In brief: U.S.: Kerry’s injury won’t hinder talks
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Boston on Monday for surgery on his broken leg, as U.S. officials insisted his injury would not hinder his participation in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
With an end-of-June deadline for an Iranian deal fast approaching, the 71-year-old Kerry left Geneva aboard a U.S. military plane accompanied by his orthopedic surgeon, Dennis Burke, and additional medical personnel. Officials said Burke is expected in the coming days to perform surgery on Kerry’s right femur, which Kerry fractured Sunday in a bicycle accident when he struck a curb and fell on a regular Tour de France route located southeast of the Swiss city.
He had been receiving treatment at Geneva’s main medical center, HUG, and was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital after he returned home to Boston.
The State Department said Kerry is committed “to pursuing an aggressive recovery schedule” and had spent much of Sunday and Monday on the phone with colleagues, including President Barack Obama and counterparts.
At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest appeared less certain but maintained that Kerry’s broken leg wouldn’t derail the talks.
Jacobson tapped for Mexican envoy
WASHINGTON – Roberta Jacobson, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America and point person in detente talks with Cuba, was nominated Monday by President Barack Obama to be the U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
If confirmed by the Senate, Jacobson would be the first woman to hold what is considered one of the most important U.S. diplomatic posts due to the countries’ proximity and key relationship.
Obama’s previous nominee, Maria Echaveste, withdrew from consideration in late January, citing a prolonged nomination process and the interests of her family.
Mexico’s government welcomed Jacobson’s nomination. “She knows this country very well, which is something that pleases us greatly,” Foreign Relations Secretary Jose Antonio Meade said.
Hastert judge once gave to campaign
CHICAGO – Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is set to make his first court appearance in his hush-money case on Thursday, when he is expected to enter a plea before a federal judge who previously donated $1,500 to the then-Illinois congressman’s re-election campaign.
The arraignment for Hastert, a Republican who was once second in line to the U.S. presidency, comes a week after a grand jury indictment alleged he agreed to pay $3.5 million to ensure someone from the Illinois town where he taught and coached stayed quiet about “prior misconduct” by Hastert.
The office of U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin confirmed the arraignment date, then told the Associated Press later Monday that Durkin could not comment on any aspect of the case, including whether he might recuse himself.
House bill eases fishing level control
WASHINGTON – Defying a White House veto threat, the Republican-controlled House on Monday approved a bill to give regional fisheries managers more power to set local fishing levels in federal waters.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, would remove a 10-year time frame for rebuilding depleted fish stocks and allow fisheries managers to consider the economic needs of fishing communities in setting annual catch limits.
Republicans said the bill would added needed “flexibility” to the fisheries law while still protecting against overfishing. Democrats said it would roll back an important requirement that has ensured the recovery of many fish populations.
The House approved the bill, 225-152.
The bill would reauthorize the four-decade-old Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the top law regulating fishing in U.S. oceans, and give regional fisheries managers greater flexibility to shift catch totals as ocean conditions and science change.
The measure now goes to the Senate.