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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: State shutdown enters 18th day

From Wire Reports

MINNEAPOLIS – Four days after the announcement of a budget deal, fresh signs emerged Sunday that the agreement is not coming together as hoped and that Republican legislative leaders are struggling to assemble the necessary votes.

A handful of Republican senators crucial to a deal said they can’t yet commit to the agreement, even as party leaders met at the State Capitol to finalize the $35 billion budget and end the longest state government shutdown in U.S. history. It begins its 18th day today.

Until the details are set, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton is unwilling to call a special session of the Legislature, and 22,000 laid-off state workers are wondering when they will return to work. Republican legislative leaders missed their self-imposed Friday deadline to finalize bills but gave no clues over the weekend about what caused the delays and when they might be done.

Intruder enters lawmaker’s home

DES MOINES, Iowa – A home invasion at Rep. Leonard Boswell’s Iowa farm ended when his 22-year-old grandson fetched a shotgun and aimed it at the intruder, according to a statement from the congressman’s office. No one was seriously injured.

The incident started about 10:45 p.m. Saturday when an armed man came in through the front door, attacked Boswell’s daughter, Cindy Brown, and demanded money, the statement said. Boswell, 77, heard his daughter’s screams, came into the entryway and attempted to disarm the intruder.

As they struggled, Boswell’s grandson, Mitchell Brown, got a shotgun from another room. When he pointed the shotgun at the intruder, the man fled into the fields around the house outside Lamoni.

Boswell’s spokesman Grant Woodard said the whole family is safe and unhurt, aside from some scrapes and bruises.

Boswell, a Democrat, has represented Iowa’s 3rd District for eight terms in Congress.

Tropical storm forms in Atlantic

MIAMI – Authorities in the Bahamas issued a tropical storm watch for Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands, meaning tropical storm conditions are possible over the next day in the extreme northwestern Bahamas.

Tropical Storm Bret, which formed Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas, isn’t expected to approach the U.S.