Truesee's Daily Wonder

ALBANY, Ga. — A 71-year-old retired Albany man spotted a couple of thieves, grabbed his gun and got his man Friday afternoon.

Herbert Gladin said the backyard at 408 Florence Drive, one house over from his residence, had been robbed many times before and he wasn’t going to take it anymore.

“I heard my neighbor’s dog barking,” Gladin said. “I looked through their yard to my other house and saw two heads moving in the yard. I ran and got my gun and a man was coming out the gate pushing my lawnmower up Patricia Alley.”

Police arrived before 5 p.m. Friday to arrest a man held at gunpoint by Gladin, an Albany Police Department report stated. Two women were also arrested in connection with the crime.

Nicolas Wright, Raquell Richardson and Dominique Johnson, all 23, were charged with theft by taking. Richardson and Wright are also charged with criminal trespass, according police at the scene.
Talking at the crime scene, Gladin told how the afternoon unfolded.

He said Richardson and Johnson sat in a parked silver Ford on Patricia Alley.

Wright pushed the stolen lawnmower in front of the car, Gladin said.

When he saw Gladin with a .38-caliber Rossi pistol heading toward him, he jumped in the drivers seat and drove over the lawnmower, officers said.

The crash-grind sound of metal over metal caught Donnie Rogers’ attention as he grilled burgers in his backyard on Patricia Alley. He grabbed his nunchuck and headed toward the sound.

When the Ford mashed the lawnmower, the three suspects threw open the car doors and ran in different directions.

As Wright circled back, possibly to get his car, Gladin got the drop on him.

“I’m glad that boy showed up with his nunchucks,” Gladin said of Rogers. “I think he (Wright) was getting ready to run again.”
Somehow during the confusion, Gladin found time to call 911, he said. Police corralled all three suspects quickly, he said.

Gladin said, “I am very proud of the Albany Police and how they handled this situation.”

Meantime, a suspect who may be linked to a string of burglaries in the north-central area of the city, was arrested early Friday, stated an Albany Police Department report.

Jeffrey Porter, 35, was arrested on burglary charges at about 2:40 a.m. after he tried to run away from 1216 N. McKinley St., a police report stated.

“After the suspect was captured, he showed the officers where he got the stolen property,” said Phyllis Banks, police spokeswoman. “The property was turned back over to the owner.”

The property returned was a push mower and a riding lawnmower, Banks said. Porter could be connected to other property thefts in the area around First and Fourth avenues and Rawson Circle, she added.

 

Police handcuff a woman suspect at the scene of a lawnmower theft behind 408 Florenece Drive after 5 p.m. Friday. Another woman and a man were also arrested.

 

Hotels don't always change the sheets between guests

Chris Elliott

Chicago Tribune 

The Travel Troubleshooter

April 27, 2011

Glenn Robins is grossed out. As a frequent traveler, he assumed the sheets on hotel beds are changed between guests.

But a new TV ad by the Hampton Inn chain calls that assumption into question. It shows housekeepers changing sheets in hazmat suits, at what appears to be a competing hotel chain.

"The implication was obviously that other hotels do not change the sheets for every new guest," he says.

Robins is troubled by that.

"It's a disgusting enough thought that the sheets were not changed," he told me. "It gets even more disgusting when one considers the previous tenant's possible activity."

A confession: I changed the last part of Robins' quote to spare you some graphic detail. Use your imagination.

Room hygiene is a hot topic among travelers. Always is. A recent post on my blog that featured a guest at a budget hotel who discovered her housekeeping staff hadn't changed the sheets in her room and failed to clean a shower between guest visits, sparked a spirited discussion. Some felt the traveler was entitled to a full refund for the lapse in hygiene.

This topic is already well covered -- sorry about the pun -- by the travel press. Sheets are usually changed between guests, and sometimes state law requires it, but there's no guarantee that they will be.

As for bedspreads, forget it. As countless hidden-camera investigative TV programs have confirmed, they aren't washed regularly.

Yuck.

But I digress. Is the Hampton ad right? Kinda.

It's probably safe to say that all major hotel chains, including Hampton, instruct their housekeepers to change sheets between guests. Yes, you'll always find some no-tell motel out in the sticks that tries to skip a guest or two, but as a general rule, the sheets are swapped out.

But here's a situation where the rules may allow a housekeeper to skip it: What if a guest checks in for one night and it appears the bed was unused? Is it OK to just tidy up, or should you strip it down to the mattress and replace the sheets?

I would have said "yes" -- just tidy up.

But wait. What if the previous guest is actually just really neat, and makes the bed like a pro? The housekeeper might assume the guest never used the bed. But that would be wrong.

Point is, it's possible for you to end up sleeping on someone else's sheets. But if you're staying at a major hotel chain, it's highly unlikely.

Still, should there be a law -- perhaps at the federal level -- that hotels meet a certain level of hygiene? Maybe.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2068227_2068229,00.html

Florida charters less diverse than other public schools

Cara Fitzpatrick and Marc Freeman

Sun Sentinel

May 1, 2011

Racial imbalance is making a comeback in Florida's public schools with the new wave of charter schools springing up across the state.

One out of eight charter schools has a student body comprising 90 percent or more of a single race or ethnicity, an Orlando Sentinel analysis of the state's 456 taxpayer-financed charters shows. That compares with one out of 12 traditional public schools.

Those top-heavy charters are adding to the list of out-of-balance public schools that have perplexed educators since integration 40 years ago. They have worked for decades to reduce the racial imbalance through rezoning, school transfer options, magnet schools and other devices to shift students.

More of the charters with skewed enrollments may be on the way as lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott push for changes in state law to allow more such schools.

"Charter schools really do fulfill the notion of parent choice," said Marie Turchiaro, principal of The Palm Beach Maritime Academy in West Palm Beach, which focuses on maritime studies, science and technology.

Charter schools are taxpayer-funded but privately run public schools.They are exempt from many regulations placed on mainstream schools and sometimes are not graded by the state.

Of Broward County's 68 charter schools, seven are 90 percent or more black; two are more than 70 percent white. In Palm Beach County, five of 32 charter schools have enrollments of 90 percent or more black; two were greater than 70 percent white.

Joseph Littles-Nguzo Saba charter school in Palm Beach County offers an African-based curriculum for an enrollment that is 97 percent black, Principal Cleveland Bryant said.

"Our focus is on children of African-American origin," he said of the 230-student kindergarten through eighth-grade school in Riviera Beach. "The focus is on putting people in front of them who look like them."

But at Imagine Schools at North Lauderdale, the 78 percent black enrollment simply reflects the neighborhood, Principal Rebecca Dahl said.

"We're sitting in a minority area, that's just where we are," she said, noting that the Imagine campus in Coral Springs is mostly white, while the Weston campus is mostly Hispanic.

'We seem to be reverting'

In 1970, Broward County was under court order to desegregate but problems persisted into the 1990s. A grassroots group filed a lawsuit in 1995 over school inequities that was finally settled in 2000.

Now, more than 38 percent of the district's 256,000 students are black, 25 percent are Hispanic and 30 percent are non-Hispanic whites.

Jody Perry, director of charter schools for the Broward County school system, said the district has little control over racial makeup of charter schools.

'It is a choice process, and parents can choose to enroll the student in the charter that best meets their needs," she said.

But critics say creating racially imbalanced public schools is not a model Florida should follow.

"The parents aren't doing the kids any favors because they're going to grow up and have to deal with other kinds of people," said Catherine Kim Owens, a member of the Broward School District's diversity committee.

Ernestine Price, a Pompano Beach activist who attended segregated Broward schools in the 1950s, said she has seen the ups and downs of desegregation. Her children were bused miles to white schools. Her grandchildren were in school when she was part of the grassroots group that filed suit over school inequities.

"We seem to be reverting back to segregation," said Price, who doesn't have a problem with the concept of charters, but worries about the lack of oversight.

In Palm Beach County, 11 of the charters — about a third — are top heavy with black, white or Hispanic students.

Juanita Edwards, director of charter schools in Palm Beach County, said the demographics of charter schools "hasn't been anything we've been monitoring."

'Vanilla public school'

More than 155,000 students across the state, 6 percent, are enrolled in charters, including about 23,000 in Broward and 8,700 in Palm Beach County.

Often there is nothing academically wrong with the public schools that students are leaving. Many earn A's or B's in state grading.

But parents who don't want their children to attend "just another vanilla public school" have a choice through charters, Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith says.

G-Star School of the Arts for Motion Pictures and Broadcasting in Palm Springs, with 890 students, touts itself as the only high school in the world with a working motion picture studio on campus.

And Ben Gamla Charter School, which has campuses in Hollywood, Plantation and Miami-Dade, offers Hebrew language.

Other schools, such as the ones run by the city of Pembroke Pines, were set up to relieve the school district's extremely overcrowded facilities. Today, that system serves 5,000 students and has a long waiting list.

Other schools also skewed

A lot of traditional public schools are heavily of one race or ethnicity, say charter advocates.

Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale and Blanche Ely in Pompano Beach, for instance, are nearly all-black.

But many of those schools struggle with underfunding, high teacher turnover, poorer quality teachers and low student performance that often are duplicated in charters with similar demographics.

"It is important to consider if we are creating these patterns in charter schools that public schools have worked for decades to alleviate," said Erica Frankenberg, an assistant professor of education at Penn State University, who studies segregation in charter schools.

With high start-up costs, charter schools often struggle for years to get the financial stability of established public schools. Minority charters typically don't have deep-pocket backers.

Some experts say diverse schools help students develop both socially and academically.

New research by the Century Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, shows the best way to improve academic achievement of low-income students, who often are minorities, is to scatter them among more affluent schools.

Virginia Farace, former education liaison for Boynton Beach, said parents have urged the school district for years to diversify the city's schools with students from a variety of economic backgrounds.

"When schools rely so much on parental support, when you need money for field trips, for PTAs, you don't have a pool to draw from in a poor school," Farace said. "This leaves the poor schools behind."

Staff writer Dave Weber contributed to this report.

Police: Children left alone in feces-filled home

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 5:19 pm | Updated: 5:23 pm, Wed Apr 27, 2011.

Laurie Mason Schroeder

In what prosecutors are calling one of the worst cases of neglect they've seen, a Bristol mother has been charged with leaving her three young children alone in a feces-filled home.

           

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/04/29/politicians.swear.list/index.html?hpt=Sbin

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/29/2192916/cops-raid-cupcake-baking-drug.html

International theft rings steal hundreds of vehicles in D.C. area every year

Matt Zapotoask

Washington Post

Friday, April 29, 9:22 PM

Mary Dunkley had just gotten back from church choir practice when one of the carjackers ripped open the door to her Toyota Camry. The 70-year-old retired secretary said that as she spilled onto the ground outside her Landover townhouse, the man put a gun to her head and demanded that she give up her purse.

“He was telling me, ‘Let it go. Let it go,’ ” Dunkley said. “Someone else came around real quick and jumped in the passenger seat, and they were gone in seconds.”

The men who carjacked Dunkley on March 17 were professional thieves, members of a sophisticated transatlantic car theft ring, police said. Their plan — thwarted by Prince George’s County detectives who arrested them this month — was to ship her 2009 silver Toyota thousands of miles to Lagos, Nigeria, authorities said.

While most cars are swiped for joy rides or cash from selling parts, authorities say the ring and others like it make up a complex, multimillion-dollar network.

Prince George’s police officials lauded the arrests of the ring’s high-ranking members. But they and other law enforcement authorities across the region acknowledged that the international car thieves are difficult to catch and the problem has become almost unsolvable.

“These guys are going to be replaced,” said Prince George’s Sgt. David Mohr, who works on the auto theft team.

Officials estimate that each year in the Washington area alone, hundreds of cars are stolen and shipped overseas. New York authorities announced last June that they had charged 17 people with stealing and shipping hundreds of luxury cars. Other D.C. area police officials and a spokesman for the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office said their detectives have worked similar cases.

Solomon Asare and Gabriel Awuzie, accused of being key players in the ring that stole Dunkley’s car, were arrested April 14 on car theft charges. Awuzie is scheduled to appear in court in May, and Asare in June.

“This has gone on and on and on, and it has become such an enterprise for them in the U.S.,” said Prince George’s County auto theft detective Luis Aponte. “There’s a major market for this.”

The ring’s bosses are usually based in African countries or other developing nations, where it is more difficult to find reasonably priced, mid- to high-end vehicles, authorities said. They order specific cars from middlemen in the United States, and then low-level thieves set out to get their cut.

In the Prince George’s ring, the thieves are paid according to the vehicles they carjack or steal — $1,500 for a Toyota Camry, $2,500 for a RAV4, $5,000 for a Porsche Cayenne, Aponte said. The middlemen handle the rest. They stash the stolen cars in parking lots or neighborhoods, waiting to see whether police are on their trail. Then they load the vehicles onto shipping containers bound for Africa, police said. The rings are especially prevalent in the D.C. area, police said, because of its proximity to ports.

Police say that in tracking Dunkley’s car, they were able to reach into one ring’s upper ranks.

Detectives on the Washington Area Vehicle Enforcement Team — a group of 10 auto theft investigators from Prince George’s and two from the Maryland State Police — long suspected Asare, 35, and Awuzie, 34, were involved in a ring, said Lt. Matt Meterko, who leads the group. But they were difficult to trace.

In March, detectives caught a break: Two men suspected in the carjacking of a Toyota Camry and told detectives Asare and Awuzie were scheduled to pick up a stolen car later that month.

Investigators secretly watched as a man talked to Asare in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart on Russett Green East in Laurel, then let Awuzie drive away in a Toyota Camry, Mohr said. Awuzie parked the Camry nearby, then Asare picked him up, Mohr said. They left the Camry behind, he said.

The moment was pivotal, police said, because it connected Asare and Awuzie to a car police suspected was stolen. Mohr said the Camry belonged to an Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Capitol Heights.

Detectives suspected the area near the Wal-Mart was a “cooling spot,” an area where the thieves would leave stolen cars until they were satisfied police were not trailing them.

Police began monitoring the car’s movements around-the-clock. Then, on March 29, they got their second big break: Anne Arundel County police found Dunkley’s Camry in the same Wal-Mart parking lot.

Investigators put a Global Positioning System tracker on Dunkley’s car, according to police charging documents. On March 31, a tow truck hauled the car to a warehouse on Hanna Street in Beltsville. Detectives began watching the warehouse.

Dunkley’s car and three other vehicles eventually were loaded into a faded red shipping container and hauled north, authorities said. Police stopped the load on April 13, just as it moved past the Fort McHenry Tunnel on I-95. They arrested Asare and Awuzie the next day, charging them with the theft of Dunkley’s Camry while they worked to put together a more comprehensive case.

In all, police seized six vehicles, four from the trailer and two that were in cooling spots elsewhere. Five were Toyotas, which detectives believe were requested because “they’re nice enough cars, but they’re not the high-end luxury cars that have the built-in tracking systems with them,” Mohr said.

Asare, an immigrant from Ghana, told police he lived in a modest Laurel townhome and worked as a trucker, according to court records. Awuzie, who was born in Kansas City, Mo., told police he lived in a Laurel apartment and worked at a Papa Johns Pizza, court records state. Since their arrests, both have been released on bond.

Awuzie declined to comment for this story. Asare, who also is charged with vehicle theft in Mongtomery County, did not return a written message seeking comment.

Richard Finci, Asare’s lawyer in an unrelated case, said charging documents do not identify his client as a higher-up in an international auto theft ring. He said he had not been officially retained to represent Asare in this case, and declined to comment further.

For Dunkley, it was no surprise that an international carjacking ring took her Camry. The thieves, she said, were so quick that she assumed they “must have been professional.”

The damage, Dunkley said, is lasting. She said the Camry was her “retirement car,” and she does not think she will be able to bring herself to drive it once she gets it back. She also had to replace her driver’s license and new prescription glasses, which were lost during the carjacking.

“They don’t know the problem they put people through,” Dunkley said. “It’s devastating.”

How theft rings operate:
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/how-theft-rings-operate/2011/04/29/AFL0mpGF_graphic.html

Follow the journeys of stolen cars:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/crime-scene/post/follow-the-journeys-of-stolen-cars/2011/04/29/AFx0PgHF_blog.html

http://chattahbox.com/us/2011/04/29/the-trump-doctrine-revealed-listen-you-mother-fers/

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/8-Year-Old-Brings-Gun-Sells-it-at-Queens-School-120901834.html

                                 Maurice and Pia Kirchberg

                   Photo courtesy Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

04/25/2011

Don Germaise

ABC Action News

Oil companies are making more money and less fuel

Refiners including Exxon Mobil are raking in profits while producing less gasoline and diesel in the U.S. than usual for this time of year. They're also exporting more to foreign countries. With oil prices rising, that makes for sticker shock at the pump.

Valero Energy, the nation’s biggest independent oil refiner, had “record exports coming from the United States” during the last three months of 2010, Chief Executive Bill Klesse recently told investors and analysts. Above, Valero's Wilmington refinery in October. (Christina House, For The Times / April 29, 2011)

Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times

April 28, 2011, 7:08 p.m.

Gasoline prices are skyrocketing — and so are oil company profits.

Exxon Mobil Corp. earned nearly $11 billion in the first three months of the year, a rollicking 69% increase over its performance for the same period last year. That's on sales of $114 billion.

It's the same story for the other big oil companies. Royal Dutch Shell turned a profit of $6.3 billion in the first quarter, and BP — despite lingering costs from the Gulf Coast oil spill — made $7.1 billion.

What they aren't making is fuel, at least not in normal quantities. And that's a key factor in their reinvigorated financial performance.

Despite increasing demand, refiners are producing less gasoline and diesel in the U.S. than usual for this time of year. They're also exporting more to foreign countries.

Add rising oil prices, and you get the kind of sticker shock at the gas pump that some analysts say could challenge 2008's all-time highs — with regular gas already averaging about $3.88 a gallon in the U.S. and $4.22 in California, more than a month before the summer driving season kicks in.

Motorists and consumer advocates are outraged at high pump prices and say refineries need to increase gasoline supplies to reduce fuel costs.

"This is a page torn right out of the handbook of gouge-onomics," said Charles Langley, senior gasoline analyst at the Utility Consumers' Action Network in San Diego. "We call it the law of supply and demand: They supply less product and demand more money for it."

Oil makes up about two-thirds of the cost of a gallon of gas, so expensive oil always turns into expensive fuel. But as for-profit entities, refiners use a variety of means to ensure that they keep as much of that windfall as possible.

The nation's refineries are operating at about 81% of their production capacity, Energy Department statistics show. That compares with a 20-year historic average of about 89% for this time of year, according to department records.

Part of that can be explained by the increasing use of ethanol, usually made from corn, which is added after gasoline is refined. Ethanol boosts fuel supply without increasing petroleum consumption just as adding crackers to meatloaf makes more dinner with less beef.

A bigger factor, some experts say, is refiners' business strategy: Having only recently returned to strong profits and leery of potential erosion in consumption, the companies are playing it cautiously.

"They aren't going to try to match production to demand. You aren't going to see anyone running full out right now," said Brian L. Milne, refined-fuels editor for Telvent DTN, which provides commodity price information to businesses.

And here's another piece to the fuel-price puzzle: Refiners are exporting large amounts of gasoline and diesel to foreign buyers willing to pay a premium. Demand for refined products such as gasoline is expected to go back into decline in the U.S. by the end of 2011 because of increased use of alternative fuels, among other things, so refinery companies are looking to broaden their reach with new customers overseas, particularly with diesel fuel.

"U.S. refineries have been sending 15% to 20% of their production overseas for about a year now," said Andrew Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "Demand for diesel is strong in Central America and South America and Europe and other parts of the world." That's more than double the rate of exports in 2007, he said.

Valero Energy Corp., the nation's biggest independent oil refiner, had "record exports coming from the United States" during the last three months of 2010, Chief Executive Bill Klesse recently told investors and analysts. The San Antonio company's export pace declined somewhat this year because of refinery maintenance.

"We send diesel fuel to South America. We've been sending gasoline to Latin American countries. So there's a lot of change that's happened in this business," Klesse said. In the first quarter, Valero earned $98 million, reversing a year-earlier loss of $113 million.

Energy companies say fuel prices are determined by supply, demand and competition, and that the main culprit for the current run-up is crude prices, which rose more than 30% in the last year because of conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East as well as strengthening world economies.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil company trade group, said its own statistics showed that refiners are doing their job, delivering 4% more gasoline in the first quarter than in the same period last year.

"We are moving more product than last year and supporting the economic recovery," said Rayola Dougher, the group's senior economic advisor. "The refinery sector is more than keeping pace with that."

At the same time, Energy Department data show a drawdown of more than 18 million barrels in the nation's gasoline stocks this year to 205.6 million barrels, including a drop of 2.5 million barrels in the most recent week.

Valero spokesman Bill Day said production levels are a straightforward matter of supply and demand, and currently U.S. demand is constrained by the pace of the economic recovery.

"Demand in the U.S. is beginning to recover, but it's not recovering strongly," Day said.

This year, oil prices have been on a tear much as in 2008, boosting oil company profits and fuel prices. That was when retail gasoline reached a record average of $4.114 a gallon nationally and $4.588 in California. Averages this month have been higher than for any April since the Energy Department began tracking weekly fuel data in 1990.

The refinery industry "has made a comeback, absolutely," said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., noting that refining stocks gained 50% last year and have since maintained a similar trajectory.

But refinery profits can be precarious, he said, and may be squeezed if consumers balk at paying high fuel prices.

"This is not a golden age for refining," Gheit said. "This will come to an end."

As recently as 2007, industry executives thought that they were in such a golden age, when U.S. demand looked to be on a constantly rising curve. But after 2008's record fuel prices and the recession reduced fuel consumption, energy companies changed their tactics.

They are shedding capacity in the U.S. through refinery sales. Investments in their U.S. refineries are geared around equipment upgrades, not expansion. And when they do talk about increasing production to meet rising demand, they mean overseas, not in the U.S., and they mean making more diesel, not gasoline.

"These companies see their future earnings growth overseas, not in the U.S., where demand is still rather flat," Lipow said.

For motorists, the proof is at the pump.

Los Angeles resident James Fong said he was bothered by growing oil company earnings even though he owns two of the most fuel-efficient cars around: a 2001 Honda Insight and a 2010 Toyota Prius.

"I look at other people and see that they are only getting half a tank of gas because that is all they can afford," said the 54-year-old AT&T systems technician. "It's not good for us, but they are going to do whatever they can to make the money."

"I wish," Fong said, "I was in the oil business."

 http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/d00f6f3f-bc66-4e6a-9142-1f687e658955/News/Fake-Check-Scam

http://www.kgw.com/news/Keizer-Sign-Sparks-Outcry-120924899.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0428/Homeless-child-enrolled-in-wrong-school-What-should-happen-to-him

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/04/28/2011-04-28_is_donald_trump_a_racist_whoopi_goldberg_joy_behar_bob_schieffer_jesse_jackson_s.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/click-track/post/beyonce-drops-new-video-for-first-ladys-lets-move-campaign/2011/04/27/AFVxiuxE_blog.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380867/Working-mother-Kathy-Vitzthum-graduates-19-years-college.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Two men charged with burglary, theft, and robbery in Milton

SR Press Gazette

Monday night Santa Rosa County Deputies responded to a robbery on Reinsma Road in Milton.

According to Sgt. Scott Haines, the victim was sitting in his home when two men entered his residence without permission and took his wallet.

Charged in connection with the investigation were Mickey Allen Adkinson, 48, of Pace, and Michael Alan Goodyear, 46, of Milton.

Haines indicated one of the two suspects pinned the homeowner down in his recliner and grabbed his wallet off of a table next to the chair before both fled the home.

The victim called 911 and also drove around the neighborhood in search of the intruders.

Adkinson was located by deputies while walking down a nearby road and was arrested after being identified by the victim.

He is charged with burglary, grand theft, and robbery by sudden snatching. He bond was originally set at $22,500, but remains in the Santa Rosa County Jail.

According to Haines, Goodyear, the second suspect, was found standing in the backyard of his residence on Carroll Road.

Haines indicated that witnesses observed Goodyear running through his backyard and "acting crazy" making statements that he "didn't do anything wrong" and that he "didn't rob anyone".

The victim was brought to the scene and identified Goodyear, who was charged with burglary, grand theft, robbery by sudden snatching, possession of cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Goodyear was lodged in the Santa Rosa County Jail on a $30,250 bond, but it was later increased to $53,500.

Goodyear was found to be in possession of 1.7 grams of cocaine and drug paraphernalia when he was taken into custody.

According to Haines, deputies were not able to recover the wallet which was reported to contain $965.

 

 

Reports said Clayton County teacher, Harlon Porter, removed his clothing and walked down the hall of the building on April 22. at 3:20 p.m.

Police said on April 20, Porter learned that his employment contract would not be renewed, effectively terminating his employment.

During Porter's arrest, he stated that he had reached a "new level of enlightenment" and "he wanted everybody to be free now that his third eye was open."

Porter had several books in his belongings that appeared to be on topics such as spirituality and transcendental meditation, according to reports.

Porter also said he wanted to teach on a new level, "with hands in the earth, gathering the essence and learning how to love one another and fully appreciate the spiritual realm."

Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are 'running out of money'

Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (left) speaking to a gathering of industry watchers in New York on Wednesday.

Parija Kavilanz  senior writer April 27, 2011: 6:17 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.

"We're seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure," Duke said at an event in New York. "There's no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact."

Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.

Lately, they're "running out of money" at a faster clip, he said.

Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), which averages 140 million shoppers weekly to its stores in the United States, is considered a barometer of the health of the consumer and the economy.

To that end, Duke said he's not seeing signs of a recovery yet.

With food prices rising, Duke said Wal-Mart is charging customers more for some fresh groceries while reducing prices on other merchandise such as electronics.

Wal-Mart has struggled with seven straight quarters of sales declines in its stores.

Addressing that challenge, Duke said the company made mistakes by shrinking product variety and not being more aggressive on prices compared to its competitors.

"What's made Wal-Mart great over the decades is 'every day low prices' and our [product] assortment," he said. "We got away from it."

Now, with its strategy of low prices all the time back in place, Duke said making Wal-Mart a "one-stop shopping stop" is a critical response to dealing with the rising price of fuel.

Americans don't have the luxury of driving all over town to do their shopping.

Other than competing on prices and products, Duke said Wal-Mart is focused on leveraging technology -- especially social networking -- more aggressively to drive sales.

"Social networking is much more a part of the purchasing decision," he said. "Consumers are communicating with each other on Facebook about how they spend their money and what they're buying."

Elsewhere, Duke said Wal-Mart is exploring a number of e-commerce initiatives to grow the business such as testing an online groceries delivery business in San Jose. 

Cardinal suspends Pfleger: 'You are not able to pastor a Catholic parish'

Cardinal Francis George (left) Rev. Michael Pfleger (Tribune photos / April 27, 2011)

 

Francis George

Staff report

7:28 p.m. CDT, April 27, 2011

 

Citing what he called threats from the Rev. Michael Pfleger to leave the church, Cardinal Francis George has removed the outspoken priest from St. Sabina parish and has suspended his "sacramental faculties as a priest."

Pfleger had publicly feuded with the cardinal about possibly being reassigned to Leo High School, telling a radio show recently that he would look outside the Catholic church if offered no other choice.

"If that is truly your attitude, you have already left the Catholic Church and are therefore not able to pastor a Catholic parish," George wrote in a letter dated today.

"A Catholic priest's inner life is governed by his promises, motivated by faith and love, to live chastely as a celibate man and to obey his bishop," the cardinal continued. "Breaking either promise destroys his vocation and wounds the Church.

"Many love and admire you because of your dedication to your people," the cardinal wrote. "Now, however, I am asking you to take a few weeks to pray over your priestly commitments in order to come to mutual agreement on how you understand personally the obligations that make you a member of the Chicago presbyterate and of the Catholic Church.

"With this letter, your ministry as pastor of Saint Sabina Parish and your sacramental faculties as a priest of the Archdiocese are suspended."

The cardinal ended the letter by saying, "This conflict is not between you and me; it's between you and the Church that ordained you a priest, between you and the faith that introduced you to Christ and gives you the right to preach and pastor in his name. If you now formally leave the Catholic Church and her priesthood, it's your choice and no one else's. You are not a victim of anyone or anything other than your own statements."

Kimberly Lymore, associate minister at St. Sabina Parish, read the following statement early tonight:

"On March 11, 2011, Father Pfleger met with Cardinal George, where he was asked to take over as president of Leo High School.

"On March 19, 2011, Father Pfleger sent a letter to Cardinal George saying he was neither qualified nor experienced being president of a high school, but that he was willing to help Leo High School in any way that he could.

"There has been no response by phone call or letter from the cardinal. Today Father Pfleger was called to a meeting at 4:30 at the Pastoral Center. At that meeting, Father Pfleger was given a letter that he was suspended and Cardinal George did not want to discuss it.

"The leadership of Saint Sabina will have an official response tomorrow. We are in shock. For your information, the press received this letter before Father Pfleger and the church heard about it through press calls."

Lymore said Pfleger was in the church tonight but he did not appear when the statement was read.

During the flap over his possible assignment to Leo, Pfleger appeared on the "Smiley & West" public radio program that he had been banned from speaking at events in the archdiocese and blamed pressure from conservative Catholics and the National Rifle Association for his most recent clash with George.

"I want to try to stay in the Catholic Church," Pfleger said. "If they say 'You either take this principalship of (Leo High) or pastorship there or leave,' then I'll have to look outside the church. I believe my calling is to be a pastor. I believe my calling is to be a voice for justice. I believe my calling is to preach the Gospel. In or out of the church, I'm going to continue to do that."

In a later interview with the Tribune, Pfleger clarified that he feels called to preach and push for social justice in a Catholic context. He said he loves the Catholic Church and prefers to stay there, but he would not go to Leo full time.

"I've always said I could not do something that I don't feel called or equipped to do," he told the Tribune. "A full-time position at Leo is not something I'm equipped to do. I think Leo has made it clear they don't see any need for me to come there. For both sides, it would be a lose-lose."

On the radio, Pfleger said conservative Catholics want to return St. Sabina, a mostly African-American parish, to the way it was before he got there nearly three decades ago and silence what they believe to be progressive messages from the pulpit.

For a couple of years, he said he has been the target of petitions and letter-writing campaigns by the NRA. Letters are often copied to the cardinal, Pfleger said.

"The NRA ... says I've been much too vocal about assault weapons and much too vocal about guns being registered and being accountable to gun owners," Pfleger said on the radio. "So all that combined and I guess the cardinal didn't have anything to do one morning and decided he wanted to get rid of me again."

But in his letter, the cardinal said he had no ulterior motives in wanting Pfleger at Leo.

"As you know, this was an honest offer, not driven by pressure from any group but by a pastoral need in the Archdiocese," George wrote. "You promised to consider what was a proposal, not a demand, even as I urged you to accept it."

The cardinal says his private conversation with Pfleger "was misrepresented publicly as an attempt to 'remove' you from Saint Sabina's. You know that priests in the Archdiocese are 'removed' only because they have been found to have sexually abused a minor child or are guilty of financial malfeasance.

"In all other cases, priests are reassigned, moving from one pastoral office to another according to the policies in place for the last forty years," George wrote. "That process has now been short-circuited by your remarks on national radio and in local newspapers that you will leave the Catholic Church if you are told to accept an assignment other than as pastor of Saint Sabina Parish."

 

YouTube

An unidentified officer slugged a woman during a brawl at an Atlanta IHOP on Sunday.

 

In the video, reportedly shot at 4 a.m. on Sunday at one of the pancake chain's restaurants in the Buckhead neighborhood, two cops confront a young woman in a booth.

As one of the officers tries to yank the woman out of her seat, a girlfriend grabs the officer's shoulder, prompting him to swat her away with a smack to the face.

The woman then flies into a rage, swinging wildly at the officer's head. The officer ducks and then counters with a hard right cross to the woman's jaw.

Amazingly, the petite brunette says on her feet, and the two officers wrestle her to the ground, before cuffing her and hauling her away in front of dozens of stunned diners.

Roberte Caban, who said she was the woman cops were trying to drag out of the booth, told Atlanta's WSBTV television that she and her girlfriends were having coffee when an officer told them to keep it down.

"I felt so bad for her," Caban said. "It was very obvious that the first officer had contained her. We knew Cynthia didn't do anything. We didn't know who he was, he didn't say who he was." 

Caban said she was also arrested and that she and her friend spent more than a day in jail.

The woman took a swing at the cop after he smacked her during a confrontation with the friend.

Cops said they were investigating the incident.

"The matter has been referred to our Office of Professional Standards to determine whether department policies and procedures were followed. Further comment at this time would not be appropriate," the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement.

IHOPs around the country have been plagued by violence this year.

Also on Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers forward Derrick Caracter was arrested after allegedly hitting a waitress at an IHOP in New Orleans.  The team was in town for a playoff game.

In February, a group of reporters were attacked in an IHOP parking lot after approaching relatives of a 27-year-old man who had recently been shot to death.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pw-bEwEUvI&feature=player_embedded#at=21

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/white-house-releases-obamas-birth-certificate/2011/04/27/AFtXOVxE_blog.html?hpid=z2

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/04/25/amazon.price.algorithm/index.html?iref=obinsite

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/24/hume-if-the-election-were-held-today-in-my-view-barack-obama-would-lose-he-might-lose-big/

St Kilda Chinese restaurant food bill handed to man in ambulance

Jessica Craven

Herald Sun

April 26, 2011 7:21PM

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/25/2185130/police-barber-plotted-to-kill.html#storylink=omni_popular

http://www.mediaite.com/online/rush-limbaugh-responds-to-kkk-comparison-by-obama%e2%80%99s-easter-service-pastor/

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/24/v-fullstory/2182568/obama-ran-against-bush-now-governs.html

High gas prices cut into driving habits — and Obama’s approval rating

Steven Mufson and Jon Cohen

Washington Post

Monday, April 25, 10:26 PM

Soaring gasoline prices are biting into household incomes and nibbling at Americans’ fuel consumption — and support for President Obama, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

About six in 10 respondents said they had cut back on driving because of rising fuel prices, and seven in 10 said that high pump prices are causing financial hardship.

Obama, like previous presidents in times of high oil prices, is taking a hit. Only 39 percent of those who call gas prices a “serious financial hardship” approve of the way he is doing his job, and 33 percent of them say he’s doing a good job on the economy.

The Energy Information Administration said Monday that gas prices climbed last week to $3.88 a gallon, up 81 cents since the start of the year. That is the highest pump price since August 2008, before the financial meltdown.

Evidence of motorists’ hardships is littering the roads. AAA says the number of motorists running out of gas has been surging. John Townsend, a spokesman for the automobile association, said that cash-strapped members “are pushing the envelope” and that emergency gas deliveries to stranded members jumped nationwide, including by 40 percent in the District.

That sort of hardship could slow Obama’s reelection campaign. The Post-ABC poll shows that 60 percent of independents who say they’ve been hit hard by surging gas prices also say they definitely won’t support Obama in his bid for reelection.

In a hypothetical matchup with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the top GOP performer in the Post-ABC poll, Romney wins by 24 points among the independents who have taken a severe financial hit because of gas prices, and the president is up 7 percentage points among other independents.

At a fundraiser in Southern California last week, where pump prices are the highest in the country, Obama acknowledged the political peril of high gas prices. He said, “My poll numbers go up and down depending on the latest crisis, and right now gas prices are weighing heavily on people.”

He tried to show that he feels motorists’ pain. “I admit, Secret Service doesn’t let me fill up the pump anymore,” he said. “But it hasn’t been that long since I did.”

The poll also shows the stubborn nature of gasoline consumption and the difficulty of weaning the country off its dependence on imported oil. About a quarter of all Americans say they would not alter their driving habits until prices, which are about $1 a gallon higher than a year ago, climb an additional $1.10 or to more than $5.

Although gasoline prices are just a quarter of a dollar short of their all-time record of $4.11 for a gallon of regular set in July 2008, the Energy Information Administration forecast this month that gas consumption would average about 9.3 million barrels a day over the peak summer driving season, a 0.5 percent increase over last summer.

“Population growth and a recovering economy contribute to gasoline consumption growth,” the EIA said, adding that high gas prices and better fuel efficiency standards would dampen demand. Consumption of diesel fuel is expected to climb 2.3 percent because of higher industrial output and trade.

“I think the evidence is strong that people are not very price responsive and that there are no magic thresholds where the effect changes suddenly,” said Severin Borenstein, a professor at the University of California Berkeley business school and director of the California Energy Institute.

In 2008 when prices last spiked, motorists carpooled, households drove the more efficient of their cars when a choice was possible, and many people opted for public transportation. But the impact was slight.

Borenstein says the drop in consumption was 3 to 4 percentage points. “That’s a pretty small demand response when the price of gasoline nearly doubles,” he said. Moreover, he said, “this was happening in context of a giant recession, so there were income effects as well.”

Christopher Knittel, a professor of applied economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that “consumers are less responsive today than in the past, especially when compared to the 1970s.” With the growth of families with two income earners and other social changes, motorists are less likely to regard their day-to-day driving as discretionary.

But, Knittel said, “if prices continue to be high, they start to change what cars they buy, and manufacturers start to change the cars they offer. So it really depends on the time frame.”

Knittel said that the increase in gasoline prices is partly a result of the recovering economy. “One of the reasons gas prices are high is that we are coming out of the recession,” he said. “So it’s sort of bittersweet. The economy is getting strong, but it’s hurting our pocketbook.”

That could circle around and undercut the recovery. Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s business school, estimates that the spike in gas prices since September translates into a 5 percent cut in discretionary income and that Americans “will be eating fewer restaurant meals, wearing fewer new clothes, curtailing summer vacation plans, and postponing furniture purchases and home improvements.”

In the Post-ABC poll, 12 percent of people who consider gas prices a financial hardship said they had slashed spending elsewhere.

The telephone poll was conducted April 14 to 17 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. The margin of sampling error is 3.5 percentage points.

Polling manager Peyton Craighill contributed to this report.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/26/pf/taxes/tax_credits/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

Gwinnett couple conquers $83,000 of credit card debt

5:53 am April 26, 2011

Henry Unger

AJC

This is a good-news column about conquering debt, brought to you by Courtney and Michael Wacker of Lawrenceville.

Courtney and Michael Wacker

(Photo by Robin Henson)

Buried in a credit card hole and staring at financial disaster, the Wackers managed to whack about $83,000 in principal and interest in a little over five years.

How they got into the mess — fairly typical — and how they climbed out — determination and good advice — can be an example for consumers facing similar messes.

“We had so many cards full of so much stuff that we started just paying the minimum. That was the big trap,” said Courtney Wacker, a 46-year-old former teacher who works in educational testing.

It wasn’t the house or car payments that got the Wackers in trouble. It wasn’t the two kids. It was the plastic.

“You charge it,” Courtney Wacker said. “It’s the American way. I’m going to pay it off later.” Only “later” didn’t come until after the mountain of debt was about to crush them. As their credit scores kept falling, the interest rates on the nine credit cards shot up to as high as 32 percent. By paying the minimum each month, the Wackers were looking at about 30 years to get out from under the load.

Since they didn’t want to be in their 70s before the cards were paid off and since they were opposed to filing for bankruptcy, the Wackers sought help from CredAbility, the nonprofit group formerly known as the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta.

First, the nine cards were cut up. Then, a CredAbility counselor went through their budget, put them on a debt management plan and contacted their creditors. The counselor was able to negotiate a critical change — the interest rate on the debt was cut to 3 percent from 32 percent.

“That’s what saved us,” Courtney Wacker said.

Each month, the Wackers paid a figure they’ll never forget — $1,456, which included a $50 monthly fee to CredAbility.

To hit that monthly target, they had to completely change their spending habits. No impulse buys. No meals out. No vacations, other than driving to see family or friends. No expensive Christmas or birthday gifts. Handmade gifts instead.

“We had to adjust to strictly cash, even to pay for gas and food,” said Michael Wacker, a Georgia Power maintenance specialist. “Once that first year got by, we were OK.”

Did it affect your relationship, which began back in high school?

“You have to be able to work together,” Michael Wacker, 46, said. “You have to be patient with each other.”

They had to establish priorities, which were essentially living expenses, plus one other thing — continuing to pay for the kids’ competitive swimming activities. Everything else was eliminated.

As their debt was being retired, their credit scores steadily rose to 750 from the 500 neighborhood. Now, with all of it paid off, the Wackers still plan all of their spending, and pay with cash. They literally have a written, five-year plan detailing how they’re going to tackle many home-improvement projects they plan to do themselves.

Any advice for others?

“If you can’t pay for it, you can’t get it,” Courtney Wacker said. “If you fall into the credit-card trap, don’t wait long to get help.”

Hairy heist at beauty supply firm

Carlos Sadovi

Tribune reporter

12:50 p.m. CDT, April 25, 2011

Here is the Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/d7f93b33-2508-4a8c-89e4-b3dd06a4285f/News/Surveillance-video-Hair-heist-at-Beauty-One

NFL lockout has been lifted

Judge Susan Nelson grants request of players for an injuction that forces NFL teams to continue football operations.

Sam Farmer

LA Times

4:10 PM PDT, April 25, 2011

The NFL lockout has been lifted.

Judge Susan Nelson of the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis granted the request of the players for an injunction that forces NFL teams to continue football operations.

Nelson's ruling gives the players an early victory in their battle with team owners over a new collective bargaining agreement in the $9 billion business. Owners locked out the players after negotiations broke down on March 11 and the players decertified their union.

Nelson could have granted the injunction but issued a stay to keep the lockout in place until the appeal. However, she decided not to stay the decision, meaning the league must lift the lockout immediately and cannot put it in place while it waits for a decision from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.

The NFL issued a statement saying it will appeal Nelson's ruling.

"We will promptly seek a stay from Judge Nelson pending an expedited appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. We believe that federal law bars injunctions in labor disputes. We are confident that the Eighth Circuit will agree. But we also believe that this dispute will inevitably end with a collective bargaining agreement, which would be in the best interests of players, clubs and fans. We can reach a fair agreement only if we continue negotiations toward that goal."

The appellate court has the ability to overturn a ruling when it finds a mistake in the application of the law.

"It means that the NFL is going to go back to business as usual with the old system," said attorney Jerome Stanley, a longtime player agent. "The parties will eventually sit down and negotiate a new system."

DeMaurice Smith, head of the decertified NFL Players' Assn., said he was "happy for our players and for our fans. Today, those who love football are the winners."

Reactions from players was just as positive.

"Today's ruling is a win for the players and for the fans that want to see a full NFL season in 2011," Giants defensive lineman Osi Umenyiora said. "The lockout is bad for everyone and players will continue to fight it. We hope that this will bring us one step closer to playing the game we love."

Times staff writer Lance Pugmire contributed to this report.

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 10:02 PM

http://www.wtsp.com/slideshows/2011/gallery.aspx?slideshowname=Whats-So-Funny-Mugs

1:26 PM Apr 22, 2011

There are almost as many "no smoking" signs at Sparrow Hospital as there are cigarette butts along its campus. The hospital banned smoking on site years ago, and whether or not people listened, it's taking the next step in its anti-tobacco policy.

"Anybody who tests positive for tobacco or nicotine products will not be able to gain employment at Sparrow," said John Berg, a Sparrow marketing executive.

Lucky for current employees who smoke, that only goes for new hires starting May 1, 2011. Still, those we talked to--smokers or not--didn't like it.

"See that's crazy to me, your freedom of choice...that's why I live in America," said Jacob McPhail, a non-smoking employee.

"I don't think that's fair. I think if they don't want them smoking on campus that's fine but I think what you do on your own time should be up to you," said employee Michael VanDussen, who does smoke.

The sparrow campus has been smoke free since 2007 and the signs are everywhere to prove it. But there's also proof the policy isn't always enforced. We found a pile of cigarette butts swept up just feet from a no-smoking sign outside the building, not to mention, people coming and going for smoke breaks there too.

LINK TO VIDEO:

www.woodtv.com/dpp/health/Smokers-wont-be-hired-at-Sparrow-Hospital

Drill baby drill won't lower gas prices

The United States simply doesn't have enough oil to move world markets. Plus, any increase would be offset by OPEC.

Steve Hargreaves

Senior Writer

April 25, 2011: 5:37 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Every time gas prices reach record highs the call goes out for more oil drilling. This year it's no different.

"The Gulf is ready to get back to work to help create jobs and lower gasoline prices," Washington Republican Doc Hastings, head of the House Natural Resources Committee and a big proponent of more drilling, said last week.

The problem is this: While increased oil and gas drilling in the United States may create good-paying jobs, reduce reliance on foreign oil and lower the trade deficit, it will have hardly any impact on gas and oil prices.

That's because the amount of extra oil that could be produced from more drilling in this country is tiny compared to what the world consumes.

Plus, any extra oil the country did produce would likely be quickly offset by a cut in OPEC production.

"This drill drill drill thing is tired," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, which calculates gas prices for the motorist organization AAA. "It's a simplistic way of looking for a solution that doesn't exist."

According to a 2009 study from the government's Energy Information Administration, opening up waters that are currently closed to drilling off the East Coast, West Coast and the west coast of Florida would yield an extra 500,000 barrels a day by 2030.

The world currently consumes 89 million barrels a day, and by then would likely be using over 100 million barrels.

After OPEC got done adjusting its production to reflect the increased American output, gas prices might drop a whopping 3 cents a gallon, the study said.

"More production from anywhere would tend to lower prices," said Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank. "But the amount that we're talking about domestically, it wouldn't move gas prices from $4 a gallon to $3."

In fact, more domestic oil is just what we've been seeing and gasoline prices are still going up.

Including liquids from natural gas, biofuels and other products that are all used to make gasoline, the United States now produces 9.7 million barrels of oil a day, according to EIA. That's the most oil this country has pumped in 20 years, and puts it just behind Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top producer.

Since 2005 production has been steadily rising. The United States now produces about a million and a half more barrels today than it did six years ago. Over this same time period oil hit a record $147 a barrel.

Oddly, it's largely because of high prices that this new production is possible. The deepwater drilling, shale rock extraction and other techniques used to increase production are pricey endeavors.

It's been a bounty for those that work in the oil and gas industry. In the last ten years the industry has added 2 million jobs, said Rayola Dougher, senior economic advisor for the American Petroleum Institute. The industry now employs over 9 million Americans.

These are well-paying jobs. People can earn $15 to $20 an hour right out of high school. With a just a few years experience, $60,000 a year is possible. Petroleum engineers and others with advanced degrees easily clear six figures.

It's also been good for oil companies. Thanks to lower taxes, companies generally make much more money on a barrel of oil produced in the United States than they do from North Sea or Middle East crude.

Dougher said that if all federal land was open to oil drilling -- not just offshore but Alaska's wildlife refuge and all federal land in the West that isn't a national park -- the country could produce an extra 2.8 million barrels of oil a day by 2025.

Being that she represents the oil industry, Dougher gave the idea a hard sell.

She said it would create another 500,000 jobs, add $150 billion each year to government coffers and shave a significant chunk off the country's foreign trade deficit.

But one argument she didn't make was lower prices.

"How would that play out in the market, what impact would that have on prices," she said, "we just don't know." 

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2011/apr/24/ohio-church-offers-100-drivers-free-gas-easter-ar-464494/

Belly up to the (tie) bar

The old-school neck-cessory is the hot new thing in men's jewelry.

Tie bars from the Gentry's Salinger collection. "This is for a generation that hasn't had to wear a suit," says co-owner Greg Sato. (Toni Torres / April 24, 2011)

Adam Tschorn Los Angeles Times staff writer

April 24, 2011

After nearly a generation on the endangered accessories list, the old-school tie bar — the narrow piece of decorative metal (also known as a tie clip) that slides horizontally across a necktie and holds it flat against a gentleman's dress shirt — is enjoying a bit of a renaissance.

"The tie bar trend is huge," said Macy's men's fashion director Durand Guion. "It's been trending strongly for us — as a nationwide store — for about the last two years."

J.P. Graytok, owner of the Collar Co., a Somerville, N.J.-based e-commerce site that focuses on men's furnishings, describes a similar experience. "In the last year, all of a sudden, tie bars came back," he said. "It felt like overnight, almost."

Graytok estimates that his sales of tie bars are up at least 25% compared with a year ago, and are steadily outperforming other accessories categories that include cufflinks, collar bars and tie tacks.

That kind of uptick is even more impressive considering that, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based market research firm NPD Group, overall men's jewelry sales saw a 1% drop to $3.6 billion for the 12 months ending in February 2011.

Some observers credit the resurgence in neck-centric jewelry to the influence of shows like "Mad Men" and "Boardwalk Empire." Others point to the reinvigorated men's "dress-up" business. (NPD recently reported that for the three months ending in February, tailored clothing was up 30% compared with the same period in 2010. Neckwear grew nearly as fast — sales were up 26%. Still others say the numbers reflect nothing more than the inevitable pendulum swing of sartorial style.

And, as Macy's Guion points out, it's a fail-safe way for a guy to accessorize with jewelry. "It's decidedly masculine, it's very clean, very modern, and no one's going to make fun of you," he said. "No one is going to snicker at you for wearing a tie bar."

But there doesn't seem to be any debate on who is bellying up to the tie bar. "This is for a generation that hasn't had to wear a suit," said Greg Sato, co-owner of the 16-month-old Los Angeles-based neckwear and accessories brand Gentry. "They want to wear [a suit]. And once they've mastered that, they want to figure out how to turn heads, and the general lack of accessory options for men is why we started our business. The tie bar is a subtle detail that really sets them apart."

Guion concurs: "For these younger guys, wearing a tie is novel, and whether he's wearing a shirt and tie with a pair of jeans or a whole suit, he's finishing it off with a narrow tie and a tie bar — and he's doing it every day and not even thinking about it."

Although Sato, Guion and Graytok report that simple, unadorned styles have been among the bestselling tie bars to date, with silver as the overwhelmingly favored metal, if the current pace of the trend continues, that could change. The Gentry line includes gunmetal tie bars shaped like daggers and brass ones shaped like skeleton keys, for example, and Macy's has started moving into tie bars with more textured surfaces and inlays.

"And we've started to test some of the tie tacks, tie pins and collar bars," Guion said. "It's [performing] nowhere near where the tie bar is, but we have a strong feeling about necktie jewelry in general because of the acceptance of the tie bar."

Sticking your neck out never looked more stylish.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1889922_1890008,00.html

1,000 cops may face discipline for viewing sex case reports

More than 1,000 Chicago police officers could face discipline for viewing the arrest reports of two fellow cops accused of sexually assaulting a North Side woman.

Police department officials said Saturday they are investigating why so many officers accessed the arrest reports, and said the officers could face disciplinary action. The police union, however, says the officers did nothing wrong.

Last month, two Town Hall district officers were stripped of their police powers amid allegations they had sex with an intoxicated woman in her home and in a police SUV while on-duty. A third officer was also stripped of his powers soon after the alleged March 30th incident.

According to a memo sent department-wide Wednesday by the Internal Affairs unit, accessing the electronic report constituted “misuse of department equipment.” The memo warned that “access of information for personal or other reasons is strictly prohibited.”

The memo said officers had accessed and printed the reports “without reason or authorization to do so.” It recommended that those officers receive a written reprimand that would stay on their personnel record for a year.

On Saturday, police spokeswoman Lt. Maureen Biggane confirmed “the Internal Affairs Division is looking into the matter, including who accessed the reports and for what purpose.”

Biggane said it was unclear how many officers were involved. Police sources said it was more than 1,000.

But Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said there was nothing wrong with looking at reports unless the reports were printed and distributed to the media.

“Police officers use those computers on a daily basis, looking at various arrest reports,” he said. “It’s just a basic part of the job and it’s not misuse of department equipment.” Camden said the department could have blocked access to the reports, but didn’t.

Camden said he’s never seen such a threat of “blanket disciplinary action.

“On this magnitude, this is a first,” he said.

As he prepares to take his young daughter to Easter Mass for the first time, Chicago father Joseph Reyes said the Resurrection of Christ and the symbolism of new life is not lost on him.

“It has a lot of meaning for me, to be completely honest,” Reyes told the Sun-Times last week. “For the first time I’m able to observe this holiday and a very important part of who I am with my daughter without fear of being persecuted for that.”

Last Easter, a judge denied Reyes’ request to take his young daughter to mass, citing a temporary order preventing him from “exposing” Ela to any other religion than the Jewish faith. The order was part of an ugly divorce and custody battle between Reyes, who is Roman Catholic, and his then-wife Rebecca, who is Jewish.

The case grabbed national attention after Reyes, who lives in Mount Greenwood on the Southwest Side, had the girl baptized at a Catholic Church in November 2009, and his estranged wife took him to court.

Rebecca Reyes’ attorneys argued the couple agreed to raise the girl in the Jewish faith and that Joseph had converted to Judaism when the girl was born.

Joseph Reyes, a 36-year-old law student who works for his attorney in the case, Joel Brodsky, doesn’t deny the agreement during happier times, but said he returned to his Catholic roots once the couple split.

Today, with the divorce and custody battle in the rear-view mirror — and the court order effectively lifted — Reyes said he now simply wants to share his faith with his daughter. But at age 4, does she understand the tenets of Catholicism or the meaning of Easter?

“I think that she has a very elementary understanding of it. I know I did at her age. And Ela is a very, very bright girl,” he said.

This won’t be the girl’s first time at mass. They’ve been attending on weekends when he has custody. But this Sunday, he says, is special because it will be the first time father and daughter attend mass on one of the holiest days on the Catholic calendar.

Reyes bought his little girl a nice spring dress and a new tiara, a favorite accessory of the 4 year old’s to wear for early Easter morning mass at Queen of Martyrs Roman Catholic Church in south suburban Evergreen Park, the church where she was baptized.

Afterward there will be a brunch with family, including Joseph’s parents, siblings and some cousins who are Ela’s age.

Of course there will be some secular celebrations — an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday, and she’ll be given an Easter basket on Sunday.

Ela, who attends a Jewish school, also celebrated Passover last week, her father said.

The child’s mother did not return a call for comment. Laura Ashmore, Rebecca Reyes’ attorney in the case, declined to comment.

Asked whether the doctrinal differences might be confusing to the girl, Joseph Reyes said the girl is simply too young to understand. And he’s trying to raise her to understand and respect the faiths of both parents.

“We’ll talk about Passover, we’ll talk about Christmas, we’ll talk about Easter. I really want Ela to appreciate these holidays. I don’t want to talk about differences. I think religion is a spectrum. It’s sad people in the world use religion to divide,” Reyes said. “We live in a diverse, multicultural society. It’s important we appreciate the variety.”

Repenting and forgiveness are two strong themes in both religions and they’re something Reyes thinks about as he looks back at his marriage and very public divorce and moves forward as a single parent.

“I’ve put it behind me. I imagine a day will come that what has transpired will come before Ela’s eyes, and I hope Ela can forgive us,” Reyes said.

LINK TO PHOTO OF DAD:

http://www.suntimes.com/4971199-417/religious-custody-dispute-over-dad-to-attend-easter-mass-with-daughter.html

The federal government repays states some of the cost of incarcerating undocumented immigrants through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

Criminal aliens have consistently made up about 25 percent of the federal prison population since 2001, according to the study.

The study comes as the immigration debate heats up on Capitol Hill and the White House. President Obama ramped up efforts this week, hosting meetings with key business, faith and political officials on the issue. And Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus's immigration task force, is trumpeting the need for immigration reform in speeches across the country. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) used the study to back his push for a fence and a wall that runs along the U.S.-Mexico border as a way to stop people from coming into the country illegally.

Nearly 70 percent of the criminal aliens in federal prisons, and 66 percent in state prisons, were born in Mexico, the report found. About five percent are from the Dominican Republic, and five percent from Colombia.

“We have to secure our southern border with a fence, a wall and a fence,” said King, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security & International Law subcommittee.

“That would drastically reduce the ability of criminal aliens to enter the United States, providing needed relief to overburdened state prison systems and to taxpayers. We also have to do a better job of removing criminal aliens who are apprehended.”

Based on a 1,000-person sample of the criminal alien population, the study found that each non-U.S. citizen in prison had, on average, been arrested seven times over the course of their lives.

“About 50 percent of the criminal aliens in our study population were arrested at least once for either assault, homicide, robbery, a sex offense, or kidnapping,” the study reads. “About half of the criminal aliens were arrested at least once for a drug violation.”

Nearly half of the people – 173 of the 399 – that the Justice Department convicted of crimes related to international terrorism were, at the time of charging, non-U.S. citizens with or without legal immigration status, the report found.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/20/2182516/churches-fight-way-out-of-recession.html

Brad Knickerbocker

Staff writer
April 23, 2011 at 5:02 pm EDT

http://grocery.walmart.com/usd-estore/index.jsp?referrer=cookiesDetecting

http://www.wpxi.com/news/27639613/detail.html

April 22, 2011

Was teacher fired for getting pregnant?
Kimball Perry

enquirer.com

At age 31, Christa Dias really wanted to become a mother.

The technology coordinator and computer teacher at two Archdiocese of Cincinnati schools gleefully told her bosses in October that she needed maternity leave in a few months because she was 5½ months pregnant.

Then she was fired.

First, she was fired, her federal lawsuit against the archdiocese alleges, because diocese officials believed she'd had premarital sex.

But when they found out how she got pregnant, they were even more upset, she said.

"After being notified of a potential violation of federal and state anti-discrimination laws, Defendants (The Archdiocese) changed their reason for terminating Ms. Dias to her use of artificial insemination to become pregnant, which they claim is also a violation of the philosophy and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Defendants have admitted that they had no other reasons to terminate Ms. Dias' employment," Dias' suit filed Thursday states.

Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco wouldn't comment Friday because he had not seen the suit.

Dias, of Withamsville, was stunned by her employer's actions.

"I was obviously outraged that in this day and age it is something that can be done by the Catholic Church," Dias said, as her 9-week-old daughter bawled in the background. Dias isn't Catholic.

"I wanted to bring life in the world and I'm being ostracized for it. Catholic or not Catholic, a lot of people are outraged."

Originally from Michigan, Dias has lived here for three years. She said she loved working for the East Price Hill schools - Holy Family and St. Lawrence - where she split her time, making a combined $36,000 per year.

"I am a Christian and I follow the Bible and I don't see anything in the Bible about artificial insemination," Dias said. "They consider it gravely immoral."

Dias' suit also questions if the diocese applies the same standards to men. Would a man who had a pregnant mate, impregnated either as a result of premarital sex or artificial insemination, be treated the same way, she asked.

"I was fired because I am able to (physically) show I am pregnant. ... To what length would they follow a male employee around" to determine how the pregnancy happened, she wondered.

"Only a woman can become pregnant and she was fired because she was pregnant," Dias' attorney Bob Klingler said.

The archdiocese, she added, also is contesting her unemployment claims, leaving her with no income.

Despite the consequences, Dias said she wouldn't change her decision to start a family.

"Now that she's in my life, I can't think what my life would be without her," she said.

Dias sued, citing breach of contract and pregnancy discrimination.

"The point of the lawsuit is I want to make sure that they can't do this to another woman," Dias said.

The suit seeks unspecified back pay, future pay, attorney fees and compensatory and punitive damages.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39722773?slide=1

$5.69 for regular gasoline, $5.79 for premium

Q13 FOX News Online and CNN Web Reporter

4:20 p.m. EDT, April 22, 2011

Gas prices are on the rise nationwide, but one filling station in Florida has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest prices in the country.

Suncoast Energys, located near the Orlando International Airport, was charging $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline on Friday. That's the highest of any gas retailer in the nation, according to price tracker gasbuddy.com.

By contrast, the average price in the city of Orlando is $3.78 a gallon, a few pennies below the state and national averages.

Patrick DeHann, senior analyst at gasbuddy.com, said many tourists use the station before returning rental cars on the way to the airport, without realizing how expensive the gas is until it's too late.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110422/NEWS02/110422014/Terry-Jones-goes-free-1-bond-after-jailing-judge-bars-him-from-mosque-3-years?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|FRONTPAGE

City man gets 7 years for armed robbery that netted 86 cents

Larry Hertz
Poughkeepsie Journal

Michael Armstrong

 

A City of Poughkeepsie man who took part in a robbery that netted him and his accomplice less than a dollar in change will spend up to seven years in state prison.

"You and your accomplice robbed this man, and he was shot, and all you got was 86 cents," Dutchess County Court Judge Stephen L. Greller told 22-year-old Michael Armstrong as he imposed the sentence Wednesday in the County Courthouse.

Armstrong admitted last month that he and 18-year-old Devonte Burks accosted a man Aug. 21 at Academy and Montgomery streets in the city and demanded money.

Burks acknowledged during his plea last month that he was holding a handgun that went off during the robbery, seriously injuring the victim.

He contended that the shooting had been accidental.

Burks faces an 11-year sentence for the crime, Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Knapp said.

"And the whole thing was over some pocket change," Knapp said.

Both men entered guilty pleas to first-degree robbery, a felony.

As part of their plea agreements, Armstrong and Burks will be ordered to pay the victim $65,031 for his medical bills.

Knapp said the victim underwent surgery after he was shot in the stomach.

 

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/DC-Decoder/2011/0421/Obama-has-the-White-House-but-where-does-Vice-President-Joe-Biden-live

 

Getty

 

Ellen Lewin, a professor at the University of Iowa, above, apologized after sending a vulgar email to the school's Republican group. SEE THE EMAIL BELOW

 

 

Lewin teaches anthropology and gender and women's sexuality courses.

A liberal University of Iowa sex professor has a message for the school's conservatives: F--- YOU!

Professor Ellen Lewin said as much in a response to a mass email from a campus Republican group promoting "Conservative Coming Out Week."

In the email on Monday morning, the UI College Republicans called for conservatives in Iowa City to "come out of the closet" and promote right-wing values that week.

The events included a screening of the 2002 film "Journey's with George," in honor of George W. Bush, a "Red vs. Blue" kickball game and blood drive and an "Animal Rights BBQ."

Less than one minute after the email was sent, Lewin fired back a blistering response: "F-YOU, REPUBLICANS."

SEE THE EMAIL BELOW

The message was addressed to UI College Republicans and included Lewin's email signature identifying her as a professor of anthropology, gender and women's sexuality studies.

After a flurry of responses and a complaint from the group's student leader, Lewin sent two emails explaining the gaffe, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

"This is a time when political passions are inflamed, and when I received your unsolicited email, I had just finished reading some newspaper accounts of fresh outrages committed by Republicans…I admit the language was inappropriate, and apologize for any affront to anyone's delicate sensibilities," she wrote.

She also asked the group not to send mass emails in the future.

In a second message, Lewin called the conservative group's email disturbing and offensive because it used the term "coming out," promoted an "Animal Rights BBQ," and made a lighthearted reference to the recent union protests in Wisconsin.

She also slammed the student president of the group for calling her "Ellen," rather than "Professor Lewin."

University of Iowa President Sally Mason said in an email to the school that the university embraced diversity and urged faculty and staff to be respectful. Her email didn't specifically mention the Lewin or the conservative group.

Lewin admitted to the Des Moines Register that she lost her temper.

LINK TO EMAIL STRING:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/section/documentcloud&dckeyword=85920-university-of-iowa-emails

"The apology was sincere," she said. "I hope those apologies and my commitment to not reheat such behavior can put the matter to rest."

The UI College Republicans email, and Lewin's response, less than a minute later.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/20/business-owner-casts-reasonable-doubt-on-accuracy-/?page=all#pagebreak

Miramar woman identified in claim that child fired fatal shot from Glock; investigation continues

Neighbor: 'Ain't no way the baby did it'

Julia Bennett

 

Sofia Santana and Danielle A. Alvarez, Sun Sentinel

12:28 p.m. EDT, April 21, 2011

MIRAMAR—

Police on Thursday identified the woman who died in a case in which a 911 caller reported that a woman had been shot by her toddler son.

Julia Bennett, 33, was found dead when police went to a third floor apartment at the Ashlar complex in the 8200 block of Sherman Circle North after the 911 call was made Wednesday evening, authorities said.

Neighbors said they heard one gunshot about 7 p.m.

Outside the complex Thursday, Tania Rues, Miramar police spokeswoman said the 911 call was made by the father of the 2 1/2-year-old boy. The father, who hasn't been identified, told authorities the gun, a semi-automatic Glock, somehow became accessible to the youngster who accidentally fired it.

The father has a concealed weapons permit for the gun, Rues said. The circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation.

Bennett has other children, though the toddler boy is the only one who lives with her. She and the child's father are not married, Rues said.

The youngster is currently in the custody of Florida's Department of Children and Families. A placement hearing has been scheduled for Friday.

When the shot was heard Wednesday evening, several Miramar police officers were already at the apartment complex, searching for a missing 6-year-old who was quickly found unharmed, witnesses said.

After the shot, officers ran to the apartment and kicked in the door, said Abel Hernandez, 19, who lives in an adjacent building in the complex.

"The police brought out a small boy wearing a striped shirt and shorts," Hernandez said.

Detectives on Wednesday night tried to talk to the 2 1/2-year-old child outside the apartment. Rues said the child, who was not injured, did not appear to understand what had happened.

"It appears he is not aware of what exactly occurred," Rues said.

On Thursday, residents leaving the gated apartment complex for work, school or to walk their dogs were talking about what had happened.

Resident Naomi Williams, 49, said she was shocked by the incident and doesn't think a toddler could be responsible.

Williams said officers had the child outside her apartment door on Wednesday night where she saw them check his hands and take a swab from his mouth.

"I was looking at the baby's hands and ain't no way the baby did it," Williams said.

Woman recalls humiliation of going to jail half-dressed as she testifies in suit against Portland police officers

Published: Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 6:35 PM   

Updated: Thursday, April 21, 2011, 6:03 AM

Helen Jung

The Oregonian

LINK TO ORIGINAL STORY:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2007/05/woman_sues_portland_police_cla.html

http://www.wtsp.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=912174097001

 

Craig Warga/News

 

Special-education student Joseph Anderson, 7, has been 'really traumatized' since he was put in handcuffs at his Maspeth, Queens, school, says his mother, Jessica Anderson.

 

Special-education student Joseph Anderson, a first-grader at Public School 153 in Maspeth, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center in metal cuffs, even though his mother told school officials she was on her way to pick him up, mom Jessica Anderson said.

"He was crying and saying, 'I want Mommy,'" Anderson said. "Why handcuff him? Why get the cops involved? He's only 7."

The little boy has begun wetting himself in the middle of the day and throwing up since the April 13 incident, his distraught mom said.

"If he hears an ambulance, he runs under the bed and screams, 'They're going to get me,'" said the single mom. "He's really traumatized. I don't let him watch the news anymore, because if he sees cops, he cries."

City Education Department officials said school staff took the drastic step to protect the boy and his classmates.

"The school tried to defuse the situation and then called for outside assistance when there was a concern the child would harm himself or others," department spokeswoman Marge Feinberg said.

Anderson said the school called her about 12:30 p.m. to tell her Joseph - who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, delayed speech and emotional problems - was not having a good day, and she said she would pick him up.

Turns out, things were far worse than she imagined. The boy told her he became upset because the color on the egg he was painting didn't look the way he wanted, and staffers threatened to send him to the hospital if he didn't calm down.

Scared, the boy then jumped up on the table and said, "I just want my mommy," his mother said.

Anderson didn't get there fast enough. She left her job in Manhattan and arrived at the Maspeth school at 1:45 p.m., but her son was already gone. She didn't find out about the handcuffs until she arrived at the hospital, and a nurse told her how upset her son had been.

"I was crying. I broke down," she said. "They know that my son is special ed. It's like they're trying to get rid of him, and it worked because I'm not sending him back there."

The NYPD defended cuffing the kid, saying in a statement that he was "acting in a threatening manner." A source also said he was waving scissors.

"He was a danger to himself and others in the classroom," a spokesman said. "He started spitting and cursing at the officers. The handcuffs were used to restrain the child because of his behavior. He was a danger to himself."

This is the third time the school has sent Joseph to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. The school suspended the boy for two weeks.

Advocates say Joseph's trauma is not an isolated incident.

"I've seen far too many cases of kids this young handcuffed and thrown into ambulances for behavior at school," said Kim Sweet of Advocates for Children. "Just imagine being a little kid and having people come, clamp your hands behind your back and throw you in an ambulance."

The Daily News has reported several cases of handcuffing young children, including a 12-year-old Queens girl cuffed last year for doodling on her desk and a 5-year-old who was cuffed in 2008 for misbehaving in his kindergarten class.

Texas outlaws K2, Spice and other synthetic marijuana products

Apr 20, 2011 10:38 PM EDT

Say goodbye to so-called fake pot.

The countdown has begun for an all-out ban on synthetic marijuana products in Texas. On Friday, products like K2 and spice are being outlawed. It will be illegal to manufacture, distribute, sell, or even possess these substances, which are often marked as herbal incense.   

Substance abuse counselor Linda James says make no mistake-- it is very similar to marijuana.

"This is a mood altering chemical. This is another drug, another way that people have found to change reality and get high," said James. "If it didn't alter the way you felt they wouldn't use it and there wouldn't have been such a demand for the product and an outcry."

James works at the Lufkin Alcohol Drug Abuse Council where she says she's treated several clients who have used K2.

"They have been under the influence. Their behavior has become unmanageable. There were several incidents of family violence with youth under the influence," said James. "One female indicated it as addictive and used it. It lead her back to marijuana really quickly she said and then almost back to a couple of other drugs."

Since January of 2010 about 600 calls were made to the Texas Poison Center Network related to K2 exposure. The Texas Department of State Health Services is following several other states in outlawing synthetic marijuana products.

"This is just a step in the right direction that our country and our nation and our people that we realize that addiction is a problem and we're trying to do something about it," said James.

James says the ban will help protect young people while lowering the crime rate.

"Our community will be safer," she said.

Legal penalties include up to a $4,000 fine and jail time.

Again, the ban takes effect Friday. It follows a temporary ban in March making "fake pot" products illegal for at least a year.   

 

(News Release) - The Texas Department of State Health Services is outlawing marijuana-like substances that are commonly found in K2, Spice and other synthetic marijuana products. The ban will become effective April 22.

DSHS placed five synthetic cannabinoid substances in Schedule I of the Texas Schedules of Controlled Substances, making it illegal to manufacture, distribute, possess and sell the substances. Penalties for the manufacture, sale or possession of K2 are Class A or B misdemeanors.

K2 or Spice, often marketed as herbal incense, contain substances that produce psychoactive effects similar to those from smoking marijuana. These marijuana-like substances are readily available through smoke shops, gas stations and the Internet.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used its emergency scheduling authority to temporarily ban synthetic marijuana or similar "fake pot" products that mimic the effects of marijuana. The DEA action March 2 made it illegal to manufacture, sell or possess these products for at least one year.

Following the DEA's action, DSHS is required by state law to place the substances on the Texas Schedules of Controlled Substances unless the commissioner objects.Schedule I, the most restrictive category on the Texas Schedules of Controlled Substances, is reserved for unsafe, highly abused substances with no accepted medical use. Five chemicals, JWH -018, JWH-073, JWH-200, CP-47,497, and cannabicyclohexanol that are found in K2 were placed on the Schedule.

Penalties for the manufacture, sale or possession of K2 are outlined in Section 481.119 of the Texas Controlled Substances Act. The penalties remain in effect unless the Texas Legislature determines a different penalty group for the substances.

Persons found guilty of a Class A misdemeanor are subject to a fine not to exceed $4,000 and/or confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year. Persons found guilty of a Class B misdemeanor are subject to a fine not to exceed $2,000 and/or confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days.

Since January 2010, approximately 600 calls were made to the Texas Poison Center Network related to K2 exposure. Reported adverse effects associated with use of these marijuana-like substances include chest pain, heart palpitations, agitation, drowsiness, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and confusion.

--DSHS Press Office

 

   

 

 

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.ktre.com/global/Category.asp?c=194398&autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=5775174

http://www.click2houston.com/news/27617214/detail.html

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/9-year-old-boy-saves-little-sister-with-cpr-24963211

Thanks to pumpi76 for the tip.

Video Of Arrest Shows Memphis Police Officer Grabbing Woman

 LINK TO VIDEO:

www.wreg.com/videobeta/5622dd6b-255a-4e59-bfb2-063814f36432/News/Woman-Arrested-for-Hitting-Officer

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/04/19/granderson.children.dress/index.html?hpt=C2

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/04/20/2011-04-20_cat_burglar_in_china_caught_redhanded_when_cops_spotted_him_dangling_from_5thflo.html

Reds' Mike Leake arrested

He's accused of stealing T-shirts from Macy's

Reds pitcher Mike Leake was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center by Cincinnati police on Monday, April 18, 2011. / Provided/Hamilton County Sheriff's Office

 

Reds pitcher Mike Leake was charged with misdemeanor theft hours before Monday's game after being accused of removing security tags from six T-shirts at a Downtown store and leaving without paying for them, store security and police said.

Employees at Macy's called police after they said Leake removed the tags from six American Rag T-shirts, valued at $59.88, and left the store with them.

The incident was captured by security cameras, police documents state.

Leake, 23, was arrested at the 505 Vine St. store at 2 p.m. and booked into the jail at 2:32 p.m. He was charged with theft, a misdemeanor carrying a maximum jail term of 180 days. Leake is scheduled for an initial court appearance at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Leake was in the dugout in uniform at Great American Ball Park for the Reds' game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

"Today, Mike Leake was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of theft from the Macy's store downtown," the Reds said in a statement released during Monday's game. "Right now, he has been advised by his attorney to offer no further statements on this matter. This case will proceed in the justice system, where Mike's story will be told. Until that time, there will be nothing further from Mike on this episode until the court proceedings have concluded," the statement continued. "However, Mike wishes to apologize to his family, the fans, Mr. Castellini, Walt, Dusty, his teammates and the entire Reds organization for this distraction."

Reds CEO Bob Castellini, general manager Walt Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker would not publicly address Leake's arrest, the team said.

"At this time, we are advised to not publicly address this matter because of the pending legal proceedings," the Reds' statement said. "However, we do not condone behavior of the type alleged, which is wholly inconsistent with the principles of this organization and our community and is detrimental to the positive direction we seek to follow. When the legal process has been completed, we will handle this matter internally."

An email to Major League Baseball officials was not immediately returned. In a text message, Jocketty said Monday night that the Reds had not heard from MLB regarding Leake.

Leake was not spotted by reporters before the game. But the Reds' clubhouse was closed to the media after batting practice, a time when media usually have access.

Leake, 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in three starts this season, last pitched on Saturday against Pittsburgh and was tentatively scheduled to start Thursday against Arizona. Asked whether Leake would make that start, Reds spokesman Rob Butcher referred that question to Baker.

Leake was the Reds' first-round draft pick in 2009 out of Arizona State University, the eighth selection overall. He received a $2.3 million signing bonus and is set to make $425,000 for the 2011 season.

Leake made his debut with the Reds last season without playing in the minor leagues. He went 8-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 2010.

 

Staff writers Kimball Perry, Tom Groeschen and John Fay contributed.

Cincinnati.com.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/27598215/detail.html

http://www.kitv.com/news/27571928/detail.html

Cops: Wife found hiding with knife in husband's mistress' closet had 'sinister motives'

Shawn Cohen

Lohud.com

1:37 PM, Apr. 19, 2011 

PEEKSKILL - A woman found hiding in a closet of her husband's mistress brought a 12-inch carving knife, surgical gloves, duct tape, bleach and garbage bags - and was waiting for the couple to return home, police said.

It is clear she had "sinister motives," said Peekskill police Lt. Eric Johansen, who could only speculate what she planned to do. "Given the items recovered, it lends itself, at the very least, to some semblance of violence."

Lizbeth Hernandez, who is being held without bail at the Westchester County jail in Valhalla, was allegedly seen by a neighbor breaking into the paramour's Peekskill condominium Saturday morning, shortly after Hernandez's husband and his girlfriend left her place.

Police said Hernandez, 47, of Middletown, had secretly followed her husband when he left his job in lower Westchester Friday evening. The husband, who left his wife a few months ago, spent the night at his girlfriend's Woods III condo. Hernandez spent the night outside in her car, waiting. At some point, she allegedly used a key to scrape the cars of her husband and girlfriend, leaving gouge marks along the sides and tops, causing several thousand dollars in damage.

After the couple left, Hernandez walked up to the ground-floor apartment and tried to open a window. A neighbor noticed her and called 911, then described Hernandez's ongoing efforts to enter the unit. Hernandez went back and forth to her car several times, retrieving a hammer and a metal spatula. She pried open a screen, smashed the window, then crawled inside over shards of glass, police said.

Police officers entered with flashlights. They found her - at 5 feet tall and 120 pounds - deep in a closet, hiding under a pile of clothes, Johansen said.

"She had concealed herself quite well," he said. "It appears she was going to lie in wait for them to return."

Hernandez said nothing of substance when officers found her, and she was taken into custody without a struggle, police said.

She was carrying the knife, gloves and tape. Inside her car, police found some garbage bags and a jug of bleach.

"On its own, that wouldn't raise too much concern, but combined with everything else, it certainly raised the level of suspicion as to what her true motive was," Johansen said. "She didn't say what her motive was. However, given the fact all these items were recovered and the fact she broken into the home, you have to think there was a much more sinister plan."

Hernandez, who lives on Oak Hill Road, has had several prior domestic disputes with her husband in which she was the aggressor, Johansen said. The couple, who have no children, have been married at least five years, he said.

She is charged with second-degree burglary and third-degree criminal mischief, felonies. She was arraigned yesterday and is due back in City Court on Monday.

Lizbeth Hernandez

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/oakland_county/father-of-12-year-old-who-attempted-to-rob-a-store-says-she-did-it-to-try-and-save-her-home

Lawsuit asks state to pay for inmate's sex-change operation

Lyralisa Stevens says she is harassed and sexually assaulted by male prisoners, and needs surgery to be assigned to a women's prison. State officials say they aren't required to provide that level of care.

Thomas Strawn, a transgender inmate who goes by the name Lisa, applies eyeliner inside her cell. She says she is in a committed relationship with a man in the next cell and would not want to be transferred to a women's prison. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times

April 19, 2011, 6:02 p.m.

 

Reporting from Vacaville—

Lyralisa Stevens, who was born male but lives as a female, is serving 50 years to life in a California prison for killing a San Bernardino County woman with a shotgun in a dispute over clothes.

Stevens is one of more than 300 inmates in the state prison system diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, a psychiatric condition addressed in free society with hormone replacement therapy and, in some cases, sex reassignment surgery.

Prison officials have provided female hormones for Stevens since her incarceration in 2003. But now she is asking the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco to require the state to pay for a sex-change operation.

Stevens, 42, and her expert witnesses say that surgery is medically necessary, and that removal of her penis and testicles and transfer to a women's prison are the best way to protect her from rape and abuse by male inmates.

As prison officials have struggled to address chronic overcrowding, the constant threat of gang violence and a health system that federal judges have equated with "cruel and unusual" punishment, they have also gone to court multiple times to answer allegations that they failed to properly treat and protect transgender inmates.

Judges have sided with transgender prisoners — who according to a UC Irvine study are 13 times more likely to suffer sexual assault than other inmates — on some significant cases. In 2009, the California Supreme Court ruled that an inmate could sue guards for failing to protect her from repeated rapes and beatings by her cellmate. In 1999, an appeals court ordered prison officials to provide hormone therapy to inmates who were already taking them when they arrived. The treatments cost about $1,000 a year per prisoner.

A ruling in Stevens' favor would make California the first place in the country required to provide reassignment surgery for an inmate, according to lawyers for the receiver appointed to oversee California's troubled prison health system. They argue that the state should be required to provide only "minimally adequate care," not sex-change operations that cost $15,000 to $50,000.

Stevens, who has a slight build — 5-foot-6 and about 115 pounds — and entered prison with silicon injections in her breasts and hips to feminize her physique, said in a court filing that she feels like she's under threat of sexual assault in the men's facility and wants the surgery, in part, so she'll be sent to a women's institution.

"The male inmate is not expecting to see breasts … in the shower next to him," Stevens wrote. The situation can lead to violent disputes among the men and sparks attacks against transgender inmates, who may have less upper body strength because of the hormone therapy, Stevens said.

In a court filing supporting Stevens' petition, psychotherapist Lin Fraser said she has "grave concerns" for Stevens' safety because she "had been put alone in cells all night long with men who threatened and abused her."

State law requires prisons to assign inmates to men's or women's institutions based on "gender," which corrections officials determine solely by a prisoner's genitals. Richard Masbruch, who tried multiple times to castrate himself while in a Texas prison and eventually succeeded, is in the California Institution for Women inChino. Masbruch, who goes by the name Sherri, was transferred from Texas to serve 40 years for a 1991 rape in Fresno.

While confronting complaints and lawsuits by transgender inmates challenging their housing assignments during the mid-2000s, the California prison system commissioned a study by UC Irvine sociologists to help them understand the small, uniquely vulnerable population. The study found that 59% of transgender inmates said they had been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted behind bars, compared with 4.4% of the general prison population, lead researcher Valerie Jenness told the state Senate Public Safety Committee.

Despite those numbers, 59% of transgender inmates said they did not want to move to a women's institution.

"The advantages of being in a men's prison include the pursuit of sex and the possibility of securing a male partner," Jenness said. "Concern about safety is not a main factor in predicting [housing] preferences."

Stevens declined to join a group of transgender inmates interviewed by The Times recently at the prison system's main medical facility in Vacaville. But six others — of the 30 to 50 transgender inmates housed there at any given time — spoke candidly about their lives in prison.

Thomas Strawn, 52, who uses the name Lisa and is serving a life sentence after a third-strike conviction for burglary, said she is in a committed relationship with the man in the next cell and would not want to move.

"I stayed single for an entire year when I got here," Strawn said. "But now I got with somebody and I've been with him now two years."

Others, such as convicted killer David, or Bella, Birrell, 58, who said she had been raped in prison, would like to be transferred to a women's facility. "You don't have to worry about the constant harassment like you get from the men here," she said.

Only two of the six said they would be interested in a sex change operation if a court order compelled the state to pay the costs.

"I had made plans to try to get [the surgery] done before I committed the crime that I did," said Steve Alamillo, 39, who goes by Nikkas and is serving life for first-degree murder. "If the state can do that stuff, absolutely."

Willie Murphy, 47, who is also known as Mena and is serving life on a third-strike conviction for burglary, was among the majority, preferring to "keep what I got."

Surgery is where the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation draws the line.

"A prison is not required by law to give a prisoner medical care that is as good as he would receive if he were a free person, let alone an affluent free person," attorney Steven J. Bechtold, who represents the receiver, wrote in the state's response to Stevens' petition for the operation.

The prison system has lost on a similar point before. The state provides hormone therapy today because a federal court found in a 1999 case that failing to continue treatment for inmates who were on hormones before coming to prison amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

"We regularly get questions about why we are treating these patients," said Dr. Joseph Bick, chief medical officer at Vacaville. "The bottom line is, not only is it appropriate, but it's mandated by federal courts."

Stevens, who has fathered three children, argues in her court case that the tail of estrogen and testosterone-blockers the state has provided since her incarceration in 2003 are no longer adequate to combat her emotional distress. Failing to provide surgery could increase her "risk of future self-harm," wrote Dr. Denise Taylor, a medical expert who filed a brief on Stevens' behalf.

Taylor also argued that leaving Stevens on estrogen therapy could lead to the reemergence of a benign tumor removed from her brain in 2005.

Bick, who filed a declaration with the court in January defending the state's position, said the previous tumor was not believed to be caused by estrogen therapy. He said Stevens' treatment in prison has been "adequate and successful."

Perhaps the biggest threat to Stevens' case is the state's budget crisis, in the view of several transgender inmates interviewed. They worried that a judge might be reluctant to rule in her favor with the state facing hard times.

"If I were out there, I wouldn't understand, especially if I was unemployed or trying to support a family," Birrell said.

"But if you could only go into our heads for a day or two to see what we go through internally," she said, "you would get a greater appreciation of how devastating it is to be a transgender individual locked up in a man's prison."

LINK TO  PHOTO OF LYRALISA STEVENS:

 http://www.wtsp.com/news/watercooler/article/187528/58/Vacaville-Inmate-Sues-State-For-Sex-Change-Surgery

http://www.kare11.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=909923560001

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/plane-with-michelle-obama-had-to-abort-landing-due-to-mistake/2011/04/19/AFsRLC7D_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8081598

Donald Trump as GOP hopeful: Take him seriously

Eugene Robinson

Monday, April 18, 7:46 PM

It’s time to take Donald Trump seriously as a presidential candidate.

Three, two, one . . . okay, time’s up.

Unbelievably, the waxen-haired real estate tycoon is at the front of the pack of contenders who are racing, or thinking about racing, for the Republican nomination. This isn’t merely improbable. It is literally unbelievable, as if a trout were reported to be leading the Tour de France.

The consensus is that Trump is not really running — that this is just another of his over-the-top publicity stunts. In the unlikely event that he goes through with a semi-serious candidacy, the political establishment seems to believe, he’ll never win the nomination. These skeptics scoff when it’s pointed out that stranger things have happened. Name one, they say.

That’s hard to do. Still, if this is all a big joke, I’m having trouble laughing. For one thing, the likely Republican field is so timid that nobody seems to want to step out there — and so lackluster that Trump’s pizzazz could prove overpowering. No, I don’t believe that Trump is seriously running for president. But what if he continues this charade past the point of no return? What if he pulls away from Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and the others? What if he wins primaries and caucuses? What if . . .

It’s all too absurd to contemplate. For the record, though, it should be noted that not all of Trump’s headline-grabbing bombast is funny. A lot of it is ridiculous and untrue. Much of the rest is offensive and objectionable.

Begin with his adoption of the “birther” line of attack against President Obama. Questioning the president’s birthplace obviously began as a ploy to grab attention — and it worked — but then swelled into a central theme of Trump’s “candidacy” as he gained traction among the conspiracy theorists who actually believe such nonsense.

For the record, Trump now gives credence to a theory that requires a massive coverup, spanning nearly five decades, that includes not just Obama and his family but also officials of the state of Hawaii — and the cooperation of long-ago clerks and perhaps editors at Honolulu newspapers who printed a “fake” birth announcement in 1961 and waited patiently, all these years, for that baby boy to become president of the United States.

But that’s just for starters. Imagine, if you dare, what the foreign policy of a President Trump would be like.

Trump is in favor of lower gas prices, he told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday. The way to achieve this goal, he said, is simply to tell the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil prices. When Crowley tried to point out that OPEC doesn’t necessarily do what U.S. officials want, Trump was undeterred. “Brain power” is all that’s required, he said. “We are not a respected nation anymore. The world is laughing at us. . . . Let me tell you, it’ll go down if you say it properly.”

What about Libya? “Either I’d go in and take the oil or I don’t go in at all,” Trump said. When Crowley reacted with disbelief at what she’d just heard, Trump doubled down. “Absolutely, I’d take the oil, I’d give them plenty so they can live very happily. I would take the oil. You know, in the old days when you have a war and you win, that nation’s yours.”

What about his opponents? It seems that size matters, in terms of their bank accounts. Trump trumpets himself as a better businessman than Romney, claiming that “my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney.”

Moving right along, how does Trump see one of the central strands of American history, the issue of race? He believes he should get support from African Americans, he said in a radio interview last week, but is unsettled by “frightening” polls that show the vast majority of black voters favoring Obama. “I have a great relationship with the blacks,” Trump said. “I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.”

Yes, he said “the blacks.” Twice.

Trump hasn’t been a particularly loyal Republican over the years. At various times, he’s given political donations to Democrats such as Rep. Charlie Rangel, Sen. John Kerry, Vice President Biden and the late Ted Kennedy.

What he’s been, consistently, is a headline-grabber extraordinaire. If he now has decided to take himself seriously, I’m afraid we’re going to have to follow suit.

 

D. Anschutz/Getty

 

State bureaucrats have created a list of 'risky activities' for kids at summer camp. The list includes freeze tag, Wiffle Ball and kickball, among other games and activities.

That's right, officials have decided the age-old street game - along with Wiffle Ball, kickball and dodgeball - poses a "significant risk of injury."

And classics like Capture the Flag, Steal the Bacon and Red Rover are also deemed dangerous in new state regulations for day camps.

"It looks like Albany bureaucrats are looking for kids to just sit in a corner in a house all day and not be outside," said state Sen. Patty Ritchie (R-St. Lawrence County).

"I don't think Wiffle Ball is a dangerous sport."

The Health Department created a list of supposedly risky recreational activities - which also includes more perilous pursuits like archery, scuba and horseback riding - in response to a state law passed in 2009.

The law sought to close a loophole that legislators said allowed too many indoor camp programs to operate without oversight.

Under the new rules, any program that offers two or more organized recreational activities - with at least one of them on the risky list - is deemed a summer camp and subject to state regulation.

Ritchie said the regulations could cripple small recreational programs, forcing them to pay a $200 fee to register as a summer camp and provide medical staff.

And many parents felt like state officials were being, well, wimpy.

Kimberly Baxter, 27, a medical assistant from South Ozone Park, Queens, said she played freeze tag with abandon as a youngster.

"I never got hurt, maybe scraped my knee once in a while but that was it," said Baxter, mom to a 1-year-old girl.

Deborah Graham, 51, a mother of two from Harlem, said moving around was less harmful than playing video games all summer.

"You could develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome," she said. "And when (kids) eat, eat, and eat, they get diabetes. That's dangerous."

The state Camp Directors Association backed the 2009 law, and Health Department spokeswoman Diane Mathis said the list of risky activities was crafted with help from camp groups.

She said the list - which labeled Frisbee, tug of war and sack races as safe - was offered only as "guidance" to local governments and organization.

She stressed that not every program will need to hire medical staff. Some simply need to have a plan in place to deal with medical emergencies.

"There will be flexibility in how the law is implemented," Mathis said.

Susan Craig, a spokeswoman for the city Health Department, said the new law is not expected to have much impact since most city programs already meet the state requirements.

While many New Yorkers scoffed at the idea of tag leading to traumatic brain or spinal injury, Bronx resident Kim Wainwright said it's better to be safe than sorry.

"Kids these days are kinda brutal so I can see those games being dangerous," said Wainwright, who has a 5-year-old. "I agree with it."

With Mark Morales and Tanyanika Samuels

Kevin D. Williamson

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE

Surgeons' 'bottle-to-scalpel' time affects errors

If you're going under the knife, you might want to ask your surgeon what she had to drink the night before.

A new study suggests that surgeons are more error prone and less efficient after a night of drinking than at other times, even if they have no detectable traces of alcohol in their blood.

In the study, researchers threw a dinner party for eight expert surgeons at Yale University and instructed them to drink until they felt intoxicated.

Then, on the following day, the doctors were asked to perform a series of simulated operations via a virtual reality program used to train doctors in laparoscopic surgery, a form of minimally invasive surgery performed with tiny incisions and a fiber-optic camera.

As late as 1 p.m., the surgeons made more errors during the procedure than they did while performing the same operation on the previous day, before drinking. And they were consistently less efficient and less safe when performing a task that involved burning away tissue.

(The surgeons also made more errors at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., although the differences were too small to be considered statistically significant.)

A second dinner-and-drinks experiment -- this one involving a group of surgery trainees and a control group that did not drink -- found similar differences in next-day performance between the two groups. The findings appear in the Archives of Surgery.

Most patients will agree that a surgeon who's even slightly bleary-eyed is bad news. But it's not clear if the performance lapses seen in the study would be meaningful in real-world operating rooms, says surgeon Emily Boyle, the lead author of the study and a researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons, in Dublin, Ireland.

"Some of the skills required to operate were impaired in the study, but it is difficult to say with certainty how this would translate into real clinical performance," she says.

And although Breathalyzer tests administered before the 9 a.m. procedure failed to detect any blood alcohol content, or BAC, in the study participants, except for one -- who had a BAC that exceeded the legal limit for driving -- Boyle stresses that the surgeons were "tested after a night of excessive drinking. Moderate or mild drinking the night before working might have a lesser -- or no -- effect."

Nevertheless, the findings are worrisome enough that Boyle and her colleagues recommend that surgeons consider abstaining from alcohol on the nights before operating.

Currently there are no guidelines for surgeons comparable to the so-called "bottle to throttle" rules that prohibit commercial airplane pilots from flying within eight hours of their last drink, the study notes.

Although their findings don't provide enough evidence to support a "bottle to scalpel" policy, Boyle and her coauthors call for a "higher level of personal vigilance" from surgeons and others who perform medical procedures.

"It is likely that surgeons are unaware that next-day surgical performance may be compromised as a result of significant alcohol intake," they write

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/careers.html

Man attacks wife during divorce hearing in judge's chambers

Bond set at $1 million on Saturday

Paul Henry Gonzalez (Broward Sheriff's Office handout, Sun Sentinel / April 15, 2011)

Tonya Alanez and Linda Trischitta, Sun Sentinel

2:30 p.m. EDT, April 16, 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE—

 

Bond was set at $1 million Saturday for an ex-Marine who viciously attacked his wife during a final divorce hearing in a judge's chambers Friday morning, splitting her lip, causing her head to swell and bruise and leading to her hospitalization, authorities said.

Paul Henry Gonzalez Jr., 28, of Fort Lauderdale, had to be subdued with a stun gun and is being held at the Main Jail on charges of felony battery, domestic violence and resisting arrest without violence, according to a police report.

Catherine Ann Scott-Gonzalez, 23, also a former Marine, was rushed to Holy Cross Hospital where she is bruised and swollen but in stable condition with facial fractures, a torn lip and a broken nose, said her boyfriend, Brennan Worsencroft, 30.

She will be held in the intensive care unit overnight to monitor for brain trauma, said Worsencroft, who witnessed the attack.

Scott's attorney, Michael Dunleavy, described the assault in Broward County Judge Ronald Rothschild's chambers as "unexpected" and "surreal."

"He was punching with a true vengeance. It was vicious," said Dunleavy, who intervened and held Gonzalez in a bear hug until deputies arrived. "He was in a rage."

The couple was married in 2006 and have a 1-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son.

Dunleavy said Gonzalez, who did not have an attorney, balked at paying child support and having a judge tell him when he could or couldn't visit his children and stormed out of the chambers. He returned to shout something about not obeying any orders, Dunleavy said, and again retreated.

Gonzalez raced back in, and "without provocation" began pummeling Scott with closed fists, according to a police report.

Gonzalez rushed Scott from behind, grabbed her by the neck and repeatedly hit her on the side of her face. The first blow knocked her unconscious, Worsencroft, the boyfriend, said.

"I'm in shock and disbelief," Worsencroft said. "I didn't think anybody could take it to that extreme, much less in a judge's chambers at that. Words, to be honest with you, could not describe what went on."

Dunleavy wrapped his arms around Gonzalez until deputies arrived, according to the police report.

Meanwhile, Scott collapsed in courtroom clerk Elana Mae Allen's arms, a pool of blood forming near the judge's chair, Dunleavy said.

When deputies tried to handcuff Gonzalez, he threw them off until they eventually pinned him on the judge's conference table and shocked him twice with a stun gun, according to Dunleavy and the police report.

"It was surreal," Dunleavy said. "To see that violence play out in a judge's chambers is somewhat surreal."

Because there are matters yet pending in the case, Rothschild declined to go into any details about the attack.

"It was totally unanticipated," he said. "It was just an unfortunate incident by somebody just stressed out in the heat of the moment."

At some Virginia churches, guns are an invisible part of the routine

Susan Kinzie, Sunday, April 17, 8:24 PM

Washington Post

Parishioners carried Bibles in embroidered cases, babies with ribbons in their hair, and flutes, violins and sheet music into Immanuel Bible Church for Palm Sunday services.

And a few carried guns, tucked into waistbands, hidden under suit jackets.

At least a dozen members of this Springfield congregation routinely bring concealed weapons to services, said the Rev. Steve Holley, the church’s pastor of ministries. Since the Virginia attorney general published an advisory opinion last week on weapons in houses of worship, Holley wonders whether more of his flock will have “a Bible in one holster and a handgun in the other as they come to church.”

Virginia law bars guns in religious meetings unless the person has a “good and sufficient reason” to carry a weapon. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) wrote that personal protection meets the legal standard as a reason to carry a firearm. He said, however, that a church can choose to ban guns on its property.

His opinion sparked strong responses. Some called it an affront to the tradition of the church as a sanctuary from violence. Others said: “Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!”

Although gun issues are particularly raw in Virginia — in part because of the way the commonwealth’s population and culture are changing — guns and churches have been together a long time there.

In the earliest days, firearms and religion were enormously important to Virginians, with residents expected to own guns and practice shooting regularly and to worship publicly. Requiring people to attend church and serve in militias bound the community together.

A 1632 law in Virginia required men to bring their guns to church on Sundays. The law was passed at a time of great fragility for the colony, said S. Max Edelson, an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia, when the English colonists had been under fierce assault by Indian tribes.

“In case of an attack on Sunday, when everyone is assembled at church, they don’t have to disperse to get their arms,” Edelson said.

Now, in many parts of Virginia, people carry guns openly at places such as grocery stores, parks and some polling places. Some conceal the weapons if they have a permit to do so. The Rev. Jonathan Barton, head of the Virginia Council of Churches, told of a groom who wanted to keep his gun in its holster during his wedding ceremony.

But as more people move into the state and the culture shifts from rural to urban — especially in Northern Virginia — the way people see guns has been changing, said John Casteen IV, an assistant professor at Sweet Briar College.

Debates over the balance between individual freedom and collective good play out every year in the General Assembly and elsewhere. Some people assume public safety is greater if more people are armed, but others assume the opposite.

Barton was saddened by Cuccinelli’s opinion. “A house of worship is for celebration of life, and to carry a concealed weapon into that space is to violate that sacred space.”

Philip Van Cleave, of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said people have been carrying concealed weapons to church for years because of the threat of terrorism and church shootings across the country.

“Al-Qaeda has been our reason, as well as many of the recent church shootings around the country,” he said. “Think of it this way: If saving your own life isn’t a ‘good and sufficient reason’ to carry a gun, then what else could possibly qualify?”

At Immanuel Bible, where a breeze sent pear-tree flower petals floating down on families greeting one another before services, parishioners echoed that debate.

“Guns in a church? Why?” said Samy Youssef, a member from Alexandria. “God is our protector. He is our savior.”

But Charles Whitener, who lives near Mount Vernon and has been meaning to get a concealed-weapon permit, said: “After some of the horrible things that have happened in other churches, I think the attorney general did the right thing.”

Church officials declined to identify members who they knew had guns with them; when approached, one member who had a weapon declined to comment.

Holley said that many in the congregation, which has a large number of military families, law enforcement officers and hunters, probably would agree with the attorney general’s opinion.

“The real sad thing for all of us in this is it’s an indication of where our culture is — that public meeting areas, churches, schools, town halls, malls are threats for terrorism,” Holley said. Two years ago, he said, a preacher in Illinois was gunned down in the pulpit.

The Rev. Tom Joyce, a fellow Immanuel pastor, said there was a case in Colorado in which a gunman began spraying bullets in a church but was shot and killed by someone in attendance.

“We rely 100 percent, before any weapon, in the power of the Holy Spirit to protect us,” he said. “It’s also good to have some people here on campus” who are trained and armed.

The people they know are carrying guns are military or law enforcement professionals, Holley said. Of course, with concealed weapons, it’s hard to know who’s armed. “We don’t frisk them, we don’t ask them if they’re packing heat or not.”

He hopes people will keep their guns hidden while at Immanuel. And he hopes that those who do carry will be people who have a license and not those who got their guns illegally.

On Sunday, the choir sang about the crucifixion, and people bowed their heads over well-worn Bibles to pray. A drama with a scene of a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery was acted out. Joyce, who spent 25 years in the Navy, preached about Christ’s love.

Afterward, talking with Holley at the front of the sanctuary, he spun around suddenly, lifting his blazer to show the back of his waistband. Joyce laughed: No gun.

Violent criminals expand into cigarettes

Kevin Johnson

Larry Penninger, acting director of the tobacco diversion unit of teh Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), says investigations and prosecutions involving tobacco trafficking have been increasing as smugglers flood high-tax states with cigarettes from low-tax states.

From 2007 to last year, 27 states raised their cigarette taxes, according to Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which closely tracks tobacco tax rates across the country. Mackinac describes tobacco smuggling as an “unintended consequence of high cigarette taxes.”

From 2007 to last year, 27 states raised their cigarette taxes, according to Michigan’s Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which closely tracks tobacco tax rates across the country. Mackinac describes tobacco smuggling as an “unintended consequence of high cigarette taxes.”

• STORY: State taxes on cigarettes  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-25-cigarette-tax_N.htm

There is so much illicit money to be made, Penninger says, that some drug and weapon trafficking organizations are adding tobacco to their product lines to boost profits. For example, in low-tax states such as Virginia, where cigarettes cost about $4.50 a pack, smugglers can sell a truckload (typically 800 cases) in New York at $13 a pack. New York is the highest tobacco taxing jurisdiction in the country.

Smuggling costs states and the federal government about $5 billion, according to U.S. government estimates. “Everybody out there (involved in illegal trafficking operations) is tapping into tobacco,’’ Penninger says.

Since 9/11, much of federal law enforcement has focused on terrorism, but tobacco smuggling is attracting fresh interest.

•Last year, the ATF reported 357 open cases involving tobacco smuggling, compared with a handful a decade earlier.

•During the 2010 fiscal year, the Justice Department reported 71 new prosecutions referred by the bureau, a 39% increase from the year before, according to records compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University in New York.

•Seizures of cash and property also have been rising, from $11 million in the 2007 fiscal year to $31.5 million in the 2009 fiscal year.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/04/17/sign-of-the-times-drivers-flock-to-mexico-for-cheaper-gas/?hpt=C2

6-year-old Klamath Falls boy crashes family car, injures one

 Sunday, April 17, 2011, 5:13 PM     Updated: Sunday, April 17, 2011, 5:26 PM

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/04/16/giant-rare-bloom-about-ready-to-stink-up-the-place-at-osu-greenhouse.html?sid=101

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/16/air.traffic.controller.asleep/index.html?hpt=Sbin

New Sleep Rules for Air Traffic Controllers:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/04/17/air.traffic.controllers.asleep/index.html?hpt=T2

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-drive-thru-funerals-20110417,0,931381.story

For richest, federal taxes have gone down; for some in U.S., they’re nonexistent

Stephen Ohlemacher

Washington Post

Sunday, April 17, 8:01 PM

As millions of procrastinators scramble to meet Monday’s tax filing deadline, ponder this: The super rich pay a lot less in taxes than they did a couple of decades ago, and nearly half of U.S. households pay no income taxes at all.

The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.

Over the same period, the average federal income tax rate for all taxpayers declined to 9.3 percent from 9.9 percent.

The top income tax rate is 35 percent, so how can people who make so much pay so much less than that in taxes? The nation’s tax laws are packed with breaks for people at every income level. There are breaks for having children, paying a mortgage, going to college, and even for paying other taxes. Plus, the top rate on capital gains is only 15 percent.

There are so many breaks that 45 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2010, according to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

“It’s the fact that we are using the tax code both to collect revenue, which is its primary purpose, and to deliver these spending benefits that we run into the situation where so many people are paying no taxes,” said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the center.

The sheer volume of credits, deductions and exemptions has Democrats and Republicans calling for tax laws to be overhauled. House Republicans want to eliminate breaks to pay for lower overall rates, reducing the top tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent. Republicans oppose raising taxes, but they argue that a more efficient tax code would increase economic activity, generating additional tax revenue.

President Obama said last week he wants to do away with tax breaks to lower the rates and to reduce government borrowing. Obama’s proposal would result in $1 trillion in tax increases over the next 12 years. The proposals from the GOP and Obama included few details, putting off hard choices about which tax breaks to eliminate.

In all, the tax code is filled with a total of $1.1 trillion in credits, deductions and exemptions, an average of about $8,000 per taxpayer, according to an analysis by the independent national taxpayer advocate within the IRS.

More than half of the nation’s tax revenue came from the top 10 percent of earners in 2007. More than 44 percent came from the top 5 percent. Still, the wealthy have access to much more lucrative tax breaks than people with lower incomes.

Obama wants the wealthy to pay so “the amount of taxes you pay isn’t determined by what kind of accountant you can afford.”

Eric Schoenberg says to sign him up for paying higher taxes. Schoenberg, who inherited money and has a healthy portfolio from his days as an investment banker, has joined a group of other wealthy Americans called United for a Fair Economy. Their goal: Raise taxes on rich people such as themselves.

Schoenberg, who now teaches a business class at Columbia University, said his income is usually “north of half a million a year.” But 2009 was a bad year for investments, so his income dropped to a little over $200,000. His federal income tax bill was a little more than $2,000.

“I simply point out to people, ‘Do you think this is reasonable, that somebody in my circumstances should only be paying 1 percent of their income in tax?’” Schoenberg said.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said he has a solution for rich people who want to pay more in taxes: Write a check to the IRS — there’s nothing stopping you.

“There’s still time before the filing deadline for them to give Uncle Sam some more money,” Hatch said.

Schoenberg said Hatch’s suggestion misses the point.

“This voluntary idea clearly represents a mind-set that basically pretends there’s no such things as collective goods that we produce,” Schoenberg said. “Are you going to let people volunteer to build the road system? Are you going to let them volunteer to pay for education?”

The law is packed with tax breaks that aid narrow special interests. But many of the biggest tax breaks benefit millions of American families at just about every income level, making them difficult for politicians to touch.

The vast majority of those who escape federal income taxes have low and medium incomes, and most of them pay other taxes, including Social Security and Medicare taxes, property taxes and retail sales taxes.

The share of people paying no federal income tax has dropped slightly the past two years. It was 47 percent for 2009. The main difference for 2010 was the expiration of a tax break that exempted the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits from taxation, Williams said.

In 2009, nearly 35 million taxpayers got a tax break for paying interest on their home mortgages and nearly 36 million taxpayers took the $1,000-per-child tax credit. About 41 million households reduced their federal income taxes by deducting state and local income and sales taxes from their taxable income.

About 36 million families cut their taxes by nearly $35 billion by deducting charitable donations, and 28 million taxpayers saved a total of $24 billion because their income from Social Security and railroad pensions was untaxed.

Girl Calls 911, Mom Arrested

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Bellevue Police said they’re concerned about drinkers putting kids in danger after three cases involving adults and children in just the last week. 

Lisa Thompson Phillips remained in jail Wednesday booked on felony third-offense DUI, felony child abuse and having an open container. 

Police reports indicated Phillips’ daughter called 911 Tuesday evening. The girl, 12, reported a fight and when Bellevue police arrived, Phillips got out of her car and looked drunk. Investigators said a breath test showed Phillips’ blood alcohol level was more than three times over the legal limit. 

Investigators said Phillips was driving around Tuesday and eventually picked up her daughter from a volleyball game in north Omaha. 

“It’s scary,” said Bellevue police Capt. Herb Evers. “It’s just scary.” 

Phillips was just one of at least three adults in the Omaha metro accused of driving drunk with kids in the last week. 

“The charges are serious,” said Laurie Burgess, Deputy Sarpy County Attorney. “The judges will hold people accountable for this.” 

Burgess discussed a felony child abuse charge against Brian Miedl, 17. Prosecutors said sheriff’s deputies stopped the driver at Highway 75 and Chandler Road. Deputies noted a child in the car and detected alcohol. 

“ .103,” said Burgess. “Thank goodness nothing happened to the baby.” 

Prosecutors said they planned to add a drunken driving charge once the case goes to District Court. 

Wednesday morning, Omaha police stopped a car near 36th and O streets. Officers cited Crystal Algya for DUI and two counts of child abuse and neglect.

Regarding the Bellevue case, Phillips daughter went to stay with family after police took her into custody. Investigators said they hope she gets help, a sentiment echoed by a friend of Phillips.

LINK TO VIDEO:

www.ketv.com/news/27538955/detail.html

Orlando Sentinel

Facebook looks to cash in on user data

Profiles, status updates and messages all include a mother lode of voluntarily provided information. The social media site is using it to help advertisers find exactly who they want to reach. Privacy watchdogs are aghast.

Jessica Guynn

April 17, 2011

Reporting from Palo Alto

Julee Morrison has been obsessed with Bon Jovi since she was a teenager.

So when paid ads for fan sites started popping up on the 41-year-old Salt Lake City blogger's Facebook page, she was thrilled. She described herself as a "clicking fool," perusing videos and photos of the New Jersey rockers.

Then it dawned on Morrison why all those Bon Jovi ads appeared every time she logged on to the social networking site.

"Facebook is reading my profile, my interests, the people and pages I am 'friends' with, and targeting me," Morrison said. "It's brilliant social media but it's absolutely creepy."

For Facebook users, the free ride is over.

For years, the privately held company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room put little effort into ad sales, focusing instead on making its service irresistible to users. It worked. Today more than 600 million people have Facebook accounts. The average user spends seven hours a month posting photos, chatting with friends, swapping news links and sending birthday greetings to classmates.

Now the Palo Alto company is looking to cash in on this mother lode of personal information by helping advertisers pinpoint exactly whom they want to reach. This is no idle boast. Facebook doesn't have to guess who its users are or what they like. Facebook knows, because members volunteer this information freely — and frequently — in their profiles, status updates, wall posts, messages and "likes."

It's now tracking this activity, shooting online ads to users based on their demographics, interests, even what they say to friends on the site — sometimes within minutes of them typing a key word or phrase.

For example, women who have changed their relationship status to "engaged" on their Facebook profiles shouldn't be surprised to see ads from local wedding planners and caterers pop up when they log in. Hedgehog lovers who type that word in a post might see an ad for a plush toy version of the spiny critters from Squishable.com. Middle-aged men who list motorcycling as one of their hobbies could get pitches from Victory Motorcycles. If a Facebook user becomes a fan of 1-800-FLOWERS, her friends might receive ads telling them that she likes the floral delivery service.

Marketers have been tracking consumers' online habits for years, compiling detailed dossiers of where they click and roam. But Facebook's unique trove of consumer behavior could transform it into one of the most powerful marketing tools ever invented, some analysts believe. And that could translate into a financial bonanza for investors in the 7-year-old company as it prepares for a public offering, perhaps as soon as next year.

But privacy watchdogs say Facebook's unique ability to mine data and sell advertising based on what its members voluntarily share amounts to electronic eavesdropping on personal updates, posts and messages that many users intended to share only with friends.

"Facebook has perfected a stealth digital surveillance apparatus that tracks, analyzes and then acts on your information, including what you tell your friends," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "Facebook users should be cautious about whether the social networking giant ultimately has their best interests at heart."

Bon Jovi fan Morrison has removed some information from her profile to make it more difficult for advertisers to target her. "I thought, 'Wait a minute, I didn't give you permission to look into my life,'" she said.

Facebook says it does not disclose information that would allow advertisers to identify individual users, but filters them based on geography, age or specific interests. It also lets users control whether companies such as 1-800-FLOWERS can display the users' names to others to promote products. But any information users post on the site — hobbies, status updates, wall posts — is fair game for ad targeting.

Facebook's first experiment with paid ads was a flop. In 2007 it rolled out Beacon, which broadcast information on Facebook about users' activities and purchases elsewhere on the Web without their permission. Facebook pulled the program after settling a lawsuit brought on behalf of Facebook users.

This time around, company officials appear to be proceeding more cautiously. David Fischer, Facebook's vice president of advertising and global operations, says Facebook delivers ads that are relevant to users' lives.

"This is an opportunity for brands to connect with you," Fischer said. "When someone likes a brand, they are building a two-way conversation, creating an ongoing relationship."

A lot is riding on getting it right. Last year, online advertising in the U.S. grew 15% to $26 billion, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

People familiar with Facebook say its ad revenue doubled to $2 billion in 2010, and is expected to double again this year as more major advertisers including American Express, Coca Cola and Starbucks climb aboard.

In February, more than a third of all online display ads in the U.S. appeared on Facebook, more than three times as many as appeared on its closest competitor, Yahoo, according to research firm ComScore Inc. Facebook's moneymaking potential has wowed investors. Its market value is estimated at $55 billion on the private exchange SharesPost.

"If you take a look at the history of media, ad dollars go where the eyeballs are," Wedbush Securities analyst Lou Kerner said. "If you look at Google today, with annual revenue of $29 billion, it's not hard to think of Facebook generating that kind of revenue in four or five years. That's why we continue to be bullish on Facebook even at these price levels."

Facebook still faces some skepticism from big brands that question how often people click on the ads or how effective they are in getting people to buy something. One recent survey found that Facebook ads performed about half as well as traditional banner ads.

But Facebook's ability to pinpoint paying customers has dazzled some small-business owners, including Chris Meyer. Over the last 18 months, the Minneapolis wedding photographer had Facebook aim his ads specifically at female users who divulged the following information about themselves on the social networking site: college graduates, aged 24 to 30, who had just gotten engaged and lived within a 50-mile radius of Minneapolis.

Meyer says his $1,700 ad buy generated $110,000 in sales.

"I could not have built my business without Facebook," he said.

It's much the same for Anne Puthoff. Her store, Emmy's Bridal, is located in Minster, Ohio, population 2,800. She managed to pack the shop for a special weekend trunk show of prom dresses — in February, no less. Her secret weapon: $200 worth of Facebook ads targeting high school girls from the surrounding area.

"Our fan base has grown steadily in an economy where stores are going out of business or not thriving," Puthoff said. "I think that's due largely to the new customers we are bringing in via Facebook."

Indeed, Facebook users such as Kara-Noel Lawson say they enjoy receiving ads from merchants they like instead of useless spam. The 30-year-old mother of three from Rancho Santa Margarita in Orange County routinely "friends" businesses on the social media site and clicks on advertising that interests her. More often than not, she said, she is rewarded with coupons, gift cards and discounts.

"I don't feel any weird privacy thing," she said. "We are all putting everything out there already."

DeSoto Co. Preacher Arrested For Child Porn

Preacher on leave from Southern Baptist church

 

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/04f2fbd0-69a1-4e08-828e-ecf2fe62ff7e/News/DeSoto-Co-Preacher-Arrested-For-Child-Porn

D.C. voting rights proponents’ faith in Obama sinks

Washington Post

Paul Schwartzman and Nikita Stewart

Saturday, April 16, 8:59 PM

President Obama’s arrival in the White House two years ago inspired unabashed optimism among civic leaders in the District, who had long yearned for an ally to trumpet their quest for statehood and voting rights in Congress.

As the country’s first black president, Obama’s words and biography suggested an innate appreciation for political disenfranchisement. If anyone could understand the plight of a second-class citizenry, it had to be a former community organizer on Chicago’s South Side.

That Obama has not met those expectations is disappointing enough for those who view the District’s status as nothing less than the deprivation of a basic civil right. But their frustration is magnified by who Obama is and what they wanted from an African American president residing in the nation’s most prominent and predominant black city.

“The expectations were very high that, since he had made human rights an important part of his platform, he would speak out for D.C.,” said Philip Pannell, a former member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee and longtime advocate for statehood. “It seems that President Obama’s heart and his conscience are missing in action.”

Obama is no different than his predecessors. No president has rushed to invest political capital in a city that Republicans have mocked as a symbol of urban dysfunction. What benefit could there be in championing the rights of 600,000 residents of a city with a sordid history of crime and political corruption?

Yet what distinguished Obama from his predecessors was the anticipation his arrival generated. In the past week, the same people who saw hope in Obama’s jaunts across the city just before his inauguration — remember that half-smoke he ate at Ben’s Chili Bowl? — have excoriated him for relegating the District to the status of bargaining chip in a broader budget game with House leaders.

“John, I’ll give you D.C. abortion,” Obama reportedly told House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) before reaching a deal, effectively trading away the city’s right to fund abortions for low­income women.

The District’s political leadership was infuriated.

In a city in which Obama won 93 percent of the vote, a D.C. Council member threatened to withhold her support in the next presidential election. The city’s congressional delegate shouted an invective on television. The mayor and six council members were handcuffed in a protest on Constitution Avenue.

After his release, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) called Obama’s stance on the abortion issue disheartening. “The District should not be a bargaining chip in budget negotiations at the national level,” he said.

A once iron-clad bond was now frayed.

“This is personal,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic political strategist. “I believe the president is sincere when he says that he believes in D.C. voting rights and home rule. But, as you know, D.C. residents like proof.”

Mark Plotkin, a WTOP political commentator who has made District statehood something of an obsession, said he sees little to distinguish Obama from his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush. Bush angered voting rights advocates by refusing to place the D.C. “Taxation Without Representation” license plate on the presidential limousine. Obama also has not added the plate to his limousine.

“The greatest assault is indifference, and he has the hubris to take us for granted,” Plotkin said of Obama. “He went to Cairo to talk about democracy. He won’t go to Brentwood or Deanwood. He has not made one utterance about D.C. to D.C. in D.C.”

Asked about Obama’s relationship with the District, Hannah August, a White House spokeswoman, said: “Given the severe impact of a government shutdown on the Washington, D.C., economy, the president is confident that the budget agreement that he reached with congressional Republicans is not just in the best interests of the American people, but also the best interests of District residents.”

In North Michigan Park, among the city’s most politically active neighborhoods, the feeling is the budget compromise left the District in a “bad position,” said Ernest Harris, a retired federal employee.

“I didn’t expect him to just be able to do everything that we might want him to do. I understood that he wasn’t just the black president,” said Harris, 74. “But in terms of D.C., he’s throwing us under the bus. He caved too easily. He should have stood up. I know statehood and full representation is a long way off, but he’s taking us for granted. And he can’t do that anymore. . . . I’m not sure if I’m going to vote for him again over this.”

Shaky relationship

Presidents have long had a tenuous relationship with their host city. Richard M. Nixon ventured into the District in the early days of his first term, when he went to inspect the remnants of the 1968 riots along Seventh Street NW. Bill Clinton, as president-elect, went for a stroll along Georgia Avenue and then spent most of his next eight years here inside the White House. For a rare night on the town, George W. Bush preferred a Mexican restaurant in Virginia.

Beyond the marbled monuments, the District has not always provided an illustrious backdrop, whether it was when Marion Barry was caught smoking crack on videotape or when the city’s homicide rate earned it the title “Murder Capital,” or when the government fell into bankruptcy and Congress ordered its spending monitored by a financial control board.

Even as memories linger, the District is not the same city it was a generation ago. Since moving to the White House, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have gone about town, whether to their daughter’s soccer games or to eat in restaurants or visit public schools.

The president has expressed support for the District’s cause, his strongest statement uttered as a Democratic candidate when he said, “Residents of Washington, D.C., shouldn’t be treated as tenants, fortunate enough to share the same space as our government.”

Obama was more cautious after his victory, describing himself as a “strong proponent” of voting rights even as he added that “this takes on a partisan flavor, and, you know, right now I think our legislative agenda is chock- full.”

A year ago, while commemorating D.C. Emancipation Day, Obama issued a statement that said in part: “I urge Congress to finally pass legislation that provides D.C. residents with voting representation and to take steps to improve the Home Rule Charter.”

That’s not enough for Robert Jenifer, 76, a Brookland resident who said he thinks that the District’s overwhelming support of Obama has not paid any dividends.

“He probably looks at the District and sees us as automatically supporting him because he’s our first black president,” Jenifer said. “But if you look, on many things, he doesn’t seem like he’s for us. So you have to look at it like your wife says to you: ‘What have you done for me lately?’ ”

A high demand

If D.C. civic leaders want more from Obama, they might be setting a demand that’s impossible to meet in this highly partisan town and for a president managing a full slate of national and international affairs, including two wars.

Even when Democrats held the White House and majorities in the House and Senate, advocates for the District were unable to advance their voting rights agenda.

“Nothing runs more deeply in American ideals than the promise of self-government and voting rights,” said American University law professor Jamie B. Raskin, a Maryland state senator from Montgomery County. “But nothing runs more deeply in American politics than the idea of keeping some people from voting and participating.”

What might be required to enact change, Raskin said, is a “mass movement of protest to test the conscience of the nation. It’s clear that President Obama does not intend to be the personal leader of a liberation struggle. He’s dealing with multiple crises. . . . This is not a crisis until the people of Washington make it one.”

Yet, Raskin added, the city’s traditional role and demographics “make it tricky.” While longtime residents make up a sizable portion of the population, many are transients, as has been the case since the District was established as the nation’s capital.

That complicated reality hasn’t stopped the District’s quest for autonomy, which reached a historic milestone in the early 1970s with Congress’s enactment of home rule. D.C. voters could choose their mayor and council, but the District could not enact a budget or other significant legislation without congressional review.

The quest for self-determination endures. A voting rights proposal died in Congress two years ago when Republicans made its passage contingent on repealing the city’s gun-control laws.

“Historically, it’s not an easy road, regardless of who’s in the White House,” said Douglas Patton, a former D.C. deputy mayor. “It’s just the history of presidents. Not second-class citizens.”

Seniors' sex lives are up — and so are STD rates

Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel

April 16, 2011

Across the nation, and especially in the Sunshine State, the free-love generation is continuing to enjoy an active — if not always healthy — sex life.

At a stage in life when many would expect sexually transmitted diseases to be waning, seniors are noticeably ahead of the national curve.

In the five years from 2005 to 2009, the number of reported cases of syphilis and chlamydia among those 55 and older increased 43 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In Central Florida, the rise is even more dramatic. Among those 55 and older, the reported cases of syphilis and chlamydia increased 71 percent in that same five-year period. That puts Central Florida ahead of the state, which saw a 62 percent rise in those two sexually transmitted infections among the same age group.

The rates at which syphilis and chlamydia increased among older adults outpaced the nation's average. Among all age groups nationwide, reported cases of syphilis increased 60 percent between 2005 and 2009; among those in the 55 to 64 age group, it went up 70 percent. Meanwhile, the incidence of chlamydia rose 27 percent among all ages, and double that among the older group.

As a result of the national trend among seniors, Medicare is considering providing coverage for STD screenings for seniors. Last month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid office announced that it was looking into adding STD exams to the national health insurance program, which already pays for HIV screenings. Medicare also is weighing the benefits of paying for behavioral counseling for sexually active seniors.

The factors driving the rise of STDs in the older set include Americans living longer, healthier lives and a new class of medications, which include Viagra, that's making more sex possible. Many older adults didn't get the safe-sex messages that younger generations received, say experts, so their condom use is lower. In addition, more seniors are living in group retirement communities where there's more socializing.

"These seniors may lose a spouse, then get lonely," said Dr. Jason Salagubang, a geriatrician on staff at Florida Hospital Apopka. "They're living in retirement communities with others in the same boat, and sparks fly."

Julia Gill, director of the division of disease control for the Florida Department of Health, says the heavy marketing for sex-enhancing pharmaceuticals aimed at seniors and Florida's lure as a retirement destination are likely causing the state's seniors — particularly those in Central Florida — to lead the trend.

"Certainly we've noted the change and will adjust our outreach, testing and marketing efforts to reflect that," Gill said.

Besides Viagra, other medications such as hormone replacements are helping seniors remain sexually active longer. Progesterone and estrogen creams help make sex more comfortable for women, while testosterone replacement drugs give libido a boost in both men and women.

Finally, a more open sexual attitude has contributed to the rising infection rate. "The flower children who were in their 20s back in the 1960s are now in their 70s," said Salagubang. "They're the make-love-not-war generation, and old habits die hard."

Not just for kids

Just because seniors are older and wiser, doesn't mean they're not susceptible to the same diseases as everyone else, Salagubang said. In fact, they're more susceptible.

As people age, their immune systems tend to weaken, and other health problems make them more prone to infection. Medications for heart disease, hypertension and diabetes also cause seniors to be more likely to pick up what's going around.

Because STDs often have no symptoms, they frequently go untreated and make seniors more prone to other infections, said Salagubang. And these infections will make other conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, worse.

"If I think a patient may be sexually active, I suggest he or she gets screened," said Salagubang. "I let patients know that STDs and HIV are on the rise among seniors, and are a lot more common than many seniors think."

Although older Americans account for a relatively small proportion of new STD diagnoses overall, providing them education and services to help protect them from infection is critical, said Rachel Powell, CDC spokeswoman.

"Many older Americans face unique prevention challenges, including discomfort in discussing sexual behaviors with physicians and partners, and discomfort discussing condom use," she said.

Given the changing sexual climate for seniors, Dr. Connie Micklavzina, a gynecologist at Winnie Palmer Hospital in Orlando has started asking her older patients more questions, including whether they would like to be screened for sexually transmitted diseases.

"Often I see a huge look of relief on their faces, because they are too embarrassed to ask," said Micklavzina, who's been in practice 25 years. "The responsibility of bringing this up should be on the practitioner, not the patient, to make the conversation easier."

Practitioners should not make any assumptions based on a patient's age, or social or marital status, Micklavzina added. "It has nothing to do with it."

She also broaches the subject of condom use. "I'm surprised by the number of women in their 50s and 60s who aren't insisting that their partners use condoms."

A study conducted by sex researchers at Indiana University found that in the United States, condom use was lowest among men over age 50. Men in their 50s reported using a condom only 28 percent of the time with a casual partner. By comparison, men in the 18 to 39 age-range used a condom with casual partners at least 50 percent of the time.

"We often assume that younger people are at greater risk for sexual health challenges like HIV and STD," said Michael Reece, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion, at Indiana University. "However, these data suggest that younger Americans are using condoms more consistently than older Americans."

The fact that older Americans aren't worried about preventing pregnancy accounts for some of the lower condom use, but this age group clearly needs more education about the risks of unsafe sex, Reece said.

According to a 2007 study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, 67 percent of men and 39 percent of women aged 65 to 74 surveyed reported having had sex in the previous year; 38 percent of men aged 75 to 85 reported the same.

"We should not be profiling people based on their age, and making assumptions about their sexual activity," said Dr. Stacey Landau, ob-gyn at the University of Chicago and author of the study. "Removing age-based profiling with respect to STD screenings is a good idea."

Woman freed from pet python

City to recognize Lyons police officer who saved owner from snake attack.

John Green - The Hutchinson News

LYONS - City officials here are preparing two citations after a pet 8-foot albino python attacked its owner earlier this week.

The first will recognize a part-time city police officer who reached into the jaws of the massive reptile and pried it from the neck of its owner.

The second, for the snake owner, is a ticket for harboring a vicious animal.

The incident began Tuesday when the homeowner pulled the snake from its cage to feed it, said Lyons Police Chief Chris Detmer.

"It grabbed her by the neck and latched on," Detmer said. "Her kids called 911."

Officer Max Bryant responded to the call.

"I was glad it was him," Detmer said. "Not too many guys will grab one of those."

Bryant grasped the snake by its snout and lower jaw and forced its mouth open.

The snake didn't wrap itself around the woman, Detmer said, so she was freed once the snake's jaws were opened.

The snake owner, a woman in her 20s, moved to the community late last year, the chief said.

She was treated at the local hospital for scratches to her neck and released.

"They don't have fangs," Detmer said of the python. "They've got small gripping teeth."

Detmer would not release the woman's name pending issuance of the citation.

The News was unable to reach Bryant for comment.

The chief and city attorney reviewed local ordinances and determined the snake is a vicious animal because of its propensity to commit an unprovoked attack.

Officials didn't require the snake be destroyed, but did demand it be removed from the home where there were children, Detmer said. A friend of the owner took the snake in.

"It's a little different deal in that it doesn't run around, like with a pit bull," Detmer said. "We don't really have to worry about it getting loose or going after little kids."

The chief noted it was the third albino python the department has had contact with, for various reasons, over the past several years. There is no prohibition against the snakes in city code.

"Some can get to 20-feet" long, Detmer said. "They can get big."

Bryant, who also works part-time at the Rice County jail, will receive a citation from the city, noting his bravery, during an upcoming City Council meeting, said City Manager John Sweet.

"That was a quick response," Sweet said. "I'm a retired Marine and I'm not sure I could do that."

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http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/16/harassment-complaint-filed-against-jesse-jackson/

School lesson: Don't yell, run over spilled milk

Jeff Burton

Northwest Indiana Times

Thursday, April 14, 2011 8:16 pm

VALPARAISO | A 12-year-old student at Benjamin Franklin Middle School could face juvenile probation after a Tuesday altercation with the school resource officer.

According to Valparaiso police, the officer was monitoring the sixth grade lunch period Tuesday when a boy began arguing with a staff member who wanted the boy to clean up milk spilled across his table.

The officer said as he approached the boy, he kept yelling at the staff member. The officer said he repeatedly asked the boy to calm down and help clean the mess he created, but the boy started yelling at him.

After exhausting every warning, the officer told the boy he had to go with him to the principal's office. As he began escorting the boy, the officer said the boy continued yelling at him and tried pulling away from him a few times.

The officer said the boy eventually got away from him and began running through the hallways, nearly running into students.

Catching up with the boy, the officer said he wrapped his arms around him to stop him. The boy continued trying to pull away, the officer said, and eventually both wound up on the floor near the school's gymnasium, where the boy was handcuffed.

The officer took the boy to the school's office, where a teacher helped calm him down.

The boy was released to his father, police said. The matter was referred to the Juvenile Probation office for review.

Musician Loses Temper at Walmart Greeter, Sentenced to Year in Prison

 April 14, 2011

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-heroin-mouthful-kissimmee-20110414,0,2134100.story

Posted: 5:44 pm EDT April 14, 2011 Updated: 6:20 pm EDT April 14, 2011

Obama not embarrassed by unguarded comments

Christi Parsons

Tribune reporter

1:50 PM CDT, April 15, 2011

2:16 p.m. CDT, April 15, 2011

Kentucky Man Invents Car that Runs on Makers Mark

April 14, 2011

The Daily Load 

 

Inventor Nilsson shows off bourbon powered vehicle

LOUISVILLE  - 62 year old Mickey Nilsson of Bardstown Kentucky, finally found a way to make his tinkering hobby pay off.  Inspired by the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Nilsson transformed a collection of “junk” into a motor vehicle that does not rely on foreign oil as it’s fuel source. His car is entirely powered by Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey.

“I was always a fan of Caractacus Potts (the Dick Van Dyke character) from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” said Nilsson. “He was pretty good at re-purposing junk. Always admired that”.  Nilsson had his fair share of junk too. Most of it was just rusting when last October he had a knock at his door.

“Them two knuckleheads from that TV show American Pickers (Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz) stopped by here trying to steal from me. Offering me $200 for my old still. Said I had no use for it since making moonshine was illegal. After that smart-mouthed remark, I shot at em” declared Nilsson. “Although I did sell the chubby one with the beard an old oil can for $40 before they ticked me off.”

The visit did motivate Nilsson. “After I’d run them off, I kept thinking about what they kept saying to me, ‘what are you going to do with all this stuff, you might as well sell it to us’. Well that left me pondering. Folks around these parts do a lot of pondering, so it wasn’t really nothing new for me as I ponder about something almost everyday. But this time my pondering gave me an idea, watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

Inspired and motivated by the film, Nilsson spent the next 6 months, in his workshop turning his one-time still and collection of junk into a whiskey sipping motor vehicle. “The car will run on almost any bourbon, but she really purrs on Maker’s Mark” said Nilsson.

With Maker’s Mark currently at an average selling price of $24 a fifth it’s likely most owners of the new vehicle would fill her up with Old Crow or even Old Grand Dad. Either way, it’s still a pricier fuel option, but before long it may be a bargain. Gasoline prices have been skyrocketing, jumping 50% in the past year. This week the cost for regular gas eclipsed milk and the popular Arnold Palmer Iced Tea-Lemonade beverage per gallon.

The Obama administration has recognized Nilsson’s achievement as “the type of ingenuity that makes this country great. With brilliant minds such as Mr. Nilsson at work, we will soon purge our dependence on the middle east for oil”. But they cautioned our nation still has a large number of winos so securing access to the fuel tanks on these vehicles will be essential, especially in certain urban neighborhoods.

A deal to produce a consumer version of the Nilsson concept car was brokered Wednesday with automobile manufacturer Nissan. Nissan expects to release the vehicle to the public by 2014.  Currently referred to as the Nissan Nilsson, several names are being considered for the new model. The Nissan Alky, the Lush or the sporty sounding Inebriator.

Nissan hopes to add a new feature to this model that will incorporate a breathalyzer that will actually generate a small fuel reserve for drunk drivers who run out of gas, ah um, bourbon.

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A man has been arrested after being caught on CCTV stealing a judge's gavel from a courtroom... meaning he could be making a quick return for contempt.

When magistrate Chris Cook recently reached for his gavel during a hearing, he realised it had disappeared and ordered a search.

But security footage soon revealed that the small mallet had been swiped the day before, right from his legal bench at Lorain Municipal Court.

While staff didn't recognise the courtroom crook, they noticed that the man with him had appeared in court that day and police were able to locate the gavel grabber.

The magistrate said that if the crook is willing and able to return the gavel, he would be a lot less inclined to bring him back in for contempt… he just loves banging that little mallet you see.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://youtu.be/nsNvW1SGjZA

 

Law Firm Stradley, Chernoff & Alford; Mark Mainz/Getty

Murray is accused of failing to monitor Michael Jackson after giving him very strong medication.

Michelle Bella, a dancer at the Spearmint Rhino in Las Vegas, got a text from Murray at 8:30 a.m. on June 25, 2009 - about two and a half hours before he found the King of Pop unresponsive on a bed, a prosecution motion filed Thursday said.

Prosecutors previously revealed that Murray, who was living with his stripper babymama Nicole Alvarez at the time, called Houston <snip>tail waitress Sade Anding at 11:51 that morning, about an hour after he admittedly gave his famous patient the powerful anesthetic propofol in an IV drip.

The star's personal physical also received two unanswered calls from a third woman he met at the Vegas strip joint Cheetahs in 2003, prosecutors said.

The third girlfriend, Bridgette Morgan, was trying to reach Murray to discuss a plane ticket he promised to buy her during a lunch date earlier that month, court documents stated.

Prosecutors are asking the judge to allow evidence of Murray's wild social life because they think it shows a pattern of "inattentiveness and distraction."

Murray's defense has called the move prejudicial but declined to comment Thursday since jury selection is already underway.

"Evidence which points to a defendant's guilt is, by definition, prejudicial," the deputy district attorneys handling the case wrote in the motion.

Murray, 57, is accused of giving Jackson the hospital-strength anesthetic propofol to help him sleep and then failing to properly monitor him.

Jackson, 50, died of acute propofol intoxication, the coroner found.

Murray told police he gave Jackson Valium, lorazepam and the sedative midazolam between 1:30 and 7:30 on the morning in question and claims he was at Jackson's bedside keeping close eye on a pulse oximeter (connected to Jackson's finger) around the time he allegedly texted Bella.

He said he took a bathroom break after giving the first dose of propofol at 10:40 a.m. and found the singer unresponsive when he returned.

A staff member dialed 911 at 12:21 p.m.

Prosecutors claim Murray broke patient-confidentiality rules by bragging about his Jackson job to the alleged girlfriends but neglected to mention his personal phone communications during his first interview with police.

"He had a pattern of revealing confidential information when it suited him, but he was unwilling to reveal patient information at the most critical time," the DA motion stated. "He was receiving personal phone calls during the hours when he was supposed to be completely focused on the care of Mr. Jackson."

LA Times

Obama job approval hits 5-month low in Gallup poll

Michael A. Memoli and Peter Nicholas

12:50 PM PDT, April 14, 2011

It could be gas prices, the budget debate, or simply the usual ups and downs of public opinion polling. But President Obama's approval rating has dipped to a five-month low in Gallup's daily tracking poll, reverting to post-midterm election lows.

The survey, a three-day rolling average conducted April 11-13, pegs Obama's approval at 42%, the lowest since Nov. 10-12. For only the 13th time in his term and the first time since late October, his disapproval rating has reached 50%.

Since the self-described "shellacking" of his party last November, Obama's numbers have zig-zagged within a 9-point range, from the low of 42% to a high of 51%. He enjoyed a sustained upward trend after the tax cuts compromise in December's lame duck session of Congress.

Any boost he may have gained from last Friday's 11th hour compromise may be offset by other economic concerns, particularly higher fuel prices.

The White House routinely dismisses polling data. But it's a troublesome footnote as the president kicks off his re-election effort Thursday.

Obama's low approval rating is not the result of the major speech he delivered on Wednesday. Some of the polling took place before he delivered the speech. Rather, a Gallup official believes the results reflect broad public dissatisfaction with the economy.

"You can never discount the economy as a reason," said Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll. "It's important to remember that Americans are down on the economy right now. We saw some glimmers of uptick, but that's faded. And there's no way that can't help but rub off" on the president.

The new numbers suggest that gains Obama had recorded after the productive lame duck session of Congress last December have been wiped out. Obama's approval rating registered at 50% by the end of the lame duck session, where Obama reached rare compromises with Republicans on taxes and other major legislation.

"There's a lot going on in the political environment right now, including the (budget) agreement reached last Friday and the wrangling this week over his speech," Newport said. "The economy is perceived as bad, economic confidence data is bad, gas prices are up – so there are a number of proximate causes" for the downturn.

Crying, foul: Kindergartener gets suspended for tearing up

Oops! Newspaper prints wrong lotto numbers, lets down local couple

Posted: Apr 11, 2011 5:42 PM

Andy Koen
Updated: Apr 13, 2011 3:20 PM

Imagine waking up and checking the Sunday paper to find that you've won the lottery, but then learning that the newspaper printed the wrong numbers.

That's just what happened to a Pueblo couple last weekend. Jim and Dorothy Sprague say they experienced a lot of joy and a lot of heartbreak all in the course of an hour Sunday morning.

"I woke up and found out we were millionaires," Jim Sprague said. "(It was) a case of going from rags to riches and back to rags again."

The newspaper had mistakenly published Friday's Matchplay numbers in place of Saturday's Colorado Lottery drawing. In his excitement, Sprague called his children to tell them he'd won the $4.3 million jackpot.

"We had told my son and my daughter and we were getting ready to tell our other kids, but we found the mistake that it was wrong," Sprague said. "It's a good thing that I didn't talk to too many people."

The Sprague's are able to laugh about the ordeal now, but they admit they're still a bit frustrated.

"I tried calling them yesterday, Sunday, as soon as we found it," he explained. "I called and got a recording."

The newspaper published a retraction in Monday's paper, faulting the error on "misinformation and an oversight." Sprague said he decided not to push the issue after reading the retraction. And he says the experience won't keep him from playing the lotto in the future.

"I hope that I'll find the right numbers one of these days."

Brentwood Mayor Evicted From Home Weeks Before Election

5:59 PM, Apr 13, 2011 

BRENTWOOD, Md. (WUSA)  -- The controversial Mayor of Brentwood was evicted from her home in the small Prince George's County municipality Wednesday.

Xzavier Montgomery-Wright had fallen behind nearly $7,500 on rent, according to eviction documents.  She declined to talk about the situation, or her ongoing run for re-election, as workers moved possessions from the house where she had been living on 79th Place in Brentwood.

In March, Montgomery-Wright was censured by Brentwood's town council for the unauthorized use of a town debit card to pay cell phone bills and purchase a plane ticket.  A follow up audit is ongoing.  No charges have been filed.

Montgomery-Wright is a candidate for re-election.  She takes credit for re-establishing the town's police department.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=903163266001

She would not comment on where she will live after the eviction.  She cannot serve as mayor, if she is not a resident of Brentwood.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/04/AR2009120402016.html

Lack of primary competition gives Obama an edge

With no serious challenges for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2012, the president can target the independent voters crucial to victory, while his Republican rivals must move right to win their party's nomination.

Mark Z. Barabak and Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times and Washington Bureau

7:36 PM PDT, April 13, 2011

When President Obama swoops into Chicago on Air Force One to formally launch his reelection bid Thursday, his homecoming will have all the trappings of a celebrity event: high-dollar fundraisers at a pair of fancy restaurants, an adoring audience at a waterfront rally and an appearance by NBA star Derrick Rose.

But one of the president's biggest advantages as he seeks a second term will not be visible: the absence of any serious primary opposition. Incumbents forced to fend off a challenge within their own party tend to lose the November election (like Gerald R. Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992) or choose not to run at all (like Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968).

Spared fratricidal fighting, Obama is free to move toward the political center and target the independent voters crucial to victory. Meantime, his Republican rivals must move right to win their party's nomination, then hope to scamper back toward the center in time for the fall campaign.

Obama's course was vividly demonstrated Wednesday, with his embrace of a $4-trillion deficit-reduction package that calls for tax hikes and benefit cuts. The plan not only allowed the president to embrace an issue that many centrist voters say they care about, but also afforded him an opportunity to paint his Republican opponents as extreme.

"Our leaders came together three times during the 1990s to reduce our nation's deficit," he said in a speech at George Washington University, invoking the names of past presidents and congressional leaders, Democratic and Republican, who forged compromise. "All three agreements asked for shared responsibility and shared sacrifice."

The president's ability to stake out the center this far ahead of election day offers a considerable edge. It is there, and not the fringes, that most presidential campaigns are won.

"From an ideological perspective, it's a huge advantage to spend two years working the middle of the electorate," said Don Sipple, a strategist for Republican Bob Dole in 1996, the last time a Democratic president sought reelection. "While the president repositions … the Republicans are moving out of position as far as the task they'll face in the general election."

None of that suggests Obama's reelection will be easy, or anything close to preordained. His approval ratings nationally are in the mediocre 50% range. Democrats suffered midterm setbacks in several states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Iowa, that Obama almost certainly needs to win in 2012. Joblessness remains high and, worse, economic anxiety is widespread.

He also faces anger on the left, which has built steadily over the last two years and flared in recent days after the president abandoned his pledge to close the federal detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and embraced deep spending cuts as part of a deal with Republicans to avert a government shutdown.

But no one of any real stature has stepped forward to challenge Obama's renomination, and Sen. Richard J. Durbin, his friend and fellow Illinois Democrat, seemed to speak for many on the left when he suggested that the prospect of a Republican president enacting laws passed by a Republican Congress was enough to put down any serious rebellion.

"Certainly, when you look at Paul Ryan's budget, that's not where they're going to go," Durbin said of the plan by the Wisconsin Republican, chairman of the House Budget Committee, to privatize the Medicare program that provides health coverage for older Americans.

The president's political strategists reject the notion of any calculated move to the middle, pointing out, for instance, Obama's stated support for deficit reduction during the 2008 campaign. In the interim, they say, he was forced to take dramatic steps — the $800-billion stimulus bill being the most conspicuous — to address the economic crisis he inherited.

"The notion that somehow he has shifted his thinking is belied by the things he said throughout the campaign," said David Axelrod, one of the president's chief political advisors. "That's what he said then. That's what he believes now."

But politics hardly takes place in a void, and it is notable that fiscal discipline — and its close cousin, deficit reduction — have long been a major concern of the political center. A solid majority of those voters backed Obama in 2008, but they went heavily Republican two years later, concerned about stimulus spending and the national healthcare bill the president and congressional Democrats pushed into law.

"After the fiscal crisis, the public was scolded for irresponsible spending and maxing out on their credit cards," said Sipple, who is neutral in the Republican presidential primary. "So they pulled in their belts and tried to reduce their debt, then watched as the government piled up more debt through profligate spending."

Independent voters stand apart from the faithful of both parties in another significant way: They abhor the ways of Washington, especially the polarization and partisanship that has come to surround all but the most routine business inside the Beltway.

"Independents don't see Democrats as socialists and Republicans as corporate ogres," said Matthew Dowd, who ran President Bush's 2004 presidential campaign and is unaligned this year. "They don't believe that principle trumps process.... They get along with their neighbors, have them over for dinner, sit around the table and, while they may disagree, they don't scream at each other."

They wonder, Dowd added, why Washington can't function the same way.

Lately, Obama has struck the same tone. Although his intervention was required to close the budget deal with Republicans and avert a government shutdown, Obama often positioned himself as standing astride both parties, as though he were not the nation's Democrat in chief.

He took a similar tack on Wednesday, even as he assailed Ryan's proposal and suggested his own deficit plan presented the more reasonable and compassionate course. Acknowledging that many believe Washington is broken, that decisions are too hard and the parties too far apart to take consequential action on the deficit — and even confessing some sympathy for that view — Obama nevertheless said it was possible and necessary to act.

"It isn't a Democratic or Republican idea," Obama said. "It's patriotism."

Reporting from San Francisco and Washington

Coral Springs woman orders lunch from McDonald's drive-thru instead of pulling over for police

Sofia Santana and Danielle A. Alvarez, Sun Sentinel

9:16 p.m. EDT, April 12, 2011

Flashing police lights apparently couldn't stop a Coral Springs woman with a fast-food craving.

Police say when an officer tried to pull over Roberta Spen, 64, Monday for having faulty brake lights, she instead pulled into a McDonald's drive-thru lane and ordered lunch.

The bizarre exchange happened along University Drive just south of Atlantic Boulevard at about 2 p.m., and it spawned an all-out police pursuit.

Officer Courtney Vassell pulled up behind Spen in the drive-thru lane, and got out of the patrol car. With police lights flashing behind him, he told her to pull out into the parking lot for a traffic stop, according to a police report.

Roberta Spen (Broward Sheriff's Office / April 12, 2011)

Spen, though, completed her food order, paid the bill, and then drove her bronze 2001 Chevrolet out of the parking lot and onto Northwest Sixth Court, Vassell said.

Vassell again flipped on his siren and stopped Spen outside the McDonald's, where he said she "rolled her window down one inch and said she was not speeding and she would not roll her window down."

Spen also refused to hand over her driver's license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, then drove away from Vassell, police said.

Vassell got back in his patrol car, flipped on his emergency lights — again — and followed Spen as she turned north onto Northwest 98th Avenue, east onto Atlantic and then north on University Drive.

Several other police officers joined in the pursuit.

Although the police lights did not stop Spen, a red light at University and Ramblewood Drive did, and several officers attempted to box in Spen's car. Somehow, though, Spen was able to drive in reverse out of the box and continued driving north on University, police said.

Spen finally stopped at the Mobil gas station at 1351 University Drive., where officers again surrounded her car.

This time, when she refused to leave the car, the officers went in and got her — smashing the driver's side window and pulling her out, police said.

After a quick check-up at Coral Springs Medical Center, Spen was taken to a Broward jail, arrested on charges of fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest without violence and driving with defective equipment.

Police said on the arrest report that they found no indication Spen was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the chase, and they could find no explanation for why Spen, who before her arrest Monday had no criminal record in Florida, didn't just pull over.

In bond court Tuesday Judge John "Jay" Hurley ordered her release under the condition she submit to a mental health evaluation.

Spen could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Lakers' Kobe Bryant is fined $100,000 by NBA for anti-gay slur to referee

Bryant made his comment, captured on television, during a game Tuesday after being called for a foul and receiving a technical. He says his actions "were out of frustration during the heat of the game." Gay-rights groups criticize Bryant.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant strikes a familiar pose as he goes back on defense against the Spurs on Tuesday night. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times / April 12, 2011)

Mike Bresnahan

April 13, 2011, 6:15 p.m.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 by the NBA on Wednesday and criticized by numerous gay-rights groups for directing an anti-gay slur at referee Bennie Adams during a game Tuesday against San Antonio.

Bryant was irritated after he was called for an offensive foul and received his 15th technical of the season during the game. He punched a chair on the Lakers' bench before he sat, threw down a towel and yelled "Bennie!" before muttering a curse word followed by the word "faggot."

His outburst was captured on TV and prompted TNT analyst Steve Kerr to immediately say, "You might want to take the camera off him right now, for the children watching from home."

Wednesday became a day of statements and more statements, followed by the NBA's fine and Bryant's radio interview on "Mason & Ireland" on 710 ESPN.

Bryant said he planned on talking to the gay-rights groups and also wanted to "own up" to his comments. However, he also said he would appeal the fine, one of the heaviest levied by the NBA this season. Bryant makes $302,515 per regular-season game.

NBA Commissioner David Stern called Bryant's outburst "offensive and inexcusable."

"While I'm fully aware that basketball is an emotional game, such a distasteful term should never be tolerated," Stern said in a statement. "Kobe and everyone associated with the NBA know that insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game or society."

The Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, called it a "disgrace" for Bryant to "use such horribly offensive and distasteful language, especially when millions of people are watching."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, added an equally critical statement.

"Professional sports players need to set a better example for young people who use words like this on the playground and in our schools, creating a climate of intolerance and hostility," GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said.

Earlier Wednesday, Bryant issued a statement of his own, saying his comment "should not be taken literally."

"My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period," he said. "The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone."

The HRC said Bryant didn't go far enough because he didn't issue a formal apology.

During the radio interview, Bryant provided more detail.

"The concern that I have is for those that follow what I say, and are inspired by how I play, or look to me as a role model … they're not to take what was said as something that is a message of hate or a license to degrade or embarrass or tease," he said. "That's something I don't want to see happen."

Bryant should have been more cautious with his words on the court, TNT analyst Charles Barkley said.

"I'm a big pro-gay-marriage person; I have a bunch of gay friends who I hope can get married some day, so I'm a little bit sensitive," Barkley said. "But I'm not going to go overboard. You have to just be careful what you say with stuff like that."

TV Priest Takes Leave of Absence After Affair with Second Cousin

Father Mike Manning hosts a weekly program called "The Word in the World."

Father Michal Manning and Nancy Kotowski (Trinity Network)

KTLA News

9:19 a.m. PDT, April 8, 2011

SAN BERNARDINO (KTLA) -- A popular San Bernardino TV minister has decided to take a leave of absence after admitting he had an affair with his second cousin, the Diocese of San Bernardino said.

Father Mike Manning has publicly acknowledged he had a sexual relationship with Nancy Kotowski, the superintendent of schools for Monterey County in Northern California and Manning's second cousin.

The affair was disclosed by the San Bernardino Sun after it received intimate correspondences allegedly exchanged between Manning, 70, and Kotowski, 59.

"The reality is I was living two lives: one as a priest who was vowed to celibacy and another life as a sexually active man in our sexual intimacy," Manning wrote to Kotowski, according to one excerpt.

In another, he says, "We've been such good friends, and there's a deep love we have for each other."

"The sexuality was secondary. It's very hard when you care for someone, but I love my priesthood more. I admit the fact of my sinfulness. I've done wrong. That's why I've stopped."

Manning has not commented on the authenticity of the excerpts.

He reportedly told colleagues that he ended his affair with Kotowski about three years ago -- two years before it was uncovered.

Kotowski called Manning her "soul mate" in an interview with the Monterey Herald. She also said she hopes the news of the affair will encourage changes to church rules about priests marrying.

Manning reached the decision to take a leave of absence in consultation with local church leaders, the Los Angeles Times reports.

He plans to remain in the ministry, church officials told the Times.

Manning hosts a weekly program on the Trinity Broadcasting network called "The Word in the World." It draws an audience of 200,000 households, according to Manning's website.

Manning has been hosting religious television shows since 1972.

He has also published several books, including an autobiography titled "On Camera and Off."

Man Accused of Stealing Money From Blind, Deaf 98-Year-Old

John Thomas Windsor was on parole for domestic violence and fraud at the time.

John Thomas Windsor, 41. (Courtesy Orange County District Attorney's office)

KTLA News

6:10 p.m. PDT, April 13, 2011

VERMONT (KTLA) -- A man was arrested Wednesday on charges of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a 98-year-old blind and deaf woman, authorities said.

John Thomas Windsor, a Vermont parolee from Costa Mesa, is accused of stealing as much as $280,000 from a woman he met through his mother, who was her caretaker.

The victim, identified as Edna M., was confined to her home and suffered from dementia.

According to the Orange County District Attorney's office, Windsor, 41, was currently on parole for domestic violence and fraud when he moved into the victim's home without her knowledge in 2008.

Windsor allegedly tried to use her credit cards to buy personal items including two cars and an engagement ring.

Windsor's mother The woman, identified as Edna M., eventually signed over power of attorney to Windsor.

Police were tipped to Windsor's activities when her bank became suspicious when he tried to take a loan out against her home.

Windsor was arrested Monday and charged for residential burglary, caretaker theft, fraudulently using an access card, as well as three counts of forgery.

He is currently being held on $280,000 bail.

Edna M. died in 2009 during police investigation.

Bonds found guilty of obstruction of justice

Mistrial declared in three other charges against home run king

NBC Sports

5:42 p.m. ET April 13, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice Wednesday, but a jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts that the home run king lied to a grand jury in 2003 when he specifically denied that he knowingly used steroids and human growth hormone.

Following a 12-day trial and almost four full days of deliberation, a jury could not reach a unanimous vote on three of four counts, a messy end to a case that put the slugger in the spotlight for more than three years.

Bonds sat stone-faced through the verdict, displaying no emotion.

The case also represented the culmination of the federal investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroids ring. Federal prosecutors and the Justice Department will have to decide whether to retry Bonds on the unresolved counts.

http://www.kcra.com/r/27525370/detail.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/04/13/2011-04-13_vice_president_biden_caught_on_tape_seemingly_taking_a_nap_during_president_obam.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-unveils-framework-for-cutting-deficit-by-3-trillion-over-a-decade/2011/04/13/AFJxX9WD_story.html

6:02 p.m. CDT, April 12, 2011

http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/09529d15-1a0b-41ef-8492-297974a01eec/News/Student-Booted-Over-T-Shirt

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8066467

 Boy Gets Alcohol at Restaurant

30-second spots on Oprah finale fetching $1M

4/11/2011 at 1:09 p.m.

Chicago Tribune

(Frederick M. Brown/Getty)

CBS Corp.’s syndication arm is asking $1 million for 30 seconds of national commercial time for the final week of Oprah Winfrey’s TV show in May, ad buyers say.

The stratospheric rate comes close to rivaling events like the Academy Awards, for which ad buyers said they paid between $1.7 million and $1.8 million for a 30-second spot earlier this year.

The rate is being asked without any guarantee of an audience, the buyers say. But they add that many times more viewers than Winfrey’s regular audience of about seven million are expected.

Winfrey’s asking price illustrates the gaping hole she will leave behind in daytime TV as she begins concentrating solely on her cable network, which she owns in a joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc.

Several well-known names are jockeying to grab even a part of her audience. Anderson Cooper will start a new talk show with Time Warner Inc.’s syndication arm this fall. CBS anchor Katie Couric is considering leaving her newscast to start her own talk show for the fall of 2012.

CBS declines to comment specifically on rates for Ms. Winfrey’s final episodes, but it says in a statement: “The final episode of ‘Oprah’ — in fact the final weeks of ‘Oprah’ — will be a TV event,” It compares the show’s end to the finales of “Friends” and “Frasier.”

9 million U.S. adults say they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, study finds

Bisexuals slightly outnumber gays and lesbians, according to survey, which compiled data from other studies.

Ari Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times

April 12, 2011

About 9 million people in the United States identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a UCLA study released Thursday.

The estimate, which translates to about 3.5% of adults as LGBT and 0.3% of adults as transgender, was created by the Williams Institute at UCLA's School of Law and argues that any estimate of the population is difficult because there are insufficient and inconsistent national surveys.

The study culled data and methods from nine surveys conducted over the last seven years and averaged results from five of those surveys to estimate sexual orientation and results from two surveys to estimate the transgender population.

Among other findings: Of the lesbian, gay and bisexual population, bisexuals were a slightly larger group, representing 1.8% of the adult population compared to 1.7% who were lesbian or gay.

It also found an estimated 8.2% of Americans reported participating in same-sex sexual activity; and an estimated 11% held some same-sex sexual attraction, but neither group necessarily identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Posted: April 12
Updated: Today at 10:27 AM

New growth industry:  Marijuana State University

The latest business offshoot of a new law teaches medical cannabis cultivation at home.

John Richardson

Staff Writer

PORTLAND — Ray Logan has been growing marijuana for 30 years.

Instructor Ray Logan talks about the germination process during a Marijuana State University class held earlier this month. Students Bill Lessard of Saco, left, and Rick Adjutant of Kennebunk look on.

Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Logan uses a cayenne pepper plant for demonstrations.

Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

 

Visit the Marijuana State University website at http://marijuanastateuniversity.com

When he started, it was a purely recreational -- and illegal -- hobby, and one he naturally kept as quiet as possible.

Now, Logan is turning his experience and knowledge of the plant into a very public business: Marijuana State University.

Logan is offering three-hour workshops for people who want to learn how to grow high-quality marijuana in their homes. It is the latest business to sprout from Maine's medical marijuana law, which allows registered patients, caregivers and dispensaries to grow the drug to treat specific medical symptoms and conditions, from intractable pain to AIDS.

Although marijuana can grow like a weed under the right conditions, cultivating medicinal-quality plants indoors takes some know-how, Logan said.

"There's a huge need for (knowledge), and some people aren't sure where to get it," he said.

Logan, 56, taught the first Marijuana State University class earlier this month in Portland. About 15 men attended, most of them registered medical marijuana patients who want to grow their own drugs instead of paying hundreds of dollars an ounce to registered caregivers or licensed dispensaries.

"We'd like to double that (class size), but we were very happy. It was our first time out," he said.

His second workshop is scheduled for May 7 in Auburn, and he plans to hold future classes in Augusta, Biddeford and Portland.

Marijuana State University is mostly a one-man show, although an indoor garden shop -- HTG Supply in Portland -- provides equipment for the demonstrations.

The class costs $79, or $59 for students, senior citizens and veterans. It will be a while before Marijuana State University becomes a self-supporting business, even if class sizes do double, Logan said.

"For right now, I just enjoy doing it (and) helping people learn how to grow," he said.

To prevent conflicts with police, he uses basil and other legal household plants to teach the class. State regulators and police took note of his recent class in Portland, but nothing more.

Although medical marijuana does create some gray areas for police, "it is possible, certainly, to grow marijuana legally," said Portland police Lt. Gary Rogers.

Education itself is not a concern for the state, although there is some concern that marijuana entrepreneurs could push the law's limits.

"This program was designed to get patients access to quality medical marijuana; it wasn't intended as a business for people to make money," said Cathy Cobb, director of the licensing division for the Department of Health and Human Services. "We don't want to set up a supply network that exceeds the demand of registered patients."

So far, the state has issued 982 registration cards for medical marijuana patients. Each patient must have a medical condition specified in the state law, and a recommendation from his or her doctor.

Logan is one of the 982.

He has been a legal marijuana user for years under Maine law, he said, because of a skydiving accident in 1996 that nearly paralyzed him and left him needing daily prescription painkillers that have various side effects.

"I still get a small amount of the meds, but I don't like being on them," he said. "I usually just use (marijuana) at nighttime. It helps me sleep, takes the pain edge away."

Rick Adjutant, one of Marijuana State University's first students, can relate to that.

The 48-year-old Army veteran has been disabled for seven years because of herniated discs and degenerative disc disease. Doctors prescribed a range of prescription painkillers, which he said gave him violent mood swings.

"It didn't help with the pain, it just messed my head up," he said.

Two weeks after trying marijuana, he got rid of the addictive painkillers, Adjutant said.

"I haven't touched the narcotics in almost two years now," he said.

Adjutant attended Logan's first workshop because he wants to grow a few of his own plants and save money. The class answered all of his questions, such as how to raise the humidity in his growing room, he said.

"Anybody can grow it, but to grow a good, medical-quality marijuana you've got to know the tricks and you've really got to do your research," Adjutant said.

He hopes the school will show people that there is a legitimate use for the drug. "This isn't just fun and games for a bunch of drug addicts," he said.

Marijuana State University is based somewhat on Oaksterdam University in Oakland, Calif., known as America's first "cannabis college."

The school, which offers a range of courses for growers, has enrolled more than 17,000 people since 2007. The money it has made for its founder, Richard Lee, helped finance last fall's unsuccessful referendum campaign to legalize recreational marijuana use in California.

Logan said he doesn't see himself becoming the Richard Lee of the East Coast, financially or politically.

"My political views are definitely not attached to this class. I don't talk about the politics of it or the laws or anything," he said. "Yes, I'd like to see it legal, but that's not our focus."

Logan does share Lee's goal of making medical marijuana more public and more respectable. He recently took a reference to "higher learning" off the Marijuana State University website (http://marijuanastateuniversity.com), saying it didn't promote the right image.

"Because of things like my school, people will say, 'Oh, wow, maybe there is something more to this medical marijuana,'" he said. "I think folks are going to see what an amazing plant cannabis really is."

Police seek robbers who couldn't shatter jewelry cases

Star-Advertiser Staff

04:27 a.m. HST, Apr 12, 2011

Honolulu police are asking the public for help in catching two would-be robbers who attempted a smash-and-grab robbery of a Waikele jewelry store.

Honolulu CrimeStoppers posted on its website yesterday security video from the attempted robbery of the Zales jewelry store at the Waikele Premium Outlets in hopes of generating tips to catch the suspects.

The video shows the men — one armed with a shotgun, the other carrying a hammer — entering the store and attempting to break the jewelry cases. But the cases don't break.

The men kick the cases, smash them with a hammer and even fire a round from the shotgun, but the glass refuses to shatter.

The robbery happened at about 8:40 p.m. Saturday. Police said the men fled in a stolen silver Honda Civic, later found engulfed in flames on Lelepua Street and Leomana Place in Waipahu.

The suspects are described as being in their 20s, weighing about 140 pounds, wearing black masks and athletic shoes. One man wore a black, long-sleeve shirt and white pants; the other wore a gray, long-sleeve shirt with dark pants.

Some personnel in nearby stores say they are concerned for their safety.

Ryan Salazar, assistant supervisor at Brooks Brothers Factory Store, was working Saturday night but didn't know anything about the robbery until he left the store and saw police officers interviewing people.

"It's more of a common thing," he said. "It makes me a little nervous, just general safety around the area. Being a really popular tourist spot, they (visitors) probably feel the same way. Everyone's a little bit nervous."

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://youtu.be/A17gMX8vcj0

http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/carpenter-56494-daughter-bedroom.html

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/wild-shoutfest-between-al-sharpton-and-cornel-west-on-obamas-leadership-on-racial-issues/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/38-billion-in-cuts-in-budget-deal-will-cover-various-domestic-areas/2011/04/11/AFJihQMD_story.html?hpid=z1

http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/article/124191/175/Pair-Accused-of-Robbing-Childrens-Lemonade-Stand

Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home

To encourage healthful eating, Chicago school doesn't allow kids to bring lunches or certain snacks from home — and some parents, and many students, aren't fans of the policy

A Little Village Academy student cringes at an enchilada dish served at his school. Many students throw away their entrees uneaten and say they would rather bring food from home. The school, though, does not allow students to bring in their own lunches, unless they have a medical condition or a food allergy. (Monica Eng, Chicago Tribune / February 17, 2011)

Monica Eng and Joel Hood, Tribune reporters

3:42 a.m. CDT, April 11, 2011

ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410

Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school.

"Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.

Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!"

Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?"

At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

"Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."

Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.

A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals.

"While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments," Monique Bond wrote in an email. "In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom."

Any school that bans homemade lunches also puts more money in the pockets of the district's food provider, Chartwells-Thompson. The federal government pays the district for each free or reduced-price lunch taken, and the caterer receives a set fee from the district per lunch.

At Little Village, most students must take the meals served in the cafeteria or go hungry or both. During a recent visit to the school, dozens of students took the lunch but threw most of it in the garbage uneaten. Though CPS has improved the nutritional quality of its meals this year, it also has seen a drop-off in meal participation among students, many of whom say the food tastes bad.

"Some of the kids don't like the food they give at our school for lunch or breakfast," said Little Village parent Erica Martinez. "So it would be a good idea if they could bring their lunch so they could at least eat something."

"(My grandson) is really picky about what he eats," said Anna Torrez, who was picking up the boy from school. "I think they should be able to bring their lunch. Other schools let them. But at this school, they don't."

But parent Miguel Medina said he thinks the "no home lunch policy" is a good one. "The school food is very healthy," he said, "and when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food."

At Claremont Academy Elementary School on the South Side, officials allow packed lunches but confiscate any snacks loaded with sugar or salt. (They often are returned after school.) Principal Rebecca Stinson said that though students may not like it, she has yet to hear a parent complain.

"The kids may have money or earn money and (buy junk food) without their parents' knowledge," Stinson said, adding that most parents expect that the school will look out for their children.

Such discussions over school lunches and healthy eating echo a larger national debate about the role government should play in individual food choices.

"This is such a fundamental infringement on parental responsibility," said J. Justin Wilson, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Consumer Freedom, which is partially funded by the food industry.

"Would the school balk if the parent wanted to prepare a healthier meal?" Wilson said. "This is the perfect illustration of how the government's one-size-fits-all mandate on nutrition fails time and time again. Some parents may want to pack a gluten-free meal for a child, and others may have no problem with a child enjoying soda."

For many CPS parents, the idea of forbidding home-packed lunches would be unthinkable. If their children do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, such a policy would require them to pay $2.25 a day for food they don't necessarily like.

"We don't spend anywhere close to that on my son's daily intake of a sandwich (lovingly cut into the shape of a Star Wars ship), Goldfish crackers and milk," education policy professor Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach wrote in an email. Her son attends Nettelhorst Elementary School in Lakeview. "Not only would mandatory school lunches worsen the dietary quality of most kids' lunches at Nettelhorst, but it would also cost more out of pocket to most parents! There is no chance the parents would stand for that."

Many Little Village students claim that, given the opportunity, they would make sound choices.

"They're afraid that we'll all bring in greasy food instead of healthy food and it won't be as good as what they give us at school," said student Yesenia Gutierrez. "It's really lame. If we could bring in our own lunches, everyone knows what they'd bring. For example, the vegetarians could bring in their own veggie food."

"I would bring a sandwich or a Subway and maybe a juice," said seventh-grader Ashley Valdez.

Second-grader Gerardo Ramos said, "I would bring a banana, orange and some grapes."

"I would bring a juice and like a sandwich," said fourth-grader Eric Sanchez.

"Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," second-grader Julian Ruiz said, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables."

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/11/2215669/on-49th-anniversary-nc-man-gives.html

Deficit reduction: Why it's smart for Obama to jump in late

President Obama will lay out his 'vision' for deficit reduction Wednesday, a week after the GOP released a 2012 budget proposing big cuts. He is well positioned to occupy the middle ground.

Linda Feldmann

Christian Science Monitor Staff writer
April 11, 2011 at 5:06 pm EDT

Andria Simmons

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A nurse anesthetist faces a possible life sentence and up to $1.8 million in fines after being convicted Monday of molesting female patients after he drugged them.

 

 

Vino Wong

Convicted nurse anesthetist Paul Patrick Serdula confers with his attorney Jimmy Berry at the Cobb County Superior Courthouse on Monday.

 

 

Vino Wong

Serdula was accused of using a cell phone camera to film himself molesting women at a Cobb County hospital and film women in the bathroom at a dental clinic.

 

 

Vino Wong

Superior Court Judge Reuben Green returned a guilty verdict after spending about a half hour reviewing evidence against Serdula (above).

 

Paul Patrick Serdula, 48, was found guilty in Cobb County of 34 charges, including sexual assault of a person in custody, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation and unlawful surveillance. Most of the 19 victims were unconscious at the time. Several were less than 16 years old.

Superior Court Judge Reuben Green reached a guilty verdict in the bench trial after spending about 30 minutes reviewing the evidence in chambers. Serdula, 48, decided to forgo a jury trial and let a judge decide the case to spare the victims further trauma, his lawyer said.

"He does not want to put these ladies through any more than they've been subjected to," defense attorney Jimmy Berry told the court.

Serdula was arrested Nov. 18, 2009, after a woman at a dentist office where he worked in Marietta found his cell phone affixed to the underside of the bathroom sink. The lens of the cell phone camera was trained upon the commode. Police searched the phone and found multiple videos and images from the bathroom. They also found footage of Serdula touching and sexually assaulting unconscious women at Cobb Hospital, where he also worked.

Serdula did not testify. Once a successful medical professional who leased a Corvette and a BMW and owned homes in Marietta and Panama City, Fla., Serdula's world crumbled following his arrest. While he was in jail last year, his wife divorced him and he lost his nursing license.

Berry said his client was "very remorseful."

"There's not a good explanation for why people commit these kinds of acts," Berry said.

Green did not set a date for the sentencing hearing but said he would wait about a month so victims can attend and the defense can subpoena witnesses to testify about Serdula's mental state.

Berry said he will appeal the verdict based upon a challenge to the search warrant and a motion to recuse the judge. The defense argued that Green, a former Cobb prosecutor, had the appearance of bias because of his ties to the District Attorney's Office.

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/galleries/most_inane_inventions__ever/most_inane_inventions__ever.html

Woman charged with sending 2 police officers to hospital

Sara Dedek, 26, charged with attacking two police officers and drug offenses. (Chicago Police Department / April 9, 2011)

Andy Grimm Tribune reporter

3:36 p.m. CDT, April 10, 2011

A 110-pound woman arrested on drug charges sent two female police officers to the hospital after scuffling with the officers inside the Monroe District police station on Saturday, authorities said.

Sara Dedek, 26, who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall with blond hair streaked with fluorescent pink dye, was charged Sunday with two counts of aggravated battery of a police officer.

Prosecutors said a female officer broke her ankle when Dedek shoved her down the stairs at the station, and Dedek injured the thumb of another officer who was attempting to restrain her from fleeing. The officers were moving Dedek from another part of the station after she had been searched, prosecutors said.

Dedek, of the 2400 block of North Springfield Avenue, had been arrested for possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia in the 700 block of West 14^th Street. A caller reported seeing Dedek and a man both inside a parked car "shooting up" a police report states, and the arresting officers found suspected heroin, a syringe and a can that had been cut to be  used in preparing and injecting drugs.

Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Sunday ordered her held on $150,000 bond.

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/the-hill-of-crosses-a-man-made-christian-miracle.html

 

Walker/Getty

 

Donald Trump is being dismissed by the White House as a potential candidate for president in 2012.

Chief Obama adviser David Plouffe unleashed a barrage of stinging comments on Trump, who has recently trafficked in fringe conspiracy theories about Obama's place of birth while taunting America with hints of a presidential run.

"There is zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people," President Obama's chief adviser David Plouffe told ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour."

Plouffe noted Trump's surprise second place showing in a recent poll of New Hampshire voters with glee.

"I saw Donald Trump kind of rising in the polls and given his behavior and spectacle the last couple of weeks, I hope he keeps rising," Plouffe said.

Trump's focus on the wingnut obsession by so-called "birthers" with Obama's birthplace is way out of line with what Americans are really concerned with, Plouffe said.

"There may be a small part of the country that believes these things, but mainstream Americans think it's a sideshow," he said. "That's not leadership, that's kind of sideshow behavior."

Trump countered that he represents Obama's biggest nightmare in the 2012 race and that the White house is running scared.

"I know for a fact that I am the only candidate they are concerned with," Trump told The Daily News. "They are very concerned because I am challenging him as to whether or not he was born in this country where there is a real doubt."

"He should focus on properly dealing with the Chinese, the Saudis and all of the other nations that are ripping off the United States instead of making up quotes about Donald Trump," the "Apprentice" host blustered on. "Barack Obama has done a terrible job as president."

While Trump is not viewed as having a real chance at winning the presidency, experts say his remarks cut to the core of what irks the White House the most, which explains the hostility behind Plouffe's diss.

"There is no issue that irritates the White House more than the birther issue," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

"They view it as a symbol for those who refuse to acknowledge Obama as a legitimate president," he said. "The fact that someone as prominent as Trump is bringing this up is a source of real frustration."

Sabato predicted that despite the noise Trump is making, he would soon fade away.

"It doesn't mean a thing," he said. "Trump may be the only person who believes he is a serious candidate, but it all seems to be some attempt at self-promotion."

Professional clowns were not offended by the aspersion that Trump was one of them - they say it's only natural.

"The association between clowns and politics goes back a long way, so we don't tend to get bothered by it," said Earl "Orky the Clown" Tempkin, of the World Clown Association.

"Besides, Trump would fit in pretty well - with his hairstyle he wouldn't need a wig," Tempkin said. "It's pretty hard to take a lot of these politicians seriously."

5:46 p.m. Friday, April 8, 2011

The Associated Press

NEWNAN, Ga. — Movie mogul Tyler Perry delivered on a Christmas promise when he handed the keys of a new four-bedroom house to an 88-year-old woman who lost her rural Georgia home to a fire.

 

FILE - In this March 31, 2011 file photo, Tyler Perry, recipient of the CinemaCon Visionary Award, arrives for the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards in Las Vegas. Perry delivered on a Christmas promise when he handed the keys of a new four-bedroom house to an 88-year-old woman who lost her rural Georgia home to a fire. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Rosa Lee Ransby and her seven grand- and great-grandchildren lost their home a week before Christmas.

Perry saw the story on a local television newscast and decided to rebuild the house. He also fully furnished it.

More than 20 family members attended ceremony in rural Coweta County on Friday.

Perry says he wanted to do something for Ransby when he found out the family didn't have any way to rebuild. He says the main thing was getting her enough space for the children and for them to have room to play.

.

 

Pace for News

 

Janet Gordillo, Parent Association President of PS 85 in Queens, spoke out on how better measures must be taken to ensure students can't access inappropriate content at school.

 

Once the principal at Public School 85 in Astoria was notified, city technicians wiped the computers clean, installed updated Internet filters and sent the seven pint-size voyeurs to in-school suspension, school officials said.

But the ease with which a group of 8-year-olds bypassed the city's Internet filter system has sparked worries that this could be a citywide problem.

"The concern here is that a Department of Education filter shouldn't fail the [test of] 'Are you smarter than a third-grader?'" said City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), who is looking into the matter.

"As a parent, I hope that something like this never happens again," he added.

PS 85 Principal Ann Gordon-Chang said it was an "isolated" incident.

"It wasn't porn," said Gordon-Chang, who learned what happened last month after a parent complained. "The kids typed in 'hot girls' and pictures came up."

"When we found out, the children weren't allowed to go into the computers," she said. "It was dealt with immediately, parents were contacted."

Since the incident, the Education Department has installed new filters citywide, Gordon-Chang said.

The city can also block websites that schools deem inappropriate, an Education Department official said. But city officials did not immediately respond to questions about the filters and the updates.

Parents were pleased to learn the city was putting in new measures.

"We need better filtering to make sure this doesn't happen again," said PS 85 Parent Association President Janet Gordillo. "I'm sure if it's happening in this one school, it's happening in other schools."

Monica Major, a Bronx rep on the influential Panel for Educational Policy, agreed.

"Nothing is foolproof, but a lot of security breaches are preventable," she said. "It may be expensive, but you have to put the money out to protect the students."

James Cox, a computer and information science professor at Brooklyn College, said that no filter is 100% effective.

"There are billions of Web pages," he said. And "sites could cleverly disguise their content so they might not initially appear to be inappropriate."

But he added that the city's filter wasn't very good if a group of third-graders were able to circumvent it.

"However, if any of the kids is clever and has a 14-year-old sibling at home that knows how to hack, there's probably no system that would be secure," he said.

Sonya Hampton, Parent Teacher Association president of PS 149 in Harlem, said the solution is paying more attention to students.

"When the children are in the classroom, they should be monitored better," Hampton said. "We should have had more supervision."

LINK TO VIDEO:

www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/toddler-mistakenly-served-alcohol-at-applebees-20110409-rs

Former Fast Food Manager Jailed For Beating

Judge revokes bond

 

Stephanie Scurlock

6:36 p.m. CDT, April 8, 2011

FAST FACTS:

• Judge revokes bond of McDonald's manager involved in beating
• 17-year-old victim and family say wheels of justice turning
• Focus also on federal civil rights lawsuit against McDonalds

(Memphis 04/08/2011) A Shelby County judge throws a former night manager for McDonalds in jail even before deciding his fate.

Jackson Martin III is charged with beating a 17 year old employee at a Raleigh-area McDonalds. The incident happened 14 months ago and Martin pleaded guilty to the charges. The judge is still deciding his fate but while he does Martin will wait it out in jail.

Judge James Lammey revoked the bond of former McDonald's manager Jackson Martin III.

The judge's action means Martin will go to jail and wait it out until his next court date on May 23rd.

Martin's victim, 17-year-old Jarelle Gray, is glad.

"It feels like at least some justice was done and I believe that Judge Lammey did the right thing," said Jarelle Gray, 17 year old victim.

Martin's family left upset. In exchange for his guilty plea he is hoping for probation or judicial diversion, which wipes away a crime after one year of being trouble free. His attorney says it can still happen.

"He can still grant judicial diversion. He can still grant judicial probation," Justin Gee.

The video from the Raleigh McDonald's shows what happened.

Police say the two got into it because the teenager wanted to clock out.

The words turned violent when Martin started punching Gray in the face and slammed his head against a counter.

The judge asked to see the video from different angles.

"Well, it's rare in any case when the actual crime is recorded on video tape," Kevin Rardin.

Meanwhile, the Gray family looks forward to holding Martin and McDonald's accountable.

"They're thousands of parents that entrust their kids to this company to work and we've got to look at what kind of protections they give these parents and give these kids," said Gray family lawyer D'Army Bailey.

The sentencing phase of this hearing continues May 23.

That's when Judge Lammey is likely to render his decision.

He'll decide if Martin will stay in jail, get time served or probation.

 

 

 

PREVIOUS STORY WITH PHOTO: 

 

Father Of Beaten McDonald's Employee Claims Memphis Police Didn't Do Their Job

Jerome Gray Says Officers Were In The Restaurant Eating At The Time His Son Was Beaten

 

Alex Coleman

3:38 p.m. CST, February 16, 2010

 

• Fast facts:
• - McDonald's Manager Employee Fired After Allegedly Beating Teen Worker
• -Former Manager Faces Simple Assault Charges
• -Teen's Father Says Memphis Police Could Have Done More

(Memphis, TN/February 16, 2010) Jerome Gray is outraged over the beating of his son. Gray said, "This child was attacked at Mcdonalds."

His 17-year old son, Jarelle, is a McDonald's employee. He was punched, kicked and thrown against the counter by his supervisor after a dispute over free food and when his shift was supposed to end.

Gray said, "I got a phone call from the owner of McDonald's. He told me Jarelle didn't do anything wrong and he was sorry for what took place. He said he fired the manager."

The manager, Martin Jackson, has been fired, but Gray says what bothers him is that three Memphis police officers were at that very McDonald's eating at the same time his son was being beaten.

Gray said, "Three MPD officers were there on the scene and didn't do anything. How can you be feet away? How can you be feet away from where a crime is taking place and not do anything?"

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The former McDonald's supervisor now faces simple assault charges, but Gray, who's a Shelby County Deputy Jailer, says that charge is not severe enough.

Gray said, "This right here, hitting a person's face against a counter, against machinery, things like that. You're using the machinery and counter as a weapon."

We did try talking with the Memphis Police Department about the case. I was told they would not be doing an interview at this time because the investigation is ongoing. Police are looking at surveillance video of the incident to decide if the simple assault charges will be upgraded to aggravated assault. Police tell me if it's determined that Jarelle Gray has broken bones or if a weapon was used the charges could likely be upgraded against the former McDonald's supervisor.

But those words don't comfort Jerome Gray. He says his son, who once dreamed of going to college and becoming a police officer, no longer has trust in them after the way they handled the investigation.

Gray said, "Now that he has experienced this I don't think he even trusts the police officers or the police department. I don't trust them."

Is Your Faith Making You Fat?

1:16 AM, Apr 5, 2011

Brigida Mack 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) -- Could your faith make you more prone to obesity? Does participating in weekly church activities make you fat? That's the premise of one recent study.

Researchers at Northwestern University studied 2, 433 people ages 20 to 32 over a period of 18 years.

All of the participants started at a normal weight and the study concluded "people with a high frequency of religious participation in young adulthood were 50% more likely to become obese by middle age than those with no religious participation in young adulthood."

But Dr. Russ Dean, co-pastor of Park Road Baptist Church in south Charlotte, isn't buying it.

I think it's kind of crazy," he said. "I'm kind of offended by the notion that people who go to church get fat."

The study looked specifically at church activities which, let's face it, often involved food.  We're talking pot lucks, bake sales and barbecues.

But even with the regular weekly meal, Dr. Dean says the study's finding are a stretch.

"We serve a Wednesday night meal," he pointed out. "You're here once a week. We do maybe five pot lucks a year. So you eat pot luck five times a year and you're telling me that's going to make you overweight."

Carroll Lane, a long-time Southern Baptist agrees.

"I know that being a southern Baptist we like to eat a lot ... I don't think there's anymore obese people in the church then not. I think it's just like a problem with our whole society."

More important than what his congregation is eating, Dr. Dean said, is the work they're doing.

"You ought to talk as much about the activity that we do and the places our people they go and what they do and where they're helping," he said. "The calories they're expending doing all the mission we do."

While obesity appears to be an issue for religious people according to this study, previous studies have shown that the faithful tend to live longer, be less likely to smoke, and to have better mental health status.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.digtriad.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=886553095001

Research: Unemployment plays role in early deaths

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-04-08-oil-stocks-friday.htm#

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-detroit/bride-to-be-arraigned-for-throwing-knives-at-fiance-mother

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/article/199926/3/10-Things-that-Could-Ruin-your-Day-if-the-Government-Shuts-Down

Georgia Lottery officials say a Fairburn woman is $189,000 richer after finding a Fantasy 5 lottery ticket while cleaning out her purse. Lottery officials say Rhonda Williams' winning ticket had been in her purse since the January 17 …

Mont. judge on DUI task force charged with DUI

John Grant Emeigh of The Montana Standard

Friday, April 8, 2011 11:45 am

Charging documents allege a Butte justice of the peace was found wandering around the police station under the influence of drugs on a Saturday in November. 

Robert “Bob” E. Lee was charged Thursday in Butte district court with misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Lee is accused of driving his vehicle in Butte on the morning of Nov. 13, 2010, while under the influence of the methadone, which is classified as a dangerous drug, according to court documents. 

Assistant attorney general Chad Parker of Helena filed the charge.

An affidavit alleges Butte police officers found Lee at the police station about 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, appearing confused and under the influence of either alcohol or a narcotic. Lee allegedly was found by police officers knocking on the window in the police station lobby at 225 N. Alaska. 

Lee asked officers to let him into the courthouse because he had a wedding to perform that morning. When the officers told him they didn’t have access to the courthouse, Lee allegedly said he would perform the wedding ceremony in the lobby of the police station, the nine-page affidavit states. 

Officers reported that Lee appeared to be sweating profusely and appeared confused. At one point, officers reported that Lee walked to the third floor of the police station to get paperwork even though he doesn’t have an office in the police station. 

Lee allegedly told officers he had driven to the courthouse that morning, and police say they found his vehicle parked behind the courthouse in a handicapped zone. 

Since Lee appeared to be under the influence, police took him to the jail to undergo field sobriety testing, which he allegedly failed to perform properly. 

He was taken to St. James Healthcare for a blood draw to be tested for possible drug intoxication. Toxicology results determined Lee had methadone in his system, the affidavit says. Methadone is a synthetic opioid used to manage chronic pain or as treatment for opioid dependency. 

Police found a wedding party waiting for Lee at the courthouse about 10:30 a.m. Charging documents claim police also found Lee’s driver’s license and some credit cards on the ground outside the courthouse. 

The misdemeanor DUI charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. District judges Kurt Krueger and Brad Newman recused themselves from presiding over Lee’s case because they work with him. 

District Judge Loren Tucker will hear the case. 

Lee, a retired Butte police officer, has been a justice of the peace in Butte for about 10 years. He played an instrumental role in starting the newly formed DUI court along with justice Debra Williams. An earlier story incorrectly reported the Lee served as the DUI court judge. However, Williams is the DUI court presiding judge.

In previously interviews, Lee told The Montana Standard that there is no merit to the incident and declined to discuss the case.

Courtesy photo Robert E. ‘Bob’ Lee

LINK TO COURT DOCUMENTS:

http://www.mtstandard.com/pdf_1ee5b7ec-6209-11e0-9aca-001cc4c002e0.html

Why Glenn Beck lost it

Dana Milban

Washington Post

Wednesday, April , 5:19 PM

On Friday, the unemployment rate dropped to 8.8 percent, as businesses added jobs for the 13th straight month.

On Wednesday, Fox News announced that it was ending Glenn Beck’s daily cable-TV show.

These are not unrelated events.

When Beck’s show made its debut on Fox News Channel in January 2009, the nation was in the throes of an economic collapse the likes of which had not been seen since the 1930s. Beck’s angry broadcasts about the nation’s imminent doom perfectly rode the wave of fear that had washed across the nation, and the relatively unknown entertainer suddenly had 3 million viewers a night — and tens of thousands answering his call to rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

But as the recession began to ease, Beck’s apocalyptic forecasts and ominous conspiracies became less persuasive, and his audience began to drift away. Beck responded with a doubling-down that ultimately brought about his demise on Fox.

He pushed further into dark conspiracies, urging his viewers to hoard food in their homes and to buy freeze-dried meals for sustenance when civilization breaks down. He spun a conspiracy theory in which the American left was in cahoots with an emerging caliphate in the Middle East. And, most ominously, he began to traffic regularly in anti-Semitic themes.

This vile turn for Beck reached its logical extreme two weeks ago, when he devoted his entire show to a conspiracy theory about various bankers, including the Rothschilds, to create the Federal Reserve. To make this case, Beck hosted the conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin, who has publicly argued that the anti-Semitic tract “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” “accurately describes much of what is happening in our world today.”

Griffin’s Web site dabbles in a variety of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including his view that “present-day political Zionists are promoting the New World Order.”

A month earlier, Beck, on his radio program, had described Reform rabbis as “generally political in nature,” adding: “It’s almost like Islam, radicalized Islam in a way.”

A few months before that, he had attacked the Jewish billionaire George Soros, a Holocaust survivor, as a “puppet master” and read descriptions of him as an “unscrupulous profiteer” who “sucks the blood from people.” Beck falsely called Soros “a collaborator” with Nazis who “saw people into the gas chambers.”

Fox deserves credit for finally putting an end to this. Its joint statement with Beck’s production company, claiming that they will “work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects,” is almost certainly window-dressing; you can be confident Fox won’t have Beck reopening what his Fox News colleague Shepard Smith dubbed the “fear chamber.”

In banishing Beck, about whom I wrote a critical book last year, Fox has made an important distinction: It’s one thing to promote partisan journalism, but it’s entirely different to engage in race baiting and fringe conspiracy claims. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity may have their excesses, but their mainstream conservatism is in an entirely different category from Beck.

Fox has rightly, if belatedly, declared that there is no place for Beck’s messages on its airwaves, and Beck will return to the fringes, where such ideas have always existed. Because his end-of-the-world themes will no longer be broadcast by a mainstream outlet, there will be less of a chance for him to inspire off-balance characters to violence.

There are, happily, signs that the influences that undermined Beck are doing the same to other purveyors of fear. The March Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Sarah Palin’s favorability rating among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents had dropped to 58 percent from 70 percent in October and 88 percent in 2008. Her negative ratings among Republicans are higher than those of other prospective Republican presidential candidates.

In another indication of abating anger, a CNN poll released last week found that the percentage of the public viewing the Tea Party unfavorably had increased to 47 percent, from 26 percent in January 2010. Thirty-two percent have a favorable view.

Beck, in losing his mass-media perch, is repeating the history of Father Charles Coughlin, the radio priest of the Great Depression. Economic hardship gave him an audience even greater than Beck’s, but as his calls to drive “the money changers from the temple” became more vitriolic, his broadcast sponsors dropped him. He gradually faded from relevance as his angry themes lost their hold on Americans and his anti-Semitism became more pronounced.

It is a sign of the nation’s health and resilience that Beck, after 27 months at Fox, is meeting a similar end.

Report: Smyrna Officer Fired For Possession Of Marijuana

COBB COUNTY, Ga. --According to the Smyrna Police Department an officer was arrested on April 7th, for felony possession of marijuana and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.

Clyde Cook, 55, was arrested after a traffic stop by MCS Cobra Units from Cobb County on Canton Rd in Woodstock.

During the course of the traffic stop agents could smell marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to reports.

MCS Agents said they conducted a search which revealed narcotics belonging to another person in the vehicle. A subsequent search of each person revealed a quantity of marijuana in Cook’s groin area.

Agents immediately notified the Smyrna Police Department.

At the conclusion of the internal investigation, Chief of Police Stanley E. Hook terminated Cook.

LINK TO PHOTO:

http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/27482186/detail.html

 

Credit: Gaston County, NC Detention Center

Latasha Danielle Dellinger

 

$2 tea = 27-day sentence in jail

 

April 07, 2011 5:47 PM

Diane Turbyfill

Gaston Gazette

 

A Gastonia woman was sentenced to 27 days in jail for stealing a $2 glass of tea.

Judge Robert Sumner on Thursday morning sentenced Latasha Danielle Dellinger to the stint in Gaston County Jail, then gave her credit for time served.

Dellinger was locked up for nearly a month after failing to appear in court on charges of misdemeanor larceny and making a false bomb threat.

The incident that led to the charges happened Nov. 6 at the Shrimp Boat at 120 S. Broad St., Gastonia.

Dellinger, 22, and Kia Tineka Sessoms, 29, both of 213 Willow St., went to the local restaurant to eat. The women ordered water, then poured the drinks out and filled up their cups with tea, according to the prosecutor.

The larceny charges were for the stolen tea valued at $2 each.

The women voiced dissatisfaction with the service and before leaving yelled to customers there was a bomb in the building.

The building was searched by police to make sure there was no actual bomb threat, and both women were arrested.

Dellinger accepted a plea agreement that dropped the false bomb threat charge if she pleaded guilty to larceny.

A mother of two young children, Dellinger was jailed in March. She arrived in court this week in jailhouse scrubs with cornrows in her hair.

She has a previous charge of failure to appear in court from July and a charge of failing to pay child support, according to the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office website.

Sessoms was released from jail on a $5,000 secured bond in November but was on 36 months probation for a 2009 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon, according to the N.C. Department of Correction website. Her next court date in Gaston County is April 29.

 

 

 

Kia Sessoms

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/04/08/2206603/robbery-suspect-leaves-photographic.html#storylink=misearch

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/galleries/celebs_worst_photos/celebs_worst_photos.html

Man who dressed like priest, stole collection plate from St. John Catholic Church in Jackson gets four to 20 years in prison

Published: Thursday, April 07, 2011, 12:35 PM   

Updated: Thursday, April 07, 2011, 4:14 PM

 

 

St. John Catholic Church

A Jackson man who dressed like a priest and stole a collection plate during Holy Communion was sent to prison Thursday for at least four years.

Alan Fiddler, 52, was sentenced to four to 20 years by Jackson County Circuit Judge John McBain.

Fiddler, who has a history of crime, drug abuse and mental-health problems, stole a collection plate containing about $3,600 from St. John Catholic Church in November. The money was returned to the church.

He pleaded no contest in February to charges of larceny in a building and larceny of more than $1,000 but less than $20,000.

At the time of the theft, Fiddler was on parole for stealing from stores. His lawyer said Fiddler has "an enormous number of prior felonies and probably an equal number of misdemeanors."

Defense attorney Michael Dungan said Fiddler has mental-health problems, including a diagnosis of mental retardation.

 

Alan Fiddler

Fiddler knows the difference between right and wrong, Dungan said, but he asked McBain to consider Fiddler's "major issues in conforming his behavior."

"Because of the way his brain works, it's just a lot more difficult for him than the average person," Dungan said.

Fiddler said he is an opiate abuser. At the time of the theft, he said, he was trying to monitor his own mental health medication and ran out of pills.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nick Mehalco Jr. urged McBain to show no leniency, arguing that a man who would steal a church collection plate would steal from anyone.

"Nobody is safe — nobody's home, nobody's family," Mehalco said. "He has no limits."

McBain agreed in issuing the prison term.

"You've had nine parole violations, and this time you dressed up like a priest and stole from the church," the judge told Fiddler.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/04/politics/interactive.govt.shutdown.list/index.html?hpt=T2

Shutdown threat tests Obama leadership style

Dan Balz

Washington Post

Thursday, April 7, 9:15 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/elfin-ears-pointy-ears-cosmetic-surgery_n_846100.html

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/New-trendthieves-stealing-car-batteries-119353324.html

Woman protests paddling of her 5-year-old son in Levy County

Paddling opponents urge state to ban the practice

LeBron James' mother arrested in Miami Beach

Valet worker claims LeBron James' mother assaulted him

Ira Winderman

Sun Sentinel

4:28 p.m. EDT, April 7, 2011

Gloria Marie James, mother of Miami Heat forward LeBron James, was arrested Thursday morning at the Fontainbleau Hotel on charges of simple battery and disorderly intoxication.

According to a release from the Miami Beach Police Department, "a hotel valet worker claimed he was assaulted by Ms. James, who was angered because her car was taking too long to be delivered. Several witnesses supported [the valet's] account of what occurred."

The statement continued, "Both Ms. James and the driver of the vehicle were initially uncooperative with the investigating officer. Ms. James was apparently intoxicated as she had bloodshot eyes and a strong odor of alcohol on her breath."

According to the statement and police report, Gloria Marie James, 43, was then arrested and transported to the Miami Beach Police Department, where she was processed, issued a Promise to Appear and subsequently released to Miami Heat executive Steve Stowe.

Although the police statement listed the valet worker's name as "Mr. Sorel Rockfeller," the 30 year old North Miami resident is really named Rockfeller Sorel. Thursday afternoon he was in the office of his family doctor having injuries to his swollen face attended to.

"It's really, really big," said Sorel's brother, Jean Mack Sorel, who accompanied him to the physician.

Asked for comment after Thursday's practice at AmericanAirlines Arena, LeBron James said he was not with his mother at the time.

"No sir, I was at home," he said. "Tough game last night, I decided to get my rest."

The Heat forward asked to be allowed to handle the matter on a personal level.

"It's a sensitive subject. It's a personal matter and it's being taken care of," he said. "It is my life and there's certain things you have to deal with.

"The people around me are helping me and are helping her and we'll be fine."

Teammates offered their support.

"You understand in life things happen, whether you're in the limelight or not, you're always going to have family things that's going to happen and you're going to have to tend to 'em and you're going to have to deal with 'em," said guard Dwyane Wade, who has endured a messy and very-public divorce and child-custody case over the past two years. "Our job in here is just continue to focus on each other, focus on being who we are, doing what we always do, that's come in enjoying basketball, enjoying each other, making each other laugh.

"And if someone needs you, if you see someone needs your support, you be there for them."

According to the police report, a witness said the valet attendant was "struck in the face by a female." The report also said that Gloria Marie James was not driving the vehicle in question.

The incident occurred just before 5 a.m. The Heat lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 90-85 at AmericanAirlines Arena in a game that ended just after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"A lot of these other things are ancillary distractions if we let them be," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "If we don't, then we can focus on what's real."

The Heat are in a tight race with the Boston Celtics for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, and the NBA playoffs begin on April 16.

According to the police report James' mother "yelled profanities" to the valet when her car was not ready, declined to provide identification, and told the arresting officer, "I don't trust your kind."

According to Sorel's brother-in-law, Jean Bigot, Sorel is a native of Haiti who came to Miami about five years ago. He has worked at the Fontainebleau Hotel for about a year.

Asked if his brother was a Miami Heat fan, Jean Mack Sorel, said, "Sometimes we watch the games. But we're not big fans."

In 2006, Gloria James was arrested in Ohio for DWI and kicked out the window of a police car after being detained. At that time, in addition to driving while intoxicated, she was charged with reckless operation, speeding for driving 50 mph in a 30-mph zone, disorderly conduct and damaging police equipment.

For that incident, she was sentenced to three days in an Ohio driving intervention program and fined after she pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charges.

 

 

 

LINK TO VIDEO:

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videobeta/04cf69d3-6bc3-4cce-986e-3fcbef11c81c/Sports/LeBron-No-2-seed-wouldn-t-mean-much

Maryland man glued to Wal-Mart toilet seat

 

A man was glued to a toilet seat at a Wal-Mart store in Elkton, Maryland. The store pictured is in Valley Stream, New York.

 

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Apparently random victim had to be taken to hospital
• Wal-Mart incident appeared to be April Fools' Day joke
• If caught, prankster could be charged with second-degree assault

(CNN)-- Police in Maryland are on the hunt for the perpetrator of what appears to be an April Fools' Day prank that left a man glued to a toilet at a Wal-Mart store.

If caught, the jokester who doused the seat with glue at the Elkton Wal-Mart on March 31 could face second-degree assault charges, said Lt. Matthew Donnelly of the Elkton Police Department.

Police, along with the Singerly Fire Co. and the Cecil County paramedics, were called to the scene at about 7 p.m.

There, they found the 48-year-old victim, who called for help after realizing the sticky situation he was in when he tried -- and failed -- to stand up and leave the superstore's restroom, Donnelly said.

It took responders 15 minutes to remove the victim from the stall, but they were unable to disconnect the toilet seat from his body, Donnelly said.

Instead, the victim was taken to Union Hospital of Cecil County, where the seat was detached. He left with only minor injuries to his buttocks, Donnelly said.

Police do not suspect that the victim was specifically targeted, but that the incident was a random prank, Donnelly said. They have not received reports of glue-laden toilet seats since.

Budget stalemate: Why America won't raise taxes

Budget stalemate has many on Capitol Hill crunching numbers. With any new budget, taxes may be the real third rail of politics. Can the U.S. solve its fiscal woes without more revenue?

Liz Marlantes

Correspondent

Christian Science Monitor

 
April 7, 2011 at 8:59 am EDT

It was a secret meeting in a city that doesn't keep secrets well, so the congressional and administrative officials agreed to gather at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, away from the glare of the media and anyone who might leak information. Over a series of mind-numbing days, during an intense heat wave, the principals crunched numbers and jockeyed for political advantage. The goal: taming the ballooning budget deficits of the Reagan era.

In the end, Democratic leaders in Congress and aides to President George H.W. Bush both ceded ground. Democrats would accept some cuts in entitlements, while the president would break his famous "read my lips" promise – and raise taxes. President Bush announced the plan from the Rose Garden: It would cut $119 billion from entitlements and $182 billion from discretionary programs while raising tax revenues by $134 billion, mostly through an increase in gasoline taxes.

But the package hit an unexpected roadblock. House conservatives – led by Newt Gingrich, whom Bush had believed to be an ally – revolted, joining with liberal House Democrats to block the plan. For Bush, it was "the most unpleasant, or tension filled" week of his presidency.

Eventually they did pass a budget, which raised income-tax rates for the wealthy and imposed new taxes on luxury goods and tobacco. Only one-quarter of Republicans voted for it, and many remained furious with the president. Two years later, Bush would lose reelection to Bill Clinton.

It was a seminal moment in what has been a subtle but significant shift in the politics of Washington. For generations, Republicans have resisted tax increases. As far back as the 1920s, conservative Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon was arguing that "high rates of taxation do not necessarily mean large revenue to the government, and … more revenue may actually be obtained by lower rates."

But in recent years, the aversion to taxes has become more deeply ingrained. It is more than a policy preference, more than a tenet in a party platform. For many Republican officeholders, raising taxes is a subject they simply won't broach anymore – period. If there is a third rail of politics today, it might not be Social Security. It might be tax increases.

Raising more revenue is not a part of the negotiations going on over the current budget impasse in Washington that is bumping up against a Friday deadline. Nor are tax increases part of the 10-year budget blueprint released this week by Rep. Paul Ryan (R) of Wisconsin, which would cut nearly $6 trillion in spending over the next decade and reshape how Washington works. In fact, Mr. Ryan proposes lowering corporate and upper-income tax rates.

The antitax ethos has been shaped by both politics and principle. To tax opponents, the overall tax burden is still needlessly high – the US corporate tax rate, for example, is one of the highest in the industrialized world – suppressing the activity of businesses and individuals who would otherwise use those resources to stimulate the economy and create more jobs. They say higher taxes would just feed an already bloated government that is getting inexorably bigger by the day. As the nation once again grapples with staggering deficits and some $14 trillion in debt, the real problem, they insist, isn't a lack of revenue. It's too much government spending.

"The federal government is too big and too wasteful and too inefficient," says former GOP House majority leader Dick Armey, who now heads FreedomWorks, a tea party affiliated group.

To critics, however, the refusal to even consider raising taxes is threatening the nation's financial future. Democrats and many independent analysts argue that the debt problem is just too big to be tackled through spending cuts alone, and that any eventual solution must involve higher revenues.

Yet budget negotiations of the sort George H.W. Bush presided over in the early '90s – in which Democrats pushed for higher taxes and Republicans pushed for spending cuts and they met somewhere in between – don't seem to exist anymore. Instead, lawmakers get locked into intractable standoffs in which they can agree on only a smattering of minor spending cuts, while putting off resolving the deeper economic problems.

"We've sort of lost the capacity to raise taxes under any circumstances," says Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, a nonprofit group in Falls Church, Va. "And as long as tax increases are off the table, then spending controls are off the table, too. There's no happy ending to this story."

One gauge of how institutionalized antitax sentiment in Washington has become is a single-sentence statement known as the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge." Issued by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a Washington-based antitax group, it asks candidates for elective office to agree to oppose "any and all" hikes in income-tax rates for individuals or businesses, as well as any elimination of deductions or credits unless offset "dollar for dollar" by further reducing rates.

When first introduced in 1986, according to ATR president Grover Norquist, 100 House members and 20 senators signed on. Since then, the number has crept up steadily, to the point where now more than half the members of Congress have agreed to the pledge: 40 out of 47 Republicans in the Senate, along with one Democrat and one Independent. In the House, 235 out of 242 Republicans have signed on, along with two Democrats – a high-water mark, according to Mr. Norquist.

"It is a factor in every Republican primary," says Norquist. "[Candidates] know voters reward people who take the pledge and punish people who raise taxes."

Even talking about raising taxes can get a lawmaker in trouble. Recently, three Republican Senate members of the bipartisan "Gang of Six" working behind the scenes to come up with a compromise on deficit reduction suggested that revenues would have to be "on the table." Immediately, Norquist sent a public letter warning that any tax package that wasn't "revenue neutral" – that didn't include the same amount in tax decreases to offset any tax increases – would violate the pledge.

The three senators responded with a placating letter of their own, saying: "Like you, we believe tax hikes will hinder, not promote, economic growth," adding, "we look forward to again working with you and all interested parties to support a proposal where any increase in revenue generation will be the result of the pro-growth effects of lower individual and corporate tax rates for all Americans."

So far, most pledge signers have remained remarkably true to their word. If you look over recent tax enactments by Congress, the trend is clear. Over the past 15 years, according to the Washington-based Tax Policy Center, the only piece of major tax legislation passed that increased taxes was the Obama health-care plan, which will impose new levies on upper-income taxpayers starting in 2013. By contrast, some 18 major pieces of legislation have been enacted since 1997 that have served to reduce the tax burden in one way or another, either through rate cuts or deductions and credits.

The most recent was the move last December to extend the George W. Bush tax cuts. The vote came just weeks after President Obama's Deficit Reduction Commission released its report calling for reduced spending, entitlement reform, and higher tax revenues.

Yet with the economy still recovering from recession, Congress voted to extend the tax cuts across the board for two more years, despite numerous polls showing voters favored letting them expire for the wealthiest taxpayers. Several Republicans eyeing a White House run – including Mr. Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney – criticized lawmakers for not extending the tax cuts permanently.

"I don't think there's any conceivable way, under current circumstances, that any Republican would vote for any kind of tax increase whatsoever," says Bruce Bartlett, a former economic adviser to President Reagan and a Treasury official during the first Bush administration, who has become an outspoken critic of the Republican Party's current economic policies. "Republicans are absolutely convinced that to support tax increases guarantees their [electoral] defeat."

Nor is the aversion to taxes just a Washington phenomenon. Many states are facing severe economic crunches that may worsen over the next fiscal year as the flow of federal stimulus dollars comes to an end. In response, most Republican and even many Democratic governors are aggressively slashing spending, while generally holding tax increases at bay.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, all of the 48 states that have released budget proposals for fiscal year 2012 (which begins on July 1) are proposing deep spending cuts in areas like education, Medicaid, and public employee salaries in order to address budget gaps, while just seven of those states are opting to offset some of those cuts with tax increases. In fact, for the first time since the recession hit, governors of at least seven states – from Wisconsin to Florida to New Jersey – are now proposing large tax cuts, mostly for corporations, which they believe will boost economic growth.

"At the state level, they've been really resistant to raising taxes, even though they've got a dramatic need to do it," says Len Berman, a tax policy expert at Syracuse University in upstate New York.

Several Republican governors, including Scott Walker in Wisconsin, John Kasich in Ohio, and Rick Scott in Florida, also turned down billions of dollars in federal stimulus money that would have gone toward building high-speed rail projects (and, critics contend, would have created thousands of jobs), because they believed the projects would create a future tax drain on their states.

"I just spent a day with the governor of Florida – he's not raising taxes, period," says Norquist. The same goes for New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana – "you're going to get real spending restraint in those states."

Historically, this has not always been the case. True, politicians have never been eager to raise taxes. But in the past, when economic crises hit, law­makers have often turned to taxes as part of the solution.

Many of these crises, not surprisingly, came in the form of wars. The nation's first income taxes were levied to help pay for the Civil War. Repealed shortly thereafter, income taxes came back permanently in 1913 with the ratification of the 16th Amendment, enshrining in the Constitution the federal government's right to collect them directly. They became the biggest source of revenue for Washington during World War I.

Lawmakers lowered rates after the war ended, but then increased them again during the Great Depression and raised them even higher during World War II – when the top marginal tax rate hit a staggering 94 percent.

Interestingly, in the war's aftermath, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower and the GOP-controlled Congress chose to leave rates relatively high. During the 1960s, Congress began lowering taxes again, repeatedly bringing them down over the next two decades – but because tax brackets weren't indexed to inflation, which was rising, the overall tax burden on Americans actually increased.

The single biggest change in the postwar era came during the Reagan administration, with the Economic Recovery Act of 1981 – which slashed the top marginal tax rate by more than half. It was a hinge moment for the conservative antitax movement.

"[Reagan] was clearly a passionate tax-cutter, and a little of a devil-may-care tax cutter, at least in the beginning," says Mr. Thorndike. But it didn't last. Just one year after pushing massive tax cuts through Congress, as his advisers grew nervous about spiraling deficits, Reagan agreed to a tax hike, followed by another in 1983, and another in 1984 – restoring roughly 40 percent of the taxes he'd originally cut.

By the time of Reagan's reelection, in 1984, inflation had finally been conquered and the economy was mending. Some former Reagan advisers argue that Republicans internalized the wrong lesson from the period.

"[T]he new tax-cutters not only claimed victory for their supply-side strategy but hooked Republicans for good on the delusion that the economy will outgrow the deficit if plied with enough tax cuts," wrote David Stockman, Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget, in The New York Times last summer.

But perhaps an even more critical factor for lawmakers in the years since has been a lack of immediate consequences of deficits on consumers. During the Reagan-Bush years, big deficits still had the power to create a sense of fiscal emergency: They were seen as a drag on the economy and, coming at a time of high inflation and high interest rates, they added to the pressure to control budgets in whatever way possible. Today, that's not the case.

"In the last 25 years or so, we've had relatively low interest rates," says Mr. Bartlett. As a result, "whatever logical linkage people had in their minds between deficits and things that affect things in their lives has been broken." Without that direct link, even lawmakers who might be somewhat sympathetic to fiscal arguments for raising taxes have had far less incentive to risk the political consequences of such a move.

And lately, the likelihood of political consequences has only increased. As tea party and other activist groups target Republican members who fail to uphold conservative economic principles, they are making lawmakers less willing to stray from fiscal orthodoxy.

"The members who try to approach this thing intellectually and honestly – they get called out," says political analyst Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report. "More traditional, mainstream Republicans – they are being terrorized, and it is affecting behavior."

The defeat last spring of Utah Sen. Bob Bennett was a case in point – and one that reverberated through Republican circles. Many activists saw Mr. Bennett, despite an American Conservative Union ranking of 84 percent, as insufficiently committed to smaller government, as evidenced by his support for the Wall Street bailout and his unapologetic use of earmarks. The Club for Growth, a small-government, antitax group in Washington, decided to try to pick him off.

"Bennett was seen as part of the problem," says David Keating, the club's executive director. "We were the only group to spend any money – we spent about $200,000, which, when you think about it, is extremely cheap." Bennett was slow to perceive the danger, and wound up losing the primary contest to tea party favorite Mike Lee, who went on to win the general election. The Club for Growth also played a key role in defeating former Gov. Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race and pushing former Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania out of the GOP and eventually out of Congress.

According to Mr. Keating, the total amount of money the club has spent on elections, through its various political arms, has nearly tripled in the past decade – from $8.7 million in the 2002 cycle to just over $23 million in the last cycle. And its overall influence may be far greater. Like Americans for Tax Reform – which pressures candidates to sign its "no new taxes" pledge during the campaign and then monitors their votes and public statements to make sure they comply – the club has become a kind of guardian of Republican values, whose stamp of approval (or disapproval) can be critical.

This time around, conservative activists are looking hard at GOP Sens. Richard Lugar in Indiana and Orrin Hatch in Utah. Notably, Mr. Lugar is one of the few Republican senators who has refused to sign ATR's "no new taxes" pledge. Keating notes that Senator Hatch, feeling the pressure, is now "voting to the right of most every senator." Still, he says, "you have to look at his whole record. We're not really sure if he's had a genuine change of heart."

One question is whether many grass-roots conservatives, particularly tea party conservatives, are driven more by antitax sentiments or by concerns about the deficit – and more important, if they'd be willing at some point to sacrifice one priority for the other. Leaders insist it's a false choice – that the best way to reduce the deficit is by slashing spending and stimulating the economy through lower taxes, and that you won't get one without the other. They also believe high tax revenues reduce the incentive for lawmakers to make hard spending choices.

"When countries have tried to reduce the deficit with tax increases plus budget restraint, it never works," says Norquist.

Yet tax cuts don't automatically lead to spending cuts: The growth of the tea party movement can be traced in part to frustration with the Republican Party's failure to rein in spending under President Bush – despite his many tax cuts – as well as anger at the Obama administration's policies.

"Quite frankly, the Republican Party for the last seven or eight years prior to the last election was pretty disappointing to small-government conservatives," says Mr. Armey.

In fact, there are some indications the public at large may be softening in overall attitudes toward taxes. Since the end of World War II, Gallup has asked Americans every year whether the amount they pay in federal taxes is too much, about right, or too little. Consistently, the top answer has been "too much" – until recently, when pluralities began saying their taxes were "about right."

The shift hasn't been consistent over the past three or four years, "but it's there – you see it," says Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion expert at the American Enterprise Institute. It could simply reflect that more Americans were removed from the tax rolls altogether during the recession – and thus don't have any argument with rates. Or it could reflect a genuine sense among many Americans that their taxes are not, in fact, too high.

Even among those voters who are most unhappy with federal taxes, when asked whether it's the amount they're paying that they object to or how the money is being spent, "it's how the money's being used" that troubles most, says Ms. Bowman.

David Kirk, for one, would be willing to pay more in taxes if he felt the government would use it wisely. To Mr. Kirk, the service manager for a forklift company in Burlington, Vt., that would mean putting more of it toward reducing the deficit rather than what he considers wasting it. Otherwise, he wants the government to keep its hand out of his pockets.

"I think that my family has to live within the dollar amounts that we earn, and so should the government," he says during a visit to Boston's Faneuil Hall.

Others feel the same way about state government. Dave Matherne, a salesman in Alabama for Cintas, a uniform and apparel supply company, won't be getting any taxes back from the state this year. He'll have to pay in, which angers him.

"I don't feel like we get back enough for what we pay into federal, but I'm OK with that," he says. "But the state is just ridiculous. You always hear them talking about how much they give to education, but you look around and it seems like schools don't get enough."

Many Americans, of course, want it all: They tell pollsters that they would prefer not to raise taxes or cut spending – and yet they also want Congress to address the deficit. It's one problem with polling on tax attitudes: Questions are typically asked in isolation, and thus people often give contradictory answers.

But, according to Steven Kull, director of the Center on Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, when voters are presented with more detailed information – and given the opportunity to make their own trade-offs – they're usually quite pragmatic.

Mr. Kull's group presented voters with a simplified but realistic version of what the budget might be in 2015 and then let them make their own tax and spending choices. They weren't told they had to balance the budget – whether to bring the deficit down or not was up to them. The result: On average, voters reduced the deficit by some $400 billion.

The average voter cut some $145 billion in spending, with Democrats actually cutting more than Republicans. And 91 percent of respondents – including 77 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of self-identified tea partyers – chose to raise taxes by an average of $292 billion.

"Congress has gotten itself in a position where they feel various pressures, primarily from organized groups, and their tendency is to assume that the totality of organized groups is representative of the public as a whole – and that's a big mistake," says Kull. "The average person is not wedded to any particular position."

Indeed, some say Americans have never been as opposed to taxes as the national mythology would suggest. "We've got remarkably high compliance rates," says Mr. Thorndike of the Tax History Project. "You might just as well marvel that Americans have been as willing as they are to pay taxes."

At the Boston Tea Party, after all, colonists weren't refusing to be taxed on principle – they were rebelling against taxation without representation. If there's one overarching tax attitude that has always resonated with the public, it's fairness.

Americans are generally willing to pay into the system as long as they feel it is working for them and that everyone else is also paying their fair share. It's when they sense others are scamming the system, or finding ways around it, that trust – and tolerance for taxation – evaporates.

In the past, politicians have effectively used this argument to push for tax reform and to raise new revenue. President Franklin Roosevelt was a master at this, defending a series of tax increases, largely on the rich, in the name of battling tax avoiders. Reagan also relied on a sense of public outrage when selling his 1986 tax reform bill.

That bill – which eliminated loopholes and deductions, broadening the tax base while also lowering rates – was similar in some ways to the tax proposals recently offered by the Deficit-Reduction Commission, and now being considered by the Gang of Six in the Senate.

Still, unless the changes come in a "revenue neutral" package, as in 1986, it's hard to see how they would pass the GOP-controlled House. And Democrats and many independent analysts say a package without more tax revenue won't do enough to solve the deficit problem this time.

America has faced serious fiscal challenges before. But what makes this situation unusual is both the scope of the problem – historic deficits and debt levels, which are only projected to worsen as the Baby Boom generation ages – and the fact that it is happening at a time when political resistance to raising taxes appears stronger than ever.

As a result, the country may be about to embark on its grandest test yet of a bedrock conservative principle – the idea that nation's wildly unbalanced bank account can be fixed largely by spending cuts alone.

If successful, it could lead to a wholesale change in the size and function of government. If not, it could lead to fiscal peril – and perhaps another revolt at the ballot box.

• Carmen K. Sisson contributed to this report from Mobile, Ala., and Ilana Kowarski from Boston.

Report: Bushnell woman stole from in-laws to support multimillion-dollar gambling habit

Times staff

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

BROOKSVILLE — A Sumter County woman has been arrested and accused of stealing more than $500,000 from her in-laws to support a gambling habit that saw her spend more than $14 million at a Tampa casino over two years.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office gave this account: The family of a Brooksville couple knew something was wrong when a check written to a dentist on the couple's account bounced.

Family members knew the couple — Laverne Robert Dennison, 88, and Janet A. Dennison, 73, who has advanced-stage dementia — had sufficient funds to cover the check.

They checked with the bank and learned that the Dennisons' assets — including savings and checking accounts, CDs, annuities, life insurance and retirement funds — had been depleted. The family then reported the incident to law enforcement.

After a five-month investigation, Hernando detectives on Tuesday arrested Jennifer Dennison, 42, of Bushnell on various theft-related charges.

Detective Irene Gray learned during her investigation that Scott Dennison had power of attorney for his parents; however, Jennifer Dennison, his wife, handled all the finances.

Investigators said that Scott Dennison did not know that his wife had canceled all his parents' accounts, transferred funds and then took the cash to support her gambling habit until the check to the dentist bounced last August.

Jennifer Dennison, the report stated, spent more than $14 million at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa over a two-year period. Her winnings' were about $13 million, leaving her at a loss of more than $700,000.

Jennifer Dennison closed at least six of her in-laws' accounts and took approximately $513,535, leaving them with nothing, the report states.

Jennifer Dennison surrendered to Detective Gray on Tuesday. She faces charges of exploitation of the elderly, organized scheme to defraud, forgery of checks and uttering forged checks. She was being held at the Hernando County Detention Center on $64,000 bail.

[Last modified: Apr 06, 2011 08:03 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/11/05/2010-11-05_dubyas_deepest_thoughts_former_prez_happy_to_be_out_of_dc_memoirs_say.html?obref=obinsite

Police find stolen cash under Miami woman's wig

10:05 AM, Apr 6, 2011 

WTSP 10 News

HOLLYWOOD, Florida (AP) -- A 20-year-old woman is accused of stealing more than $1,600 in cash from a man staying at a beach-side hotel, and hiding it under her wig.

Police officers stopped Esther Armbrister on Hollywood Beach Monday after the victim told them she had stolen the money from his shorts pocket.

Armbrister turned out her pockets to show officers she didn't have the cash. Then, she showed an officer she wasn't hiding the money in her bra. But the officer noticed something unusual about Armbrister's glued-on wig. When it was removed, officers found 15 $100 bills and six $20 bills.

She was arrested on charges of grand theft and resisting an officer without violence. Armbrister is being held without bail in the Broward County Jail. No attorney was listed for her.

SLIDESHOW  OF PHOTOS:

http://www.wtsp.com/slideshows/2011/gallery.aspx?slideshowname=Esther-Armbrister-Arrests

Detroit mom in standoff puts spotlight on medical care for kids

Maryanne Godboldo, right, is embraced during a rally Saturday at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit. Godboldo is facing charges including three counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon and resisting and obstructing a police officer. / ROB WIDDIS/Special to the Free Press

 

GINA DAMRON
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

 

Her situation has sparked debate on hot-button issues: traditional medicine versus holistic treatments and state involvement in medical care of children.

Supporters said Maryanne Godboldo was a mother fighting for the right to control her daughter's medical treatment. Some even said the Detroit woman was defending her home from a perceived unlawful entry when police tried to break down doors to get her daughter.

Authorities, however, have accused Godboldo, 56, of firing a gun at police officers while they tried to carry out a court order to take her daughter. She is charged with several crimes as a result of the hours-long standoff last month, in which she barricaded herself and the 13-year-old in their home.

Her case has sparked an outpouring of community support, with hundreds rallying and raising money for her legal fees at a fund-raiser last weekend.

Godboldo will be back in Wayne County's juvenile court today. And on Friday, Godboldo is to appear in 36th District Court in Detroit in the criminal case.

A court order obtained by the Free Press shows Child Protective Services workers were authorized to take the girl into custody. The order, dated March 24, said Godboldo refused to give her daughter medicine for psychosis and was medically neglecting her.

"Mother is in denial about her daughter's mental health issue," the order said. Godboldo said her interactions with CPS date back about a year. She said she believes her daughter's problems began after a series of immunizations in 2009. She said she was weaning her daughter off a drug for psychosis in favor of holistic treatments.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas -- who arrived on scene during the standoff and spoke to Godboldo by phone, helping to encourage her to come out of the home -- said Godboldo's daughter is a member of the disabilities community.

"She has rights attached to laws to protect people with disabilities," Thomas said. "We must protect children. We must protect their rights, also."

Michael Patterson, district manager with the Department of Human Services children's services administration in Wayne County, would not comment on Godboldo's case, but said failure to provide adequate medical care is considered child neglect.

During an investigation, he said, protective service investigators take many steps. Those include consulting with medical professionals serving the child and interviewing parents, other adults involved with the child's care and the child.

Removal is the last option, Patterson said.

"Our primary responsibility, or mission in child protection, is to identify children and families who are in need of services that will assist families with ensuring the care and well-being of their children," he said.

Don Duquette, a clinical professor of law who directs the child advocacy clinic at the University of Michigan, said parents have the right to determine what kind of medical treatment a child receives, unless the treatment is failing. Then, he said, it is up to the court.

"Parents are in the driver's seat unless a court, after proper process, suspends parental rights," Duquette said. "CPS just facilitates that."

The girl is being held in a treatment facility in Northville.

"I'm very anxious to get my daughter back," Godboldo said after a court hearing last week. "She's been away from me too long."

 

Special Response Team officers with the Detroit Police Department get in position near a home March 24. Godboldo is charged as a result of an hours-long

 

 

 

Coomer/AP File Photo

 

Juror No. 799 was up for jury duty in trial of Bonanno crime boss 'Vinny Gorgeous' Basciano.

"This is an outrage, and so are you!" Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis told the woman, holding up her bile-filled juror questionnaire.

Juror No. 799, an Asian woman in her 20s who said she works in the garment industry, was up for jury duty in the death penalty trial of Bonanno crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano.

It didn't take long for her to start looking worse than the defendant.

Asked to name three people she least admired, she wrote on her questionnaire: "African-Americans, Hispanics and Haitians."

When the judge asked why she answered the question that way, she replied, "You always hear about them in the news doing something."

She also declared that cops are all lazy, claiming that they sound their sirens to bypass traffic jams.

Garaufis flipped forward several pages in her questionnaire.

He landed on the page where she had said she had a relative who was a member of the Chinese Ghost Shadows gang in the 1980s, convicted of murder and still in prison.

"Why didn't you put 'Asians' down also?" the judge asked sarcastically, referring to her list of least-liked people.

"Maybe I should have," she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Taryn Merkl requested that the woman be disqualified from the Vinny Gorgeous case because of her "inappropriate" comments. The motion was granted.

It is not unheard of for people to try to get out of jury service by making ridiculous statements concerning their views.

It was unclear Tuesday whether that was this woman's motive.

And if it was, it didn't work.

Indeed, the woman was going to be seeing a lot of Brooklyn Federal Court.

"She's coming back [today], Thursday and Friday - and until the future, when I am ready to dismiss her," Garaufis said.

One thousand prospective jurors have filled out questionnaires for the Basciano case, approaching the Eastern District of New York record of 1,089 summoned for the late Gambino boss John Gotti's trial 20 years ago.

Nearly half of the jurors are struck before they even get to court for questioning due to language barriers, fear of the Mafia or their extreme views for and against the death penalty.

The panel members that do get selected for the trial will be anonymous and transported to the courthouse by U.S. marshals to thwart any possibility of jury tampering.

Police use pepper spray on second grader

10:07 PM, Apr 4, 2011 

LAKEWOOD - When most kids throw a temper tantrum, they get time out. In 8-year-old Aidan's case, he got pepper sprayed.

A Lakewood Police report details the second grader's violent temper tantrum in a classroom at Glennon Heights Elementary on Feb. 22.

According to the report, Aidan "was climbing the cart and spitting at teachers. He also broke wood trim off the walls and was trying to stab teachers with it."

"I wanted to make something sharp if they came out because I was so mad at them," Aidan said. "I was going to try to whack them with it."

The report goes on to say Aidan, "was holding what looked like a sharpened one foot stick and he screamed, 'Get away from me you f---ers.'"

Lakewood Police officers ordered the 8-year-old to "drop the stick." When he refused, they sprayed him with pepper spray twice until he dropped the piece of wood and was handcuffed.

According to the police report, the boy was later treated on the scene for "a red, irritated face."

Aidan's mother Mandy, whose last name 9NEWS has chosen not to disclose, believes the Lakewood Police officers should have handled the situation differently. She says police were called on her son at school twice before, and both times the officers were able to talk to her son and calm him down.

"I'm sure what he was doing wasn't right, but he's 8 years old," Mandy said. "They walked in, asked him to drop the stick, and then sprayed him with the spray... I think it's excessive."

Lakewood Police spokesman Steve Davis defended the officers' decision to use pepper spray on the boy, calling it the safest option considering the circumstances.

"You've got teachers barricading themselves in a room. They are obviously frightened," Davis said. "I think they not only made the right choice, they made a great choice that day to use the pepper spray."

Aidan was placed on a "mental health hold" and was transferred to a school for children with behavioral issues.

His mother says Aidan is seeing a doctor, but has not been diagnosed with any mental illness and is not currently on any medication.

"It's hard," Mandy said. "Do you listen to what the teachers tell you? Or do you listen to your child?"

Aidan admitted he has problems controlling his anger.

"Just kind of like whenever anybody upsets me," he said. "Like I just kind of want to tear them apart... I think it's not ever going to go away... It's just who I am."

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=886553059001

http://www.kpho.com/video/27436465/index.html

http://www.kpho.com/video/27436079/index.html

PD: Woman hit daughter with car

Credit: Surprise Police Department

Sylvia Aranda

http://newslite.tv/2011/04/05/woman-lives-in-tiny-90-square.html

http://www.wjactv.com/news/27427844/detail.html

Mum ties hit estranged husband with bill for son's $60-a-week McDonald's habit

Shelley Hadfield

Herald Sun

April 04, 2011 12:00AM

http://www.news.com.au/national/mum-claims-for-sons-60-macca-habit/story-e6frfkvr-1226032984060

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/fl-oakland-park-bank-robbery-20110401,0,156454.story

http://www.odditycentral.com/news/woman-spends-8000-on-plastic-surgery-to-look-like-a-drag-queen.html

It Was Only A Matter Of Time: Sarah Palin, The E! True Hollywood Story

Former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is about to get the tabloid documentary treatment from E!, according to the network. A network spokesperson tells Mediaite the E! True Hollywood Story: Sarah Palin is set to air April 24.

Known for dramatic tales of celebrity murder mysteries, and the cautionary tales of porn stars and child actors, the E! True Hollywood Story is more about celebrity than politics.

This week’s THS, airing Wednesday night, is all about Charlie Sheen. It’s called “Warlocks and Winning and Tiger’s Blood, Oh My!” And that style of storytelling has some of Palin’s supporters worried about how she’ll be portrayed. “E! is doing a “True Hollywood Story” on Sarah Palin …that sounds like a media-bias nightmare. Should Palin supporters ‘be afraid — be very afraid’?” Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey asked John Ziegler, who has licensed an interview of Palin for use in the E! story.

Ziegler, who produced the election documentary Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted says he has high hopes for Palin’s THS:

I totally agree that on paper this would seem to be a disaster waiting to happen. After all, Hollywood tends to be at least as politically biased as the news media, but I have a feeling Palin supporters might be pleasantly surprised.

I could be wrong and I have been fooled before by lefty media members pretending they will be fair to get access (Howard Kurtz immediately comes to mind), but the E! producer I dealt with on this was far more knowledgeable about what really happened to Palin during the 2008 campaign than any mainstream media member I have been interviewed by since the film came out, including Matt Lauer and Barbara Walters.

E! expects to formally announce the Sarah Palin “True Hollywood Story” this week.

One Dead, Two Arrested in Apple Store Burglary Attempt at Otay Ranch Town Center

San Diego 6 News Team

SAN DIEGO - Police say a private security guard fatally shot a suspect carrying out a smash-and-grab burglary at the Otay Ranch Town Center in Chula Vista.

The guard caught two men and a woman smashing the front glass of the Apple Store apparently to grab iPads, iPhones and other hot-ticket items.

Chula Vista Police Chief David Bejarano says two men and a woman drove to the store just before 7 a.m. Monday. The woman stayed in the car while the two men smashed the store's window and grabbed items when the guard confronted them.

The guard says he opened fire when one of the men pulled a gun.

The suspects drove away but crashed into a light pole.

Bejarano says the driver died from a gunshot wound to the head. The two other suspects were found an hour later.

The second male suspect and female were arrested at a nearby apartment complex. Both were described as being in their mid-20s.
 
Several nearby schools were put on lockdown while a police helicopter circled nearby neighborhoods advising residents from a public address system to stay inside with doors locked.

LINK TO VIDEO AND  PHOTO:

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/One-Dead-Two-Arrested-in-Apple-Store-Burglary/4tTtOBhLMEW7QTRlIW-9CA.cspx

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/mar/31/barack-obama-losing-84-billion-big-success/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373246/CBS-anchor-affair-host-threw-just-bra-sues-network.html

Milwaukee earns dubious distinction of most segregated city in America

Milwaukee beat cities like Detroit, and Cleveland to earn top rank

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wreg.com/videobeta/981591d9-39ec-4ae3-8f14-21c7da5345b5/News/Milwaukee-earns-dubious-distinction-of-most-segregated-city-in-America

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2011/0403/Did-a-chaplain-s-fake-Purple-Heart-erase-good-deeds

 

Filo/CBS/AP

The 54-year-old newswoman's 5-year contract with CBS is set to expire

 June 4.

Katie Couric is giving up her anchor's desk at the "CBS Evening News," according to a report early Monday.

Couric, who five years ago became the first woman appointed solo anchor of a network nightly newscast, is expected to announce she is giving up her prized post soon, a network executive told the Associated Press.

The 54-year-old newswoman's contract is set to end June 4.

"We're having ongoing discussions with Katie Couric," said CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair Sunday. Matthew Hiltzik, Couric's spokesman, refused to comment.

Couric, the widowed mother of two daughters, is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012, but for which broadcasting company is unclear.

Several companies have been wooing her, including CBS.

She made television history in 2006 when she replaced Dan Rather as anchor of the "CBS Evening News." She signed a contract worth $15 million a year, making her the highest paid anchor on network TV.

Couric kicked off her gig with huge ratings and won the Edward R. Morrow Award for best newscast in 2008 and 2009.

She was praised for her 2008 interview of Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, which exposed the candidate's lack of knowledge of world events.

But the honors didn't translate into ratings, and CBS has remained stuck in third place behind NBC and ABC.

Couric began her broadcasting career at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., and later worked as an assignment editor for CNN and as a reporter for WTVJ in Miami.

While working as a Pentagon correspondent for NBC News in 1989, she got her big break when hired as an anchor substitute for NBC's "Today" show.

She was tapped as the permanent co-anchor of "Today" on April 5, 1991.

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21003939266727/

Woman, 92, is oldest to stand trial for murder

At 92, Clara Tang is accused of bludgeoning, suffocating and stabbing her 98-year-old husband to death. Now she has become the oldest woman in Australia to be committed to stand trial for murder.

After almost 70 years of marriage, Tang - suffering dementia - allegedly killed Tang Ching Yung in their plush sixth-floor unit in the Connaught apartment complex overlooking Sydney's Hyde Park on March 12, 2010.

Documents tendered by police detail how the couple survived the Japanese invasion of China and the Maoist cultural revolution before moving from Shanghai to Sydney 30 years ago.

Tang has entered a plea of not guilty to murder on the grounds of mental illness. A tiny, frail woman, she faced Downing Centre Local Court last week, when magistrate Janet Wahlquist ordered her to stand trial in the Supreme Court on a date to be fixed.

LINK TO PHOTOS:

http://www.dailychilli.com/news/10685-woman-92-is-oldest-to-stand-trial-for-murder

Detectives allege Tang confessed to killing her wealthy husband in a struggle. Her husband could not walk without a cane. Police initially opposed bail, citing ''the level of violence used and for the protection of the community'', but she Tang was granted continuing bail under strict supervision in a nursing home, pending her trial.

In the week leading up to the death, police allege, Tang had taken to phoning her granddaughter saying: ''They are scheming against me; they are poisoning me; they are trying to kill me.''

When arrested, she was almost totally soaked in blood, police said. Her husband had been stabbed twice in the stomach and his head had been bludgeoned.

In a record of interview, she had confessed to killing him after he refused to talk to her.

Police allege: ''The accused states that [he] and her started to push each other … started to hit each other. The accused said: 'You hit me. I hit you.'

''The accused states that she said: 'I'm getting old. If you want to kill me let's die together.' The accused states she grabbed an object similar to a jar and struck [him] as hard as she could to the back of the … head.''

The beating allegedly went on for more than an hour. ''The accused states that she put her fingers under the deceased's nose and could still feel him breathing, so she hit him again [with a stick].''

She had thrown objects on to a neighbour's balcony, telling them there was a young man she had never seen before and he was trying to kill her

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-as-afghanistan,0,6633401.story