Standoff in Dallas, Obama Blocked on Trade

Standoff: Police were negotiating this morning with a man holed up in an armored car after shots were fired at the Dallas police headquarters. Early reports say several gunmen were involved but witnesses have been unable to provide a reliable number.

The front of the police building is pocked with bullet holes and the cops say they found two explosive devices, one of them under a police car.

The man in the armored car has been identified as James Boulware, 50, who has a history of family violence and says he blames authorities for losing custody of his son, Chief David Brown said.

Jammed: House Democrats handed President Obama an embarrassing defeat shooting down his appeal for expanded power to negotiate trade deals. The Democrats voted to kill a bill that would have provided assistance to people who lose their jobs because of international trade and with it the bill to give the president the authority to negotiate trade deals that can’t be altered by Congress.

It means that the Pacific deal that Obama hoped would be a big part of his legacy might also go into the dumpster. But Republicans are likely to take another shot at getting the trade bills passed.

WaterWorld: In the midst of a water crisis, the California legislature voted to cut water use by farmers. Water rights are a third rail of western politics, like Congress and Social Security.

Organizations and people who hold some of the oldest water rights in the state are being told they can’t take water from the drought dried rivers in the Central Valley, including the San Joaquin and Sacramento. It’s been 40 years since the state has taken such extreme measures.

In Stitches: A state prison worker has been arrested and charged with helping two murderers escape. Joyce Mitchell, who worked in the Clinton prison tailor shop near the Canadian border, is accused of providing the two men with hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit. They may also have had power tools. Investigators say she was supposed to drive David Sweat and Richard Matt to safety after they escaped, but got cold feet. Mitchell is married to another prison employee who is also under scrutiny.

Hundreds of police officers are still searching for the escaped men.

The Sports Page: The US battled Sweden to a scoreless tie yesterday in the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament in Winnipeg. “It was like two heavyweights going at it,” American coach Jill Ellis said. “Both teams left it all on the field.

The Obit Page: Dusty Rhodes, the burly professional wrestler who billed himself as “The American Dream,” has died at age 69.

He was a big presence and verbally colorful: “I’m gonna rip off his head and dance down his tonsils.”

Rhodes also refused to admit to his own children that big time wrestling was fake. When the Four Horsemen “broke” his leg he actually wore a cast and used crutches at home so his sons would believe it was real.

Travel and Resorts: Four foreign tourists have been fined for stripping off their clothes and posing naked on top of what is held as a sacred mountain in Malaysia. One government official said the mountain was so angry it caused an earthquake. A tribal elder said the tourists “should be fined 10 head of buffalo,” something every backpacker from Europe and North America is likely to have handy.

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