Saturday, January 28, 2012

HBT: Selig foresees expanded playoffs this season

We?re just a little over two months away from the start of the 2012 season, but we still have no confirmation on when the expanded playoff format will take effect. Commissioner Bud Selig aims to change that real soon.

According to Jim Owczarski of CSNChicago.com, Selig was in attendance at SoxFest on Friday night to present an award to White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and said that he still expects?a second wild-card team to be added to each league this season.

?While I agree with Yogi Berra that it ain?t over til it?s over, I really believe we?ll have the wild card for 2012, this year,? Selig said. ?Clubs really want it. I don?t think I?ve ever seen an issue that the clubs want more than to have the extra wild card, this year.

?We?re working on dates right now. That will all take place. It looks to me like we?ll have it because I?ve told everybody that we have it. It?ll be exciting ? (a) one-game playoff and start the playoffs out on a very exciting manner.?

The new 10-team playoff format would begin with a one-game playoff between the two wild-card teams in each league.?MLB?s new?collective bargaining agreement?specifies that expanded playoffs will begin by 2013, but Selig has been vocal about his desire for the changes to begin as soon as possible.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports?that there are still some schedule quirks to work out, such as leaving room for potential tie-breaker scenarios, but the plan calls for union and management officials to resume discussions on the logistics early next week.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/28/bud-selig-expects-expanded-playoffs-to-begin-this-season/related/

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Gap between dueling Snow White movies shrinks (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Hollywood's Snow White rivalry is heating up.

Movie studio Relativity Media said Thursday that it is pushing back the release of its fairy tale "Mirror Mirror" by two weeks to March 30.

While that moves it within a week of the potentially lucrative Easter weekend, it also cuts the time between it and Universal Picture's movie, "Snow White and the Huntsman," to nine weeks from 11.

Relativity insists its version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale is a family comedy while "Huntsman" is a grittier action flick, so the thinking is the audiences won't overlap. Most movies make the majority of their ticket sales in the first few weeks.

Still, that's a pretty quick turnaround for people who might want to see both movies.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_mo/us_dueling_snow_whites

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Friday, January 27, 2012

UK court says lawyers can help right-to-die man (AP)

LONDON ? A paralyzed British man who wants to die won the first round in his legal battle Friday, when the High Court ruled his lawyers won't be prosecuted if they seek out experts to help him commit suicide.

The man, who is in his 40s and identified only as Martin, has locked-in syndrome after a stroke and communicates by moving his eyes. He says he wants to end his life, and his lawyers sought a declaration that they could seek information about his options ? including Swiss assisted-suicide clinics ? to help him prepare a legal challenge.

Under British law, assisting a suicide is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, but convictions are rare. More than 100 Britons have died in clinics run by the Swiss group Dignitas since 1998, and no relative or friend has been charged.

In Martin's case, lawyers say neither his wife nor any other member of his family is willing to help him die.

Two judges declared Friday that the lawyers could obtain information from experts and "identify one or more people or bodies that might be willing to assist Martin."

Martin's lawyers still plan to go to court seeking clarification of guidelines laid out by the country's chief prosecutor in 2010, which listed mitigating factors, such as compassion, in cases of assisted suicide.

Martin's lawyers want a declaration that professionals they find to help their client end his life will not face criminal or disciplinary action in doing so.

Rosa Curling, one of Martin's lawyers, welcomed the ruling.

"Martin has made clear to us that he wishes to end his life, and, thanks to the judgment handed down today in the High Court, we can now proceed with preparing his legal claim," she said.

"We can instruct doctors to advise him on his options regarding his wish to die and also take steps to identify an individual who might be willing to assist him in taking his life."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_assisted_suicide

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Video: Mike Taibbi previews 'Buried Secrets'

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/46148876#46148876

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Core suppliers savor bigger Apple pie (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Suppliers basked in the reflection of Apple's glowing results on Wednesday after the company's gold standard iPhones and iPads flew off the shelves over the holiday sales season.

Apple's forecast-beating fourth-quarter figures late on Tuesday helped it to beat Google's Android as the largest smartphone platform in the United States and to regain the world's largest smartphone maker spot from Samsung.

Apple's results were spearheaded by sales of the iPhone 4S, which is packed with technology from British chip designer ARM, said analyst Nick James at Numis.

Apple accounts for about 10 percent of ARM's technology revenues, and for about 35 percent of graphics and video chip designer Imagination's technology revenues, he said.

"It means people are still driven by performance in terms of having the highest performance, highest functioning devices, and those tend to have quite a number of ARM-based chips in them."

"It is one of the key things that drove Imagination to come through to the next level," James added.

Shares in ARM jumped 4.2 percent, while shares in Imagination were 4.1 percent higher at 1030 GMT.

Analyst Didier Scemama at RBS said that although Apple was only one of many ARM customers -- the Cambridge-based company supplies virtually every smartphone and tablet with their cheap designs -- from a sentiment standpoint there has been a strong correlation between the two stocks.

"(Apple) should help the whole sector today, but especially Dialog Semiconductor and other suppliers," said a Frankfurt-based trader.

Shares in Dialog Semi were up 3.9 percent.

OVERTAKING SAMSUNG

Samsung became the world's largest smartphone maker in the third quarter, but analysts said the 37 million iPhones sold in the fourth quarter should easily beat Samsung's expected sales of around 30 million.

Samsung is due to report on Friday.

Research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said Apple's share of the U.S. market doubled from a year ago to 44.9 percent in the October to December period, just beating the total for Android smartphones, which slipped to 44.8 percent from 50 percent.

"Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at the research firm.

Apple's iPhone 4S also uses chips from Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, including TriQuint, Skyworks Solutions and Avago Technologies Inc.

In stark contrast to Apple's success, sales of handset makers using Android, including Motorola Mobility, HTC and Sony Ericsson, have stumbled in the quarter.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki, Paul Sandle and Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/wr_nm/us_apple_google_microsoft

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US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane (AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia ? U.S. Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed.

President Barack Obama authorized the mission by SEAL Team 6 two days earlier, deploying the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden last year. Minutes after the president gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, a Dane, were "on their way to be reunited with their families."

Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when gunmen kidnapped the two in October.

The raiders came in quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a self-described pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other kidnappers who were, and that they told him nine kidnappers had been killed in the raid and three were "taken away."

The hostage rescue was carried out by the same SEAL unit, SEAL Team 6, behind the operation in Pakistan last May that killed bin Laden, two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation.

One official said that the team parachuted into the area before moving on foot to the target. The raid happened near the Somali town of Adado.

New intelligence emerged last week that Buchanan's health was deteriorating rapidly, so Obama directed his security team to develop a rescue plan, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly. A Danish Refugee Council official, Mary Ann Olsen, said that Buchanan was "not that ill" but needed medicine.

"As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."

A Western official said the rescuers and the freed hostages flew by helicopter to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

The timing of the raid may have been made more urgent by Buchanan's medical condition. The Danish Refugee Council had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success.

"One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal told Denmark's TV2 channel. Soevndal did not provide any more details. Soevndal congratulated the Americans for the raid.

The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families."

Olsen informed Thisted's family of the successful military operation and said "they were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over." Olsen said the two freed hostages were in Djibouti and would soon be moved to a "safe haven." She said Buchanan does not need to be hospitalized.

"One of the first things Poul and Jessica were able to do was to call their families and say they were freed," Olsen said. "They will be reunited with their families as quickly as possible," Olsen said.

The head of the Danish Refugee Council, Andreas Kamm, said he would have preferred to see the two hostages freed peacefully after working with Somali groups to win the pair's freedom, "but we're happy with the outcome. This is a day of joy indeed."

The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings.

The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages.

"We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers," said Mohamud Sahal, an elder in Galkayo town, by phone. "They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture ... These men have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back."

Buchanan lived in neighboring Kenya before Somalia, and worked at a school in Nairobi called the Rosslyn Academy from 2007-09, said Rob Beyer, the dean of students. He described the American as quick to laugh and adventurous.

"There have been tears on and around the campus today," Beyer said. "She was well-loved by all her students."

Buchanan graduated in 2006 from Valley Forge Christian College, a small suburban Philadelphia school. The school's president, the Rev. Don Meyer, said Buchanan taught at Rosslyn as part of her studies and "fell in love with Africa."

"Ever since Jessica was captured, we all as a community have been praying for her safety and for her safe release," Meyer said. "We are also grateful that our prayers have been answered."

Buchanan and Thisted were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.

Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping.

The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

___

Associated Press reporters Julie Pace in Washington, Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Patrick Walters in Philadelphia contributed to this report. Houreld reported from Nairobi and Dozier from Washington.

___

Follow Katharine Houreld at http://twitter.com/khoureld

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_af/af_somalia_helicopter_raid

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Bank of England chief backs CEO pay restraint (AP)

LONDON ? The governor of the Bank of England has joined calls from government and Parliament for banks and other big businesses to curb lavish executive pay.

Mervyn King also said Tuesday that there is scope for the bank to pour more billions into economic stimulus, a step some analysts believe could come as early as next month.

Speaking in Brighton, King said those who set executive pay need to accept that the market economy relies on a perception that rewards are distributed fairly.

"The legitimacy of a market economy will inevitably be challenged if rewards go disproportionately to a small elite, especially one which benefited from the support of taxpayers," King said.

Major British banks, both those that were bailed out and those which benefited from the implicit support of taxpayers, are now in the spotlight of public concern about high pay and the bonus culture.

British Business Secretary Vince Cable said Monday his government will be making proposals this year to give shareholders more clout to curb excesses.

"The tragedy of the financial crisis is that those who have suffered most have been those who bear no responsibility for it, and who, whether employees or businesses, accepted the disciplines of a market economy only to find that others were excused that discipline because they were 'too important to fail,'" King said, again pointing to the financial sector.

The High Pay Commission, an independent body, reported last year that executive pay in Britain's top 100 corporations had risen far faster than overall pay.

At oil company BP, for instance, the top executive was paid 63 times the company's average pay in 2009-2011. At Barclays bank the multiple was 75 times, as was bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group.

Since December 2009, the Bank of England has spent 275 billion pounds ($430 billion) to buy high-grade assets, including government and corporate bonds, a program known as quantitative easing.

The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, concerned about the lagging growth of the U.K. economy, authorized the latest injection of 75 billion pounds in October.

"With inflation falling back and wage growth subdued, there is scope for interest rates to remain low, and, if necessary, for further asset purchases, to prevent inflation falling below the 2 percent target," King said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_economy

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AP Exclusive: States weaken teacher tenure rights (AP)

WASHINGTON ? America's public school teachers are seeing their generations-old tenure protections weakened as states seek flexibility to fire teachers who aren't performing. A few states have essentially nullified tenure protections altogether, according to an analysis being released Wednesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

The changes are occurring as states replace virtually automatic "satisfactory" teacher evaluations with those linked to teacher performance and base teacher layoffs on performance instead of seniority. Politically powerful teachers' unions are fighting back, arguing the changes lower morale, deny teachers due process, and unfairly target older teachers.

The debate is so intense that in Idaho, for example, state superintendent Tom Luna's truck was spray painted and its tires slashed. An opponent appeared at his mother's house and he was interrupted during a live TV interview by an agitated man. Why? The Idaho legislature last year ended "continuing contracts" ? essentially equivalent to tenure ? for new teachers and said performance, not seniority, would determine layoffs. Other changes include up to $8,000 in annual bonuses given to teachers for good performance, and parent input on evaluations. Opponents gathered enough signatures to put a referendum that would overturn the changes on the November ballot.

Luna says good teachers shouldn't be worried.

"We had a system where it was almost impossible to financially reward great teachers and very difficult to deal with ineffective teachers. If you want an education system that truly puts students first, you have to have both," Luna said.

On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama weighed in on the issue during his State of the Union address. He said schools should be given the resources to keep and reward good teachers along with the flexibility to teach with creativity and to "replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn."

Tenure protections were created in the early 20th century to protect teachers from arbitrary or discriminatory firings based on factors such as gender, nationality or political beliefs by spelling out rules under which they could be dismissed after a probationary period.

Critics say teachers too often get tenure by just showing up for work ? typically for three years, but sometimes less, and that once they earned it, bad teachers are almost impossible or too expensive to fire. The latest statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics, dating to the 2007-2008 school year, show about 2 percent of teachers dismissed for poor performance, although the numbers vary widely by school district.

The analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality, a research and policy group that seeks to improve the quality of teaching, documents the shift in laws. In 2009, no state required student performance to be central to whether a teacher is awarded tenure; today, eight states do. The analysis also says four states now want evidence that students are learning before awarding tenure.

Other changes:

? In Florida, tenure protections were essentially made null and void with policy changes such as eliminating tenure-like benefits altogether for new teachers, but also spelling out requirements under which all teachers with multiple poor evaluations face dismissal.

? Rhode Island policies say teachers with two years of ineffective evaluations will be dismissed.

? Colorado and Nevada passed laws saying tenure can be taken away after multiple "ineffective" ratings.

? Eleven states now require districts to consider teacher performance when deciding who to let go.

? About half of all states have policies that require classroom effectiveness be considered in teacher evaluations.

? Florida, Indiana and Michigan adopted policies that require performance to be factored in teacher salaries.

A growing body of research demonstrates the dramatic difference effective teachers can play in student lives, from reducing teenage pregnancies to increasing a student's lifetime earnings. Meanwhile, while controversial, teacher evaluations have evolved in a way that proponents say allows better accounting of students' growth and of factors out of a teacher's control, like attendance.

The Obama administration has helped nudge the changes with its Race to the Top competition, which allowed states to compete for billions of education dollars, and offering states waivers around unpopular proficiency requirements in the No Child Left Behind education law. To participate in either, states have to promise changes such as tying teacher evaluations to performance.

"There's a real shift to saying all kids, especially our most disadvantaged kids, have access to really high quality and effective teachers. And, that's it's not OK for kids to have ... an ineffective teacher year after year," said Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Jacobs said tenure should be meaningful, but that in 39 states it's automatic.

"That's the problem with tenure, everybody gets it," she said. "If you're held to a high bar where you've really demonstrated that you are effective in the classroom, then there's nothing wrong with that as long as the due process rights that you do get are reasonable."

But many teachers feel under siege. They argue the evaluation systems are too dependent on standardized tests. While teachers' unions have gotten more on board with strengthening teacher evaluations, they often question the systems' fairness and want them designed with local teachers' input.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said unions understand the tenure process needs change, but that too often, school administrators have used it as an excuse to mismanage. "They want teachers to basically do exactly what they say, give them no resources and then blame them if they don't in a time of tremendous fiscal instability and fiscal pressures," Weingarten said.

In Boise, Idaho, Lane Brown, 56, a biology and horticulture teacher who moved from a private school a few years ago to a public alternative high school to seek new challenges after three decades of teaching, said her school's climate has dramatically changed.

"There's nobody in this building that doesn't understand it could be one of us, not just the newest teacher or the teacher with the fewest number of students. It could be anybody, ... which is scary. Every teacher here is saying, `I don't know if I'm going to have a job next year,'" Brown said.

In Florida, teachers fear expressing what they feel is best for students, said Andy Ford, president of the Florida Education Association.

"Teachers see positions not being filled, class sizes increasing, more demands, more testing, and you add all that together with their economic uncertainty about continued employment and it certainly doesn't allow you to go out and plan for long term investments like a home," Ford said.

Kathy Hebda, the deputy chancellor for education quality in Florida, said the contract-related changes were not done in "isolation," but as part of broader changes that improve accountability and provide teachers feedback.

Michelle Rhee, the former schools chancellor in Washington, D.C., acknowledged widespread mistrust among teachers about evaluations, but she said once teachers are brought into discussions, many are won over.

"If we know who the effective teachers are, if we know what kind of an impact effective teachers can have on individual kids and on our society overall, then why wouldn't we take the obvious step of utilizing the information on who are the most effective teachers to make our staffing decisions?" said Rhee, whose education advocacy group StudentsFirst is pushing for changes to layoff policies based on seniority.

Coming up, Missouri legislators appear poised to take up the contentious topic of teacher tenure. In Connecticut, the Connecticut Education Association launched a TV advertising campaign after Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative leaders said education reform ? and possibly tenure ? will be the major focus of this legislative session. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie, both Republicans, are eyeing tenure law changes.

"Tenure laws will be under assault for many years to come," said Marjorie Murphy, a professor of history at Swarthmore College who wrote a book about the teacher labor movement. Murphy said ending tenure protections will "take over any sense of fair play between employer and employee. All of that will be gone."

_____

National Council on Teacher Quality: http://www.nctq.org/

____

Chris Blank in Jefferson City, Mo., and Jessie Bonner in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_go_ot/us_teacher_tenure

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

SUNY Downstate receives grant from research to prevent blindness

SUNY Downstate receives grant from research to prevent blindness [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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Contact: Ron Najman
ron.najman@downstate.edu
718-270-2696
SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Campus eye research grows to more than $6 million in 5 years

Capping SUNY Downstate Medical Center's growth into a major center for eye research, Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) has awarded SUNY Downstate a four-year challenge grant of $220,000 to spur the development of advanced research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding diseases. Douglas R. Lazzaro, MD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, is the principal investigator. RPB is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research.

"This award from RPB is a major milestone in the development of an ophthalmology research nucleus at SUNY Downstate," said Dr. Lazzaro. SUNY Downstate is now one of 52 institutions receiving this recognition from RPB, which, since its founding in 1960, has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States. In the last five years, Downstate has attracted $6.2 million in eye research funding from various sources.

Dr. Lazzaro's team includes William J. Brunken, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology and director of ophthalmic research, who is studying the role of the extracellular matrix in retinal development and disease; and John Danias, MD, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology, who is elucidating the molecular basis of glaucoma and evaluating potential new treatment strategies.

In addition, another member of the team, Brahim Chaqour, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and ophthalmology at Downstate, has been awarded a National Eye Institute grant for research on neovascularization in the retina. Jacob Aranda, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and ophthalmology and director of neonatology, was awarded a major grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to establish a pediatric pharmacology center focused on research to prevent retinopathy of prematurity.

Dr. Lazzaro and Dr. Brunken have also received an Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) fellowship grant for development of a posterior corneal prosthesis, in collaboration with the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. Dr. Lazzaro noted, "That SUNY Downstate has gone from virtually zero funding in eye research to more than six million in five years is a tribute to the dedication of the entire eye team here at Downstate."

###

SUNY Downstate's eye research includes projects within the SUNY Eye Institute and SUNY REACH, both collaborative efforts involving the four SUNY academic medical centers and the College of Optometry. Last year, SUNY REACH received $4.3 million for two NIH grants, both of whose lead investigators are based at Downstate. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders, and the RPB Grants Program, please visit http://www.rpbusa.org.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient's bedside. A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing and Health Related Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, University Hospital of Brooklyn, and an Advanced Biotechnology Park and Biotechnology Incubator.

SUNY Downstate ranks ninth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


SUNY Downstate receives grant from research to prevent blindness [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Ron Najman
ron.najman@downstate.edu
718-270-2696
SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Campus eye research grows to more than $6 million in 5 years

Capping SUNY Downstate Medical Center's growth into a major center for eye research, Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) has awarded SUNY Downstate a four-year challenge grant of $220,000 to spur the development of advanced research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of blinding diseases. Douglas R. Lazzaro, MD, professor and chair of ophthalmology, is the principal investigator. RPB is the world's leading voluntary organization supporting eye research.

"This award from RPB is a major milestone in the development of an ophthalmology research nucleus at SUNY Downstate," said Dr. Lazzaro. SUNY Downstate is now one of 52 institutions receiving this recognition from RPB, which, since its founding in 1960, has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States. In the last five years, Downstate has attracted $6.2 million in eye research funding from various sources.

Dr. Lazzaro's team includes William J. Brunken, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology and director of ophthalmic research, who is studying the role of the extracellular matrix in retinal development and disease; and John Danias, MD, PhD, professor of cell biology and ophthalmology, who is elucidating the molecular basis of glaucoma and evaluating potential new treatment strategies.

In addition, another member of the team, Brahim Chaqour, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and ophthalmology at Downstate, has been awarded a National Eye Institute grant for research on neovascularization in the retina. Jacob Aranda, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and ophthalmology and director of neonatology, was awarded a major grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to establish a pediatric pharmacology center focused on research to prevent retinopathy of prematurity.

Dr. Lazzaro and Dr. Brunken have also received an Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) fellowship grant for development of a posterior corneal prosthesis, in collaboration with the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany. Dr. Lazzaro noted, "That SUNY Downstate has gone from virtually zero funding in eye research to more than six million in five years is a tribute to the dedication of the entire eye team here at Downstate."

###

SUNY Downstate's eye research includes projects within the SUNY Eye Institute and SUNY REACH, both collaborative efforts involving the four SUNY academic medical centers and the College of Optometry. Last year, SUNY REACH received $4.3 million for two NIH grants, both of whose lead investigators are based at Downstate. For information on RPB, RPB-funded research, eye disorders, and the RPB Grants Program, please visit http://www.rpbusa.org.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center, founded in 1860, was the first medical school in the United States to bring teaching out of the lecture hall and to the patient's bedside. A center of innovation and excellence in research and clinical service delivery, SUNY Downstate Medical Center comprises a College of Medicine, Colleges of Nursing and Health Related Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, University Hospital of Brooklyn, and an Advanced Biotechnology Park and Biotechnology Incubator.

SUNY Downstate ranks ninth nationally in the number of alumni who are on the faculty of American medical schools. More physicians practicing in New York City have graduated from SUNY Downstate than from any other medical school.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/sdmc-sdr012312.php

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Lobbying's SOPA opera lessons (Politico)

K Street boom days have come and gone.

A bad economy and rigid stalemates on Capitol Hill took its toll on big firms for the second year in a row, with seven out of the 10 biggest lobbying groups reporting flat or negative revenues in 2011, a significant contrast with the double-digit growth many of the same firms experienced in the mid-2000s, according to recently filed federal lobbying reports.

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And the stagnant revenues aren?t expected to pick up in the coming year with the economy still slow and an even bigger change afoot in the industry. Fights are no longer just about which side has the most ? or best ? lobbyists. The new world of Washington influence is more diverse:Traditional access lobbying is waged alongside campaigns that use media, grass-roots activism and the Internet ? activity often not reported in federal lobbying filings.

?This is not your grandfather?s lobbying business,? said Nick Allard of Patton Boggs. ?The nature of it is less of a premium on getting information and more of a demand for expert advice.?

Patton Boggs maintained its position as the top-grossing lobbying firm, bringing in $48.4 million in lobbying revenue in 2011. That was up from $45.2 million in 2010. The uptick stems more from the firm?s June merger with Breaux Lott Leadership Group than from overall business growth.

Several lobbyists pointed to last week?s massive online mobilization that tanked two fast-moving anti-online piracy bills as the perfect example of how the influence game is changing. While clients are still willing to pay for access lobbying, there is more of a focus on nonreportable strategy through social media and other grass-roots initiatives.

?A well-resourced content group of people completely got outmaneuvered by the guys in the basement,? Ogilvy Government Relations? Drew Maloney said of the anti-piracy fight. ?It?s not a secret that a lobbying campaign involves a lot of different tools now than maybe it did 10 to 15 years ago.?

The numbers do not come as a surprise to lobbyists, who have been saying all year that K Street is no longer easy street for hired guns.

?Generally speaking, the industry was down, so even in a down year, even is a good thing,? Alex Vogel of Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti said.

Marquee firms like Podesta Group, Van Scoyoc & Associates, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and Holland & Knight saw their revenues nose dive. Others ? like Cassidy & Associates, Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates and Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti ? reported relatively flat years.

Competition has also increased as more K-Streeters are hanging out a shingle rather than going to top firms, and clients aren?t as willing to pay huge monthly retainers.

Van Scoyoc & Associates faced one of the steepest declines: Its revenues declined about 14 percent. The firm billed clients $25.3 million for lobbying in 2011, down from $29.4 million in 2010. Holland & Knight?s lobbying revenue dropped 10 percent with the firm bringing in $19 million in 2011, down from $21 million in 2010. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck also dropped about 9 percent. The firm billed $22.1 million in revenue in 2011 compared with the $24.4 million it charged in 2010.

Brownstein Hyatt?s Al Mottur said the drop wasn?t unexpected and that the firm?s explosive, double-digit percentage growth in recent years wasn?t sustainable. Holland & Knight also said the downturn in reportable lobbying revenues was offset by regulatory work as the action moved to the agencies.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71799_html/44269759/SIG=11m59ck9b/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71799.html

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Cooling semiconductor by laser light

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2012) ? Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have combined two fields -- quantum physics and nano physics -- and this has led to the discovery of a new method for laser cooling semiconductor membranes. Semiconductors are vital components in solar cells, LEDs and many other electronics, and the efficient cooling of components is important for future quantum computers and ultrasensitive sensors. The new cooling method works quite paradoxically by heating the material! Using lasers, researchers cooled membrane fluctuations to minus 269 degrees C.

The results are published in the journal Nature Physics.

"In experiments, we have succeeded in achieving a new and efficient cooling of a solid material by using lasers. We have produced a semiconductor membrane with a thickness of 160 nanometers and an unprecedented surface area of 1 by 1 millimeter. In the experiments, we let the membrane interact with the laser light in such a way that its mechanical movements affected the light that hit it. We carefully examined the physics and discovered that a certain oscillation mode of the membrane cooled from room temperature down to minus 269 degrees C, which was a result of the complex and fascinating interplay between the movement of the membrane, the properties of the semiconductor and the optical resonances," explains Koji Usami, associate professor at Quantop at the Niels Bohr Institute.

From gas to solid

Laser cooling of atoms has been practiced for several years in experiments in the quantum optical laboratories of the Quantop research group at the Niels Bohr Institute. Here researchers have cooled gas clouds of cesium atoms down to near absolute zero, minus 273 degrees C, using focused lasers and have created entanglement between two atomic systems. The atomic spin becomes entangled and the two gas clouds have a kind of link, which is due to quantum mechanics. Using quantum optical techniques, they have measured the quantum fluctuations of the atomic spin.

"For some time we have wanted to examine how far you can extend the limits of quantum mechanics -- does it also apply to macroscopic materials? It would mean entirely new possibilities for what is called optomechanics, which is the interaction between optical radiation, i.e. light, and a mechanical motion," explains Professor Eugene Polzik, head of the Center of Excellence Quantop at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

But they had to find the right material to work with.

Lucky coincidence

In 2009, Peter Lodahl (who is today a professor and head of the Quantum Photonic research group at the Niels Bohr Institute) gave a lecture at the Niels Bohr Institute, where he showed a special photonic crystal membrane that was made of the semiconducting material gallium arsenide (GaAs). Eugene Polzik immediately thought that this nanomembrane had many advantageous electronic and optical properties and he suggested to Peter Lodahl's group that they use this kind of membrane for experiments with optomechanics. But this required quite specific dimensions and after a year of trying they managed to make a suitable one.

"We managed to produce a nanomembrane that is only 160 nanometers thick and with an area of more than 1 square millimetre. The size is enormous, which no one thought it was possible to produce," explains Assistant Professor S?ren Stobbe, who also works at the Niels Bohr Institute.

Basis for new research

Now a foundation had been created for being able to reconcile quantum mechanics with macroscopic materials to explore the optomechanical effects.

Koji Usami explains that in the experiment they shine the laser light onto the nanomembrane in a vacuum chamber. When the laser light hits the semiconductor membrane, some of the light is reflected and the light is reflected back again via a mirror in the experiment so that the light flies back and forth in this space and forms an optical resonator. Some of the light is absorbed by the membrane and releases free electrons. The electrons decay and thereby heat the membrane and this gives a thermal expansion. In this way the distance between the membrane and the mirror is constantly changed in the form of a fluctuation.

"Changing the distance between the membrane and the mirror leads to a complex and fascinating interplay between the movement of the membrane, the properties of the semiconductor and the optical resonances and you can control the system so as to cool the temperature of the membrane fluctuations. This is a new optomechanical mechanism, which is central to the new discovery. The paradox is that even though the membrane as a whole is getting a little bit warmer, the membrane is cooled at a certain oscillation and the cooling can be controlled with laser light. So it is cooling by warming! We managed to cool the membrane fluctuations to minus 269 degrees C," Koji Usami explains.

"The potential of optomechanics could, for example, pave the way for cooling components in quantum computers. Efficient cooling of mechanical fluctuations of semiconducting nanomembranes by means of light could also lead to the development of new sensors for electric current and mechanical forces. Such cooling in some cases could replace expensive cryogenic cooling, which is used today and could result in extremely sensitive sensors that are only limited by quantum fluctuations," says Professor Eugene Polzik.

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Journal Reference:

  1. K. Usami, A. Naesby, T. Bagci, B. Melholt Nielsen, J. Liu, S. Stobbe, P. Lodahl, E. S. Polzik. Optical cavity cooling of mechanical modes of a semiconductor nanomembrane. Nature Physics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nphys2196

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120122152546.htm

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Video: Paterno dies at 85



>> the nittany lions every season since lyndon johnson was in the white house , nearly half a century, pacing the sidelines at penn state . a look back tonight from nbc's ron allen .

>> reporter: joe paterno was one of the greatest figures ever in college sports . 46 years as head coach at penn state , 409 victories, the most of the division one school. from his idealistic early days , paterno had implemented what he called a grand experiment, to graduate more players while maintaining success on the field. most recently his teams consistently ranked monday the best in the big ten for graduating players. the coach took the nittany lions to 37 bowl games , and two national championships , hundreds of the players he coached went on to the nfl. penn state became known as happy valley .

>> people ask me why i stayed here so long, and, you know what, look around. look around. i stayed here because i love you all!

>> reporter: but last year, everything changed. in his final days, paterno battled lung cancer , his spirit and legacy battered by the child sexual abuse scandal centered around his long time assistant jerry sandusky .

>> i had never had to deal with something like that. and i didn't feel adequate.

>> reporter: penn state fired paterno last november. he had been widely criticized for not taking more responsibility or confronting sandusky. after his dismissal, paterno tried to stay positive.

>> i've had a wonderful experience here at penn state . i don't want to walk away from this thing bitter.

>> reporter: joseph paterno was born december 21st , 1926 in brooklyn, new york, a depression era child of italian immigrants . he graduated from brown university , served a year in the u.s. army as world war ii ended, and then went to coach at penn state as an assistant where he stayed for 61 years. beyond all the football glory , paterno also gave millions of dollars to penn state for academics. a legendary coach, in the end tainted by scandal, who leaves a very complicated legacy behind. ron allen , nbc news, new york.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46093937/

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Ship search finds 12th body, captain's documents (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Divers plumbing the capsized Costa Concordia's murky depths pulled out the body of a woman in a life vest Saturday, while scuba-diving police swam through the captain's cabin to retrieve a safe and documents belonging to the man who abandoned the cruise liner after it was gashed by a rocky reef on the Tuscan coast.

Hoping for a miracle ? or at least for the recovery of bodies from the ship that has become an underwater tomb ? relatives of some of the 20 missing appealed to survivors of the Jan. 13 shipwreck to offer details that could help divers reach loved ones while it is still possible to search the luxury liner. The clock is ticking because the craft is perched precariously on a rocky ledge of seabed near Giglio island.

"We are asking the 4,000 persons who were on board to give any information they can about any of the persons still missing," said Alain Litzler, a Frenchman who is the father of missing passenger Mylene Litzler. "We need precise information to help the search and rescue teams find them."

The death toll rose to at least 12 Saturday after a water-logged body was extracted from a passageway near a gathering point for evacuation by lifeboats in the rear of the vessel, Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said. It was not immediately clear if the woman was a passenger or crew member. A female Peruvian bartender and several adult female passengers were among the 21 people listed as missing before the latest corpse was found.

Relatives of the bartender and of an Indian crewman, along with two children of an elderly couple from Minnesota who are among the missing, boarded a boat Saturday to view the wrecked Concordia Saturday, said a maritime official, Fabrizio Palombo.

Family members tossed flowers near the site while islanders standing on the rocky edge of the island also strew bouquets on the water in a tribute to the victims.

Another Coast Guard official, Cosimo Nicastro, said the woman's body was found during a particularly risky inspection.

"The corridor was very narrow, and the divers' lines risked snagging" on furniture and objects floating in the passageway, Nicastro said. To help the coast guard divers reach the area, Italian navy divers had preceded them, setting off charges to blast holes for easier entrance and exit.

Meanwhile, police divers, carrying out orders from prosecutors investigating Captain Francesco Schettino for suspected manslaughter and abandoning the ship, swam through the cold, dark waters to reach his cabin. State TV and the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the divers located and remove his safe and two suitcases. His passport and several documents were also pulled out, state media said.

Searchers inspecting the bridge Saturday also found a hard disk containing data of the voyage, Sky TG24 TV reported.

Three bodies were found in waters around the ship in the first hours after the accident. Since then, divers have gone inside the Concordia to recover all the remaining victims, who were apparently unable to escape the lurching ship during a chaotic evacuation launched almost an hour after the liner hit a reef.

Some survivors who couldn't board lifeboats waited for hours aboard the capsizing craft for rescue by helicopters while others jumped into the water and swam to safety.

The last survivor, found aboard 36 hours after the crash, was an Italian crewman who broke his leg in the confusion and couldn't leave the ship.

The Concordia hit the reef, well-marked on maritime and even tourist maps, while most of the passengers sat down to dinner in the main restaurant, about two hours after the ship had set sail from the port of Civitavecchia on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Costa Crociere, the ship's operator and subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said the captain had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island of Giglio and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

The effort to find survivors and bodies has postponed an operation to remove heavy fuel in the Concordia's tanks; specialized equipment has been standing by for days.

Light fuel, apparently from machinery aboard the capsized ship, was spotted in nearby waters, authorities said Saturday.

But Nicastro said there was no indication that any of the nearly 500,000 gallons (2,200 metric tons) of heavy fuel oil has leaked from the ship's double-bottomed tanks, seen as a risk if the ship's position changes. He said the leaked substance appears to be diesel, which is used to fuel rescue boats and dinghies and as a lubricant for ship machinery.

There are 185 tons of diesel and lubricants on board the crippled vessel, which is lying on its side just outside Giglio's port. Nicastro described the fuel in the sea as "very light, very superficial" and appearing to be under control.

But an official leading rescue, search and anti-pollution efforts for the ship suggested that the luxury liner would have leaked contaminants on board when it tipped over.

"We must not forget that on that ship there are oils, solvents, detergents, everything that a city of 4,000 people needs," Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, told reporters in Giglio.

Gabrielli was referring to the roughly 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew who were aboard the cruise liner when it ran into the reef and, with seawater rushing into a 230-foot (70-meter) gash in its hull, listed and fell onto its side. "Contamination of the environment, ladies and gentlemen, already occurred" when the liner capsized, Gabrelli said.

Vessels equipped with machinery to suck out the light fuel oil were in the area. Earlier on Saturday, crews removed oil-absorbing booms used to prevent environmental damage in case of a leak. Originally white, the booms were grayish.

Schettino, is under house arrest for investigation of alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all were evacuated.

The search had been suspended Friday after the Concordia shifted, prompting fears the ship could roll off a rocky ledge of sea bed and plunge deeper into the pristine waters around Giglio, part of a seven-island Tuscan archipelago.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome. Colleen Barry contributed from Milan and Andrea Foa from Giglio.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects misspelling 11th and 16th paragraphs. AP Video. This story is part of AP's general news and financial services.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Ga. judge orders president to appear at hearing (AP)

ATLANTA ? A judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and can't be president.

It's one of many such lawsuits that have been filed across the country, so far without success. A Georgia resident made the complaint, which is intended to keep Obama's name off the state's ballot in the March presidential primary.

An Obama campaign aide says any attempt to involve the president personally will fail and such complaints around the country have no merit.

The hearing is set for Thursday before an administrative judge. Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi on Friday denied a motion by the president's lawyer to quash a subpoena that requires Obama to show up.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_ballot_lawsuit

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How 10 People Found New Passion In Sobriety

The Fix:

How do you fill that gaping hole in your soul when you're no longer hammered? The Fix spotlights a diverse crew of addicts and alcoholics who are supplementing sobriety with a host of new adventures.

Read the whole story: The Fix

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/new-passion-sobriety_n_1215021.html

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Romney tries to sidestep tax furor he ignited

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Wintrhop University in Rock Hill, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at Wintrhop University in Rock Hill, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at the Christ Central Community Center in Winnsboro, S.C., Wednesday, Jan., 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, holds up a poster of his father George Romney, which was given him to sign, as he campaigned at Andrews Field House at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich follows his wife Callista as they arrive at the Christ Central Community Center in Winnsboro, S.C., Wednesday, Jan., 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

With very brief notes on his podium, Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaks at the Christ Central Community Center in Winnsboro, S.C., Wednesday, Jan., 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(AP) ? Mitt Romney tried doggedly Wednesday to sidestep the political furor he had started a day earlier by revealing he pays federal taxes at a rate of about 15 percent, less than millions of middle-income American families.

Facing a new controversy, his campaign confirmed that Romney has money invested in the Cayman Islands but said he was not getting any tax break.

Newt Gingrich, his main rival in this weekend's South Carolina primary, poked at Romney anew and disclosed that his personal tax rate is more than double that of Romney.

Just before Saturday's South Carolina voting, Romney is trying to wrap up his push for the Republican nomination, but it's been anything but smooth. He's spent nearly two weeks answering questions and criticism about his personal wealth and tenure at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, and those subjects are sure to come up again in Thursday night's debate.

Gingrich slapped at the GOP front-runner, saying in Winnsboro that he himself paid 31 percent of his income in taxes for 2010, more than twice what Romney said he paid. Gingrich's campaign said the 31 percent was the effective federal rate on income, apparently not including Social Security payroll taxes.

Gingrich told reporters that he is not criticizing Romney for paying a tax rate below what many wage-earning Americans pay. Gingrich has proposed a plan that would give Americans the option of paying a 15 percent flat tax ? which he notes is the same rate Romney is citing.

"My goal is not to raise Mitt Romney's taxes but to let everyone pay Romney's rate," Gingrich said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he intends to push it anew on Thursday. "If Mitt Romney intends to be our nominee, he needs to open up his tax records today, no later than tomorrow by debate time," Perry told CNN on Wednesday.

There may be more fallout.

Romney's campaign was confronted with new questions about his finances Wednesday when ABC News reported that Romney has millions of dollars of personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, known as a tax haven for Americans. The report said that Romney had the ability to pay a lower tax rate by investing in funds located offshore.

A spokeswoman for Romney's campaign confirmed that the Romneys have money in the Caymans. But the campaign did not say why. Spokeswoman Andrea Saul also said: "ABC is flat wrong. The Romneys' investments in funds established in the Cayman Islands are taxed in the very same way they would be if those funds were established in the United States. These are not tax havens and it is false to say so."

Aides to the former governor refused to expand on the information, declining to say how large his investment is in the Cayman Islands and why it is there, as opposed to in the U.S.

Nor would the campaign say whether Romney has investments anywhere else outside the United States. Advisers said Romney's assets are managed on a blind basis and that he does not have control over how they are managed.

Romney also refused to answer repeated questions from reporters about his Cayman investments during a stop at a barbecue restaurant in Lexington. Outside Hudson's Smokehouse, Romney simply smiled for cameras as he pushed through the crowd and boarded his campaign bus.

While a supporter rushed to Romney's defense, the former Massachusetts governor tried to duck the issue entirely on Wednesday, making no mention of his tax returns or tax rate during a rally at Wofford College here and declining to take questions from the news media. Instead, he delivered his standard campaign speech and assailed Gingrich, who has been running second in opinion polls in South Carolina.

Romney aides, too, refused to comment about his tax returns or details of his tax rate when pressed. His campaign held a conference call featuring surrogates who tried to cast Gingrich, the former House speaker, as an unreliable leader, but the wealth and taxes issue showed no signs of going away.

At an event in Rock Hill, S.C., Romney kept away from the issue of his taxes, but he criticized Republicans who "jumped on that bandwagon" of criticizing free enterprise. "My goodness, I listened to Speaker Gingrich the other night talk about the enterprises I've been associated with," Romney said. "I'm proud of the fact that I worked in the private sector, that I've achieved success."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has endorsed Romney, sought to help by defending Romney's tax status on TV. But that may have backfired when Christie, on NBC's "Today" show, suggested Romney put out his tax returns "sooner rather than later."

"It's always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially when you're the front-runner," Christie said.

After months of resistance and under pressure from Republican presidential rivals, Romney now says he will release tax information for 2011 ? but not until April, close to the tax filing deadline and when, presumably, the GOP race will have been decided.

Romney disclosed for the first time on Tuesday that, despite his wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars, he has been paying in the neighborhood of 15 percent, far below the top maximum income tax rate of 35 percent, because his income "comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past." During 2010 and the first nine months of 2011, the Romney family had at least $9.6 million in income, according to a financial disclosure form submitted in August.

Further focusing attention on his wealth was Romney's offhand remark to reporters that his income from paid speeches amounted to "not very much" money. In the August disclosure statement, he reported being paid $373,327.62 for such appearances for the 12 months ending last February, a sum that alone would him in the top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers.

It recalled other politically awkward moments for Romney in which he unintentionally put a spotlight on his own wealth, including his offer to wage a $10,000 bet with Texas Gov. Rick Perry during a GOP debate last month over a disagreement on health care policy. He also joked to a group of voters that, since leaving Bain in 1999, he has been "unemployed."

Romney has been consolidating GOP support before Saturday's South Carolina primary in which a victory could all but seal his nomination.

But the focus on his wealth is an unwanted distraction for him as he seeks to win votes in a state where the unemployment rate, at 9.9 percent, is among the highest in the nation, and amid rising public concern over income inequality. President Barack Obama's campaign advisers contend voters are unlikely to back a wealthy Republican with financial-industry ties at a time of lingering economic distress.

And White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that, "as a matter of fairness, it does not make a lot of sense for millionaires and billionaires to be able to pay taxes at a much lower rate than somebody making $100,000 a year."

The maximum marginal U.S. income tax rate of 35 percent applies ? in theory more than practice ? to households with taxable income of over about $388,500.

But like many wealthy people, the Romneys have been helped by changes in federal tax policy that have placed much lower tax rates on investment income ? from dividends, interest and capital gains from the sale of stocks and other assets ? than on wages and salaries, the source of income for most Americans.

Under the Bush-era tax cuts strongly supported by most Republicans, such income, including gains on securities held for a year or longer, is subject to a tax rate of 15 percent.

In addition, the Romneys are able to claim another tax break because of his 15 years with Bain. Although he retired from there in 1999, Romney is still able to benefit financially from the firm's profitable investments and from "co-investment" deals in which he can invest alongside Bain.

A provision in the tax code treats profits earned by private equity funds such as Bain and hedge funds as "carried interest" ? and thus subject to the 15 percent capital gains rate ? rather than as ordinary income.

In addition, only income up to $106,800 is subject to the separate payroll tax that funds Social Security and Medicare, so the wealthy often pay much lower effective rates on their total income than other Americans.

According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, an average federal tax rate of 15 percent ? including both income and payroll taxes ? would apply to households with taxable incomes of from $75,000 to $100,000.

Those with incomes below $94,000 earn less than 4 percent of their income from capital gains, interest and dividends, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while such investment income represents 43 percent of the income of households earning more than $1.87 million a year.

Obama and his wife paid federal taxes of just over 25 percent of their 2010 income of $1.7 million, mostly from the books he's written.

Perry and his wife paid roughly 24 percent of their 2010 income of $217,447.

___

Raum reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington and Shannon McCaffrey in Winnsboro contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-18-Romney-Taxes/id-d50494a9ef3f4f3e8120361bdb6528b4

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Of Course iPads Belong In Classrooms ? It?s All About Balance

ibooks 2"iPads And Digital Textbooks Don't Belong In Classrooms Yet"? What a headline. Alas, it doesn't quite do the post justice; Matt actually raises a few valid points on the potential woes of digitally assisted learning, but they're lost under a headline that (falsely) paint him as some sort of luddite. iPads absolutely have a place in the classroom. It's just a matter of finding a balance.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/cv_Q8P_VonE/

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Rainforest in Transition: Is the Amazon Transforming before Our Eyes?

amazon-pastureRAINFOREST TO PASTURE: Deforestation, among other human impacts such as climate change, are having a rainforest-wide impact on the Amazon. Image: Courtesy of Compton Tucker, NASA GSFC

The Amazon rainforest is in flux, thanks to agricultural expansion and climate change. In other words, humans have "become important agents of disturbance in the Amazon Basin," as an international consortium of scientists wrote in a review of the state of the science on the world's largest rainforest published in Nature on January 19. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.) The dry season is growing longer in areas where humans have been clearing the trees?as has water discharge from Amazon River tributaries in those regions. Multiyear and more frequent severe droughts, like those in 2005 and 2010, are killing trees that humans don't cut down as well as increasing the risks of more common fires (both man-made and otherwise).

The trees are also growing fast?faster than expected for a "mature" rainforest?according to a network of measurements.

The exact cause or causes of this accelerated growth?which means the Amazon's 5 million square kilometers of trees are now sucking in and sequestering some 400 million metric tons of carbon per year, or enough to offset the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Japan?"remains unknown," the researchers wrote in the review.

"When we measure that a particular stand of mature forest is accumulating carbon, it is difficult to say whether that might be due to recovery from some unrecognized disturbance long ago or whether it is due to more recent changes in climate and CO2," explained Woods Hole Research Center Senior Scientist and Executive Director Eric Davidson, lead author of the review, in an e-mail. Candidates include recovery from the potential wide-scale disturbance by pre-Columbian human societies now beginning to be uncovered or the increasing availability of some formerly limiting factor, such as atmospheric carbon dioxide.

In fact, increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere?now roughly 392 parts per million and rising?may be fertilizing the rainforest and preventing even greater impacts from reduced rainfall, although this question, Davidson and his colleagues wrote in the review, "may be one of the largest unknowns for the future of the Amazon forests."

What is known is that the forest clearing that has already gone on is decreasing forest rainfall. The Amazon produces roughly a third of its own precipitation?trees release moist air that then falls back as rain to nourish other trees (the rest comes from the Atlantic Ocean). But the air above cleared land warms faster and therefore rises more quickly, drawing the moist air from surrounding forested areas away. In fact, the conjunction of cleared and forested lands actually creates wind known as a vegetation breeze. But that breeze tends to blow rainfall away from the forest and over the surrounding pastures instead. It also weakens the continental-scale low-pressure system that draws rainfall over the Amazon.

The southern and eastern portions of the Amazon are the most affected, according to this review. For example, the southeastern Amazon around one of the local tributary rivers?the Tocantins?has seen pasture and cropland increase from 30 percent to 50 percent of the land between 1955 and 1995. As a result, that river now carries 25 percent more water. Another southeastern tributary, the Araguaia, now carries 28 percent more sediment?precious soil lost during downpours from surrounding, expanded agricultural fields.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=dcf26045a03824ce5ae22c23923a626e

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Tales emerge of missing and dead in ship disaster (AP)

ROME ? An Italian dad and his 5-year-old daughter. A retired American couple treating themselves after putting four children through college. A Hungarian musician who helped crying children into lifejackets, then disappeared while trying to retrieve his beloved violin from his cabin.

As details emerged Wednesday about the missing and the dead in the grounding of the Costa Concordia, the captain was quoted as saying he tripped and fell into the water from the listing vessel and never intended to abandon his passengers.

The search for the 21 people still unaccounted for in the disaster ground to a halt after the cruise liner shifted again on its rocky perch off the Tuscan island of Giglio, making it too dangerous for divers to continue. Rough seas were forecast for the next few days.

The bad weather also postponed the start of the weekslong operation to extract the half-million gallons of fuel on board the vessel, as Italy's environment minister warned Parliament of the ecological implications if the ship sinks.

The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into a reef and capsized Friday after the captain made an unauthorized diversion from his programmed route and strayed into the perilous waters.

Capt. Francesco Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship before everyone was safely evacuated, was placed under house arrest Tuesday, facing possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship.

The ship's operator, Crociere Costa SpA, has accused Schettino of causing the wreck by making the unapproved detour, and the captain has acknowledged carrying out what he called a "tourist navigation" that brought the ship closer to Giglio. Costa has said such a navigational "fly by" was done last Aug. 9-10, after being approved by the company and Giglio port authorities.

However, Lloyd's List Intelligence, a leading maritime publication, said Wednesday its tracking of the ship's August route showed it actually took the Concordia slightly closer to Giglio than the course that caused Friday's disaster.

"This is not a black-and-white case," Richard Meade, editor of Lloyd's List, said in a statement.

"Our data suggests that both routes took the vessel within 200 meters (yards) of the impact point and that the authorized route was actually closer to shore."

New audio of Schettino's communications with the coast guard during the crisis emerged Wednesday, with the captain claiming he ended up in a life raft after he tripped and fell into the water.

"I did not abandon a ship with 100 people on board, the ship suddenly listed and we were thrown into the water," Schettino said, according to a transcript published Wednesday in the Corriere della Sera paper.

Initial audio of Schettino's conversations made headlines on Tuesday, showing an increasingly exasperated coast guard officer ordering Schettino back on board to direct the evacuation, and the captain resisting, saying it was too dark and the ship was tipping.

The officer's order, "Get back on board, (expletive!)" has entered the Italian lexicon, becoming a Twitter hashtag and adorning T-shirts.

Eleven people have been confirmed dead so far, and 21 are missing. Italian officials have only released 27 names so far, including two Americans, 12 Germans, six Italians, four French, and one person each from Hungary, India and Peru.

The Hungarian victim was identified Wednesday as 38-year-old Sandor Feher, who had been working as an entertainer on the stricken cruise ship. His body was found inside the wreck and identified by his mother, who had traveled to the Italian city of Grosseto, according to Hungary's foreign ministry.

Jozsef Balog, a pianist who worked with Feher on the ship, told the Blikk newspaper that Feher was wearing a lifejacket when he decided to return to his cabin to retrieve his violin. Feher was last seen on deck en route to the area where he was supposed to board a lifeboat.

According to Balog, Feher helped put lifejackets on several crying children before returning to his cabin.

Others among the missing include 5-year-old Dayana Arlotti and her father, William Arlotti, who were on the cruise with the father's girlfriend. The girl's parents separated three years ago.

The girl's mother, Susy Albertini, said she has been desperately calling police, port officials and the cruise company for days for news of her daughter and estranged husband.

"I last heard from her on Thursday," when she waved goodbye at school, Albertini, 28, told the La Voce di Romagna newspaper.

"The absurd thing is that no one can tell me anything, and what little I know is from the newspapers," she said. "Sometimes they ask absurd questions, like if my daughter knows how to swim. Do they understand she is 5 years old? What kind of question is that?"

William Arlotti, 36, had gone on the cruise with his girlfriend, Michela Marconcelli, who survived. She reported seeing Dayana, who was wearing a lifejacket, slide into the water when the boat shifted, but said someone helped retrieve her, the newspaper reported.

Marconcelli said she was pushed forward onto the life raft, and lost track of her companion and his daughter.

Other missing include retirees Jerry and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake, Minn.

Sarah Heil, their daughter, told WBBM radio in Chicago that her parents had been looking forward to the 16-day cruise after raising four kids and sending them all off to college.

"They never had any money," she said. "So when they retired, they went traveling. And this was to be a big deal ? a 16-day trip. They were really excited about it."

The Heil children said in a blog post Wednesday that their parents were not among the passengers whose bodies were recently recovered, and they were praying that weather conditions would improve so authorities could resume search operations.

A U.S. congressional committee announced Wednesday that it will hold a hearing next month on the safety implications of the Costa Concordia accident, saying U.S. and international maritime organizations need to ensure standards are in place to protect passengers' safety on cruise ships.

Passengers have complained vocally about the chaotic evacuation and poor treatment by Costa officials once they got on land, with some saying they were provided only a single night of hotel accommodations and denied help getting to their embassies to get new passports.

Costa owner, Miami-based Carnival Corp., responded Wednesday, saying it was offering assistance and counseling to passengers and crew and was trying to take stock of lost possessions.

"Costa has also begun the process of refunding all voyage costs including both passenger cruise fares and all costs incurred while on board," Carnival said in a statement. "Our senior management teams are working together to determine additional support."

Rescue operations were suspended early Wednesday after instruments attached to the ship detected it had shifted, raising concerns for the safety of rescuers. By evening, officials still did not have enough data to assure the ship had stopped resettling and it was unclear when the search would resume.

Environment Minister Corrado Clini, who has warned of an environmental catastrophe in the waters around Giglio, a sanctuary for marine mammals, briefed Parliament on the effort to extract the half-million gallons of fuel. He said the ship risked sinking if it slips off its rocky perch.

Schettino was questioned by a judge for three hours Tuesday, then ordered held under house arrest rather than jailed ? a decision that federal prosecutors plan to challenge.

The judge, in her reasoning released Wednesday, said Schettino didn't represent a flight risk since he had stayed near the ship even after abandoning it, the ANSA news agency reported.

Schettino's lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, told reporters house arrest made sense.

"He never left the scene," the lawyer said. "There has never been a danger of flight."

Leporatti added that Schettino was upset by the accident, contrary to depictions in the Italian media that he did not appear to show regret.

"He is a deeply shaken man, not only for the loss of his ship, which for a captain is a grave thing, but above all for what happened and the loss of human life," Leporatti said.

Criminal charges including manslaughter and abandoning ship are expected to be filed by prosecutors shortly. Schettino faces a possible 12 years in prison on the abandoning ship charge alone.

_____

Barry reported from Milan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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