In brief: Deal would bolster border security

Washington – Key senators brokered a tentative deal Wednesday to strengthen the border security provisions in the immigration bill, a compromise that could break a logjam by satisfying Republican demands for tougher enforcement without jeopardizing a path to citizenship for immigrants.

The proposal would spend substantially more on security than the $6.5 billion now in the bill – adding even more border agents, drones and fencing along the border with Mexico.

Achieving such a deal could be the linchpin to winning the robust Republican support in the Senate that the bill’s authors believe is critical to build momentum in the House, where the GOP majority is more resistant to immigration law changes.

The senators who crafted the new proposal said they hoped to unveil it today and work to round up support.

Singer Slim Whitman dies at age of 90

Miami – Country singer Slim Whitman, the high-pitched yodeler who sold millions of records through ever-present TV ads in the 1980s and 1990s and whose song saved the world in the film comedy “Mars Attacks!,” died Wednesday at a Florida hospital.

Whitman, 90, died of heart failure at Orange Park Medical Center, his son-in-law Roy Beagle said.

Whitman’s tenor falsetto and ebony mustache and sideburns became global trademarks – and an inspiration for countless jokes – thanks to the TV commercials that pitched his records.

But he was a serious musical influence on early rock, and in the British Isles he was known as a pioneer of country music for popularizing the style there. Whitman recorded more than 65 albums and sold millions of records, including 4 million of “All My Best” that was marketed on TV.

New fire flares in hills southwest of Denver

Evergreen, Colo. – A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread.

The Lime Gulch Fire in Pike National Forest was small but devouring trees about 30 miles southwest of Denver in southern Jefferson County. More than 100 people were told to leave, but no structures appeared to be threatened, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said.