14 people slain in San Bernardino identified:
Arlen Verdehyou, the husband of Bennetta Betbadal, had nothing but sweet memories to share about his wife, one of the 14 people killed in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
Betbadal, 46, moved to the United States from Iran when she was 18 to escape religious persecution. She first settled in New York, but eventually moved to California. She and her husband had three children.
“Everything she touched bloomed,” Verdehyou told CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360˚” on Thursday, one day after the shooting. “She went above and beyond.”
He spoke the same day the San Bernardino County Coroner released the names of those killed at a health department holiday party at a government conference center. Twenty-one people were wounded.
U.S. military opens combat positions to women:
All U.S. military combat positions are being opened up to women, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Thursday.
The decision allows women to fill about 220,000 jobs that are now limited to men — including infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units.
“This means that as long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before. They’ll be able to drive tanks, give orders, lead infantry soldiers into combat,” Carter said at a news conference Thursday.
Senate sends highway, Export-Import Bank bill to Obama’s desk:
The Senate gave final congressional approval Thursday night to a long-term highway and transit construction bill and sent it to the President to be signed in to law.
The vote was 83-16.
The measure also revives the Export-Import Bank whose charter expired earlier this year after some conservative Republicans targeted it as a waste of government money.
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source: CNN.com
