Midday Roundup: Attack of the killer dolphins

A bridge too far. President Barack Obama doesn’t think Congress can bridge its differences on taxes and spending in time to reach a budget deal this year, according to comments he made during an interview on ABC News. The president said he would still try to reach out to Republicans, but he rejected Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, saying it balanced the nation’s budget on the backs of the poor. Obama has a lunch meeting today with House Republicans.

Virtual threats. The nation’s top intelligence officials said yesterday cyberattacks and cyberspying now pose a greater risk than al-Qaeda and other militant terrorist groups. Cyberterrorism experts have accused China of orchestrating recent attacks on American companies and institutions, a threat the U.S. government acknowledged last week. Thomas Donilon, the president’s national security advisor, said China’s attacks are “a key point of concern” for the White House.

Unpopular proposal. Minnesota legislators in the state House and Senate passed a bill legalizing same-sex “marriage” out of committee on Tuesday evening, paving the way for the measure to get a full vote in the coming weeks. In a recent poll taken by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, 53 percent of Minnesotans said they did not support same-sex “marriage.” Only 38 percent of those who responded said the state should approve the measure.

Resignation. Florida’s lieutenant governor, the state’s highest-ranking female politician and the first African-American elected to statewide office, resigned today. Jennifer Carroll’s former public relations firm once represented an internet cafe company now under investigation for illegal gambling. Carroll is not accused of wrongdoing but wanted to avoid distracting from the state investigation, the governor’s chief of staff said.

Flipper gone wrong. A Ukrainian newspaper managed to fool several American news outlets, including The Atlantic Wire and The Huffington Post, with reports of killer dolphins roaming European waters. The story claimed the Ukrainian Navy had trained several dolphins equipped with knives and pistols strapped to their heads to attack enemy divers and detect mines. The dolphins allegedly escaped from their handlers in search of mates. The Ukrainian government denies the claims. American news outlets have retracted and apologized for their reports, but the newspaper with the shocking exclusive is sticking by its story.