 23:49

When Jesse-Thomas Lim was a teenager in the Philippines, it never occurred to his parents to watch an athletic event, much less allow their son to participate in one.

But on Friday night at Seneca Valley High School's varsity basketball game against Damascus, Lim, who is of Chinese ethnicity, yelled himself hoarse as his 18-year-old son, Robb, a lanky 6-foot-3 senior, sprinted up the court and shot the ball through the net.

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U.S. News: Salt Lake City Olympics earmarks a double-edged sword for Romney

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U.S. News
Stories from NBC reporters around the country.
Salt Lake City Olympics earmarks a double-edged sword for Romney
Feb 19th 2012, 00:21
Media files:
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Douglas C. Pizac / AP

Mitt Romney is shown in October 2001, when he was president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. On Saturday evening, Romney spoke at a celebration honoring the 10-year anniversary of the games.

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News

Mitt Romney oversaw a wide-ranging lobbying campaign to snare tens of millions of dollars in federal earmarks for the Salt Lake City Olympic Games at a time critics were charging the games had become a prime example of out-of-control “pork barrel” spending, according to Senate lobbying records.

Romney’s role in overseeing the 2002 Olympics, long seen as a major political asset, is providing new fodder for political adversaries. The Democratic National Committee released an attack video Friday assailing him for running “the most expensive games in U.S. history.” 

GOP rival Rick Santorum also accused Romney Saturday of "hypocrisy" for raising the issue of earmarks given his record at the Olympics. The Romney campaign responded that Santorum was "shooting himself in the foot" over the issue. 

In recent weeks, Romney has portrayed himself as an uncompromising fiscal conservative and criticized Santorum for being a “strong defender” of federal earmarks. “Look, I’m in favor of a ban on earmarks,” Romney said during a recent interview on Sean Hannity’s television show. “I think spending in Washington is out of control.”


But Senate lobbying records show that the Salt Lake City Olympics Committee under Romney spent $3.5 million employing five lobbying firms in addition to its own in-house lobbying shop. Among their goals: winning federal earmarks that included $60 million for "perimeter" security; $15.8 million for  "international sporting competitions"; $3 million for an extension of a Salt Lake City light rail project; as well as millions more for communications equipment, sewer projects and other programs aimed at supporting the Olympics.

The overall federal cost of the 2002 Olympics has been estimated at about $1.5 billion, although Romney defenders say much of this was put in place before he took over the Olympics Committee in 1999. But Romney later touted his efforts in his book about the Winter Olympics, “Turnaround,” writing that he directed his chief Washington lobbyist “to bring in more federal funding than had ever been appropriated for any Olympics, summer or winter.”

And he made his success in doing so a selling point when he ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002. “I was successful in organizing the Olympics, got record funds from the federal government," he said then. 

Santorum seized on Romney’s aggressive pursuit of the federal earmarks at a campaign appearance Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.

"He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake Games -- in an earmark, in an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic Games," he said. “Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?”

Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, responded: “Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you end up shooting yourself in the foot. There is a pretty wide gulf between seeking money for post 9/11 security at the Olympics and seeking earmarks for polar bear exhibits at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Mitt Romney wants to ban earmarks. Senator Santorum wants more ‘Bridges to Nowhere’” — referring to a proposed bridge in Alaska that was canceled after it became a symbol of pork barrel spending.

Saul also said that “the  majority of federal funds for the Salt Lake Games was for security purposes," and noted they took place "just months after  months after 9/11," when "security was heightened.”  She added:  “Taxpayer support of the games was only 18 percent, enabled by Mitt Romney's ability to secure new corporate sponsorships to bring the taxpayer tab down."

Romney’s stewardship of the 2002 Winter Olympics is getting fresh scrutiny this weekend amid conflicting claims about his record. Romney flew back to Salt Lake City Friday for a campaign fundraiser -- co-hosted by his former chief Olympics deputy and attracting many leaders of the city’s business community. He also was participating Saturday evening in a gala civic celebration commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Games.

His campaign — and financial supporters — see Romney’s Olympics stewardship as a prime example of his leadership and management skills under fire. And they are hoping to make more of it: A media firm hired by Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC, also is in Salt Lake City this weekend to film footage about Romney and the Olympics for use in upcoming television ads.

Then the head of Bain Capital, Romney was recruited in 1999 to become president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, or SLOC, which ran the games, after it was engulfed in a bribery scandal that resulted in the loss of sponsors and a huge projected deficit.

“Mitt described it as stepping into an empty elevator shaft,” said Fraser Bullock, a former Bain Capital colleague who served as Romney’s No. 2 at the Salt Lake Olympics committee. “We were in deep trouble financially, operationally, morale-wise. It was about as difficult as you can imagine.” (Bullock co-hosted the Romney campaign fundraiser in Salt Lake City and has contributed $100,000 to the Romney Super PAC.)

Romney, Bullock says, engineered an “extraordinary turnaround” of the Olympics -- restoring confidence, tapping his business connections to bring in new corporate sponsors and slashing costs. In one of his more memorable moves, he put an end to the committee’s habit of catering lavish boardroom lunches, replacing them with Dominos’s pizzas.

 “He bought a pizza for $5, cut it into eight slices, charged $1 dollar a slice,” said Bullock. “So we could make $8 for a pizza that cost $5 and have a profit of $3. That sent a great message throughout the entire organization that we would watch every penny.” 

In the end, Romney is credited by supporters like Bullock with turning a projected $479 million deficit into a $100 million profit. But detractors charge he also used the games for self-promotion, even sanctioning official Olympic pins bearing his image with such captions as "We Love You, Mitt."

In turning around the 2002 games, Romney got a big helping hand from U.S. taxpayers. The federal government poured $1.5 billion into the Salt Lake games – more than twice the amount spent on any previous U.S. Olympics.

 Republican Sen. John McCain called it a “fleecing” of the U.S. Treasury.

Santorum accuses Romney of hypocrisy on earmarks

 “The Olympic Games supposedly hosted and funded by Salt Lake City, which began in corruption and bribery, has now turned into is an incredible pork-barrel project for Salt Lake City and its environs.” McCain said in a Sept. 19, 2000, speech on the Senate floor. 

Although Romney spokeswoman Saul asserted that a majority of federal funding for the Olympics was for security, McCain, in leveling his charges, relied on a General Accounting Office report that documented a litany of direct and indirect federal earmarks for the Salt Lake Olympics that had little if anything to do with security. Among them: $645 million for new highways and roads, including a repaved mountain road  to the Snow Basin ski resort, owned by a wealthy local oilman. There was also hundreds of millions more for light rail, parking lots, bus rentals, sewer construction, housing for the news media and weather forecasting — in addition to $161 million for security (a figure that climbed even higher after 9/11.)

 “I do not understand how we Republicans call ourselves conservatives and then treat the taxpayer dollars in this fashion,” McCain said in his 2000 speech. “This has to stop.”

Bullock, Romney’s chief deputy at the Olympics, disputed suggestions that there was any “federal bailout” of the Olympics and noted that most of the funding that critics objected to was planned “years before Mitt got there.” Former GOP Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah served on the Senate Appropriations Committee and is credited with inserting many of the Olympics earmarks.

But, as president of the Salt Lakes Organizing Committee, Romney fully embraced – and aggressively defended – the earmarks. In an Aug. 18, 2000, letter to the GAO, Romney called the Olympics “a massive undertaking” and added: “Recognizing that our government spends billions of dollars to maintain wartime capability, it is entirely appropriate to invest several hundred million dollars to promote peace.”

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U.S. News: Silver Spurs Rodeo, largest rodeo east of Mississippi River

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U.S. News
Stories from NBC reporters around the country.
Silver Spurs Rodeo, largest rodeo east of Mississippi River
Feb 18th 2012, 06:03
Media files:
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Octavian Cantilli / Reuters

Taylor Braussard of Estherwood, Louisiana rides Poison Ivy during the 128th Silver Spurs Rodeo held at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. This is the biggest rodeo east of the Mississippi River, and is so important to the community that all public schools in the county close for the day.

Octavian Cantilli / Reuters

Children race to grab a flag off a calf during the calf scramble event on Friday night.

Octavian Cantilli / Reuters

Jaggar White (L-R), 6, and his brother Kolton, 8 of Kenansville, Florida and Wes Kempfer, 8, of Melbourne, Florida watch the ground crew set up on Friday night.

Octavian Cantilli / Reuters

A cowboy wrangles a bull through a series of mazes after a run on Friday.

Octavian Cantilli / Reuters

Jeremy R. Melancon of Huntsville, Texas exits the rider's area after participating in the saddle bronc event.

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U.S. News: Rain delays but can't stop Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans

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U.S. News
Stories from NBC reporters around the country.
Rain delays but can't stop Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans
Feb 19th 2012, 06:11
Media files:
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Jonathan Bachman / AP

A Mardi Gras float is moved into position after heavy rains near the start of the Krewe of Endymion parade, which was postponed for an hour due to weather, Saturday in New Orleans

By msnbc.com staff and news services

NEW ORLEANS -- Heavy rains dampened but couldn't stop Mardi Gras festivities on Saturday.

While several parades were delayed until Sunday, which is forecast to be sunny and mild, the 2,500-member Krewe of Endymion rolled through a Mid-City route an hour late Saturday with a 27-float parade titled "Happily Ever After."


Thousands of celebrants who turned out stayed despite heavy wind and rain pounding tents and tarps.

The area's north shore received much of the Saturday's storm damage, with trees and power lines knocked down, local media reported.

Jonathan Bachman / AP

Two-year-old Alan Stoltz waits for the Krewe of Endymion parade to begin after heavy rains Saturday in New Orleans.

With the parade delays, six krewes are set to roll Sunday, meaning parades from 9 a.m. into the night, said NBC station WDSU.

Sunday night, actor Will Ferrell, who's been making the political comedy movie "Dog Fight" in New Orleans, will serve as Bacchus XLIV in the superkrewe's annual parade.

Rocker Bret Michaels, pop queen Cyndi Lauper, singer Adam Levine and Maroon 5, and newscaster Anderson Cooper are among the others leading parades this season.

Jonathan Bachman / AP

Members of Krewe of Endymion walk past a puddle of water after heavy rains, which postponed the parade Saturday for an hour in New Orleans.

The Carnival season that leads up to Mardi Gras actually begins in January, with a heavy schedule of parades and balls slated during the two weeks before Fat Tuesday.

WDSU live camera on Bourbon Street in New Orleans 

New Orleans krewes adhere strictly to a rule that prohibits commercial sponsorship of their events. "The people riding in the parades pay all the costs to put on a show that the audience can enjoy for free," said writer and Mardi Gras historian Errol Laborde.

A recent study of the economics of Mardi Gras, by Tulane University economics professor Toni Weiss, estimated that krewes spend more than $20 million annually to put on their events.

Reuters contributed to this story.

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U.S. News: Family, stars, fans to mourn Whitney Houston

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U.S. News
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Family, stars, fans to mourn Whitney Houston
Feb 18th 2012, 13:44
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Mel Evans / AP

Candles burn at a memorial to Whitney Houston outside New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., early Saturday.

By msnbc.com news services

Update, 9:45 a.m. ET: Whitney Houston's casket has departed the funeral home in a gold hearse, escorted by a police motorcade, NBC News reports.

Soul, gospel and pop music greats from the past and present are set to mourn Whitney Houston Saturday, a week after the sudden death of the singer whose spectacular voice and best-selling albums made her one of biggest pop stars of her era.

Houston, who died in a Beverly Hills hotel room last week, recorded stirring love songs and vibrant, dance tunes during a 30-year career that peaked with her 1992 signature hit "I Will Always Love You."


She was due to be honored by family and friends at a funeral service in her native Newark, New Jersey. While the world knew her as one of the greatest artists of her generation, to her family and friends, she was just "Nippy."

A nickname given to Houston when she was a child, it stuck with her through adulthood and, later, would become the name of one of her companies.

In this TODAY exclusive, singer Aretha Franklin talks with TODAY's Al Roker about her reaction to the death of Whitney Houston, her close friend.

There was a heavy police presence outside the invitation-only funeral on Saturday and streets were cordoned off.

Houston's body was expected to leave a nearby funeral home under tight security en route to the church. Fans have been urged to stay home and watch the funeral on the Internet or television.

Keys, Wonder, Franklin, Warwick
The funeral is for invited guests only. Houston is scheduled to be buried next to her father, John Houston, in nearby Westfield, N.J.

Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Houston's cousin Dionne Warwick will sing and speak at the New Hope Baptist Church, where Houston sang as a child in the choir with her mother, Cissy Houston, who was a backup singer for Franklin.

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts talks with MSNBC contributor Toure and Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson about pop singer Whitney Houston's Saturday invitation-only funeral service in Newark, New Jersey.

Hollywood stars Kevin Costner and Tyler Perry and Houston's mentor, record producer Clive Davis, were also scheduled to speak. Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Beyonce and Bill Cosby were expected to attend the service.

Houston's family decided against a public memorial, but fans were expected to crowd the streets around the church and nearby cemetery where she is due to be buried.

Many have left flowers, cards and balloons dedicated to the singer who became a global star with her 1985 debut album that included the hits "Saving All My Love For You," "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love Of All."

Houston was among the greatest singers of the 1980s and 1990s, but her personal life and marriage to singer Bobby Brown was tumultuous. She admitted to heavy use of cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and prescription pills.

Read more on Houston's death:

Franklin jumped out of bed at Houston news

Source: Houston was under 24/7 supervision

Inside Houston's last recording session

Her death at age 48 shocked her family, fans and the music industry. Houston was found underwater in a hotel bathtub on the eve of the music industry's Grammy Awards. A cause of death has yet to be determined.

Houston grew up surrounded by gospel and soul music legends like Franklin and Warwick. She later forged new territory for a black, female artist who brought R&B and gospel touches into pop music's mainstream.

After her debut, her popularity grew exponentially with her second album, "Whitney" (1987), with all four singles -- "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional", "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" -- hitting No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Coping with fame
Her music videos featuring her 1980s style and innocent, fun-loving image made her wildly popular around the world. In the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard," co-starring Costner, Houston played a character not far removed from her real self: an international singing sensation coping with fame.

She made other films including "The Preacher's Wife," but the 15-year period when she was married to singer Brown coincided with a decline in the quality and frequency of her albums. The couple, who have an 18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, divorced in 2007.

Houston's powerful voice suffered in recent years. On her last world tour in 2010, she struggled to hit high notes.

She spoke publicly about her struggles with addiction.

In a 2002 interview, TV journalist Diane Sawyer asked Houston what was the "biggest devil" among her failings. Houston answered: "Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do. So the bigger devil is me, I am either my best friend or my worst enemy."

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Breaking News: CBS News: Inside the plans of Capitol bomb suspect

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Inside the plans of Capitol bomb suspect
Feb 18th 2012, 00:43

CBS News' John Miller looks at the charges against Amine El Khalifi

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Breaking News: CBS News: A final goodbye for Whitney Houston

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A final goodbye for Whitney Houston
Feb 18th 2012, 12:52

Singer's funeral will be held in the Newark, N.J. church where she started her career   Video

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Breaking News: CBS News: Cissy Houston directing funeral plans for daughter

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Cissy Houston directing funeral plans for daughter
Feb 18th 2012, 12:57

Everything from the guest list to the eulogy was orchestrated by Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston's mother. Chief News Correspondent for E!, Ken Baker, reports.

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Breaking News: CBS News: Seating collapses at China concert, 64 hurt

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Seating collapses at China concert, 64 hurt
Feb 18th 2012, 13:33

Dozens fall when scaffolding near stage collapses at Chongqing concert by pop star Wang Fei

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