AROUND THE STATE
Local police officials still searching for Putnam girl
Haleigh Cummings, the 5-year-old who went missing Feb. 9, is still the subject of a week-long investigation to find the Putnam County girl.
At the Feb. 17 news briefing, Sheriff’s Office Captain Steve Rose said investigators completed another canvas of the neighborhood Feb. 16, which led to several good leads. He declined to comment further.
Sheriff Jeff Hardy said searches have not been halted.
“We’ve not abandoned this search,” he said.
More than 60 law enforcement officers have been involved in the search.
AROUND THE NATION
Senate arguments arise from billion dollar stimulus
Speaker Nany Pelosi (D-Calif.) is being urged by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to take a more hard-lined stance against the Senate after three Republican senators voted for the Senate version of the spending bill and forced Congress to cut billions of dollars from the package.
It is not clear how far Pelosi will be willing to go or how much of an impact Hoyer and Pelosi will have in the face of the 60 votes needed to alter in the Senate.
Most of the wrangling on the final version of the Senate bill came from Democrats trying to appease at least three Republicans to bring their vote total from 58 to 61 to pass.
However, Hoyer has called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to force Republicans’ to use the filibuster tool.
AROUND THE WORLD
Japan’s finance minister resigns, denying intoxication
Japan’s finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa resigned Feb. 17 under fire despite denying he had been drunk at a weekend G7 economic news conference in Rome.
Prime Minister Taro Aso quickly appointed a replacement, but analysts said the future of the deeply unpopular government was now also in doubt. The government’s approval rating is at a dismal 10 percent and faces an election this October.
Nakagawa said Feb. 10 he would resign after parliament’s lower house passed budget legislation, however, pressure from within the ruling parties forced him to step down before his self-appointed time frame.
Japan’s third prime minister in less than two years is in the middle of an uphill battle to pass a $965 billion stimulus package.
Compiled by James Cannon II.
