WEATHER FORECAST FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY 9TH, 1018

TODAY – MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGH NEAR 80.

TONIGHT – PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. THUNDERSTORMS
LIKELY. LOW – 61.

THURSDAY – MORE THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY.
HIGH – 71.

Trump announces US will exit nuclear accord with Iran
By JOSH LEDERMAN and CATHERINE LUCEY, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday the U.S. will pull out of the landmark nuclear accord with Iran, declaring he was making the world safer but dealing a profound blow to allies and deepening the president’s isolation on the world stage.
“The United States does not make empty threats,” he said in a televised address from the White House.
Trump said the 2015 agreement, which included Germany, France and Britain, was a “horrible one-sided deal that should never ever have been made.” He added that the United States “will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction.”
Trump’s decision means Iran’s government must now decide whether to follow the U.S. and withdraw or try to salvage what’s left of the deal. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said he was sending his foreign minister to the countries remaining in the accord but warned there was only a short time to negotiate with them and his country could soon “start enriching uranium more than before.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country, Britain and Germany all regretted Trump’s decision.
The administration said it will re-impose nuclear sanctions on Iran immediately but allow grace periods for businesses to wind down activity.
The Treasury Department said there will be “certain 90-day and 180-day wind-down periods” but didn’t specify which sanctions would fall under which timelines. Treasury says at the end of those periods, the sanctions will be in “full effect.”
National Security Adviser John Bolton said nobody should sign contracts for new business with Iran.
In his remarks, Trump blasted the deal as “defective at its core.” As evidence, he cited documents recently released by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a leading critic of the deal.
Netanyahu unveiled documents seized by Israeli intelligence showed Iran had attempted to develop a nuclear bomb in the previous decade, especially before 2003. Although he gave no explicit evidence that Iran violated the 2015 deal, he said Iran had clearly lied in the past and could not be trusted. Iran has denied ever pursuing nuclear arms
The Iran agreement, struck in 2015 by the United States, other world powers and Iran, lifted most U.S. and international sanctions against the country. In return, Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear program making it impossible to produce a bomb, along with rigorous inspections.
In a burst of last-minute diplomacy, punctuated by a visit by Britain’s top diplomat, the deal’s European members gave in to many of Trump’s demands, according to officials, diplomats and others briefed on the negotiations. Yet they still left convinced he was likely to re-impose sanctions.
Trump spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese leader Xi Jinping about his decision Tuesday. The British foreign secretary traveled to Washington this week to make a last-minute pitch to the U.S. to remain in the deal, according to a senior British diplomat. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the British objective will remain to uphold and maintain the deal.
Hours before the announcement, European countries met to underline their support for the agreement. Senior officials from Britain, France and Germany met in Brussels with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Abbas Araghchi.
If the deal collapses, Iran would be free to resume prohibited enrichment activities, while businesses and banks doing business with Iran would have to scramble to extricate themselves or run afoul of the U.S. American officials were dusting off plans for how to sell a pullout to the public and explain its complex financial ramifications.
In Iran, many were deeply concerned about how Trump’s decision could affect the already struggling economy. In Tehran, President Hassan Rouhani sought to calm nerves, smiling as he appeared at a petroleum expo. He didn’t name Trump directly, but emphasized that Iran continued to seek “engagement with the world.”
“It is possible that we will face some problems for two or three months, but we will pass through this,” Rouhani said.
Under the most likely scenario, Trump would allow sanctions on Iran’s central bank — intended to target oil exports — to kick back in, rather than waiving them once again on Saturday, the next deadline for renewal, said individuals briefed on Trump’s deliberations. Then the administration would give those who are doing business with Iran a six-month period to wind down business and avoid breaching those sanctions.
Depending on how Trump sells it — either as an irreversible U.S. pullout, or one final chance to save it — the deal could be strengthened during those six months in a last-ditch effort to persuade Trump to change his mind. The first 15 months of Trump’s presidency have been filled with many such “last chances” for the Iran deal in which he’s punted the decision for another few months, and then another.
Even Trump’s secretary of state and the U.N. agency that monitors nuclear compliance agree that Iran, so far, has lived up to its side of the deal. But the deal’s critics, such as Israel, the Gulf Arab states and many Republicans, say it’s a giveaway to Tehran that ultimately paves the path to a nuclear-armed Iran several years in the future.
Iran, for its part, has been coy in predicting its response to a Trump withdrawal. For weeks, Iran’s foreign minister had been saying that a re-imposition of U.S. sanctions would render the deal null and void, leaving Tehran little choice but to abandon it as well. But on Monday, Rouhani said Iran could stick with it if the European Union, whose economies do far more business with Iran than the U.S., offers guarantees that Iran would keep benefiting.
For the Europeans, Trump’s withdrawal constitutes dispiriting proof that trying to appease him is futile.
Although the U.S. and Europeans made progress on ballistic missiles and inspections, there were disagreements over extending the life of the deal and how to trigger additional penalties if Iran were found violating the new restrictions, U.S. officials and European diplomats have said. The Europeans agreed to yet more concessions in the final days of negotiating ahead of Trump’s decision, the officials added.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Jill Colvin, Zeke Miller and Ken Thomas in Washington and Amir Vahdat and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

MANY LOCAL SENIORS ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE $20 VOUCHERS FOR THE BEAVER COUNTY FARMERS MARKETS. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

ABOUT 50 PEOPLE TURNED OUT FOR THE ‘IT’S NOT JUST POT” COMMUNITY DRUG FORUM AT CCBC LAST NIGHT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS THERE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

A woman is covered in bruises after she said a random man assaulted her while she took her dog out in Monaca. The unidentified victim told police the man came out of nowhere, wearing a mask and dark clothing, and attacked her. The Army vet and volunteer firefighter had to go to the emergency room. Police are investigating. So far, no leads.

YESTERDAY’S HOUSE FIRE IN ALIQUIPPA WASN’T THE ONLY BLAZE THAT KEPT FIREFIGHTERS BUSY IN THE CITY YESTERDAY. AS BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO TELLS US ABOUT A FIRE AT BEAVER ELDER CARE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

WEATHER FORECAST FOR TUESDAY, MAY 8TH, 2018

TODAY – MOSTLY SUNNY. A SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM
IS POSSIBLE. HIGH – 76.

TONIGHT – MOSTLY CLEAR. LOW – 56.

WEDNESDAY – MOSTLY SUNNY. ANOTHER POSSIBILITY OF
A SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM.
HIGH NEAR 80.

Iran-Contra figure Oliver North named president of the NRA
By LISA MARIE PANE, Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Retired Lt. Col. Oliver North’s appointment as the next president of the National Rifle Association gives some star power to the gun lobby but also inspires disdain by gun-control advocates who call it a tone-deaf move that shows an unwillingness to find solutions to gun violence.
North, long a popular speaker before the NRA and other conservative groups, is being appointed at a time when the nation is roiled in debate about gun laws following several high-profile mass shootings that have tested the public’s support for the Second Amendment.
North, 74, the Marine at the center of the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s and a darling of the right, will be the biggest celebrity to lead the 5-million-member gun lobby since Hollywood leading man Charlton Heston, who famously declared in 2000 that his guns would have to be taken “from my cold, dead hands.”
“Oliver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader,” NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said.
Momentum for gun control has been building since the mass shooting in Las Vegas last fall that killed 58 people and the Feb. 14 rampage at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 dead.
North was picked Monday by the NRA’s board of directors, which elects a president every two years. He’s expected to assume office within the next several weeks. North succeeds Pete Brownell, who did not seek a second term.
LaPierre remains as vice president and chief executive, running the powerful group’s day-to-day operations. North will lead the board, and NRA observers say they anticipate he will take on a more public role in the style of Heston, a fiery presence who used his acting background to energize members.
North was a military aide to the National Security Council during the Reagan administration in the 1980s when he emerged into the spotlight for his role in arranging the secret sale of weapons to Iran and the diversion of the proceeds to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
He was convicted in 1989 of obstructing Congress during its investigation, destroying government documents and accepting an illegal gratuity. Those convictions were overturned in 1991.
With his crisp military bearing and teary-eyed testimony before Congress, North came to be regarded as an earnest American patriot by many on the right, and he went on to run for office, write several books and serve as a commentator on Fox News.
In a statement, North said he was honored to be selected and “eager to hit the ground running.”
North’s appointment was hailed by gun-rights supporters who consider him a warrior who will vigorously battle efforts to restrict access to firearms. Gun-control advocates called his appointment symptomatic of an NRA tone-deaf and unwilling to seek solutions to gun violence.
“The election of Oliver North is the clearest sign yet that the NRA is floundering in the face of plummeting popularity, scrutiny into its Russia ties, and state lawmakers who are defying the gun lobby left and right,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “The NRA doesn’t need a new leader_it needs an entirely new direction.”
Said Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign: “For an organization so concerned with law and order, picking a new leader who admitted that he lied to Congress is a truly remarkable decision.” The gun lobby, Gardiner said, “will be led by a man whose own concealed carry permit was revoked because he was ‘not of good character.'”
Robert J. Spitzer, chairman of political science at the State University of New York at Cortland and an expert on guns and the Second Amendment, called North the closest thing the NRA has to a celebrity.
“And maybe they figure they need a more prominent person at the helm, as opposed to the string of relative unknowns who have served in recent years,” Spitzer said.
Heston, who died in 2008, served from 1998 to 2003. In 2000, he sought to rally NRA supporters against Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, warning that Gore was going to “slander you as gun-toting, knuckle-dragging, bloodthirsty maniacs.”
Hoisting a flintlock rifle, Heston declared: “From my cold, dead hands!”
It was a time similar to today, an election following a high-profile mass shooting — the one at Columbine high school in 1999.