Constitutional clash: House panel votes AG Holder in contempt for withholding probe documents WASHINGTON (AP) — Setting up a potential constitutional confrontation, a Republican-controlled House panel voted Wednesday to cite Attorney General Eric Holder for contempt of Congress, just hours after President Barack Obama invoked executive privilege — for the first time — to withhold documents demanded by the committee. The party-line vote was 23-17 following hours of caustic debate. The controversy goes next to the full House, where Republican Speaker John Boehner said there would be a vote next week unless there was some resolution in the meantime. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa of California said that ‘‘more than eight months after a subpoena’’ for the documents — which concern how the Justice Department learned there were problems with an Arizona probe of gun-running into Mexico — Obama’s ‘‘untimely assertion’’ of executive privilege was no reason to delay the contempt vote. No, it was just political, said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee’s ranking Democrat. He called the vote ‘‘an extreme, virtually unprecedented action based on election-year politics rather than fact.’’ The last Cabinet member to be cited by a congressional committee for contempt was Attorney General Janet Reno in President Bill Clinton’s administration. That was never brought to a follow-up vote in the full House. ——— Immigration suddenly roiling presidential contest as Obama and Romney face Latino convention ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — No longer a backburner issue, immigration is roiling the presidential contest as President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney seek to court the nation’s swelling Hispanic population. The outcome could influence political battle lines and shape American politics for generations. By week’s end, both candidates will address the same Latino political convention in Florida, showcasing contrasting political ideologies at a pivotal time. The Supreme Court is about to render judgment on a get-tough Arizona law, and just last week the Democratic president announced plans to ease deportation rules for some children of illegal immigrants. With Election Day less than five months away, Hispanic voters are energized and paying close attention, said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, which hosts this week’s convention. ‘‘There’s a lot at stake. We’re talking about a significant share of the American electorate that could well decide this election,’’ Vargas said. ‘‘It’s only now that both candidates are turning their attention to the Latino vote.’’ Indeed, both sides are crafting aggressive strategies to appeal to a demographic that is by no means monolithic but has supported Democrats in recent elections. Some Republicans fear — and Democrats hope — that Obama could capitalize on this moment to help solidify Hispanic voters as predominantly Democratic this fall and for years to come, much as President Lyndon Johnson hardened the black vote for Democrats as he pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ——— Liberal activists urge Obama to adopt more combative approach to Wall Street WASHINGTON (AP) — Message from liberals to President Barack Obama: Your economic message is muddled, go after Wall Street harder. With the November election looming, some of the president’s most ardent backers are fretting that the incumbent Democrat isn’t successfully making the case for a second term at a time of economic turmoil. And they argue that he should sharpen his message by taking a firm stand against the financial sector’s excesses. ‘‘If he really took on Wall Street big time, if he told the story of how Wall Street are villains, made them the enemy, we could take them down,’’ Paul Sasso, a 47-year-old liberal from San Diego, said this week. ‘‘To me, that could win him the election, I’m sure.’’ It was a sentiment similarly expressed by more than a dozen other self-described progressive activists attending this week’s Take Back the American Dream conference in Washington. Some said that the rhetoric of the Occupy Wall Street movement had been disappointingly absent from Obama’s message. Others implored the president to pressure Republican challenger Mitt Romney to reveal the big-dollar donors who are fueling his campaign by ‘‘bundling’’ contributions from smaller donors. Activists also said they were put off by what they called Obama’s lack of exasperation when efforts to regulate Wall Street post-recession fell short of what many had demanded. ——— Sports world artist LeRoy Neiman, official painter of 5 Olympiads, dies in NY at age 91 NEW YORK (AP) — Painter and sketch artist LeRoy Neiman, best known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world’s biggest sporting and leisure events with bright quick strokes, died Wednesday at age 91. Neiman was the official painter of five Olympiads and was a contributing artist at Playboy magazine for many years. His longtime publicist, Gail Parenteau, confirmed his death at a Manhattan hospital on Wednesday but didn’t disclose the cause. Neiman was a media-savvy artist who knew how to enthrall audiences with his instant renditions of what he observed. In 1972, he sketched the world chess tournament between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer in Reykjavik, Iceland, for a live television audience. He also produced live drawings of the Olympics for TV and was the official computer artist of the Super Bowl for CBS. Neiman’s ‘‘reportage of history and the passing scene ... revived an almost lost and time-honored art form,’’ according to a 1972 exhibit catalog of his Olympics sketches at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. ‘‘It’s been fun. I’ve had a lucky life,’’ Neiman said in a June 2008 interview with The Associated Press. ‘‘I’ve zeroed in on what you would call action and excellence. ... Everybody who does anything to try to succeed has to give the best of themselves, and art has made me pull the best out of myself.’’ ——— Officials delay announcement of winner in Egyptian presidential election, raising tensions CAIRO (AP) — Officials postponed declaring a winner in Egypt’s disputed election on Wednesday, sending political tensions soaring as the country awaited its first new president in three decades. Adding to the confusion and uncertainty were reports about the health of Hosni Mubarak, who is serving a life sentence for failing to stop the killing of protesters in the uprising that ousted him last year. At one point Tuesday, he was said to be near death, while some believed the report was a pretext by sympathetic allies of Mubarak to transfer him out of prison to a more comfortable facility. Last weekend’s runoff election was long touted as a landmark moment — the choice of Egypt’s first civilian president to take over the generals who have ruled since Mubarak’s removal on Feb. 11, 2011. Instead, it has turned into a confrontation between the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood and the entrenched elements of Mubarak’s old regime, including the military. Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters along with some secular youth revolutionary groups camped out Wednesday night in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the birthplace of last year’s uprising, and denounced the military, trying to push back against a series of power grabs by the generals last week. The Election Commission did not say when it would announce the winner of the runoff between the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohammed Morsi, and Mubarak’s former prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq. Both candidates claim they won, and the commission was supposed to declare the top vote-getter Thursday. ——— Sandusky doesn’t testify as defense rests on 3rd day in Penn State child sex abuse case BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — The defense in Jerry Sandusky’s child sex abuse trial rested on its third day Wednesday without calling the former Penn State assistant coach to dispute charges that he molested boys at his home and on campus over more than a decade. Closing arguments were set for Thursday in the case that led to the dismissal of Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno, the ouster of the university president and a re-examination of college administrators’ role in reporting abuse charges. The defense called only four new witnesses Wednesday, including a physician who they used to try and poke holes in the story of a Penn State coaching assistant who testified that he saw Sandusky sexually assault a boy in the campus showers more than a decade ago. The defense’s case has consisted of character witnesses who defended Sandusky’s reputation, a psychologist who said Sandusky had a personality disorder and the ex-coach’s wife, who said she did not see her husband do anything inappropriate with the accusers. His lawyers showed that an investigator had shared information with an accuser about other alleged victims’ stories and repeatedly suggested that accusers have financial motivations for their claims. Sandusky was only heard from via a November interview with NBC’s Bob Costas, saying he probably shouldn’t have showered with boys; and in letters he wrote to one of his accusers. ——— Uruguay government says it plans to sell marijuana to registered users MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay’s national government said Wednesday it hopes to fight a growing crime problem by selling marijuana to citizens registered to buy it, and will send a bill to Congress that would make it the first country in the world to do so. Under the plan, only the government would be allowed to sell marijuana and only to adults who register on a government database, letting officials keep track of their purchases over time. Minister of Defense Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro told reporters in Montevideo that the measure aims to weaken crime in the country by removing profits from drug dealers and diverting users from harder drugs. He said the bill would be sent to Congress soon, but an exact date had not been set. ‘‘We’re shifting toward a stricter state control of the distribution and production of this drug,’’ Fernandez said. ‘‘It’s a fight on both fronts: against consumption and drug trafficking. We think the prohibition of some drugs is creating more problems to society than the drug itself.’’ ——— Struggling with ratings, ’Today’ considering dropping Ann Curry as host NEW YORK (AP) — In the midst of the first prolonged challenge to its morning supremacy in 16 years, NBC News is discussing a plan to remove Ann Curry as co-host of the ‘‘Today’’ show with Matt Lauer. Curry, who has been with ‘‘Today’’ since 1997, replaced Meredith Vieira last June as Lauer’s partner. Lauer agreed to a long-term contract this spring to stay with the show. It’s still uncertain whether Curry, who has discovered a passion for international reporting in recent years, will remain with ‘‘Today,’’ according to a source with knowledge of the show who spoke on condition of anonymity on Wednesday because the source was not authorized to speak on the matter. The New York Times first reported the discussions about the possible change on Wednesday. NBC News President Steve Capus and the ‘‘Today’’ executive producer, Jim Bell, did not immediately return requests for comment. Savannah Guthrie, who co-hosts the show’s third hour, is at the top of the list of Curry’s possible replacements. ——— BCS commissioners settle on plan for 4-team college football playoff to present to presidents CHICAGO (AP) — The BCS commissioners are backing a playoff plan with the sites for the national semifinals rotating among the major bowl games and a selection committee picking the teams. The plan will be presented to university presidents next week for approval. Once the presidents sign off — and that seems likely — major college football’s champion will be decided by a playoff for the first time starting in 2014. ‘‘We are excited to be on the threshold of creating a new postseason structure for college football that builds on the great popularity of our sport,’’ Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said Wednesday. All 11 commissioners stood shoulder-to-shoulder behind Swarbrick, who read the BCS statement from a podium set up in a hotel conference room.
