News UpDates

Texas police warn spring breakers

2010-03-05T03:18:00.000-08:00

Texas police warn spring breakers: Stay out of Mexico border towns

The Texas Department of Public Safety took the unprecedented step Thursday of telling college students not to visit Mexican border cities during spring break because they are just too dangerous.

Several universities issued similar warnings last year, but this was the first time the Texas law enforcement agency had issued the specific advisory against travel, said spokeswoman Tela Mange. In the past, she said, Texas authorities had just urged students to be careful.

"Because of the increased violence, we decided to step it up a little bit and say, 'Parents, bad idea,'" Mange said.

DPS Director Steven C. McCraw said, "Parents should not allow their children to visit these Mexican cities because their safety cannot be guaranteed."

The State Department renewed a travel alert to Mexico last month, citing increased violence in the country -- border areas in particular.

"Recent violent attacks have caused the U.S. Embassy to urge U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of Michoacan, Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua ... and to advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution," the alert says.

More than 16,000 people have died in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels shortly after assuming office in December 2006. Ciudad Juarez, in Chihuahua state across the border from El Paso, Texas, is the most violent city in the nation.

"The situation in the state of Chihuahua, specifically Ciudad Juarez, is of special concern," the alert says.

Two U.S. citizens were abducted and killed in Chihuahua, the State Department said.

"Mexican authorities report that more than 2,600 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez in 2009," the report states. "Additionally, this city of 1.3 million people experienced more than 16,000 car thefts and 1,900 carjackings in 2009. U.S. citizens should pay close attention to their surroundings while traveling in Ciudad Juarez, avoid isolated locations during late night and early morning hours, and remain alert to news reports."

But the problems are not limited to Juarez, the State Department says.

"Mexican drug cartels are engaged in violent conflict -- both among themselves and with Mexican security services -- for control of narcotics trafficking routes along the U.S.-Mexico border," the report says. "In order to combat violence, the government of Mexico has deployed military troops throughout the country. U.S. citizens should cooperate fully with official checkpoints when traveling on Mexican highways.

"Some recent Mexican army and police confrontations with drug cartels have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades. Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities across Mexico, but occur mostly in northern Mexico, including Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, Chihuahua City, Nogales, Matamoros, Reynosa and Monterrey. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area."

A number of areas along the border continue to experience a rapid growth in crime, with robberies, homicides, petty thefts and carjackings increasing during the past year nationwide, the alert says. The State Department reports notable spikes in Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and northern Baja California.

"Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales are among the cities which have experienced public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centers and other public venues," the alert says.

Man charged with killing California teen pleads not guilty

2010-03-04T05:37:00.000-08:00

Man charged with killing Cali

fornia teen

pleads not

guilty

A registered sex offender was charged Wednesday with rape and murder in connection with the disappearance of a California girl.

John Albert Gardner III, 30, pleaded not guilty to all charges, which stem from last week's disappearance of Chelsea King, 17, of the San Diego, California, area.

The charges against Gardner make him eligible for the death penalty, the San Diego County district attorney's office said Wednesday. The office said it has not yet determined whether it will seek capital punishment.

Gardner, of Lake Elsinore, California, will not be allowed to post bail.

Gardner was also charged Wednesday with assault with intent to commit rape in connection with an attack on a jogger in December 2009.

Searchers found a body Tuesday that they believe to be King's. Police arrested Gardner on Sunday.

Gardner is a registered sex offender, according to Steve Walker, a spokesman for the San Diego County district attorney.

King has been missing since February 25. Investigators say she was last seen at her school in Poway, about 15 miles north of San Diego. Her car, with her cell phone inside, was found at Rancho Bernardo Community Park.

On Tuesday, searchers found remains in a shallow grave at that park; they were found along the shoreline of a tributary south of a lake, authorities said.

"There is strong likelihood that we have found Chelsea," San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said at a news conference Tuesday. He said he expected a positive identification of the body to come Wednesday.

The body was found in a heavily wooded area not visible from nearby homes. A shoe had been found earlier in the same area, the sheriff said.

"Now that we have filed charges, our primary focus is obtaining justice for Chelsea King and her family," San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie M. Dumanis said Wednesday. "I also want to acknowledge the dedication of all the volunteers who helped in the search for Chelsea."

Police said Wednesday that the garage door of the home of Gardner's mother was spray-painted with a message saying that King's blood is on her hands. "Chelseas (sic) blood is on you move out," the message said, according to San Diego police spokesman Gary Hassen.

Gardner's next court appearance, a status hearing, is scheduled for Tuesday. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 18.

NIU Shooting

2010-02-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

NIU Shooting

According to the university's Web site, the campus was originally on lock down, but is now open and classes will be held as usual.

A suspect is in custody, but no name has been released, according to the Sun-Times.

This is the second shooting at NIU; last week marked the two-year anniversary of a shooting

Obama's nuclear power push faces obstacle: Waste

2010-02-17T06:16:00.000-08:00

Obama's nuclear power push faces obstacle: Waste

President Obama's announcement Tuesday of loan guarantees for nuclear power plants may encourage new construction, but a problem still remains that has plagued atomic energy for decades: what to do with nuclear waste?

On the left, opponents of nuclear power say the president should not be using taxpayer money to help build more power plants that will produce even more radioactive material, so long as the government has not figured out where to put it all.

"We haven't found a solution for the 100 nuclear power plants operating," said Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "And waste is building up on-site, with no solution."

On the right, critics fault the president for leaving the country without a plan for disposing of the waste, when he decided to pull the plug on the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada. The government spent billions of dollars studying the location.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, said the president's decision was "spectacularly misguided, and breaks a promise" made "decades ago" by the federal government to handle the waste.

Sanford accused Obama of making a "Chicago-style" political play to help Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who faces a tough re-election bid in a state where the Yucca Mountain plan was unpopular. But the White House points out that the president opposed the site since he was campaigning as a candidate, on the grounds of scientific and security questions.

Reid echoed those security concerns, saying any transportation of nuclear materials across the country could open a vulnerability.

"Leave it on-site where it is," he said last year. "You don't have to worry about transporting it. Saves the country billions and billions of dollars."

Currently, 70,000 tons of radioactive waste are stored at more than 100 nuclear sites around the country, and 2,000 tons are added every year.

After uranium has been used in a reactor, the spent fuel remains radioactive for thousands of years. It is taken out and put into a pool of water, or above ground in canisters made of concrete, steel, and lead. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the canisters are currently certified for up to 90 years of use, but that term may be extended.

During a visit to the Dresden nuclear plant in Illinois a few years ago, Christopher Crane of Exelon Nuclear stood next to a storage cask and showed CNN how little radiation escapes.

"If you stood here for an hour," he said, "you would pick up the same amount of radiation as you did by flying from Washington to Chicago to visit us today."

But both supporters and opponents of nuclear power largely agree that storing the material in casks at nuclear plants is no long-term solution.

"This generation was responsible for creating the waste," says Jack Edlow, whose Washington-based company transports nuclear material, "and this generation should make the decision to focus on it."

In January, the Obama administration announced a blue-ribbon panel would take a new look at the problem, headed by former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton and former Republican National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.

Commercial flights to Haiti to resume Friday

2010-02-17T06:09:00.000-08:00

Commercial flights to Haiti to resume Friday

American Airlines announced Tuesday it will resume commercial flights into Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Friday, making it the first airline to do so.

Commercial flights ended on January 12, when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and damaged many of the country's buildings, including some at Toussaint Louverture International Airport, in the capital.

The first flight will depart Miami International Airport in Florida at 6:40 a.m., arriving at 8:35 a.m. in Port-au-Prince, American Airlines said in a news release.

"This is that crack in the dam that we so badly needed and our passengers so badly wanted, to start moving regularly scheduled traffic into and out of Haiti," spokesman Tim Smith told CNN Radio.

"We'll start out with three main flights a day from south Florida, two from Miami and one from Fort Lauderdale. Then we'll also fly a JFK New York flight into Haiti four days a week."

Smith said that, despite damage to the airport, the airline was prepared to deal with passengers.

"One of the things we did very soon after the earthquake is that, as we were going in carrying relief supplies, we also sent in some American employees and folks from a construction firm that we worked with on the mainland to actually begin working to repair our facilities there at the Port-au-Prince terminal."

Haitian customs officials will work out of a cargo facility because of damage at the main terminal, Smith said.

"These flights serve as major milestones toward helping the country rebuild," Peter Dolara, American's senior vice president for Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America, said in the news release.

"With commercial air service restored, we can better connect loved ones and provide consistent transportation to and from Haiti."

Also beginning March 12, American Eagle will commence new service into Port-au-Prince from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and daily flights from the Dominican Republic cities of Santo Domingo and Santiago.

"We have begun our journey to recover from the catastrophic earthquake, but with support from companies like American Airlines, we hope it won't be nearly as long," said Ralph Latortue, consul general of Haiti in Florida.

American has served Haiti since 1971 and employs more than 100 people in Port-au-Prince, according to the airline.

Since the day after the earthquake, American Airlines and American Eagle have continued flying into and out of Haiti -- carrying relief workers, medical personnel, humanitarian aid and evacuating hundreds of people.

A spokeswoman for Spirit Airlines, which had a daily flight from Fort Lauderdale to Port-au-Prince, said the company was working to gain approval to resume its flights beginning Friday.

"We're awaiting the response from the airport," said spokeswoman Misty Pinson.

A spokesman for Delta Air Lines said it was working with Haitian authorities to reinstate service "as quickly as possible."

The work on the American Airlines terminal was carried out by Odebrecht, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based construction company that built American's terminal at Miami International Airport, said spokeswoman Renata Pinheiro.

A cargo building that was undamaged by the earthquake was transformed into a terminal, and immigration and customs services were located there, she said.

A terminal that suffered only minor damaged was fixed. "It wasn't a reconstruction of the airport itself, it was really making it operational," she said about the effort.

The company's workforce of 75 included 30 Haitian baggage handlers who "became construction helpers," she said. "Odebrecht's people trained them to do welding and painting. The really cool thing that we're super happy about is the fact that the whole thing came about in just three weeks."

Among the toughest challenges was finding construction supplies, the company said in a news release. Odebrecht solved that by obtaining materials in Puerto Rico and sending them by barge to the Dominican Republic, then moving them by truck to the Haitian capital.

"This has been a genuine labor of love, but also one of absolute commitment," said Antonio Pinto, Odebrecht's project executive in Haiti. "In the most basic human terms, it is essential to reopen this airport and to reconnect the people of Haiti with their families and friends abroad."

The company's other projects include rebuilding and fortifying levees in New Orleans, Louisiana, under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Bail decision delayed for 10 Americans in Haiti

2010-02-16T03:15:00.000-08:00

Bail decision delayed for 10 Americans in Haiti

A decision on whether bail would be granted for 10 American missionaries detained in Haiti may have been delayed Monday because of quake-related electrical problems at the courthouse.

Prosecutors said they couldn't print out their recommendation for the judge to review as scheduled for Monday.

Haiti's Deputy Attorney General Jean Serge Josephon on Saturday said he had decided whether to recommend bail be granted for the Americans, who are charged with trying to take dozens of children out of the country without proper documentation. He said he would return the case file and his recommendation on Monday to Examining Judge Bernard Saint-vil, whose decision about whether to grant bail will be final.

Officials said the decision would likely be delayed until Wednesday.

The Americans face charges of kidnapping and criminal association for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti after the nation's January 12 earthquake.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Saturday that the United States was still waiting to hear from Haitian authorities.

"The Haitian legal system continues to evaluate the charges against the 10 Americans," he said. "And we have received no formal notification from the Haitian government as to resolution of this case."

"So to the extent that the judge in the case might have something to announce, I would expect that would be early next week," Crowley added.

"We're anxious to see the case resolved as quickly as possible," Crowley said.

Deep South braces for rare, deep snow

2010-02-12T04:50:00.000-08:00

Deep South braces for rare, deep snow

A rare but powerful winter storm marched across the southern tier of the United States early Friday, spreading rain, sleet, ice and snow from Texas to Georgia.

The Southern states were getting a smaller dose of what their northeastern and mid-Atlantic counterparts have had to put up with this past week, digging out from a pair of record-setting blizzards.

Hundreds of Atlanta flights were canceled for Friday as snow began to bear down on the area.

Delta Air Lines canceled about 800 flights into and out of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, and AirTran Airways canceled 32 flights ahead of the storm, according to representatives of the airlines.

The new storm was taking a more southerly route than the previous two. Accumulations of up to 5 inches were predicted for parts of southeast Mississippi and southwest and south-central Alabama overnight Thursday into Friday.

Downtown Atlanta could get as much as 5 inches of snow Friday, beginning at mid-morning, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport had recorded 9.4 inches by Thursday night. It was the most snow recorded at the airport since 7.8 inches fell on January 15, 1964, and the same amount on January 14, 1917, the National Weather Service said.

Louisiana closed state government offices in 42 parishes for Friday because of the storm.

In Washington, more than 250,000 federal workers were told to report to work on Friday, after having the first four days of the week off because of a pair of winter storms.

"Employees should plan to arrive for work no more than two hours later than they would normally arrive, and employees who cannot report for work may take unscheduled leave," said a statement from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

The first storm dumped more than 30 inches of snow in some places last weekend, while the latest part of the one-two punch dropped 22.5 inches on Baltimore, Maryland; 15.8 inches on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and about 10 inches on Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia; Central Park in New York; and Atlantic City, New Jersey, the National Weather Service said.

Records for total snowfall for the season have been set at Dulles International Airport west of Washington, with 72 inches; Philadelphia, with 70.3; Baltimore, with 70.1; Reagan Washington National Airport, with 55.6; and Atlantic City, with 48.7, according to the weather service.

In the aftermath of what some are calling "Snowmageddon," most power had been restored. Potomac Electric Power Co. said nearly all of its customers in metropolitan Washington will have had their power restored by early Friday evening.

"We're cautiously optimistic," PEPCO spokesman Bob Hainey said Thursday. "Our goal is to get everyone back on as soon as possible."

Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport reopened Thursday, after closing to flights Wednesday afternoon.

2010-02-10T06:16:00.000-08:00

Deadliest Catch Captain Dies

Deadliest Catch Captain Dies

Capt. Phil Harris, one of the signature personalities that made the reality series "The Deadliest Catch" such a gigantic breakout hit for the Discovery Channel, died Tuesday (February 9) at the age of 53. Harris died of complications from a stroke he suffered on January 29.

"Discovery mourns the loss of dear friend and colleague Captain Phil Harris," a statement from the channel said. "He was more than someone on our television screen. Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him. We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart. We share our tremendous sadness over this loss with the millions of viewers who followed Phil's every move."

Harris was the captain of the Cornelia Marie, one of several crab-fishing boats upon which "The Dealiest Catch" was focused, and one of the few to be featured in every season of the show. Through five seasons, the show depicted the extreme conditions that fishermen face while hunting for crab off the coast of Alaska. Harris' gruff personality, no-nonsense work ethic and acerbic sense of humor made him a fan favorite on the program.

Jake and Josh Harris, the captain's two sons, also issued a statement regarding their father's passing. "It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad — Capt. Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down. We will remember and celebrate that strength. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers."

The Discovery Channel will air the sixth season of "The Deadliest Catch" some time in 2010.

illinois earthquake

2010-02-10T05:47:00.000-08:00

illinois earthquake

The Chicago Tribune reports a medium-sized Illinois earthquake of 4.3 on the Richter Scale hit 48 miles north of Chicago near DeKalb, and was felt by residents in Southern Wisconsin and Iowa early Wednesday.

The USGS reports "a magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 60 miles from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 300 miles from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 25 miles."

Earthquakes are rare in the midwest, but do happen. The strongest reported one was 7 on the Richter scale below St. Louis 200 years ago.

Other than shaking dishes in homes, there's no word of major damage.

milwaukee school closings

2010-02-09T07:01:00.000-08:00

milwaukee school closings

Yesterday on Monday, the city of Milwaukee called a meeting and discussed how they should handle the snowstorm. The Director of Public Works and the regional directors were also invited in the meeting. The team discussed about plans to keep the roads on track as snow falls.

This was the story of last day and now, today’s story says, the city is facing a heavy snowstorm. They have their road crews on roads that are fully prepared to deal with the snowstorm. The trucks are on the line and they know how to clean the city from the snow and how to keep their roads clean. Today, manager Jim Strehlow visited a garage and watched city employees repairing snow equipments like snow plows. He says, they are ready to tackle snowstorm. Their equipments are in good condition.

The Milwaukee County Transit System is also fully prepared. Jackie Janz says they are looking towards the condition of snow. He thinks a long-term snowstorm may help them.

The schools of the city have been closed and city is expecting 4-6 inches of snow. The snow will remain continue to fall till night.

sleeping beauty syndrome

2010-02-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

Sleeping Beauty Syndrome

sleeping beauty syndrome

When 15-year-old Louisa Ball takes a nap, she doesn’t mess around. She sleeps for days on end, and no amount of shaking or prodding can fully wake her up.

The British girl has a rare condition called Sleeping Beauty Sickness, but there’s no Prince Charming on the way to rescue her. Doctors don’t know what causes it or how to cure it — only that it strikes teenagers and goes away by itself after eight to 12 years.

Until it goes away, life is groggy ever after.

brooklyn decker

2010-02-09T06:17:00.000-08:00

brooklyn decker

For Brooklyn Decker, the next few months will bring a series of firsts.

The North Carolina-raised model, 22, is celebrating her first-ever time as the cover girl on the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue – a spot she landed after five years of posing for the magazine.

"It's shocking and a dream come true!" Decker told PEOPLE shortly after learning that her photo would grace this year's cover.

Another first? Doing a round of talk show interviews to promote her prestigious job. "I've never been on one! I'm kind of freaking out," she said before appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman Monday. "I've done news shows, but I've never done a big talk show."

steve phillips

2010-02-08T07:40:00.000-08:00

steve phillips

ESPN.com reports: Former ESPN baseball analyst and New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips said Monday that he knew he had a sex-addiction problem last August, two months before he was fired after having an affair with an ESPN production assistant.

"What I want to do is take ownership," he told Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show. "I made some mistakes ... I'm fully responsible for what I did."

Phillips spoke publicly for the first time since leaving the same clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss., that golfer Tiger Woods reportedly attended. He called it a facility for people who are "broken" and "struggling to find answers." He said his focus is "moving forward, trying to save my family."

top super bowl commercials 2010

2010-02-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

top super bowl commercials 2010

Let the record show that 2010 was the year of older women being viciously tackled in Super Bowl commercials. It’s about time: These old biddies have been getting away with far too much lately.

Of course until kickoff, 2010 was known as the Year of the Tim Tebow Pro-Life ad, in which the ex-Florida quarterback and his mom teamed to bring America a message funded by that conservative Christian fun bunch, Focus on the Family. The commercial was kept strictly under wraps until Sunday morning, when CBS released what turned out to be a rather timid, benign message which had Mrs. Tebow talking about her “miracle baby.”

But in the version that actually aired during the game, a strange thing happened. As Pam Tebow finished her little spiel, Tim suddenly flashed in from stage left and took her out with a rather aggressive tackle. Well, that’s gratitude for you.

Anyway, it would have been a pretty funny moment, had pretty much the same thing not occurred moments before. In the previous commercial, Betty White — 88 years old and one of the two surviving Golden Girls — is featured in a Snickers commercial, in which she is ruthlessly tackled during a game of pickup football. We then learn that it turns out to be a guy who is just playing like Betty White, until he gets a bite of Snickers.
It kind of took the steam out of the following Tebow ad “surprise,” turning a potentially humorous commercial into a “why does CBS hate older women?” moment. All in all, however, all the hand wringing over the Tebow spot turned out to be for nothing: It seemed to feel more like an FTD spot than something decrying abortion. Final verdict: $2.5 million not well spent.

But the same cannot be said for Coca-Cola, Doritos and Budweiser, who scored big with multiple ads, turning up the creativity meter after a couple of years of Super Bowl ad blandness. Doritos rolled out four spots and asked viewers to vote for their favorite, and Coke presented us with no less than The Simpsons (Mr. Burns loses all his money, and is cheered up by soft drink-wielding Springfield residents). Budweiser probably hit for the highest average of all, including the return of the Budweiser Clydesdales. Folks love their Clydesdales: Two ads featuring the lumbering horses finished second and third, respectively, in a USA Today Super Bowl reader survey last year.

Oh, and CBS reunited Leno and Letterman, with a dash of Oprah, in what will probably be the most talked-about moment of the commercials. Details below.

Here are all the ads in case you for some reason were watching the game and went to the bathroom during the commercials (I mean really, what’s up with that?).

In case you have a sudden desire to attend a movie tonight, it’s no wonder: CBS unfurled ads for upcoming releases "Shutter Island," "Robin Hood," "Prince of Persia," "The Backup Plan" and, most interestingly, "The Last Airbender;" the new M. Night Shyamalan film that actually looks like it might not suck.

Our favorite Super Bowl commercial? Glad you asked. We’ve created a top 5, followed of course by a bottom five, in descending order:

5. Budweiser, "Lost." How to make the show much less confusing and much more awesome.

4. Snickers, "Betty White." Any time you have Betty White getting demolished in game of pickup football, then talking smack, AND Abe Vigoda, that’s pure win right there.

3. Bridgestone, "Orca." I didn’t think anything could one-up the tiger in the hotel room in "The Hangover," but this does. Bridgestone Killer Whale > Free Willy.

2. CBS, "Dave, Oprah and Jay." Only Oprah could get Letterman and Leno to watch the Super Bowl on the same sofa. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the late-night hosts was inserted via CGI. (Editor's note: We thought so too, but it turns out it actually happened.)

1. Coke, "Simpsons." Mr. Burns loses all his money, but the people of Springfield cheer him up with a Coke and a smile. Noteworthy for: Cameo appearance by Spider-Pig, a TV news broadcaster who isn’t Kent Brockman, and only one regular cast member doing a character voice — Pamela Hayden as Milhouse. That saved some bucks, I'll reckon.

drew brees son

2010-02-08T05:04:00.000-08:00

The Cutest Saint at Superbowl XLIV 2010 Drew Brees Son Baylen (with Video)

drew brees son

When I thought of all the moments of the Superbowl two come to mind. One the incredible interception in that clinched the game as the Saints took a two touchdown lead over the Colts. The other is the final moment as the cameras caught Quarterback Drew Brees talking to his infant son named Baylen.

I just had to write about it. For the little guy who doesn’t understand the significance yet of what happened can claim he was there the day he’s daddy won the Superbowl. I can’t imagine a day in Drew Brees life in which he will feel prouder and the bond of the emotional moment of bringing his son out onto the field.

I really hope they post an image of his son with the headphones on over his ears, as he was looking taking in the excitement of the crowd. All the while his father is talking at him and the poor kid can’t hear a thing. At least someone thought ahead to put the headphones on him on the first place so his hearing wouldn’t be damaged.

I wanted to relive that moment with Drew Brees and his son Baylen at the Superbowl victory. The closest thing I could find on the internet was the video of that moment. Watch below as a father shares a triumphant moment with his son.

blackwater

2009-08-20T04:55:00.000-07:00

blackwater
WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials.

Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped the spy agency with planning, training and surveillance. The C.I.A. spent several million dollars on the program, which did not successfully capture or kill any terrorist suspects.

The fact that the C.I.A. used an outside company for the program was a major reason that Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A.’s director, became alarmed and called an emergency meeting in June to tell Congress that the agency had withheld details of the program for seven years, the officials said.

It is unclear whether the C.I.A. had planned to use the contractors to actually capture or kill Qaeda operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance in the program. American spy agencies have in recent years outsourced some highly controversial work, including the interrogation of prisoners. But government officials said that bringing outsiders into a program with lethal authority raised deep concerns about accountability in covert operations.

Officials said the C.I.A. did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince, a politically connected former member of the Navy Seals and the heir to a family fortune. Blackwater’s work on the program actually ended years before Mr. Panetta took over the agency, after senior C.I.A. officials themselves questioned the wisdom of using outsiders in a targeted killing program.

Blackwater, which has changed its name, most recently to Xe Services, and is based in North Carolina, in recent years has received millions of dollars in government contracts, growing so large that the Bush administration said it was a necessary part of its war operation in Iraq.

It has also drawn controversy. Blackwater employees hired to guard American diplomats in Iraq were accused of using excessive force on several occasions, including shootings in Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed. Iraqi officials have since refused to give the company an operating license.

Several current and former government officials interviewed for this article spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing details of a still classified program.

Paul Gimigliano, a C.I.A. spokesman, declined to provide details about the canceled program, but he said that Mr. Panetta’s decision on the assassination program was “clear and straightforward.”

“Director Panetta thought this effort should be briefed to Congress, and he did so,” Mr. Gimigliano said. “He also knew it hadn’t been successful, so he ended it.”

A Xe spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, also declined to give details of the program. But she praised Mr. Panetta for notifying Congress. “It is too easy to contract out work that you don’t want to accept responsibility for,” she said.

The C.I.A. this summer conducted an internal review of the assassination program that recently was presented to the White House and the Congressional intelligence committees. The officials said that the review stated that Mr. Panetta’s predecessors did not believe that they needed to tell Congress because the program was not far enough developed.

The House Intelligence Committee is investigating why lawmakers were never told about the program. According to current and former government officials, former Vice President Dick Cheney told C.I.A. officers in 2002 that the spy agency did not need to inform Congress because the agency already had legal authority to kill Qaeda leaders.

One official familiar with the matter said that Mr. Panetta did not tell lawmakers that he believed that the C.I.A. had broken the law by withholding details about the program from Congress. Rather, the official said, Mr. Panetta said he believed that the program had moved beyond a planning stage and deserved Congressional scrutiny.

“It’s wrong to think this counterterrorism program was confined to briefing slides or doodles on a cafeteria napkin,” the official said. “It went well beyond that.”

Current and former government officials said that the C.I.A.’s efforts to use paramilitary hit teams to kill Qaeda operatives ran into logistical, legal and diplomatic hurdles almost from the outset. These efforts had been run by the C.I.A.’s counterterrorism center, which runs operations against Al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.

In 2002, Blackwater won a classified contract to provide security for the C.I.A. station in Kabul, Afghanistan, and the company maintains other classified contracts with the C.I.A., current and former officials said.

Over the years, Blackwater has hired several former top C.I.A. officials, including Cofer Black, who ran the C.I.A. counterterrorism center immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.

C.I.A. operatives also regularly use the company’s training complex in North Carolina. The complex includes a shooting range used for sniper training.

An executive order signed by President Gerald R. Ford in 1976 barred the C.I.A. from carrying out assassinations, a direct response to revelations that the C.I.A. had initiated assassination plots against Fidel Castro of Cuba and other foreign politicians.

The Bush administration took the position that killing members of Al Qaeda, a terrorist group that attacked the United States and has pledged to attack it again, was no different from killing enemy soldiers in battle, and that therefore the agency was not constrained by the assassination ban.

But former intelligence officials said that employing private contractors to help hunt Qaeda operatives would pose significant legal and diplomatic risks, and they might not be protected in the same way government employees are.

Some Congressional Democrats have hinted that the program was just one of many that the Bush administration hid from Congressional scrutiny and have used the episode as a justification to delve deeper into other Bush-era counterterrorism programs.

But Republicans have criticized Mr. Panetta’s decision to cancel the program, saying he created a tempest in a teapot.

“I think there was a little more drama and intrigue than was warranted,” said Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.

Officials said that the C.I.A. program was devised partly as an alternative to missile strikes using drone aircraft, which have accidentally killed civilians and cannot be used in urban areas where some terrorists hide.

Yet with most top Qaeda operatives believed to be hiding in the remote mountains of Pakistan, the drones have remained the C.I.A.’s weapon of choice. Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration has embraced the drone campaign because it presents a less risky option than sending paramilitary teams into Pakistan.

narwhal whale

2009-08-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

narwhal whale

One quiet evening not too long ago, Kristin Laidre was standing on a rocky beach, peering out of a fjord dotted with icebergs. The water looked strangely still under the nighttime sun.

"It's great conditions for seeing narwhals," said Laidre, watching through binoculars as a small group of narwhals moved past a glacier that spilled down from the Greenland ice cap. "They're so sneaky, but they can't really hide when the sea is like a mirror."

Narwhals are an Arctic whale known as the unicorn of the sea. The males have a distinctive long, spiral tusk. For centuries, traders sold these tusks as the legendary unicorn horn, which people thought had magic powers.

And in this particular fjord, called Inglefield Bredning, the narwhals do seem to have an almost magical ability to evade the researchers who are longing to catch them.

"They're swimming away from the nets," Laidre said, watching as the path of the swimming narwhals made a kind of shimmering line in the still water. "Yeah, they seem to be swimming toward the other side right now."

Thousands of narwhals spend their summers in this fjord, and Laidre, an oceanographer at the University of Washington, has been coming here for the past eight years. Again and again, she's tried to catch a narwhal by setting up giant nets. This shouldn't be impossible. She and her colleagues have had success with nets in other places. "We definitely can catch them in nets in Greenland and in Canada — in many places in Canada," she says. "But here, we haven't managed to do it."

If she could briefly snag a narwhal here, she could attach a small, sturdy satellite transmitter to a ridge of cartilage and blubber along its back. For months, the transmitter would send back all kinds of information, like where the narwhal goes and how deep it dives.

And that would be incredibly useful. Because even though the narwhal has long been famous for its unicorn horn — it's thought to be the whale version of a peacock's tail or a lion's mane — most of the narwhal's life is a mystery, hidden by darkness and ice.

"The main reason that narwhals are not studied is that it's not very easy," says Laidre. "They live in this, you know, totally extreme environment, where half the year, it's completely dark and minus 30 and covered in ice, and the whales are 200 kilometers offshore, and nobody in their right mind would make an expedition to study them."

Then in the summer, when there's warmth and endless light, she says, "they're completely skittish and shy from humans, and so you have to wait days before you might even see a narwhal. I mean days, weeks."

And so she waits ... and waits ... and waits. For two weeks in July, she heads up a little camp on this remote, rocky beach. There are a few tents, a couple of colleagues from Denmark, plus five Inuit hunters from a nearby town. Twenty-four hours a day, someone keeps watch on big white floats that will bob and jerk if a narwhal swims into the nets.

If that happens, Laidre will pull on a survival suit and rush toward the water to get her hands on the narwhal so she can tag it. In other places, when she's managed to do this, it's been an intense, wild ride. "It tends to be a little bit out of control," she says. "It's struggling, and it's trying to get free, and it's trying to get untangled, and it wants to come up for air, and it's going up and it's diving, coming down."

She says that when you touch a narwhal, it feels like a cold, hard, slippery inner tube. And the breath from their blowhole isn't that great. "They have whale breath," she says. "Kind of a heavy, little bit blubbery smell."

Here, though, she can see and even hear the narwhals spout, but only from far away. There's nowhere to go, nothing to do. For hours, days, her team sits around and stares at the blue sky, the blue water and icebergs — lots of icebergs — some bigger than houses. They drift by like clouds. As Laidre watches them with a colleague, partly to make sure none of them are headed for the nets, she jokes that maybe they should change fields, since "it's a lot easier to catch icebergs."

As a kid, Laidre remembers she had a set of stickers that had a narwhal, but she had no idea that she'd someday study the creatures. Her dream was ballet. "I trained intensively through high school, and then I went and I danced with a ballet company in Seattle," she says, explaining that an injury ended that career. So she went to college and now has a research job at the University of Washington.

Still, she thinks the physical and mental challenge of ballet was actually good training for studying narwhals. "You learn how to be miserable and suffer, and like, you just have to keep going for the sake of what you're doing," she says.

One night, a white mist suddenly covers everything. The hunters have to take in the nets since no one can see their buoys. As the fog lifts, but before the nets are back out, the narwhals appear, frolicking in front of the glacier, totally out of reach.

Another day, icebergs come dangerously close to the nets. The hunters have to move them to let the icebergs pass.

To pass the time, one day Laidre decides to decorate a plywood sign that's lying around. Under the name of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, which supports this project, there's the black outline of a narwhal. She picks up a paintbrush and starts filling it in with white paint. It looks like she's creating a tiny narwhal version of Moby Dick. She's read the book, of course, and jokes that sometimes she feels worse than Captain Ahab.

But even though catching a narwhal here might feel like pursuing something impossible and elusive, "I approach it with a very fatalistic attitude, a very realistic attitude with a good sense of humor," says Laidre. "Not expecting too much."

Then, two days before she has to leave, the narwhals come. She joins two hunters at the top of a hill and peers through binoculars. The backs of the narwhals move up and down through the water. A large group is near shore, sort of milling around. They don't seem to be in any hurry. Laidre runs down to the beach, pulls out her box of satellite transmitters, and struggles into a red survival suit. "I think it's really close," she says. "It's like the closest we've come in a really long time. After all these years, I don't usually put my suit on unless I really believe that there might be a chance."

She's quiet and tense, watching the narwhals. They move toward the nets. Then they veer slightly and slip away.

That night in her tent, Laidre hardly sleeps, waking every hour to check the nets. When she does drift off, narwhals swim into her dreams. One dream narwhal beaches itself by her tent. In another dream, she finds a strangely tiny narwhal, like a salamander, lying at her feet. "Now I had too many narwhals," she laughs, "but for various reasons I still couldn't tag them! So they were really weird dreams, and then I woke up and I thought, I think it might be time to go home."

The nets are pulled out onto the rocky shore. Everything gets packed into a permanent tent for storage. The plywood sign with the painted narwhal is screwed over the front door to keep polar bears from busting in. And Laidre says she hopes to come back next year, to try again.

nj unemployment

2009-08-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

nj unemployment

If you are one of New Jersey's unemployment victims, you may be already aware that you will be able to apply for your unemployment insurance benefits. You will not automatically be able to enjoy your NJ unemployment insurance benefits; you have to claim your benefits through proper channels. You can apply for your unemployment benefits either through the Internet or the telephone.

Applying online for New Jersey unemployment benefits

Take note of the following when applying online for Unemployment Insurance

You need to be a resident of New Jersey.
Employed in NJ for the past 18 months and must not have worked for the Federal Government or in military service in that time.
You need to give an Alien Registration number if not a citizen of USA.
To be eligible for a New Jersey unemployment benefits

You must have worked a minimum of 20 base weeks in covered employment or must have earned $7,200.

'For weeks worked in 2005, the amount needed to establish a base week was $103; for weeks worked in 2006, the amount is $123; and for weeks worked in 2007, the amount is $143. These wages must have been earned during a 52 week period that is called a base year.' Any unemployed worker who had worked in New Jersey at any time during the past 18 months can file an unemployment claim and learn whether they are eligible for a claim.

How to apply online for NJ unemployment benefits

If you meet all the above requirements, you will be able to apply online for your NJ unemployment insurance benefits by visiting wnjpin.state.nj.us/uiclaim/. Through this site you will be able to make a new claim or reopen an existing claim. You will also be able to claim your weekly benefits through this site.

To make your online unemployment benefits claim you will need the following information:

Your social security number.
Alien registration number if you are not a citizen of the USA.
Your job recall rate if any.
Complete reference details of your last four employers including their full name, address and contact number.
Employment period and the reason for separation from your past four employers.

NJ unemployment benefits claim through telephone

The other option to claim your unemployment insurance benefit is to contact your Reemployment center through telephone. You will be able to reach your Reemployment centers through the following numbers:

Northeast New Jersey - (201) 601-4100
Northwest and Central New Jersey - (732) 761-2020
South Jersey - (856) 507-2340

If you should have any queries you will find all the contact information including telephone number, FAX, Mailing address and Email address in the following page: www.state.nj.us/labor/ui/contact.html. Furthermore, something worthwhile to note regarding the New Jersey unemployment benefits policy is that you have the choice of getting your benefits transferred to your checking bank account electronically deposited as opposed to paper check.

You might like to know what profession is in demand in which area. You can find the labor demand occupations report in the following page: www.wnjpin.net/coei/labor_demand/labor_demand.htm. If you should feel apprehensive about your unemployment and interested in getting some quality suggestions and career advice do feel free to visit our career advice forum.

aishwarya rai swine flu

2009-08-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

aishwarya rai swine flu

Former Miss World and famous Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai is reportedly suffering with a “chest infection” and “flu like symptoms”. Some reports also suggest that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is down with swine flu, but these reports are not confirmed yet. So it is not sure whether the 35-year-old lady is having swine flu or not. On her health issues, her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan is very anxious.

About Aishwarya’s illness, Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his blog:

nadia marcinkova

2009-07-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

nadia marcinkova

Guess who's been released from prison? That would be Jeffrey Epstein, the secretive money manager who pleaded guilty in 2007 to soliciting underage teen girls for sex. Epstein has spent the last year or so in a Palm Beach prison, although he hasn't had to spend every minute of the day confined to a cell. As part of a work-release program, Epstein was allowed to leave his cell during the day and work from an "office" in West Palm Beach, work that reportedly involved helping the government build a case against the Bear Stearns hedge fund that imploded last year and cost Epstein the $67 million he'd invested in the fund. His cooperation helped shave six months off his sentence and early this morning Epstein skipped out of jail, using a side entrance to avoid the reporters that had gathered outside to greet him. But while his lawyer told a reporter that Epstein is thrilled that "this part of his life is over," and he's "ready to move on to other things," it doesn't look like he's totally put his past behind him.

Page2Live's Jose Lambiet reports this morning that jail records indicate that Epstein was visited on more than 70 occasions by Nadia Marcinkova, a woman who was at the center of Epstein's prostitution case in 2007. Marcinkova, who has described herself as a real estate broker in the past, served as Epstein's "assistant," helped wrangle underage girls for the billionaire, and even took part in the sex play herself, according to testimony given the Palm Beach police. And she may have also been a victim herself, since Epstein reportedly bragged to friends and associates that he'd "purchased her from her family in Yugoslavia" and "brought her into the United States to be his Yugoslavian sex slave."

Marcinkova wasn't the only person connected to Epstein's prostitution case to visit him behind bars. Sarah Kellen, who also allegedly helped procure girls for the money manager, stopped by on a few occasions. As did a handful of shady characters, including one Igor Zinoviev, "a Russian extreme fighter," and Jean-Luc Brunel, who co-owns a modeling agency in Miami and has been accused of abusing underage models in the past, according to Lambiet.

This morning, Epstein's lawyer said his client was experiencing "relief and excitement" now that he's a free man. We'll assume that even more "relief and excitement" will be experienced when he finally gets to reunite with Marcinkova in the privacy of his bedroom.

vibram fivefingers

2009-07-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

vibram fivefingers

Recently I came across a shoe, even though I have to yet try it but the technology and the reasons seems to be compelling enough to give this shoe a try.

Technology (from the Website):

The typical human foot is really a miracle of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. Like the rest of the body, to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised.

Many experts believe the shoes we wear not only cast the foot in a protective form, but also weaken our foot and leg muscles, leaving them underdeveloped and more prone to injury. And while there are many occasions where traditional footwear is essential for protection, safety, and security, it is equally important to stimulate and exercise the foot in a more natural state on a regular basis.

That’s why we recommend wearing FiveFingers for exercise, for play, and for fun. Stimulating muscles in your feet and lower legs will not only make you stronger and healthier, it improves your balance, agility and proprioception.

6 Reasons to Wear Vibram FiveFingers:

1. Strengthens Muscles in the Feet and Lower Legs - wearing FiveFingers will stimulate and strengthen muscles in the feet and lower legs, improving general foot health and reducing the risk of injury.

2. Improves Range of Motion in Ankles, Feet and Toes – no longer ‘cast’ in a shoe, the foot and toes move more naturally.

3. Stimulates Neural Function Important to Balance and Agility - when wearing Vibram FiveFingers, thousands of neurological receptors in the feet send valuable information to the brain, improving balance and agility.

4. Improves Proprioception and Body Awareness – those same neurological receptors heighten body awareness, sending messages about body mechanics, form, and movement.

5. Eliminates Heel Lift to Align the Spine and Improve Posture – By lowering the heel, our bodyweight becomes evenly distributed across the footbed, promoting proper posture and spine alignment.

6. Allows the Foot and Body to Move Naturally, Which Just FEELS GOOD.

erin andrews video peep pictures

2009-07-23T06:24:00.000-07:00

erin andrews video peep pictures

do u want to see ?

One sports writer called it the perfect storm.

The Internet + ESPN + blogs + folks like me feeding the fire all adds up to everyone wanting to see the Erin Andrews video peep or Playboy pictures of the young lady.

I confess. I don't even know who she is. I haven't watched ESPN ever unless it flashed by the tube while I was at the gym.

Yet, millions of folk, (billions?) are wanting just a peep at the ESPN star.

But, do you really?

If you don't care about sin and all that, you can stop reading. After all, this is a Christian Worldview site.

Christians will ask, what's the big deal? Why do you want to have a look? Is it really worth it.

Jesus has something to say in Matthew 5:28
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

I had a chance to see Farrah Fawcett's Playboy pictures way back when and passed. I am not about to start now. Do you really want to see?

Yes, I am a guy and I did want to look....

if any body her playboy pics send to zeeshan.javed88@gmail.com

chuck yeager

2009-07-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

chuck yeager
on the 40th anniversary of moonwalkers we give some nasa program top movies details for you to celebrate check this out .
chuck yeager

With the 40th anniversary of the July 20th, 1969 moonwalk in sight, it seemed fitting to give you my top movies on the NASA program. What better way to celebrate that achievement than reliving it on your favorite television. Put these in your Netflix queue if you don't already own them.

1. "The Right Stuff"

Picture from imdb.com

www.imdb.com/title/tt0086197/ This 1983 movie is based on the book by the same name by Tom Wolfe. It takes you from the test pilots like Chuck Yeager trying to break the sound barrier to the launch of the space program. It details the rigorous training programs and the personalities of the men who risked their lives to put the USA at the front of the space race. They are modern day heroes and this movie inspires and informs.

2. "Apollo 13"

Picture from imdb.com

This film www.imdb.com/title/tt0112384/ chronicles the one failed moon mission. It demonstrates the team work, ingenuity, and nail-biting tension that enabled NASA to bring back the astronauts alive after their space module is disabled. Real heroism and the reality of the whole world watching and waiting is powerful. This is a movie to be cherished, and makes science fiction seem small by comparison to real life drama.

3. "In The Shadow of The Moon"

Picture from imdb.com

This documentary www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/ uses actual NASA footage of space launches that will amaze you and it does something even better, it has the last living men who went to the moon talk about their experience. This is truly a treasure and will rock your world. The ending comments from the astronauts about what their moon flights meant to them is not to be missed. We should all thank Director Ron Howard for having the foresight to record the voices of these pioneers of space travel.

4. "October Sky"

Picture from imdb.com

"October Sky"www.imdb.com/title/tt0132477/ is the story of Homer Hickam, the son of a coal miner, who is inspired by the Russian launch of Sputnik to go into rocket science. The odds and his father are against him. This is based on the true story of a boy who went on to work for NASA despite everything that seemed to be against him. Sure, it's predictable, but it's also inspiring. It will make you believe in the power of your dreams. Good performances by Chris Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal.

give us your comments how these movies are

things

2009-07-18T03:31:00.000-07:00

things

The long-sought deal is reportedly near for Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to collaborate on Internet search technology and advertising.

Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal's All Things D blog quoted unnamed sources who said an agreement could be announced as early as next week.

A large group of Microsoft executives, including search head Satya Nadella and top digital exec Qi Lu, a former Yahoo exec, are in Silicon Valley to complete the deal, All Things D reported.

It's not clear if they have brought the "boatloads of money" that Yahoo chief executive officer Carol Bartz said in May that she would seek in any deal with her company's long-time suitor.

All Things D reported that a deal is likely to involve Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) paying several billion dollars upfront to take over its search and advertising business, as well as guaranteeing future payments to Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO).

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has frequently said his company is interested in doing a search deal with Yahoo, and Bartz confirmed in May that talks were underway.

The latest news is viewed with caution, however, since the companies have come close to a deal before, only to be derailed by snags late in the process. Microsoft tried unsuccessfully to take over Yahoo with a $47.5 billion offer last year.

Microsoft ranks third in the U.S. search market behind No. 1 Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq: GOOG) 65 percent share, according to ComScore rankings for May. The software giant's share rose to 8.4 percent from 8 percent after coming out with its new Bing search engine while Yahoo, the second-ranked search engine, dropped to 19.6 percent from 20 percent.

heather zeo

2009-07-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

Heather zeo

A teacher which show having sex with some one on educational CDs.

A former math teacher at North Penn High School in Montgomery County accused of having sex with one of her students and sending sexually explicit messages to another student has been ordered held for trial.

Both 17-year-old boys testified at Heather Zeo’s preliminary hearing. Under intense cross-examination from the defense, they told the judge how Zeo used social networking sites and the Internet to communicate with them.

Prosecutor Kate McGill says the 36-year-old Warrington, Pa. woman will stand trial on child endangerment charges:

“This was really a calculated seduction. I think in this situation where she reached out to these students on Facebook, she contacted them, she developed a relationship with them. they trusted her.”

Prosecutors say she had sex several times with one of the teens, inside classrooms at the school and in her family minivan in a Montgomeryville parking lot . The married mother of three has performed inspirational music at churches and festivals and records educational CDs.