New Zealand Miracle: Woman Saved After Spending 27 Hours Under Earthquake Rubble (Time.com)

New Zealand rescuers pulled out a woman alive who had been trapped in rubble for over 24 hours after a massive 6.3 Christchurch earthquake left at least 75 people dead on Tuesday. (Read more about the intial reports from the disaster.)
Ann Bodkin was rescued from the collapsed Pyne Gould Corporation building in the early afternoon, approximately 27 hours after the earthquake struck the city. She had been trapped under her desk, and luckily, had no injuries.
Originally, rescuers thought Bodkin was another victim, an Australian woman named Ann Voss, who has been in contact with people under the rubble on her cell phone. Voss, however, has not been found. Approximately 300 people remain missing on Wednesday as rescuers continue their work. (Read about more about the recent Christchurch earthquake.)
It took three hours for rescuers to reach Bodkin through the debris of the four-story building, guided by her tapping through a wall. Her husband was waiting next to the debris when they managed to pull her out. "I was told to get myself down here because she was asking for me. I didn't break any speed limits but I got here pretty quickly," he told Shepparton News. (See pictures of the earthquake damage in Christchurch.)
Yesterday's earthquake comes close on the heels of another major quake in Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island just five months ago. Though that earthquake, which struck near dawn in September, was stronger, no one was killed; the high number of fatalities in this week's unfolding tragedy have been attributed to the fact that it occurred in the late morning on a weekday.
The September earthquake is estimated to have caused over $3 billion in damages. There is no official figure yet about the cost of this week's disaster, but New Zealand Prime Minister's estimates that it will be at least another $3 billion in damages, while Australian companies are estimating the final tally will be closer to $12 billion. (See pictures of the damage from the September 2010 Christchurch earthquake.)
New Zealand's deadliest earthquake was the Hawke's Bay earthquake in 1931. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake killed 256 people on the nation's North Island. The more recent Christchurch earthquake happened along a fault line that was previously unknown until recently.
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NY City to fire teachers, cut capital spending (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday unveiled a $65.6 billion budget plan for fiscal year 2012 that calls for firing 4,666 teachers and reducing capital spending 10 percent over the next decade.
Bloomberg blamed an approximately $4.4 billion reduction in aid from the state and the U.S. government for painful cuts that have already provoked a clash with school teachers and are certain to draw opposition from other public sector unions.
"The future does have some clouds," Bloomberg, a political independent, told a news conference.
New York City has withstood the recession better than many cities across the country, in part because Wall Street rebounded quickly from the 2008 financial crisis. For the second year in a row, Bloomberg has cut spending. The new budget plan is $300 million less than the current budget.
Bloomberg said the city was creating jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the country, had benefited from a record 48.7 million visitors in 2010, and that its commercial real estate market remained the strongest in the country.
That should help lead to an additional $2 billion in revenue over the next year half than previously forecast.
Even so, the city plans to lay off 4,666 of its 75,000 public school teachers and reduce a further 1,500 teaching jobs by attrition. Another 1,000 to 1,300 workers at other city agencies also will lose their jobs.
Bloomberg said his plan, which requires City Council approval, closes a $4.58 billion budget deficit without tax or fee increases.
Capital spending, which is separate from the operating budget and financed largely by borrowing, would be cut 10 percent over the next decade, realizing savings of about $6 billion. Bloomberg said he had considered a 20 percent cut but was talked out of it by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Quinn, a Democrat, said she might try to restore some programs after Bloomberg proposed cuts in aid to disabled children, subsidies for adoptions, services for juveniles and the homeless.
The budget battle is a prelude to a separate conflict over which teachers to fire. Bloomberg wants those decisions made on merit rather than seniority but the state would have to agree.
"His complete insistence on teacher layoffs seems bizarre to us at this point. We think it's more of a political game and scaring people," Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, told NY1 television.
Bloomberg suggested he was free to take on public-sector unions now that he no longer will seek re-election.
"I have nothing to lose, I suppose is a nice way to phrase it," the billionaire mayor said.
"These are problems that never get solved because there is no short-term benefit to solving them. But that's why I ran for a third term," he said.
The mayor also pleaded with state legislators in Albany to allow him to negotiate pension benefits with city employees in order to slow growth in the city's contribution to the pension funds, which he said would otherwise increase from $7 billion this year to $8.4 billion next year.
City workers negotiate those benefits with the state.
(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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House GOP unveils $61B spending cut plan (AP)

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent – Fri Feb 11, 11:41 pm ET

WASHINGTON – House Republicans called for cuts in hundreds of programs across the face of government Friday night in a $61 billion savings package toughened at the last minute at the demand of tea party-backed conservatives.

From education to job training, the environment and nutrition, few domestic programs were left untouched — and some were eliminated — in the measure, which is expected to reach the floor for a vote next week.

Among the programs targeted for elimination are Americorps and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In contrast, spending on defense and veterans' programs were protected.

The measure marks an initial down payment by newly empowered Republicans on their promise to rein in federal deficits and reduce the size of government.

In a statement, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called the measure "a historic effort to get our fiscal house in order and restore certainty to the economy. .This legislation will mark the largest spending cut in modern history and will help restore confidence so that people can get back to work."

Democrats harshly criticized the bill within moments of its formal unveiling, signaling the onset of weeks of partisan struggle over spending priorities.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement calling the bill irresponsible, adding that it would "target critical education programs like Head Start, halt innovation and disease research, end construction projects to rebuild America and take cops off the beat."

But first-term Republican conservatives claimed victory after forcing their own leadership to expand the measure after rejecting an earlier draft as too timid.

"$100 billion is $100 billion is $100 billion," said Rep. Tim Scott R-S.C., referring to amount the revised package would cut from President Barack Obama's budget request of a year ago.

That was the amount contained in the Republican "Pledge to America" in last fall's campaign, and when party leaders initially suggested a smaller package of cuts this week, many of the 87-member freshman class who have links to the tea party rebelled.

In fact, even some Republicans acknowledged privately the legislation will cut about $61 billion from current spending on domestic spending.

Some of the largest cuts would be borne by WIC, which provides nutritional support for women and infants, cut by $747 million, and training and employment grants to the states, ticketed for a $1.4 billion reduction.

In addition, Republicans proposed a 43 percent cut in border security fencing and a 53 percent reduction in an account used to fund cleanup of the Great Lakes.

The measure also asserts Republican priorities in several contentious areas.

It prohibits the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from terminating plans for a nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada — a direct challenge to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid dissented quickly, issuing a statement that said, "Any attempt to restart the Yucca Mountain project will not happen on my watch as Senate majority leader."

The Environmental Protection Agency would be banned from regulating greenhouse gases, linked to global warming, from fixed sources such as factories. The District of Columbia could not use federal funds to run a needle-exchange program for drug users.

While a 48-hour revolt by tea party-backed conservatives roiled the party this week, its conclusion could mean an easier path to passage for the spending cut bill when it reaches the House floor.

"The leadership responded to the concerns of those who are far to the right of the middle," said Scott.

The cuts will become part of a spending bill that is needed to keep the government in operation through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. The current funding authority expires on March 4.

Passage in the Republican-controlled House would send the bill to the Senate, where Democrats control a majority and are certain to support more generous funding levels.

Barring a compromise before March 4, the two houses will be under pressure to agree on a short-term bill to keep the federal government operating without interruptions.

Even that could prove difficult, though, and Democrats assert that Republicans will resort to a government shutdown to get their way.

"It is time for the House Republicans to stop with the games and finally rule out a government shutdown once and for all," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "Stop being coy about it and take it off the table."

Congressional Republicans were damaged politically in 1995 when a protracted dispute over funding with President Bill Clinton led to a government shutdown.

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Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

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