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to The Associated Press about their Supreme Court case, the evolution of their activism for gay rights and family life.
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PROMISES, PROMISES: Hopes on climate change action may fall short again in Obama's new term
• The issue:
• Slowing the buildup of greenhouse gases responsible for warming the planet is one of the biggest challenges the United States and President Barack Obama face. The effects of rising global temperatures are widespread and costly: more severe storms, rising seas, species extinctions, and changes in weather patterns that will alter food production and the spread of disease.
• Politically, the stakes are huge.
• Any policy to reduce heat-trapping pollution will inevitably target the main sources of Americans' energy: the coal burned by power plants for electricity and the oil that is refined to run automobiles.
• Those industries have powerful protectors in both parties in Congress who will fight any additional regulations handed down by the administration that could contribute to Americans paying more for electricity and gas at the pump. There's also the lingering question of how much the U.S. can do to solve the problem alone, without other countries taking aggressive steps to curb their own pollution.
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New York's Bloomberg, NRA chief spar on gun control, say it's up to public now to press Senate
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two of the loudest voices in the gun debate say it's up to voters now to make their position known to Congress.
• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and National Rifle Associate Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre claim their opposing views on guns have the support of the overwhelming number of Americans. They are looking at the next two weeks as critical to the debate, when lawmakers head home to hear from constituents ahead of next month's anticipated Senate vote on gun control.
• Bloomberg, a former Republican-turned-independent, has just sunk $12 million for Mayors Against Illegal Guns to run television ads and phone banks in 13 states urging voters to tell their senators to pass legislation requiring universal background checks for gun buyers.
• "We demanded a plan and then we demanded a vote. We've got the plan, we're (Continued on page 23)
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