AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EDT
Sen. Collins' opposition kills GOP health care drive
WASHINGTON (AP) - The last-gasp Republican drive to tear down President Barack Obama's health care law essentially died Monday as Maine Sen. Susan Collins joined a small but decisive cluster of GOP senators in opposing the push.
The Maine moderate said in a statement that the legislation would make "devastating" cuts in the Medicaid program for poor and disabled people, drive up premiums for millions and weaken protections Obama's law gives people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Collins told reporters that she made her decision despite receiving a phone call from President Donald Trump, who's been futilely trying to press unhappy GOP senators to back the measure.
She said the legislation is "deeply flawed," despite several changes its sponsors have made in an effort to round up support.
The collapse of the legislation marks a replay of the embarrassing loss Trump and party leaders suffered in July, when the Senate rejected three attempts to pass legislation erasing the 2010 statute. The GOP has made promises to scrap the law a high-profile campaign vow for years.
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Trump revels in drama over spat with NFL
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is indulging in his favorite kind of drama - personal, aggressive, culturally volatile and entirely of his own making.
During a week in which a crucial Senate health care vote, his tax plan, the North Korean nuclear threat and Puerto Rico's post-hurricane suffering vied for attention, Trump carried his feud with the NFL over players who kneel in protest into the new week with a fresh volley of tweets.
"The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!" he said in one of his Monday tweets.
But for some, Trump's argument with professional athletes had everything to do with race.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Trump a "racial arsonist" and said he was using the manufactured controversy to pander to his conservative political base.
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Feds rush aid to Puerto Rico amid growing pleas for help
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. ramped up its response Monday to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico while the Trump administration sought to blunt criticism that its response to Hurricane Maria has fallen short of it efforts in Texas and Florida after the recent hurricanes there.
Five days after the Category 4 storm slammed into Puerto Rico, many of the more than 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory were still without adequate food, water and fuel. Flights off the island were infrequent, communications were spotty and roads were clogged with debris. Officials said electrical power may not be fully restored for more than a month.
In Washington, officials said no armada of U.S. Navy ships was headed to the island because supplies could be carried in more efficiently by plane. The Trump administration ruled out temporarily setting aside federal restrictions on foreign ships' transportation of cargo, saying it wasn't needed. The government had waived those rules in Florida and Texas until last week.
Though the administration said the focus on aid was strong, when two Cabinet secretaries spoke at a conference on another subject - including Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whose agency is helping restore the island's power - neither made any mention of Puerto Rico or Hurricane Maria.
Democratic lawmakers with large Puerto Rican constituencies back on the mainland characterized the response so far as too little and too slow. The confirmed toll from Maria jumped to at least 49 on Monday, including 16 dead in Puerto Rico.
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Trump's new travel ban: Third time the charm?
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration spent months hashing out new travel restrictions on more than a half-dozen countries, determined to avoid the chaos that accompanied President Donald Trump's first travel ban. But critics say it's a mystery why some countries are included and they believe Venezuela and North Korea were added to provide legal and political cover for what they say remains a "Muslim ban."
The new restrictions covering citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen - and some Venezuelan government officials and their families - are to go into effect Oct. 18.
As for the previous version, which expired on Sunday, the Supreme Court on Monday announced it would cancel arguments scheduled for next month to give both sides time to consider the implications of the new one. They have until Oct. 5 to weigh in.
Trump's efforts to restrict entry into the U.S. have been the subject of lawsuits almost since the moment he announced the first travel ban in January, and the latest version is sure to attract new legal challenges - though experts are divided on how they might fare.
Avideh Moussavian, senior policy attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, said she saw little difference between the earlier bans and the new policy, despite the addition of two non-Muslim countries.
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Puerto Rico is in the dark in wake of Hurricane Maria
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Every night since Hurricane Maria hit, Miguel Martinez and his family have slept on mattresses on the porch to escape the heat inside their dark, stifling home. But it's nearly impossible to sleep with temperatures in the mid-80s.
At least once a night they climb to the roof to catch a hint of breeze. Then the 51-year-old construction worker, his three children and one grandchild climb back down again.
"It's a heat from hell," Martinez said. "We don't have a generator or a fan. We have nothing. The children get desperate. You want just a little bit of cold water, but there's none."
The power is still out across nearly all of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria smashed poles, snarled power lines and flooded electricity-generating plants last Wednesday, knocking out a grid that was already considered antiquated compared to the U.S. mainland. Generators are providing power to the fortunate few who have them, but nearly all the island's 1.6 million electricity customers were still without power Monday and facing many, many hot days and dark nights to come.
Power had been restored to a handful of hospitals and surrounding areas by Monday afternoon but Public Affairs Secretary Ramon Rosario said it will take months to fully restore power to the island.
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GOP, White House eye deep cuts to corporate tax rate
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House and congressional Republicans are finalizing a tax plan that would slash the corporate rate while likely reducing the levy for the wealthiest Americans, with President Donald Trump ready to roll out the policy proposal at midweek.
The grand plan to rewrite the nation's tax code would be the first major overhaul in three decades, delivering on a Trump campaign pledge and providing a sorely needed legislative achievement. It also is expected to eliminate or reduce some tax breaks and deductions.
The plan would likely cut the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans, now at 39.6 percent, to 35 percent, people familiar with the plan said Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.
In addition, the top tax for corporations would be reduced to around 20 percent from the current 35 percent, they said. It will seek to simply the tax system by reducing the number of income tax brackets from seven to three.
Trump has said he wanted to see a 15 percent rate for corporations, but House Speaker Paul Ryan has called that impractically low and risking adding to the soaring $20 trillion national debt.
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Court: Texas can enforce more of 'sanctuary cities' law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas for now can require law enforcement to honor federal immigration requests to detain people in local jails for possible deportation under a new "sanctuary cities" law supported by the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
The decision prompted one notable critic of the immigration crackdown, Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, to announce that her Austin jails would now honor all detainers from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The elected Democrat had become a polarizing figure after announcing on the day of President Donald Trump's inauguration that the county's jails would no longer comply with all such requests.
But the unanimous ruling of a three-judge panel in New Orleans wasn't seen as so clear-cut by others. Some lawyers said they believed the decision did not demand total compliance with federal agents, while other local officials struggled to interpret the ramifications.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hailed it as a clear victory allowing the state to "enforce the core" of the law known at Senate Bill 4.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling negates some of U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia's Aug. 31 halt to much of the law one day before it was to go into effect. The decision lets Texas enforce the detainer provision, pending fuller oral arguments in November.
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North Korean diplomat says tweet by Trump 'declared war'
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - North Korea's top diplomat said Monday that a weekend tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump was a "declaration of war" and North Korea has the right to retaliate by shooting down U.S. bombers, even in international airspace.
It was the latest escalation in a week of undiplomatic exchanges between North Korea and the U.S. during the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting.
Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters that the United Nations and the international community have said in recent days that they didn't want "the war of words" to turn into "real action."
But he said that by tweeting that North Korea's leadership led by Kim Jong Un "won't be around much longer," Trump "declared the war on our country."
Under the U.N. Charter, Ri said, North Korea has the right to self-defense and "every right" to take countermeasures, "including the right to shoot down the United States strategic bombers even when they're not yet inside the airspace border of our country."
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Uber wields new weapon in fight with London: diplomacy
LONDON (AP) - In past skirmishes with local regulators, Uber's playbook under co-founder and now-ousted CEO Travis Kalanick was simple: fight.
Now, as brand-new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi deals with a stunning rebuke from London, the playbook gets another page: fight, but offer some diplomatic humility.
On Friday, just hours after Greater London's transport authorities decided not to renew Uber's operating license, citing a lack of corporate responsibility, Uber wound up for its first punch. Almost reflexively, it followed the familiar tactic of recruiting its mass rider base for help, starting an online petition drive to pressure regulators that now has more than 770,000 signatures. It also promised appeals and defiantly accused regulators of caving in to Taxi interests.
Then, Khosrowshahi took to Twitter. "Dear London: We r far from perfect," he wrote. "Pls work w/us to make things right."
It remains to be seen which strategy will work best, and Uber also runs the risk of antagonizing London officials by sending the mixed messages. But deviating from Kalanick's approach is exactly the right tactic for Khosrowshahi, says Jan Dawson, chief analyst for Jackdaw Research in California. Conciliation, he says, likely will require concessions, but also will bring peace in a huge market with 40,000 drivers and 3.5 million riders - over 5 percent of Uber's ridership base of 65 million globally.
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Steelers tackle Villanueva: mix up led to anthem flap
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Alejandro Villanueva just wanted to get a glimpse of the American flag, the symbol he wore on his military uniform during three tours in Afghanistan before beginning an unlikely journey from Army Ranger to the NFL.
The massive left tackle and West Point graduate has no interest in becoming a symbol in a fight he wants no part of, no matter how it may have looked on Sunday at Soldier Field, when Villanueva found himself standing alone as the flag waved, the national anthem played and his teammates remained covered in darkness in a tunnel behind him.
The optics made it appear as if Villanueva was making a statement about where he stands in the mushrooming political battle that has turned high-profile athletes' action (or inaction) during the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner" into a national referendum on patriotism.
Villanueva insists he was not, that saluting the colors had everything to do with miscommunication and nothing to do with him setting himself apart from the organization, the coaches or the players who have helped craft his improbable success story.
"It's a very embarrassing part on my end," Villanueva said on Monday. "When everyone sees images of me standing by myself, everybody thinks the team and the Steelers are not behind me and that is absolutely wrong. It's quite the opposite."
