SIERRA BLANCA, Texas – Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.
Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and actor Armie Hammer have been among the thousands of people busted for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town in recent years, bringing a bit of notoriety to one of Texas' most sparsely populated counties.
"Once I was in Arizona, and when I said where I was from, they said, `That's where Willie Nelson was busted,'" said Louise Barantley, manager at the Coyote Sunset souvenir shop in Sierra Blanca.
Hudspeth County cameos aren't only for outlaws: Action movie star Steven Seagal, who's already deputized in Louisiana and Arizona for his reality show "Steven Seagal Lawman" on A&E, has signed on to become a county officer.
Locals already have found ways to rub shoulders with their celebrity guests.
Deputies posed for pictures with Snoop Dogg after authorities said they found several joints on his bus earlier this month. When Nelson was busted here in 2010, the county's lead prosecutor suggested the singer settle his marijuana charges by performing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" for the court. Nelson paid a fine instead, but not before county commissioner Wayne West played one of his own songs for the country music legend.
West acknowledged he's a big fan of Nelson and wanted to capitalize on a golden chance to perform for such a noted "captive audience."
"Willie loved the song, he is a real outgoing individual" he added.
The once-thriving town of Sierra Blanca began to shrink to its current 1,000-person population after the construction of nearby Interstate 10 — a main artery linking cities from California to Florida — offered an easy way to bypass the community.
Now the highway is sending thousands of drug bust cases Sierra Blanca's way, courtesy of a Border Patrol checkpoint just outside of town where drug-sniffing dogs inspect more than 17,000 trucks, travelers — and tour buses — daily for whiffs of contraband that may have made its way inland from the border.
Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, younger brother of the musically inclined commissioner, said his office handled about 2,000 cases last year, most of them having to do with drugs seized at the checkpoint.
Border Patrol agents say people busted with small amounts of pot often say they have medical marijuana licenses from California, Arizona or New Mexico — three states along I-10 that, unlike Texas, allow for medicinal pot prescriptions — and claim to believe the licenses were valid nationwide.
Nelson's publicists declined to comment about the specifics of the singer's case. Representatives for Snoop Dogg, who will pay a fine and court costs after being cited for possession of marijuana paraphernalia, did not return several messages seeking comment.
County authorities have not yet decided whether to prosecute or issue a citation for Hammer, who starred in the 2010 film "The Social Network" and more recently played the FBI's number two man in "J. Edgar" He was arrested in November on his way to his wife's bakery in San Antonio after authorities said they found marijuana-laced brownies and cookies. His attorney Kent Schaffer has called the case a "total non-issue."
Local officials say they're not on a celebrity witch hunt, but some residents are enjoying the publicity from the high-profile arrests. They say the once forgotten town of Sierra Blanca should take pride in not pandering to famous people caught breaking the law.
"We get attention because something is being done right," resident Adolfo Gonzalez said while shopping at a local convenience store. "It'd be worse if we'd let them go because they are celebrities."
That's not expected to change when Seagal comes to town. Sheriff West insists the "Under Siege" star hasn't indicated any plans to film his show here — but the sheriff isn't ruling it out.
"If he wants to, we can do it but that's not what he said this was about," West said.

West's spokesman, Rusty Flemming, said Seagal will patrol the area and train colleagues in martial arts and weapons techniques. The actor is expected to arrive in Hudspeth County within months, once he's done filming a new movie in Canada.

Seagal's management agency did not return calls and emails seeking comment about his plans in Texas.

Commissioner West, meanwhile, is keeping his musical skills sharp — just in case another performer pays a surprise visit to the county jail. The lead guitarist and vocalist of a local band, West said he regrets not having a chance to sing for Snoop Dogg, but wasn't sure if the rapper would have enjoyed the performance anyway.

"Our stuff is laid back," he said. "Mas o menos (more or less) country."

Yemen was mentioned twice in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, once in respect of the the "decisive blows" by American power that had sent al-Qaeda scrambling, and again in respect of the "wave of change" that has broken across the Arab world to demand the "rights and dignity of all human beings." No country is more delicately balanced between the contending pressures of the Arab Spring and Washington's campaign against al-Qaeda. And neither has been advanced by heavy U.S. intervention in the impoverished Arabian nation, as an overriding focus on al-Qaeda continues to define Washington's policy on Yemen's battle over democracy. The departure of the dictator President Ali Abdullah Saleh to the U.S. a week ago is the culmination of a grand bargain between contending factions of the country's political class, brokered by U.S. diplomats, which avoids both genuine elections and accountability for the regime's bloody crackdowns on protestors.
Saleh, in power for 33 years, was ravaged by a bomb attack in his palace last summer amid an increasingly violent anti-government uprising. Immunity from prosecution and leave to seek medical treatment abroad, Washington's logic goes, will discourage him from marring Yemen's pro forma election next month of a successor -- Saleh's Vice President is the sole candidate. (Photos: Yemen on the Brink)
The deal has outraged many of the democracy activists who have pledged to remain camped out in city squares throughout the country. "There shouldn't be any place for tyrants in the free world," TIME was told by Tawakul Karman, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her role in challenging the regime.
"This is against all international agreements, laws, and covenants," she added. "The entry of Ali Saleh into America is an insult to the values of the American people. This was a mistake by the Administration, and I am confident he will be met with wide disapproval in America. This will tarnish the reputation of America among all those who support the Arab Spring revolutions."
Allowing Saleh to stay might be couched as a humanitarian gesture, but it also reflects a realism branded as cynical by Yemeni activists. Yemen's power struggle is far from over, and Saleh may yet emerge victorious if he returns to continue leading the ruling party through his extended family. As Charles Schmitz, a Yemen expert at Towson University, notes, "Saleh's sons are still in command of the armed forces and security apparatus. So, though Saleh is politically a pariah, the U.S. still needs his clan to help fight al-Qaeda, and al-Qaeda is the priority in U.S. policy."
The regime's efforts against terrorism, however, have been superficial at best. Saleh's government used its position as the local partner in the Bush Administration's "Global War on Terror" to obtain arms and, more importantly, a veneer of political legitimacy in confronting its domestic adversaries. Last year, the regime diverted its elite U.S.-trained and -armed counterterrorism force away from its patrols in the restive South to battle opposition tribesmen in the capital. And as the battle for power in the capital has raged, extremism has spread dangerously in Yemen's rugged hinterlands. A group calling itself Ansar al-Sharia, the "Partisans of Islamic Law" have capitalized on the erosion of the central government's writ to seize a growing swath of territory. Cutting off hands for larceny and executing soldiers who resist them, their range expanded to within easy driving distance of the capital. An armed gang seized the Southeastern city of Rada'a last week, raising the al-Qaeda flag there and decrying a new national unity government as "Jewish." (Video: Tawakul Karman, Revolutionary Mother)
The distraction in the capital has prompted the U.S. step up its own covert war against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the movement's local franchise is known. In October, a drone strike killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen who had been the group's star recruiter and public face. Drone strikes have so far executed mostly lower and mid-level operatives, but frequently also kill civilians.A separate attack in October killed Awlaki's 16-year old son, also a U.S. national.
Limited as it is, few observers of Yemen's complex, bloody politics believed that even the amount of change achieved so far would have been possible.That a society as well-armed as Yemen's could avoid Libya's civil war or Syria's grisly breakdown, diplomats insist, signals a triumph of negotiation.
The stewardship of the United States and its Arab allies over the plan remains a major grievance of the protest movement here, however. Protesters in Sana'a Thursday chanted, "This is a revolution, not a political crisis!" The early intercession of foreign powers with a transition plan distracted attention from popular demands, they say, and allowed the president to cite ongoing talks in delaying his resignation. Many Yemenis believe the key interest guiding the U.S. has been keeping enough of the regime intact to combat al-Qaeda, and that this has distorted the outcome. (Photos: Occupy Sana'a)
Saleh, in addressing the U.S. media, works the issue, portraying himself as loyal ally against terrorism. "I am addressing the American public. I want to ask a question: Are you still keeping your commitment in continuing the operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda?" he said last year, in an interview with TIME. "But what we see is that we are pressured by America and the international community to speed up the process of handing over power."
Despite ongoing repression, Saleh has used his relationship with the U.S. to bolster his position. Last July, John Brennan, the Obama administration's counterterrorism adviser, paid an official visit to Saleh, then on medical leave in Saudi Arabia. The spectacle was broadcast on Yemeni state TV -- the sight of the President's good health and statesmanlike demeanor sent loyalist soldiers and tribesmen into riotous celebratory gunfire which deepened tensions.
Ultimately, it was a threat of U.N. sanctions that would have sunk the government that paved the way for the current deal. U.N. mediators won all sides' consent to a timeline for political transition, which connected Yemen with a wider democratic trend that leaves in flux U.S. reliance on authoritarian Arab states to guard its interests. In Yemen, the US enjoys unrivaled leverage over a brutish yet desperate regime, but remains fearful of what might replace it. Because Yemen is one of the few Arab states in which al-Qaeda operates with much vigor, these days, it is also one in which the U.S. struggles to relinquish the longstanding habit of prioritizing security concerns over the promise of democracy.
View this article on Time.com
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Los Angeles – Confirming its role as a national trend-setter on auto emissions, California passed stringent new standards Friday intended to boost the production and sale of electric and hybrid vehicles here and nationwide. 
The new rules passed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandate that 15 percent of new cars sold in the state by 2025 run with zero emissions or near-zero emissions. The result would be some 1.4 million electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen cars on California roads within 13 years. Today, there are 10,000 such vehicles in the state.
Critics such as auto dealers note that California has attempted to spur sales of zero-emissions vehicles before and failed. The current effort, they add, could also fail if zero-emissions vehicles remain so expensive that average car buyers cannot afford them.   
IN PICTURES: Clean cars, clean cities
But national carmakers have been largely supportive of CARB's efforts, and California's influence as the most populous state and a major car market could drive development of low- and zero-emission cars that echoes coast to coast.
“It’s definitely a big deal, very progressive and moving in the right direction,” says Nabil Nasr, director of the Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies (CIMS) at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Environmentalists were understandably elated. In addition to the goals for zero-emission automobiles, the new CARB rules rein in emissions from conventional cars. By 2025, smog-producing pollutants must be cut by 75 percent and greenhouse-gas emissions by 50 percent compared with today's levels. 
“This is a very powerful and history-making moment in which California is pushing the US and the world toward pollution-free cars,” says Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund. “It’s a trifecta for America’s economy, competitiveness and security that depletes our dependence on foreign oil, protects human health, and saves families money during a devastating economic downturn.”
CARB's data suggest the move is a net positive for consumers. The board estimates that car prices will increase by as much as $1,900 because of the new rules, but consumers will save $6,000 in fuel costs over the life of the car by 2025, CARB estimates. 
But auto dealers worry that the cost estimates are too low, and that the new rules could simply mandate the production of expensive cars that consumers won't have the money to buy.
At two days of public hearings in Los Angeles, several industry officials noted that back in 1990, California required that 10 percent of new cars sold in the state by 2003 be zero-emission. But battery technology didn’t develop fast enough, so consumers didn’t buy enough and CARB had to water down its mandate. 
By making a law ahead of existing technology again , the cost of meeting the mandate could indeed drive costs up for consumers, says Dr. Nasr of CIMS.
“Hopefully the economy will do better and companies will invest in R&D to produce what is needed,” he says. “But if there are any glitches in funding or design with the needed technological advances, you might find a hiccup that will make this not very economical.”
CARB head Mary Nichols told reporters the rules include a midterm review in 2017-2018, in which car companies can present data on what consumers are buying, with the possibility that rules may be tweaked.
The oil industry, meanwhile, is concerned about mandates that will force some gas stations to offer hydrogen. 
“We are OK with the idea of developing a non-mandated approach for small business owners who need some incentive to invest at the early stages of a new technology,” says Cathy Reheis-Boyd of Western States Petroleum Association.
But installing hydrogen-delivery technology costs about $1 million per station, and requiring 100 stations statewide to do it is too onerous. â€œWe reject the idea of making them do it,” she says. 
For their part, CARB members are encouraged by the support they have gotten from industry officials. Oil companies and the auto industry sued the state to stop the 1990 rules. This time, some asked for small tweaks but mentioned specifically that they agree with the overall goals.

“The most heartening aspect of this process is how far we’ve come.… The level of consensus is the highest I’ve ever seen,” she said.

Auto companies “have seen the handwriting on the wall," she said. "This really is a whole new chapter with the car in California, the US, and across the globe.”

IN PICTURES: Clean cars, clean cities

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WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is acknowledging publicly for the first time that a Pakistani doctor provided key information to the U.S. in advance of the successful Navy SEAL assault on Osama bin Laden's compound last May.
Panetta told CBS's "60 Minutes," in a profile to be broadcast on Sunday, that Shakil Afridi helped provide intelligence for the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence in the compound. He has since been charged by Pakistan with treason. Panetta said he is "very concerned" for the doctor.
Panetta also told "60 Minutes" that he remains convinced that someone in the Pakistani government "must have had some sense" that a person of interest was in the compound. He added that he has no proof that Pakistan knew it was bin Laden.
The Pakistani government had hoped to resolve the Afridi matter quietly, once media attention died down, perhaps releasing him to U.S. custody, according to two Pakistani officials. They requested anonymity because the investigation into charges the doctor behaved treasonously was ongoing.
___
AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.

Industrial and construction materials supplier Fastenal (Nasdaq: FAST - News) has significantly upped its market presence lately with the expansion of its industrial vending machines -- dubbed a "one-stop shop" to replenish supplies.
Although a two-year-old concept, the whole idea seems to have significantly picked up speed over the past ten months, as these machines doubled their contribution to Fastenal's fiscal 2011 sales to 16% as compared to year before.
A really good ideaWhy would you go to a store and stand in the queue just to buy nuts and bolts or cutting tools when you could have a mini-shop in your very own workplace? That's exactly the question Fastenal's been trying to raise through its vending machine concept.
These machines, which stock items ranging from metal cutters and grinding disks to first-aid kits and gloves, are becoming popular with diverse industrial customers including manufacturing plants, energy providers, and construction contractors.
Customers seem to have taken a liking to this idea as it saves time and money, making inventory replenishment much more convenient. Automatic billing saves administrative and processing time too, while inventory levels are monitored by Internet-based software, which alerts Fastenal when supplies reach a certain low level. The restocking is done through a local store.
By the end of 2011, a total of 7,500 machines had been installed at customer locations, up from 1,925 machines just a year earlier. In fact, Fastenal's base of installed machines increased by an impressive 32% in the recent fourth quarter as compared to the third.
A smart way to save costsThe vending machines are fast reducing Fastenal's need to open new stores to drive sales, thus saving on costs. In the recent past, the company has been increasing its store count by 14% each year. However, thanks to the vending machine expansions, the company need to add just 5% more, 122 new stores, in 2011. It is almost like Fastenal is opening small stores in client locations themselves.
As a matter of fact, analyst Ryan Merkel from William Blair & Co. believes the introduction of these vending machines could be the largest "land-grab opportunity" in distribution of industrial supplies in the past 20 years. The implementation of this strategy is certainly helping to keep Fastenal one step ahead of industry competitors such as W.W. Grainger (NYSE: GWW - News), which posted revenue growth of only 3.8% over the past three years.
Fastenal's fast figuresThe company plans to install 10,000 vending machines each year over the next few years, and it definitely seems capable of doing so. This debt-free company has an impressive unlevered free cash flow of $138 million in addition to their encouraging recent performance.
In every quarter of 2011, Fastenal saw over 20% revenue growth. The company's earnings per share also met Street expectations all throughout the year. And in the latest quarter, Fastenal's profits increased by 34%, to $87.5 million, compared to last year.
Future proofFastenal's management plans to promote these machines aggressively in the future using selling incentives and new software, which could be more cost effective for end users. Overall, I'm feeling good about Fastenal's future.
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DENVER – John Fox and Jack Del Rio are together again.
The Denver Broncos announced Friday night they had agreed to terms with Del Rio to become the club's new defensive coordinator.
Del Rio was Fox's first defensive coordinator in Carolina in 2002 before leaving after one year to coach the Jacksonville Jaguars, who fired him in November.
Del Rio replaces Dennis Allen, who left after one year in Denver to coach the Oakland Raiders.
Del Rio is the Broncos' seventh defensive coordinator in seven seasons. Other men who have filled the Mile High musical chair in the last six seasons are Larry Coyer (2006), Jim Bates (2007), Bob Slowik (2008), Mike Nolan (2009) and Don Martindale (2010). Allen was the only one who left for a head coaching job.
"We are thrilled to be able to add such a well-respected defensive coach to our staff," Fox said in a statement issued through the team's Twitter account.
"He was an integral part of our turnaround on defense during my first year with the Panthers in 2002," Fox added. "His defenses with the Jaguars have ranked among the NFL's best, and we are excited he's a Bronco."
The Broncos also hired Luke Richesson as their head strength and conditioning coach. Richesson spent the last three seasons with the Jaguars.
___
Connect with AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

NEW YORK – Paul Plishka thought back to Sept. 21, 1967, when he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Monk in Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" alongside Renata Tebaldi, Sherrill Milnes and Rosalind Elias.
"These were idols. They were all gods for me," said Plishka, who grew up paying $2 for a standing room ticket to watch performances at the old Met. "The thing I remember is my costume. I remember under my arms, I was so nervous the perspiration came flowing out like a fire hydrant."
Now 70, the bass calls it a career on Saturday with his 1,642nd and final performance, the ninth-most in the company's history. He goes out singing the Sacristan in Puccini's "Tosca," a role he performed during his first season — and also on the night conductor James Levine made his debut in June 1971.
Plishka said that during rehearsals for those 1971 performances, baritone Peter Glossop pointed to the inexperienced singer and said sarcastically: "That's a Sacristan?"
Now a veteran of 88 Met roles, Plishka said that during a recent rehearsal a colleague he couldn't recall said enthusiastically: "Now that's a Sacristan!"
"It only took 40 years to grow into the part," he said.
For many seasons he has sung comprimario, or supporting, roles. His burly frame, big smile and evocative eyes stood out in comic parts like Dulcamara in Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love)" and Bartolo in Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)."
But he also took on all three bass roles in Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov," Philip II in Verdi's "Don Carlo" and for his 25th anniversary with the company the title role in Verdi's `"Falstaff."
"As great as `Don Carlo' was, the `Falstaff' really leaves everything in the dust because of the personality of the character and the music. For me, that was the top of the hill," he said. "I love what I've done over the years. I sort of jokingly say it beats working for a living."
Away from the stage, he's had a turbulent personal life. In 2009, his son Jeffrey was charged with the 1991 killing of a 24-year-old camp counselor near a Poconos waterfall. He was acquitted the following year.
In 1984, his 33-year-old brother, Dr. Peter Plishka, was found dead in his Bronx apartment from what police said appeared to be a self-inflicted stab wound.
All the while, he kept making the five-hour trip from Virginia to New York, where he kept an apartment. In a company where stars fly in and out, sometimes for only a performance or two, he was a steady presence.
He had thought of retiring a decade ago, "but the Met kept making these offers I couldn't refuse."
While he won't be singing on stage, he'll be warbling to a different tune.
"I've been taking guitar lessons, and I really enjoy singing cowboy songs," he said. "To help keep my brain working."

LOS ANGELES – The doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death asked a judge Friday to release him from jail pending his appeal.
Dr. Conrad Murray, who is serving a four-year jail sentence, said in a declaration that he should be released either on his own recognizance or on bail with electronic monitoring.
He said he is not a danger to society, will not flee the area, and wants to work to help support his seven children.
His lawyer, J. Michael Flanagan, said in the motion that Murray knows he cannot work as a doctor but would find other employment. He suggested the sentence and Murray's mode of confinement is extremely severe for a man with no prior criminal record.
He said Murray is being held in solitary confinement and is chained to a table when he meets with his lawyers. He also said Murray is extremely sorrowful about Jackson's death.
Jackson died in June 2009 from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, administered by Murray. Flanagan conceded that Murray made some medical misjudgments but said he never intended harm to Jackson.
Murray's appeal has not yet been filed, but the motion offered a preview of some issues that will be raised, including the claim that Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor should have allowed testimony about Jackson's financial condition.
Flanagan said the exclusion of that evidence "seriously compromised the defendant's ability to demonstrate the desperate situation which was guiding the decisions and choices of both Mr. Jackson and Dr. Murray."
Murray appeared to be blaming Jackson for decisions that led to his death.
"Mr. Jackson was an uncooperative patient who made decisions and demands based upon his particular needs," said Flanagan. "One of which was his extremely precarious financial situation complicated by drug addiction. "
Flanagan also cited the judge's refusal to sequester the jury and the presence of cameras in the courtroom as appellate issues.
With Murray's appeal expected to take more than a year to move through the courts, the attorney said it would be unfair to keep him jailed in the interim.
Under sentencing guidelines, Murray is expected to serve no more than half of his sentence. The attorney said if he served his complete sentence he would not receive the benefits of a favorable appeal decision if his case was overturned.
A hearing on the motion was set for Feb. 24.

(Reuters) – Citigroup (C.N) has cut bonuses for its investment banking division by about 30 percent on average, Bloomberg said, citing a person briefed on the matter.

Some businesses within the securities and banking unit had bonuses reduced by as much as 70 percent, Bloomberg reported.

Citigroup was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Governor Rick Perry has gotten a rocky welcome home to Texas, facing low poll numbers and criticism over state expenses related to his failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Travel for Perry's security team cost the state nearly $800,000 between September and November, according to a new report from the state Department of Public Safety.

The money paid for airfare, food and hotels for the governor's protective detail during trips both in Texas and to out-of-state locations such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Manchester, New Hampshire.

The longest-serving governor in Texas history was briefly the frontrunner among Republican presidential contenders, but he stumbled with poor debate performances and gaffes - including his memorable "oops" when he couldn't recall the third federal agency he wanted to eliminate. He dropped out of the race last week.

His campaign paid many expenses, but the state provides security for the governor and first lady. That's been the policy in Texas for decades, gubernatorial spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said.

"Governor Perry is governor no matter where he goes," Nashed told Reuters in an e-mail. "It's unfortunate that we live in a day and age where security is an issue."

Democrats say he should repay that money.

"Unnecessary government spending is not just morally wrong, it is criminal," state House Democratic Leader Jessica Farrar wrote Perry in a letter this week asking him to give the Texas comptroller a check for expenses related to out-of-state campaigning.

A poll of Texas adults released this week by the state's major daily newspapers showed Perry's job approval rating at 40 percent, the lowest level in 10 years. Forty percent said they disapproved of how Perry was doing as governor.

Still, Perry has proved politically resilient over the years. Until he launched his presidential bid, he'd never lost an election.

(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan and Jim Forsyth; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

President Obama Friday made a set of bold proposals to tie federal aid to efforts by states and colleges to keep tuition under control and provide a good value to students.
Obama called for a $1 billion Race to the Top competition to reward states that do more to make college affordable and help students earn degrees on time – echoing his competitions among states for K-12 grants tied to education reform.
The president would also restructure how $10 billion of federal financial aid is annually distributed to campuses, to give incentives to colleges and universities to keep down their net price – what students pay after aid is taken into account.
RECOMMENDED: Education reform: eight school chiefs to watch
“Higher education is not a luxury, it’s an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford,” Obama said before an enthusiastic crowd at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor Friday morning, one of a series of speeches he’s giving in swing states this week.
“We are putting colleges on notice: You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down,” he said. “States also have to do their part … by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets.”
newslook
Most of Obama’s ideas would require approval from Congress, which would be difficult given the polarized environment in Washington.
In principle, some of the proposals make good sense while others may have unintended consequences, says Sandy Baum, a higher education analyst and senior fellow at George Washington University School of Education.
“It’s a good idea for the federal government to provide incentives for states and public institutions in particular to find innovative ways to provide quality education at lower costs,â€
She also agrees that the current formula for distributing campus-based financial aid is out of date and needs to be revised.
But â€œtaking [aid] money away from the students who are going to college in states that are raising their tuition just doesn’t seem very constructive,” Baum says. The federal incentive probably wouldn’t be enough to offset state budget problems that led to tuition increases in the first place, and some students wouldn’t enroll in college at all if less aid were available to them at their local public institution, she notes.
Here are more details of Obama’s proposals, according to a White House fact sheet:
Restructuring aid distribution:Colleges that restrain net tuition, prepare students well for employment, and serve higher numbers of financially needy students would be poised to receive more aid. The shifted aid would come from three sources: Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Perkins Loans, and Work Study. There would be no additional cost to taxpayers, the White House says.
Race to the Top:Some states would receive a share of $1 billion based on the following actions: restructuring state financing of higher education to promote cost savings; maintaining adequate funding levels so that campuses won’t feel pressured to increase tuition so drastically; and making sure K-12 schools and colleges align their standards so students are prepared to graduate from college on time.
First in the World competition:Fifty-five million dollars would be set aside to help campuses pursue innovations to boost productivity and quality. Examples include redesigning courses to take advantage of technology, and early-college programs for high-schoolers to reduce the need for remedial courses in college.
College Scorecard:Obama's plan would create a better way for families to compare financial aid packages, and begin collecting colleges’ record of employment among their graduates.
Obama also reiterated calls he made on Congress during Tuesday’s State of the Union address to double the number of campus work-study jobs for students over the next five years, keep interest rates low on some student loans that are set to double this summer, and maintain tax credits for families paying tuition.

The Republican leaders of the House Education and the Workforce Committee issued a statement earlier this week responding to the loan-rate issue. It said the doubling would happen with the sunsetting of a reduction in rates passed by the Democratically controlled Congress in 2007. They “chose to make false promises to borrowers and kick the can down the road,” the statement said.

Agreeing that more needs to be done to keep college affordable, the Republicans on the committee called on Obama to work with Congress to improve transparency in higher education and “reduce unnecessary regulation.”

RECOMMENDED: Education reform: eight school chiefs to watch

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The economy grew at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in the fourth quarter, but a rebuilding of stocks by businesses and slower business spending warned of weaker growth in early 2012.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday, a sharp acceleration from the 1.8 percent in the prior three months.

It was, however, a touch below economists expectations in a Reuters poll for a 3 percent rate, and two-thirds of the increase was due to the build-up in business inventories.

Soft underlying demand and a sharp slowing in core inflation supported the Federal Reserve's decision this week to keep in place an ultra easy monetary policy to nurse the recovery.

"The areas of strength are unlikely to be strong in the current quarter and the areas of weakness are more than likely to be weaker," said Steve Blitz, a senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York. "Frankly, I don't think there is an awful lot the Fed can do about it."

On Wall Street the Dow ended down as investors took a dim view of the composition of growth. U.S. Treasury debt prices rose for a third day and the dollar hit a 6-1/2 week low against the euro.

The economy got a temporary boost from the rebuilding of inventories, which logged the biggest increase since the third quarter of 2010.

Excluding inventories, the economy grew at a tepid 0.8 percent rate, a sharp step-down from the prior period's 3.2 percent pace and a sign of weak domestic demand.

THE POLITICS OF GROWTH

For all of last year, the economy grew just 1.7 percent, and economists expect only a bit of quickening this year.

Sluggish growth could hurt President Barack Obama's chances of re-election in November, and might lead the Fed to launch a further round of bond purchases to spur the recovery.

"Clearly, much work remains to achieve the Fed's dual mandate of maximum sustainable employment in the context of price stability," New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley told reporters.

The central bank on Wednesday said it expected to keep interest rates at rock bottom levels at least through late 2014, and it warned the economy still faced big risks, a suggestion the euro zone debt crisis could still hit hard.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Friday also gave a lukewarm assessment of economy's prospects.

"We're still repairing the damage done by the financial crisis. On top of that we face a more challenging world. We have a lot of challenges ahead in the United States," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS

The robust inventory accumulation in the fourth quarter - a $56 billion build-up - suggests the recovery will lose a step at some point in early 2012 when businesses throttle back.

But economists said there was no sign businesses were uncomfortable yet with the amount of inventory they had on hand, suggesting they could add more in the current quarter.


"We had dealer stock build in the fourth quarter, but it was really to make sure we had the inventories that support the going-rate in terms of days' supply," Ford Motor Corp Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said on a conference call.


"I think we're at 58 days, which is actually lower than our typical level," he said.


Weak spots during the quarter included business investment spending, which advanced at just a 1.7 percent annual rate, the slowest since 2009.


A sharp drop in defense spending and still weak outlays at state and local authorities combined to yield a fifth straight quarterly contraction in government spending.


Though exports held up, an increase in imports left a trade gap that also chipped growth, and while home construction rose at the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2010, it was helped by unseasonably mild winter weather.


SLUGGISH INCOME GROWTH


Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, also accelerated, stepping up to a 2 percent rate from the third-quarter's 1.7 percent.


However, it was largely driven by pent-up demand for cars. The Japanese earthquake and tsunami had disrupted supplies early last year, leaving showrooms bereft of popular models.


Consumers also benefited from a moderation in inflation.


A price index for personal spending rose at a 0.7 percent rate in the fourth-quarter, the slowest increase in 1-1/2 years.


A core measure that strips out food and energy costs rose at a 1.1 percent pace, off sharply from the prior quarter and the slowest in a year. The slowdown could worry the Fed, which would prefer it nearer its 2 percent inflation target.


High unemployment has led to sluggish income growth, which in turn has prompted households to tap savings and credit cards to fund their purchases.


A sustained GDP growth pace of at least 3 percent would likely be needed to make noticeable headway in absorbing the unemployed and those who have given up the search for work.


"Though the unemployment rate has improved, the jobs market remains a major challenge," said Adolfo Laurenti, deputy chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago.


"The high level of people out of the workforce and underemployed people show there isn't really much income generation to contribute to a better spending pattern."


Even so, another report on Friday showed consumer sentiment reached its highest level in nearly a year this month.


(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Neil Stempleman and Tim Ahmann)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Security forces killed over 40 people in Syria on Friday, activists and residents said, as people in Homs mourned 14 members of a family they said were slain by militiamen in one of the worst sectarian attacks in a 10-month revolt.

The U.N. Security Council discussed a new European-Arab draft resolution aimed at halting 10 months of bloodshed.

Russia, which joined China in vetoing a previous Western draft resolution in October and which has since promoted its own draft, said the European-Arab version was unacceptable in its present form but added that it was willing to "engage" on it.

There was no let-up in violence on Friday, when anti-Assad protests again erupted after weekly Muslim prayers.

Tank and mortar fire killed 15 people in Hama, a resident said, on the fourth day of an army assault on rebellious districts of the city, where Assad's father crushed an armed Islamist uprising in 1982, killing many thousands.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 22 people killed elsewhere in Syria, including 12 when security forces fired on a funeral march in the southern town of Nowa and four in Homs. Activists said 10 were killed in the normally peaceful city of Aleppo.

Machinegun fire wounded five people in the Qusour district of Homs, one activist there said, adding that the city was calmer than it was at the height of Thursday's violence, when 16 people were also killed by mortar fire from security forces.

The state news agency SANA said "terrorists" killed a security man in Homs on Friday and a bomb killed a child and wounded several civilians and security personnel in the Damascus district of Midan.

SANA also said a bomb wounded three civilians and three security men in the northeastern town of Albukamal and that a suicide bomber had wounded two security men at a checkpoint in the northwestern province of Idlib.

Arab League observers headed for the Damascus suburb of Douma, where government troops battled rebel fighters the previous day as the struggle to topple Assad rumbled close to the Syrian capital.

TRANSITION PLAN

The Arab League has demanded that the Syrian leader step down as part of a transition to democracy, a call rejected by Damascus. The government says it is fighting foreign-backed armed "terrorists" who have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin criticized a European-Arab draft Security Council resolution that endorses the Arab League plan. Russia, he said, is pushing for a Syrian-led political process in Syria, not "an Arab League-imposed outcome of a political process that has not yet taken place" or Libyan-style "regime change."

"We the Russian delegation do not see that draft as a basis on which we can agree," he said after Morocco distributed the draft to the 15-nation council in New York. "However ... that does not mean we refuse to engage with the co-sponsors of that resolution. We will continue to engage.

Britain and France said they hope to put the draft to a vote next week after a briefing on Tuesday by Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby and the Qatari prime minister on Syria.

The draft, obtained by Reuters, calls for a "political transition" in Syria. While not calling for U.N. sanctions against Damascus, it says the council could "adopt further measures" if Syria does not comply with the resolution.

Russia and Iran are among Syria's few remaining allies.

In another sign of Assad's isolation, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has effectively abandoned his headquarters in Damascus, diplomatic and intelligence sources said.


"He's not going back to Syria," a regional intelligence source said of Meshaal, who has long been based in the Syrian capital. He heads the Palestinian Islamist group which rules Gaza and is an armed offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.


Analysts say Meshaal was embarrassed by Assad's crackdown, in which more than 5,000 people have been killed, many of them Sunni Muslim sympathizers of the Muslim Brotherhood.


Homs, a mostly Sunni city with minority Alawite enclaves, has become a battleground since protests against Assad began in March, inspired by pro-democracy revolts elsewhere in the Arab world. Armed rebels have joined the fray in recent months.


GRISLY FOOTAGE


Residents and activists said militiamen from Assad's Alawite sect had shot or hacked to death 14 members of the Sunni Bahader family in Homs's Karm al-Zaitoun district on Thursday, including eight children, aged eight months to nine years old.


YouTube video footage taken by activists, which could not be verified, showed the bodies of five children with wounds to the head and neck, three women and a man in a house.


There was no comment from Syrian authorities, which enforce tight restrictions on independent media.


At least 384 children have been killed since the uprising began in March and a similar number have been jailed, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.


The British-based Observatory said 43 civilians were killed on Thursday, including 33 in Homs, of whom nine were children.


Hamza, an activist in Homs, said the militiamen who attacked the Sunni family were avenging deaths inflicted on their ranks by army defectors loosely grouped in the rebel Free Syrian Army.


Tit-for-tat sectarian killings began in Homs four months ago. Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has dominated the political and security apparatus in Syria, a mostly Sunni nation of 23 million, for five decades.


"The Assads are the dirtiest of families," shouted crowds in Deir Balba, on the edge of Homs, according to a YouTube clip that showed people waving pre-Baath party Syrian flags.


In the city's Bab Amro district, demonstrators carried the body of a youth who had been shot in the head. "Bashar, your mother will bury you," they chanted, YouTube footage showed.


It was not possible to verify the footage, which anti-Assad campaigners had posted on the Internet.


The opposition Local Coordination Committees said security forces had fired on an anti-Assad protest by refugees from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights who live in Thiabieh near Damascus. It said several protesters were wounded.


Activists in the Damascus suburb of Irbin said 15,000 people had turned out to demonstrate against Assad.


Several thousand also gathered in the rain in the ancient, eastern desert town of Palmyra, clapping to anti-Assad anthems. "Bashar, God is greater (than you)!" they sang.


(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon and Dominic Evans in Beirut, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Eric Walsh)

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – A tense British thriller about a mother deeply entrenched in the IRA and forced to choose between the organization and the family she loves has earned high praise among the foreign films at this week's Sundance Film festival.

"Shadow Dancer," set against a backdrop of a Northen Ireland in transition, gave the festival a lift after it premiered earlier this week following some of the higher-profile U.S. fiction films that have failed to live up to pre-festival hype.

The film stars Andrea Riseborough as a Belfast mother who, along with two of her brothers, is active in the Irish Republican Army when she gets offered a deal by an British intelligence officer (Clive Owen) to turn against her colleagues and become an informant or else go to prison.

James Marsh, who made Oscar-winning documentary "Man On Wire," directed "Shadow Dancer" which 1990s Northern Ireland TV correspondent Tom Bradby adapted from his book of the same name. Marsh said he was initially reluctant to work on the movie but ultimately won over by the idea of telling a more personal story of the conflict.

"In Britain you have this sort of exhausted sense of the Northern Irish troubles," he told Reuters. "But I quickly got caught up in the premise of the story where you take a young single mother and you go and force her to spy on her own family. It's an impossible bargain."

The moral quandary of Riseborough's character -- choosing between loved ones and dealing with the guilt of betrayal -- are themes most audiences could relate to, said Marsh.

Marsh applauded other films such as 2002's "Bloody Sunday" that captured a particular episode of the Northern Ireland conflict, but said he was more interested in the microcosm of one family's turmoil and how it reflected the region's larger troubles.

"We didn't try and bring in the bigger political story or the facts involved in this conflict. It felt like a very boiled down family thriller," he said, adding he was not interested in getting "flashy and flamboyant."

His restrained style has been lavished with praise. The Hollywood Reporter hailed his "carefully crafted" film, while The Guardian called it "a poetic and unapologetically arthouse story of betrayal and loyalty that, with its terrific score, measured pacing and fierce female performances, is a raw reminder of a sad and painful past."

RISEBOROUGH ON THE RISE

Working alongside a support cast of Irish actors, the English-born Owen agreed only at the last minute to take the role, while American actress Gillian Anderson turns up in an unrecognizable role as Owen's frosty British boss.

In the main role is English-born Riseborough, 30, who was recently seen playing Wallis Simpson in Madonna's "W.E." Marsh said she was partly cast due to her turns as "a surprising actress, every role she did, you didn't quite recognize her."

"She has something of the quality of a silent movie actress, you can photograph her in close-up and so much is available so discreetly," he said.

Filmed over 5 weeks in Dublin and one week in London, the cinematography features strong shades of gray in stark contrast to Riseborough standing out in a rich red raincoat in tones that Marsh said were inspired by the 1964 Hitchcock film "Marnie."

Marsh, 48, was offered the film after directing "1980," the second movie of the "Red Riding" trilogy. "Shadow Dancer" is his largest fiction feature to date, but he said making fiction films -- as opposed to documentaries like "Man on Wire" or last year's "Project Nim" -- was always a part of his dream.

"The one thing you want from your career is one film leading to another film, and that hasn't always been the case for me. So I am just thrilled to be working and making films," he said. "I am as happy as can be."

"Shadow Boxer" is not the only foreign film winning fans at Sundance, which is considered the premiere festival for U.S. independent moviemakers but in recent years has lured more work from overseas and launched a world cinema competition.

"Wish You Were Here," the Australian drama starring Joel Edgerton as a father struggling to keep his family and himself together after a disastrous holiday, has earned praise. As has "The Raid," a bloody, bone-crunching, martial arts action drama from Indonesia that played at the Toronto film festival.


Also receiving a warm response has been "Madrid, 1987", Brazil's "Father's Chair," Chile's "Violeta Went to Heaven," and Turkish drama "Can," the first Turkish film to play Sundance.


(Reporting By Christine Kearney; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – President Barack Obama fired a warning at the nation's colleges and universities on Friday, threatening to strip their federal aid if they "jack up tuition" every year and to give the money instead to schools showing restraint and value.
Obama can't proceed, though, without the OK from Congress, where the reaction of Republican lawmakers ranged from muted to skeptical. Higher education leaders worried about the details and the threat of government overreach, and one dismissed it as mere election-year "political theater."
Average tuition and fees at public colleges rose 8.3 percent this year and, with room and board, now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board.
Obama delivered his proposal with campaign flair, mounting a mainstream appeal to young voters and struggling families. He said higher education has become an imperative for success in America, but the cost has grown unrealistic for too many families, and the debt burden unbearable.
"We are putting colleges on notice," Obama told an arena packed with cheering students at the University of Michigan.
"You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down."
Obama is targeting only a small part of the financial aid picture — the $3 billion known as campus-based aid that flows through college administrators to students. He is proposing to increase that amount to $10 billion and change how it is distributed to reward schools that hold down costs and ensure that more poor students complete their education.
The bulk of the more than $140 billion in federal grants and loans goes directly to students and would not be affected.
Rising tuition costs have been attributed to a variety of factors, among them a decline in state dollars and competition for the best facilities and professors. Washington's leverage to take on the rising cost of college is limited because American higher education is decentralized, with most student aid following the student. And that's not counting the legislative gridlock.
"If you were a betting person, you would not bet on it getting done, simply because the political atmosphere in Washington is so poisonous," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, an organization that represents colleges in Washington.
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said Obama put forward "interesting ideas that deserve a careful review." But Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., who leads a House panel with jurisdiction over higher education, said Obama's plan should have tackled federal regulations that she said contribute to the problem.
The top Democrat on the House education committee, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said Congress has bipartisan concern about the rising costs of college and thinks the president's plan will open up a conversation about the problem. Some Republicans in the past, including Rep. Buck McKeon of California, have offered proposals similar to the president's.
Others were sharper in their critique.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, questioned whether Obama can enforce any plan that shifts federal aid away from colleges and universities without hurting the students it is meant to help. "The federal government has no business doing this," he said.
Enacted or not, Obama's plan may have the kind of popular appeal he can use in the campaign.
In Ann Arbor, he soaked up the cheers of students as he outlined the agenda from his State of the Union speech, and gave a shout out to the popular quarterback of the school's football team. And Obama used the college-aid matter to put the onus for action on Republicans, again painting them as obstructionists and himself as the fighter for the middle class.
Mary Sue Coleman, president of University of Michigan, said schools should be challenged to find ways to restrain costs, but they can't continue to make up for state cuts. Money for state universities in Michigan dropped by 15 percent in this year's state budget, and many — including the University of Michigan — raised tuition to help make up for the lost support.
Obama challenged states to be more responsible, too.

"He recognizes every part of it," Coleman said. "That's what was so powerful about the speech."

Kevin Carey, policy director at the independent Education Sector think tank, said higher education leaders will surely detest Obama's plan even if they do not say so directly.

"Instead, they'll work behind the scenes to kill it," Carey predicted.

University of Washington President Mike Young said Obama showed he did not understand how the budgets of public universities work. Young said the total cost to educate college students in Washington state, which is paid for by both tuition and state government dollars, has actually gone down because of efficiencies on campus. While universities are tightening costs, the state is cutting their subsidies and authorizing tuition increases to make up for the loss.

"They really should know better," Young said. "This really is political theater of the worst sort."

Obama also wants to create a "Race to the Top" competition in higher education similar to the one his administration used on lower grades. He wants to encourage states to make better use of higher education dollars in exchange for $1 billion in prize money. A second competition called "First in the World" would encourage innovation to boost productivity on campuses.

Obama is also pushing for the creation of more tools to help students determine which colleges and universities have the best value.

Michigan was Obama's last stop on a five-day trip to sell his State of the Union agenda in politically important states.

The White House has begun facing criticism from Republicans and daily questions from reporters about the blurring of Obama's governing and campaign-style events. Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Obama went before Michigan students to promote a policy idea.

Said Carney: "We're not going to tell people not to applaud."

___

Associated Press writers Ben Feller and Julie Pace in Washington, David Runk in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Donna Gordon Blankinship in Seattle contributed to this story. Hefling contributed from Washington.