Usher's stepson declared brain dead after being hit by Jet Ski

Officials are currently investigating the cause of the horrific crash, which injured a 15-year-old girl, along with Kyle Glover, 11, son of Usher's wife, Tameka Foster.

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Usher and former wife Tameka Raymond pose for photos with their children, including Kyle Glover, third from the left.

Usher's celebrity pals showed an outpouring of support on Twitter following the singer's terrible tragedy this past weekend.

The singer's 11-year-old stepson Kyle Glover has been declared brain dead after he and a 15-year-old gal pal were admitted to a hospital following a boating accident Friday, TMZ reports.

The pair were floating on inner tubes in Georgia's Lake Lanier Friday when a Jet Ski struck the two youngsters.

Glover, whose mother is Usher's ex-wife Tameka Foster, was reportedly struck in the head and was knocked unconscious, according to Department of Natural Resources Sergeant Mike Burgamy.

The girl also suffered serious injuries.

Both children were immediately airlifted to Children's Healthcare at Egelston Hospital in Atlanta.

"Everyone PLEASE pray for Usher and Tameka's son! This is the time they really need your prayers," singer Fantasia tweeted Saturday.

"Praying that Usher and Tameka's son is ok..." Russell Simmons added.

The cause of the horrific incident is still under investigation, which could take months to complete, according to TMZ.

So far, officials have ruled out alcohol as a factor in the accident, but Robin Hill, a rep for the Department of Natural Resources (Wildlife Resources Division) tells the site that they will recreate the accident using special computer programs to determine the details.

Based on the results, Usher could choose to press charges over the accident.

TMZ reports that despite their ongoing bitter divorce battle, Usher hired a private jet to bring Foster to her injured son.

The former couple have two children together - Usher Raymond V, 4, and Naviyd, 3.

jchen@nydailynews.com

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President Obama calls on Congress to renew middle class tax cuts in populist campaign gambit Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/president-obama-calls-congress-renew-middle-class-tax-cuts-populist-campaign-gambit-article-1.1110590#ixzz20A25coyp

Republican rival Mitt Romney insists Obama wants to raise taxes for most Americans

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President Obama calls on Congress Monday to pass a temporary, one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for people who make less than $250,000 a year.

WASHINGTON - Hurling the populist gauntlet once more against Mitt Romney and wealthy Republicans, President Obama agreed Monday to extend his predecessor's tax cuts until the end of next year - but only for wage earners making less than a quarter-million dollars a year.

"It's time to let tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, folks like myself, to expire," Obama said, surrounded by middle-class taxpayers and small-business owners in the East Room.

"We don't need more top-down economics, we've tried that theory," Obama added, referring to GOP claims that lower taxes on the wealthy will stimulate hiring, reduce huge budget deficits and bring prosperity to all taxpayers.

ROMNEY CRUSHES OBAMA WITH $106.1 MILLION IN FUNDRAISING IN JUNE

'The money we're spending on these tax cuts for the wealthy are a major driver of our deficit," he argued in 12-minute remarks. "We can't afford to keep that up, not right now."

Obama said his proposal would cut taxes on 98% of all American workers and 97% of small business owners, who Republicans argue create most of the new jobs in the economy.

"So this isn't about tax job creators, this is about helping job creators," he argued, anticipating Republican talking points.

Even before the President spoke, the Romney campaign issued a blistering comeback, denouncing Obama's proposal as another "job-killing tax increase" punishing small business owners critical to turning the struggling economy around.

"President Obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase," Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul said in a pre-buttal statement. "It just proves again that the President doesn't have a clue how to get America working again and help the middle class.

"The President's latest bad idea is to raise taxes on families, job creators, and small businesses. Almost half a million fewer Americans are working today than the day Barack Obama took office, and we've just come through the worst job creation quarter in two years.

"Unlike President Obama, Gov. Romney understands that the last thing we need to do in this economy is raise taxes on anyone," Saul added.

In 2009, Obama reluctantly agreed to extend President George W. Bush's tax cuts until the end of this year as part of a budget and debt-reduction deal with Republican congressional leaders.

Both sides conceded Monday this new proposal isn't going anywhere - at least for now. Because of the weak economic recovery, political insiders believe Bush's tax cuts must be extended for at least another year to avoid producing a recession.

But both sides will wait until after the November election to decide how to proceed; it's widely assumed some compromise will be hammered out by a lame-duck session of Congress before Obama or Romney is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2013.

Meanwhile, strategists for both combatants contend they can leverage Obama's latest middle-class idea to their advantage.

Obama strategists believe they can reinforce the image of Romney and the Republicans as out-of-touch fatcats hostile to the average American. "Most Americans may aspire to be rich some day, but they also believe in basic fairness for everyone, not just the big guys," a Democratic strategist said.

Romney agents, however, maintain they can paint Obama's some-but-not-all tax cut idea as an ill-timed class-warfare ploy that will cripple an already-limping recovery and throw even more Americans out of work. They also say it will underscore a major GOP attack line - that Obama never met a tax increase he didn't loved.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election-2012/president-obama-calls-congress-renew-middle-class-tax-cuts-populist-campaign-gambit-article-1.1110590#ixzz20A2AJEum

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