Category:
National
September 7, 2007 5:16
Judge Rules Against Part of Patriot Act
Category: National
Pay attention Poli Sci majors....that whole "checks and balances" bit in the constitution does actually work even if you have to wait a while for it to kick into gear. Yesterday a federal judge struck down a key part of President Bush's post-9/11 Patriot Act - the section that allowed the FBI to conduct warrantless searches of e-mail and telephone data from private companies. "Despite Congress' attempts to put the Patriot Act on firmer constitutional ground, it still faces significant legal challenges," the LAT observes.
When the FBI turns its attention to the public sector it certainly seems to get results. A statewide corruption sting has netted 11 New Jersey officials including a "state assemblymen, mayors, city council members, school board members and the chief of staff for Newark's city council president," says the Newark Star-Ledger.
So far, 2007 has not been a good year for honeybees, newbie real estate brokers or nearly new iPhone sales staff.
September 6, 2007 5:31
Search for Fossett Continues
Category: National
The search continues for missing adventurer Steve Fossett. "It's a very large haystack....and an airplane is a very small needle. No doubt about that," is how Maj. Cynthia Ryan of the Nevada Civil Air Patrol described the challenges facing the searchers.
While we're still in the air, the U.S. Air Force has sacked one its commander after a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown from North Dakota to Louisiana last week. The United States agreed in a Cold War-era treaty not to fly nuclear weapons says CNN, noting that the warheads should have been removed from the missiles before they were attached to the bomber.
It's official - black is the new white, at least when it comes to the new line of iPods.
From pods to pop, popcorn that is and yes you can add America's favorite snack food to the list of things that are bad for you. Turns out the buttery flavoring in microwave popcorn has been linked to severe lung disease in popcorn factory workers and might also pose a risk to serial snackers.
September 5, 2007 5:31
Fosset Rescue Mission
Category: National
Rescuers will resume their search for U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett who is missing in the Nevada desert after taking off on a solo flight. Fossett, 63, took off from a private airfield at the Flying M Ranch near Yerington, Nevada to scout sites for an attempt to set a world land speed record reports Reuters.
The District of Columbia has petitioned the Supreme Court to save the city's ban on handguns which had been overturned by an appeals court. This "could lead to a historic decision....on whether the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual's right to own a gun or simply imparts a collective, civic right related to maintaining state militias," writes the Washington Post.
Super ferry or white elephant? The NYT looks at the case of the $85 million boat that is supposed to link Hawaii's major islands but is left high and dry by court orders and surfer protesters (an impressive lobby in that part of the world).
Got a Barbie? Mattel would like 675,000 of them back to check for excessive lead paint.
September 4, 2007 5:58
Sisters Fall Down Arizona Mine Shaft
Category: National
One 13 year old girl died and her 10-year old sister was seriously injured when their ATV plunged 125 feet down a disused mine shaft in Arizona. Residents of Chloride, AZ estimate there are dozens of abandoned mines in the hills around their community.
And the heat goes on. Triple digit temperatures continue to test the capacity of southern California's power grid as thousands experience power outages.
Documents obtained by the LA Times show that senior managers at Houston-based defense contractor KBR ordered "unarmored trucks into an active combat zone where six civilian drivers died in an ambush," despite recommendations from security advisers that they suspend convoy operations. KBR attorneys and company officials requested the LA Times "refrain from publishing" the story.
Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas is the new Buffalo Wing Festival champion, setting a world record by consuming 5.17 pounds of wing meat (about 173 wings) in 12 minutes.
August 31, 2007 5:43
Bush in Mortgage Bailout
Category: National
President Bush sought to put the brakes on nation's growing number of mortgage foreclosures, relaxing the terms under which homeowners can refinance through the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance program.
The FBI is hunting a suspect in a string of bomb extortion scams, reports CNN. Banks and stores in at least 13 states have been targeted by a caller (believed to be in Portugal) who claims there is a bomb on the premises and demands money be wired to a bank account. Just wait until the Nigerian e-mail merchants hear about this one.
An Iowa judge strikes down a 10-year gay-marriage ban, prompting one local Republican pol to call for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Finally to news from Texas of an enormous spider's web that stretches 200 yards -the work of millions of spiders says the NYT. The web acts as a giant mosquito trap. "There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs," says the superintendent of Lake Tawakoni State Park. Lovely.
August 30, 2007 5:38
Virginia Tech Officials Criticized in Shooting Report
Category: National
Virginia Tech officials might have saved lives if they had alerted students and faculty earlier that there was a gunman on campus according to a highly critical state report. An independent panel faulted authorities for not intervening effectively when a judge ordered Seung-Hui Cho to receive outpatient mental health care for making suicidal statements, and for failing to cancel classes immediately after Cho launched the first of his two deadly attacks in April.
New Orleans remembered the destruction of Hurricane Katrina yesterday, two years after the storm hit.
Just when you've weaned your kids off chewing those Mattel toys, we find that spinach might be back off the menu.
Teamsters' president Jim Hoffa railed against "dangerous" Mexican trucks and sought a court injunction to block the Bush Administration's decision to allow the south of the border truckers carry cargo throughout the U.S.
Finally in national news, Richard Jewell, the security guard wrongly suspected of planting the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombs, has died aged 44.
August 29, 2007 5:38
New Orleans Marks Katrina Anniversary
Category: National
Two years after Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans, President Bush heads to the city and the Mississippi coast to remember those who lost their lives in the storm.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune has live blogging coverage of the day's events while the NYT looks at how Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco fights against charges that she is to blame for the deaths of 35 patients who drowned at a nursing home.
Astronaut Lisa Nowak says she can't be blamed for her bizarre diaper-wearing cross-country kidnap attempt earlier this year as she was temporarily insane at the time and has been diagnosed with a litany of personality disorders. Which poses a few questions for NASA seeing as the agency had given her a clean bill of health just six months before.
Oh well, at least the other astronauts might not have been drinking as much as we all thought.
From the department of "Only in August Feature Stories" comes this NYT headline: Wildflowers Find Favor With Highway Gardeners.
August 28, 2007 5:34
Police Nab Multi-State Murder Suspect
Category: National
Police seeking the killer of six people in Texas and Pennsylvania arrested a man on Long Island yesterday. Paul Devoe surrendered to federal marshals after a brief standoff in Shirley, NY.
An Albuquerque police officer accompanying President Bush's motorcade was killed yesterday when his motorcycle crashed ahead of the President's vehicle. Last November a Hawaii officer died in a similar presidential motorcade crash.
Want your insurance company to go the extra mile? It helps to be wealthy if Idaho is any indication. There, AIG is sending out emergency crews to protect wealthy second homes from wildfires by spraying the properties with a fire-retardant "magical goop," says the NYT.
Finally Mississippi is the fattest state in the nation - it's official.
August 27, 2007 4:47
Katrina Anniversary Story Storm Intensifies
Category: National
While the Federal Emergency Management Agency has its hands full coping with new Midwest storms that knocked out power to nearly half a million people, media attention is also focused on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
There's Barack Obama's statement that, as president, we would keep New Orleans in mind every day.
And there's the grim inevitability of another New Orleans disaster somewhere on the horizon says the NY Post.
Luckily the right man is in place to help spot future mega storms: former FEMA head Michael Brown has a new career "promoting disaster-response and data-mining technology for government agencies and private customers," says the Chicago Tribune.
Just when you think all Katrina stories have been exhausted, along comes the LA Times with news of the ongoing custody battles between the owners of dogs separated from their pets during the hurricane and the new guardians who took the "lost" pooches in.
August 24, 2007 5:54
Midwest Soaks Up the Storms
Category: National
Around the nation:
A sodden Midwest is wringing out after storms hammered Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota. CNN calls it the worst flooding in almost a century to hit the region. In the latest damage, a storm packing 70mph winds knocked out power to more than 300,000 in the Chicago area and forced the cancellation of 500 flights.
When the sun does shine government regulators want more protection and better consumer labeling for sunscreen products.
The blame game in the Utah mine collapse is intensifying even as rescuers attempt to drill one final hole to locate them. Questions are being raised about safety procedures and the stewardship of Robert E. Murray who is scheduled to testify before a Senate subcommittee on September 5th
Could pigeon droppings have felled the Minneapolis highway bridge that killed 13 people? We're a bit late to this bit of news but the Guardian fills us in on what we missed earlier the week. Structural engineers had been aware of the guano build up on the bridge since as early as 1987. "Pigeon droppings contain ammonia and salt which, when combined with rainwater, can lead to tiny electrochemical reactions that rust the steel," it writes.
August 23, 2007 5:35
Texas Executes 400th Inmate
Category: National
Stat of the day: Texas has conducted its 400th execution since reintroducing capital punishment in 1982. Johnny Ray Conner, 32, had spent eight years on death row.
There's plenty of coverage this morning of a new study showing that many Americans are remaining sexually active well into their 80s. But the relevant RSS feed that most grabbed our eye came courtesy of the Houston Chronicle: "There's no retirement age for sex (w/video)". Talking about embracing multimedia.
Go blow it off the mountain: The Bush administration is about to "enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal [that] involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams," says the NYT. Who needs those peaks anyway? They were probably blocking someone's view.
Now the weather. Watch out Great Lakes region: two major storms have collided and are heading your way.
August 22, 2007 5:15
Anger Over Utah Mine Disaster
Category: National
Yesterday's funeral of one of three men killed while trying to rescue the six trapped Utah coal miners saw emotions spill over as local people vented their anger at the owners of the Crandall Canyon mine. In a town where mining is about the only work to be had, families complained that "the mine [was] a disaster waiting to happen," while there were expressions of both shock and hope that Murray Energy may reopen the mine under another name. Families of the trapped men "questioned how the mine could be safe enough for work but not for rescuing their relatives," writes the New York Times.
Stormy weather continues to dominate the headlines across the Midwest where 22 people have died and soggy Minnesotans are counting many more lakes than the 12,000 the state usually boasts.
Despite the weather and those pesky gouged tiles, the space shuttle Endeavour had a smooth landing yesterday. The need to solve the freezing foam damage won't delay future missions NASA said.
Finally, one in four of us read not a single book last year. Must be all the newspapers America is devouring, no?
August 21, 2007 5:23
US Deports Illegal Immigrant Activist
Category: National
Monday's deportation of a Mexican immigrant rights activist who had sought refuge in a Chicago church for over a year is not part of a crackdown on religious groups who harbor illegal aliens US immigration authorities say. Elvira Arellano's supporters believe the US government has made a mistake in targeting someone who the Guardian describes as the "woman who became the unofficial face of the millions of illegal immigrants striving to remain in the United States." "There is a Rosa Parks quality to this,” one activist tells the New York Times.
As workers recovered the last remaining body from the Minneapolis bridge collapse a panel of experts in Utah said the Crandall Canyon coal mine is so unstable that it would be "unacceptable" to resume digging, meaning that the six trapped miners may never be found.
It might take a growing number of NY high school students many years to graduate but at least there are plenty of universities where they can continue their prolonged education. The Princeton Review has published its annual guide to the top party schools in the US. Congratulations the University of West Virginia. You Mountaineers have scaled the heights of kegdom once again.
August 20, 2007 5:36
Shuttle Heads for Home
Category: National
With the space shuttle Endeavor heading home a day ahead of schedule to beat the weather, the NYT tells us that NASA is taking the foam panel hole problem on the underside of the shuttle far more seriously than it did with the fated Challenger mission. Now that's learning from your mistakes.
Hurricane Dean might be a spent force by the time it hits Texas this week but storms across the Midwest have killed 13 people this weekend, mostly from flash floods.
Finally, the operator of Utah's Crandall Canyon mine now says the six miners who remain trapped underground may never be found.
August 17, 2007 6:16
Jose Padilla, U.S. "Enemy Combatant," Is Convicted
Category: National
A U.S. citizen whom the Bush Administration once designated an "enemy combatant" has been convicted of three terror-related charges. Jose Padilla was not charged, however, with trying to orchestrate a radiological "dirty bomb" attack—the reason he was so famously placed in a military jail in 2002 without trial. (He was transferred to civilian authorities in 2006.) Yesterday, Padilla and two co-defendants were instead convicted of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. It seems the men had worked as an al-Qaeda support cell in Florida. They could face life imprisonment. Sentencing is Dec. 5.
In Utah, three rescue workers have died in their search for six coal miners who went missing Aug. 6. The search crew was tunneling through rubble to try to locate the missing men on Thursday night when a "mountain bump"—"pressure inside the mine that shoots coal from the walls with great force," according to the AP—brought their tunnel down around them. Officials are considering whether to suspend the 11-day search effort. They do not know whether the missing miners are alive or dead.
Skittish depositors at Countrywide Bank are swarming bank branches to withdraw cash, the LA Times reports. They're nervous that the bank's parent company, Countrywide Financial, faces serious problems in the current U.S. sub-prime shake-up. Countrywide Financial, America's biggest mortgage provider, said yesterday it is tapping its $11.5 billion line of credit yesterday to deal with a growing global credit crunch.
August 16, 2007 4:26
Army Suicide Rates at 26-Year High
Category: National
Suicides rates in the U.S. Army were at their highest rate in 26 years last year, up 15% from 2005, says a military report scheduled for release today. "Iraq was the most common deployment location for both [suicides] and attempts," according to the report, and "there was a significant relationship between suicide attempts and number of days deployed." But many of the suicides came from soldiers who were not deployed, and as CNN notes, the suicide rate in the Army (17.3 per 100,000) is still lower than that among U.S. men aged 17 to 45 in the general population (21.1 per 100,000). U.S. women aged 17 to 45, on the other hand, commit suicide at a rate of 5.5 per 100,000, compared to 11.3 per 100,000 for women soldiers. The Army study cites failed relationships, financial problems and job stress as the main reasons soldiers kill themselves.
America's No. 1 mortgage lender could face bankruptcy, a securities analyst at Merrill Lynch said yesterday. A "sell" recommendation to investors sent Countrywide Financial stock tumbling 13%, making it the latest casualty in America's jitters over a possible subprime-lending crisis. U.S. stock indexes, meanwhile, continued their descent on Wednesday, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 slipping a little over 1%. The WPost takes a more personal look at the tightening U.S. credit market today, talking to would-be home owners who lost their already-approved mortgages because the lender suddenly stopped funding new loans.
Rescue officials have new (if limited) optimism in the search for six Utah coal miners who went missing in an Aug. 6 cave-in. Images from a camera lowered into the mine yesterday revealed ceilings in tact and a ventilation curtain that—if the miners had passed beyond it—might have kept the missing men alive. Earlier in the day, vibration-monitoring devices picked up light noise from the tunnels; though officials say they don't know what caused the sound, it raises "a very small amount" of hope that the men are alive down there.
August 15, 2007 4:46
Hurricane off Hawaii
Category: National
Hurricane Flossie hit just off Hawaii on Tuesday afternoon, bringing dangerous winds, heavy rain, and giant waves to the big island. Though the hurricane lost a lot of force over the sea, Flossie is the first to come so close in 15 years. Residents stayed home, with schools and businesses closed, after Gov. Linda Lingle declared a state of emergency.
Mattel's massive toy recall yesterday includes some of its most popular lines: Barbie, Doggie Day Care play sets, Polly Pocket dolls, and toy cars based on Disney's Cars movie. In all, more than 18 million toys have recalled globally, with about half of them in the U.S. The problems with the toys are two-fold. First—as with the products that Mattel recalled less than two weeks ago—some toys may contain dangerous quantities of lead paint. Second, some of the toys contain tiny magnets that could be deadly if swallowed. Reuters reports that a Chinese industry group, the China Toy Association, knew there were problems with the magnets way back in March. Mattel said Tuesday it was working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to get all dangerous toys off the shelf, and the company issued an apology.
In market news, stocks dipped for the fourth day running Tuesday, as traders responded to "fresh worries about the mortgage and credit markets and disappointing profit forecasts from retailers Home Depot and Wal-Mart Stores," according to CNNMoney. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.6% and the S&P 500 dropped 1.8%. Following suit, indexes across East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand fell sharply on Wednesday. "The steepest declines came in Indonesia, where the main index was down 5.3%," reports the Wall Street Journal.
August 14, 2007 5:02
Mattel to Recall More Toys
Category: National
Toy-maker Mattel is planning another recall, not even two weeks after it called back close to a million Chinese-produced toys because of lead-paint fears. Details should be announced today, the AP reports, but early sources say these new questionable toys are also made in China (by a different supplier), and may be dangerous for the same reasons. In China, the executive responsible for the last round of recalled toys has committed suicide, state media reported on Monday.
A suspect has been charged in the Missouri church shooting, in which three church elders died and at least five people were wounded on Sunday. Eiken Elam Saimon, 52, faces murder and assault charges, as well as two charges for briefly holding hostage the congregation. Officials would not comment on possible motives, FoxNews reports. But CNN says Saimon's relatives were praying in the church when he entered, and that he yelled, "Liars, liars, you're all liars," before opening fire. Saimon has pleaded not guilty.
In Utah, the search for six missing coal miners continues, now eight days after a cave-in cut off all contact with the men. Rescue crews are drilling a third hole, the AP reports, this time "toward the back of a mine where officials hoped the men sought refuge in search of an air pocket." Camera images from previous drillings found tools, a conveyor belt, and reflectors—but no people. "It's heartbreaking, it's absolutely heartbreaking, that we haven't found them," mine co-owner Bob Murray told Reuters.
August 13, 2007 4:44
Three Dead in Missouri Shootings
Category: National
Three people were killed in the southwest Missouri city of Neosho yesterday when a gunman opened fire in a church. Authorities say the shooter ordered all children out of the church before he began shooting, and then briefly held 25-50 people hostage before he surrendered and was taken into custody, the AP reports. The pastor and two other members of the congregation were killed, and at least five were wounded.
Still no signs of life from the six Utah coal miners who have been missing since a mine shaft caved in last Monday. On Sunday, a new camera was lowered into the cavern where the miners are believed to have been. The camera transmit back images of equipment, but the missing men where nowhere to be seen. Rescue crews are still "proceeding as if the miners [are] alive," according to the AP, and plan to dig a third hole in their search.
Meanwhile in Minnesota, divers in the Mississippi recovered a ninth body Sunday from the bridge collapse on Interstate 35W in Minneapolis. Four bodies are still missing.
August 10, 2007 5:00
Silence from a Utah Mine
Category: National
Rescue crews Thursday night drilled down to reach the cavern where they believe six trapped Utah miners should be, if still alive after a mine shaft collapsed on Monday. The rescue workers sent a microphone though the narrow opening they had made, but heard no sounds, the AP reports. And analysis of the air inside found no carbon dioxide, the gas that people exhale when breathing. Representatives for the mine operator said it was too early to lose hope, however, and that the early readings may be too crude to show low levels of carbon dioxide. Tests did show adequate oxygen to keep trapped people alive, and no methane.
Divers in the Mississippi have found the remains of at least two more victims in the debris from last week's bridge collapse on Interstate 35W in Minneapolis. Authorities were unsure whether they had found the remains of two people or three, but were running test to find out. The findings bring the official death count to seven (or eight), with six (or five) victims still missing and presumed dead.
Two people have been arrested in the execution-style murders of three New Jersey students last Saturday, CNN reports. One of the suspects, 28, turned himself in on Thursday after hearing he was wanted; the other, 15, was picked up Wednesday night. Newark mayor Cory Booker said the city has "very, very strong leads" on other suspects. The grisly case continues to grip the city's residents—no strangers to violent crime in their midst—since the three murdered students and the sole survivor don't seem to have done anything particular to make themselves targets.
August 9, 2007 4:57
Minority Report
Category: National
New U.S. census data shows that minorities now outnumber whites in one of every ten American counties—and in one third of the country's most populous counties. The country's demographics continue to shift due to immigration and lower birth rates among Caucasians. Nationally, the number of minorities reached 100 million for the first time ever in 2006, though non-whites are far from evenly distributed. As the WPost reports: "Los Angeles County's minority population of 7 million was by far the largest—exceeding the total population of 38 states, and accounting for one in 14 of the nation's minority residents."
Space shuttle Endeavour launched yesterday evening from Cape Canaveral, taking an assembly crew and supplies to the International Space Station. It was a touching moment for many on the launch deck. One of the astronauts, Barbara Morgan—part of the teacher-in-space program in 1986—was the back-up to an astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion 21 years ago. This is Morgan's first space voyage.
Further up the coast, a brief but severe storm brought New York City to a halt yesterday morning. Torrential rain flooded the city, leaving major roads impassable and most of the subway system inoperable—a disruption that affected millions. A tornado brushed Staten Island before hitting Brooklyn with 135-mile-an-hour winds. At least one person died.
August 8, 2007 6:30
Barry Bonds, Home Run King
Category: National
Giants slugger Barry Bonds broke baseball's major-league home-run record Tuesday night, hitting his 756th career homer. It was, by all accounts, electrifying, with the crowd "exploding in an ecstatic roar." But the record-breaking hit—in the fifth inning of a 6-8 loss at home to the Nationals—resonates far beyond the world of sport. As the WPost reports, "Even as Bonds took aim at [Hank] Aaron's [33-year-old] record this summer, a grand jury continued to investigate him for possible perjury and tax evasion charges stemming from his involvement with an alleged steroids ring." Even the congratulatory statement from league Commissioner Bud Selig hints at Bonds's legal woes. The record-holder himself, however, maintains his career is clean. "This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period," Bonds told reporters at a post-game press conference.
In Utah, six coal miners are still trapped after a shaft caved in on Monday. If still alive, the miners should have enough water and air to survive several days, according to the mine operator. But rescue crews have not been able to contact the trapped men. Early efforts to drill down to the miners have failed, and Reuters reports it could now take a week to reach them. The cause of the accident is still disputed.
In New Jersey, police are asking for witnesses to come forward in the murder of three college-bound teens who were lined up and executed in a Newark schoolyard last Saturday. A fourth teen survived. It appears the motive for the attack was robbery. Officials said yesterday they are close to identifying one suspect.
August 7, 2007 6:23
Six Miners Trapped in Utah
Category: National
Rescue crews worked into the night Monday trying to dig out six Utah coal miners who were trapped when a shaft caved in yesterday. The crews claim they know exactly know where the miners should be—1,500 feet underground—but the first effort to drill them out has failed, according to CNN; workers came up against "impassable conditions." CNN reports the crews will now try to drill through from the top of the mountain—a job that could take days. Rescue workers have not been able to contact the miners, and don't know whether they're still alive. But crews are "using every means known to mankind" to reach them, says Robert Murray, CEO of the mine operator's parent company.
In Minneapolis, sheriffs say investigators must remove debris from the Mississippi if they hope to uncover the bodies of seven people still missing after last Wednesday's bridge collapse on Interstate 35W. Minnesota has meanwhile fast-tracked reconstruction of the bridge, and is requesting that contractors interested in the job get in touch by Wednesday dawn, the AP reports. The NYT says state Governor Tim Pawlenty has had a change of heart on transportation needs since the bridge collapsed. Pawlenty had twice vetoed bills to raise gas taxes in order to fund upgrades. A spokesman said yesterday the Governor would reconsider his position.
Worried about the roads? Flying may be safer than driving, but it's slower than it used to be, the AP reports. The Department of Transportation announced Monday that U.S. flight delays are the longest they've been since 1995, the first period for which comparable data is available.
August 6, 2007 4:26
Hope Fades in Minneapolis
Category: National
About 1,400 people attended a Twin Cities memorial Sunday night for the victims of last week's Interstate 35W bridge collapse. As USA Today reports, families of the missing are giving up hope. "I know he's gone. I have to resign myself to that fact," one woman said of her son, a construction worker on the bridge when it fell.
Two college engineering students were arrested on Saturday near Charleston, SC, after police found what they thought were explosives during a routine traffic stop. The men, of Middle Eastern descent, could face charges. But an FBI spokesman said that—despite early reports of a bomb—analysis shows no clear link to terrorism. The explosives, he said, were likely intended for use in homemade fireworks.
Not that fire is to be taken lightly. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer declared a state of emergency Sunday as wildfires threatened several homes across the state, destroying at least one, the AP reports. Hundreds of people have evacuated, but weather Monday is expected to favor firefighters.
August 3, 2007 6:22
U.S. Bridges Are "Structurally Deficient"
Category: National
Clean-up continues following Wednesday's bridge collapse on Interstate 35W in Minneapolis, which sent dozens of cars plummeting into the Mississippi. The number of confirmed dead has been downgraded to four, but dozens are still unaccounted for. (Exact numbers vary by source). The search for bodies has not been easy, reports the NYT: "fierce currents and giant, unsteady shards of steel and concrete slowed divers Thursday." They suspended their search overnight to ensure safety.
The collapse has Americans reconsidering bridge safety across the country. States have been urged to inspect all similarly designed bridges, CNN reports. AP has news that more than 70,000 U.S. bridges were rated "structurally deficient" last year by the Federal Highway Administration. But engineers estimate it would take at least a generation and $188 billion to bring them all up to standard. In a separate piece, the AP reports the bridge that collapsed was rated structurally deficient way back in 1990.
August 2, 2007 6:07
Bridge Collapses; Cars Plunge into Mississippi
Category: National
An interstate-highway bridge in Minneapolis buckled Wednesday during rush hour, pitching dozens of cars into the Mississippi River more than 60 feet below. At least seven people died and scores were injured, according to major wire services and world newspapers. (For what it's worth, the LA Times and Minneapolis Star Tribune both report at least nine dead.) "This is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota,” the state's Governor Tim Pawlenty told reporters after the collapse. About 100,000 cars cross the bridge on a typical weekday, according to the Star Tribune. It's not clear why the eight-lane bridge gave out, but there was apparently construction underway.
The rest of U.S. national news today seems child's play by comparison. Toy-maker Fisher-Price, a subsidiary of Mattel, is announcing a recall today of nearly 1 million plastic toys for preschoolers—83 different makes—that may contain dangerous amounts of lead paint. The toys were manufactured in China, and sold in the U.S. between May and August.
Bad news for U.S. manufacturers, too: For the first time ever, U.S. sales of import cars exceeded those of domestically produced autos.
August 1, 2007 4:36
Murdoch Bags Dow Jones
Category: National
The wooing game is over and Rupert Murdoch has won (as he has made a habit of doing during his career). The New York Times reports that Murdoch now has "enough support from the deeply divided Bancroft family to buy Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal and one of the world’s most respected news sources, for $5 billion". His News Corp. empire is both vast and eclectic notes the Washington Post and includes "the Times of London, 'American Idol,' 'The Simpsons Movie,' Fox News Channel, MySpace, National Geographic television and a British tabloid that prints photos of topless women". We assume the new Journal's Page 3 pics will be illustrated, keeping with tradition at least.
The investigation into the friendly fire death of NFL star-turned-Army-Ranger Pat Tillman claimed another casualty yesterday as the military censured a retired three star general for his handling of the incident and suggested Philip Kensinger could be stripped of one of his stars. Kensinger "compromised his duty to the acting Secretary of the Army by providing a report including information he knew to be false, which was his own sworn testimony, undermining the principle of civilian control of the army," CNN reports Army Secretary Pete Geren as saying. When Tillman died the Army first said he had been leading an attack against the Taliban but "it later admitted that officers in his chain of command knew almost immediately that he had been shot accidentally by his own comrades," says CNN.
Finally in grisly infanticide news a South Carolina woman, "accused of leaving her two young children in a hot car while she was at work was charged with homicide by child abuse after their bodies were found wrapped in trash bags under an apartment sink," reports the AP via Yahoo. Seriously.
July 31, 2007 4:38
No Justice for New Orleans
Category: National
Two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the buildings of New Orleans and ripped up the fabric of the city's social identity, authorities are still struggling to restore a fundamental element of law and order. In one telling account, the LA Times recounts how the city DA recently dropped charges murder charges "against a man alleged to have massacred five teenagers, saying the sole witness was nowhere to be found" only for a furious police chief to produce the suspect after just a three hour search. The "criminal justice system continues to be plagued by political backbiting, inexplicable communication breakdowns and, in some cases, outright incompetence," writes the paper.
The United States could be gearing up for a new generation of government-subsidized nuclear power plants says the New York Times. As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers "the first application to build a new U.S. nuclear power plant in three decades" the NYT writes that a "provision buried in the Senate’s recently passed energy bill, inserted without debate at the urging of the nuclear power industry, could make builders of new nuclear plants eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees".
From nuclear to oil and surely one of the great ironies of CO2-driven climate change. With Arctic sea ice in retreat, oil companies are licking their lips at the prospect of a new black gold rush in a region that may hold up to 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves. Both Canada and Russia are talking up land claims to the Arctic and so the Bush administration wants "Congress [to] approve a [1982 international] treaty that helps determine who has rights to the area's wealth," says USA Today. "We've been watching as other countries are actively pursuing their own interests," says a State Department lawyer.
July 30, 2007 4:51
Google Battles Cell Phone Providers for Wireless Airwaves
Category: National
The Federal Communications Commission will shape the future of next generation wireless services tomorrow when it lays down the ground rules for the highly anticipated $15 billion auction of public airwaves. At present, major cell phone providers dictate the mobile services consumers, including "web sites, music-download services and search engines their customers can access on their cellphones," writes the Washington Post. Now with a new band of spectrum up for grabs as TV broadcasters switch to digital delivery mobile upstarts like Google want a piece of the wireless pie, and it has spent "millions of dollars on a lobbying campaign in an attempt to influence the outcome. The decision could dramatically alter the nation's cellphone industry," notes the paper.
Back from the future to present day networking and news that Facebook has been accused of failing to keep sexual predators off its site. Connecticut's Attorney General is investigating “three or more” cases of convicted sex offenders who had registered on Facebook, according to the NYT. Last week, MySpace deleted 29,000 profiles set up by convicted sex-offenders. "There is no question that Facebook is encountering some of the same problems that MySpace has posed,” says Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Say you run a big city and you've got a rampant gang problem. How do you solve your civil order issues? If you're like a growing number of US cities, you sue the gangs. "Fort Worth and San Francisco are among the latest municipalities to file lawsuits against gang members, asking courts for injunctions barring them from gathering on street corners, in cars or anywhere else in certain areas," writes the NYT.
July 27, 2007 4:45
NASA's Hangover
Category: National
Not a great day for NASA yesterday. Not only did the agency discover that someone appears to have sabotaged a computer intended for use on the International Space Station but Aviation Week reports that a panel reviewing astronaut health issues "has found that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so intoxicated that they posed a flight-safety risk." The intrepid Houston Chronicle hot-footed it straight to Frenchie's Italian Restaurant, a favorite astronaut watering hole near the Johnson Space Center, where owner Frankie Camera was quick to pour cold seltzer on the allegations. "The Mercury astronauts may have been a little more wild (than later ones) but I did banquets for them and never really saw any of them drink so much they were out of control or drunk," Camera tells the paper.
Three people were killed and three others badly injured during an explosion at a Mojave Desert airport site used by the Scaled Composites, the company that sent the first private manned rocket into space. The accident occurred during a test for a new propellant for the company's SpaceShip Two rocket and was blamed on nitrous oxide gas, according to company founder Burt Rutan. SpaceShip Two is being devloped for the new space tourism business Virgin Galactic, says the San Francisco Chronicle.
A federal judge has quashed a Pennsylvania town's law that "sought to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and suspend business licenses of companies that hire them". The Hazleton's Illegal Immigration Relief Act was enacted last year and immediately drew protests from immigrant rights groups. "Hazleton, in its zeal to control the presence of a group deemed undesirable, violated the rights of such people, as well as others within the community," ruled U.S. District Judge James M. Munley.
July 26, 2007 4:46
Fat Friends
Category: National
Obesity it appears is catching. New research published in the New England Journal of Medicine says that that people were more likely to become obese when a friend became obese (57% in fact). Strangely though, says the NYT, "there was no effect when a neighbor gained or lost weight, however, and family members had less influence than friends". The model also proved true for losing weight but the researchers say they had a harder time finding examples of that. So next time you're agonizing over giving up fast food to shed a few pounds, why not give up your fat friends instead?
To "alternative" health care now and news that the Drug Enforcement Agency is targeting the landlords of hundreds of medical marijuana clinics in California, threatening them with "arrest and property seizures for renting to tenants who flout federal drug laws," writes USA Today. Yesterday, federal agents raided 10 "pot shops" around LA even as Los Angeles City Council "placed a moratorium on new facilities so rules could be drafted to better regulate them," writes the LAT.
A student at Southern Illinois University is facing terrorism charges after "authorities say he threatened a 'murderous rampage' similar to the Virginia Tech shootings that left 32 people and a student gunman dead," according to CNN. Olutosin Oduwole, who was taking summer classes at the school, apparently wrote a note threatening that a "murderous rampage similar to the VT shooting will occur at another highly populated university. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" Says CNN: "A gun dealer had alerted federal authorities about the man, saying he had seemed overly anxious to get a shipment of semiautomatic weapons". Only in America folks.