NFL’S HELP SOUGHT ON HEALTH CARE START
washington The Obama administration is asking professional sports leagues, including the National Football League, for help in promoting new health care coverage that millions of uninsured Americans can sign up for beginning Oct. 1.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saidMonday that she has spoken with NFL officials, describing them as “actively and enthusiastically engaged, because they see health promotion as one of the things that they think is good for them and good for the country.”
No deal has been reached. A spokesman said Major League Baseball hasn’t decided whether to participate.
The effort mirrors a highly successful push in Massachusetts, where the Boston Red Sox helped promote the state’s universal health care program.
Benghazi subpoenas
washington » The chairman of the House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed four State Department officials as part of the panel’s investigation of the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year. Republican Rep. Darrell Issa said in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry onMonday that delays in scheduling interviews with the officials were taking too long and he had no choice.
Texas seeks severe abortion curbs
austin, texas » The Republicandominated Texas Legislature pushed Monday to enact wide-ranging restrictions that would effectively shut down all abortion clinics in the nation’s second most-populous state, and Democrats planned a marathon filibuster to stop the final vote before the session ends at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.
Berlusconi convicted
rome » A court in Milan onMonday found former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi guilty of paying for sex with a minor and abusing his office to cover it up, handing him a seven-year jail sentence and banning him from public office for life. He is appealing.
Smithfield dumps Deen
new york » Paula Deen lost another part of her empire onMonday: Smithfield Foods said it was dropping the celebrity cook as a spokeswoman in the wake of revelations that she used racial slurs in the past.
Emir stepping down
dubai, united arab emirates » Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Qatar’s 61-year-old ruler, saidMonday he plans to transfer power to his 33-year-old son, the Gulf nation’s crown prince, Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera said, in what would mark a rare transition of authority in a region where most leaders remain until death. No reason was given for the decision.
Brother arrested
london » Zaid al-Hilli, the brother of a British-Iraqi man shot to death with three others last year in a remote area of the French Alps, was arrestedMonday after investigators gathered evidence that the siblings were fighting over their father’s inheritance.
Boy impaled
lubbock, texas » Miguel Martinez, 14, died after he ran into a bull statue on the Texas Tech University campus while playing hide-andseek with friends early Saturday and impaled himself on one of its horns.
A no for Wallenda
new york » NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly says NikWallenda’s hope of tightrope walking between the city’s Chrysler and Empire State buildings just isn’t going to fly. Wallenda crossed a gorge near the Grand Canyon on Sunday night.
Attacks kill 42
baghdad » A series of evening bombings near markets in and around Baghdad and other blasts north of the capital killed at least 42 peopleMonday.
D.C. panda-monium
washington » A Twitter photo and phone tip helped animal keepers track down Rusty, a male red panda, in a tree in aWashington neighborhoodMonday after it went missing from the National Zoo.
Shooting affects Carrey
new york » Jim Carrey says that he cannot support the violence of his upcoming superhero action flick “Kick-Ass 2” in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre. In a tweet, Carrey said that he wasn’t ashamed of the film “but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
“I am Legend” author dies
los angeles » RichardMatheson, the prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer whose “I Am Legend” and “The Shrinking Man” were transformed into films, died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 87. His “Twilight Zone” installments included “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which featured William Shatner.