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58 Killed in Rare Attacks on Afghan Shiites | (Dec 6, 2011 7:28 AM) A suicide bomber struck a crowd of Shiite worshippers at a mosque in Kabul today, killing at least 54 people and wounding more than 160 in one of two deadly attacks on a Shiite holy day—the first major sectarian assaults since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago. Four other Shiites were killed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when a bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded as a convoy of Afghan Shiites was driving down the road, shouting slogans for the festival known as Ashoura. An additional 21 people were wounded in that attack. The Kabul bomber blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of men, women, and children gathered outside the Abul Fazl shrine to commemorate the 7th-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. No group claimed responsibility for the blasts. Religiously motivated attacks on Shiites are rare in Afghanistan, and it was unclear whether they mark a change in Afghan Taliban strategy or were carried out by al-Qaeda or another group based in Pakistan, where Sunni attacks on Shiites are common. |
Arizona, Families of 19 Dead 'Hotshots' Reach Deal | (Jun 30, 2015 9:48 AM CDT) Today marks the two-year anniversary of the deaths of 19 elite firefighters in an out-of-control Arizona wildfire, and it also brings a measure of closure as the state of Arizona announced today it has settled two lawsuits against the state's Forestry Division for more than $600,000 to the families of the victims, the New York Times reports. Twelve of the Granite Mountain Hotshots families who filed a wrongful-death lawsuit will receive $50,000 each, while the seven families who didn't join that suit will receive $10,000 per dependent. Just as important to the families is an agreement to boost incident firefighter training and study the effects of dry seasons on wildlands, the paper notes. Some family members tell the AP that the suits were never about the money, but about ensuring this kind of tragedy never happens again. It will never end in my mind or my heart, but it is a start that we will get the change, says the mom of one of the fallen firefighters. We fully believe that the changes that the forester will do in incident command will save others' lives. (More than one baby has been born to the firefighters' widows.) |
GM's 2011 Profit: Biggest Ever | (Feb 16, 2012 7:12 AM) General Motors earned its highest profit ever last year. The 103-year-old company made $7.6 billion in 2011, up 62% from 2010. Full-year revenue rose 11% to $105 billion. North America led the way with a $7.2 billion pretax profit, but problems surfaced that could hurt future earnings: GM lost $700 million before taxes in Europe, and lost $100 million in South America. GM'S fourth-quarter profit was flat with 2010, with the auto giant pulling in $500 million, or 28 cents per share. Revenue rose 3% to $38 billion. Before one-time items, GM earned 40 cents per share. Analysts expected earnings of 42 cents on revenue of $37.9 billion. The company says union workers will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks. |
27 Die in Nightclub Inferno | (Oct 31, 2015 7:07 AM CDT) A heavy metal band's pyrotechnical show sparked a deadly fire Friday at a Bucharest nightclub, killing 27 people and injuring scores of the club's youthful patrons, officials and witnesses say. Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea initially said an explosion occurred at Colectiv club, located in a basement in a building in downtown Bucharest, but authorities heading the rescue effort later said there had been a fire and a stampede but no explosion. Witnesses told Antena 3 TV that there were between 300 to 400 mostly young people at the club, housed in a former factory, and only one exit door when the metal band Goodbye to Gravity was performing and a pyrotechnical show went awry. The station reports that people panicked and rushed for the exit. Digi 24 television station cited witnesses who said a spark on stage ignited some polystyrene decor. Clubgoers initially thought the flames were part of the show and did not immediately react. Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who cut short a visit to Mexico to return to Bucharest, decreed three days of mourning starting immediately for victims of the disaster. An emergency official says 17 of those who died still have not been identified and he fears the death toll will rise. It is a tragedy without precedent, he says. As of early Saturday, at least 146 people were still hospitalized around the capital, many with serious injuries. |
Pittsburgh Flash Flood Leaves 4 Dead | (Aug 20, 2011 10:35 AM CDT) A mother and her two daughters, ages 8 and 12, were drowned in their car yesterday when a flash flood overwhelmed a Pittsburgh neighborhood. Another victim, a 70-year-old woman, was found dead today. The Post-Gazette offers a wrenching detail: Rescuers in a boat floated right above the three victims in the car, unaware they were below, as they helped another motorist. The bottom of the boat didn't even scrape against the top of the car, to give you an idea of the depth we're talking about, said a city official. A storm dumped huge amounts of rain on the city around rush hour, on top of another storm earlier in the day, notes AP. Manhole covers popped along Washington Avenue, which runs along the Allegheny River, and water rushed along at 9 feet in places. |
Obama Raised a Record $750M | (Dec 5, 2008 8:00 AM) Barack Obama literally raised more money for his campaign than he knew what to do with. He hauled in a record $750 million over the course of the campaign cycle, reports the New York Times. When the race ended, $30 million remained unspent. By comparison, John McCain raised $220 million in the primaries, about half of Obama's total, before opting for public funding in the general election. In the last two months of the campaign, Obama outspent McCain on advertising, $170 million to $61 million. Though the Republican National Committee was tapped as a counterweight, it only added $31 million on McCain’s behalf. Obama’s leftover funds and ability to put together a huge war chest from fancy fundraisers and small donors alike pose a daunting obstacle for 2012 challengers. |
McCain to Name VP Aug. 29 | (Aug 19, 2008 8:00 AM CDT) John McCain will name his VP running mate at a huge Ohio rally on Aug. 29—the senator’s 72nd birthday and a day after the Democratic convention, Politico reports. McCain won’t finalize his choice—widely considered by GOP experts to be Mitt Romney or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty—until Obama announces his own running mate. McCain views this as the one decision that he has total, utter, nonnegotiable control over, one campaign official says. Another says the announcement early next Friday is planned to detract from the predictable Obama bounce after the Dem convention. You’re going to own the weekend, a staffer tells Politico. |
8-Year-Old Saves 6 in Fire, Is Killed Himself | (Jan 21, 2014 2:51 PM) An 8-year-old boy managed to wake six people and get them out of a burning trailer, but fire officials say the boy himself was killed as he tried to a disabled older relative, reports the Democrat and Chronicle. Fourth-grader Tyler Doohan is being mourned as a hero in Rochester, NY. He saved those other six people, says the fire chief in nearby Penfield. The bodies of Tyler, his grandfather (who owned the trailer), and his step great-grandfather (who had lost a leg to diabetes) were found inside. Those who made it out include two kids ages 4 and 6. Tyler didn't live at the trailer but was visiting his grandfather and spent the night, reports WHEC-TV. The fire broke out early yesterday, and firefighters found Tyler in the back near his uncle, who used a wheelchair. The trailer was reportedly in sorry shape—the story of why nine people were staying there remains unclear—and the assumption at this point is that an electrical malfunction is to blame. The local school superintendent says he wasn't surprised to hear of Tyler's actions. That's the type of young man he was, and in my heart and the heart of East Rochester, he's a true hero. Click for more, or read about another young hero here. |
Millionaires Have 39% of the World’s Money | (Jun 1, 2011 4:40 PM CDT) If you're wondering where all your money has gone, odds are a millionaire added it to his or her pile. Although millionaires make up just 0.9% of the world's population, they control 39% of its wealth—up 2% since 2009—according to a report by Boston Consulting Group. Their collective wealth has risen from $41.8 trillion to $47.4 trillion, according to the Wall Street Journal. The number of millionaire households—those with $1 million or more in investable assets not including homes, company ownership and luxury goods—also swelled by 12.2% last year to 12.5 million. The US boasts far more millionaires than any other country with 5.2 million, followed by Japan with 1.5 million. The super-rich keep getting super-richer, too, as those with $5 million or more gained an additional 2% of the world's wealth last year, increasing their total to 22% of all the money in the world. |
Logging a $15B Racket for Organized Crime | (Mar 21, 2012 2:46 PM CDT) Ah, those classic gangster rackets: drugs, prostitution, gambling, and, of course, wood. Illegal logging has become a major endeavor for organized crime, raking in as much as $15 billion a year, according to a new report from the World Bank. Scofflaws with chainsaws are running wild in places such as Indonesia, Madagascar, and West Africa, the report says, estimating that a soccer field-sized chunk of forest is cleared every second. We need to fight organized crime in illegal logging the way we go after gangsters selling drugs or racketeering, says one World Bank official, according to the BBC. Most forest crimes go undetected, unreported, or are ignored, the report says. It urges Western nations to stop buying illegal lumber—the US, for instance, passed a law three years ago requiring companies to prove their wood is legally sourced. Some companies are already being investigated under the law, including Gibson Guitar. |
'Melting Roads': Heat Wave Kills 1.1K in India | (May 26, 2015 5:09 PM CDT) A brutal heat wave has killed more than 1,100 people in India over the past week. How brutal? CNN reports temperatures of 117 degrees Fahrenheit, while the BBC is even higher at 122 degrees. A dispatch from AFP refers to melting roads in New Delhi. The vast majority of the deaths have come in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, generally among poorer people without access to air-conditioning or even electricity to run a fan. India's meteorological forecast calls for high temperatures to continue for two more days but warns that the respite that follows will probably be a short one. The state government has taken up education programs through television and other media to tell people not to venture into the outside without a cap, to drink water, and other measures, says an official from Andhra Pradesh. |
A Medical Frontier: 100-Year-Olds In Surgery | (Jul 18, 2008 7:45 AM CDT) Life expectancy in the United States keeps rising: more than 90,000 Americans have celebrated a 100th birthday, and experts foresee more than 1 million centenarians by 2050. As lifespans have grown, so too have medical efforts to treat the very old, from hip replacements to chemotherapy. But as the New York Times reports, the medical community is divided over both the efficacy and the ethics of surgery for the late elderly. One doctor who has studied the repercussions of surgery on much older patients said that people who have reached 100 have demonstrated a survival prowess. Not everyone agrees: for many medical professionals, such aggressive treatment can be at best wasteful and at worst barbaric, giving false hope to those at the end of their lives. America always tends to overtreat the sickest people, said one health care analyst. |
Woman Gets $15 Quadrillion Phone Bill | (Oct 11, 2012 3:28 PM CDT) What's the worst bill you've ever received? Because we're guessing Solenne San Jose has you beat. San Jose, a French woman, recently received a bill for 11.7 quadrillion euro, or $15 quadrillion, reports Mashable. That's more than $15,000,000,000,000,000 for those of you having trouble picturing it. There were so many zeros I couldn't even work out how much it was, San Jose said. And it actually took some tussling with the phone company, Bouygues Telecom, to get them to admit they'd made a mistake. The actual bill: 117.21 euro, or about $151. |
Poll: Dem Ahead 12 Points in Giffords Special Election | (Jun 12, 2012 1:39 AM CDT) Democrat Ron Barber is heading into today's special election in Arizona to replace Gabrielle Giffords with a healthy lead, according to Public Policy Polling. The Democratic-leaning pollsters say that Barber, a senior Giffords aide who was critically injured in the mass shooting last year that killed six people and left Giffords with a gunshot wound to the head, is leading Iraq vet Jesse Kelly 53% to 41%, reports the Washington Post. Democratic insiders, however, say their own polling has shown a much tighter race. Barber, who has distanced himself from President Obama for much of the race, told CNN last night that he plans to vote for Obama in November because quite clearly his policies will benefit the middle class much more than his opponent. Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, says today's vote will bring closure to her career. Whoever wins may not have much time to make his mark on the House: The victor will serve the rest of Giffords' term but will be up for re-election in November. |
1 in 88 Kids Have Autism | (Mar 29, 2012 9:30 AM CDT) The CDC released new autism estimates today, and the numbers are pretty scary: About 1 in 88 kids have autism, according to the report. That's up 25% from the CDC's 2006 analysis, and twice the reach officials said it had a decade ago, reports Reuters. The AP adds that officials say the increase is due mainly to broader screening and improved diagnosis. |
Facebook Hits 1B Users, Still Searching for the Money | (Oct 4, 2012 10:07 AM CDT) Facebook has crossed the 1 billion mark, Mark Zuckerberg announced today in an appearance on the Today show in which he nonetheless acknowledged that his 8-year-old company is in a tough cycle now. The milestone means that one in every seven people uses the site, notes Fast Company, but the heat is on for Facebook to find a way to better monetize its service, and it's got a new plan: Charge US users to promote certain posts. The $7 service, currently being tested, would give users pride of place on their friends' news feeds. That price could change, says a rep. Some are skeptical of the policy: Would users be willing to pay for a key aspect of Facebook? I know it’s just a test, but it doesn’t send the right message, says an analyst. Charging for something so generic doesn’t make sense. New Zealand and other countries, however, have had the pay-to-promote service for months. Zuckerberg today posted a note of thanks to users over the 1 billion milestone. |
FIFA Yanks 2026 Bidding; 'Nonsense' to Decide Now | (Jun 10, 2015 6:17 AM CDT) FIFA has suspended the 2026 World Cup bidding process amid a widening corruption scandal implicating previous bid contests. Due to the situation, I think it's nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being, says FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, per Sky News. It will be postponed. FIFA planned to write to its 209 member federations this week to explain the bidding timetable and rules. The 2026 host is expected to be chosen by the 209 members at their May 2017 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Potential bidders include the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Colombia. Valcke spoke at a news conference with Russian organizers of the 2018 World Cup, and defended his role in alleged bribes paid by South Africa during the 2010 bidding contest. I am in front of you, but I have nothing else to add, he said, per Sky. What do you want me to add? Do you want me to take things and hit my head and say 'yeah, yeah, yeah, I have been stupid—I should have asked many questions?' |
The Indy 500 Has Its First Official Poet in 90 Years | (Apr 30, 2016 9:36 AM CDT) An Indiana University student who is a poet and a performer has been named the Indianapolis 500's first official poet since the early 20th century. Adam Henze of Bloomington beat out more than 200 others who submitted Indy 500-themed poems for the contest co-sponsored by Indiana Humanities, reports the AP. The competition revives an Indy 500 tradition from the 1920s, when an official poem was included in the race day program. Henze is an educator and a doctoral candidate at IU. He receives a $1,000 cash prize and two tickets to the 100th running of the race on May 29. His poem, titled For Those Who Love Fast, Loud Things, will appear in the official race program. Henze also will read his winning poem at the Speedway during qualification weekend. |
Parents Drive 93 Miles, Realize They Forgot Girl, 3 | (Aug 10, 2015 10:10 AM CDT) When hitting the road on a summer holiday, you're bound to forget something. Hopefully it's not your toddler. Police are questioning a French family after they apparently forgot their 3-year-old daughter at a rest stop while heading south to the French Riviera for a vacation. Travelers found the girl yesterday at a rest stop outside Loriol-sur-Drome, south of Valence, and waited for her family to return before calling police. The child could only tell officers that she had a brother and a sister and was going to the seaside when she saw daddy's car pull away, per the Guardian. Police issued an alert and the parents only noticed their mistake when they heard it on the radio about 45 minutes after the girl was found. The child had apparently been left at the rest stop—which included a playground, per Sky News—around midday. None of them had noticed she wasn't there in the vehicle, an officer says. The BBC reports the girl's father called police at 3pm. By that point, the family had traveled 93 miles and were more than halfway to their destination. They turned around and were reunited with their daughter about two hours later at a police station. Police were questioning the girl's parents last night to ensure the incident was just a case of forgetfulness. We are going to listen to what they have to say and talk to the prosecutor at Valence to see if this should be taken further, the officer says. They're still likely to lose out on the Parents of the Year award thanks to this pair. |
Parents of 2 Toddlers Both Battling Cancer | (Feb 10, 2015 2:00 PM) Shortly after delivering her second daughter prematurely, Shelby Offrink got a devastating diagnosis—stage IV glioblastoma, a rare and incurable spinal cancer. Then, just a few months later, the engineer's stay-at-home husband Ben learned his Hodgkin's lymphoma had returned for the third time. It's just shocking, you know? Shelby's younger brother tells WZZM13. At first it just seemed like a terrible dream. The young Michigan parents, who are going through chemo and radiation treatments together, are doing what they can to simultaneously parent their 3-year-old, Maeve, and 1-year-old, Hazel. Ben will likely require a bone marrow transplant, but won't be able to undergo the procedure until his cancer is in remission, and his first round of chemo was unsuccessful, reports Fox 6. Meanwhile, doctors are doing what they can to at least slow the progression of Shelby's cancer, which has spread to her brain, though she was well enough to go home on her 31st birthday on Friday, according to the family's YouCaring fundraising site. More than $100,000 has so far been raised for the couple, and friends and extended family in their hometown of Lowell, Mich., organized a Hoops for Hope basketball fundraiser and have started a meal sharing service for the family. (This Indiana woman fought the state to recognize her same-sex marriage before she died of ovarian cancer.) |
30-Minute Brawl Breaks Out at 30K Feet | (Jun 10, 2011 5:46 PM CDT) Apparently, there's a Mile-High Fight Club, too. A half-hour brawl broke out among as many as 12 British vacationers aboard a Virgin flight from England to Barbados, reports the Daily Mail. The passengers—dressed for a special occasion and believed to have been intoxicated—had to be separated by other fliers and crew. A witness says the trouble started about halfway through the eight-hour flight, as a woman apparently took offense to another passenger's use of profanity. A woman shouted, 'You swore in front of my child,' says a witness. She said it about six times, each louder than the last one. She said, 'And it's my birthday.' Before I knew it they were throwing punches and jumping on each other. It was vicious. It was frightening. There were punches going off in all directions. It took 30 minutes to get things under control, after which all passengers were ordered to stay in their seats for the remainder of the flight—with bathroom breaks after two hours. Police greeted the brawlers, one of whom reportedly had a black eye, upon arrival in Barbados. (Sadly, this isn't the first airline brawl in recent days...) |
Swiss Tunnel Bus Crash Kills 22 Kids, 6 Adults | (Mar 14, 2012 4:52 AM CDT) A bus carrying students returning from a ski holiday crashed into a wall in a Swiss tunnel last night, killing 22 Belgian 12-year-olds and six adults. Another 24 students were hospitalized with injuries after the crash near the Alpine city of Sierre. The cause of the crash has not been determined. The bus hit the barrier stones on the right side of the road. It then hit the tunnel wall front-on in an emergency stop space, police said in a statement. Because of the strong impact the bus was badly damaged, and several passengers were trapped in the wreckage. |
Giants Trounce Royals 7-1 in Series Opener | (Oct 22, 2014 12:15 AM CDT) Madison Bumgarner, who shows virtually no emotion on the mound, got the San Francisco Giants off to a terrific start in Game 1. Given an early cushion by Hunter Pence's home run, the man called MadBum by his teammates carried a shutout into the seventh inning and beat the Kansas City Royals 7-1 last night. He doesn't get flustered out there, says Giants manager Bruce Bochy. Back on the field after a five-day layoff, the Royals looked nothing like the fresh team that had become baseball's darlings by starting the playoffs with eight straight wins. The Giants led 3-0 after the first inning at Kauffman Stadium and won their seventh World Series game in a row. The Royals' string of 11 straight postseason wins, meanwhile, came to sudden halt. Bumgarner added to his sparkling World Series resume, improving to 3-0 and extending his scoreless streak to 21 innings before Salvador Perez homered with two outs in the seventh. Says Royals manager Ned Yost, Well, we never got on base. That disrupts a lot of things when you don't get on base. The old adage is you can't steal first, and Bumgarner did a great job of keeping us off base. When you do that, we can't utilize our speed. Read more on the game here. |
Starbucks: Sorry About '666' in Coffee Foam | (Apr 2, 2014 7:33 AM CDT) It's nice when your creative Starbucks barista draws something in your coffee foam ... unless, of course, that something is a pair of Satanic symbols. Megan Pinion, a Louisiana schoolteacher, was scandalized Sunday when she saw the two coffee drinks she had bought at a Mall of Louisiana Starbucks: One had what could be a pentagram drawn in the foam (though she conceded it is almost OK because Starbucks has a star in its logo); the other had the number 666. Pinion promptly posted a picture to Starbuck's Facebook page; it was liked and shared by thousands, and now Starbucks has apologized, the Daily Advertiser reports. We’re taking the complaint seriously, says a rep. We're not sure who served her or what kind of beverage it was. It looks kind of caramel-ish in the photos. In her Facebook complaint, Pinion wrote of the barista (whose name she didn't get because she was too appalled to look at him): I am in no way judging his beliefs or dis-meriting his beautiful artwork, I am however judging his lack of professionalism and respect for others. Starbucks won't say whether the employee will be disciplined, the Huffington Post reports. (In other unusual Starbucks news, one of the company's reusable cups led to an arrest last month.) |
Feds: Erin Andrews Stalker Targeted 46 Other Women | (Feb 9, 2010 7:34 PM) Federal prosecutors say the man who stalked ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and shot nude videos of her through a hotel room peephole videotaped 16 other women and ran background checks on 30 others, including female sports reporters and TV personalities. According to a sentencing memo filed yesterday, Internet background checks Michael Barrett conducted can produce birthdays and home addresses, but it's unclear what information he obtained and how he may have used it. Barrett has pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and agreed to a 27-month prison sentence. A judge is scheduled to sentence him March 8. The filing notes that Andrews wants the 48-year-old insurance executive to pay her more than $300,000 in restitution. |
Twins Born in 2013 and 2014 | (Jan 1, 2014 4:26 PM) While you people were warbling Auld Lang Syne and swilling bubbly, two East Coast women were busily birthing babies that were among the last of 2013—and the first of 2014, reports ABC. In Washington, DC, Yaleni Santos Tohalino gave birth to daughter Lorraine Yaleni at 11:58pm; son Brandon Ferdinando clocked in at 12:01am. Meanwhile, up in Toronto, Lindsay Salgueiro was not to be outdone: She gave birth to daughter Gabriela at 11:52pm, and just barely snuck Sophia over the wire at 12:00:38am. They kind of got that golden ticket. They’ve got different birthdays, says Salgueiro. They're going to be best friends for life. |
Holy Kryptonite! Superman Debut Fetches $1.5M | (Mar 31, 2010 2:21 AM CDT) Superman's first appearance has sold for a price that would have allowed his creators Seigel & Shuster to retire on the spot. A mint-condition copy of Action Comics No. 1 from 1938 went for $1.5 million on Internet auction site Comics Connect. The sale broke the record for the most expensive comic book in history for the third time this year. This comic is the Holy Grail of Holy Grails, Comic Connect co-owner Vincent Zurzolo told CNN. Fewer than 100 of the 200,000 copies of Action Comics' first issue are still around and copies in good condition are even rarer. All Zurzolo would disclose about the buyer is that he is, unsurprisingly, a hardcore comics fan. Our buyer, much like most of the superheroes out there, has a secret identity and would rather remain that way, he said. |
Charlie Sheen's Hooker Cost $12K, and More Fun Details | (Oct 29, 2010 10:59 AM CDT) The debate rages on: Is Charlie Sheen's date from the night of his hotel room rampage a hooker, a porn star, or both? Though Christina Walsh denies working as a prostitute, Radar reports she's a $12,000 call girl Sheen ordered from a 'service.' Its source adds that Walsh never got her fee from the actor—in part because he couldn't find his wallet, which sparked his tantrum because he thought Walsh stole it. (Turns out his assistant had the wallet, the source adds. Awkward! The unpaid Walsh could get revenge: CNN reports she will request Sheen's probation (from his last scandal, when he beat up Brooke Mueller) be revoked, and sources tell NBC the Aspen DA may actually do it—which means Sheen could end up in prison. Meanwhile, whatever happened to Sheen's watch, the other missing item that so irked him? TMZ reports the $150,000 bauble is still missing. A final detail from Radar: Sheen was shouting, among other things, the N-word during his meltdown. Click here to see why he really needs to do jail time. |
Afghanistan Exit Plans: Leave 10K Troops —or None | (Jan 22, 2014 8:30 AM) The Pentagon has offered President Obama a stark choice: Leave 10,000 troops in Afghanistan at the end of the year, or yank them all. The military argues that dropping below that threshold will leave it unable to protect any remaining US personnel, the New York Times reports. The State Department likes the 10,000 plan, but the military's all-or-nothing mentality has rankled Joe Biden and other key White House officials, who want to find a middle ground. Either way, troop levels may hit zero much sooner than anticipated. The plan calls for an accelerated exit that would bring the troops home by the end of Obama's second term, the Wall Street Journal reports. That would allow Obama to say he ended the long war, but Biden and Co. worry it's not enough time for the remaining troops to have an impact, and it's drastically sooner than the 2024 date negotiated with Hamid Karzai. But that deal is trapped in limbo, with relations now frosty enough that Karzai's government is cracking down on ads touting the benefits of keeping US troops in the country, Reuters reports. US groups had bought the TV spots to pressure Karzai into signing the deal. |
Gary Coleman Dead at 42 | (May 28, 2010 1:59 PM CDT) Gary Coleman has died of injuries from a fall at home earlier this week, reports TMZ. Coleman, 42, had been in a coma after suffering a brain hemorrhage, and his wife, Shannon, decided to stop life support this morning. The former child star of Diff'rent Strokes had family and friends by his side at the Utah hospital. Click here to see Coleman's life in photos. |
25% of iPhones Get Unlocked | (Feb 13, 2008 9:38 AM) The worldwide demand for the iPhone is creating a growing gray market where the phones are bought and sold outside of Apple’s restrictions, BusinessWeek reports. The devices are supposed to operate only through cell phone carriers who have contracts with Apple. But as many as 1 million iPhones, or one-fourth of the total sold, are unlocked for use on any network. The iPhone is officially on sale only in the US, Britain, France, and Germany, but it can be found for sale in Canada, Brazil, Peru, Poland, Russia and other countries dotting the globe. Apple and its partners haven’t interfered with the unsanctioned sales so far, but most transactions are happening in countries where an authorized carrier isn’t available. |
Walmart Spent $2M Fighting $7K Fine for Worker Death | (Nov 26, 2014 8:56 AM) It's been six years since 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, who was one week into his temporary employment at a Long Island Walmart, was trampled to death by a mob of Black Friday shoppers. But while Walmart was hit with a $7,000 fine for its role in his death, it has yet to pay up, reports Huffington Post. The reason likely has nothing to do with the amount of the fine, which is the maximum amount the Occupational Safety and Health Administration can fine a company for serious violations. The retail giant reported net sales of $473 billion last year, and has spent $2 million litigating this case already, reports the Consumerist. For Walmart, there could be considerable ramifications if the fine is upheld. (The case is currently on appeal with OSHA, which handles workplace safety fines, and is listed as pending review —where it's sat for more than three years.) Because OSHA found Walmart at fault using the general duty clause, which rather vaguely puts the onus on employers to make their workplaces free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to [their] employees, upholding the fine essentially means that employers will become responsible for crowd control. Walmart, for its part, says it's taken major steps toward improving crowd safety. (See why 30,000 Walmart employees are about to lose their health insurance.) |
2 Bakeries Have Been Feuding Over Square Donuts for a Decade | (Mar 26, 2016 3:19 PM CDT) There's a doughnut war going down in the Middle West. The AP reports two Indiana bakeries share a love for four-sided doughnuts, but one believes the state has room for only one square doughnut-maker. Terre Haute-based Square Donuts has been making its doughnuts since the 1960s, according to the Post-Tribune. But in 2005, Valparaiso-based Family Express started selling its own square donuts. A year later, Square Donuts sent Family Express a cease-and-desist letter. The low-level disagreement fermented quietly for several years until Square Donuts trademarked its name in 2013. Negotiations went nowhere. And so on Thursday Family Express went to court to ask a judge to declare it can keep selling its square donuts. |
2 Horses Left to Die Survived by Eating Wood, Manure | (Jul 9, 2013 12:56 PM CDT) Miami-area police got a call this weekend about some skinny-looking horses; what they found were two horses that were 200 pounds underweight and stuck in an 8-by-10-foot pen at an area ranch. The stall was boarded up, apparently to avoid notice. It was almost like they were being nailed into a coffin to die, says the local SPCA president Jeanette Jordan. This is as bad as it gets for us. The horses had had no food or water for months—even though a lake was apparently visible to them from their stall. They could see the water, but they couldn’t get it, Jordan says. They kept themselves alive by eating wood and their own manure, Jordan tells the Miami Herald. Now they're staying at a nearby rescue ranch. Their recovery could take months, and they may not survive at all, the Herald notes. Those responsible could face animal cruelty charges following a police investigation. |
Scotland to Exit UK on March 24, 2016? | (Nov 24, 2013 11:32 AM) Scotland has no decision yet, but it does have a date. If citizens vote in favor of exiting the UK, the country could become an independent nation on March 24, 2016. The BBC reports that the date is presented in a government White Paper to be published on Tuesday; the 670-page document is being described as an extremely detailed blueprint for an independent Scotland. (The Guardian reports on the secrecy surrounding the printing: Even the White Paper's typeface has been kept under wraps.) The chain of events: The independence referendum is scheduled for Sept. 18, 2014; if the yeas win, Scottish Parliament will be dissolved at midnight on March 23, 2016, with Independence Day coming the day after. A rep for the Scotland Office (a UK government department helmed by the country's secretary of state) encouraged people to read the White Paper, but expressed displeasure at the inclusion of an independence date in it, saying it will make it more difficult to negotiate in the event of a yes vote: The 28 members of the EU, NATO, and the rest of the UK ... all know that for the Scottish government the date is more important than the deal. The Scotsman reports that a poll taken this week shows the No vote has the lead, 47% to 38%, with 15% undecided. Click for more on the vote. |
392 Pot Plants Found at Heidi Fleiss' Home | (Aug 14, 2013 8:52 AM CDT) Heidi Fleiss: from Hollywood madam to Nevada pot baron? Police found 392 marijuana plants at her Pahrump home on Aug. 7, and Fleiss, who does not have a license to grow marijuana, now faces multiple drug-related charges, the Las Vegas Sun reports. But her birds, bizarrely, saved her from being arrested, TMZ reports: Fleiss was not taken away in cuffs due to the fact that she has approximately $200,000 worth of exotic birds in the residence plus she gave us consent to search without a warrant and was very cooperative throughout the investigation, police say. Oddly, cops weren't at Fleiss' house to look for pot; they were on the hunt for another woman wanted on arrest warrants and the door happened to be open. |
Bush Sees Success as Iraq War Turns 5 | (Mar 19, 2008 7:00 AM CDT) On the fifth anniversary of launching the shock-and-awe assault that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, President Bush will make a major speech at the Pentagon today, CNN reports. In excerpts from the speech he acknowledges that the fight in Iraq was faltering, but praises the progress in the last year. The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around; it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror. In Iraq, we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, the president will say. CNN notes that 4,000 American troops have died in Iraq, and estimates of what the war will end up costing the US run as high as $3 trillion, a figure Bush calls exaggerated in the speech. He says the Democratic presidential candidates can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much. |
Ninja Burglar Linked to 200 Crimes Gets 25 Years | (Apr 21, 2016 5:30 PM CDT) A man nicknamed the Ninja Burglar who confessed to committing more than 100 break-ins over a decade accepted a plea deal with authorities in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut on Thursday, the AP reports. Robert Costanzo pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary, according to Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon. The statute of limitations had expired on many of the other cases. He is set to receive 25 years in prison and five years of post-release supervision. Costanzo, a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, stole more than $4 million in cash and valuables like jewelry and designer handbags, often brazenly entering houses in wealthy areas at night while the residents were home, authorities said. Costanzo admitted to more than 100 break-ins on Staten Island. Prosecutors said he had been linked to 160 in that borough and was responsible for upward of 200 overall in the three states. The burglaries, which occurred between 2005 and 2015, caused some neighborhoods to supplement police patrols with private security. The case took a major turn during an October 2014 law enforcement meeting when a detective from Saratoga Springs, in upstate New York, told New York City officers that her department was investigating a residential burglary pattern and that Costanzo was the main suspect. That led to surveillance and his eventual arrest. His reign of terror is officially over, McMahon said.. |
Dow Rises 189 After GDP News | (Oct 30, 2008 3:29 PM CDT) The markets held ground after an early rally today, with investors shrugging off a smaller-than-expected fall in third-quarter US gross domestic product and remaining cautiously optimistic over yesterday’s Fed rate cut, MarketWatch reports. The Dow closed up 189.73 at 9,180.69. The Nasdaq rose 41.31 to 1,698.52, and the S&P 500 climbed 24.00 to 954.09. Jobless claims held steady last week, the Labor Department reported, and though economists had predicted a drop, many investors are waiting for the October unemployment report, due next Friday. Credit markets continued to slowly thaw, with the 3-month Libor falling to 3.1925% from 3.42% yesterday, its 14th decline in the past 14 days. |
Dow Up 17 to End Best Month Since '02 | (Jul 31, 2009 3:15 PM CDT) Data which showed a slowing pace of decline for US gross domestic products fueled modest advances in the markets today, with the Dow finishing its best month since October 2002, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bank of America and Alcoa paced advancers, and the Dow closed up 17.15 at 9,171.61. The Nasdaq lost 5.80 to close at 1,978.50, while the S&P 500 gained 0.73, settling at 987.48. |
Actually, You Only Need $50K Per Year to Be Happy | (Apr 19, 2012 12:30 PM CDT) Good news for those of you not quite making $75,000 per year: A new study finds that an annual income of just $50,000 is enough to inspire happiness. A previous study put the magic happiness number at $75,000, finding that even Americans making significantly more than that weren't any happier. The new study isn't quite the same: It didn't measure what happens to happiness after the $50,000 mark, it just found that those making less than $50,000 weren't as satisfied with their lives. The new poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that those making at least $50,000 per year were more satisfied in every area surveyed, including housing, relationships, neighborhood safety, health, employment, spirituality, community involvement, retirement prospects, finances, and general life direction. Respondents who made less than that were more likely to consider their best days behind them, and were less likely to refer to themselves as very happy, Time reports. |
SETI Telescopes Back On, Thanks to 2,286 Alien Fans | (Aug 10, 2011 7:45 AM CDT) Thanks to 2,286 people who believe aliens may be out there, SETI's search for radio waves that would prove there is intelligent life in the universe is once again a go, reports the LA Times. Budget cuts shut down SETI's Allen Telescope Array in April, but a call for crowd-sourced funds has brought in $206,133 as of today, surpassing the $200,000 goal. Thank You for Your Support to Resume the Search, wrote SETI officials on their website, adding that they hoped to get things up and running by September. But even $200,000 is not enough to fund the ATA's 42 radio telescope dishes, so SETI is also negotiating with the Air Force in hopes the Air Force will pay it to keep track of orbital debris. We view this mission as one of profound importance, answering man's most fundamental questions—are we alone? said SETI co-founder Tom Pierson. Being off-air is something we needed to fix. Could we have missed our chance during the down-time? You never know when or if a signal is going to be detected, so if you miss a few months, how important is that? It's impossible to know. |
Boy, 2, Dies in Freak Accident at Fisherman's Wharf | (Jun 10, 2014 4:33 AM CDT) A Utah family's visit to San Francisco ended in horror when their 2-year-old son died after a freak accident outside a Fisherman's Wharf antique store. Police say Kayson Shelton climbed up on a large, heavy dolphin statue, causing it to tip over on him, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. His 6-year-old sister tried to stop the fall, but the bronze statue was too heavy. At first, the boy did not appear seriously hurt, but he had sustained serious internal injuries and was pronounced dead in San Francisco General Hospital four hours after the incident. Police investigating his death believe the dolphin was on the wrong side of a blue line in place to keep the busy sidewalks clear. Officers had asked this business to move their dolphins back across on the other side of the blue line because of the high volume of pedestrian traffic, a police spokesman tells CBS5. Kayson's family has now returned to Utah. The last words he spoke in this life were 'I love you,' the family says on a website set up to help them with funeral expenses. Such a beautiful and loving child, and while we are greatly comforted in the knowledge that families are forever, we will dearly miss his smiling face until then. |
Syria Car Bomb Kills 17 | (Sep 27, 2008 8:49 AM CDT) A car bomb on the road to Syria’s main airport killed at least 17 passers-by and injured 14 others, the Daily Telegraph reports. The car, at an intersection in the country’s capital, Damascus, had held 440 lbs of explosives; the target of the bomb, which exploded near a security checkpoint, the airport, and a temple popular among Shia pilgrims, remained unclear. It was the first bombing in Syria since February. |
Disney Bucks Economy, Sees Net Rise 22% in Q2 | (May 7, 2008 7:26 AM CDT) Even rising gas prices couldn’t dent Disney’s second-quarter earnings. The company’s theme park earnings climbed 33%, helping push its overall net up 22% from a year ago, reports the Wall Street Journal. Disney also recorded a 61% jump in earnings from its movie arm and a 14% bump from its media networks. Only consumer product earnings declined, about 14%. Movie studio revenue rose 18% to $1.8 billion, and theme park revenue climbed 11% to $2.7 billion. The parks had an extraordinary quarter when you consider the economic environment, said CEO Robert Iger, who said bookings for the rest of the year were ahead of last year’s pace. |
Guy Exonerated in Rape Case Gets 2nd Shot at NFL Dream | (Apr 3, 2013 1:44 PM CDT) Brian Banks was a 16-year-old top college football prospect back in 2002, but the linebacker's dreams of someday playing with the NFL were dashed when a classmate falsely accused him of rape. He was sent to prison for five years, but finally had his name cleared last year after the woman friended him on Facebook and admitted she had lied. And now he has a big-time second chance: He's been signed by the Atlanta Falcons, NBC Los Angeles reports. Banks, now 27, worked out with several NFL teams, including the Falcons, after his exoneration. He then joined the United Football League, and the Falcons watched him play for the Las Vegas Locomotives. He has worked extremely hard for this chance over the last year and he has shown us that he is prepared for this opportunity, says the Falcons' GM. We are happy that Brian will have a chance to live out his dream of playing in the NFL. |
5 Men Freed From Gitmo After 13 Years | (Nov 16, 2015 1:19 AM) Five Guantanamo Bay inmates who had been held without charge for almost 14 years have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the Defense Department announced Sunday, marking the first time that the Gulf nation has accepted Guantanamo inmates from other countries. The men, who had been designated as enemy combatants, were lower-level detainees who were captured after the battle of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in 2001, the New York Times reports. Like dozens of other Gitmo inmates, the men are Yemeni nationals who were still in US custody because their homeland was considered too unstable to release them to, reports the AP. There are now 107 detainees remaining at the facility, and sources tell the Times that up to 17 more transfers of lower-level detainees are in the works. The release of detainees has accelerated over the last few months as the Obama administration looks into ways of closing the facility permanently. The administration is showing that if it wants to close Guantanamo, it can, and it can do it the right way by releasing people and stop holding them without charge, a Human Rights Watch spokeswoman tells the Washington Post. I assume the message came down pretty clearly from the president to the secretary of defense that the time is now. (The Pentagon has been eyeing a facility in Colorado as a possible future home for Guantanamo inmates.) |
Austro-Hungarian Empire's Last Heir Dead at 98 | (Jul 5, 2011 3:19 AM CDT) Archduke Otto von Habsburg outlived the empire he was supposed to inherit by 92 years. The royal—christened Franz Josef Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xavier Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius—was the eldest son of the final emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire, reports the BBC. He grew up in exile in Switzerland and Spain after the multiethnic European empire his father ruled collapsed in 1918. The archduke, who has died in Germany at the age of 98, was a fierce opponent of Nazism and Communism, and spent much of his life working for greater European integration. He spent two decades as a member of the European Parliament and helped organize the Pan-European Picnic on the border of Austria and Hungary in 1989, an event credited with hastening the fall of the Berlin Wall. He will be buried in Vienna's Imperial Crypt. |
Auto Giants Press Congress for $25B Loan | (Sep 18, 2008 9:43 AM CDT) The CEOs of US auto giants seem to have convinced some in Congress they, too, need billions in federal loans, the Detroit Free Press reports, though it’s uncertain if they’ll get the $25 billion they’re asking for. High oil and commodity prices and tightened credit threaten jobs in an already ailing industry, the heads of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler told lawmakers yesterday. Last year, only models 25% more fuel-efficient than competitors’ qualified for federal aid; automakers want that restriction loosened to 10%. With support from both presidential candidates, the idea—likely be included in a budget resolution to be considered next week—faces little opposition. It's extremely important we try to do something, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, calling the loan's cost, at $7.5 billion, small change. |
Frozen's Teen Elsa Was Paid Just $926 | (Nov 13, 2014 9:30 AM) Frozen has grossed more than $1.2 billion, but the actress who voiced a teenage Elsa in the movie got just 0.000077% of those profits, TMZ reports. Spencer Lacey Ganus, 15, got just the one-day guaranteed payment of $926.20 from Disney, according to a contract filed in court. Of course, to be fair, according to TMZ's video of Ganus' scene, she had just 16 words in the movie: I'm scared! It's getting stronger! No! Don't touch me! Please ... I don't want to hurt you. Idina Menzel played an adult Elsa for most of the movie, and Eva Bella played the character as a young child. Despite lots of reactionary headlines like Frozen actress slams Disney, it's not clear why TMZ is reporting this information, as Jezebel notes—the gossip site was too busy making the obvious 'Let It Go' joke for the second time to explain any further. It doesn't say she's suing or even complaining, writes Kelly Faircloth (at least one outlet reported Ganus was suing, then had to issue a retraction). But it makes for a great reminder that not every kid who goes to Hollywood gets Hannah Montana's paycheck, so please do feel free to share this tidbit with any 14-year-old aspiring starlets in your social circle. |
Consumer Prices Dive 1%, Biggest Drop in 61 Years | (Nov 19, 2008 9:07 AM) Consumer prices in the United States plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October as gasoline prices dropped by a record amount. The Labor Department said today that consumer prices fell by 1% last month, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back to February 1947. The drop was twice as large as the 0.5% decline analysts expected. The big drop in inflation reflected not only a huge fall in gasoline and other energy costs, but widespread declines in other areas. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy, fell by 0.1% last month, the first drop in core prices in more than a quarter-century. Analysts predicted further declines in the months ahead. This report clearly reflects the crunch in discretionary consumers' spending which is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, said one economist. |
Ukraine: Malaysia Airlines Jet Shot Down, 298 Aboard | (Jul 17, 2014 10:47 AM CDT) A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crashed in Ukraine this morning, and all 283 passengers and 15 crew are feared dead, reports Reuters. A Ukrainian interior ministry official says the Boeing 777 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, though it's too early to confirm the claim. (US intelligence agrees that a missile is to blame.) The plane, which originated in Amsterdam and was bound for Kuala Lumpur, was flying at 33,000 feet when it began to drop; afterwards it was found burning on the ground on Ukrainian territory, a witness tells Interfax. It came down over territory held by separatists about 25 miles short of the Russian border, near the city of Donetsk, reports the LA Times. The region has seen fierce fighting in recent days. Immediately afterward, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said his troops did not take action against any airborne targets, and pro-Russian separatists also denied responsibility. The plane appeared to have broken apart before hitting the ground, reports the AP, with one of its reporters counting at least 22 bodies at the crash site. President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone about the disaster, though no details about the discussion were immediately released. Malaysia Airlines, still reeling from the disappearance of another passenger jet, confirmed via Twitter that it has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. The airline's initial statement is here. |
9/11 Memorial Shuns Muslim Hero | (Jan 2, 2012 1:01 PM) As the World Trade Center burned on Sept. 11, a young police cadet rushed to the aid of victims—but you won't see his name on the 9/11 memorial's list of first responders. And even though his body was discovered amid debris from the north tower, Mohammad Salman Hamdani's name isn't mentioned alongside other victims found there. Instead, he's listed among those with little or no connection to the World Trade Center. They do not want anyone with a Muslim name to be acknowledged at Ground Zero with such high honors, his mother tells the New York Times. After the attacks, Hamdani, who is Muslim and was born in Pakistan, was wanted for police questioning; documents called for his detention. His body was found months after the attacks and suspicion finally evaporated. Since then, Hamdani has been celebrated as a hero, receiving praise from New York officials including Michael Bloomberg. But as a cadet, he wasn't a full-fledged officer, and his lack of official affiliation with any first responder group has relegated his name to a separate list on the memorial. Click for Hamdani's full story. |
Honest Cabbie Gets $10K Reward | (Dec 28, 2013 5:29 AM) The cabbie in Vegas who returned $300,000 in cash left in his car has gotten a five-figure reward for his honesty. Gerardo Gamboa received a $10,000 thank-you from the absent-minded gambler, reports the Las Vegas Sun. The amazing find took place a few days before Christmas, when Gamboa looked inside a paper bag in his cab and discovered six fat stacks of $100 bills. He turned it in, and authorities were able to get it back to the unidentified local poker player who left it behind. The poker player then beefed up his original $5 tip. I'm taking it to the bank for now, says Gamboa of his windfall. But after that, I don't know what is going to happen. |
Author to Mitt: You Owe My Family 130-Year-Old Debt | (Aug 28, 2012 11:08 AM CDT) Mitt Romney seems like the type to pay his debts, but now he's being plagued by one that went unpaid—130 years ago. Author Judith Freeman explained this week in the Los Angeles Review of Books why Romney owes her family $25,000: It seems that, back in the 1870s, Romney's great-grandfather Miles and Freeman's great-grandfather William Jordan Flake were acquainted in Arizona Mormon communities. When both were arrested for polygamy, Flake posted Miles Romney's $1,000 bail. Not only did Miles Romney never repay the debt—he also fled to Mexico, where Mitt's father was eventually born; Flake served six months in prison. Since it's never too late to make a situation right, and since Mitt Romney seems to have sufficient funds now to cover his ancestor's old debt, I'd like to call upon him to do so, writes Freeman. She calculates that, without interest, the $1,000 from the 1880s would be around $25,000 today—and she says she's happy to divvy it up between Flake's 15,000 living descendants. Hat tip to Guardian for the find. |
Couple Married 69 Years Dies 8 Hours Apart | (Jan 7, 2015 5:57 PM) It's another uncanny story about an elderly couple dying just hours apart: In this case, 88-year-old Gene Warrington died on Dec. 27, and his wife of 69 years, Pat, followed eight hours later, reports the Advertiser-Tribune of Tiffin, Ohio. Both had been in hospice, and son Phil tells AP that Gene visited his 86-year-old wife a few days before their deaths, held her hand, and realized she was near death. He said, 'Life's not going to be fun anymore.' Phil Warrington thinks his dad willed himself to die because they did everything in their life together—they were never apart. (Two sisters who were 90-year-old twins died on Christmas Day. |
A Piece of Movie History Sells for $5.6M | (Jun 19, 2011 4:30 PM CDT) Actress Debbie Reynolds decided to unload the 3,500 movies costumes she has amassed over the years, and one of the very first ones to sell brought in quite the price: $5.6 million. That was what one lucky bidder spent to acquire Marilyn Monroe's white subway dress, which she famously wore in the Seven Year Itch. CNN reports that Reynolds was in tears when the bidding ended after 20 minutes, with the buyer paying $4.6 million for the dress and another $1 million to the auction house. The dress was only expected to fetch $2 million; the previous record for a Marilyn dress was $1.26 million, for the gown she wore while singing Happy Birthday to JFK. Three more Monroe dresses, worn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, There's No Business Like Show Business, and River of No Return brought in another $2.7 million. Other big-ticket items: a bowler hat worn by Charlie Chaplin ($135,300), riding pants worn by Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet ($73,800), and a Wizard of Oz test costume consisting of Judy Garland's blue cotton dress ruby slippers ($1.75 million). It was the first in a series of auctions of Reynolds' treasures; though she had hoped to house the clothes in a museum, the cost of their care became too much for her. |
Laura, Michelle to Attend 9/11 Event Together | (Aug 23, 2010 11:54 AM CDT) Michelle Obama will join former first lady Laura Bush in ceremonies marking the ninth anniversary of the United Flight 93 crash in Pennsylvania during the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush had previously confirmed her participation, saying we must never forget the brave sacrifice of these extraordinary men and women. Obama's press office confirmed her role as the first lady vacationed with her family on Martha's Vineyard. Their show of support honors the lives and memories of these 40 heroes and everyone we lost on September 11th, said the head of the National Park Foundation, which is helping to build a memorial at the Shanksville site. The first phase of construction is expected to be done by next year's 10th anniversary of the crash. |
9 Members of Family Believed Killed in Fire | (Jan 30, 2014 8:16 AM) Tragedy for a family in western Kentucky: Authorities believe as many as nine people were this morning killed in a house fire there. Greenville Assistant Fire Chief Roger Chandler says 11 people lived at the home in Muhlenberg County, and two were flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., for treatment. All 11 were members of the same family, a couple and nine children ranging from 4 years old to 15, CNN reports. Five bodies were found, four are presumed dead, and the father and an 11-year-old are being treated for severe burns. Chandler said the blaze was reported at 2am today, and crews were still at the scene four hours later. |
Obama to Cabinet: Cut $100M From Budgets | (Apr 20, 2009 7:40 AM CDT) Facing pressure over spending, President Obama will unite his Cabinet today for the first time and ask members to find $100 million worth of potential budget cuts over the next 90 days, the Washington Post reports. Though it’s a tiny sum compared to a $3.5 trillion budget outline, the move is meant to signal Obama’s commitment to reform, says a top administration official. |
Man, 80, Sets Self on Fire Over WWII Brothels | (Aug 12, 2015 8:50 AM CDT) For more than 20 years, South Korean activists have organized weekly protests in front of Seoul's Japanese Embassy to demand an apology for its women and girls who were used as sex slaves by the Japanese military during World War II, reports the AP. But while those demonstrations have been mostly peaceful, that changed today after a self-immolation by an elderly man, Reuters reports. Choi Hyun-yeol (IDed as Choi Yeon-yeol by the AP), listed as being either 80 or 81, set himself on fire on a flower bed near the protest, and burned cotton and a small bottle of gasoline were reportedly found at the scene. Spectators put out the fire with protest banners and paramedics rushed Choi to the hospital, where he's in critical condition with third-degree burns to his face, neck, and upper body, per Reuters; the AP also notes he's having trouble breathing. The patient is old and has severe burns, so his survival can't be guaranteed, a hospital rep says, per Reuters. Today's protest was larger than usual in advance of Saturday's 70th anniversary of the end of Japan's colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula. Between 1,000 and 2,000 people were estimated to have gathered, including three surviving comfort women who were forced into military brothels because, as the New York Times puts it, Imperial Japan's military authorities believed sex was good for morale. Choi was said to be part of a civic group that speaks up for forced labor victims, Reuters notes, and though it's not clear why he set himself ablaze, a Seoul police official tells the AP a five-page note was found in his bag bashing Japan's wartime conduct. Self-immolation is just one extreme measure seen at these protests: Per the news agency, demonstrators have also cut off their own fingers and thrown excrement at the Japanese Embassy. (Mitsubishi recently apologized to a POW for using US troops as slave labor.) |
Obama Official Regrets Signing 9/11 Conspiracy Petition | (Sep 4, 2009 7:43 AM CDT) Lately, Van Jones has had a lot of apologizing to do. Obama’s green jobs czar issued a statement yesterday renouncing a statement he signed on 911Truth.org, which demanded an immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur. Van Jones said the statement does not reflect my views now or ever. The 2004 document bears 100 signatures, including big names like Janeane Garofalo and Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney. A site spokesman says every signature was confirmed by phone or e-mail. It was Van Jones’ second apology in as many days; on Wednesday, he apologized for a video in which he called Republicans assholes, noting that he’d made the comment before he joined the administration. |
Massachusetts Town's Fine for Swearing in Public: $20 | (Jun 12, 2012 8:28 AM CDT) Say it with us: Oh, fudge. Anyone traveling to Middleborough, Mass., will want to make sure such phrases are part of their vocabulary, because anyone caught swearing in a public area will now be slapped with a $20 fine. Town residents voted 183-50 last night in approval of the proposal, which is intended to target the loud and obscene who turn the air blue in public parks and downtown areas; quiet curses in private conversations are apparently still OK. But what about the First Amendment? It's a little murky: The Supreme Court has previously ruled the government can't bar public speech due to profanity, but state law currently allows towns to enforce local laws that give police the power to arrest anyone who addresses another person with profane or obscene language in a public place, reports the AP. The Boston Globe notes that a few other fines are joining the town's ranks: $50 for littering or shoveling snow into the street, and $300 for smoking pot in public. |
360K US Troops Suffer Brain Injuries | (Mar 4, 2009 5:53 PM) The number of US troops who have suffered wartime brain injuries may be as high as 360,000, say Defense Department doctors. They estimate that between 10% and 20% of the roughly 1.8 million Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan had such injuries—the vast majority of them suffering concussions from roadside bombings and other explosives. The overwhelming majority of such wounds heal, and heal without treatment, but an estimated 45,000 to 90,000 troops have suffered more severe and lasting symptoms. The Army alone spent $242 million last year for staff, facilities and programs to serve troops with brain injuries. As in previous wars, the research being done by the military will eventually benefit the civilian world, says one expert in the field. |
Study: Effects of Kids' Concussions Last 2 Years | (Dec 18, 2015 6:50 PM) An alarming new study finds that when pre-adolescent kids get concussions, they still suffer from deficits in brain function and cognitive performance two years later, the lead researcher says in a press release. Most pediatric concussions are a result of sports injuries, according to the study, which was published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology. While some previous researchers have claimed only a small portion of kids suffer developmental problems after a concussion, this study highlights the potential for lifelong ill effects from early head injuries, says a researcher on the new study. Researchers looked at 30 kids aged 8 to 10, all of whom were involved in athletics. Half of them had suffered a sports-related concussion two years prior; the other half had never had a concussion. Researchers tested the kids' memory skills and ability to pay attention and control their impulses when instructed to; they also analyzed electrical signals in the brain during some of the cognitive tests to determine how the brain performed the tasks. Children who'd had concussions did worse on the tests, and the electrical signals also showed impaired performance when compared to the other kids' brains. The findings demonstrate that children with a history of concussion exhibit behavioral deficits in attention, working memory, and impulse control, per the study. And the differences were the worst in children who suffered concussions at the earliest ages. Our study suggests the need to find ways to improve cognitive and brain health following a head injury, the lead researcher says. (Is it time to ban children from playing football?) |
Bankrupt Crystal Cathedral Paid CFO $132K Home Fee | (Nov 18, 2010 3:18 AM) A US trustee and a creditors committee are challenging Crystal Cathedral's spending habits—including a six-figure housing allowance for the church CFO, who owns a $2.3 million home, as well as mystery payments to officials, according to documents filed with the court. Last year, the megachurch paid Fred Southard $132,000 of his $144,000 compensation in the form of a housing allowance, which allowed him to dodge income taxes, reports the Los Angeles Times. He paid only $15 in taxes for 2009, according to documents. The cathedral wants to pay him a $146,000 allowance this year as the church's case goes through bankruptcy court. There is no justification whatsoever for a housing allowance of this amount, said the trustee in a challenge filed in court documents. The trustee and creditors are also challenging hefty salaries to two of founder Robert Schuller's relatives who appear to be doing the same job. The church employs more than a dozen of Schuller's relatives and in-laws. Creditors, meanwhile, are owed up to $100 million. Click here for more. |
85 Dead in Turkey Quake | (Oct 23, 2011 7:14 AM CDT) A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Turkey today, killing at least 85 people and sparking widespread panic as it collapsed dozens of buildings into piles of twisted steel and chunks of concrete. Tens of thousands of residents fled into the streets running, screaming, and trying to reach relatives on cell phones. As the full extent of the damage became clear, desperate survivors dug into the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the trapped and the injured. There are so many dead. Several buildings have collapsed, there is too much destruction, the mayor for the town of Ercis said. We need urgent aid, we need medics. Israel offered aid despite a rift between the two countries, but so far Turkey has declined. Turkey's state-run television said a group of inmates escaped from a prison after the earthquake struck. The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6, and several aftershocks as strong as magnitude 5.5 followed; the quake's epicenter was in the village of Tabanli in eastern Van province, bordering Iran. Click here for the USGS report on the earthquake. |
Spammers Will Pay You $1 to Crack This Code* | (Apr 26, 2010 10:26 AM CDT) Captchas—those squiggly words you occasionally have to decipher on websites—can prove that you're not a spambot, but they can't prove you're not a teenager from India who's working for a spambot. Enterprising spammers are getting past the squiggly code the way any enterprising corporation would: They're outsourcing, the New York Times reports. Workers in China, Bangladesh, and elsewhere are paid between 80 cents and $1.20 per 1,000 codes they decipher. That's not great pay, even in the developing world, but it's fine for college students; one 20-year-old in Bangladesh tells the Times he's got 30 students working for him to beat the captchas, drawing work from anonymous companies on the Internet. But Google says it's not worried; websites have lots of other security tools, and the mere fact that spammers have to pay people makes mass account creation less attractive. |
Cervical Cancer Vaccine Linked to 32 Deaths | (Aug 19, 2009 12:16 PM CDT) Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine marketed to teen girls, has been linked to 32 deaths and other serious side effects including fainting and blood clots, according to a government report released yesterday. Since 2006, several complications of the vaccine have been reported, ABC News reports, ranging from neurological disorders to less threatening side effects like fever or nausea. In a few rare cases, patients died soon after taking it. The report came alongside a cautionary editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association that could give some parents pause. I know it was the Gardasil, says one woman, whose daughter died of unconfirmed causes two weeks after her final shot. They were saying that it was safe. So I kind of went against my better instinct [and let her] get the shot. But experts note that such reports aren’t verified, and some don’t think such rare occurrences should bench the drug. |
51 Years Later, Turn Signal Lever Removed From Guy's Arm | (Jan 1, 2015 11:31 AM) Fifty-one years ago, Arthur Lampitt of Granite City, Illinois, smashed his 1963 Thunderbird into a truck. This week during surgery in suburban St. Louis, a 7-inch turn signal lever from that T-Bird was removed from his left arm. Dr. Timothy Lang removed the lever yesterday during a 45-minute operation. Lampitt, now 75, is recovering at home. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the accident broke Lampitt's hip, drawing attention away from the arm, which healed. A decade or so ago, his arm set off a courthouse metal detector. An X-ray showed a pencil-sized object, but since it caused no pain or hardship, Lampitt let it be. He was moving concrete blocks a few weeks ago when the arm began to hurt for the first time, prompting surgery. |
Only 6 People Enrolled on Health Site's First Day | (Nov 1, 2013 7:18 AM CDT) Another painful morning in the press for HealthCare.gov: Just six people signed up via the federal website on the first day, according to documents released by Congress last night. By the second day, only 248 had successfully enrolled, USA Today reports. On Wednesday, Kathleen Sebelius testified to Congress that the administration doesn't have any reliable data around enrollment and couldn't give figures; an HHS spokesperson tells ABC News the numbers released by the House Oversight Committee are unofficial. Those unofficial figures come from notes taken during war room meetings held on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3, CBS News reports. Specific problems are also noted; the Washington Post reports on one category in the notes labeled on-going issues. It includes items like high capacity on the website, direct enrollment not working and Experian creating confusion with credit check information. Official figures will be released this month, the HHS rep says, after coordinating information from different sources such as paper, online, and call centers, verifying with insurers, and collecting data from states. |
Woman, 84, Pulled From Rubble After 10 Days | (Jan 22, 2010 6:44 PM) Relatives pulled an 84-year-old woman from the rubble of their home today in Port-au-Prince, digging for 20 hours with bare hands after hearing moaning coming from under the ruins left by the earthquakes that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12. Marie Carida Romain is very thin. She is in a state of shock and severely dehydrated, an American doctor tells CBS, adding that her survival is hardly assured. |
Boise State Tops TCU, Finishes 14-0 | (Jan 4, 2010 11:00 PM) Boise State staked its (highly unlikely) claim on college football’s national championship tonight, holding off fellow unbeaten Texas Christian, 17-10, to win the Fiesta Bowl and finish 14-0. The No. 6 Broncos entered the game as the nation’s highest-scoring team, but the third-ranked Horned Frogs (12-1) held them to a fraction of their usual 44.2-point output. |
Last Time Trump Made His Taxes Public, He Had Paid $0 | (May 20, 2016 12:11 PM CDT) Donald Trump has little interest in making his tax returns public, but the Washington Post reports that he once had to do so back in 1981 because he was applying for a casino license. The bottom line? He paid $0 in federal taxes because he claimed a combined income from 1978 and 1979 of a negative $3.8 million. Not that he was a pauper: In fact, as the report notes, Trump had previously boasted to the New York Times of being worth around $200 million at the time. He managed to avoid a federal bill by taking advantage of a tax provision used by developers to claim negative income. Might the same still be true today? Tax analysts say it is possible that Trump pays very low income taxes, or no taxes at all, using tactics available to wealthy investors and developers, such as depreciating the value of real estate, writes the Post's Drew Harwell. That could prove dicey for Trump to explain given his theme of standing up for the little guy against Wall Street fatcats who take advantage of tax loopholes to get away with murder. Meanwhile, USA Today did a deep dive into Trump's businesses and found that they've been involved in at least 100 lawsuits and other disputes related to unpaid taxes or how much tax his businesses owe. Click for that investigation here. |
Newport Beach Lifeguards Rake in ... $200K a Year | (May 20, 2011 3:48 PM CDT) Life is good for the full-time lifeguard staff at California's Newport Beach, or at least it was, until someone caught a glimpse of their paychecks. Since a newspaper editorialized about salaries, benefits, and overtime pay that in at least two instances top $200,000 (with $400 for sun protection), a swell of anger from beachgoers and budget-watchers has blindsided the lifeguards. Only about half of that paycheck is salary, the rest is in the perks; after adding in overtime, special compensation, pension—Newport Beach's lifeguards can retire at 50 with 90% of their salary—medical benefits, and life insurance, even the lowest-paid officer made more than $98,000. The news comes as the city struggles to rein in pension costs. Those whose salaries are in question point out that they hold management roles, have decades of service and are considered public safety employees under the fire department. Unfortunately, there's a lot of disinformation out there. People get this idea that we're talking about 17-year-old kids in lifeguard towers making $200,000 and that's not correct, said the president of a lifeguards’ union. We're professional level. Lifeguarding here is different than any other place in the entire world. |
AmEx to Ax 4K Jobs in $800M Chop | (May 18, 2009 5:48 PM CDT) American Express said today it plans to slash 4,000 jobs as part of an $800 million cost-cutting plan, CNNMoney reports. The cuts are in addition to 7,000 workers slated last fall to be laid off. Amex also plans to reduce operating costs and investment spending. The company has remained solidly profitable, but is very cautious about the economic outlook, CEO Kenneth Chenault said. |
Seamstress Owes $80K for Killers' Prison Break | (Nov 7, 2015 10:35 AM) The prison seamstress who helped two convicted murderers escape a New York prison by smuggling them tools hidden inside meat last summer must pay nearly $80,000 in restitution, NBC News reports. That's in addition to the up to seven years Joyce Mitchell is currently serving for her role in the prison break. A district attorney says the $79,841 Mitchell was ordered to pay Friday is every legal dollar they could get out of her. According to the New York Times, that amount is the cost of repairs to walls and a steam pipe damaged during the escape of David Sweat and Richard Matt. The duo led police on a 22-day, 1,000-officer manhunt in June. It could have been worse for Mitchell—who blamed depression for her role in the escape; the state initially estimated the cost to repair damages at $120,000. |
Senate passes FISA, 69-28 | (Jul 9, 2008 2:50 PM CDT) The Senate approved a bill today overhauling the rules on secret US government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telephone companies that helped it listen in after 9/11. The so-called FISA bill passed by a large margin of 69-28. The upper house also voted against three amendments that would have watered down, delayed, or stripped away the immunity provision. When the president, who demanded that measure, signs the bill, it will effectively dismiss some 40 lawsuits filed against telecom companies for alleged violations of wiretapping and privacy laws. The vote today ends almost a year of political wrangling over eavesdropping rules. |
1/3 of Abused Women Pressured Into Pregnancy | (Jan 27, 2010 10:52 AM) Around a third of women physically abused by their partners are also the victims of a subtler form of abuse, dubbed reproductive coercion. Abusive male partners force women to become pregnant, or sabotage their birth control efforts. In the larger scheme of violence against women and girls, it is another way to maintain control, one doctor who has studied the phenomenon tells Newsweek. The doctor remembers the clinic patient who opened her eyes to reproductive coercion. She was the victim of domestic violence, and also was coming in for a pregnancy test, not wanting to be pregnant, and not wanting to use birth control. A new study finds that even 15% of women who have never reported violence are victims of coercion. Just like violence, it's a power thing, says another doctor. Professionals suggest doctors be more open to the possibility of coercion as a way to identify victims of domestic violence. |
Hezbollah Returns Bodies of 2 Israeli Soldiers | (Jul 16, 2008 4:53 AM CDT) Hezbollah handed over the corpses of two slain Israeli soldiers in an exchange at the Lebanon-Israel border this morning, Reuters reports. The soldiers' capture sparked the 2006 war that killed 1,200 in Lebanon and 159 Israelis. Once the remains are identified, Israel will free five Lebanese prisoners, including one serving a life sentence for killing a 4-year-old girl and her family. The International Red Cross, which is facilitating the exchange, drove the coffins over the border. DNA tests were undertaken to confirm the soldiers' identities. While the Lebanese military organization views the exchange as a triumph—and its supporters were waving flags and cheering on the road from Beirut to the border—Israel's president, Shimon Peres, said the deal caused him bitter and unbearable pain. |
NSA Hacked 2 Mexican Presidents' Emails | (Oct 20, 2013 1:58 PM CDT) Last month, it was revealed that the NSA had spied on the emails of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto before he was elected. Turns out, US snooping on Mexico's government runs way deeper. According to a new documents leaked by Edward Snowden to Der Spiegel, the NSA ran a whole operation called Flatliquid, which successfully exploited a key mail server in the Mexican Presidencia domain within the Mexican Presidential network to gain first-ever access to President Felipe Calderon's public email account, the agency reported in 2010. This is likely to raise even more hackles in Mexico than the previous leak, notes Der Spiegel, as Calderon, Nieto's predecessor, enjoyed close relations with Washington. The operation also accessed the email accounts of Mexican cabinet members, which the NSA document says allowed it to spy on diplomatic, economic and leadership communications. A 2009 document reveals another operation called Whitetamale, which snooped on emails by officials in Mexico's Public Security Secretariat, giving the NSA intel on Mexican drug cartels, and providing diplomatic talking-points to help US politicians with negotiations and investments. Click through for the full report. |
'Easily Preventable' Outbreak Kills 4 in NYC | (Aug 3, 2015 6:43 AM CDT) These are nervous times in the Bronx: An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed four people and sickened at least 71—and while officials believe the bacteria spread through a building cooling system, they haven't pinpointed which one because so many are infected. Five out of 17 building cooling towers that were inspected turned out to harbor the bacteria, which is spread through airborne water droplets, ABC7 reports. Officials say the buildings, including a hotel and a hospital, have been disinfected, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. says he wants the city to prevent future outbreaks by making sure cooling systems are inspected and regulated in the same way that elevators are, the New York Daily News reports. Legionnaires expert William F. McCoy agrees that better inspection and management could have prevented the outbreak. There’s no technical or scientific reason that anyone should ever get sick from the water in their buildings, and yet it happens because we don’t manage the water the way we should, he tells the New York Times. Bronx residents—some of whom have been stocking up on bottled water despite having been assured that drinking water isn't the source of the bacteria—say the outbreak isn't just bad luck. They’re putting our health at risk, a retired truck driver tells the Daily News. But they don’t care because this is a poor neighborhood. (Researchers warn that hospital water features can spread the disease.) |
Slain Couple Stashed 100K in Home Safe | (Jul 22, 2009 1:15 AM CDT) The gang who killed a Florida couple in a military-style assault on their home were after a safe that contained $100,000 in cash, a source tells CNN. The suspects fled with a smaller safe after being unable to open the main one, according to the source. The smaller safe from the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings, who were known for adopting special-needs children, was found concealed in a suspect's backyard, police said. Seven men have been charged with the couple's murder. One of the suspects has told police that the man believed to have been the ringleader, a martial arts instructor, was the one who fatally shot the couple. He personally knew the victims and received financial support from them for a martial arts academy he ran, according to court documents. |
Earliest Humans Played Flute 35,000 Years Ago | (Jun 24, 2009 5:23 PM CDT) A vulture-bone flute found in a cave in southwest Germany proves that homo sapiens have been rocking out for at least 35,000 years, archaeologists say. It’s the most complete musical instrument found in a region full of relics like busty carvings and ivory flutes, the New York Times reports. Early humans were just spreading throughout Europe at the time. The 8½-inch flute has five finger holes carefully carved into the bone and is thought to produce harmonic sounds comparable to modern notes. These finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe, researchers wrote in the journal Nature. |
Obama Team Already Planning for 2012 | (Feb 24, 2010 8:22 AM) President Obama’s inner circle is already privately laying the groundwork for his 2012 reelection campaign. The planning so far consists mostly of informal private conversations, in between more rigorous 2010 planning, but insiders tell Politico that the consensus is that the campaign will be run out of Chicago, managed by current deputy chief of staff Jim Messina. Among Obama’s old hands, David Plouffe will play a central role—one friend describes him as the father of all this —and David Axelrod will probably leave the White House to resume his chief strategist duties. DNC operatives, meanwhile, are already gathering opposition research on the likely Republican contenders. Obama’s team hasn’t decided on any campaign themes, in part, a top adviser says, because it’s not a concern. He knows who he is. |
Shadowy Citi Trader Demands $100M Payout | (Jul 25, 2009 1:40 PM CDT) Andrew J. Hall, the man who runs Citi’s shadowy energy-trading unit, is demanding the company pay him up to $100 million to honor a previously agreed-upon 2009 pay package, the Wall Street Journal reports. If Citi doesn’t pay up, Hall could walk and sue, but paying could be a political and PR nightmare, raising the ire of the government’s new pay czar. Hall’s not your typical Wall Street suit. An avid art collector, he owns an almost 1,000-year-old castle in Germany and once tried to put an 80-foot concrete sculpture on his Connecticut lawn. He runs his secretive Phibro LLC unit from the site of a former Connecticut dairy farm. Phibro occasionally posts huge profits, and Hall is supposed to be paid accordingly. But the Treasury pay czar says TARP recipients need to prove they’re not rewarding risk-taking. |
Couple Married 73 Years Die Hours Apart | (Oct 22, 2014 3:50 PM CDT) Joe Auer lived 100 years, surviving the Depression, a stint in World War II, and no fewer than 10 kids. But when his wife of 73 years died last week, that was it. Joe Auer lasted only 28 hours after Helen, 94, reports WPTV. I think sleeping only one day from Mom, that was enough, explains son Jerry. He couldn't take it any longer. He said I'm not going to sleep alone again. Their joint funeral was being held today before the same altar where they wed in 1941, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. The newspaper recounts a nice detail: When Joe set off overseas to fight in WWII, Helen was pregnant with their second child, Judy. Joe wouldn't meet Judy for another three years, but Helen managed to get him a photo of her with the two kids. As the Enquirer's John Faherty writes: Joe carried that photo in his wallet as he trudged through Europe after landing at Utah Beach on D-Day. He kept that photo in his wallet, in fact, the rest of his life; smudged and worn and endlessly important. Son Jerry says it remains in his wallet to this day. (Click to read about two women in Iowa who wed after being together 72 years.) |
Malaysia Releases Data on Flight 370's Final Hours | (May 27, 2014 1:03 AM CDT) The Malaysian government today released 45 pages of raw satellite data it used to determine the flight path of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, information long sought by some of the relatives of the 239 people on board the plane. More than three months after the plane went missing en route to Beijing, no trace of it has been found, leading to continued speculation over its fate. An international investigation team led by Malaysia has concluded that it flew south after it was last spotted on Malaysian military radar about 90 minutes after takeoff and ended up in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia. The projected flight path was based on complex calculations derived in part from hourly transmissions between the plane and a communications satellite, but some family members who have been critical of the Malaysian government's handling of the incident say they want independent experts to review the data. Several experts in physics, satellite technology, and mathematics have said that based on the information released so far, they have been unable to verify the investigation team's conclusions. |
Obama's 2011 Haul: Less Than Bush's in 2003 | (Jan 12, 2012 7:58 AM) The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a significant amount of funds in 2011—$222 million—but not quite enough to beat the Bush-Cheney amount from the same period eight years ago. In 2003, Bush's campaign and the RNC raised about $239 million, which Politico did not adjust for inflation. And the $68 million raised by Obama and the DNC in the fourth quarter was less than the $70.1 million raised the quarter prior. One possible problem: complacency. In a message sent to supporters, campaign manager Jim Messina said that donors who think they don’t have to give now are completely wrong. ... We have to build a ground organization now, not in six months. The campaign was cheered by the apparently lessened enthusiasm of GOP voters—voter turnout in Iowa and New Hampshire was lower than in 2008—but still fears it will be surpassed by Mitt Romney, the RNC, and GOP super PACs. Romney collected more than $24 million in the last quarter of 2011, and his super PAC raised millions more. |
How Prop 8 Could Help Everyone | (Jun 16, 2009 12:28 PM CDT) Proposition 8 could turn out to be a win-win for everyone, if we can stop all the shouting, writes Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic, pro-Obama Republican law professor. The California Supreme Court’s ruling is as inconsistent as it is incomplete, declaring that gay couples must be given equal treatment, and that Prop 8 denies them the marriage nomenclature only. In that contradiction, Kmiec sees a solution. The state’s attorney general, who believes Prop 8 is unconstitutional, could ask for a court order requiring that the word marriage be struck from the state’s laws. All couples, gay or straight, would be given civil unions. It would be up to churches, synagogues, and mosques to decide who they’re willing to marry. Religious freedom, a bedrock constitutional value, would also be a winner, Kmiec concludes. |
ChiSox Stay Alive With 5-3 Win | (Oct 5, 2008 7:27 PM CDT) The Chicago White Sox staved off elimination today with solid starting pitching and a fastball that left Evan Longoria looking, MLB.com reports. John Danks held the Tampa Bay Rays to 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings in the 5-3 victory. When a two-run homer by B.J. Upton got Danks pulled in the seventh, reliever Octavio Dotel squelched the Rays' rally by striking out superstar Longoria. |
Syrian Rebels Report New 200+ Massacre | (Aug 26, 2012 5:49 AM CDT) Another grisly massacre is being reported from Syria today, with activists saying that more than 200 bodies killed execution-style have been discovered in Daraya, a blue-collar Sunni town southwest of Damascus, reports Reuters. Government tanks swept into Daraya on Aug. 23, killing many, and were apparently followed by house-to-house raids and apparent executions. In the last hour, 122 bodies were discovered and it appears that two dozen died from sniper fire and the rest were summarily executed by gunshots from close range, one activist told Reuters by telephone. The official state news agency said that Daraya has been cleansed of the remnants of armed terrorist groups. Anti-government groups claimed 440 people across Syria were killed by government forces yesterday, one of the highest single-day death tolls since the uprisings against Bashar al-Assad's government began in 2011. The majority of yesterday's killings were in the Damascus area, along with 40 in Aleppo and 28 in the heavily Sunni Deir al-Zor. In other news, a grim-faced Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa was spotted in public for the first time in weeks today, reports the AP, ending speculation that he had defected. |
Victim No. 3: 'I Loved' Sandusky | (Jun 14, 2012 11:54 AM CDT) Another alleged victim, known as Victim 6, testified today during Jerry Sandusky's trial, saying that he went out of his way to introduce himself to Sandusky at a picnic for his Second Mile charity. I was really excited to meet him, the 25-year-old said. But the man testified that things soon got uncomfortable when, on their way to a tour of the training center in 1998, Sandusky put his hand near the knee of Victim 6, then 11. When they arrived, they wrestled a little bit on the carpet, and though he felt uncomfortable, Victim 6 said, It was Jerry Sandusky, so I didn't want to make him mad. Later, Sandusky insisted on showering with him, tickled him, and at one point grabbed him from behind, the man testified. Even so, he did not realize anything wrong had happened and participated in other activities with Sandusky, even once sending him a Father's Day card; he acknowledged that after his mother went to authorities following his encounter with the coach, he did not want [Sandusky] to get in trouble and did not come to view the encounter as inappropriate until adulthood. Also today, the man known as Victim 3 recalled sleepovers with Sandusky from 1998 to 2001 during which the coach allegedly touched his penis pretty frequent[ly], the Patriot-News reports. Though he didn't like it, the man testified, he loved Sandusky and wanted the coach to adopt him. Click for more from the trial. |
Maria Shriver to 60 Minutes: Get Lost | (Sep 29, 2012 1:51 PM CDT) With Arnold Schwarzenegger's new tell-all coming out Monday, 60 Minutes shot a segment with the former Governator—and Maria Shriver is none too pleased, TMZ reports. In fact, sources say she flatly turned down the show's producers when they called her after Arnold's interview. She had no interest in squeezing a generic comment into a piece focused on him. The piece is a blow *** for Arnold, a source says. Lesley Stahl just fawned over him. What's more, Arnold never advanced her a copy of the book, which she knows ... is a big PR stunt to get back in the public's good graces. Click here for an excerpt of Stahl's interview, due to air tomorrow, in which Arnold calls his love-child affair with former housekeeper Mildred Baena the stupidest thing I've done in the whole relationship. Asked how Maria feels, he says, I think Maria is, you know, wishing me well with everything that I do. |
The Bloody Truth About SEAL Team 6 | (Jun 8, 2015 10:04 AM CDT) The killing of Osama bin Laden made SEAL Team 6 the stuff of legends, but a New York Times report says the special-ops unit has transformed … into a global manhunting machine, with troubling claims that the once-elite team is now being overused for day-to-day death missions, carries out unnecessary civilian killings, and is almost impossible to keep tabs on, given its uber-secret status; the US government doesn't even publicly recognize its Team 6 name (it is officially the Naval Special Warfare Development Group). Oversight by the Joint Special Operations Command also appears lax, at best. JSOC investigates JSOC, and that's part of the problem, an ex-military officer experienced in special ops says. Notes a Syracuse University expert on national security law: If you're unacknowledged on the battlefield, you're not accountable. The report is gruesome at times, citing stories of troops sneaking into militants' homes and killing them as they sleep, making sure they slice and dice every major artery to ensure death, and taking out civilians during undercover missions with the CIA. Critics say Team 6, trained to carry out the riskiest operations, shouldn't even be involved in some of these smaller-scale missions. The most highly trained force in the world, chasing after street thugs, one ex-unit member scoffs. Former Sen. Bob Kerrey notes they have become sort of a 1-800 number anytime somebody wants something done. And the Times notes more unit members have died over the past 14 years than in all years prior. War is not this pretty thing that the United States has come to believe, a retired senior member of SEAL Team 6 tells the Times. It's … one human being killing another human being for extended periods of time. (Read the entire Times piece.) |
Beef Recall Expands to 5.3M Pounds | (Jul 3, 2008 7:00 PM CDT) Nebraska Beef is expanding a recall to include all 5.3 million pounds of meat it produced for ground beef between May 16 and June 26. Federal investigators have linked the company's products to an outbreak of E. coli illnesses affecting 40 people in Michigan and Ohio. Some Nebraska Beef products were sold by grocer Kroger Co., which has recalled ground beef products in more than 20 states. The USDA says Nebraska Beef's production practices were insufficient to effectively control E. coli bacteria. The products subject to recall may have been produced under unsanitary conditions, the government said. All the beef being recalled was sold to wholesalers and distributors for further processing, so consumer labels likely will not include the EST 19336 code that identifies Nebraska Beef. |
Authorities Find Mindy McCready, Take 5-Year-Old Son Zander Into Custody | (Dec 3, 2011 8:31 AM) The latest Mindy McCready soap opera looks to be over. Authorities in Arkansas located the country singer and her 5-year-old son, Zander, hiding in the closet of her boyfriend's home in Heber Springs, reports CNN. They took Zander into custody and plan to return him to his legal guardian, McCready's mother, in Florida. McCready, who took the boy from her mother's home Tuesday, has not been charged, and it's not clear whether she will be, notes People. The child appeared to be in good condition when we found him, says a local marshal. He was in the closet with his mother. McCready's mom, meanwhile, says she hopes the ordeal will be a wake-up call for her 36-year-old daughter, who appeared on Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew in 2009. McCready reportedly is pregnant with twins. |
2nd Powerball Winner Claims Cash, Stays Secret | (Dec 7, 2012 4:29 PM) The second winner of the $587 million Powerball jackpot has claimed his money in Arizona, but his identity is still a secret for now. State lottery officials say the winner—identified as a married, professional man in his 30s who moved to Fountain Hills, Arizona, from Pennsylvania—declined to take part in the official news conference today, reports AP. But he can't stay anonymous under state law, meaning his name will be made public eventually, probably on Monday. He and his wife are taking the cash option of $192 million before taxes, like their fellow winners in Missouri. |
$48B Health Care Deal Could 'Reshape Industry' | (Jul 24, 2015 5:30 AM CDT) In a deal that the Wall Street Journal says could reshape the US health industry, Anthem has agreed to buy Cigna for more than $48 billion—forming a combined entity that will cover more than 53 million people. Just weeks after Aetna announced it plans to acquire Humana for more than $34 billion, this continued buyout frenzy, as the AP puts it, could whittle five of the country's largest health insurers down to just three, with UnitedHealth Group being the only entity left standing on its own. This deal, as well as the Aetna-Humana announcement earlier this month, has naturally caught the eye of antitrust regulators, who are expected to be looking into both mergers. Anthem CEO Joseph Swedish will continue to man the helm, adding chairman to his title, while Cigna CEO David Cordani will become president and head of operations. Reportedly, Cordani's role in the new company was a stalling point in talks that have been going on since last summer. Advantages to the deal—expected to close by the second half of 2016—include the ability to better negotiate rates with care providers and the chance to make larger technology investments, as well as the possibility of getting rid of $2 billion per year in overlap costs, industry analysts and Anthem officials tell the AP and the Journal. One challenge Anthem may face: how to get around a licensing deal with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association that requires it to reap two-thirds of its national net revenue from Blue-labeled business, the Journal notes. |
3 Years Later, Minnie Driver Reveals Babydaddy | (Feb 21, 2012 9:03 AM) Minnie Driver announced her pregnancy in 2008, and has managed to go all the time since without revealing the baby's father. But now that son Henry is three, I don't need to protect (the father) anymore, Driver tells the Guardian. He can fend for himself. He's a grown-up. So who is he? He was a writer on her short-lived TV series, The Riches, she says, and though she doesn't name names, the Mail briefly speculated she's referring to Tim Lea before changing its headline. (Driver and Lea dated in 2009, ninemsn notes. As for whether Henry's father is a good dad, Driver will only say, Sort of. He's figuring it out. … I mean, he hasn't been that involved; his choice. But he is now. Click to see what Driver craved during her pregnancy. |