In brief: Access to Obama birth info sought
HONOLULU – Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie wants to find a way to release more information about President Barack Obama’s Hawaii birth and dispel conspiracy theories that he was born elsewhere.
Abercrombie was a friend of Obama’s parents and knew him as a child, and is deeply troubled by the effort to cast doubt on the president’s citizenship.
The newly elected governor will ask the state attorney general’s office about what can be done to put an end to questions about Obama’s birth documentation from Aug. 4, 1961, spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said Tuesday.
“He had a friendship with Mr. Obama’s parents, and so there is a personal issue at hand,” Dela Cruz said. “Is it going to be done immediately? No, the first thing on our list is the economy.”
It’s unclear what Abercrombie could do because Hawaii’s privacy laws have long barred the release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who doesn’t have a tangible interest.
Abercrombie, 72, has said he remembers seeing Obama as a child with his parents at social events, although he acknowledged that he didn’t see his parents with their newborn son at the hospital.
Copter pilot aids calf on icy pond
WATONGA, Okla. – A helicopter pilot for an Oklahoma City television station came to the aid of a calf stranded on an icy farm pond.
A rancher near Watonga, Okla., called KWTV-Channel 9 on Monday after his calf got stuck in the middle of an iced-over pond.
Pilot Mason Dunn flew to the scene, hovered over the pond and used the wind from the helicopter’s rotor blades to push the calf toward the shore. Though the thin layer of ice eventually cracked, the struggling calf was able to make it out of the water.
It was the second time Dunn came to the rescue of a stranded animal. Three years ago he helped push a stranded deer to safety after it lost its footing on an icy Lake Thunderbird.
Palin e-mails may be available May 31
JUNEAU, Alaska – The Alaska governor’s office says it needs until May 31 to release potentially thousands of e-mails sent and received by former Gov. Sarah Palin.
By that time, more than 21/2 years will have elapsed since at least one person and several media outlets, including the Associated Press, requested the e-mails. Palin has been out of office since July 2009.
A work plan submitted to the new attorney general, John Burns, says the Department of Law plans to assign two people to review the records full time, including a former assistant attorney general with whom the department will contract. According to the plan submitted by public records officer Linda Perez, the cost will be $120,000.
Bill Clinton urged not to take sides
CHICAGO – Congressman Danny Davis has a message for former President Bill Clinton: Don’t take sides in the Chicago mayor’s race – or else.
Davis, a longtime friend of Clinton, warned the ex-president on Tuesday that he could jeopardize his “long and fruitful relationship” with the black community if he campaigns for former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel instead of one of the two leading black candidates running – Davis or former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
The warning highlights the stakes in what is gearing up to be a contentious race for mayor in the nation’s third-largest city.
In a news release, Davis, a Democrat from Chicago’s West Side, said Clinton’s relationship with the black community may be “fractured and perhaps even broken” if he comes to town to stump for Emanuel, who moved back to Chicago this fall to run for mayor and is leading in the polls.
Davis later told the Associated Press that he intended the news release to be a personal appeal to Clinton.
“You just wouldn’t want your friends to be campaigning against you,” Davis said with a laugh. “I’ve enjoyed a great friendship and relationship and have a tremendous amount of affinity for both the Clintons … and I’d like to keep it that way.”