By Henry Hanks, CNN
updated 5:05 PM EST, Thu February 7, 2013
Gun violence plans: What's in the works
Labels: WorldSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Connecticut school massacre prompts a number of proposals in Washington aimed at curbing gun violence
- They include a ban on assault weapons that insiders say has little chance of getting through Congress
- Some bipartisan support for proposals to expand background checks around gun purchases
Washington (CNN) -- December's school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, has prompted congressional lawmakers and the White House to offer a number of proposals aimed at curbing gun violence.
Here are some of the measures garnering the most attention:
The White House plan
President Barack Obama signed 23 executive actions, which don't require congressional approval, to strengthen existing gun laws and take related steps on mental health and school safety.
He has also called on Congress to reinstate the Clinton-era assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, to restrict ammunition magazines to no more than 10 rounds, and to expand background checks to anyone buying a gun, whether at a store or in a private sale at an auction or convention.
Assault weapons ban revisited
A proposal by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-California, would not ban ownership of assault weapons outright, but would prohibit new ones from being manufactured, sold or imported. It would also outlaw ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
She said the goal is to "dry up the supply of these weapons over time." The measure, along with a companion bill in the House, is opposed by the nation's powerful gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association.
Cracking down on straw purchases
Vermont Democrat Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has called for stronger background checks and a crackdown on so-called straw purchases, in which people who can pass background checks buy weapons for others. Leahy has proposed a measure to increase penalties for straw purchasers.
Curbing gun trafficking
A new House bipartisan gun control bill seeks to make gun trafficking a federal crime. It has some bipartisan support and mirrors a measure proposed in the Senate.
House Democratic efforts
A group of House Democrats, who were part of the chamber's Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, unveiled 15 proposals to address gun violence. The measures largely echoed those previously backed by the White House.
The package is similar to other Democratic measures that would address background checks, ban high capacity magazines, and crack down on gun trafficking.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Viginia, told CNN that he supports beefed up background checks for gun sales.
Closing gun show loophole
A group of four senators working behind the scenes on a bipartisan bill to expand background checks on gun sales is making significant progress, according to sources in both parties familiar with their work.
The group includes Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, who has an A rating with the National Rifle Association, and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, a long time advocate of gun rights.
The legislation would effectively require background checks on private gun purchases made with non-licensed gun dealers, according to sources in both parties. That would include closing the so-called gun show loophole.
Political play
House Speaker John Boehner has said he has no plans to bring any measure up for a vote until the Senate acts first.
Republicans oppose any assault weapons ban and rural-state Democrats facing tough re-election fights are unlikely to support it as well, meaning that proposal has little chance of passing Congress.
There is some bipartisan support for expanded background checks, especially to keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness. A number of lawmakers may also support limiting the size of ammunition magazines.
Some lawmakers have said that various gun proposals may be addressed in separate bills, rather than a comprehensive package, which could more easily be targeted by opponents.
The top Democrat in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has a good rating from gun rights groups and has said he would work to ensure that a variety of proposals are brought to the floor for consideration.
He opposed the 1994 assault weapons ban and has indicated support for expanding background checks but refuses to endorse a new weapons prohibition.
India parliament attack plotter to hang: official
Labels: Technology
NEW DELHI: A fruit seller sentenced to death for taking part in the plot to attack India's parliament in 2001 is to be executed on Saturday after his final mercy plea was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Asked to comment on reports that Mohammed Afzal Guru would hang on Saturday, Home Secretary R K Singh told AFP: "Yes, but not as yet."
Guru was found guilty of conspiring with and sheltering the militants who attacked the parliament in December 2001 and of being a member of banned Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Jaish-e-Mohammed fights against Indian rule in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, where a separatist conflict has cost up to 100,000 lives since the insurgency began in 1989, according to rights' groups.
Five armed rebels stormed India's parliament in New Delhi on December 13, 2001, killing eight police officers and a gardener before they were shot dead by security forces. A journalist wounded in the attack died months later.
Sources in the intelligence wing of the Indian army said they had been instructed to prepare for a possible backlash in Kashmir after Guru's execution.
"We were informed that Afzal Guru will be hanged on Saturday and therefore we must tighten security," a senior army official told AFP.
Executions are only carried out for the "rarest of rare" cases in India and Guru's would be only the second since 2004.
The sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Pakistani-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was executed on November 21 last year.
- AFP/xq
Family of victim in gun range death defends outing
Labels: HealthMIDLOTHIAN, Texas The man killed alongside a former Navy SEAL sniper at a Texas shooting range was helping his friend work with a troubled war veteran, and the outing was intended to be a "therapeutic situation," his relatives said Friday following his funeral.
Hundreds of people attended the service for Chad Littlefield, who along with his friend, "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle, was fatally shot last weekend. Authorities have said the former Marine they were trying to help suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and turned on the two men at the shooting range.
Littlefield's father-in-law, Tom Montgomery, defended the notion of helping troubled war veterans through target practice. He said Kyle regularly took veterans to the shooting range, and that Littlefield often assisted in efforts to help veterans.
"As a gesture of friendship, that's the only way I can describe it, he was asked to help Chris in this endeavor," Montgomery said. "I think this was a form of relaxation, a form of therapy."
Police say the suspect, 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, shot Littlefield and Kyle multiple times on Feb. 2 before fleeing. He later told his sister and brother-in-law that the men "were out shooting target practice and he couldn't trust them so he killed them before they could kill him," according to a search warrant. Routh is jailed a $3 million bail.
The men could not have anticipated Routh's actions, Montgomery said, adding that Littlefield enjoyed assisting Kyle with his nonprofit, which provided in-home fitness equipment to physically and emotionally wounded veterans.
Kyle, 38, established the nonprofit after leaving the Navy in 2009 following four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military's most lethal snipers. His wartime account, "American Sniper," was a best-seller.
"I have to believe that Chris Kyle with all his military background and specialized training was quite capable of reading people," Montgomery said.
Hundreds turned out Friday to honor Littlefield at First Baptist Church in Midlothian, near Dallas. Although Littlefield wasn't a member of the military, Patriot Guard Riders led the procession as a tribute to his efforts on behalf of veterans and formed a ring around the parking lot and church entrance. Hundreds of other people lined local streets to watch the procession pass.
Littlefield, who had a 7-year-old daughter with his wife Leanne, was remembered for his bedrock character.
"He was a man of deep commitment and character," the Rev. Kenny Lowman said during the service.
Montgomery said Littlefield and Kyle bonded a few years ago as soccer dads watching their children play, and that their families occasionally vacationed together.
"People develop these ethics over a lifetime," he said. "I think Chad was the type of person who developed them and did what was right, even when no one was looking."
A memorial service for Kyle is planned for Monday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Northeast Shuts Down as Blizzard Batters Millions
Labels: Business
A blizzard of possibly historic proportions began battering the Northeast today, and could bring more than two feet of snow and strong winds that could shut down densely populated cities such as Boston and New York City.
A storm from the west joined forces with one from the south to form a nor'easter that will sit and spin just off the East Coast, affecting more than 43 million Americans. Wind gusts were forecast to reach 50 to 60 mph from Philadelphia to Boston.
Cape Cod, Mass., could possibly see 75 mph gusts. Boston and other parts of New England could see more than two feet of snow by Saturday.
The storm showed the potential for such ferocity that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon and signed an executive order banning vehicular traffic on roads in his state effective at 4 p.m. ET. It was believed that the last time the state enacted such a ban was during the blizzard of 1978. Violating the ban could result in a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.
"[It] could definitely be a historic winter storm for the Northeast," said Adrienne Leptich of the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. "We're looking at very strong wind and heavy snow and we're also looking for some coastal flooding."
Airlines began shutting down operations Friday afternoon at major airports in the New York area as well as in Boston, Portland, Maine, Providence, R.I., and other Northeastern airports. By early evening Friday, more than 4,300 flights had been cancelled on Friday and Saturday, according to FlightAware. Airlines hoped to resume flights by Saturday afternoon, though normal schedules were not expected until Sunday.
The snow fell heavily Friday afternoon in New York City and 12 to 14 inches were expected. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said clearing the roads was his main concern, and the city readied 1,700 snow plows and 250,000 tons of salt to clear the streets.
Hurricane Sandy Victims Hit Again, Survivors Prepare for Worst Watch Video
Weather Forecast: Blizzard Headed for Northeast Watch Video
New York City was expecting up to 14 inches of snow, which started falling early this morning, though the heaviest amounts were expected to fall at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts of 55 mph were expected in New York City.
"Stay off the city streets. Stay out of your cars and stay at home while the worst of the storm is on us," Bloomberg said Friday.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declared a state of emergency, deploying National Guard troops across the state to assist in rescues and other emergencies. Schools and state courthouses were closed, and all flights after 1:30 p.m. at Bradley Airport, north of Hartford, Conn., were cancelled. The state's largest utility companies planned for the possibility that 30 percent of customers -- more than 400,000 homes and businesses -- would lose power.
Malloy also directed drivers to stay off the state's major highways.
"Please stay off of 95, 91, 84, Merritt Parkway and any other limited-access road in the state," he said Friday evening.
PHOTOS: Northeast Braces for Snowstorm
Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other New England cities canceled school today.
"Stay off the streets of our city. Basically, stay home," Boston Mayor Tom Menino warned Thursday.
On Friday, Menino applauded the public's response.
"I'm very pleased with the compliance with the snow emergency," he said. "You drive down some of the roadways, you don't see one car."
As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Department of Defense, 837 National Guard soldiers and airmen under state control had been activated in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York in anticipation of the storm -- 552 in Massachusetts, 235 in Connecticut and 50 in New York. The extra hands were helping with roadways, transportation, making wellness checks on residents and other emergency services.
Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible from New Jersey to Long Island, N.Y., and into New England coastal areas. Some waves off the coast could reach more than 20 feet.
Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York's Long Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, including Hartford, New Haven, Conn., and Providence. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.
To the south, Philadelphia was looking at a possible 4 to 6 inches of snow.
In anticipation of the storm, Amtrak said its Northeast trains would stop running this afternoon.
The making of a No. 1 song
Labels: LifestyleSinger/songwriter Benny Blanco has produced some major hits by stars like Maroon 5, Rihanna and Ke$sha.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- A hit song could be a catchy earworm or a heartfelt ballad
- Top producer Benny Blanco says every song needs a hook
- Billboard expert says while albums aren't selling big, music is everywhere
(CNN) -- Don't ask music super-producer Benny Blanco to whip up a No. 1 song for an artist because it ain't gonna happen.
Sure, the man knows how to make hits: His work on Rihanna's "Diamonds" and Ke$ha's "Die Young" landed both at the top of the Billboard charts. But he's the first to tell you that trying to compose a chart topper is almost always guaranteed to fail.
"When you're like, 'Yo, we gotta write a hit song, we need a hit song right now," that never works," Blanco told CNN. "Every time that happens, I never write a hit song. I write a s****y song that sounds like someone trying to make a hit song."
Blanco knows of what he speaks. Two of the songs he helped produce are up for Grammys this year: Maroon 5's "Payphone," nominated for best pop duo or group performance, and Trey Songz's "Heart Attack," which is competing for best R&B song.
Blanco said in an era where singles rule (seriously, when was the last time you bought an entire album?) the pressure is on labels, artists and producers more than ever to produce a song that will head straight to the top of the charts.
But what does that song look and sound like? Is it an earworm such as Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe"? An intensely personal tale such as Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" or a breezy "I can relate to that" poppy tune such as Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."
The answer is yes.
"Everything needs to be a hook," said Blanco, who snagged the Songwriter of the Year Award at the BMI Pop Awards in 2012 along with Ester Dean and Pitbull.
"Everything needs to be catchy because a listener is either going to stay with the song or lose interest in the first five seconds. But people also like those songs they can relate to and say, 'Yeah, I went through that.' "
Chris Mooney, senior director of artist promotions at TuneCore, said artists looking for a No. 1 song have to prepare their fans for a release by using every social media tool available: YouTube videos, tweets, Facebook postings, etc.
TuneCore distributes music for artists through partners such as iTunes and Spotify for a nominal fee. The company does not, he said, take a percentage of the revenue of the music distributed, and that business model has attracted such well-known acts as Nine Inch Nails, Ziggy Marley and the Civil Wars to use the service.
But if an artist wants to have a true No. 1 smash across the country, he or she will have to resort to some old-fashioned methods, Mooney said.
"You really need radio play, and that's not something everyone can do," he said. "But I still think that's key to having a No. 1 song."
That type of marketing to get airplay can be a pricey proposition. Just ask Sarah Stennett, an A&R executive and manager who works with singers Ellie Goulding and Jessie J. There are plenty of songs that are good tunes, Stennett said, but "when you've got a record that works, you need a record label that will then work that record."
But for a label to justify the expense of promoting an artist, the singer and song have to gel in a way that will connect with the audience, she said.
"There are certain songs that just encapsulate all you need to know about an artist," Stennett said. "They are like personality records. For instance, 'Get the Party Started' by Pink. It was a hit, but it also told you a great deal about who Pink was as an artist."
Stennett said the machine involved in promotion has to remain enthusiastic about the project.
"Everyone has to be about the message," she said. "It's about spreading the message. Have you heard this song by ...?"
Silvio Pietroluongo, director of charts for Billboard, said the conundrum the music industry faces is that while albums aren't selling nearly as well as before, the music is bigger than ever.
"I think music is more popular and accessible today than it's ever been," he said. "It's a major component of advertising campaigns, sporting events and anything multimedia."
That means the industry now has varying degrees of success, he said, from an artist such as Adele, whom he calls "lightning in the bottle" able to sell both singles and albums, to some such as Jepsen, who has sold millions of singles but not as many albums.
Pietroluongo said any artist is one hit away from that big break or even a comeback. But today's hit can easily come from performers such as Flo Rida, who, Pietroluongo said, is one of the all-time, top-selling digital download artists despite a lack of recognition as a hitmaker.
"They are catchy tracks," Pietroluongo said of the rapper's music. "I think the challenge with Flo Rida has been to put a face with the hits. I'm not sure if you locked 10 people in a room that half of them would realize that all the songs they love are Flo Rida."
Producer Blanco is also not easily recognizable, though he may increasingly be responsible for some of the most played music out these days. The process of putting it all together is as much fun as work, he said.
It often starts with a roomful of friends and lots of food. He likes to write with friends, he said, since as soon as he writes anything he usually shares it with them anyway. And a hit could occur while he's chilling in a hot tub or taking a walk: anything as long as the ideas keep flowing.
"I let the song come to me," he said. "Then that thing comes to you, and you just know what that thing is. Music isn't like a 9-to-5 job. You never know. It's just the most unpredictable thing."
Facts? Shmacts. It's only a movie
Labels: WorldSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Gene Seymour: "Lincoln" error on emancipation vote shines light on how films tell history
- He says Oscar chances for "Argo," "Zero Dark Thirty" may be hurt after facts questioned
- He says films have long gotten history wrong but are useful in showing society's perceptions
- Seymour: It's art, not history, sometimes a vision, something we wish had been or could be
Editor's note: Gene Seymour is a film critic who has written about music, movies and culture for The New York Times, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and The Washington Post.
(CNN) -- Everyone's a critic; I get that. But does everyone have to be a historian, too?
What audiences perceive as their inalienable right to challenge the accuracy and authenticity of movies seems to get much more exercised before the Academy Awards than at any other time of the year.
The latest challenge came Tuesday from Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut, who said Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" misrepresented the way his predecessors in the 1865 House of Representatives voted on the 13th Amendment banning slavery. Courtney looked it up online and found in his research that all four Connecticut representatives voted for the amendment -- the movie shows two voting against. So in a letter to Spielberg's DreamWorks production office in Los Angeles, he asked DreamWorks for some form of correction. (DreamWorks hasn't been heard from yet.)
Gene Seymour
The film, considered a favorite for a best picture Oscar, places the back-and-forth struggle over the amendment in the forefront of its depiction of the 16th president, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. Courtney, unlike most others who have complained about big-time Oscar contenders, isn't out to ruin anybody's chances. He says he likes everything else about the movie. He merely wants props restored to his home state. And he seems to have a good case.
But you can bet your annual subscription to US Weekly magazine that the chatterboxes who gossip about and/or handicap the Academy Awards are going to try using his complaint as further indication of "Lincoln's" slipping stature as a best picture shoo-in. Some of these pundits claim "Argo" is charging hard from behind since its unexpected wins at both the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
And yet "Argo" has truthiness issues of its own. Director-star Ben Affleck even admitted before the movie's release last fall that his movie about the 1979 CIA rescue of State Department employees from Iran stretched certain details for dramatic effect. (Spoiler alert!) There was, for instance, no last-minute car chase on a Tehran tarmac as Americans tried to escape on a plane, and their check-in at the terminal wasn't in real life nearly the white-knuckle sequence of events you see in the film.
Others have said the movie misrepresents the Iranian people as completely unified in their support of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy. "Thirty-three million Iranians ... did not commit acts of murder and terrorism," Iranian commentator Kambiz Atabai wrote on The Daily Beast. "Thirty-three million Iranians did not chant 'Death to America!' or take Americans hostage."
But neither "Lincoln" nor "Argo" has reaped the whirlwind of criticism of Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" for its depiction of events leading up to the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden. Even before its limited release in December, the movie couldn't be discussed without referring to those accusing the movie of glorifying waterboarding of suspected terrorists or, at best, misleading audiences into believing that such so-called "enhanced interrogation" played a key role in guiding the United States to bin Laden.
Whatever critics or defenders say, the dispute alone is enough to make academy voters skittish about rewarding something that causes so much trouble.
You have to wonder: What is the big deal?
None of these films are documentaries and thus do not have the same obligations to fact. Yet one could argue that taking too many liberties with real life (whatever that means) could distort for generations the true story; that, indeed, what is enhanced for dramatic purposes becomes what everyone believes is what actually happened.
It's not so cut and dried. Consider D.W. Griffith's 1915 "The Birth of a Nation," regarded as the first great American film epic, whose glorification of the Ku Klux Klan makes contemporary audiences uneasy at best, infuriated at worst. Despite protests by the NAACP and other civil rights organizations, audiences generally agreed with President Woodrow Wilson's purported assessment of the movie: "It's like history written with lightning."
But society can change perception of art over time to the point of neutralizing, even transfiguring its original intent. No one now mistakes Griffith's movie as anything close to historic fact, but it could still be seen as a representation of a racist viewpoint that once held sway over much of America
Then there is John Ford, the great American director of such classic westerns as "Stagecoach" (1939), "The Searchers" (1956) and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962). It was in the latter movie that Ford's aesthetic credo was put forth by a minor character, a journalist who discovers that the career-making triumph of a U.S. senator over an outlaw didn't happen as originally believed. The journalist chooses to keep things status quo. "This is the West, sir," he explains. "When legend becomes fact, print the legend." He might have added: "Because it makes a better story."
Or consider "My Darling Clementine," Ford's 1946 version of the Wyatt Earp saga. As the movie opens, the Earp brothers are herding cattle to Tombstone, Arizona, in 1882 when the youngest brother James is shot dead (in the back, of course) by the rustling Clanton family.
Three things, right off the bat are wrong: James was the eldest of the Earps, not the youngest, the Earp brothers never had any cattle either heading toward or ensconced within Tombstone's city limits and, though James' death is depicted as the spark that eventually led to the Earps' confrontation with the Clantons at the OK Corral, that famous gunfight actually occurred in 1881 -- if you're scoring, that's one year earlier. And the inaccuracies only begin there.
And yet the movie endures as one of Ford's best even after four movies about the same legend have been made, each claiming to be more faithful to historic fact than "Clementine." But "My Darling Clementine," a dream about a past that didn't exist, endures in collective memory. It may not be factual, but it's true to something; a vision, a state of mind, an aspiration to something we wish had been, or could be.
The most recent film about the legend, Lawrence Kasdan's "Wyatt Earp" (1994), is so faithful that you can barely remember anything about it.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gene Seymour.
Golf: Scotland's Knox shares lead at Pebble Beach
Labels: Technology
PEBBLE BEACH, California: Russell Knox matched his career low on the PGA Tour on Thursday by firing a six-under par 64 to seize a share of the first-round lead at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Knox, who birdied four of his final eight holes on the Shore Course on Thursday, shares the lead at six-under with American Hunter Mahan, who played the Pebble Beach Golf Links course.
The 156-player field rotates between three courses in the first three rounds, comprising Spyglass Hill, Shore and Pebble Beach, while playing with amateurs. Pebble Beach will host the final round.
The 27-year-old Scotsman Knox played the back nine first on Thursday, making birdie at 11 and 12.
After a bogey on No. 14, he rolled in another birdie on No. 15 and then made it two in a row as he also birdied the par-four No. 16.
Knox moved to five under by making birdie at the sixth, and his final birdie of the day came at the par-four eighth.
Five-time PGA Tour winner Mahan needed a two-put for birdie on the 18th to grab a share of the lead.
"I enjoyed playing Pebble. I look forward to playing Monterey (Shore course on Friday)," Mahan said.
"Pebble isn't long, so you can attack some holes out here, and I was able to do that and I was able to get some short clubs and able to take advantage of the par-fives.
"I hit a lot of good quality shots and hit a lot of good quality putts that didn't go in."
South Korea's Noh Seung-Yul bogeyed his final two holes for a five-under 67. He was joined at minus-five by England's Greg Owen, Japan's Ryuji Imada and three others.
Lee Westwood and Brandt Snedeker, who has finished runner-up at the last two tour events, are among nine players that are two strokes off the lead at minus-six. Westwood is making his first PGA Tour start of the year.
Defending champ Phil Mickelson is tied for 57th after shooting a pair of late bogeys en route to a one-under 69.
Mickelson is coming off a victory last week in Phoenix.
- AFP/xq
Despite adoption ban, N.J. couple brings home Russian tot
Labels: Health(CBS News) FREEHOLD, N.J. -- It's been about a month since Russian President Vladimir Putin banned Americans from adopting Russian children. It was widely seen as a retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting Russians who have violated human rights. At the time, 1,000 American families were in the middle of the adoption process.
CBS News first met Robert and Kim Summers a month ago. They were just weeks away from picking up their new son Preston from a Russian orphanage, when Putin announced the ban.
Foreign adoptions by Americans down 7 percentU.S. family in limbo after Russia adoption ban
"I cannot put into words how my wife and I feel right now," Robert said at the time. "And we ask Putin, please, consider alternate means, but don't let these children suffer. Please. That's all we ask."
Despite the ban, the Summers decided to travel to Russia. They weren't sure whether they would return to the U.S. with their child.
"We did not know. We just prayed and kept the faith and just kept believing that, you know, all of our efforts would pay off," said Kim.
It was mid-January when they visited Preston in his orphanage outside Moscow. They finalized his paperwork and went to pick up his passport at a Russian government office.
U.S. family in limbo after Russia adoption ban
Russia seeks to reassure U.S. adoptive parents
Foreign adoptions by Americans down 7 percent
"She looked at it and she said in Russian, 'Americans? I thought there was a ban on Americans. How could we give them this passport?'" Kim recalled.
"We held our breath and I gasped for air and I said, oh no. Please, don't let us go through all this and we're going to have problems," Robert said.
Robert and Kim Summers.
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CBS News
The Summers returned the next day and found out the ban did not apply to them because a judge had already signed off on their adoption before the law was passed.
Five days later, they left Russia and brought Preston home.
"Robert and I looked at each other and we said, it's over, it's over. And I can't even tell you the relief. And how elated we are," said Kim. "I completely understand when a mother says that she takes one look at her newborn child and is instantly in love with that child. I'm in love with him. I'm in love with him, and I do believe he's in love with us, too."
The State Department estimates just 50 American families, whose adoptions have been approved by judges, will be allowed to leave Russia with their new children. The Summers consider themselves blessed to be among them.
Cop Shooting Rampage: Dorner's Truck Found
Labels: Business
The truck owned and driven by suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner during his alleged rampage through the Los Angeles area was found deserted and in flames on the side of Bear Mountain, Calif., this afternoon -- with tracks in the snow leading away from the vehicle.
The San Bernadino Sheriff's Department confirmed the car was Dorner's, but said at a news conference this evening that the tracks did not lead to him. Personnel from several departments and teams of dogs continued to search the area near Big Bear Lake, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, including door-to-door searches of cabins located there, officials said.
Dorner, a former Los Angeles police officer and Navy reservist, remained on the loose.
"He could be anywhere at this point, and that's why we're searching door to door," San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon said.
He said the search would continue as long as it was possible. However, a snowstorm was forecast for the area.
Dorner was believed to have killed one police officer and injured two others early this morning in Riverside, Calif. He was also accused of killing two civilians on Sunday after releasing a scathing "manifesto" alleging grievances committed by the police department while he worked for it and warning of coming violence toward cops.
Read More About Chris Dorner's Allegations Against the LAPD
Heavily armed officers spent much of Thursday searching for signs of Dorner, investigating multiple false leads into his whereabouts and broadcasting his license plate and vehicle description across the California Highway System.
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Around 12:45 p.m. PT, police responded to Bear Mountain, where two fires were reported, and set up a staging area in the parking lot of a ski resort. They did not immediately investigate the fires, but heavily armed SWAT team members eventually descended onto Bear Mountain from a helicopter manned with snipers to investigate.
Also today, CNN's Anderson Cooper said Dorner had sent him a package at his New York office that arrived on Feb. 1, though Cooper said he never knew about the package until today. It contained a DVD of court testimony, with a Post-It note signed by Dorner claiming, "I never lied! Here is my vindication."
It also contained a keepsake coin bearing the name of former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton that came wrapped in duct tape, Cooper said. The duct tape bore the note, "Thanks, but no thanks Will Bratton."
Bratton told Cooper on his program, "Anderson Cooper 360," that he believed he gave Dorner the coin as he was headed overseas for the Navy, Bratton's practice when officers got deployed abroad. Though a picture has surfaced of Bratton, in uniform, and Dorner, in fatigues, shaking hands, Bratton told Cooper he didn't recall Dorner or the meeting.
PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings
Police officers across Southern California were on the defensive today, scaling back their public exposure, no longer responding to "barking-dog calls" and donning tactical gear outdoors.
Police departments have stationed officers in tactical gear outside police departments, stopped answering low-level calls and pulled motorcycle patrols off the road in order to protect officers who might be targets of Dorner's alleged rampage.
"We've made certain modifications of our deployments, our deviations today, and I want to leave it at that, and also to our responses," said Chief Sergio Diaz of the police department in Riverside, Calif., where the officers were shot. "We are concentrating on calls for service that are of a high priority, threats to public safety, we're not going to go on barking dog calls today."
Sgt. Rudy Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said Dorner is "believed to be armed and extremely dangerous."
Early Thursday morning, before they believe he shot at any police officers, Dorner allegedly went to a yacht club near San Diego, where police say he attempted to steal a boat and flee to Mexico.
He aborted the attempted theft when the boat's propeller became entangled in a rope, law enforcement officials said. It was then that he is believed to have headed to Riverside, where he allegedly shot two police officers.
"He pointed a handgun at the victim [at the yacht club] and demanded the boat," said Lt. David Rohowits of the San Diego Police Department.
Police say the rifle marksman shot at four officers in two incidents overnight, hitting three of them: one in Corona, Calif., and the two in Riverside, Calif.
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