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Bangor Daily News, Thursday, October 29, 2015, A3
Names Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (photo) pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal financial crime in a hush-money case stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct, marking the dramatic downfall of a once powerful politician. In exchange for the guilty plea, federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of zero to six months imprisonment, though the judge in the case could potentially sentence Hastert to up to five years in prison and fine him $250,000. The plea deal may allow Hastert — who led the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 — to receive a light sentence. However, embarrassing information about the case could still emerge in the sentencing process, because the judge will want to study Hastert’s past when deciding on a sentence. Hastert, 73, pleaded guilty to one count of “structuring” — withdrawing funds from bank accounts in amounts below $10,000 to evade bank reporting rules on large cash movements. Those rules exist to detect money laundering. He told District Judge Thomas Durkin he knew what he was doing was wrong in a hearing in the federal courthouse in Chicago that lasted a little over 20 minutes.
NEWS BRIEFS
Daily Poll Results
YES NO 20% 80%
The Nation
House passes bipartisan federal budget deal Congress on Wednesday moved a step closer to clearing a bipartisan budget deal that would boost spending for domestic and defense programs over two years while suspending the debt limit into 2017. The House passed the bill on a 266 to 167 vote late Wednesday afternoon. The Treasury Department estimates the deadline for raising the debt ceiling is Nov. 3 — and sought to start the procedural ball rolling on Wednesday night, with the aim of it hitting the floor this week. Senate leaders vowed to move the bill through quickly. The agreement would essentially end the budget battles between congressional Republicans and President Obama by pushing the next round of fiscal decision making past the 2016 election when there will be a new Congress and White House occupant. House Republican leaders unveiled the proposal earlier this week and immediately faced challenges from conservatives upset over the secretive negotiations that led to the agreement as well as the policies contained in the bill. “It’s much better for the economy and working families if we can come to these kind of bipartisan agreements instead of facing a manufactured fiscal crisis every few months,” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a news release. “This budget act does not change the long term, ten-year, budget plan which is set to pay down our deficit and debt,” Rep. Bruce Poliquin, RMaine, said in a statement.
Today in history
On Oct. 29, 1981, as reported in the Bangor Daily News, Maine Republican Sen. William S. Cohen defended his last-minute switch in favor of President Ronald Reagan’s $8.5 billion AWACS sale to Saudi Arabia, saying, “This is the right decision for me, even though on the surface it looks like the wrong one.” Aides to Cohen said that calls to his office were running heavily against the sale of the radar planes. Cohen said he agonized over the issue for weeks, talking on three occasions with Reagan, twice with the Israeli ambassador and several times with close friends in the Jewish community in Maine. Cohen said he believed “the future will prove me right.”
Yesterday we asked
“Have you ever participated in a dance contest?”
— Based on 41* responses online
Today’s question
“Should there be an increase in bridge funding?” UESLEI MARCELINO | REUTERS
PADDLE PROWESS A indigenous man practices canoeing during the first World Games for Indigenous Peoples in Palmas, Brazil, on Wednesday.
Vote in our online survey at
bangordailynews.com
Clinton backs reopening Export-Import Bank
the Export-Import Bank, which financ*This poll is not a scientific survey es foreign purchases of U.S. goods, and reflects only the opinions of mainly benefits large corporations, bangordailynews.com readers who such as Boeing Co., and not small busiparticipate. MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — nesses. Democratic presidential candidate HillThe conservative wing of the Repubary Clinton called on Wednesday for lican Party has also opposed the bank, their haste to make points. reauthorization of the recently shut- calling it an example of “crony capitalCarson, a retired neurosurgeon, said tered U.S. Export-Import Bank. ism.” his plan, which is based on religious Clinton, speaking during a camtithing principles, would get rid of depaign stop at St. Anselm College, urged ductions and loopholes and constitute a the U.S. Senate to act on a procedural flat rate of about 15 percent that would move made by the House to revive the be sufficient to fund a sharply reduced bank. The measure received nearly government. unanimous Democratic support. BOULDER, Colorado — The RepubFiorina, a former executive at “For the life of me do not understand lican presidential contenders clashed Hewlett-Packard, said she would rethe arguments” against it, Clinton said. over tax plans in a debate on Wednes- duce the tax code to three pages to level Clinton’s chief rival for the Demo- day, with front-runner Ben Carson de- the playing field for all Americans. cratic nomination, U.S. Sen. Bernie fending his Bible-inspired proposals “Three pages is about the maximum Sanders of Vermont, voted against the and former business executive Carly a single business owner, or a farmer, or bank’s reauthorization in July, saying Fiorina vowing to reduce the compli- just a couple can understand without it provided “corporate welfare to multi- cated tax code to three pages. hiring somebody,” she said. national corporations.” With time running short until the Ohio Governor John Kasich was Sanders, who describes himself as a first nominating contest in three quick to go on the attack against billiondemocratic socialist, is challenging months, the Republicans were quick to aire developer Donald Trump, calling Clinton from the left side of the Demo- leap to the attack and frequently talked his tax plan “a fantasy.” cratic Party. Some progressives believe over each other and the moderators in FROM WIRE SERVICE REPORTS
On this date: In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, English adventurer, writer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded in London, under a sentence brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I. During Elizabeth’s reign, Raleigh organized three major expeditions to America, including the first English settlement in America, in 1587 — the ill-fated Roanoke settlement. Raleigh later fell out of favor with Elizabeth after she learned of his secret marriage to Bessy Throckmorton, one of her maids-of-honor, and he was imprisoned with his wife in the Tower of London. After Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was implicated as a foe of King James I and imprisoned with a death sentence. The death sentence
GOP candidates argue economics in 3rd debate
was later commuted, and in 1616 Raleigh was freed to lead an expedition to the New World, this time to establish a gold mine in the Orinoco River region of South America. However, the expedition was a failure, and when Raleigh returned to England the death sentence of 1603 was invoked against him. In 1777, John Hancock resigned his position as president of the Continental Congress, due to a prolonged illness. Hancock was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and is perhaps best known for his bold signature on the document. First elected to the Continental Congress in 1774 as a delegate from Massachusetts, Hancock became its president upon the resignation of Peyton Ran-
dolph in May 1775. During his tenure as president, Hancock presided over some of the most historic moments of the American Revolution, culminating in the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. In 1929, Black Tuesday hit Wall Street as investors traded 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression. During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929.
By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the eventual market collapse were low wages, the proliferation of debt, a weak agriculture, and an excess of large bank loans. Stock prices began to decline in September and early October 1929. Panic set in, and on Oct. 24 — Black Thursday — a record 12,894,650 shares were traded. Investment companies and leading bankers attempted to stabilize the market by buying up great blocks of stock, producing a moderate rally on Friday. On Monday, however, the market went into free fall. Black Monday was followed by Black Tuesday, in which stock prices collapsed completely. Source: history.com
Names Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (photo) pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal financial crime in a hush-money case stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct, marking the dramatic downfall of a once powerful politician. In exchange for the guilty plea, federal prosecutors recommended a sentence of zero to six months imprisonment, though the judge in the case could potentially sentence Hastert to up to five years in prison and fine him $250,000. The plea deal may allow Hastert — who led the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 — to receive a light sentence. However, embarrassing information about the case could still emerge in the sentencing process, because the judge will want to study Hastert’s past when deciding on a sentence. Hastert, 73, pleaded guilty to one count of “structuring” — withdrawing funds from bank accounts in amounts below $10,000 to evade bank reporting rules on large cash movements. Those rules exist to detect money laundering. He told District Judge Thomas Durkin he knew what he was doing was wrong in a hearing in the federal courthouse in Chicago that lasted a little over 20 minutes.
NEWS BRIEFS
Daily Poll Results
YES NO 20% 80%
The Nation
House passes bipartisan federal budget deal Congress on Wednesday moved a step closer to clearing a bipartisan budget deal that would boost spending for domestic and defense programs over two years while suspending the debt limit into 2017. The House passed the bill on a 266 to 167 vote late Wednesday afternoon. The Treasury Department estimates the deadline for raising the debt ceiling is Nov. 3 — and sought to start the procedural ball rolling on Wednesday night, with the aim of it hitting the floor this week. Senate leaders vowed to move the bill through quickly. The agreement would essentially end the budget battles between congressional Republicans and President Obama by pushing the next round of fiscal decision making past the 2016 election when there will be a new Congress and White House occupant. House Republican leaders unveiled the proposal earlier this week and immediately faced challenges from conservatives upset over the secretive negotiations that led to the agreement as well as the policies contained in the bill. “It’s much better for the economy and working families if we can come to these kind of bipartisan agreements instead of facing a manufactured fiscal crisis every few months,” Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, said in a news release. “This budget act does not change the long term, ten-year, budget plan which is set to pay down our deficit and debt,” Rep. Bruce Poliquin, RMaine, said in a statement.
Today in history
On Oct. 29, 1981, as reported in the Bangor Daily News, Maine Republican Sen. William S. Cohen defended his last-minute switch in favor of President Ronald Reagan’s $8.5 billion AWACS sale to Saudi Arabia, saying, “This is the right decision for me, even though on the surface it looks like the wrong one.” Aides to Cohen said that calls to his office were running heavily against the sale of the radar planes. Cohen said he agonized over the issue for weeks, talking on three occasions with Reagan, twice with the Israeli ambassador and several times with close friends in the Jewish community in Maine. Cohen said he believed “the future will prove me right.”
Yesterday we asked
“Have you ever participated in a dance contest?”
— Based on 41* responses online
Today’s question
“Should there be an increase in bridge funding?” UESLEI MARCELINO | REUTERS
PADDLE PROWESS A indigenous man practices canoeing during the first World Games for Indigenous Peoples in Palmas, Brazil, on Wednesday.
Vote in our online survey at
bangordailynews.com
Clinton backs reopening Export-Import Bank
the Export-Import Bank, which financ*This poll is not a scientific survey es foreign purchases of U.S. goods, and reflects only the opinions of mainly benefits large corporations, bangordailynews.com readers who such as Boeing Co., and not small busiparticipate. MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — nesses. Democratic presidential candidate HillThe conservative wing of the Repubary Clinton called on Wednesday for lican Party has also opposed the bank, their haste to make points. reauthorization of the recently shut- calling it an example of “crony capitalCarson, a retired neurosurgeon, said tered U.S. Export-Import Bank. ism.” his plan, which is based on religious Clinton, speaking during a camtithing principles, would get rid of depaign stop at St. Anselm College, urged ductions and loopholes and constitute a the U.S. Senate to act on a procedural flat rate of about 15 percent that would move made by the House to revive the be sufficient to fund a sharply reduced bank. The measure received nearly government. unanimous Democratic support. BOULDER, Colorado — The RepubFiorina, a former executive at “For the life of me do not understand lican presidential contenders clashed Hewlett-Packard, said she would rethe arguments” against it, Clinton said. over tax plans in a debate on Wednes- duce the tax code to three pages to level Clinton’s chief rival for the Demo- day, with front-runner Ben Carson de- the playing field for all Americans. cratic nomination, U.S. Sen. Bernie fending his Bible-inspired proposals “Three pages is about the maximum Sanders of Vermont, voted against the and former business executive Carly a single business owner, or a farmer, or bank’s reauthorization in July, saying Fiorina vowing to reduce the compli- just a couple can understand without it provided “corporate welfare to multi- cated tax code to three pages. hiring somebody,” she said. national corporations.” With time running short until the Ohio Governor John Kasich was Sanders, who describes himself as a first nominating contest in three quick to go on the attack against billiondemocratic socialist, is challenging months, the Republicans were quick to aire developer Donald Trump, calling Clinton from the left side of the Demo- leap to the attack and frequently talked his tax plan “a fantasy.” cratic Party. Some progressives believe over each other and the moderators in FROM WIRE SERVICE REPORTS
On this date: In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, English adventurer, writer and courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, was beheaded in London, under a sentence brought against him 15 years earlier for conspiracy against King James I. During Elizabeth’s reign, Raleigh organized three major expeditions to America, including the first English settlement in America, in 1587 — the ill-fated Roanoke settlement. Raleigh later fell out of favor with Elizabeth after she learned of his secret marriage to Bessy Throckmorton, one of her maids-of-honor, and he was imprisoned with his wife in the Tower of London. After Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was implicated as a foe of King James I and imprisoned with a death sentence. The death sentence
GOP candidates argue economics in 3rd debate
was later commuted, and in 1616 Raleigh was freed to lead an expedition to the New World, this time to establish a gold mine in the Orinoco River region of South America. However, the expedition was a failure, and when Raleigh returned to England the death sentence of 1603 was invoked against him. In 1777, John Hancock resigned his position as president of the Continental Congress, due to a prolonged illness. Hancock was the first member of the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and is perhaps best known for his bold signature on the document. First elected to the Continental Congress in 1774 as a delegate from Massachusetts, Hancock became its president upon the resignation of Peyton Ran-
dolph in May 1775. During his tenure as president, Hancock presided over some of the most historic moments of the American Revolution, culminating in the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. In 1929, Black Tuesday hit Wall Street as investors traded 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression. During the 1920s, the U.S. stock market underwent rapid expansion, reaching its peak in August 1929.
By then, production had already declined and unemployment had risen, leaving stocks in great excess of their real value. Among the other causes of the eventual market collapse were low wages, the proliferation of debt, a weak agriculture, and an excess of large bank loans. Stock prices began to decline in September and early October 1929. Panic set in, and on Oct. 24 — Black Thursday — a record 12,894,650 shares were traded. Investment companies and leading bankers attempted to stabilize the market by buying up great blocks of stock, producing a moderate rally on Friday. On Monday, however, the market went into free fall. Black Monday was followed by Black Tuesday, in which stock prices collapsed completely. Source: history.com
