California rejects border duties for troops
April 17, 2018 by admin
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California Gov. Jerry Brown had conditioned his state’s cooperation by insisting that California’s National Guard troops have nothing to do with immigration enforcement. | Stephen Lam/Getty Image
SAN DIEGO — California has rejected terms of the federal government’s initial plans for sending National Guard troops to the border because the work is considered too closely tied to immigration, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
Gov. Jerry Brown elicited rare and effusive praise from President Donald Trump last week for pledging 400 troops to the Guard’s third large-scale border mission since 2006. But the Democratic governor conditioned his commitment on troops having nothing to do with immigration enforcement, even in a supporting role.
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Brown’s announcement last week did not address what specific jobs the California Guard would and would not do and how state officials would distinguish work related to immigration from other aspects of border enforcement, such as fighting criminal gangs and drug and gun smuggling.
Brown’s offer of troops for the mission that Trump wants up to 4,000 troops to perform is still in place. But state authorities told federal officials late last week that the California Guard will not perform tasks in an initial rollout planned for all four border states, according to officials with knowledge of the talks who spoke condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Those jobs include fixing and maintaining vehicles, using remote-control surveillance cameras to report suspicious activity to U.S. border patrol agents, operating radios and providing “mission support,” which can include clerical work, buying gas and handling payroll, the officials said. California National Guard members have done such work in previous border deployments.
Talks are ongoing and the federal government has yet to publicly respond to Brown’s demand that troops avoid immigration enforcement or the state’s position on avoiding the specific jobs proposed, the officials said.
The federal government also proposed that troops provide air support in a second phase of the border-wide rollout, which includes aerial surveillance and flying agents to remote locations, but California officials have not responded to that request, the officials said.
Republican governors from the three other border states — Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — have openly embraced the Trump administration’s plans and specific tasks for guard members sent to the border with Mexico. Texas National Guard members are already doing aerial and ground surveillance. Officials with Arizona’s National Guard said last week that its troops will provide air and ground support
Brown’s commitment allowed Trump to boast support from all four border-state governors and helped put the president above the lower end of his threshold of marshaling 2,000 to 4,000 troops that he wants as a border security mission to fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Keegan said Monday that the state was awaiting a formal response from the administration and had no additional details beyond the governor’s proposed agreement released last week that includes a ban on immigration enforcement.
Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor, did not immediately answer detailed questions about the California’s position on specific jobs that the Trump administration has proposed, like ground surveillance and vehicle repairs.
Brown last week characterized his decision to contribute troops as a welcome infusion of federally-funded support to fight transnational criminal gangs and drug and firearms smugglers. According to one U.S. official, the California Guard has suggested assigning about 40 troops to marijuana eradication across the state.
Talks between U.S. and California officials about the duties the California troops would perform soured Friday and over the weekend after state authorities told them they would not participate in the initial tasks proposed for California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the U.S. officials said.
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Harry Anderson, ‘Night Court’ Actor Who Bottled Magic On Screen and Off, Dies at 65
April 17, 2018 by admin
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“Night Court” was nominated for 31 Emmys and won seven. John Larroquette, Markie Post, Richard Moll, Charles Robinson and Marsha Warfield starred alongside Mr. Anderson.
Judge Harry Stone shared more than a first name with the actor who played him: Both the character and the man donned colorful ties, were magicians at heart and were superfans of the jazz great Mel Tormé, known as the Velvet Fog, who made several guest appearances on “Night Court.” Mr. Anderson was a eulogist at Mr. Tormé’s funeral in 1999.
While he earned critical acclaim and amassed a devoted fan base on “Night Court,” Mr. Anderson never fancied himself an actor. “I’m a magician, or a performer, by nature, and that’s always what I’ve been,” Mr. Anderson told WGN-TV in Chicago in 2014.
“I was never really an actor,” he said. “I was a magician who fell into a part on ‘Cheers.’”
His role as the swindler Harry (the Hat) Gittes on “Cheers” — he appeared in six episodes, four in the first two seasons — led to his break on “Night Court” after he impressed the legendary television executive Brandon Tartikoff.
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Even Harry the Hat echoed Mr. Anderson’s real life. In 1985, he told People magazine that he used to run a classic street hustle, the shell game, in San Francisco, where, at 21 years old, he had his jaw broken by an opponent who was livid at the game’s outcome.
Mr. Anderson, one of three children, was born on Oct. 14, 1952, in Newport, R.I., and spent much of his childhood on the move, often performing on the streets for money, he told People. By 16, he had lived in many cities including Chicago, New York, St. Louis and New Orleans. He landed in California at 16 years old and from there found success as a comic magician, which opened the door to his acting career.
About his mother, he said to People: “She was a hustler, yeah. She did a lot of things. We moved around a lot, and she had a lot of men friends.”
His childhood, though, was not bad, he said, adding that his dubious background should not be viewed any differently from his mother’s. “I respect my mother; she was very concerned with taking care of us,” he said. “She did what needed to be done to try to keep us together. People find my criminal days amusing, but they find her background shocking. I don’t draw any line.”
Mr. Anderson told People that his father was a salesman who was mostly absent from his life, and that he had not seen him for 15 years before his death.
Mr. Anderson is survived by his wife, the former Elizabeth Morgan, and two children from his first marriage, to Leslie Pollack: Eva Fay Anderson and Dashiell Anderson. Information about other survivors was not immediately available.
Before “Night Court,” Mr. Anderson appeared on “Saturday Night Live” several times. He hosted the show at the height of his fame, in 1985.
After “Night Court,” he played the newspaper columnist Dave Barry on the comedy “Dave’s World,” which ran on CBS from 1993 to 1997. In 2008, he appeared in an episode of “30 Rock” titled “The One With the Cast of ‘Night Court.’”
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In 2000, Mr. Anderson and his wife, Elizabeth, moved to New Orleans, eager to return to his roots. They opened the nightclub Oswald’s Speakeasy, where he performed, as well as a magic and curiosity shop, Sideshow.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, though, tourism flagged and they were not able to keep their businesses alive.
The Andersons discussed their decision with The New York Times in 2006, the year they moved to Asheville.
“I had more people in my car last night,” Mr. Anderson said, a reference to the thin crowd at Oswald’s.
He and his wife had also become captive to the depression that affected many in New Orleans at the time, Mr. Anderson said. Despite efforts to support their community — Mr. Anderson opened his club for what he called French Quarter Town Hall meetings — and maintain their businesses, they decided to call it quits.
“I’m glad we tried to stay,” he said, “but I don’t want to be the person I will be if I stay here.”
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