Midday Roundup: Obama makes final appeal to close Gitmo

Last chance. President Barack Obama is making a final push to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, attempting to fulfill a campaign promise he made eight years ago. According to a Pentagon analysis released this morning, the prisoners remaining at the remote base could be moved safely to one of 13 facilities in the United States, although the report does not recommend a specific location. Renovating an existing facility to safely contain the terror suspects could cost as much as $475 million, but the Pentagon estimates it could recoup that investment in five years by saving as much as $85 million a year in operational costs. Obama is using the cost-savings as an incentive to win Republican support for the plan. The president cannot move the prisoners to U.S. soil without congressional approval. The prison now houses 91 detainees. Of those, 35 are eligible to be transferred to another country, 10 are awaiting trial in military courts, and 46 are still being evaluated.

Searching for a motive. Jason Brian Dalton, the Uber driver charged with killing six people in a late-night Saturday rampage in Kalamazoo, Mich., has admitted to the killings but has not offered any explanation about what made him do it. Investigators are focusing on establishing a timeline of what happened, including what Dalton did between the seemingly random attacks. According to one customer who hired Dalton that night, he was driving a different car than the one police eventually apprehended him in. Dalton visited a gun store earlier that day, buying a heavy-duty jacket designed to conceal a handgun. The store owner described Dalton as a regular customer and said he didn’t do anything that would have raised concern or suspicion. Police found 11 rifles at Dalton’s home, but they believe he used a semi-automatic pistol during the shooting spree. Dalton was a married father of two.

Blood money. After receiving millions of dollars in ransom, Islamic State (ISIS) militants released the last of more than 200 Assyrian Christians kidnapped a year ago in Syria. Many of the kidnapped Christians were women and children who now are on their way to a northeastern town in Syria. Younan Talia of the Assyrian Democratic Organization said ISIS demanded $18 million for the Christians’ release, but he believes the final ransom was negotiated to a lower amount. Donations for the ransom reportedly came from all over the world, although businessmen and the Assyrian Church contributed large sums. The extremists kidnapped 230 Assyrians—part of an ancient Christian sect—in February 2015, after overrunning several communities in northeastern Syria. The group has been using kidnapping and ransom demands as a major source of income. Meanwhile in Iraq, Kurdish forces rescued a Swedish teenager who traveled to Syria last year to join ISIS. The Swedish government and the girl’s family had appealed to the Kurds to help bring her home. After arriving in Syria, the 16-year-old later crossed into Iraq. She was found near ISIS strongholds in Mosul.

Placing political bets. Nevada Republicans get their say today in selecting the next GOP presidential nominee. Nevada awards its delegates proportionally, so a first place finish isn’t critical, but it remains the goal of top Republican contenders. The most recent major poll of likely voters suggests Donald Trump is a heavy favorite, with 39 percent support. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has 23 percent, with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., at 19 percent. But those numbers came out before former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dropped out of the race last week and before Trump praised abortion giant Planned Parenthood again during the last GOP debate. As the race heats up, the candidates’ personal attacks are getting sillier. Cruz fired his communications director, Rick Tyler, after he released a video purporting to show Rubio telling a Cruz staffer carrying a Bible that the book contained few answers. In fact, Rubio told the staffer, whom he encountered in a hotel lobby, the Bible contained all the answers. Cruz called Tyler’s decision to post the video to social media a “grave error in judgment.” Follow the results tonight from Nevada at WORLD’s Election Center ’16.

WORLD Radio’s Kristen Eicher and Kent Covington contributed to this report.