Hezbollah chief commits to victory in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) ? The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group vowed to help propel President Bashar Assad to victory in Syria's bloody civil war, warning that the fall of the Damascus regime would give rise to extremists and plunge the Middle East into a "dark period."

In a televised address, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah also said Hezbollah members are fighting in Syria against Islamic radicals who pose a danger to Lebanon, and pledged that his group will not allow Syrian militants to control areas along the Lebanese border. He pledged that Hezbollah will turn the tide of the conflict in Assad's favor, and stay as long as necessary to do so.

"We will continue this road until the end, we will take the responsibility and we will make all the sacrifices," he said. "We will be victorious."

The Hezbollah leader's comments offered the clearest public confirmation yet that the Iranian-backed group is directly involved in Syria's war. They also were Nasrallah's first remarks since Hezbollah fighters have pushed to the front lines of the battle for the strategic Syrian town of Qusair near the Lebanese frontier.

The fighting in Qusair, which government troops backed by Hezbollah pounded with artillery on Saturday, has laid bare the Lebanese Shiite group's growing role in the Syrian conflict. Hezbollah initially tried to play down its involvement, but could no longer do so after dozens of its fighters were killed in the town and buried in large funerals in Lebanon.

Nasrallah, who was speaking on the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, used his speech in part to brace the community for the possibility of more of its men returning home in coffins.

The fight in Qusair has proven a deadly grind for both sides. On Saturday, government forces backed by Hezbollah militants shelled the town in the heaviest barrage yet of a week-long assault to dislodge rebels from the opposition stronghold, activists said.

Since the regime offensive began Wednesday, Syrian state media has said government forces have steadily gained ground. Local activists deny that pro-Assad forces have made headway and say rebel fighters are defending their positions.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 30 people, including 27 rebels, were killed and dozens wounded Saturday in the town, which holds strategic importance for both the regime and the opposition.

For Assad, Qusair's value lies in its location along a land corridor linking two of his strongholds, the capital of Damascus and towns on the Mediterranean coast, the heartland of his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. For the rebels, holding Qusair means protecting a supply line to Lebanon, 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

Saturday's barrage of rockets, mortar rounds and tank shells began after daybreak, said Qusair activist Hadi Abdullah and the pro-opposition Observatory. Both said it was the most intense shelling since the regime launched its offensive there a week ago.

Hezbollah has come under harsh criticism at home and abroad for sending its gunmen to Qusair, and Nasrallah's gamble in Syria primarily stems from his group's vested interest in the Assad regime's survival. The Syrian government has been one of Hezbollah's strongest backers for decades and the militant group fears that if the regime falls it will be replaced by a U.S.-backed government that will be hostile to Hezbollah.

Nasrallah on Saturday defended his group's deepening involvement and sought to frame the fight next door as part of a broader battle against Israel.

"Syria is the back of the resistance, and the resistance cannot stand, arms folded while its back is broken," Nasrallah told thousands of supporters from a secret location via a video link.

"If Syria falls into the hand of America, Israel and takfiris, the resistance (Hezbollah) will be besieged and Israel will enter Lebanon and impose its will," Nasrallah said. Takfiri Islamists refers to an ideology that urges Sunni Muslims to kill anyone they consider an infidel.

Syria's fall, he said, would mean "Palestine will be lost" and "the people of our region and its nations will enter a bad and dark period."

Along with Iran, Syria has been the main backer of Hezbollah. Much of the group's arsenal, including tens of thousands of rockets, is believed to have come from Iran via Syria or from Syria itself.

Hezbollah's role has drawn intense criticism from Syria's main opposition group.

"Some Lebanese are being sent to Syria as invaders in order to return back home in coffins draped with shame," said George Sabra, the acting head of the Syrian National Coalition.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and morphed into a civil war. The Syrian government and Hezbollah deny there is an uprising in Syria, portraying the war as a foreign-backed conspiracy driven by Israel, the U.S. and its Gulf allies.

The Syrian conflict poses a threat to the stability of Lebanon, whose sectarian divide mirrors that of Syria, and the fighting next door has repeatedly spilled over the border. For the past week, Assad's opponents and supporters have been clashing in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli, using mortars, grenades and machine guns to attack densely populated areas.

Sniper fire in Tripoli killed four people on Saturday, bringing the week's death toll to 29 including three Lebanese soldiers, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. More than 200 people have been wounded.

Nasrallah said Lebanon should be spared the fighting over Syria's crisis and called upon rivals to go fight in Syria.

"You are fighting in Syria and we are fighting in Syria. Let's fight there. Let's keep Lebanon away from the fighting," Nasrallah said referring to Lebanese Sunni militants who are fighting alongside the Syrian opposition.

Hezbollah is also facing repercussions in Europe over its support for the Syrian military.

Earlier this week, France and Germany joined a push by Britain to have the EU declare Hezbollah's military wing a terrorist organization. Such a move, long sought by the U.S., would hamper Hezbollah operations in Europe.

Nasrallah said the threats by the EU "is all ink on paper" adding that this will not affect the group.

"We have been under pressure for 30 years and it did not affect our morale," he said.

Meanwhile, Syria's fractured political opposition failed Saturday after three days of intense deliberations to reach a decision on whether to attend an international conference brokered by the U.S. and Russia aimed at ending the conflict in Syria.

The U.S. and Russia want to bring together representatives of the opposition and the Syrian government at an international conference in Geneva for talks on a possible transition government. Much remains up in the air, including the date, the agenda and the list of participants.

The Syrian National Coalition meetings started Thursday and were scheduled to end Saturday but discord among the fractured opposition delayed the discussions. The talks now were expected to continue Sunday, opposition figures said.

On Friday, Syria ally Russia said the Assad regime has accepted in principle to attend talks in Geneva, though there has been no official statement from Damascus.

The opposition is deeply suspicious about Assad's intention to hold serious peace talks, and senior opposition figures have ruled out attendance unless Assad's departure tops the agenda of such negotiations.

___

Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Beirut and Umut Colak in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hezbollah-chief-commits-victory-syria-201126215.html

Fun ll cool j Presidents Day 2013 jack white wiz khalifa 2013 Grammys kelly clarkson

Cedar Rapids, Iowa City officials not happy about property-tax relief ...

City officials in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City aren?t happy that years of talk in the Iowa Legislature about property-tax relief for commercial and industrial property owners ended Thursday with a new law that they say will cost their cities dearly.

The part of the new law that is particularly unnerving, city officials said on Thursday, is what they say is the less-noticed part: the new law?s provision that changes the property classification for apartments, nursing homes and manufactured home parks from commercial to residential gradually over a decade.

Local jurisdictions now tax commercial property at 100 percent of value and residential at about half that much as dictated by a state property-tax formula.

The new law makes no provision to use state funds to make up or ?backfill? the revenue lost to local jurisdictions due to this change for ?multi-residential? properties, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett and Geoff Fruin, assistant to the city manager for the city of Iowa City, said.

?We?re very disappointed they didn?t backfill this part of the law,? Corbett said.

Casey Drew, the city of Cedar Rapids? finance director, estimated on Thursday that city of Cedar Rapids could see a reduction of $10 million a year in property-tax revenue by 2024 because of the provisions in the new state law that come without state funds to backfill the losses. The city now takes in about $99 million a year in property-tax revenue, Drew said.

Iowa City?s Fruin said the city of Iowa City could face an estimated $7.7 million annual loss in property-tax revenue without state backfill support by 2024. Iowa City currently takes in about $57 million a year in revenue from property taxes, he said.

The ?multi-residential? provision of the new law?does not take effect until the budget year that begins on July 1, 2015, and so Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz on Thursday said the city will have some time to figure out how it will adjust and respond.

Corbett said Cedar Rapids city officials will push state lawmakers next year to fix the problem before the city looks at job eliminations and service cutbacks.

The loss of property-tax revenue from apartments, Fruin said, hits university towns such as Iowa City particularly hard because of the number of rental units in the community to support the student population. Corbett said Cedar Rapids has plenty of apartments, too.

Cities in Iowa use local-option sales taxes and franchise fees as two ways to raise revenue other than property taxes. Most cities in Iowa have a 1-percent local-option sales tax in place well into the future, but Iowa City?s 1-percent tax expires on June 30 while the city of Cedar Rapids? expires on June 30, 2014.

Iowa City currently has a 1-percent franchise on electric and gas bills while the city of Cedar Rapids is about to raise its franchise fee from 1 percent to 2 percent.

The dissatisfaction Thursday from local officials is a bit of a surprise because lawmakers and Branstad have talked a lot about passing a law that uses state funds to make up for lost property-tax revenue to local jurisdictions.

But the backfill provision comes for just the most talked about part of the new law, which reduces the percentage of commercial and industrial property subject to property tax from the current 100 percent of value to 95 percent of value and then 90 percent of value by the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2015.

However, even the backfill funds for this provision come with only a hope that state lawmakers down the road would honor the current commitment, Corbett and Fruin noted.

Source: http://thegazette.com/2013/05/23/cedar-rapids-iowa-city-officials-not-happy-about-property-tax-relief/

tom brady denver post Scandal denver broncos new england patriots Zayn Malik miss america

4 Americans killed since 2009 in US drone strikes

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since 2009. The disclosure to Congress comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama in which he plans to pledge more transparency to Congress in his counterterrorism policy.

It was already known that three Americans had been killed in U.S. drones strikes in counterterrorism operations overseas, but Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed details that had remained secret and also that a fourth American had been killed.

In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Holder said that the government targeted and killed U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and that the U.S. "is aware" of the killing of three others who were not targets of counterterror operations.

Al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. The other two known cases are Samir Khan, who was killed in the same drone strike as al-Awlaki and al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, a Denver native, who also was killed in Yemen.

The newly revealed case is that of Jude Kenan Mohammed, one of eight men indicted by federal authorities in 2009, accused of being part of a plot to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va. Before he could be arrested, Mohammad fled the country to join jihadi fighters in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where he was among those killed by a U.S. drone.

"Since entering office, the president has made clear his commitment to providing Congress and the American people with as much information as possible about our sensitive counterterrorism operations," Holder said in his letter to Leahy, D-Vt. "To this end, the president has directed me to disclose certain information that until now has been properly classified."

"The administration is determined to continue these extensive outreach efforts to communicate with the American people," Holder wrote.

Obama "believes that we need to be as transparent about a matter like this as we can, understanding that there are national security implications to this issue and to the broader issues involved in counterterrorism policy," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday.

"He thinks (this) is an absolutely valid and legitimate and important area of discussion and debate and conversation, and that it is his belief that there need to be structures in place that remain in place for successive administrations," Carney said. "So that in the carrying out of counterterrorism policy, procedures are followed that allow it to be conducted in a way that ensures that we're keeping with our traditions and our laws."

Obama's speech Thursday is expected to reaffirm his national security priorities ? from homegrown terrorists to killer drones to the enemy combatants imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay ? but make no new sweeping policy pronouncements. The White House has offered few specifics on what the president will say to address long-standing questions that have dogged his administration for years and, experts said, given foreign allies mixed signals about U.S. intentions in some of the world's most volatile areas.

Obama will try to refocus an increasingly disinterested and scandal-weary U.S. public on security issues. His message will also be carefully analyzed by an international audience that has had to adapt to what counterterror expert Peter Singer described as the administration's "disjointed" and often "shortsighted" security policies.

Obama is also expected to say the U.S. will make a renewed effort to transfer detainees out of the Navy-run detention center for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to other countries. Obama recently restated his desire to close Guantanamo, a pledge he made shortly after his inauguration in January 2009.

That effort, however, has been stymied because many countries don't want the detainees or are unwilling or unable to guarantee that once transferred detainees who may continue to be a threat will not be released.

There are currently about 166 prisoners at Guantanamo, and 86 have been approved for transfer as long as security restrictions are met.

In his letter, the attorney general said the decision to target Anwar al-Awlaki was subjected to extensive policy review at the highest levels of the government. Senior U.S. officials briefed the appropriate committees of Congress on the possibility of using lethal force against Anwar al-Awlaki.

The administration informed the relevant congressional oversight committees that it had approved the use of lethal forces against Anwar al-Awlaki in February 2010, well over a year before the operation, Holder said.

A move to gradually shift responsibility for the bulk of U.S. drone strikes from the CIA to the military has already begun. And, according to an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly, the move would largely divide the strikes on a geographical basis, with the CIA continuing to conduct operations in Pakistan, while the military takes on the operations in other parts of the world.

Officials suggest that the CIA strikes into Pakistan have been successful, and point to the agency's ability to gather intelligence there. So, there is less of an inclination to change that now.

In other countries, such as Yemen, Somalia or portions of North Africa, the Defense Department will handle the drone strikes as regular military operations.

In March, the Senate confirmed John Brennan to be CIA director after the Obama administration agreed to demands from Republicans and stated explicitly there are limits on the president's power to use drones against U.S. terror suspects on American soil.

Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington legislative office, said the administration should "produce the legal rationale that allows him to unilaterally decide when drones can be used ... and we would like him to clarify why he feels he has the authority to use drones outside of the battlefield and how he's going to constrain that authority."

Frank Cilluffo, White House domestic security adviser to President George W. Bush, said Wednesday that the fact that the U.S. targeted al-Awlaki and killed three other U.S. citizens in drone strikes should have been part of the public discourse all along.

He said there had been a lingering narrative that Awlaki was an inspirational leader, while in reality he had a key role in multiple operations targeting Americans. "The fact that they are making this public provides justification for the actions they took," said Cilluffo, now director of a homeland security studies program at George Washington University.

___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Julie Pace in Washington, and Michael Biesecker in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-americans-killed-since-2009-us-drone-strikes-211810690.html

snooki Prince Harry Vegas pictures Avril Lavigne Microsoft Tropical Storm Isaac amber portwood Phyllis Diller

Quinnipiac University salutes employees for service milestones and honors retirees

Hamden, CT - Quinnipiac University recognized employees for reaching service milestones of ranging from 10 to 45 years during an annual ceremony held May 21, in the Athletics and Recreation Center on the Mount Carmel Campus. The following employees were recognized:

45 years: Daryll Borst, of Bethany, professor of biology and John Gourlie, of Guilford, professor of communications and English.

40 years: David Hall, of Cheshire, accounting secretary, administrative services; Kent Marshall, of Cheshire, professor of chemistry; and Edward Tantorski, of North Haven, associate professor of physical therapy.

35 years: Daniel Bonitata, of Madison, part-time faculty; Denise Cameron, of Milford, associate professor of physical therapy; Kenneth Kaloustian, of Cheshire, professor of biology; David King, of Woodbridge, associate dean, School of Law; William Mecca, of North Haven, senior associate director of athletics; and John T. Morgan, of New Haven, professor of law.

30 years: Francis Bellizzi, of Newington, professor of management; David Cadden, of Cheshire, professor of management; Nancy Carney, of Wallingford, assistant to the vice president and dean of admissions; Manuel Carreiro, of North Haven, vice president and dean of students; William Dunlap, of Wallingford, professor of law; Robert Farrell, of New Haven, professor of law; Linda Sink, of North Haven, payroll manager; James Stevens, of Meriden, associate professor of physics; and Roseanna Tufano, of North Haven, clinical professor of occupational therapy.

25 years: Steven Carleton, of East Haven, professor of biology; Betsy Delaney, of Hamden, secretary, College of Arts and Sciences; Maria Jorge, of Cheshire, custodian; Lucille Marottolo, of Stratford, associate vice president for finance; John Martin, of Northford, licensed HVAC mechanic; Anthony Perrone, of Hamden, custodian; Anna Spragg, of Orange, director of student affairs, School of Medicine; W. John Thomas, of Hamden, professor of law; and Robert Young, of Cheshire, public services librarian.

20 years: Margaret Bratsenis, of Branford, part-time faculty; Michael Calia, of Glastonbury, director of the Ed McMahon Communications Center; John Copela, of Hamden, senior superintendent of grounds; Maria Cruz, of Wallingford, custodian; June DeGennaro, of West Haven, collection management librarian; Heidi Erickson, of Hamden, senior associate director of admissions; Steven Errante, of New Haven, part-time faculty; Felicia Howard, of Hamden, secretary, School of Law; Thomas Lee, of Fairfield, part-time faculty; Hepsie Leslie-Abbott, of Bridgeport, law library serials assistant; Kathy Livingston, of Woodbridge, professor of sociology; Joan Mohr, of Wallingford, vice president for admissions and financial aid; Creighton Myers, of Cheshire, master carpenter; Mario Norbis, of Amherst, Mass., professor of management; Marie Riley, of Wallingford, law admissions assistant; Martha Sanders, of Madison, associate professor of occupational therapy; Mark Soboslai, of Westport, part-time faculty; Alan Soloway, of Woodbridge, part-time faculty; Susan Ticotsky, of Hamden, secretary, student affairs; and Frank Torelli of Hamden, groundskeeper.

15 years: Margaret Anderson, of Hamden, secretary, Health and Wellness Center; Robert Bogdanoff, of Woodbridge, part-time faculty; Brian Clark, of Orange, part-time faculty; Patricia Comitini, of Cheshire, associate professor of English; Edward D?Angelo, of Hamden, part-time faculty; William Dow, of New Haven, part-time faculty; Mary Duchesne, of Cheshire, part-time faculty; Sean Duffy, of New Haven, associate professor of political science; Richard Ferguson, of Guilford, senior vice president for administration; Deborah Grady, of Cheshire, financial aid assistant/data management; Leslie Gura, of Winston-Salem, N.C., part-time faculty; Linda Hawkes, of North Haven, reference and electronic services librarian; Linda Holt, of Prospect, circulation/reserve assistant manager, law; Joan Kreiger, of Orange, part-time faculty; Aniana Landino, of Hamden, custodian; Jeanne LeVasseur, of Hamden, professor of nursing; Linda Lindroth, of New Haven, part-time faculty; Gregory Little, of Southington, news director, WQUN; Thea Moritz, of Middletown, director of publications & design; Edward O?Connor, of Wolcott, dean of the School of Health Sciences; Patricia Ornato, of Hamden, secretary, Learning Center; Gregory Pepe, of Hamden, part-time faculty; Anna Porto, of Hamden, custodian; Harry Pylypiw, of Hamden, professor of chemistry; Paul Steinle, of Seattle, Wash., part-time faculty; Teresa Tai, of Cheshire, associate professor of management; Amy Terry, of Hamden, athletics & recreation coordinator for financial services; Mark Thompson, of Cheshire, senior vice president for academic & student affairs; Thomas Tinghitella, of Milford, part-time faculty; George Vasu, of Hamden, part-time faculty; Jason White, of Prospect, part-time faculty and Kenneth Wilson, of Guilford, staff accountant, bursar.

10 years: Jeffrey Agli, of Hamden, part-time faculty; Michaela Alexandru, of Cheshire, part-time faculty; Edward Alwood, of Hamden, professor of journalism; Christopher Ball, of Middletown, associate professor of economics; Lisa Bartone, of Seymour, part-time faculty; William Berger, of Mahwah, N.J., part-time faculty; Stacey Bjornberg, of Wallingford, admissions assistant; Daniel Brown, of Wallingford, assistant dean & director, student center; Richard Brownell, of Hamden, director of client services; Lisa Burns, of East Haven, professor of communications; Laura Cannon, of Hamden, news reporter, part-time; Monica Cavender, of Milford, visiting assistant professor of education; Barbara Cofrances-Nana, of Madison, part-time faculty; Bernadette Conway, of North Haven, part-time faculty; Gary Crisanti, of Torrington, part-time faculty; Salvatore D?Angelo, of Hamden, custodian, part-time; Anthony DeQuattro, of North Haven, part-time faculty; Margarita Diaz, of New Haven, associate professor of journalism; Dorothy Donarum, of Hamden, manager of interviewer operations; Susan Elliott, of New London, N.H., associate professor of education; Thomas Esposito, of Guilford, part-time faculty; Mark Franzese, of Waterbury, part-time faculty; Shelley Giordano, of Hamden, associate professor of diagnostic imaging; Maria Gould, of New Haven, custodian; Heather Hamilton, of Naugatuck, director of graduate financial aid; Patrick Harewood, of West Haven, part-time faculty; Katherine Harris, of North Branford, associate professor of physical therapy; Kim Healy, of Branford, part-time faculty; Stephen Henderson, of Hamden, associate professor of fine arts; Robert Henry, of Cheshire, medical director/team physician; David Herndon, of Hamden, part-time faculty; Brian Jones, of Killingworth, professor of marketing & advertising; Linda Jones, of Cheshire, custodian; Lisa Jones, of Hamden, custodian; Frances Kelly, of Branford, library assistant (interlibrary loan); Frank Lussier, of Naugatuck, part-time faculty; Angela Mattie, of East Haven, associate professor of management; James McCaughern-Carucci, of St. Johns, Fla., part-time faculty; Mary Michel-Marchitto, of Seymour, part-time faculty; Ralph Neclerio, of Wallingford, part-time faculty; Patricia Norberg, of Cheshire, associate professor of marketing/advertising; Lisa O?Connor, of East Haddam, associate professor of nursing; Dianna Pategas, of Sandy Hook, associate vice president for alumni affairs & parent relations; Sharon Patterson-Miller, of New Haven, custodian; Gail Peabody, of Bethany, secretary for QU Online; Louis Pereira, of Naugatuck, custodian; Rosario Perez, of New Haven, custodian; Teresa Pires, of New Haven, custodian; Linda Remillard, of Cheshire, staff nurse; Cheryl Riello, of Hamden, assistant director of advancement services data/documents; Anthony Romano, of East Haven, master carpenter; Stephen Ronai, of North Haven, part-time faculty; Patricia Rondini, of Meriden, part-time faculty; Amy Rosen, of Branford, development officer, reunion gift program; Michael Schleif, of Wallingford, media production specialist; Karin Schwanbeck, of Cheshire, associate professor of journalism; Annemarie Scott, of Wallingford, accounting assistant; Kathleen Scott, of Meriden, secretary for the sciences; Jill Shahverdian, of Middletown, associate professor of mathematics; Vicki Todd, of Cheshire, assistant professor of public relations; William Toth, of Ansonia, desktop support specialist; Mark Varholak, of Orange, associate controller; Angela Walker, of Hamden, associate professor of psychology; Jill Wurcel, of Hamden, assistant director of financial aid, School of Law; and Mary Zaffino, of West Haven, executive assistant to the dean of the School of Medicine.

The university also recognized the following employees who are retiring: honorees: Teresa Amore, of Cheshire, secretary, accounting; Carol Boucher, of Wallingford, associate vice president for student affairs; Christopher Crocco, of Hamden, public safety officer; Carolyn DeGrand, of Hamden, secretary, College of Arts and Sciences; Susan Elliott, of New London, N.H., internship coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences; Richard Ferguson, of Guilford, senior vice president for administration; Carolyn Hosey, of Hamden, secretary, development; John Kay, of Hamden, custodian; Marie Koch, of Cheshire, part-time faculty, physical therapy; Robert Martinez, of Rockport, Mass., professor of biology; Suzy Pafka, of Branford, client services technician; Roberta Spiegel, of Fredericksburg, Va., secretary, occupational therapy; Bruce White, of Hamden, professor of computer information system; and Russell Woodman, of Wallingford, professor of physical therapy.

Source: http://www.stamfordplus.com/stm/information/nws1/publish/education/Quinnipiac-University-salutes-employees-for-service-milestones-and-honors-retirees20223.shtml

real life barbie zipper armenian genocide asteroid mining ivan rodriguez planetary resources mothers day gift ideas

Poliovirus vaccine trial shows early promise for recurrent glioblastoma

May 21, 2013 ? An attack on glioblastoma brain tumor cells that uses a modified poliovirus is showing encouraging results in an early study to establish the proper dose level, researchers at Duke Cancer Institute report.

The treatment, developed at Duke and tested in an ongoing phase 1 study, capitalizes on the discovery that cancer cells have an abundance of receptors that work like magnets drawing the poliovirus, which then infects and kills the cells.

The investigational therapy, known as PVSRIPO, uses an engineered form of the virus that is lethal to cancer cells, while harmless to normal cells. Infused directly into the patient's tumor, the virus-based therapy also triggers the body's immune fighters to launch an attack against the infected tumor cells.

Preliminary data, presented at the upcoming 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, previews the results of seven patients enrolled in the study whose tumors reoccurred despite traditional treatments for glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and aggressive brain tumor.

Of the patients enrolled in the study, three have responded well to the drug. One patient remains disease-free 12 months after treatment, another 11 months post-treatment and the third is disease-free after five months. With traditional treatment, about half of glioblastoma patients see recurrent tumor growth within eight weeks.

Two patients in the study did not fair as well; one had recurrent tumor growth after two months, and another's condition declined after four months. The remaining two patients have been treated in the last three and two months, respectively, and currently remain disease free.

"These early results are intriguing," said Annick Desjardins, M.D., FRCPC, principal investigator and associate professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. "Current therapies for glioblastoma are limited because they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and often do not specifically attack the tumor. This treatment appears to overcome those problems. We are eager to see additional results as we move forward with our study."

In addition to Desjardins, study authors include J. H. Sampson, K.B. Peters, T. Ranjan, G. Vlahovic, S. Threatt, J.E. Herndon II, A. Friedman, H.S. Friedman, D.D. Bigner and M. Gromeier.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3Cp30KhVPpg/130521132122.htm

catherine zeta jones charlize theron barbra streisand barbra streisand hugh jackman Aly Raisman Oscar Results

The 50th Super Bowl goes to San Francisco Bay Area

In this artist drawing provided by the San Francisco 49ers, the proposed 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. is shown. NFL owners will vote on the sites of the 50th and 51st Super Bowls on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at their spring meetings. The San Francisco area, where the new stadium is being built in Santa Clara, and South Florida are competing for the the 50th edition, to be held in February 2016. The loser in that bidding will go against Houston to host the 51st game the following year.(AP Photo/San Francisco 49ers) NO SALES

In this artist drawing provided by the San Francisco 49ers, the proposed 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. is shown. NFL owners will vote on the sites of the 50th and 51st Super Bowls on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at their spring meetings. The San Francisco area, where the new stadium is being built in Santa Clara, and South Florida are competing for the the 50th edition, to be held in February 2016. The loser in that bidding will go against Houston to host the 51st game the following year.(AP Photo/San Francisco 49ers) NO SALES

San Francisco 49ers football team CEO Jed York reacts during a news conference at the NFL spring meeting in Boston, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, discussing their successful bid to host Super Bowl 2016. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

FILE - This Sept. 16, 2012 file photo shows a general view of Sun Life Stadium during the first half of an NFL football game between the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders in Miami. NFL owners will vote on the sites of the 50th and 51st Super Bowls on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at their spring meetings. The San Francisco area, where a new stadium is being built in Santa Clara, and South Florida are competing for the the 50th edition, to be held in February 2016. The loser in that bidding will go against Houston to host the 51st game the following year. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2004 file photo,?Houston's Reliant Stadium hosts a sellout crowd at Super Bowl XXXVIII between the Carolina Panthers and the New England Patriots in Houston. NFL owners will vote on the sites of the 50th and 51st Super Bowls on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at their spring meetings. The San Francisco area, where a new stadium is being built in Santa Clara, and South Florida are competing for the the 50th edition, to be held in February 2016. The loser in that bidding will go against Houston to host the 51st game the following year. (AP Photo/Brett Coomer, File)

New England Patriots football team owner Robert Kraft, second from right, speaks with reporters during a break in the NFL spring meeting in Boston, Tuesday, May 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

BOSTON (AP) ? The NFL will celebrate its 50th Super Bowl in northern California, where its newest, most high-tech venue is being built.

That makes South Florida, in the midst of a spat over expensive stadium renovations, a loser for the 2016 game.

And Miami took a double defeat when Houston was awarded the 2017 championship game.

In two separate votes, NFL owners Tuesday went with the both San Francisco Bay Area and Houston on the first ballot at their spring meetings. The 49ers' new home is set to open next year in Santa Clara, and will host the first Super Bowl in the area since 1985.

Houston staged the 2004 Super Bowl. Miami has hosted 10 of them ? including the Jets upset of the Colts in 1969 ? and is tied with New Orleans for the most. But South Florida got rejected twice after the Florida Legislature did not support financing to renovate Sun Life Stadium.

"We are so excited to be able to be able to put on the 'Golden Super Bowl' in the Golden State," 49ers CEO Jed York said.

They will stage it in what is being promoted as the most technologically advanced stadium in the world, and earned that right on a day when the NFL made a $400 million deal with Microsoft to upgrade the fan viewing experience. Levi's Stadium figures to be the first cashless, ticketless venue in NFL championship history, with WiFi capability for 75,000 people.

"After losing a Super Bowl (to Baltimore last February), it feels really good to win a Super Bowl," York cracked.

Houston hosted once before, in 2004, and is calling the 51st Super Bowl an international experience that will include fans from Mexico.

"I think a lot of them just felt like, hey, it's Houston's time," Texans owner Robert McNair said of his colleagues. "They knew we could do a good job. From 2004 to '17, that's 13 years. So I agree, I think it's Houston's time."

The only previous Super Bowl played in northern California was at Stanford Stadium in 1985.

When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the 2016 decision, members of the San Francisco bid committee let out a roar of approval, then toasted each other with champagne.

Asked what he believed swayed the owners to vote for San Francisco, York added: "It's the will power of an entire area that gave an overwhelming push for us."

It was the first time in a decade that a Super Bowl was awarded on the first ballot.

"The Bay Area has been waiting for a (title) game since 1985. We have a stadium now ... we are just thrilled and couldn't be happier about this," said Daniel Lurie, a leader of the San Francisco bid.

"We are going to get to highlight the best the Bay Area has to offer."

That includes donating 25 percent of the proceeds from the game to fight poverty in the San Francisco Bay Area, York said.

The Dolphins were denied public money for a stadium upgrade in South Florida following widespread complaints about the public investment sunk into the Marlins' new baseball home.

Multibillionaire Dolphins owner Stephen Ross contends $350 million in stadium improvements are badly needed, but he doesn't want to pay for them by himself. Nor does he want a scaled-down renovation of the 26-year-old facility.

"I suspect there's a couple of state reps down in Miami-Dade County where I live who are going to look at this and realize this was a huge mistake," South Florida bid committee chairman Rodney Barreto said. "We had the better bid. I could just look at the body language from the NFL staff. It's a shame. We may not see another Super Bowl for another 10 years."

But, Ross said, South Florida "won't stop trying" to get one.

Goodell said some owners privately told him they were concerned with the stadium situation in Miami.

49ers owner John York suggested that San Francisco's winning effort offered a lesson in political cooperation.

"If this Super Bowl can show the state of California and other communities the opportunity with a new stadium to bring in fresh business, it could be a catalyst that stadiums can be built for Oakland and San Diego, which are in need of new ones," he said. "This may be the impetus to get one of those done."

For years, it was thought the NFL would seek to stage the 50th Super Bowl in Los Angeles, where the first one was played (but did not sell out) on Jan. 15, 1967. But with no franchise in LA and no suitable stadium projects approved, that hope disappeared.

Next Feb. 2, the game goes outdoors in a cold-weather site for the first time, at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. If that gamble pays off for the NFL, look for other cities in similar climates ? Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver ? to bid for future Super Bowls.

The 2015 game will be played in the Phoenix area.

Earlier Tuesday, owners approved a $200 million loan for stadium construction in Atlanta. The multipurpose stadium could cost as much as $1 billion, with team owner Arthur Blank committed to funding most of it. Blank, speaking at the NFL's spring meetings, called the decision by the team owners an "important milestone" in moving the project forward. The owners also approved financing for renovations of stadiums in Charlotte and Philadelphia.

Speaking with reporters after the votes, Goodell also said:

? The draft will be held between May 8 and May 17 next year because the venue, Radio City Music Hall, is hosting an Easter show in April. He expects the draft will remain in May, with other adjustments to the NFL's calendar, including the dates for the combine and the opening of free agency, to be discussed with the players' union.

? A third international game in upcoming seasons could be added now that both games for 2013 in London have sold out.

? The Pro Bowl could be moved from Hawaii back to mainland cities after the 2014 game, but will remain on the Sunday one week before the Super Bowl.

? Expanding the playoffs, and cutting two games off the preseason, still are being discussed. A reduced preseason could happen with either the current 16-game regular season or with an 18-game schedule.

___

AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-21-NFL%20Meetings/id-61c559dc44c348268abbd5cd8893d32a

scalloped potatoes the ten commandments charlton heston moses tulsa shooting doug fister the perfect storm

College Women Drinking Alcohol Excessively More Often Than Men

In college, I did a fair amount of drinking, as did the majority of my friends. While I myself never grew a particularly high alcohol tolerance, I?did notice that the people I knew who had the highest capacity for alcohol in relation to their height and weight always seemed to be females ? something that I?ve found to be less true since I graduated. Apparently, this is a running theme: college women are consuming more booze than recommended, and they?re doing so more frequently than the males.

In a study for the?October 2013 issue of ?Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research,? incoming college students (both male and female) were given surveys from a team led by?medical researcher?Bettina Hoeppner regarding their drinking habits. The questionnaires were administered every two weeks regarding the student?s past seven days. The results showed that women and men differed:

In 1990, the?National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism?(NIAAA) issued guidelines that define low-risk drinking on a daily and weekly level. For men, 5 drinks a day and 14 drinks a week are considered low-risk. For women, 4 drinks a day and 7 drinks a week are considered low-risk.

Researchers found that, among students who drank alcohol, 85.4 percent exceeded an NIAAA drinking guideline at least once during their first week of college. More men than women exceeded the daily limit, and more women than men exceeded the weekly limit.

I?ve thought about why women might be more prone to over-drinking than men, but it?s hard to put a finger on (and, obviously, I?m no scientist so anything I speculate is just that ? speculation).?Most of the men and women I know drink both beer and hard liquor, but in college, it?s often all about what winds up being cheaper (and faster). You can get a handle of ?meh? vodka for, oh, $18, while spending the same amount on beer will likely not get as many people intoxicated nearly as fast. But then, this anecdote-based theory goes for both men and women ? so why are women drinking excessively more?

Could it be because women are recommended lower quantities of alcohol, but are still attending the same parties and are served the same amount of booze? Or that women feel more pressure to binge drink? While I never felt pressure to ?prove? myself to anybody regarding my drinking, I?m sure that plenty of college students ? male and female ? certainly have, and that can lead to downing a whole lot of shots, which is?definitely not safe.

Personally, I think that experimenting with alcohol and whatnot isn?t dangerous in itself, but there needs to be more discussions about drinking prior to college. As in, high school students need to be educated on what constitutes ?binge drinking,? how to tell the signs of somebody being dangerously intoxicated, how to limit yourself better, what to avoid?it should all be done when people are younger,?before they?re exposed to ice luges and the concept of strapping 40s to your hands (do the kids still do that?).

I realize that this isn?t the most popular opinion, as these talks would be administered prior to the legal drinking age, but the fact of the matter is that kids?will?exposed to alcohol before they?re 21; there isn?t some magical forcefield that keeps the booze demons away. A class that realistically talks about the choices students will face could potentially save lives and, at the very least, be far more relevant than that D.A.R.E. thing we all took in the fifth grade.

Photo: Shutterstock

Source: http://www.blisstree.com/2013/05/22/food/college-women-drinking-alcohol-excessively-more-often-than-men/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=college-women-drinking-alcohol-excessively-more-often-than-men

nfl mock draft project m colts colts big ten tournament 2012 dennis quaid bruce weber fired

New U.K. Edtech Entity To Spend Up To $77M Acquiring European E-Learning Firms Over Next 18 Months To Build Regional Giant

Expect a swathe of consolidation in the European e-learning sector in the coming months. Edxus Group, a new London-based corporate operating edtech company, is planning to plough in ?50-60 million ($64-$77m) over the next 18 months to develop and acquire European e-learning businesses and build out a single regional player with the scale to compete against U.S. edtech giants, it said today.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/NYVXf6Z3ULQ/

lisa lampanelli bronx zoo bronx zoo crash grizzlies april 30 wwe extreme rules 2012 vontaze burfict

This Printer Spits Out 10 Meters of Solar Panel Every Minute

Australia is on the cusp of a solar energy revolution. First, a recent study suggests that the country could power its entire national domestic infrastructure using only solar (while slashing the price of home electricity by 70 percent). Now, the University of Melbourne has introduced a new organic PV cell printer that rolls out a functional binder page-sized sheet of solar panel every two seconds, making the production of all those cells cheaper and a whole lot faster.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/HjbOuJVuxSk/this-printer-spits-out-10-meters-of-solar-panel-every-m-508966042

Mayans camilla belle instagram Robert Bork mark sanchez Mayan End Of The World Olivia Black

Arias speaks on own behalf as jury considers death

Jodi Arias looks at her family on Monday, May 20, 2013 during the penalty phase of her murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Ariz. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting to death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Jodi Arias looks at her family on Monday, May 20, 2013 during the penalty phase of her murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Ariz. Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting to death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Judge Sherry Stephens denies the request from Jodi Arias' defense attorneys Jennifer Wilmott and Kirk Nurmi to withdraw from the case on Monday, May 20, 2013 during the penalty phase of Arias' murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Ariz. Arias was convicted May 8, 2013 of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting to death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Jodi Arias looks at her defense attorney Jennifer Wilmott on Monday, May 20, 2013 during the penalty phase of Arias' murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, AZ. Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting to death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

Jodi Arias' defense attorneys Jennifer Wilmott and Kirk Nurmi react after Judge Sherry Stephens denies their request to withdraw from the case on Monday, May 20, 2013 during the penalty phase of Jodi Arias' murder trial at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix, Ariz. Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting to death of Travis Alexander, 30, in his suburban Phoenix home in June 2008. (The Arizona Republic, Rob Schumacher, Pool)

PHOENIX (AP) ? When Jodi Arias addresses the jury in her murder trial one more time, the big question will be whether she pleads for mercy or repeats what she told a TV reporter minutes after her conviction: She would rather be executed than spend the rest of her life in prison.

After nearly five months of testimony in a case that has captured tabloid headlines with tales of sex, lies and violence, Arias' final words to the jury will soon bring the trial to an end.

Arias' own attorneys tried to quit the case and asked for a mistrial a day earlier after complaining the trial had become a witch hunt. But the judge swiftly rejected the requests. The defense then said they would call just one witness to testify ? Arias herself.

She is set to speak to the jury Tuesday morning. After closing arguments, the jury will begin deliberations and decide whether Arias should be sentenced to life in prison or face the ultimate punishment for the June 2008 shooting and stabbing death of boyfriend Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home.

Arias initially claimed she knew nothing about the slaying. Then she blamed masked intruders before eventually settling on self-defense. Prosecutors argued she killed Alexander in a jealous rage because he wanted to end their relationship and go to Mexico with another woman.

The 32-year-old former waitress spent 18 days on the witness stand during the guilt phase of her trial, describing an abusive childhood, cheating boyfriends, dead-end jobs, a shocking sexual relationship with Alexander, and her contention that he had grown physically violent.

Jurors didn't believe her then, and experts say they likely will show no mercy now.

The victim suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, his throat was slit from ear to ear, and he was shot in the forehead. Arias then dragged him into his shower, where his decomposed body was found days later.

"I think they could put Mother Teresa on there, and it's not going to spare her life," said Phoenix defense attorney Mel McDonald, a former judge and federal prosecutor.

San Francisco-area criminal defense lawyer Michael Cardoza said her attorneys' request to quit the case and the defense decision not to call any witnesses on Arias' behalf could very well be a strategic move ? but one that could backfire.

"She could argue ineffective counsel on appeal, but the fact is, it's anything but ineffective because what they're doing is handing her an appeal," Cardoza said. "So it's actually very effective counsel."

Defense attorney Kirk Nurmi renewed his arguments in court on Monday that the judge should have sequestered the jury during the trial and that it should never have been broadcast live.

"The court had a duty to protect Ms. Arias' right to a fair trial, and failed to do so time and time again," Nurmi told the judge. "This cannot be a modern-day version of ... a witch trial."

Judge Sherry Stephens denied the mistrial request, prompting Nurmi to ask that he and co-counsel Jennifer Willmott be allowed to withdraw from the case. The judge swiftly denied that request, as well.

Arias' attorneys also tried without success to quit after she gave her post-conviction TV interview.

"Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place," Arias told Fox affiliate KSAZ from a holding cell inside the courthouse. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom, and I'd rather have my freedom as soon as I can get it."

Last week, Alexander's brother and sister tearfully described for the jury how his killing had torn their lives apart. This week, the defense planned to call its own witnesses, including a female friend and an ex-boyfriend of Arias, in hopes of convincing the jury her life is worth saving. They scrapped that plan, however, after claiming one key witness refused to testify after receiving death threats, then indicated to the judge Arias would be the only one speaking on her behalf.

While jurors are admonished daily not to pay attention to news accounts of the trial or discuss it with anyone, experts say many details would have been hard to avoid.

"In today's society, you can't help but hear or see things whether you're in the grocery line or walking by a newsstand," Cardoza said. "It's naive to think there are no outside influences that reach them."

Some also speculate that Arias might have been trying to play to jurors with her proclamation in the TV interview that she would rather die, hoping the panel won't give her what she says she wants.

"She has manipulated this jury before," said Phoenix defense lawyer Julio Laboy. "She could very well still be manipulating the jury."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-21-Boyfriend%20Slaying/id-ee8513dfef274fd391ce898f191f7c3f

Selena Gomez ariel winter Paige Butcher David Petraeus Petraeus Mia Love wall street journal

Are US Banks Playing with Fire in the Commercial Loan Market ...

As interest rates remain historically low, the biggest U.S. banks are seeing the need to increase the volume of lending to businesses. The dramatic uptick in commercial and industrial loans is adding significant risks for banks that have with fire in the past and gotten burned. Regulators are aiming to tighten restrictions before severe damage can be done.

NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW!

The very small margins have been troubling for banks like?Wells Fargo?(NYSE:WFC) and?Bank of America?(NYSE:BAC) since the beginning of the year. In order to make more on the lowest margins in over 50 years, banks have had to push big in commercial lending, according to?The Financial Times. Regulators have noticed dangerous trends developing for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008. Consequently, the Fed has issued new standards for leveraged lending practices among banks.?Citigroup?(NYSE:C)?and?JPMorgan?(NYSE:JPM) join BofA and Wells Fargo in having to comply with the new Fed guidelines by Tuesday May 21.

How can the top banks put their own business and the economy at risk? According to Moody?s, the problems come from the banks? refusal to discipline themselves and stay away from loans to businesses already saddled with debt. Other risks are general overexposure and the potential to create an asset bubble. Amid calls for banks to increase the amount of capital in their portfolios, the lending practices so far in 2013 have reflected a trend in the opposite direction.

Source: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/are-us-banks-playing-with-fire-in-the-commercial-loan-market.html/

lance armstrong Earl Weaver Inauguration Schedule barack obama dear abby WRAL John Harbaugh

Pfeiffer: Legality of IRS Targeting of Conservative Groups 'Irrelevant' (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/306821719?client_source=feed&format=rss

channel 5 news uc berkeley harrison barnes brett ratner stevie nicks anchorman capybara

Lovelorn frogs bag closest crooner

May 20, 2013 ? What lures a lady frog to her lover? Good looks, the sound of his voice, the size of his pad or none of the above? After weighing up their options, female strawberry poison frogs (Oophaga pumilio) bag the closest crooner they can, finds research in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers of Zoology. This seemingly short-sighted strategy turns out to be the optimal mate choice strategy for these colourful frogs.

Males of the species congregate in the Costa Rican rain forest 'lek-style' to display and call together, giving females the chance to weigh up multiple males at once. But despite their best efforts, build and territory size, females tend to mate with the closest calling male, Ivonne Meuche from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany, and colleagues report.

The find was confirmed by playback experiments where females, played recordings of various male calls, failed to discriminate between different call rates or frequencies, preferring instead, the nearest speaker.

Female mate choice is a tricky business. Some species chose the first mate that is 'good enough' whilst others seek out and compare many mates before returning to choose the fittest. But the simplest, least costly option is to mate with the first or nearest male encountered, regardless of quality. The strategy doesn't seem an evolutionary winner as it means that nearby, unfit frogs sometimes get to pass on their genes at the expense of more distant, genetically-superior specimens. But it does make sense in certain situations.

Non-choosy behaviour like this has been noted in fishes, and some frog species with a lek-like mating system. It's thought the strategy works for them because it reduces 'costs' in terms of search time and competition for mates. Female strawberry poison frogs may also benefit little from 'shopping around' because strong inter-male competition means the available mates are all much of a muchness.

The team also noted that females unable to find a mate within a certain time period ended up laying unfertilised eggs that never hatch. So in species, like the strawberry poison dart frog, where the choosing sex outnumbers the chosen sex, it makes sense to 'grab the nearest guy' rather than run the risk of not mating at all.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/BoBpdJzuBGM/130520095103.htm

2012 ncaa bracket john carlson greg smith catamount mike dantoni bulls heat goldman sachs

What do we eat? New food map will tell us

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ? Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought.

Same goes for soda.

Until now, the only way to find out what people in the United States eat and how many calories they consume has been government data, which can lag behind the rapidly expanding and changing food marketplace.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are trying to change that by creating a gargantuan map of what foods Americans are buying and eating.

Part of the uniqueness of the database is its ability to sort one product into what it really is ? thousands of brands and variations.

Take the chocolate milk.

The government long has long classified chocolate milk with 2 percent fat as one item. But the UNC researchers, using scanner data from grocery stores and other commercial data, found thousands of different brands and variations of 2 percent chocolate milk and averaged them out. The results show that chocolate milk has about 11 calories per cup more than the government thought.

The researchers led by professor Barry Popkin at the UNC School of Public Health, are figuring out that chocolate milk equation over and over, with every single item in the grocery store. It's a massive project that could be the first evidence of how rapidly the marketplace is changing, and the best data yet on what exact ingredients and nutrients people are consuming.

That kind of information could be used to better target nutritional guidelines, push companies to cut down on certain ingredients and even help with disease research.

Just call it "mapping the food genome."

"The country needs something like this, given all of the questions about our food supply," says Popkin, the head of the UNC Food Research Program. "We're interested in improving the public's health and it really takes this kind of knowledge."

The project first came together in 2010 after a group of 16 major food companies pledged, as part of first lady Michelle Obama's campaign to combat obesity, to reduce the calories they sell to the public by 1.5 trillion. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation agreed to fund a study to hold the companies accountable, eventually turning to UNC with grants totaling $6.7 million.

Aided by supercomputers on campus, Popkin and his team have taken existing commercial databases of food items in stores and people's homes, including the store-based scanner data of 600,000 different foods, and matched that information with the nutrition facts panels on the back of packages and government data on individuals' dietary intake.

The result is an enormous database that has taken almost three years so far to construct and includes more detail than researchers have ever had on grocery store items ? their individual nutritional content, who is buying them and their part in consumers' diets.

The study will fill gaps in current data about the choices available to consumers and whether they are healthy, says Susan Krebs-Smith, who researches diet and other risk factors related to cancer at the National Cancer Institute.

Government data, long the only source of information about American eating habits, can have a lag of several years and neglect entire categories of new types of products ? Greek yogurt or energy drinks, for example.

With those significant gaps, the government information fails to account for the rapid change now seen in the marketplace. Now more than ever, companies are reformulating products on the fly as they try to make them healthier or better tasting.

While consumers may not notice changes in the ingredient panel on the back of the package, the UNC study will pick up small variations in individual items and also begin to be able to tell how much the marketplace as a whole is evolving.

"When we are done we will probably see 20 percent change in the food supply in a year," Popkin says. "The food supply is changing and no one really knows how."

For example, the researchers have found that there has been an increase in using fruit concentrate as a sweetener in foods and beverages because of a propensity toward natural foods, even though it isn't necessarily healthier than other sugars. While the soda and chocolate milk have more calories on average than the government thought, the federal numbers were more accurate on the calories in milk and cereals.

Popkin and his researchers are hoping their project will only be the beginning of a map that consumers, companies, researchers and even the government can use, breaking the data down to find out who is eating what and where they shop. Is there a racial divide in the brand of potato chips purchased, for example, and what could that mean for health? Does diet depend on where you buy your food ? the grocery store or the convenience store? How has the recession affected dietary intake?

"It's only since I've really started digging into this that I have realized how little we know about what we are eating," says Meghan Slining, a UNC nutrition professor and researcher on the project.

Steven Gortmaker, director of the Harvard School of Public Health Prevention Research Center, says the data could help researchers figure out how people are eating in certain communities and then how to address problems in those diets that could lead to obesity or disease.

"The more information we have, the more scientists can be brainstorming about what kinds of interventions or policy changes we could engage in," Gortmaker said.

But the information doesn't include restaurant meals and some prepared foods, about one-third of what Americans eat. If the project receives continued funding, those foods eventually could be added to the study, a prospect that would be made easier by pending menu labeling regulations that will force chain restaurants to post calories for every item.

Popkin and his researchers say that packaged foods have long been the hardest to monitor because of the sheer volume and rapid change in the marketplace.

The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, an industry group representing the 16 companies that made the pledge to reduce 1.5 trillion calories, says it will report this summer on how successful they've been, according to Lisa Gable, the group's president. The first results from Popkin's study aren't expected until later this year.

Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition, food studies and public health, says the data could be useful in pressuring companies to make more changes for the better. Companies often use "the research isn't there" as a defense against making changes recommended by public health groups, she notes, and it can be hard to prove them wrong.

"What people eat is the great mystery of nutrition," Nestle says. "It would be wonderful to have a handle on it."

___

Online:

UNC Food Research Program: http://uncfoodresearchprogram.web.unc.edu

Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation: http://www.healthyweightcommit.org

___

Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eat-food-map-tell-us-174342840.html

houston texans Joe Webb Fiesta Bowl Jeanie Buss NFL playoff schedule 2013 Bronson Pelletier andy reid

Scandals Galore, Sensory Deprivation, and Bitter Beer Backlash

?President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference on Thursday, answering questions on the IRS Justice Department invesigation.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

?Scandal Jujitsu: How is Obama coping with multiple scandals? By playing them off against one another,? by William Saletan. It?s been a bad week for the White House, with scandals over the 2012 Benghazi attacks, IRS targeting of conservative groups, and Justice Department monitoring of AP reporters? phone records all making national headlines. Saletan criticizes the administration?s tactic of justifying the AP phone record surveillance by tying it to Republican?s concern about Benghazi-like security breaches. He writes that it?s a cynical move and a failure in messaging that won?t make any of these headaches go away.

?The White House Field Guide to Scandal: How the trio of Obama scandals could save immigration reform and the welfare state,? by David Weigel. Weigel assesses the potential damage from the various scandals and concludes that just as the Iran-Contra scandal didn?t sink Reagan?s presidency, Obama will survive the current situation, possibly even with new Republican cooperation on issues such as immigration reform.

???La Carte Won?t Fix Cable: Unbundling cable will actually raise prices and reduce choices for most customers,? by Matthew Yglesias. Sen. John McCain introduced a bill last week requiring cable television companies to offer their subscribers channels on an ? la carte basis, but Yglesias argues that this would be a bad deal for consumers. He explains that the low level of competition in the cable TV industry means that simply requiring lower rates would make more sense and be more beneficial to subscribers than the McCain proposal.

?Against Hoppy Beer: The craft beer industry?s love affair with hops is alienating people who don?t like bitter brews,? by Adrienne So. While utilization of hops in more than token amounts has been a huge selling point for craft brewers in the United States, So argues that beer makers have lately gotten carried away with overly hoppy products. She contends that the resultant bitterness of these beers is unappealing to many and a ?pointless gimmick? which overshadows a good beer?s other wonderful characteristics.?

?I Boldly Went Where Every Star Trek Movie and TV Show Has Gone Before: Now I can tell you exactly why this franchise is great,? by Matthew Yglesias. Yglesias undertook the astronomical task of watching every Star Trek movie and television episode?ever?and lived to write about it. In his epic article, he explains how the long-running series keeps alive the ?spirit of midcentury optimism,? celebrating American values of ?peace, progress, and tolerance.?

?Embracing the Void: The profound, ecstatic state of nothingness I achieved while floating naked in a sensory deprivation tank,? by Seth Stevenson.?Stevenson explores the trippy world of sensory deprivation, achieved while enclosed in a pitch-dark tank full of salt water. ?For the first time in my waking life,? he writes, ?I had zero thoughts. It was a mental quietude I?d never known existed.?

?Far From the Tree: Why Vermont wants you to use wine descriptors to talk about maple syrup,? by Warren Cornwall. The ?terroir movement? which has consumers paying top dollar for coffee or wine from a single specific location has now spread to the world of maple syrup. Cornwall reports on maple syrup producers? efforts to target a more gourmet-minded clientele and explains why different maple syrups can taste so different from one another.? ?

?Escape Plans: Why do we need a space program? Because Earth isn?t going to be a safe place in the long term,? by Annalee Newitz. Touching on the themes of her new book, Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, Newitz writes about the great importance of space exploration and technological innovation in light of Earth?s future inhabitability. She explains that while mega-cities on other planets may be a long way off, projects like deflecting deadly asteroids and devising alternatives to rocket-travel are within our reach.??

?How to Beat GeoGuessr, the Insanely Addictive Google Maps Guessing Game: Tips and tricks from a National Geographic cartographer,? by Will Oremus. If you haven?t already played GeoGuessr, a new online game in which users guess the global location of randomly selected Google Street Views, beware?because it?s extremely addictive. Oremus plays a round with Rosemary Wardley, senior GIS cartographer at National Geographic Maps, and shares some tips for how to play like a pro.
?

?The?Gatsby?Test: I?ve never read?The Great Gatsby. But can I write a convincing high school essay about the novel after watching the film?? by J. Bryan Lowder. The otherwise well-read Lowder tests his ability to write a high school English essay about F. Scott Fitzgerald?s The Great Gatsby based only on Baz Lurman?s new film. His subpar results lead him to advise, ?Read the real deal, and don?t let some Hollywood director?s carnivalesque, hip-hop-infused, champagne-soaked siren call lead you astray.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=8959a7a172ab633ce5818ebd0634182c

roseanne barr guy fawkes gary johnson gary johnson where do i vote dixville notch Remember Remember The 5th Of November

Nine Hangout Fest Vines That Put You Right On The Sand

These video snippets of Afrojack, Macklemore and more give you a taste of all the on-demand coverage MTV and VH1 have to offer.
By Katie Atkinson

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707617/hangout-festival-nine-vines.jhtml

overboard east of eden weather radio indiana autoimmune disease news channel 9 insanity workout

OJ's ex-lawyer contradicts his testimony on guns

Defense attorney Patricia Palm, left, and O.J. Simpson appear at an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013 in Las Vegas. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)

Defense attorney Patricia Palm, left, and O.J. Simpson appear at an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013 in Las Vegas. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)

Former O.J. Simpson defense attorney Yale Galanter testifies during an evidentiary hearing for Simpson in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013 in Las Vegas. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)

O.J. Simpson looks over at his lawyer Tom Pitaro during an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013 in Las Vegas. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)

Former O.J. Simpson defense attorney Yale Galanter laughs as he testifies during an evidentiary hearing for Simpson in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013 in Las Vegas. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)

Former O.J. Simpson defense attorney Yale Galanter appears on the witness stand during an evidentiary hearing for Simpson in Clark County District Court on May 17, 2013 in Las Vegas. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (AP Photo/Ethan Miller, Pool)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? O.J. Simpson's former lawyer defended himself point-by-point Friday against allegations he botched the former football star's armed-robbery trial, after giving damaging testimony that Simpson actually knew his buddies had guns when they went to a hotel room together to reclaim some sports memorabilia.

Miami-based attorney Yale Galanter quickly found himself under withering cross-examination from a Simpson lawyer intent on proving that Galanter's word couldn't be trusted ? that he knew ahead of time of Simpson's plan and spent more effort covering up his involvement than representing Simpson.

The weeklong hearing concluded late Friday with Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell telling attorneys she will issue her decision in writing. She didn't specify a date.

Simpson was returned to prison custody. His attorneys, Patricia Palm and Ozzie Fumo, said they were optimistic that the judge would grant a new trial.

"I just think the evidence of his claims is overwhelming," Palm said.

Galanter took the stand as the state's star witness in a hearing on Simpson's claim that he was so badly represented at trial and on appeal that his conviction should be thrown out.

He spent most of the day on the defensive, with Simpson lawyer Tom Pitaro grilling him with accusations and pointed questions.

"Mr. Simpson never told me he was going to go to the Palace (Station) hotel with a bunch of thugs, kidnap people and take property by force," Galanter said at one point. "To insinuate I, as his lawyer, would have blessed it is insane."

Galanter conceded at one point that Simpson's conviction was his responsibility.

At another point, he conceded that he "misspoke" when he told the trial judge, Jackie Glass, that crucial audio recordings had been carefully analyzed by experts.

"Clearly I misspoke," Galanter said as Pitaro bored in. "I would never, ever ... I would just never intentionally mislead a judicial officer or a lawyer. I'm falling on that sword."

Galanter denied giving Simpson the go-ahead to retrieve the photos and footballs he believed had been stolen from him. He denied keeping Simpson in the dark about offers of plea deals that carried only a few years in prison. He said his client agreed all along with the decision not to put him on the stand to testify at his trial.

And he disputed Simpson's testimony from earlier this week when the former NFL star said he didn't know anyone in the hotel room had guns.

"When you look at the entire trial, I don't think I could have fought harder, done more," Galanter said. "I put every ounce of blood, sweat and soul into it."

At another point, he said: "Simpson brought a lot of baggage into the courtroom. It's not like the 12 jurors didn't know he was accused of murder and acquitted."

Simpson, 65, was found guilty in 2008 of kidnapping and armed robbery over the hotel room episode and was sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison. The conviction came 13 years to the day after his "trial of the century" acquittal in Los Angeles in the murders of his ex-wife and a friend of hers.

Galanter testified that Simpson confided to him that he had asked two men to bring guns to the hotel room in September 2007, and "he knew he screwed up."

On the stand, Galanter brought up the guns only after he paused and was reminded that Simpson had waived attorney-client privilege. "I'm very uncomfortable doing this," he said.

Testifying about events leading up to the incident, Galanter said he was surprised when Simpson told him over dinner in Las Vegas that he and several other men were planning a "sting" the next morning to take back the mementos.

Galanter said he advised Simpson not to take matters into his own hands: "I said, 'O.J., you've got to call the police.'"

Simpson testified that Galanter advised him that he was within his rights to retrieve the items, told him not to testify at the trial, and failed to tell him prosecutors had offered plea bargains.

During questioning about how much Galanter was paid for the case, the judge asked Pitaro where he was going with his questions.

"What Mr. Galanter has done is, this man has received over a half-million dollars and has put his interest, his financial interest, above the interest of his client," Pitaro said.

Galanter insisted he told Simpson at least three times that prosecutors discussed plea bargains. He said Simpson rejected them.

Simpson said, "No deal. No way," to an offer from the district attorney of five to seven years in prison, Galanter said. Later, during the trial, Simpson turned down a better offer, Galanter said.

"I went out in the hall and said to O.J., 'There is an offer of two to five.' He said, 'See if they will take a year,'" Galanter testified. "I discussed a year with them, and they said no and the trial went on."

If Simpson succeeds in getting his conviction thrown out, prosecutors will have to decide whether to retry him or offer a plea bargain. If he loses, he will be sent back to prison and will probably appeal. He will be 70 before he is eligible for parole.

___

Find Ken Ritter at http://twitter.com/krttr .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-18-OJ%20Simpson/id-373e1c4471924d75b5c2a75f03abdaf1

sugar bowl downton abbey season 3 2013 Calendar chris christie sofia vergara American Horror Story Patti Page