12/09/2012
4 dead, 3 hurt in Central Calif. shootings, chase
 Tulare County Sheriff's Office Authorities say Hector Celaya, 31, was wounded in a shootout with detectives. By NBC News staff A man shot three people dead on a Central California Indian reservation and wounded three others, including two young girls, before being fatally wounded in a shootout with detectives after a car chase, authorities said. The violence started Saturday night on the Tule River Indian Reservation in Porterville, Calif., the Tulare County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies responding to a 911 call found a man and a woman dead inside a trailer and a male juvenile suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. The juvenile was transported to a hospital. At a shed on the same property, deputies found the body of another man. The person who called police said the suspect fled the scene in a green Jeep Cherokee. Authorities identified the suspect as Hector Celaya, 31, and said he had taken his two daughters, ages 8 and 5. A deputy spotted the suspect's vehicle and tried to stop it but the driver kept going, the sheriff's office said. The suspect eventually stopped on the side of a road and a shootout ensued, authorities said. The suspect was shot and was transported to the hospital. He later died, the sheriff's office said. During the preliminary investigation, detectives said they determined that the suspect had also shot the two children. Authorities said one child had life-threatening injuries and the other had non-life-threatening injuries. No further details were released. The sheriff's office did not say what may have precipitated the shootings. More content from NBCNews.com:
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3 dead, 4 hurt in Central Calif. shootings, chase
| Tulare County Sheriff's Office Authorities say Hector Celaya, 31, was wounded in a shootout with detectives. By NBC News staff A man shot three people dead on a Central California Indian reservation and wounded three others, including two young girls, before being seriously wounded in a shootout with detectives after a car chase, authorities said. The violence started Saturday night on the Tule River Indian Reservation in Porterville, Calif., the Tulare County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies responding to a 911 call found a man and a woman dead inside a trailer and a male juvenile suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. The juvenile was transported to a hospital. At a shed on the same property, deputies found the body of another man. The person who called police said the suspect fled the scene in a green Jeep Cherokee. Authorities identified the suspect as Hector Celaya, 31, and said he had taken his two daughters, ages 8 and 5. A deputy spotted the suspect's vehicle and tried to stop it but the driver kept going, the sheriff's office said. The suspect eventually stopped on the side of a road and a shootout ensued, authorities said The suspect was shot and was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, the sheriff's office said. During the preliminary investigation, detectives said they determined that the suspect had also shot the two children. Authorities said one child had life-threatening injuries and the other had non-life-threatening injuries. No further details were released. The sheriff's office did not say what may have precipitated the shootings. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Opinion: How not to make a deal
As cliff looms, both sides position on entitlements
| By Carrie Dann, NBC News WASHINGTON -- As the days dwindle before the U.S. reaches the fiscal cliff, Republicans and Democrats are jostling for position on long-term fiscal reforms even as they urge an emergency fix to dodge automatic spending cuts and tax hikes before the first of the year. "The president wants the [tax] rates to go up. That doesn't solve the problem," House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on NBC's Meet the Press. "We don't want to be back here in another year, in another ten years, answering the same questions." California Congressman Kevin McCarthy and Democratic senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, discuss the revenue math behind their Party's respective fiscal plans. While the public standoff continues between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, both sides are staking out their ground for a looming fight over entitlement reform even as some Republicans acknowledge that they may lose the short term debate over tax rates for the highest-income Americans. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., one of the first Republicans to suggest allowing the president to raise rates on the top two percent of earners, reiterated Sunday that he could support a rate increase as part of a larger deal but accused Democrats of "lying to the American people" about the need for painful entitlement fixes. "You can't play the game and hide," he said on ABC's "This Week." "Medicare and Social Security and Medicaid, if those aren't fixed, if we're not honest about how to fix them and the fact that - yes - everybody in this country will have to participate in some discomfort if we're going to get out of this ... it is dishonest and beneath anybody in Washington." Recommended: Senate filibuster challenged in court Coburn - along with Senate colleague Bob Corker, who said Sunday that accepting Obama's tax rate position may be the "best route for [Republicans] to take" -- urged the party to turn to the issues of entitlement reform and spending in the new Congress after the tax fight is resolved. Obama ally and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. said on Meet the Press that reforms to the costly but popular Medicare system will be necessary to put the nation's finances in order but that a measured look at the program is needed rather than a quick fix. "We know that we have to do something, to make sure that we take an approach that doesn't voucherize it or take the approach of the Paul Ryan budget, but keep this a sound program and a solvent program. I just don't think we can do it in a matter of days here before the end of the year," Durbin said. "We need to address that in a thoughtful way through the committee structure after the first of the year." Assistant Majority Leader of the Senate Dick Durbin says the Democrats, President Obama are working hard to avoid going off the fiscal cliff. Durbin acknowledged that he supports means testing for Medicare, a sliding scale that would offer fewer benefits for wealthy seniors and boost support for poorer recipients. But he also resisted GOP proposals to raise the retirement age as a way to chop substantial savings out of the costly Medicare price tag. "I listen to Republicans who say 'we can't wait to repeal Obamacare and the insurance exchanges,'" he said, noting that early retirees could face gaps in coverage during years of potentially poor health. "Where does a person turn if they're 65 years of age and the Medicare eligibility age is 67?" McCarthy, who -- along with most of his House Republican colleagues -- wants to keep even the top rates stable, said that public opinion is squarely in the GOP's corner when it comes to addressing the federal government's expenditures. "This is really about spending," he said. "I don't think Republicans or Americans want to raise any taxes just to continue the spending in Washington. They want it more efficient, more effective, and more accountable." |
Storm pounds Midwest, Plains with heavy snow, wind
 Andy King / AP Snow-covered trees are seen outside the Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome before an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears on Sunday. By NBC News staff Updated at 2:51 p.m. ET: A potent winter storm pounded the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains on Sunday with heavy snow and strong winds, making traveling treacherous and prompting airlines to cancel scores of flights. The heaviest snowfall was expected from eastern South Dakota through southern Minnesota. Forecasters said up to 16 inches was possible in the hardest-hit areas, including up to a foot in and around Minneapolis. The snow, coupled with winds gusting as high as 40 mph, could produce whiteout conditions "making travel nearly impossible," the National Weather Service said in a statement. Minnesota State Police said more than 300 car crashes were reported from 9:30 p.m. Saturday to noon Sunday, none of them fatal. NBC's meteorologist Dylan Dreyer reports. And it wasn't just the snow that was a threat. The weather service said temperatures were expected to plummet behind the system to well below zero over western Minnesota, with wind chill readings as low as 20 to 30 below. "Travel will be very difficult and stranded motorists risk getting frostbite or hypothermia due to the frigid wind chill late this evening and tonight," the weather service said. Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com More than 150 flights at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were canceled due to the storm, airport spokesman Pat Hogan told The Associated Press. Delta Air Lines said snow and icing conditions prompted it to cancel about 90 flights on Sunday. The southern branch of the storm was expected to dump heavy snow in the Central to Southern Rockies, according to The Weather Channel's Tom Niziol. "As the system continues south, snow will also spread southward across the mountains of New Mexico from Taos through Sante Fe where over a foot of snow is likely for this area," he said. Snow, strong winds and cold air were also expected to hit the Great Lakes region late Sunday night into Monday. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Storm pounds Upper Midwest with heavy snow, wind
| By NBC News staff A potent winter storm pounded the Upper Midwest on Sunday with heavy snow and strong winds, making traveling treacherous and prompting airlines to cancel scores of flights. The heaviest snowfall was expected from eastern South Dakota through southern Minnesota. Forecasters said up to 16 inches was possible in the hardest-hit areas, including up to a foot in and around Minneapolis. The snow, coupled with winds gusting as high as 40 mph, could produce whiteout conditions "making travel nearly impossible," the National Weather Service said in a statement. And it wasn't just the snow that was a threat. The weather service said temperatures were expected to plummet behind the system to well below zero over western Minnesota, with wind chill readings as low as 20 to 30 below. "Travel will be very difficult and stranded motorists risk getting frostbite or hypothermia due to the frigid wind chill late this evening and tonight," the weather service said. Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com Delta Air Lines said snow and icing conditions at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport prompted it to cancel about 90 flights on Sunday. The southern branch of the storm was expected to dump heavy snow in the Central to Southern Rockies, according to The Weather Channel's Tom Niziol . "As the system continues south, snow will also spread southward across the mountains of New Mexico from Taos through Sante Fe where over a foot of snow is likely for this area," he said. Snow, strong winds and cold air were also expected to hit the Great Lakes region late Sunday night into Monday. More content from NBCNews.com:
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