Acid attack suspect once held hunters at gunpoint

A white man accused of throwing acid on a Hispanic man’s face once held four hunters at gunpoint on his rural Wisconsin property, an encounter that one of the hunters said Tuesday he still vividly remembers.

The chance encounter with the hunters in 2006 sheds light into the temperament of 61yearold Clifton A. Blackwell, now accused in a seemingly random, gruesome attack in Milwaukee.

When Blackwell spotted the hunters, he drove over in his tractor and pointed a rifle at the group, telling them to disarm because they had trespassed onto his property in Rusk County, a mostly rural area in northwestern Wisconsin. He then marched them to his house, sat them on a log and demanded money from them and threatened to call the police — all while pointing the rifle in their faces, according to court documents and statements from the hunters.

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday signaled President Donald Trump’s blunt thumbsdown to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Her office’s sharp retort: “Working people won’t like it if he sells them out.”

Despite the House impeachment inquiry, the White House and top aides to the California Democrat have been in regular contact on efforts to curb drug prices, a mutual objective and a top concern for Americans across party lines.

But a senior White House official told The Associated Press that the administration has concluded Pelosi’s plan is “unworkable” and Trump will instead support bipartisan legislation pending in the Senate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations.

The falling out imperils chances for legislation this year, already seen as a long shot.

A recent study found more than half of seriously ill Medicare enrollees face financial hardships with medical bills, and prescription drug costs are the leading problem.

The senior White House official said that while Trump is not ideologically opposed to Medicare negotiating prices for medicines, Pelosi’s approach can’t be quickly retooled.

Her bill would levy steep taxes on drugmakers who refuse to accept a Medicare price keyed to what’s paid in other economically advanced countries.