PRIVATE ROCKET POISED TO MAKE HISTORY WITH SATURDAY LAUNCH

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private spacecraft stands ready to launch on a historic first visit to the International Space Station tomorrow (May 19).

The unmanned Dragon space capsule, built by commercial firm SpaceX, is slated to lift off atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday from here at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft has an instantaneous launch window at 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT), with a 70 percent chance of good weather predicted (the main risk of a delay is posed by the possibility of cumulus clouds).

If all goes well, Dragon will fly by the space station on Monday (May 21) and rendezvous and berth at the outpost the day after, becoming the first non-governmental vehicle to do so. The mission is the final test flight planned for Dragon, which has been developed under NASA‘s COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program aimed at nurturing private spacecraft to supply the International Space Station.

The mission is a critical test for NASA’s plan to outsource transportation to low-Earth orbit to the commercial sector, allowing the agency to begin work on a new heavy-lift rocket for deep space. Some in Congress and elsewhere have been critical of the scheme, arguing that private vehicles are untested and less reliable than NASA’s in-house built spacecraft. [Photos: SpaceX Poised for Historic Launch]

If Saturday’s launch is successful, it could help sway the naysayers, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said.

“I think it will make a tremendous difference,” Bolden told SPACE.com in April. “Everybody wants to see performance. You can promise things all you want, but nothing works like actual performance, and so it’s a very important mission for SpaceX but an incredibly important mission for us at NASA.”

SpaceX (officially Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of Hawthorne, Calif.) has designed Dragon to fly robotically at first, though the company has designs to man-rate the capsule. Eventually, Dragon is planned to be able to carry up to seven crewmembers to orbit, and could be used to transport astronauts as well as cargo to the space station.

For this test flight, Dragon is loaded with 1,014 pounds (460 kilograms) of cargo for the orbiting laboratory, including 674 pounds (306 kg) of food, clothing and supplies for the station’s six-man crew. It will also deliver scientific equipment and electronic hardware, including a laptop.

If the capsule’s on-orbit checkouts go smoothly, then on Tuesday (May 22), NASA astronaut Don Pettit and European Space Agency flyer Andre Kuipers use the space station’s 57.7-foot (17.6-meter) robotic arm to reach out and grab Dragon and berth it to the station’s Harmony node.

The vehicle is scheduled to stay at the outpost for about two weeks. Then, it will be unberthed and will head back to Earth where it is planned to re-enter the atmosphere and land in the Pacific Ocean.

In contrast to the other unmanned vehicles that ferry cargo to the space station, Dragon is equipped with a heat shield to survive re-entry and be recovered after landing. Thus, before it departs the station, astronauts plan to load it full of science experiments ready for analysis on the ground, as well as used hardware to be returned to NASA.  

You can follow SPACE.com assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/private-rocket-poised-history-saturday-launch-114159018.html

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SCOTT WALKER GAINS GROUND IN WISCONSIN RECALL CAMPAIGN

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

Brown Deer, Wisconsin

On Wednesday morning, Scott Walker slipped into a sheet-metal fabricating plant on an industrial street in Milwaukee’s outskirts. Argon Industries is the kind of gritty, thriving small business Walker venerates: a 91-person outfit that added staff in a sluggish economy and now, on its 10th anniversary, boasts nearly $13 million in annual revenue. The Wisconsin governor crossed the factory floor, asking questions about the heavy machinery and inspecting racks piled with sheets of steel before a low-key press conference. “We’re blessed to have him choose us,” says Greg Clement, the company’s president. Apart from the firm’s employees and a few reporters, there was hardly anyone present.

The minimalist, almost stealthy campaign appearance is characteristic of Walker’s approach to the June 5 recall election that could oust him from office or make him one of the Republican Party’s brightest national stars. Beside the presidential contest, Walker’s recall fight might be the most hyped race of 2012, a national flashpoint that is partly a referendum on Walker’s slashing approach to public unions, and partly a dry run for two parties hoping to energize their bases in November. But his campaign has zero interest in political pageantry. It doesn’t hold massive rallies. The location of its headquarters hasn’t even been made public. For the most controversial governor in the country, the numbers are all that matter.

(PHOTOS: Political Pictures of the Week, May 5-11)

These days, the numbers look good for Walker. The public opinion polls, which registered a virtual dead heat in recent months, are beginning to inch in his favor. A Marquette Law School survey released May 16 has the incumbent up six points, a big swing from last month’s virtual tie. It’s one of at least five polls in recent days that showed the incumbent edging ahead.

But those weren’t the figures Walker was trumpeting in Argon’s dimly lit factory. The state had just released new quarterly census data that indicated Wisconsin gained 23,000 jobs in 2011, a far rosier portrait than prior reports suggested. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state had lost more jobs than any other in the first year of Walker’s term. Walker’s newly minted Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, has been pummeling the governor over jobs, and the new stats serve as armor against those blows. “The biggest issue they had is no longer an issue,” Walker said, standing under a banner inscribed with Argon’s mantra, Nothing is Impossible. “Everything they said about jobs is now contradicted by the facts.”

Maybe. There are questions about the data’s expedited release — a seemingly political ploy to break good news that wasn’t due until after voters trekked to the polls next month — as well as its usefulness, since making comparisons to neighboring states won’t be possible until they disclose their own stats next month. And new monthly data released the following day painted a grimmer picture. But with some three weeks before the election, Walker, 44, appeared better positioned to survive the Democratic onslaught than at any time since his law curbing collective bargaining for most public employees spurred 100,000 protesters to descend on the capitol in Madison and made him the top national target of an opposing party determined to teach the new breed of budget-cutting Tea Partyers a lesson.

As a campaigner, Walker’s primary strength is message discipline. He has a knack for steering every question, no matter how far-flung, back to mind-numbing campaign boilerplate within a single sentence. But it is the discipline of his allies that has helped him open up ground on Barrett.

(MORE: Scott Walker on Tape: Budget Bill Was ‘Divide and Conquer’)

The GOP has made Walker’s survival a signal priority. In a party whose divisions were laid bare during a bitter presidential primary, Walker earns lavish praise from Tea Partyers, corporate benefactors and top politicians alike. Mitt Romney called him a “hero”; wealthy businessman David Koch pledged to spend big to keep him in office. A quirk in Wisconsin law enabled Walker to raise unlimited funds during the roughly five-month period from the initiation of the recall process until an election date was set, and wealthy Republican benefactors poured more than $25 million into Walker’s coffers, giving him a huge financial advantage over Barrett, who raised about $1 million. “As an organization, we have invested more resources in the state of Wisconsin than any other,” says Luke Hilgemann, the Wisconsin director of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-backed national advocacy group that earlier this year pumped at least $700,000 into TV ads in Wisconsin.

As the Republicans folded together like Russian nesting dolls, the Democrats have been riven by conflicting interests. Labor unions pumped several million dollars into the losing campaign of Barrett’s primary opponent, and the national party has been tentative about going all in. Meanwhile, Walker’s allies built a state-of-the-art ground game to protect a politician so reviled by his opponents that they have taken to burning his campaign signs. “They can protest,” Wisconsin GOP communications director Ben Sparks says of the Democrats. “They’ve got us beat on that. But that’s about all they’ve got us beat on.”

Wisconsin has a vaunted progressive strain. It was the first state to codify collective-bargaining rights in 1959, as well as the first to offer workman’s compensation and unemployment insurance. But it is also the birthplace of the Republican Party, the home of the John Birch Society and the stomping ground of conservatives from Joe McCarthy to Paul Ryan. Among his supporters, there is a belief that Walker’s recall would be a disaster. “If he gets recalled, you start asking, What’s the point?” says Ken Friday, Argon Industries’ director of operations. “The leechers who want to suck off the government have got to pay their fair share.”

(MORE: Wisconsin Cheddar: How Scott Walker’s Fundraising Windfall Could Decide the Recall)

RNC chair Reince Priebus was the head of Wisconsin’s GOP before decamping for Washington, and he left behind a disciplined organization steeled by recent political combat, including state senate recall elections in 2011, state supreme court elections, a marquee U.S. Senate tussle in 2010, and a pair of tight presidential battles in 2000 and 2004. The Wisconsin GOP, which is running Walker’s ground game, has opened 23 “victory centers,” where volunteers have made more than 2 million calls to voters since January. “There’s no question they’re very organized. They’re in lockstep,” Erik Kirkstein, political director of United Wisconsin, which spearheaded the recall campaign against Walker, says of the Republicans. Says Tom Evenson, Walker’s press secretary: “We’ve had now a solid campaign season in Wisconsin since 2010.”

With only a tiny sliver of voters on the fence in the recall, Sparks thinks the election will be a simple test of who can do a better job of turning out their respective base. Right now, the Republicans are winning on that score. In the Marquette poll out this week, 91% of Republicans reported they were “absolutely certain” to vote, compared to 83% of Democrats and independents. Walker’s approval rating, which has hardly moved during the pitched battle over his controversial reforms, also shows positive signs. Respondents were evenly split — 38% to 37% — on whether they supported his policies. Another 22% said they liked what he had done, but not how he had done it — a figure that suggests they may be willing to forgive the means for the sake of the ends.

In an interview, Walker acknowledged that he had done a poor job explaining his “budget repair” bill, which included the collective bargaining restrictions, before forcing it through a split state legislature. “My problem was, I just rushed in to fix it before talking about it,” he says. “Most people I talk to around the state, and most polls reflect this as well — they like the results. There’s more we could have done to fix the process.”

As he juggles official campaign duties and vies to stay in office, Walker is still not talking to voters much. Rather than engaging in the elaborate political staging that often dominates this phase of hard-fought campaigns, his public appearances have consisted of small press gaggles at factories that have benefited from a manufacturing tax credit he put in place. On Thursday, he visited a cast-film company in Rhinelander and a plastics shop in Green Bay, where he played up the jobs data that favor him — Barrett called the numbers a “political stunt” — and dismissed the data that didn’t.

Even if you grant Walker that argument, the incremental gains still leave the governor far off pace to meet the 250,000 jobs he promised to create in his first term. In a deft piece of spin, Walker says that his own survival would be the best thing for job growth in the state, because it would offer certainty for business owners fearful of new taxes under Barrett. “The victory in and of itself will be a major jump-start for jobs,” he says. But Walker also says it would send a clear message to business owners and opponents alike: “These reforms will continue.”

PHOTOS: Showdown in Wisconsin

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Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/money-momentum-scott-walker-gains-ground-wisconsin-recall-105602500.html

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SUSPECT ARRESTED IN MISS. HIGHWAY SHOOTINGS

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Police have arrested a suspect in two fatal highway shootings in Mississippi that prompted warnings a fake officer might be pulling over victims.

Authorities said early Friday that the fears of an impostor turned out to be unfounded. Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain told The Associated Press that the suspect, James D. Willie, 28, had not been posing as a police officer in the shootings.

Willie was being held on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and rape and would be formally charged with two counts of capital murder, Strain said. He was being held at the Tunica County jail in north Mississippi.

Willie was arrested Tuesday morning when authorities responded to a disturbance at an apartment. Tunica police found Willie with a woman who claimed he had raped her, a news release said. When Willie was arrested, authorities found a 9mm Ruger in his possession. Ballistic testing later found that it was the same gun used in the two highway shootings, authorities said.

Strain said Willie is a convicted felon, but he did not have details about his previous arrests.

Thomas Schlender, 74, of Raymond, Neb., was found dead in his car on Interstate 55 in Panola County on May 8 around 1:30 a.m. Lori Anne Carswell, 48, of Hernando, Miss. was found dead near her car on Mississippi Highway 713 in nearby Tunica County about 2:15 a.m. on May 11.

Strain said authorities developed several theories during the investigation and one of those was that someone could be posing as an officer to pull people over because there was no apparent reason for the victims to pull over.

“If we’re going to err, we’re going to err on the side of public safety,” Strain said. “The fact is that we got him off the street and people can go back to a level of comfort.”

Fears that a fake cop may have been behind the shootings prompted authorities to urge drivers to use caution when approached by any vehicle with flashing blue lights, even telling people they could call 911 if they were being pulled over.

At a truck stop along the interstate where one victim was found, assistant manager Sunny Hall previously said the shootings were especially concerning to employees who got off at night and had to drive that stretch of highway to get home.

Gov. Phil Bryant and Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Albert Santa Cruz said in a statement early Friday that investigators spent hundreds of hours working the case and the state Bureau of Investigation and state crime lab used all the resources it had available.

“Our citizens have been terrorized by these murders and we worked tirelessly to resolve them,” Santa Cruz said.

Strain said it’s too early in the investigation to release details of how or why the motorists were on the side of the roads. He also declined to give a possible motive for the shootings.

Carswell just left work from Fitzgerald’s Casino, also known as the Fitz Casino, in Tunica County when she was killed, authorities have said. Schlender’s was driving from Nebraska to Florida to pick up his grandson, authorities said.

Shell casings were found at the scene of both shootings, authorities have said.

___

Follow Mohr on Twitter at http://twitter.com/holbrookmohr .

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-1-arrested-miss-highway-shootings-095059917.html

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G8 LEADERS SEEK TO CORRAL EUROPE CRISIS

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of eight of the world’s biggest economies meet this weekend outside Washington, seeking to keep Europe’s debt crisis from spiraling out of control and jeopardizing fledgling recoveries in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The turmoil in Greece is draining confidence in the 17 countries that use the euro. Borrowing costs are up for the most indebted governments. Depositors and investors are fleeing banks seen as weak. Unemployment is soaring as recession grips nearly half the eurozone countries. And global markets are on edge.

All that forms a tumultuous backdrop as representatives of the G8 countries — the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Russia, Italy and Canada — head to Camp David. Standing in the way of a breakthrough are disagreements over how to bolster Europe’s economy and avoid a broader catastrophe.

In advance of the talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel struck a conciliatory note this week. She said in a television interview this week that she was open to measures to help stimulate Greece’s economy as long as the country honors its commitments to shrink its debts.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner applauded the softer tone emerging among European leaders.

“You are seeing them talk about a better balance between growth and austerity, meaning a somewhat more gradual, softer path toward restoring fiscal sustainability,” Geithner said.

The shift shows that European leaders recognize that countries can’t increase their economic growth if they’re forced to focus solely on cutting spending and reducing debts. Geithner said European countries would benefit from investment in public works projects, like roads and schools.

At this weekend’s talks, non-European leaders will seek assurances that European leaders could contain the damage from a banking meltdown in Greece. They worry about a panic that could spill into Portugal, Spain and other indebted European countries — and to nations outside the continent whose banks are connected to Greek banks.

“If there was a bank run in Greece … would they know how to prevent it from spreading to other countries?” said Jacob Kierkegaard, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

U.S. officials will be “looking for assurances that the Europeans are aware of what’s needed to keep the euro together and are willing to take those measures.”

The meetings begin Friday evening with an economics-focused summit at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin mountains. They will end Saturday evening. Most of the officials will join a larger group of international leaders in Chicago for a national-security oriented NATO summit Sunday and Monday.

Investors have been shaken by the power vacuum in debt-stricken Greece. They fear the consequences if Greece refuses to impose deep spending cuts agreed to under a bailout deal. They worry that the bailout could collapse, toppling Greece’s economic and banking system and forcing the nation from the eurozone.

Should that happen, larger governments in Spain or Italy that are struggling to ease their debt loads might soon fail. The eurozone itself could splinter. The result could be a global crisis to rival the one that followed the 2008 collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Behind the turmoil is a growing realization that cost-cutting alone won’t solve Europe’s crisis. Europe’s governments have begun to seek ways to energize the continent’s economy. Yet when money is tight and borrowing costs are high, governments have little ability to quickly stimulate growth.

Speaking to business leaders before leaving for the G8 summit, British Prime Minister David Cameron warned Thursday that the eurozone must “make up, or it is looking at a potential breakup.”

“Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well-capitalized and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the eurozone — or we are in uncharted territory, which carries huge risks for everybody,” Cameron said in a speech in Manchester.

The Obama administration is also concerned that shocks from Europe could slow the U.S. economy and threaten President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects.

Yet it’s also aware there’s no simple solution. European countries are straining under high borrowing costs. Their lending rates are high because investors are nervous about their debt loads relative to the strength of the economies.

Under pressure from Germany, Europe’s strongest economy, governments have laid off workers, cut pay for others, reduced spending on social programs and imposed higher taxes and fees to boost revenue.

Yet as economies have shrunk, countries’ debt as a percentage of their economies has worsened. Leaders are increasingly recognizing that budget-cutting must be paired with steps to invigorate Europe’s economies.

The United States, along with Japan and Canada, is expected to push Merkel to do more to spur growth in Europe. Germany has begun to accept such an approach after the election of pro-growth Francois Hollande to the French presidency and the fall of a pro-austerity Dutch government.

Among the growth measures some economists recommend are reducing regulations for small businesses, making it easier for workers to find jobs across the eurozone and relaxing barriers that countries have created to protect their industries.

Germany has already negotiated higher public sector wages, a step that could encourage Germans to increase their purchases of goods from more troubled European economies.

“That is the one thing Barack Obama will try to impress on Angela Merkel,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State’s Martin Smith School of Business.

But most stimulative measures take time — up to a decade, in some cases — to kick in. They won’t much help a Europe that needs much stronger growth now.

Joaquin Almunia, the European Union’s top antitrust official and its former economic and monetary affairs commissioners, argued Wednesday that the eurozone lacks a growth strategy that can co-exist with short-term steps to shrink government debts.

“We cannot offer to the public an adjustment period of 10 years,” Almunia said.

Claudia Schmucker, an economist at the German Council on Foreign Relations, thinks that while Merkel won’t drop her austerity demands she will eventually agree to some growth measures.

A growth agreement among European leaders would at least “show that we are doing something,” Schmucker said.

In light of all the obstacles, expectations are low for a breakthrough at Camp David this weekend.

“There will be nothing here that tackles the fundamental key questions looming over the global economy,” Kierkegaard said.

___

McHugh reported from Frankfurt. AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger contributed to this report.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/global-leaders-seek-corral-europe-crisis-040502443--finance.html

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AMERICAN MILITANT IN SOMALIA RELEASES BOOK; SAYS HE ALWAYS HAD A BAD TEMPER

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

KAMPALA, Uganda – An American who serves as a commander with a Somali militant group says in a new autobiography that he had a “privileged” childhood in Alabama before he joined the al-Qaida linked militants.

Omar Hammami, also known as Abu Mansur al-Amriki, says in his online diary released Wednesday that his “bad temperament” runs in his family and that he showed anger to his teachers when he was in kindergarten.

He says he is releasing the first part of his autobiography now due to the “unpredictable nature” of jihad. He was feared dead last month after he issued a video in March saying his life was in danger because of his disagreements with other militant leaders.

The 28-year-old grew up in Daphne, Alabama. He joined al-Shabab in 2007.

Hammami is wanted by the FBI for his role in militant activities.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/american-militant-somalia-releases-autobiography-says-always-had-110802416.html

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TRAYVON EVIDENCE FAILS TO ANSWER WHO SCREAMED FOR HELP

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – An FBI expert found crucial evidence in the Trayvon Martin case was inconclusive, saying it was impossible to tell if the voice screaming for help belonged to the black Florida teenager or his shooter George Zimmerman just before the neighborhood watch captain pulled the trigger.

That detail came from a mass of evidence made public on Thursday in the case that sparked civil rights protests across the United States and debates over guns, self-defense laws and race relations in America.

The documents confirm numerous compelling facts and minutiae that have been debated at kitchen tables and on television sets across the country following the February 26 homicide when Zimmerman, 28, shot and killed the 17-year-old Martin.

Police initially declined to arrest Zimmerman, citing Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law, but a special prosecutor who was subsequently appointed charged Zimmerman with second-degree murder. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty.

The nearly 200 pages of documents plus photographs, videos and audio recordings provide evidence that will be seized upon by both Zimmerman’s supporters and his detractors, including the revelation that Martin had traces of marijuana in his system and a witness who described the teen as beating on Zimmerman in the style of mixed martial arts.

But what may be the central point of contention – who screamed for help? – goes tantalizingly unanswered.

If it was Zimmerman, it would confirm his story that he pleaded for assistance against the teenager who was brutally beating him. If it was Martin, it could establish Zimmerman was the aggressor who shot an unarmed teenager and would be a major component of a case for second-degree murder.

Relatives of both Zimmerman and Martin swear it was their kin who was pleading for his life.

The cries for help were silenced by a single shot from Zimmerman’s Kel Tec 9mm handgun but not before they were recorded on phone calls that neighbors made to police to report a struggle between two men in their gated community in the central Florida city of Sanford.

“Critical listening and digital signal analysis further revealed that the screaming voice of the 911 call is of insufficient voice quality and duration to conduct a meaningful voice comparison with any other voice samples,” concluded Kenneth Marr, a specialist with the FBI’s digital evidence laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

Of 18.82 seconds of screaming in the distance, only 2.53 seconds went uninterrupted by the conversation between the woman who called 911 and the dispatcher, Marr said in his report.

Moreover, the audio sample was “produced under an extreme emotional state,” the report said, making it difficult to analyze.

Zimmerman supporters can point to a separate Sanford police report within the documents that says Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, told investigators the screams did not belong to his son when he heard the recordings two days after the shooting.

Martin has since told reporters he was uncertain at that time, but that when he heard an enhanced recording on March 16 he was convinced it was his son calling for help. The boy’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, also insists the cries come from Trayvon.

Zimmerman’s father and brother have been equally adamant it was George’s voice they heard.

“That is absolutely, positively George Zimmerman,” father Robert Zimmerman said in an interview with prosecutors on March 19. “Myself, my wife, family members and friends know that is George Zimmerman. There is no doubt who is yelling for help. It is absolutely my son.”

MOUNDS OF EVIDENCE

The documents made public on Thursday include reports from law enforcement, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, and fire department medics who treated Zimmerman at the scene.

There are photographs of the crime scene and Zimmerman’s injuries, plus audio recordings of witness statements, and video of Zimmerman arriving at the police station and the last images of Martin alive, while he was buying candy and a soft drink at a convenience store.

Alongside photos of Zimmerman’s bloody scalp and puffy nose, the documents say Zimmerman repeatedly declined to be taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries suffered in his scuffle with Martin, which could weaken his argument that he feared for his life and required deadly force to defend himself.

In addition, the medical examiner’s report showed only a small abrasion on Martin’s left ring finger and no other injuries – apart from the fatal gunshot wound to the chest – to support Zimmerman’s claim he was nearly beaten to death.

A Sanford police officer said “Zimmerman appeared to have a broken and bloody nose and swelling of his face,” which could support Zimmerman’s contention he feared for his life.

Zimmerman told the fire department medics he was taking temazepam, a medication to treat anxiety or insomnia, and librax, which is prescribed for gastrointestinal disorders.

According to ABC News, a medical report by Zimmerman’s doctor also said he had been prescribed Adderall, which is used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Police also conclude the incident was “ultimately avoidable” had Zimmerman remained in his car that night instead of following Martin.

The medical examiner’s report showed traces of THC – the active ingredient in marijuana – in Martin’s blood and a positive test for ‘cannabinoids’ in his urine.

An attorney for the Martin family called the marijuana evidence irrelevant, saying it was more telling that police declined to order a drug or alcohol test of Zimmerman.

Martin was on suspension from school at the time of the shooting after school officials found traces of marijuana, but no actual drugs, in his belongings.

“The relevant thing is George Zimmerman didn’t have a toxicology report so we don’t know what he had in his system,” said attorney Benjamin Crump. “We know he (Zimmerman) was on prescription medication but we don’t know if he was taking it or not and what effect that would have on him.”

(Additional reporting by Tom Brown and David Adams; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Peter Cooney, Todd Eastham and Lisa Shumaker)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/trayvon-martin-had-traces-marijuana-system-002214340.html

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BEHIND THE SCENES AT FACEBOOK

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

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Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/facebook-tagged-at-new-hq-slideshow/

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POLITICAL MISSES: COLD WAR IN THE SUNSHINE STATE?

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

Politically Foul

Politics: it’s not a game, exactly. But, there are rules and when you break them you are running…Politically Foul!

Republican congressman Allen West got his hands on a dated play book at a Florida town hall this week when he announced, “I believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic party that are members the Communist Party.”

Flag! 15 yards…late hit!  Sixty years late! West is calling a (not so instant) replay on the Cold War.

Our Politically Foul all star, Vice President Joe Biden, was at it again this week. This time at a campaign event in Ohio where he went for a defensive tackle of the GOP. Getting fired up, Biden yelled, “They just don’t get us!”

Foul: excessive shouting! Pace yourself Mr. Vice President, you have a long campaign season ahead.

The mystery of the ‘will they or won’t they’ roster of potential VP contenders on the Republican ticket continues this week. The player in question: Bobby Jindal, who skirted the question of his VP ambitions, “It isn’t about who’s Vice President, it’s about the vision going forward for America”

Flag! Intentional grounding!  You can only delay the game clock so long.

Those are the politically plays we flagged this week. Tell us your best and worst moments and we’ll survey the field again next week.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/cold-war-sunshine-state-114715720.html

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MICHAEL J. FOX LOOKS PAST STEM CELLS FOR PARKINSON’S CURE

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

Michael J. Fox, whose turn from Parkinson’s disease patient to scientific crusader made him one of the country’s most visible advocates for stem cell research, now believes the controversial therapy may not ultimately yield a cure for his disease, he told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview.

There have been “problems along the way,” Fox said of stem cell studies, for which he has long advocated.   Instead, he said, new drug therapies are showing real promise and are “closer today” to providing a cure for Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative illness that over time causes the body to become rigid and the brain to shut down.

 “Stem cells are an avenue of research that we’ve pursued and continue to pursue but it’s part of a broad portfolio of things that we look at. There have been some issues with stem cells, some problems along the way,” said Fox, who suffers from the diseases’ telltale tics and tremors.

 “It’s not so much that [stem cell research has] diminished in its prospects for  breakthroughs as much as it’s the other avenues of research have grown and multiplied and become as much or more promising. So, an answer may come from stem cell research but it’s more than likely to come from another area,” he said.

 Fox, who recently appeared in episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Good Wife,” has dedicated himself to finding a cure for Parkinson’s, the disease with which he was diagnosed in 1991.

 Fox said he still strongly believes in stem cell research and government support of those studies, praising ongoing research at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital. When asked about earlier criticism he received from conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh about his advocacy, Fox said it only “sharpens your resolve.”  

 Scientists are conducting research and looking for a cure on multiple fronts, Fox said, including drug therapies, experimental surgeries, and developing tests to help make earlier diagnoses.

 To that end, his Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the largest private funder of Parkinson’s disease research worldwide,  has recently launched an online initiative to increase studies across the country by pairing patients with clinical trials in their areas.

 The Fox Trial Finder (Visit FoxTrialFinder.org for more
info on clinical trial participation) harnesses the power of the Internet to find patients and, based on their profile of symptoms, pair them with research scientists conducting clinical trials.

 Thirty percent of all clinical trials fail to recruit a single subject, according to the foundation’s web site, and many more, some 85 percent, are delayed because scientists are unable to find enough participants.

 “People can fill out a form anonymously… and then we can let them know about… clinical trials happening in their area,” Fox said.

 Some 200 trials are currently seeking recruits through the website, but one of the most promising will “try to find a biomarker for Parkinson’s, which is really important,” Fox said.

 By the time Fox was diagnosed 20 years ago, he said, 80 percent of the dopamine cells in his brain – neurons instrumental in sending the signals that control movement – were depleted.

 “We have no way to identify the disease before symptoms appear. If we can target progress along the way, we can arrest progress and eliminate the possibility of symptoms,” he said, adding that this area of research is “the most exciting.”

Fox, who grew up in front of the camera on the 1980s sitcom “Family Ties” and starred in the “Back to the Future” film franchise, worried about the future of his career after announcing his diagnosis in 1998 and leaving the hit show “Spin City.”

In the years since, he has led the Fox Foundation, which has donated more than $300 million to Parkinson’s research.  In recent months, however, he has returned to acting more regularly, the result he says, of a new drug regimen that helps control his tics, or dyskinesia.

 “I kind of stumbled onto a new combination of meds for what’s called dyskinesia…Now I thought, there’s no reason not to work so I started to accept more work. Larry David called and had a terrific idea and the ‘Good Wife’ is such a terrific show,” he said of his decisions to appear on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the CBS series “The Good Wife.”

 Fox said that each morning he is uncertain exactly how his symptoms will affect him that day. Some mornings he can delay taking his first dose of medicine for a few hours, other days he expects a greater challenge.

 ”I don’t write off the day ahead of time because of that, it just means it’s going to be tougher sledding,” he said.Having struggled with the disease for years himself, Fox understands its devastating effects and the physical challenges it presents.

He said it was an abiding sense of optimism, a topic on which he has written two books, that allows him to carry on, even on the most difficult days. In 2009, he travelled to the Asian country Bhutan, which emphasizes happiness over productivity, and said he found his symptoms diminished there.

 “People talk about me being a paragon of optimism and hope and all that stuff,” he said.  “I have a really blessed life, I have an amazing life.”

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/newsmakers/michael-j--fox-looks-past-stem-cells-to-internet-for-parkinson-s-cure.html

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SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BREYER ROBBED AGAIN

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who was robbed in February at his Caribbean vacation home by a man armed with a machete, recently was the victim of a burglary at his residence in Washington, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said no one was home at the time of the burglary, which was discovered May 4 by a housekeeper. The Washington, D.C., police were investigating, she said.

Breyer and his wife, Joanna, have a townhouse in Washington’s upscale Georgetown neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In the February incident on the island of Nevis, the intruder stole about $1,000 but no one was hurt. Breyer, his wife and two guests were present at the time.

There have been previous instances of crimes involving U.S. Supreme Court justices.

In 2004, then-Supreme Court Justice David Souter suffered minor injuries when he was mugged by a group of young men as he jogged alone near his residence in Washington.

In 1996, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had her purse snatched as she walked home with her husband and daughter from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to their nearby residence in their Watergate apartment complex. No one was hurt.

(Reporting By James Vicini)

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-justice-breyer-robbed-again-204057581.html

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