1. According to CNN, The country crashes into the debt ceiling at midnight, and there is no deal yet in Washington. The deal-making resumes Wednesday, and there is hope, as the government slides into day 16 of the shutdown. Legislators dropped hints on their way home Tuesday that Senate leaders will present a deal to raise the debt ceiling and reopen the partially shuttered government. And a Republican member of the House of Representatives is holding out hope that Speaker John Boehner could put it on a fast track. After adjourning the Senate for the night around 10 p.m. Tuesday, majority leader Sen. Harry Reid sounded upbeat. "We're in good shape," the Nevada Democrat said. Senate staffers burned midnight oil to draft a framework bill, and a spokesman for Reid said he and his counterpart, minority leader, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, "are optimistic that an agreement is within reach." The Senate isn't in session until noon Wednesday, but it's possible that statements may go out in the morning in an effort to assure the markets of progress. 2. According to USA Today, A typhoon caused deadly mudslides that buried people and destroyed homes on a Japanese island Wednesday before sweeping up the Pacific coast, grounding hundreds of flights and disrupting Tokyo's transportation during the morning rush. At least 14 deaths were reported and more than 50 people were missing. Hardest hit was Izu Oshima island about 75 miles south of Tokyo. Rescuers found 13 bodies, most of them buried by mudslides, police and town officials said. Dozens of homes were destroyed, and more than 50 people are missing. "We have no idea how bad the extent of damage could be," town official Hinani Uematsu said. More than 350 homes have been damaged or destroyed, including 283 on Izu Oshima. Typhoon Wipha, which stayed offshore in the Pacific, had sustained winds of 78 mph. More than 30 inches of rain fell on Izu Oshima during a 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning, a record since record keeping began in 1991. 3. According to Religion News Service, The new movie "12 Years a Slave" may depict a bygone era in American history, but religious leaders hope it might spark increased attention about present-day race relations. "It is the elephant in the room," said the Rev. Barbara Williams-Skinner, a facilitator of the National African American Clergy Network, speaking at a panel discussion after a recent screening. "If you even raise race today, you are 'race baiting.' You're playing 'the race card,'" said Williams-Skinner, who is also the CEO of the Skinner Leadership Institute. The movie gives an unflinching account of the true story of Solomon Northup, a free man living in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., who was kidnapped and spent a dozen years as a slave in the South, wrongly accused of being a Georgia runaway. Clergy and activists hope the movie that opens Friday (Oct. 18) -- with its depiction of whippings and other degradation -- will be a catalyst for churches to recall slavery and address the current state of the nation's race relations. They point to controversies from the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin to the Supreme Court striking down a major provision of the Voting Rights Act. Sojourners, the Washington-based anti-poverty group, will be circulating "The One Church One Body Pledge" in hopes of starting a new conversation to improve race relations. It urges supporters to seek racial reconciliation and help the church become "a multiracial community." It calls on them to "repair our criminal justice system" and urge Congress to "restore the integrity of the Voting Rights Act."

• published: 09 Feb 2014
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