According to a new study by Israeli medical students, doctors in the United States, Israel and Europe are receiving inadequate environmental health education. the study, titled “Our Health and Environment,” was sponsored by Haifa-based Public Health Coalition and conducted at the University of Haifa International School.

Out of the 25 universities surveyed – 10 in United States, 10 in Europe and five in Israel, only the clinical medicine program at Bar-Ilan University in Israel required a course related to environmental health. Only four other university programs out of 25 offered such courses at all, and they deemed such courses optional electives.

Some of the world’s top medical programs, including those at Stanford University, Yale University, John Hopkins University, the University of Oxford, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, all fail to offer their medical students courses that focus on environmental impacts on health and environmental toxicology. 

Continue reading: “Environmental Health Courses not in best Medical Schools: New Study” »

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On Jan. 12, Asher Clark was pulled out of class to be questioned as part of the Air Force Academy’s investigation into drug use.

Clark didn’t think to ask for a lawyer at that time because it never crossed his mind he was in trouble, according to his father, Mark Clark.

After Mark Clark finished an 18-hour drive from Colorado to the family’s home in Georgia with his son Asher, who finished his football career as the second-leading rusher in school history, he wanted to give Asher’s side of the circumstances surrounding his son being kicked out of Air Force as part of the academy’s investigation.

According to Mark, his son was at a party in March 2011. He was drinking, and stepped out on a balcony. someone who he knew and was a friend of some football players, according to Mark, offered Asher a pipe with what Asher was told was tobacco (“Why would he think he’d give him anything to jeopardize his future?” Mark said), and he smoked it. Asher had been to a hookah bar before and smoked tobacco from a pipe, Mark said.

Mark said that Asher didn’t admit to investigators then, and hasn’t admitted since, that he was knew he was smoking “Colorado Chronic,” a form of spice, which is a synthetic marijuana substitute banned at Air Force. but investigators said that’s what was in the pipe, Mark said, and Asher signed a written statement that implicated him as smoking spice – although he claimed he had no idea that’s what was in the pipe.

Mark said Asher never failed a drug test (how many he has taken is uncertain), and they challenged the academy’s evidence, because he said Air Force could not say definitively what was in the pipe. they brought forth 27 letters from people including Air Force personnel defending Clark, who made the academic all-Mountain West team in January with a listed grade-point average of 3.01 while majoring in economics. the Clarks figured lack of evidence, Asher’s intentions at that party and his son’s reputation would help Asher win the case, but he was dismissed from the academy less than a week before graduation, after he completed all his classes.

Mark said he believes his son’s case ended up being about politics. Spice has become a hot-button issue at the academy, especially after academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Gould signed an order in 2010 forbidding its use. Air Force has a zero tolerance policy for drug use. Air Force announced 31 cadets were being investigated for banned drug use this year. Mark thinks that in an effort to send a message to the other cadets, they kicked out a high-profile one.

“I get it, they made an example out of him,” Mark said. “there are 4,000 cadets and they said, ‘if we’ll kick Asher Clark out of this school, we’ll kick you out even faster.’

“This thing was so political, and he’s such a big fish. It was like throwing dynamite into the water.”

Air Force has not divulged any details about why Clark is not at the academy anymore, citing the Privacy Act. On Sunday, academy spokesman David Cannon said he could not discuss the specifics of any individual case.

“Once an allegation is made, we thoroughly investigate that through the office of special investigations or security forces,” Cannon said. “the results are turned over to the commander of that individual and then a determination is made.”

Mark Clark has seen some of the things said about his son since news of his dismissal broke, and said they aren’t true. Clark said his son surely isn’t dumb, considering he had a 3.9 GPA in high school and was a standout student at Air Force. He said his son is not a drug user, and he isn’t a troublemaker. Mark said Asher would go to parties like many college students, but also jokingly called Asher “a nerd” who happened to also be a good football player. Mark recounted that Asher stopped by the principal’s office in high school once – not because he was in trouble, but because he was passing through – and just being in there “freaked him out.”

Mark said he has a close relationship with his son, saying Asher is like his best friend. And he wanted people to know Asher is a good person.

“My son has never been in trouble in his life,” Mark said. “Not a moment in his life.”

Dionne Ramsey, Asher Clark’s aunt, said Asher excelled in the classroom and never got in trouble growing up.

“Asher has always been a leader type,” Ramsey said. “As a child, I can’t remember a time he got in trouble. no reprimands from his teachers, from school, anything like that.”

Joy Ford, a family friend of the Clarks for more than 15 years, also said Clark was not a troublemaker.

“This is a good young man of character with a strong work ethic, be it on or off the field,” Ford said. “I’ve never known this kid to lie, cheat or steal. He’s the kind of kid who will tell the truth not some of the time, but all of the time, even if he’ll get in trouble for it.”

“He’s never been in trouble a day in his life. if you ask any teacher, coach or mentor, the message would be the same.”

Clark found himself in trouble the last semester of his academy career. when the football team went to the White House to be presented the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy on April 23, Clark was left home. the academy told the Gazette he was not on the trip because he was “not meeting academy standards.” Mark Clark said that came prior to Clark going before the hearing officer, and he thinks the White House incident and the academy’s statement on the matter also hindered his son’s ability to get a fair ruling. during President Barack Obama’s speech about the team, Clark was one of four players singled out by the president, even though he wasn’t there. Mark said that embarrassed his son.

“He has to be Herculean to deal with the leader of the free world saying his name in the company of his peers and he wasn’t there,” Mark said.

Mark said he wanted Asher to go to Air Force because it offered safety and protection. He liked that it was a place of integrity and character.

“Now we’ve found that it may be a place of some character, and it may be a place of half truths,” Mark said.

Mark kept saying that he was bothered that his son had told the truth – he had taught Asher and his two other sons to never lie – and that cost him a diploma.

“if he had lied, he’d be at the academy,” Mark said. “Asher told the truth, he made a statement, and everything Asher said was misconstrued to where it made him look guilty and he signed it.

“I’ve talked to several JAG attorneys – prosecutors and defenders – and they say the Air Force OSI (office of special investigations) is one of the toughest as far as misconstruing situations. And my son was ripe for the picking.

“He told the truth, and for telling the truth this came of it. what message does that send? what message do they send to my other children?”

Mark paused during a lengthy interview to praise football coach Troy Calhoun, who was “vehement about defending our son.”

“we entrusted our son with another man, Troy Calhoun, and I want to thank him for everything he’s done with our son,” Mark said. “And I want to apologize to him for having to go through this with our son. He’s a great man. That man has loved our son like he was his own.”

Calhoun did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Mark said he didn’t know what the next step was. He said he did not know if his son would be asked to pay back the cost of his education. when asked if the family was considering legal action, he said any next step would be up to Asher.

Mark said Asher would probably get his degree from another school, and perhaps pursue a master’s degree. He said he was confident that his son would fight through this adversity and land on his feet.

“This is what they have to do for them, I guess,” Mark Clark said, referring to the academy’s decision. “Asher is still going to be great. his future will be OK.”

Contact Frank Schwab: 476-4891

Twitter @GazetteAirForce

Facebook Gazette Frank Schwab

<a href="http://www.gazette.com/sports/force-138915-asher-smoking.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.gazette.com/sports/force-138915-asher-smoking.htmlSun, 20 May 2012 22:37:02 GMT”>Dad: Expelled AFA running back thought he was smoking tobacco

Google inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is currently trading at $529.81 per share which is $2.51 or 0.45 % more than its previous close. its stock opened at $532.73 and touched the intraday high of $536.54 per share. The stock’s lowest price in today’s session was $530.73 per share. its EPS is $25.75. The company’s stock has traded in the range of $530.73 and $536.54 during the past 52 weeks. The company’s market cap is $171.51B and its P/E ratio is 20.67.

The company will sell $3 billion of bonds with maturities of two, five and 10 years. Standard & Poor’s rates Google as AA-. its Android operating system became the World’s top smart-phone operating system during the first quarter of the year replacing Nokia’s Symbian. Android jumped from just 9.6% share among smart-phones during the first quarter of 2010 to a whopping 36% in the first quarter of this year.

Apple inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is currently trading at $339.76 per share which is $0.23 or 0.08 % less than its previous close. its stock opened at $342.08 and touched the intraday high of $342.41 per share. The stock’s lowest price in today’s session was $339.51 per share. its EPS is $20.98. The company’s stock has traded in the range of $231.35 and $364.90 during the past 52 weeks. The company’s market cap is $313.01B and its P/E ratio is 16.20.

The company might face strong regulations after a panel ruled that data regarding the location of users should be kept private. The panel said that “Since smartphones and tablet computers are inextricably linked to their owner, the movement patterns of the devices provide a very intimate insight into the private life of the owners”.

LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) is currently trading at $104.23  per share which is $59.23  or 131.62% more than its previous close. its stock opened at $83.00 and touched the intraday high of $92.99 per share. The stock’s lowest price in today’s session was $80.00 per share.

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While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. always consult a real licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.

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Summertime dining can sometimes lack diversity, with its interchangeable menu of salads, wraps and grilled meats. with the mercury hovering at the top of the thermometer and swimsuit season in full swing, it just doesn’t seem like the time to indulge in a heavy meal. The antidote? a meal made of small plates, or tapas.

The exact origins of Spanish tapas are up for debate, but the most accepted version is that slices of bread or meat were used to cover sherry glasses in bars and taverns, a practical measure that kept fruit flies away from the sweet drink. Despite that distinctly nonappetizing function, today’s tapas are diverse in both cuisine and presentation, and are available at all times of day.

There are a number of unusual ways to enjoy tapas, and its slightly heartier cousin, small plates, in the Las Vegas Valley. Here are 10 ways to satisfy a taste for tapas.

Border Grille, inside Mandalay Bay

Small plates, $29.99 all-you-can-eat

The perfect morning-after meal, Border Grille’s Border Brunch, offered between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, is an all-you-can-eat small plate extravaganza. For $29.99, diners can enjoy small portions of gourmet delights such as bread pudding French toast, bacon jalapeño PBJ (a flaky biscuit topped with peanut butter, grape jelly, bacon and jalapeño) or Yucatan eggs Benedict until they’re stuffed. with 18 dishes to choose from, smart diners will go in a group and share. those in need of a little hair of the dog can add bottomless mimosas for $5 more.

Wicked Spoon, inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Small plates, from $22 (weekday brunch) to $35 (dinner)

Hungry locals can have their buffet and tapas too at the Wicked Spoon Buffet inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Rather than the communal food troughs of a traditional buffet, Wicked Spoon’s patrons are treated to preportioned servings, presented in single-serve pots, plates and even tiny fryer baskets (for the french fries). From tiny take-out boxes with edamame and individual Caesar salads to delicate gnocchi and savory cod, the offerings are as far from the typical buffet fare as The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is from the typical Strip casino.

28GO The Restaurant, 4632 S. Maryland Parkway

Tapas, $2.50 to $8 each

Fresh ingredients rule at health-conscious 28GO. Diners can visit the UNLV-adjacent eatery for a selection of Asian-fusion tapas, including melt-off-the-bone grilled ribs ($8), belly rice (tiny bricks of steamed rice topped with braised pork belly, $4) and soy beans served with a garlic-infused dipping sauce with a side of tangy wasabi-lime sea salt ($4). Facebook fans can get in on chef Ty Suksangasophon’s secret, limited-time specials, such as a fresh strawberry salad with mesclun greens and chopped pecans or a white rabbit mochi ice cream roll.

Bar Forte, 4180 S. Rainbow Blvd.

Tapas, $4.50 to $20 each

Eastern European food has a reputation for being heavy, sauce-laden and highly caloric, but Nina Manchev, owner of European tapas purveyor Bar Forte, shatters that notion. "These dishes are very light. Guests will feel good when they leave well, depending on how much they eat." Overeating might be an issue with choices like traditional Spanish pan con tomate ($4.50), bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Marcona almonds ($5.50) and stuffed grape leaves ($4.75) all sharing the menu. while not strictly a tapas item, no diner should leave before experiencing the Adjarski Khachapurri ($7.50), a hot-out-of-the-oven bread boat filled with Georgian-style cheese, feta and a freshly cracked egg.

Addiction, inside Rumor Boutique Hotel, 455 E. Harmon Ave.

Tapas, $4 to $10 each.

Proof positive that size doesn’t matter, the tiny Addiction restaurant, nestled inside Rumor, packs the most creativity into their tapa-tizer menu options. From the whimsical maple-bacon popcorn ($6) and PB&J (a grilled sandwich filled with pistachio peanut butter and served with a side of jam, $7) to epicurean offerings such as short rib nachos ($8) and the black cod tostada ($8), Addiction promises to live up to its name.

6) fine wines and more

Double Helix Wine & Whiskey Lounge, at Town Square

Small plates, $6 to $15 each

Possibly the most true to tapas’ roots, Double Helix offers tasty small plates meant to complement the wine and whiskey offerings available at the bar. Diners can pair a plate of olive poppers (crisp olives stuffed with creamy honey goat cheese and chorizo, $6) with a Na’cho Average Quesadilla (a grown-up treat made with braised chicken and gruyere cheese, $9), while sipping a glass of Tobin James "Notorious" Cabernet Sauvignon. The bartenders and servers will happily suggest options for patrons who are overwhelmed with the drink menu, tailoring their recommendations to each guest’s taste.

Fleur by Hubert Keller, inside Mandalay Bay

Small plates, $3 to $60 each

The small plate trend comes to fine dining as Hubert Keller of "top Chef Masters" created a menu fit for foodies on a budget. From the relatively simple ceci frito (fried chickpeas, $3), ceviche ($14) and brie flambée ($10) to splurges like seared foie gras ($22) and oestra caviar ($60), patrons can experience several dishes for the price of a single entrée. Diners can sit on the "patio" to enjoy people-watching at its finest inside Mandalay Bay, or beneath one of the should-be-cheesy-but-aren’t antler chandeliers in the main dining room.

AzuzA Hookah Lounge, 4480 Paradise Road

Tapas, $8 to $14 each

A hookah lounge usually doesn’t come to mind when hungry Las Vegans are considering their options, but it would be a mistake to overlook the cheeky options on AzuzA’s menu. Along with an extensive menu of imported teas and adult beverages, patrons can order up a plate of Mo’Rockin Caprese (feta-topped tomatoes garnished with dill, cilantro and an olive oil drizzle, $8), Oh! That’s Pitafull (crispy pita bread stuffed with savory Egyptian-style ground beef, served with tzatziki and hot garlic sauces, $10) or crowd-favorite Chicks in Your Grill (chicken roasted in cilantro-dill butter, red onions and mint, served over jasmine rice, $11). if the names don’t put a smile on customers’ faces, the freshly prepared organic ingredients should do the trick.

Barcelona Tapas & Bar, 10690 Southern Highlands Parkway Tapas, $4 to $10 each

There’s something to be said for tradition, and Barcelona is a credit to its Spanish roots. The eatery pays tribute to the cuisine’s origins with menu items like gazpacho ($4), boquerones (toasted French bread topped with anchovies and balsamic reduction, $5.50), pan fried dates ($5.50) and Camarones a la Diabla (spicy shrimp, $10). though diners won’t likely confuse the strip mall location with the European city, their tastebuds will most certainly be fooled.

Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar, 3900 Paradise Road, 9560 W. Sahara Ave., 11261 S. Eastern Ave. Tapas $3.50 to $10 each

Credited with igniting the tapas trend in Las Vegas, Firefly is so popular that the owners recently opened their third valley location in Henderson. Reservations are highly recommended, especially on weekend nights, as these hot spots fill up quickly. top choices include an apple and manchego salad ($3.50), baked tetilla (a cheese fondue served with chorizo sausage, $9) and filet mignon sliders (mini burgers toped with Serrano ham, cabrales cheese and caramelized onions, $7.50).

<a href="http://www.lvrj.com/special_sections/tapas-small-plates-satisfy-diners-appetite-in-summertime-152957505.html?ref=505tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.lvrj.com/special_sections/tapas-small-plates-satisfy-diners-appetite-in-summertime-152957505.html?ref=505Wed, 23 May 2012 09:05:59 GMT”>Tapas, small plates satisfy diners’ appetite in summertime

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Since last August, the Associated Press’ investigative reporting team has published more than a dozen stories from an ongoing investigation into the New York City police department’s secret spying program that monitored daily life in Muslim communities.

This week, the AP’s four reporters — Chris Hawley, Adam Goldman, Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo — received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. the citation noted that their investigation resulted “in congressional calls for a federal investigation, and a debate over the proper role of domestic intelligence gathering.”

On Wednesday’s Fresh Air, Apuzzo joins Terry Gross for a conversation about the AP series, which revealed that the NYPD transformed itself after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks into an aggressive domestic intelligence unit and monitored hundreds of Muslims in their mosques, workplaces and schools — even when there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.

“It was really an effort to build databases of where Muslims live, eat, work, shop and pray,” Apuzzo says.

Police officers also built databases on various ethnic communities in New York City, compiling information on where people of certain ethnicities gathered and worked.

“It was so that if, if there was a tip that an Egyptian terrorist was in New York City and was planning an attack, the idea was the NYPD could pull their Egyptian file off the shelf and they’d know where that guy is likely to live, where he’s likely to pray, where he’s likely to buy breakfast, and they can then focus all of their attention on those places,” he says.

“While that certainly seems like something you want the police department to do … the offshoot of that is that you’re collecting personal information on many, many people who have no connection to terrorism, who are completely innocent,” he says.

Until Apuzzo and his fellow AP reporters started publishing their stories, few were aware that the New York City monitoring program existed or that it had extensive connections to the CIA.

Last August, Apuzzo and Goldman, his fellow AP reporter, discovered that veteran CIA officer Larry Sanchez was kept on the CIA payroll and sent to New York’s police department to help build out its intelligence operation.

“With Larry’s help, the NYPD really ramped up its transformation from police to intelligence,” says Apuzzo. “A lot of these programs really came about with Larry’s help while he was on the CIA payroll.”

The CIA is prohibited from spying on Americans but worked closely with the NYPD on transforming its intelligence unit.

“It raises a host of questions about where the line is between the CIA helping the NYPD do intelligence gathering on Americans and the CIA actually doing intelligence gathering on Americans,” says Apuzzo.

After the story broke, the CIA’s inspector general opened an investigation and found no evidence that the CIA conducted domestic spying or violated the law.

“[I am paraphrasing here but he said...] ‘We don’t see any evidence that the CIA actually conducted domestic spying, and we don’t see any violations of law here. But, looking back, we maybe showed some poor judgment sending Larry to New York with no oversight, with no clear rules … and we probably handled that poorly,’ ” says Apuzzo.

“When Larry left the NYPD in 2010, he was replaced in 2011 by another senior CIA officer. After our stories broke, the CIA announced it would be bringing that officer home,” he says. “And it doesn’t look like the CIA is going to be sending anyone back to the NYPD or duplicating that relationship in other departments.”

But the monitoring program still exists in some respects.

Last October, Apuzzo and Goldman reported that the NYPD keeps track of every person in the city who changes his or her name. When that person’s name sounds Arabic, the police run an extensive background check that is then put in a database for future reference.

“That’s just a fascinating effort because the changing of names — the Americanization of names — is such a part of the immigrant story of America,” says Apuzzo. “To see it now being scanned for potential red flags for terrorism just shows how much has changed in New York since 9/11, not just on the ground, but the way we view things in New York.”

Since the AP stories broke, the NYPD has vigorously defended the monitoring programs as lawful and necessary, says Apuzzo.

“The NYPD has smartly said that we are constantly at risk of being attacked, and they point to a list of 14 plots that were unsuccessful — either by good work of NYPD, good work by somebody else or luck,” he says.

“The question is, really, does the nonexistence of another attack prove that the programs that are in place are working? and the NYPD has said, ‘Yes.’ … and of course, there’s no way to disprove that. because if we were to be attacked tomorrow, nobody presumably would say, ‘This proves your programs don’t work and we should stop doing them.’ So it’s not so much of a purely logical debate, it’s more of a policy debate of what we want our police department to be doing.”

View Transcript »

This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. This week the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting was given to my guest, Matt Apuzzo, and a team of Associated Press reporters for their series which broke the story of the New York Police Department’s clandestine surveillance program monitoring daily life in Muslim communities.

The program was created after the 9/11 attacks. the NYPD received help from the CIA, which raises questions because the CIA is prohibited from spying on Americans in the U.S. the AP series resulted in a debate over the proper role of domestic intelligence gathering and congressional calls for a federal investigation. Yesterday, the NYPD surveillance program was one of the subjects of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s first hearing on racial profiling since 9/11.

Matt Apuzzo covers intelligence and national security for the AP. he shares the Pulitzer with AP reporters Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley and Eileen Sullivan. Matt Apuzzo, welcome to FRESH AIR, and congratulations on the Pulitzer.

MATT APUZZO: Thanks so much for having me.

GROSS: So let’s start with a summary of what you found. What kind of groups was the NYPD conducting surveillance on?

APUZZO: well, after 9/11 the NYPD transformed itself into not just the nation’s largest police department but the nation’s – one of the most aggressive intelligence agencies, domestic intelligence agencies. and what they did is they built, you know, spying programs that monitored daily life in Muslim communities.

So they had this squad called the Demographics Unit, and had plainclothes officers, typically of Arab descent, who just – their only job is just hang out in Muslim communities, hang out at cafes or hookah bars or restaurants or clubs and just be listening posts, and they’re just, you know, they’re chatting up the owner and trying to figure out his ethnicity, figure out what he thinks about America, what he thinks about politics.

They want to listen to the conversations that are being had. they want to make note if Al Jazeera is being played. and all of this is getting compiled into intelligence files. and it was really an effort to build, you know, databases of where Muslims live, eat, work, shop and pray.

GROSS: So they had – the NYPD had a list of ancestries of interest. What was that?

APUZZO: Right, so the NYPD has this list of its ancestries of interest, and it’s – I believe it’s 22 mostly Muslim countries, along with the ancestry American Black Muslim, that it considered, you know, ancestries that deserved scrutiny. and what we found through our reporting and also from some internal NYPD documents, was that they would actually build files on, you know, the Egyptian community in New York and/or the Albanian community in New York or Moroccan community in New York.

And they would go to all the businesses where either Moroccans work or where they shop, and they’d photograph them and they’d make note of this is the owner, this is the type of clientele it draws. if it’s a particularly devout clientele, they’d make note of that. They’d make note of how close it was to a nearby mosque, you know, what kind of conversations were being had in the business.

They would note sort of from census material where people of certain ethnicities lived. and basically, again, it was so that if – let’s say there was a tip that an Egyptian terrorist was in New York City and was planning an attack, and we don’t know more than that, the idea was the NYPD could pull their Egyptian file right off of the shelf, and they’d know where that guy is likely to live, where he’s likely to pray, where he’s likely to, you know, buy breakfast, you know, and they can then focus all of their attention on those places.

And while, you know, certainly that seems like something you want the police department to be able to do, to know where you might find a terrorist, the offshoot of that is that you’re collecting information, personal information, on many, many, many people who have no connection to terrorism, are completely innocent, and many of whom are very against terrorism and have worked with the police department to try to – to keep the city safer, and they’re ending up in intelligence files.

GROSS: Yeah, and as you point out in your series, I mean the New York police have been expected to thwart terrorist attacks before they happen, and in order to do that, you need a lot of intelligence. At the same time, you want to do it legally and ethically, without violating civil liberties. So it’s a line that I think police departments haven’t had to walk in the same way that they’ve had to walk it since 9/11.

APUZZO: Right, so I mean think about the transformation in mission from September 10th to September 12th, right? So on September 10th your biggest mission is to solve crimes. you get a call a 911 call, somebody’s been shot, police show up, who did it, we will find him and arrest him. That’s no longer good enough for terrorism, right?

So now the police department have to find the killer before he kills and stop him. That’s a huge transformation. I mean it’s something that represents a fundamental shift in the mission of policing. So I think a lot of what you’re seeing is this is the NYPD being aggressive, understandably aggressive, in trying to figure out the best way to do these things.

But because the NYPD exists in an environment where there’s almost no oversight of these operations, you know, they’ve gone into areas that have surprised people when they’ve come to light.

GROSS: Now, this program, this NYPD program, was actually connected to the CIA, which, I don’t know, may be unprecedented. What was the nature of the connection?

APUZZO: Yeah, it’s completely unprecedented. So after 9/11 the NYPD hired a man named David Cohen, who was a retired CIA officer, had risen to be the nation’s top spy, the deputy director of operations. and they hired him to the NYPD to run the intelligence division, which at the time was this sort of backwater glorified chauffeur service for visiting dignitaries.

But at one point it had been a very aggressive unit. in the ’50s and ’60s it was associated with red squads. It monitored political activity. It monitored protest groups, anti-war activists, but had been dramatically scaled back because of legal challenges to those programs.

So Cohen inherits this intelligence division, and he knows that he needs to make it into a counterterrorism force, something that will identify potential terrorists and give the police the intelligence it needs to stop terrorists from attacking. But at the time they don’t have the resources, they don’t have the expertise. They’re building this, you know, on the fly.

So Cohen called his old colleagues at the CIA and said I need somebody. I need you to send somebody to New York to help me. and even though the CIA already has a CIA station in New York, Cohen was actually able to persuade the CIA to send somebody to New York basically to be his right-hand man but still on the CIA payroll.

That guy’s name was Larry Sanchez. he had an office at the CIA station in New York. he also had an office at the NYPD. It had never been done before. It gave the CIA a foot in the door into New York. and with Larry’s help the NYPD really ramped up its transformation from policing to intelligence, and a lot of these programs, you know, the Demographics Unit, for instance, really came about with Larry’s help, again while he was on the CIA payroll.

GROSS: Now, the CIA is prohibited from spying on Americans. So what kind of questions does this cooperative arrangement between the CIA and the NYPD raise?

APUZZO: well, it raises a host of questions about, you know, where the line is between the CIA helping the NYPD do intelligence gathering on Americans and the CIA actually doing intelligence gathering on Americans. After our stories broke, the CIA’s inspector general looked into this and said we don’t see any evidence that the CIA actually conducted domestic spying, and we don’t see any violations of law here.

But looking back, we maybe showed some poor judgment sending Larry to New York with no oversight, with no clear rules and had never been signed off on by any of the lawyers, there was no memorandum of understanding about this is what you’re going to do, this is what you’re not going to do, and we probably handled that poorly.

And they kind of chalked it up to, well, it was after 9/11, things were really crazy, everybody was focused on just keeping us safe, and maybe we didn’t, you know, dot ever I or sign every document we probably should have.

When Larry left the NYPD in 2010, he was replaced in 2011 by another senior CIA officer. After our stories broke, the NYPD – excuse me, the CIA announced it was going to be bringing that officer home, he was not going to finish his year-long tour at the NYPD. and it doesn’t look like the CIA is going to be sending anybody back to the NYPD or duplicating that relationship in other departments.

GROSS: Now that the NYPD’s surveillance program has been exposed, is it still operational?

APUZZO: well, certainly parts of it are. I mean the Demographics Unit, which the NYPD originally denied even existed, I guess is now called the Zone Assessment Unit. and you know, they – they’re still out there, to our knowledge, doing what they do.

They also have a very interesting program which court officials in New York tell us continues, which is if you go and you get your name changed in New York City, whether because you want to drop a married name or you want to Americanize your name like so many generations of immigrants have done, and you go to court and you do that, the court actually sends the database of its name changes to the NYPD. and that continues.

And what the NYPD does is they then sort of scan all of the people who changed their name, and they just look for people whose names sound Arab. So if you change your name from John to Mohammed or Mohammed to John, or you Americanize your last name, you’re going to get flagged.

And then the NYPD will conduct a background check of you and run your name through federal databases they have access to. you know, they’ll be able to check your international travel records, immigration records. They’ll check and see if you have a cab driver’s license, if you work for the city. and if they see anything that they think looks unusual, they might actually send a police officer out to talk to you about why you changed your name.

And the court tells us that they’re still sending that data to the NYPD. So we know that continues. and that’s just – I mean that’s just a fascinating, you know, a fascinating effort for us because, you know, the changing of names, the Americanization of names, is such a part of, you know, the immigrant story of America.

And to see it now being sort of scanned for potential red flags for terrorism just shows, you know, how much has changed in New York since 9/11, not just on the ground, but the way we view things in New York, the way we view what had been part of America’s story in New York.

GROSS: if you’re just joining us, my guest is journalist Matt Apuzzo. he won a Pulitzer Prize this week, a prize he shares with several other Associated Press reporters for their investigation of the New York Police Department’s clandestine spying program that monitored daily life in Muslim communities. Let’s take a short break here, and then we’ll talk some more about your investigation. This is FRESH AIR.

GROSS: if you’re just joining us, my guest is journalist Matt Apuzzo. He’s with the Associated Press, where he focuses on national security and intelligence issues, and this week he won a Pulitzer Prize, which he shares with several other AP reporters for their investigation of the NYPD’s clandestine spying program that monitored daily life in Muslim communities.

What investigations has your investigation led to?

APUZZO: well, as I referenced a little bit earlier in the show, the CIA’s inspector general looked into this, found some poor judgment, but no outright criminal wrongdoing or violations of policy. the Justice Department is – and I have to parse this, right – the Justice Department is reviewing requests to review the NYPD.

A few dozen members of Congress have called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the NYPD’s programs. he says he’s reviewing the requests. But he did say, on Capitol Hill, that he’s disturbed by what he’s seen and thinks there should be some standard of, you know, probable cause or whatnot for opening these types of investigations. But as of now there doesn’t appear to be any sort of official action by the Justice Department.

You know, there’s been a call in New York for maybe an NYPD inspector general to kind of fill the oversight void that exists in New York City on this topic. It doesn’t look like that’s going anywhere right now, but you know, who knows, that could change.

There’s been also some calls up at the state legislature for adding some oversight. again, that doesn’t look like that’s going to go anywhere either.

GROSS: Can the NYPD point to any terrorist plots that were foiled as a result of the surveillance program that you uncovered? Can they say, look, this program is justified, yeah we spied on Muslims, but, you know, we saved lives as a result?

APUZZO: yes. I mean so they have – they have defended, vigorously defended these programs as lawful and necessary, and the NYPD has smartly said we are constantly at risk of being attacked. and they point to this list of plots, they have a list of 14 plots, and they say these are 14 plots that were unsuccessful either by good work of NYPD, good work of somebody else, or luck.

That has been shorthanded by supporters of the NYPD, and in some instances by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, that’s been shorthanded to the NYPD has foiled 14 plots, which is not true. you know, the list of 14 includes, you know, plots like the Faisal Shahzad Times Square car bomb that was foiled because the bomb didn’t work, not because of any action by law enforcement.

So I think the real – the sort of the hallmark case for them, for the NYPD on these programs, is the case involving would-be bombers of the Herald Square subway station around the time of the 2004 Republican convention in New York City. This is a plot in which they used an informant and an undercover officer to identify people who had hoped to carry out a bombing in New York City – in the subway system.

And that’s kind of their signature success. you know, people were convicted. the tactics that were used, the undercover and the informant, were upheld by the court and said in this instance it’s totally fine, we’re going to – it’s going to be admissible evidence, and people went to jail.

You know, look, defense attorneys, the civil rights community are really opposed to that case. they say, you know, look, these were people who were not particularly bright. It was a case of entrapment. the undercover officer basically enticed them to do it. But what you can’t take away is that people went to jail who had hoped to do bad things or at least considered doing bad things and potentially killing a lot of people.

Now, the question is, really, is the nonexistence of another attack – does that prove that the programs that are in place are working? and the NYPD has said yes. the proof that we’re doing it right is the fact that we haven’t been attacked. and of course, there’s no way to disprove that because if we were to be attacked tomorrow, nobody presumably would say this proves that your programs don’t work and we should stop doing them.

So, again, it’s not so much of a – sort of a purely logical debate. It’s more of a policy debate about what we want our police department to be doing. Police Department says it’s solving – it’s preventing terrorism, and they can point to a decade without a terrorism attack. and I think that’s a big part of the reason why the majority of New Yorkers, according to polls, support what the NYPD is doing and say they’re all for it.

GROSS: I think a lot of Muslims in America have been afraid that the government was trying to spy on them since 9/11, and your investigation proves that in New York, in fact, many Muslims were spied on by the NYPD. So how has this affected relations between the police and Muslims in New York and between the city government and Muslims in New York?

APUZZO: well, this – the NYPD and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have said we have great relationships with the Muslim community, we’re in the mosques all the time, you know, we’re doing outreach, everything is good. you know, the FBI, at least in nearby Newark, where the NYPD was also conducting surveillance, the top FBI officer in New Jersey has actually said, look, this is destroying our ability to get cooperation from people who we really count on for cooperation.

So many of these, you know, would-be plots are foiled because somebody makes a phone call, and we really risk that stopping if this sort of thing continues. the NYPD, we respectively disagree. you know, we’re going to do everything necessary to prevent terrorism, and that includes, you know, monitoring those areas where terrorists might spring up. and so by necessity that’s going to be Muslim communities.

But it’s been – it’s been really fascinating. What we’ve seen is there’s been some sense of not wanting to talk publicly, not wanting to maybe go to mosques. We’ve heard reports of people saying, look, we don’t want to go there, we don’t want to go to that business, we don’t want to go to that mosque because now we know it’s, you know, the NYPD is sort of trawling it, looking for anything they can get, and if you say something, you might end up in an intelligence file.

I mean, look, what we’ve seen in the documents is that the police department uses officers to sit in parking lots or sit outside mosques and just collect license plates and take pictures and videos of people coming and going from mosques.

We know that they train video cameras on poles and point them at mosques. we know that they use informants called mosque crawlers to just sort of soak up everything that happens inside the mosque, and even stuff about lawful protests and, you know, write your congressman – all ends up in intelligence files, even if it has no connection to terrorism.

So, you know, I do think what you do see is a little bit of Muslims saying, geez, I don’t want to say – I don’t want to say anything. I don’t want to go where people might be listening and might put me in an intelligence file even if I haven’t done anything wrong.

GROSS: Matt Apuzzo will be back in the second half of the show. he and three other Associated Press reporters won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting this week for their series exposing the NYPD’s secret surveillance program monitoring daily life in Muslim communities. I’m Terry Gross and this is FRESH AIR.

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross back with Matt Apuzzo, who won a Pulitzer Prize this week, along with three other reporters from the Associated Press, for their series revealing the New York City Police Department’s secret surveillance program, monitoring daily life in Muslim communities. the series also won a George Polk Award for metropolitan reporting. Apuzzo covers intelligence and national security for the AP.

Your series starts with a building superintendent near Rutgers. Was it Rutgers? Which part of New Jersey is this?

APUZZO: in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

GROSS: in New Brunswick, New Jersey in June of 2009. So the superintendent opens the door to one of the apartments in his building and what does he find?

APUZZO: he opens the door to conduct a maintenance check and he sees terrorist literature sort of strewn about the table and surveillance equipment and computer equipment set up. and he says, oh my God, it’s a terrorist cell in my building. and he calls 911 and the Police Department and the FBI rush out and it turns out there’s no terrorist cell. It’s an NYPD safe house, an undercover operation being run far outside their jurisdiction, being run by their undercover squad known as the Special Services Unit, and they were running clandestine operations throughout New Jersey based out of that apartment.

GROSS: So how did you find out about this?

APUZZO: well, my colleague, Adam Goldman and I, cover a lot of intelligence issues. and we’re on the investigative team here in D.C. and in the course of doing other reporting on the CIA, a couple of people said, you know, geez, you should really ask around about, you know, Ray Kelly’s mosque crawlers or ask what a raker is. and these are terms that we’ve never heard and, you know, I’ve covered the Justice Department and the FBI before, an Adam has experience in intelligence, so hearing new terms kind of perked our ears up. and we just started nosing around about it. and we kept it in her notebook, and early part of spring last year, we decided let’s just buckle down and really try to find out what’s going on here.

GROSS: So what is a raker?

APUZZO: A raker is a plainclothes officer, typically Arab or South Asian dissent, who basically is a listening post inside a Muslim community. His job is to rake the coals looking for hotspots. So if he goes into a restaurant and a bunch of guys are watching Al-Jazeera and there’s a report of an IED blowing up and Americans being killed and somebody cheers and somebody claps their hand, he’ll make a note of that. That’s a hotspot. and then they’ll drop an informant in or they’ll drop an undercover in, and try to get a sense of what’s going on. But, of course, when you rake the coals, what you find is a lot of stuff that’s not hotspots. and so a lot of innocent people were raked as well.

GROSS: Now I know that your, you know, a lot of your sources have to remain anonymous, because they’re not supposed to be revealing the details of covert operations within the NYPD. But it makes me wonder if some of your sources were people who were disenchanted with the surveillance program and thought it was illegal or unethical.

APUZZO: Yeah. Certainly some were. I mean we certainly talk to some people who just thought, this isn’t what I got into the police department to do. But a lot of the guys we talked to felt like this was a good thing, and this was a model, this was the sort of thing we should be doing in other departments. and that’s frankly the kind of discussions we wanted to initiate, because if these tactics are the best way to keep a city safe, let’s make those best practices and let’s not just have them in New York. and if it’s not the best way to do it, then why would we want it to be done in New York City, which is the premier terrorist target in the United States? So certainly there were people who were disenchanted. Many people who talked to us were not disenchanted, were directly involved in these programs, we’re proud of them and we tried to do justice to both those sides.

GROSS: So those people wanted to defend the program and they knew that you would be writing about it?

GROSS: So, the superintendent story that you told us, where he thinks he’s, you know, he’s come upon the terrorists cell, but it’s really a covert NYPD operation, that was in New Jersey.

GROSS: and the New York Police don’t have jurisdiction in New Jersey. It’s not the only operation they had in New Jersey. What are some of the others?

APUZZO: well, the Demographics Unit, which you talked about earlier, actually conducted a full operation in Newark where they mapped the entire Muslim community, identified all the mosques, photographed all the Muslim-owned businesses, where all the restaurants, tried to identify the ethnicity of the owners of all the different Muslim businesses in Newark – most of whom that we were able to identify, are, you know, American citizens and not immigrant American citizens. Newark has a very large black Muslim population so many of the people who were being monitored in Newark were actually just African-Americans. and then we also know that they were conducting mosque surveillance in northern New Jersey and we know they were infiltrating and monitoring college groups, you know, Muslim student associations in New Jersey. But certainly, it wasn’t just limited to New Jersey. I mean, we’ve shown that they were infiltrating political groups as far away as New Orleans.

GROSS: So let’s go back to New Jersey. What did New Jersey officials and New Jersey police have to say about the NYPD conducting surveillance there?

APUZZO: well, when I called Newark Mayor, Cory Booker, for the first time about this, I think he was a little bit incredulous and, you know, that this would happen and he didn’t know about it. and as we talked more about it, I think he was shocked that it happened and has asked that it not happen. and it really cause a divide between Cory Booker and Michael Bloomberg, two mayors who, you know, they’re separated by a very narrow stretch of water, and who are very close, personally and politically. and it caused a real rift. and it also has gotten a lot of pushback from Governor Christie in New Jersey, who was a former U.S. attorney. and who said, this is just not the way you do counterterrorism. you have to let people know when you’re going to be in their city, or you’re going to be in their state, conducting these kinds of operations. and in that sense, the civil liberties issue, the idea of where you put down the marker between liberties and security has kind of gotten lost in the debate over Newark. It’s totally a you were supposed to tell us who knew what when as far as the FBI versus the NYPD. you know, that age-old rift has kind of come to overshadow the actual discussion about the operations in New Jersey.

GROSS: So you said that the NYPD also conducted political activities as far away as New Orleans. What kind of other activities were they involved in in conducting surveillance?

APUZZO: Right. So the intelligence division, in addition to sort of monitoring Muslims for potential terrorist attacks, they also used their undercover officers to keep tabs on protests and groups that might protest inside New York City. So one document we were able to obtain showed an undercover officer going down to the People’s Summit in New Orleans, which is just a gathering of liberal groups kind of loosely under the banner of repealing NAFTA and free trade agreements, and equalizing the division of wealth in the United States. and what we saw is political activists being put into place documents for, you know, one guy introduced a film about the plight of the Palestinians. one person was in there, you know, just noted that she was in attendance and she is a labor organizer for housekeepers and nannies. they talked about, you know, all the different groups that were there and who might protest, what their issues were. and the whole idea is that, if there were ever a going to be a big protest in New York City, we’d know who the key players were and we’d know, you know, what to expect. and I think the feeling was that nobody wants a repeat of, you know, Seattle or Quebec riots, so we have to keep tabs on this. and that was surprising to us, because even though we had known there had been some spying ahead of the Republican Convention in 2004, we didn’t realize that it continued along the same vein, long after the convention was over.

GROSS: Did you get to talk to any Muslims who found out that they were spied on?

APUZZO: Absolutely. we did get to talk to a lot of Muslims who are spied on, and it was probably the most rewarding part of this project. one of the reporters on this team, Eileen Sullivan, is one of the leading experts on radicalization, homegrown terrorism and policing. and she and I, and Adam went out into these communities and we just brought the documents with us and we showed them. we said hey, you know, do you know that you were under surveillance? Did you know that an undercover officer came and took these pictures or listened to your conversations? and just hearing the range of reactions from – that’s fine, we want them to do this; we want them to be here; they’re keeping us safe too – to I can’t believe you’re doing this, I’ve done nothing wrong, why am I in a police file, I’m an American citizen, I don’t deserve this, to one barber we talked to who was like look, I’m OK with this, because when I was in Morocco, the Moroccan police – they’ll just come and take you away. So I’m OK with this. I, mean so it’s been a real – it was just a real eye-opener, just to see the range of reactions from just everyday people, responding to the fact that their activities got them in police files, even when they’ve done nothing wrong.

GROSS: So two New York tabloids had editorials about your reporting, exposing the NYPD’s undercover surveillance operation of the Muslim community. the Daily News editorial read: they just don’t get it. and with the exception of the most knee-jerk civil liberties activists, they are essentially alone and not getting that the NYPD is valuably scoping out the who, what, and where of neighborhoods by observing little more than activities in public view.

And the editorial in the New York Post read that the Associated Press should take a long walk off a short pier. What the AP and the New York Civil Liberties Union forget, is that the world, and critically, the law itself changed after 9/11. New Yorkers understand that counterterror folks need to be aggressive about preempting attacks to protect them, survival comes first.

I was wondering if you had that argument in your own mind?

APUZZO: sure. I mean we had a lot of discussions, internally, with our editors, going all the way up the chain. we were in Washington, we went – our editor, our bureau chief, top editors at the AP, had real discussions about how much to disclose. and we didn’t write everything we knew. I mean there was a lot of stuff in there that we didn’t write, where we said look, you know, this is intelligence gathering, pure and simple, counterterrorism focus, real potential wrongdoing. We’re not going to give up the names, the locations, whatever.

We tried to focus on how the investigations, how these operations – how they worked and how entire neighborhoods were swept up. and there is a balance that they have to do, because you’re writing about national security. But when you look at the major national security stories that have been written in the past decade, you know, the post-9/11 era, – you know, waterboarding, black sites, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, rendition, drones – it’s all sensitive stuff but you have to have the ability to write about it smartly and not recklessly, but you have to be able to write about it because otherwise how is anybody going to know what’s going on to be able to make a decision about whether they want this done? we can’t have that discussion unless you have the facts. So that was kind of always our guiding principle but, of course, we had these discussions about, you know, how much to say and how far to go.

GROSS: So what’s ironic here is one of the criticisms of the CIA right after 9/11, is that it didn’t have enough people on the ground who could speak Arabic and do undercover work in Muslim communities throughout the Muslim world where, you know, in parts of the world where would-be terrorists are. So it had – it just didn’t have enough intelligence before 9/11. and now what you’re telling us is that’s the kind of work that’s being done among our own citizens in New York.

APUZZO: Right. and the NYPD has language capabilities that, I mean, are really unparalleled and because they draw from such a diverse community. and I think everybody gives him credit in law-enforcement around the country, for using that and generating intelligence. But what’s fascinating about this is the people the CIA is spying on overseas, don’t have sort of constitutional rights. here they do, so the language capabilities – it’s one thing for overseas, it’s sort of how you use them in the United States is a whole other thing. and what I am most fascinated about, this issue about CIA/NYPD relationship is, you know, the mosque crawlers program, the use of these informants to just sort of troll the mosques looking for, you know, what’s going on, was actually a CIA-generated program that started overseas after 9/11 – kind of born out of desperation.

Hey, let’s just put people in mosques and see if we can keep tabs on what’s going on. and it didn’t take long for them to realize that – or at least overseas – oh, this is a big waste of time. This is not how we’re going to get, you know, we’re going to identify would-be terrorists. But it really took root and became part of the culture at the NYPD, this idea of having people in mosques acting as listening posts, even though at the CIA they kind of said, eh, this isn’t really the best use of our resources.

GROSS: well, Matt Apuzzo, thank you for joining us and congratulations on the two awards that this reporting has won – the George Polk Award and now a Pulitzer Prize. So…

APUZZO: thank you so much for having me.

GROSS: …congratulations and thank you.

APUZZO: great. Thanks.

GROSS: Matt Apuzzo won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting this week, which he shares with three other reporters from the Associated Press, Adam Goldman, Chris Hawley, and Eileen Sullivan. you can find links to their articles on our website freshair.npr.org.

Coming up, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews violinist Jenny Scheinman’s new album “Mischief and Mayhem.” This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

<a href="http://www.vpr.net/npr/150805767/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.vpr.net/npr/150805767/Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:44:03 GMT”>Stories Put Spotlight On NYPD Surveillance Program

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While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in our newsletter is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Also, because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between the any predictions and actual results. Always consult a real licensed investment professional before making any investment decision. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may likely lose some or all of the investment.

<a href="http://fyxnews.com/smw/26139/Six-Penny-Stocks-on-the-Move-with-Heavy-Volume-to-Watch-for-Wednesday-tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://fyxnews.com/smw/26139/Six-Penny-Stocks-on-the-Move-with-Heavy-Volume-to-Watch-for-Wednesday-Wed, 02 May 2012 00:38:27 GMT”>Six Penny Stocks on the Move with Heavy Volume to Watch for Wednesday

Sky High Hookah Lounge and Smoke Shop is open on Huffman Mill Road in Burlington.

The shop is the third in the Triad for owner Sajjad Ghafoor. the Burlington shop opened at 550 Huffman Mill Road between Cook out and the Village Grill two weeks ago.

Along with a mini hookah lounge, the shop carries tobacco pipes, hookahs, smoking accessories, flavored tobacco, party supplies, shot glasses, T-shirts and more.

A grand opening will be held April 20.

The business hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Call 336-278-9045 or find out more at www.skyhighhookah.com or look for Sky High Hookah on Facebook.

IN LAST WEEK’S column, we put Studio Shine at the wrong place.

The new salon is located in the big blue Victorian house is at 933 S. Fifth St. in Mebane.

They offer cuts colors, perms, gel nails and waxing.

Reach Studio Shine at 919-304-4247.

Open & Shut runs on Mondays and covers local retailers, restaurants and other businesses. Got something for Open & Shut? Contact Brent Lancaster at blancaster@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3040. Our fax number is 336-229-2463.

<a href="http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/open-54228–.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/open-54228–.htmlSun, 08 Apr 2012 19:31:42 GMT”>Open & Shut: Smoke shop opens in Burlington

Sky High Hookah Lounge and Smoke Shop is open on Huffman Mill Road in Burlington.

The shop is the third in the Triad for owner Sajjad Ghafoor. the Burlington shop opened at 550 Huffman Mill Road between Cook out and the Village Grill two weeks ago.

Along with a mini hookah lounge, the shop carries tobacco pipes, hookahs, smoking accessories, flavored tobacco, party supplies, shot glasses, T-shirts and more.

A grand opening will be held April 20.

The business hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Call 336-278-9045 or find out more at www.skyhighhookah.com or look for Sky High Hookah on Facebook.

IN LAST WEEK’S column, we put Studio Shine at the wrong place.

The new salon is located in the big blue Victorian house is at 933 S. fifth St. in Mebane.

They offer cuts colors, perms, gel nails and waxing.

Reach Studio Shine at 919-304-4247.

Open & Shut runs on Mondays and covers local retailers, restaurants and other businesses. Got something for Open & Shut? Contact Brent Lancaster at blancaster@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3040. our fax number is 336-229-2463.

<a href="http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/open-54228–.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/open-54228–.htmlSun, 08 Apr 2012 19:31:42 GMT”>Open & Shut: Smoke shop opens in Burlington

Kelly Clarkson and Matt Nathanson Live: more than Meets The EyeDespite concert tours by Van Halen, the reunited Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters in 2012, let me state that the Kelly Clarkson and Matt Nathanson package currently touring is one of the best of the year.

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Singled Out: Liz Primo’s Wind Me UpToday rising dance music star Liz Primo tells us about her hot new single “Wind Me Up” which comes from her debut EP “Exposed.”

St. Paddy’s Picks: U2- Celtic Woman- ClannadKevin Wierzbicki helps us get in the spirit for Saint Patrick’s Day with a look at new Irish-centric releases including a U2 documentary, a new release from Celtic Woman and double disc retrospective from Clannad. Bain sult as.

Singled Out: Automatic Static’s I’m So Worn Out, I’m So far GoneToday Automatic Static mainman Z Rokk tells us about “I’m So Worn Out, I’m So far Gone” from their brand new album “Number IV,” which was released today.

Meat Loaf – Hell in a HandbasketHell in a Handbasket may not be headed for the top of the charts but it’s also far from going the direction the album title indicates.

Singled Out: cold Fronts’ Ready To GoToday Craig Almquist from cold Fronts tells us about the song “Ready To Go” from their brand new EP release “Pretty American”.

Singled Out: Michael Olivieri Band’s more than I DoToday former Leatherwolf frontman Michael Olivieri tells us about the new song “More than I Do” from the Michael Olivieri Band’s new album “M.O.B”.

Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking BallBruce Springsteen’s widescreen vision of America on Wrecking Ball is filled with terror, tension, tenacity and above all else, triumph which may not replenish your bank account, but it will replenish your soul.

Singled Out: Namesake’s Worlds AwayToday Will Crafton from Namesake tells us about their brand new single “Worlds Away” which comes from their forthcoming album

Van Halen Live in Chicago 2012With a new album in tow, Van Halen has hit the road once again and while on paper it has much in common with the 2007-08 tour, this time around the band has coalesced into an unyielding band of brothers ready to slay anyone in their path.

Singled Out: Mike Ruocco’s Too LateToday Mike Ruocco tells us about his new single “Too Late” from his forthcoming solo album.

Queen – Days of our LivesDays of our Lives is a thorough and compelling look at one of the most successful bands of the so-called classic rock era, told mostly through interviews with the surviving members of Queen.

RockPile: Lamb of God- Riotgod- Temblad- Astral DoorsFor this edition of Rock Pile Kevin Wierzbicki takes a look and listen to Lamb of God’s Resolution, Riotgod’s Invisible Empire, Temblad’s Mockery of the Fanatic, Astral Doors’ Jerusalem.

<a href="http://www.antimusic.com/news/12/March/ts28Lindsay_Lohan_Hit-And-Run_Allegation_Wont_Hurt_Probation.shtmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.antimusic.com/news/12/March/ts28Lindsay_Lohan_Hit-And-Run_Allegation_Wont_Hurt_Probation.shtmlSat, 31 Mar 2012 11:43:40 GMT”>antiMUSIC – Fan interactive Rock news, reviews, views, interviews and more!