(CNN) -- The flashing banner ads, questionable color schemes and omnipresent "Under Construction" signs of GeoCities are no more.
The personal Web-hosting site, launched in 1995 and owned by Yahoo Inc. since 1999, was to be shut down by Tuesday.
It's a move that will scrub from the Web a significant, albeit dated, piece of Internet history and the pages where millions first tried their hands at coding and designing.
GeoCities, in its heyday, was an online hub for Internet communities, connecting related pages through "web rings" that predated the massive footprints of MySpace and Facebook by nearly a decade.
For some, creating guest books, visitor counters and streaming HTML marquee tags on GeoCities was a stepping-off point into a new digital age.
Carrie Musgrave, a professional photographer from Toronto, said she got two Web-design jobs by showing off her GeoCities creation: a U2 fan page she coded by hand in her college library in 1998.
"There were a bunch of people who applied and they all had computer science degrees," she said of one of her interviews. "I showed them my U2 page and ended up getting the job."
She said she didn't think about the site for years, but after hearing news of GeoCities' pending closure, was surprised to find that her page, where she once got messages from fans thinking it was the band's official site, still existed.
"It's humorous somewhat to go back and look at it -- it's so simple compared to what Web sites are now," she said. "It almost seems innocent."
As the Web evolved, visits to the largely stagnant GeoCities declined sharply and had continued to fall in the months since April, when Yahoo announced the site would be closed.
In September, GeoCities pages had about 10.3 million unique users, according to analysts comScore Inc. That was a 16 percent drop from the 12.1 million they'd seen just a year earlier.
GeoCities was the third most-visited site on the Web in December 1998, behind AOL and Yahoo!, with 19 million unique visitors, according to a CNNMoney report.
In a message Monday on the GeoCities site, Yahoo urged users to try the company's pay Web-hosting service.
In a written statement, a spokeswoman said that Yahoo decided "after careful consideration" to shut down the site.
"We have enjoyed hosting Web sites created by Yahoo! users all over the world, and we're proud of the community that has been built," the statement said. "Yahoo! discontinued GeoCities on October 26, 2009, as part of our ongoing effort to prioritize our portfolio of products and services in order to deliver the best products to consumers."
The statement noted that other Yahoo features, including Yahoo! 360, My Web and Yahoo! Briefcase, have also been closed recently.
"We plan to share details of further changes with people who use our products in the months ahead," the statement said.
Yahoo will not be archiving user pages and has been encouraging GeoCities users to download content to their computers if they want to rebuild them on another site.
The online message notes that the Internet Archive, a nonprofit group trying to document as much of the public Web as possible, was working to record as many GeoCities pages as it could before the site went down.
While many Internet users have long abandoned GeoCities, the Web was filled with nostalgia on Monday. "RIP GeoCities" was a trending topic on Twitter, where one user summed up his feelings in a sub-140-word blast.
"If you're making fun of GeoCities dying," he wrote, "you're too young to understand."
Monday, October 26, 2009
52 children recovered, 60 alleged child pimps arrested in crackdown
(CNN) -- Law enforcement authorities have recovered 52 children and arrested 60 pimps allegedly involved in child prostitution, the FBI announced Monday.
More than 690 people in all were arrested on state and local charges, the FBI stated.
The arrests were made over the past three days as part of a nationwide law enforcement initiative conducted on the federal, state and local levels, the bureau said.
"Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces," Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, said in a written statement.
"There is no work more important than protecting America's children and freeing them from the cycle of victimization."
The three-day operation, tagged Operation Cross Country IV, included enforcement actions in 36 cities across 30 FBI divisions nationwide. It is part of the FBI's ongoing Innocence Lost National Initiative, which was created in 2003 with the goal of ending sex trafficking of children in the United States.
The initiative, conducted with assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, has so far resulted in the recovery of almost 900 children, according to the FBI. It has also led to more than 500 convictions.
More than 690 people in all were arrested on state and local charges, the FBI stated.
The arrests were made over the past three days as part of a nationwide law enforcement initiative conducted on the federal, state and local levels, the bureau said.
"Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes against children task forces," Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, said in a written statement.
"There is no work more important than protecting America's children and freeing them from the cycle of victimization."
The three-day operation, tagged Operation Cross Country IV, included enforcement actions in 36 cities across 30 FBI divisions nationwide. It is part of the FBI's ongoing Innocence Lost National Initiative, which was created in 2003 with the goal of ending sex trafficking of children in the United States.
The initiative, conducted with assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, has so far resulted in the recovery of almost 900 children, according to the FBI. It has also led to more than 500 convictions.
30 children among 160 killed in Iraq bombings, Interior Ministry says
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 30 Iraqi children riding in a bus were among the 160 people killed in Sunday's twin car bombings in Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
At least 540 people were wounded in Sunday's attacks, the deadliest in the capital in more than two years, the ministry said.
One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building, the other outside the Justice Ministry. The bombs detonated in quick succession about 10:30 a.m., officials said.
The children were packed in a mini bus that was outside the Justice Ministry building, a ministry official said.
The vehicle carrying the explosives that detonated outside the ministry building was a stolen white pick-up from Falluja, Baghdad Gov. Salah Abdul Razzaq told CNN during his inspection of the bomb site. Images from the time of the attack showed the truck, linked to the Department of Water, pull up to the side of the building and blow up, he said.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the sites as victims fled, some with blood streaming down their faces. The streets were strewn with debris, including charred cars and chunks of concrete. Some government buildings and others in the area were heavily damaged.
Video: Suicide bombings kill dozens
RELATED TOPICS
* Baghdad
* Iraq
* Iraqi Politics
Among the wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy said, declining to provide further details. The area struck is close to the heavily guarded "Green Zone," which houses the embassy.
The blasts sparked questions about Iraq's security and national elections planned for January.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who visited the scene shortly after the explosions, said holding the elections as scheduled would send a strong message to the attackers.
"The cowardly attack ... should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party, and the terrorist al Qaeda organization,'" al-Maliki said in a written statement.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the attacks an attempt to derail progress in Iraq, and pledged to work closely with the country as it prepares for elections. Obama spoke with the prime minister and President Jalal Talabani to express his condolences and reiterate U.S. support.
In August, more than 100 people were killed in a series of bombings that led to tightened security in Baghdad. Blast walls were installed across the city and checkpoints were added.
Two years earlier, three truck bombings killed hundreds in Qahtaniya, in northern Iraq. Sunday's attacks were the deadliest on Iraqi civilians since those blasts in August 2007.
A day before Sunday's explosions, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, visited Iraq for the first time. During her trip, she made a condolence stop at the Foreign Ministry, one of six sites attacked in August.
Iraqis are supposed to go to the polls January 16, but parliament has not passed key election legislation, putting the balloting in limbo.
The president, prime minister and other top officials are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the elections law and security concerns.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Jamjoom, and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
At least 540 people were wounded in Sunday's attacks, the deadliest in the capital in more than two years, the ministry said.
One of the bombs exploded outside Baghdad's governorate building, the other outside the Justice Ministry. The bombs detonated in quick succession about 10:30 a.m., officials said.
The children were packed in a mini bus that was outside the Justice Ministry building, a ministry official said.
The vehicle carrying the explosives that detonated outside the ministry building was a stolen white pick-up from Falluja, Baghdad Gov. Salah Abdul Razzaq told CNN during his inspection of the bomb site. Images from the time of the attack showed the truck, linked to the Department of Water, pull up to the side of the building and blow up, he said.
Plumes of smoke billowed from the sites as victims fled, some with blood streaming down their faces. The streets were strewn with debris, including charred cars and chunks of concrete. Some government buildings and others in the area were heavily damaged.
Video: Suicide bombings kill dozens
RELATED TOPICS
* Baghdad
* Iraq
* Iraqi Politics
Among the wounded were three American security contractors, the U.S. Embassy said, declining to provide further details. The area struck is close to the heavily guarded "Green Zone," which houses the embassy.
The blasts sparked questions about Iraq's security and national elections planned for January.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who visited the scene shortly after the explosions, said holding the elections as scheduled would send a strong message to the attackers.
"The cowardly attack ... should not affect the determination of the Iraqi people from continuing their battle against the deposed regime and the gangs of criminal Baath party, and the terrorist al Qaeda organization,'" al-Maliki said in a written statement.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the attacks an attempt to derail progress in Iraq, and pledged to work closely with the country as it prepares for elections. Obama spoke with the prime minister and President Jalal Talabani to express his condolences and reiterate U.S. support.
In August, more than 100 people were killed in a series of bombings that led to tightened security in Baghdad. Blast walls were installed across the city and checkpoints were added.
Two years earlier, three truck bombings killed hundreds in Qahtaniya, in northern Iraq. Sunday's attacks were the deadliest on Iraqi civilians since those blasts in August 2007.
A day before Sunday's explosions, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, visited Iraq for the first time. During her trip, she made a condolence stop at the Foreign Ministry, one of six sites attacked in August.
Iraqis are supposed to go to the polls January 16, but parliament has not passed key election legislation, putting the balloting in limbo.
The president, prime minister and other top officials are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the elections law and security concerns.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Mohammed Jamjoom, and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Alabama judge not guilty of sexual abuse of inmates
CNN) -- A former Alabama judge accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity was found not guilty Monday on charges of sexual abuse, attempted sodomy and assault, his lawyer said.
Attorney Robert Clark said former Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on several charges and the judge in the case granted a directed verdict of acquittal on all the other counts.
The Mobile County district attorney did not immediately return CNN calls for comment.
Thomas, 48, denied wrongdoing. Clark said on October 20 that the judge was trying to mentor the inmates and did not assault them.
The judge does not deny bringing the inmates into his office, Clark said last week. "He was mentoring them. He was trying to get them to do right, to be productive citizens."
Thomas cried after the verdicts were read, Clark said Monday.
"He hugged me and he hugged his wife. And he had a courtroom full of supporters. It all worked out in the end," the attorney said.
One of the alleged victims testified October 19 that he doesn't know why his semen was found on the carpet of a small room used as an office by Thomas, according to The Mobile Press-Register newspaper. But he did say Thomas spanked him with a belt on several occasions, the newspaper reported, and that the paddlings took place inside a jury room, in the small office and at a Mobile, Alabama, fraternity house.
Another man testified that after he was charged with kidnapping and robbery in 2002, Thomas visited him in jail and urged the man to let Thomas decide the case instead of a jury, according to the Press-Register. Thomas convicted him of lesser charges, he testified, and sentenced him to a 90-day boot camp. He said Thomas also beat him with a belt on his bare buttocks about a dozen times at the courthouse, the newspaper reported. Neither man was identified.
"All of them [the alleged victims] were given preferential treatment at some point," Nicki Patterson, chief assistant district attorney for Mobile County, said earlier this month. "And ultimately, when some of them refused to continue participating [in the activities], they were given what I would view as excessive sentences. But certainly while the inmates were involved with the activities we allege, the state would say, it was extremely lenient sentences."
Clark said his client's next hurdle is the Alabama State Bar.
"They suspended him back in March because he got indicted. And we're fighting to give him his law license back," he said.
Attorney Robert Clark said former Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on several charges and the judge in the case granted a directed verdict of acquittal on all the other counts.
The Mobile County district attorney did not immediately return CNN calls for comment.
Thomas, 48, denied wrongdoing. Clark said on October 20 that the judge was trying to mentor the inmates and did not assault them.
The judge does not deny bringing the inmates into his office, Clark said last week. "He was mentoring them. He was trying to get them to do right, to be productive citizens."
Thomas cried after the verdicts were read, Clark said Monday.
"He hugged me and he hugged his wife. And he had a courtroom full of supporters. It all worked out in the end," the attorney said.
One of the alleged victims testified October 19 that he doesn't know why his semen was found on the carpet of a small room used as an office by Thomas, according to The Mobile Press-Register newspaper. But he did say Thomas spanked him with a belt on several occasions, the newspaper reported, and that the paddlings took place inside a jury room, in the small office and at a Mobile, Alabama, fraternity house.
Another man testified that after he was charged with kidnapping and robbery in 2002, Thomas visited him in jail and urged the man to let Thomas decide the case instead of a jury, according to the Press-Register. Thomas convicted him of lesser charges, he testified, and sentenced him to a 90-day boot camp. He said Thomas also beat him with a belt on his bare buttocks about a dozen times at the courthouse, the newspaper reported. Neither man was identified.
"All of them [the alleged victims] were given preferential treatment at some point," Nicki Patterson, chief assistant district attorney for Mobile County, said earlier this month. "And ultimately, when some of them refused to continue participating [in the activities], they were given what I would view as excessive sentences. But certainly while the inmates were involved with the activities we allege, the state would say, it was extremely lenient sentences."
Clark said his client's next hurdle is the Alabama State Bar.
"They suspended him back in March because he got indicted. And we're fighting to give him his law license back," he said.
Police: 'Jane Doe' emptied bank account before surfacing in NYC
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The teen who mysteriously turned up in New York with apparent amnesia emptied her bank account and left behind "everything" before she left her home in Washington, police told CNN.
The woman, now identified as Kacie Aleece Peterson, 18, of Hansville, Washington, withdrew about $400 from her Bank of America account, said Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office in Washington.
But Peterson "left everything," including her wallet, identification, cell phone, clothes and even her bike, which was secured outside a Wal-Mart, Wilson said.
Police still do not know how Peterson traveled cross-country to New York City.
The woman mysteriously turned up in Manhattan two weeks ago, claiming to have no memory of her family, her home -- or even her own name.
The woman, now identified as Kacie Aleece Peterson, 18, of Hansville, Washington, withdrew about $400 from her Bank of America account, said Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office in Washington.
But Peterson "left everything," including her wallet, identification, cell phone, clothes and even her bike, which was secured outside a Wal-Mart, Wilson said.
Police still do not know how Peterson traveled cross-country to New York City.
The woman mysteriously turned up in Manhattan two weeks ago, claiming to have no memory of her family, her home -- or even her own name.
Report: Stray jet's pilots were on laptops
(CNN) -- The pilots of the commercial jetliner that last week overshot its destination by about 150 miles have said they were using their laptops and lost track of time and location, federal safety officials said Monday.
The Airbus A320 was flying at 37,000 feet over the Denver, Colorado, area at 5:56 p.m. Wednesday when it last made radio contact, the safety board said.
Northwest Flight 188 had departed San Diego en route to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants. Northwest recently merged with Delta Air Lines.
"Using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots' command of the aircraft during flight is strictly against the airline's flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination," Delta said Monday in a statement.
Pilot Timothy B. Cheney, 53, was hired in 1985 and has more than 20,000 hours flight time; First Officer Richard I. Cole, 54, was hired in 1997 and has about 11,000 hours of flight time, the report said.
Neither pilot reported having had an accident, incident or violation, neither had any ongoing medical conditions and neither said he was tired, it said.
They each had a 19-hour layover in San Diego; neither said he had slept or argued during the flight, but both said "there was a distraction" in the cockpit, according to the report.
Video: Military reviews jet overshoot
Video: Flight 188 passenger speaks
Video: Pilot: No one was asleep
RELATED TOPICS
* Air Travel
* U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
* Northwest Airlines Corporation
* Minneapolis
* Federal Aviation Administration
The pilots said there was "a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls" from air traffic control, though both said they heard conversation on the radio, the report said.
Neither pilot said he noticed messages sent by company dispatchers, it added. It said the men were talking about the new monthly crew flight scheduling system put into place in the wake of Northwest's merger with Delta Air Lines.
"Each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure," the report said.
"The first officer, who was more familiar with the procedure, was providing instruction to the captain."Neither pilot said he was aware of where the plane was until a flight attendant called the cockpit about five minutes before the plane was to have landed and asked their estimated time of arrival, the report said.
"The captain said, at that point, he looked at his primary flight display for an ETA and realized that they had passed" the airport, it added. After 78 minutes of radio silence, the pilots re-established radio contact with air traffic controllers, it said.
After landing at Minneapolis-St. Paul, both voluntarily underwent alcohol breath tests, which proved negative, the report said.
The safety board said its investigators interviewed the pilots separately Sunday in Minnesota for more than five hours combined. The investigation will include scrutiny of the flight and voice data recorders, it said.
An airline spokesman said Monday the company has sent the passengers on the plane $500 travel vouchers to compensate them for their inconvenience, and that the pilots have been suspended until the conclusion of the investigations.
The NTSB on Monday interviewed the three flight attendants who were on the plane, a spokesman for the Association of Flight Attendants said.
The lead flight attendant told officers she was unaware there had been an incident aboard, according to the report.
Police who met the wayward jet said the pilots were "cooperative, apologetic and appreciative."
The NTSB is hoping the plane's cockpit voice recorder either will confirm the pilot's account or provide evidence of another possible explanation, including whether the captain and first officer fell asleep.
Watch the co-pilot speak
The voice recorder is capable of recording only 30 minutes of audio, federal accident investigators said. The plane was in the air for another 45 minutes after radio contact was restored, meaning that if the recorder was working properly, anything the pilots would have said during the time they weren't answering radio calls would have been recorded over.
But a former accident investigator said the voice recorder may still provide valuable information, because the pilots could have discussed the earlier events on the way back to Minneapolis after overshooting the airport.
The flight data recorder also could prove valuable because it would have recorded actions taken by the pilots during the 78 minutes they did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers, the ex-investigator said.
Meanwhile, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which scrambled fighter jets for the wayward plane but did not launch them, said it was reviewing procedures for launching the fighters to track potentially hijacked or suspicious aircraft.
At issue is the Federal Aviation Administration's apparent delay in notifying NORAD the Northwest jet was not in contact with controllers, according to a senior U.S. official directly familiar with the timeline of the incident.
Watch how the military is looking at a possible FAA delay
The official, who declined to be identified because the military and the FAA are reviewing the incident, said the FAA's request for military involvement came after the plane passed the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. NORAD scrambled fighter jets at two locations. But as they approached the runway for takeoff, the FAA reported being back in contact with the Northwest flight, and the fighters stayed on the ground.
"My real question is why we did not know of the 'radio out' situation from the FAA sooner," the official said. "The FAA is also looking into that."
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, NORAD has regularly launched fighter jets to track aircraft in unusual situations such as when they deviate from flight plans, lose radio contact or enter restricted airspace.
According to a second U.S. official, NORAD is in constant contact with the FAA so it can respond when situations arise.
CNN's Mike M. Ahlers and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
The Airbus A320 was flying at 37,000 feet over the Denver, Colorado, area at 5:56 p.m. Wednesday when it last made radio contact, the safety board said.
Northwest Flight 188 had departed San Diego en route to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport carrying 144 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants. Northwest recently merged with Delta Air Lines.
"Using laptops or engaging in activity unrelated to the pilots' command of the aircraft during flight is strictly against the airline's flight deck policies and violations of that policy will result in termination," Delta said Monday in a statement.
Pilot Timothy B. Cheney, 53, was hired in 1985 and has more than 20,000 hours flight time; First Officer Richard I. Cole, 54, was hired in 1997 and has about 11,000 hours of flight time, the report said.
Neither pilot reported having had an accident, incident or violation, neither had any ongoing medical conditions and neither said he was tired, it said.
They each had a 19-hour layover in San Diego; neither said he had slept or argued during the flight, but both said "there was a distraction" in the cockpit, according to the report.
Video: Military reviews jet overshoot
Video: Flight 188 passenger speaks
Video: Pilot: No one was asleep
RELATED TOPICS
* Air Travel
* U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
* Northwest Airlines Corporation
* Minneapolis
* Federal Aviation Administration
The pilots said there was "a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls" from air traffic control, though both said they heard conversation on the radio, the report said.
Neither pilot said he noticed messages sent by company dispatchers, it added. It said the men were talking about the new monthly crew flight scheduling system put into place in the wake of Northwest's merger with Delta Air Lines.
"Each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure," the report said.
"The first officer, who was more familiar with the procedure, was providing instruction to the captain."Neither pilot said he was aware of where the plane was until a flight attendant called the cockpit about five minutes before the plane was to have landed and asked their estimated time of arrival, the report said.
"The captain said, at that point, he looked at his primary flight display for an ETA and realized that they had passed" the airport, it added. After 78 minutes of radio silence, the pilots re-established radio contact with air traffic controllers, it said.
After landing at Minneapolis-St. Paul, both voluntarily underwent alcohol breath tests, which proved negative, the report said.
The safety board said its investigators interviewed the pilots separately Sunday in Minnesota for more than five hours combined. The investigation will include scrutiny of the flight and voice data recorders, it said.
An airline spokesman said Monday the company has sent the passengers on the plane $500 travel vouchers to compensate them for their inconvenience, and that the pilots have been suspended until the conclusion of the investigations.
The NTSB on Monday interviewed the three flight attendants who were on the plane, a spokesman for the Association of Flight Attendants said.
The lead flight attendant told officers she was unaware there had been an incident aboard, according to the report.
Police who met the wayward jet said the pilots were "cooperative, apologetic and appreciative."
The NTSB is hoping the plane's cockpit voice recorder either will confirm the pilot's account or provide evidence of another possible explanation, including whether the captain and first officer fell asleep.
Watch the co-pilot speak
The voice recorder is capable of recording only 30 minutes of audio, federal accident investigators said. The plane was in the air for another 45 minutes after radio contact was restored, meaning that if the recorder was working properly, anything the pilots would have said during the time they weren't answering radio calls would have been recorded over.
But a former accident investigator said the voice recorder may still provide valuable information, because the pilots could have discussed the earlier events on the way back to Minneapolis after overshooting the airport.
The flight data recorder also could prove valuable because it would have recorded actions taken by the pilots during the 78 minutes they did not respond to repeated calls from air traffic controllers, the ex-investigator said.
Meanwhile, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which scrambled fighter jets for the wayward plane but did not launch them, said it was reviewing procedures for launching the fighters to track potentially hijacked or suspicious aircraft.
At issue is the Federal Aviation Administration's apparent delay in notifying NORAD the Northwest jet was not in contact with controllers, according to a senior U.S. official directly familiar with the timeline of the incident.
Watch how the military is looking at a possible FAA delay
The official, who declined to be identified because the military and the FAA are reviewing the incident, said the FAA's request for military involvement came after the plane passed the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. NORAD scrambled fighter jets at two locations. But as they approached the runway for takeoff, the FAA reported being back in contact with the Northwest flight, and the fighters stayed on the ground.
"My real question is why we did not know of the 'radio out' situation from the FAA sooner," the official said. "The FAA is also looking into that."
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, NORAD has regularly launched fighter jets to track aircraft in unusual situations such as when they deviate from flight plans, lose radio contact or enter restricted airspace.
According to a second U.S. official, NORAD is in constant contact with the FAA so it can respond when situations arise.
CNN's Mike M. Ahlers and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
Reid backs health care public option
Washington (CNN) -- The contentious debate over health care took a new twist Monday as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced his decision to craft legislation including a public insurance option allowing states to opt out.
Reid's decision is a major victory for the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has been melding legislation from the more conservative Senate Finance Committee and the more liberal Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The Health Committee included a form of the public option in its bill; the Finance Committee did not.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted that the House of Representatives will pass a health care reform bill including a public option.
President Obama is "pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a written statement.
"He supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition," Gibbs said.
Video: Reid supports public option
Video: Reid rolls the dice
RELATED TOPICS
* Health Care Policy
* Harry Reid
* U.S. Senate
Although Obama has indicated his preference for a public option, he has not indicated that he would a veto a bill without one. Several top Democrats have expressed concern that the traditionally conservative Senate would not pass a bill with a public option.
"While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it's an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry," Reid said on Capitol Hill.
Polls show that a wide majority of Americans support a public option, he said. Individual states would have until 2014 to decide whether they want to opt out, he added.
Reid's health care bill, which will be given a cost assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also includes a provision from the Finance Committee bill allowing for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives that would negotiate collective insurance coverage for members.
Reid hopes his compromise will appeal both to liberal senators insisting on a public option and to conservatives wary of a government-run plan, several Democratic sources said.
The sources said Reid does not have firm commitments for the compromise from 60 senators, the number required to break a Republican-led filibuster.
It is likely he would need that number for even a vote to begin Senate debate.
Reid's strategy of publicizing his intention is risky, multiple sources also said. A Reid aide said Sunday, however, that the majority leader is cautiously optimistic, based on a series of conversations with Democratic senators, that he will ultimately find the votes.
"I believe we ... will have the support of my caucus," Reid said Monday.
An administration official went so far as to call Reid's move "dangerous" but quickly followed by saying Reid knows his caucus better than anyone and will therefore have the support of the White House.
Reid said he was disappointed that congressional Republicans have almost unanimously opposed Democratic-led reform efforts. The number of moderate Senate Republicans can now be counted "on two fingers," he argued.
Reid said he hoped to eventually win over Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, the lone Republican to back the Finance Committee bill. Snowe has indicated her preference for a "trigger" provision that would mandate creation of a public health insurance option in the future if specific thresholds for expanded coverage and other changes were not met.
Snowe issued a statement Monday, saying she was "deeply disappointed" with Reid's decision on the public option. She argued that a decision in favor of a trigger "could have been the road toward achieving a broader bipartisan consensus in the Senate."
"It's unfortunate the Senate majority leader decided to take a different path, because he did say it was a pretty good doggone idea with respect to the trigger in September, so I don't what has happened to change his mind," she said later.
"It's regrettable, because I certainly have worked in good faith all of these months on a bipartisan basis and, as you know, have been standing alone at this point as a Republican to do so because I believe in good public policy," Snowe added.
Reid said he was "disappointed that the one issue, the public option, has been something that's frightened" Snowe.
CNN's Dana Bash and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
Reid's decision is a major victory for the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has been melding legislation from the more conservative Senate Finance Committee and the more liberal Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The Health Committee included a form of the public option in its bill; the Finance Committee did not.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted that the House of Representatives will pass a health care reform bill including a public option.
President Obama is "pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a written statement.
"He supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition," Gibbs said.
Video: Reid supports public option
Video: Reid rolls the dice
RELATED TOPICS
* Health Care Policy
* Harry Reid
* U.S. Senate
Although Obama has indicated his preference for a public option, he has not indicated that he would a veto a bill without one. Several top Democrats have expressed concern that the traditionally conservative Senate would not pass a bill with a public option.
"While the public option is not a silver bullet, I believe it's an important way to ensure competition and to level the playing field for patients with the insurance industry," Reid said on Capitol Hill.
Polls show that a wide majority of Americans support a public option, he said. Individual states would have until 2014 to decide whether they want to opt out, he added.
Reid's health care bill, which will be given a cost assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also includes a provision from the Finance Committee bill allowing for the creation of nonprofit health care cooperatives that would negotiate collective insurance coverage for members.
Reid hopes his compromise will appeal both to liberal senators insisting on a public option and to conservatives wary of a government-run plan, several Democratic sources said.
The sources said Reid does not have firm commitments for the compromise from 60 senators, the number required to break a Republican-led filibuster.
It is likely he would need that number for even a vote to begin Senate debate.
Reid's strategy of publicizing his intention is risky, multiple sources also said. A Reid aide said Sunday, however, that the majority leader is cautiously optimistic, based on a series of conversations with Democratic senators, that he will ultimately find the votes.
"I believe we ... will have the support of my caucus," Reid said Monday.
An administration official went so far as to call Reid's move "dangerous" but quickly followed by saying Reid knows his caucus better than anyone and will therefore have the support of the White House.
Reid said he was disappointed that congressional Republicans have almost unanimously opposed Democratic-led reform efforts. The number of moderate Senate Republicans can now be counted "on two fingers," he argued.
Reid said he hoped to eventually win over Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, the lone Republican to back the Finance Committee bill. Snowe has indicated her preference for a "trigger" provision that would mandate creation of a public health insurance option in the future if specific thresholds for expanded coverage and other changes were not met.
Snowe issued a statement Monday, saying she was "deeply disappointed" with Reid's decision on the public option. She argued that a decision in favor of a trigger "could have been the road toward achieving a broader bipartisan consensus in the Senate."
"It's unfortunate the Senate majority leader decided to take a different path, because he did say it was a pretty good doggone idea with respect to the trigger in September, so I don't what has happened to change his mind," she said later.
"It's regrettable, because I certainly have worked in good faith all of these months on a bipartisan basis and, as you know, have been standing alone at this point as a Republican to do so because I believe in good public policy," Snowe added.
Reid said he was "disappointed that the one issue, the public option, has been something that's frightened" Snowe.
CNN's Dana Bash and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
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