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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Georgia?s most-used iPhone and iPad apps of 2011
So to get it out of the way, while I’m running iOS 5 on my iPad I’m still running iOS 4 on my iPhone. I need my jailbreak, the...
Friday, December 30, 2011
Kim Jong Il's presence is felt in series of images (AP)
PYONGYANG, North Korea ? It's hard to imagine a North Korea without Kim Jong Il, who led the nation for 17 years until his death in December.
His portrait hangs in every building, his visits to factories and shops are commemorated with signs in his honor. The song book at the hotel at Mount Kumgang features a full page of tunes with his name in the title, and the airline hostesses in lacy gloves give their thanks to him as Air Koryo flights cross into North Korean airspace.
Kim's death on Dec. 17 marks the end of an era for North Korea, which has known only two leaders: Kim and his father, Kim Il Sung. Already, a new era has begun under the leadership of his young son, Kim Jong Un.
Still, Kim Jong Il's presence is felt in every frame of these images made by Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder over the course of our visits during the last months of Kim's life.
The white gloves on a table outside the International Friendship Exhibition Hall at Mount Myohang belong to the young guide in traditional Korean dress who eased them on before opening the front door to the museum housing gifts to the late leader.
Doctors and nurses laugh as they huff and puff their way past mountains carved with Kim's sayings and signature.
Young men in bumper cars bash each other gleefully at an amusement park that Kim ordered renovated as part of a bid to "improve the people's daily lives," one of the goals he left unfinished when he died at age 69.
Brush in hand and paint can tucked between his feet, an artisan colors in the letters for a propaganda poster from his precarious perch.
The date printed across the top of the poster reads "June of the year Juche 100 of Great Leader Kim Jong Il" ? or, to the outside world, June 2011.
___
Follow Jean H. Lee on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean and photographer David Guttenfelder at twitter.com/dguttenfelder.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Robert De Niro Welcomes A Baby Girl
Actor Robert De Niro is a dad again at age 68. Yep he and his wife announced they have welcomed a baby girl. Via a surrogate, Robert De Niro and wife actress/singer Grace Hightower 56 years old, are now the proud parents of a baby girl, Helen Grace Hightower. Their new daughter joins big brother Eliot who is 13 years old. The little girl is apparently doing just fine. She weighed in at a healthy 7 pounds and 2 ounces. Robert and Grace have been married since 1997, however they separated in 1999 but their divorce was never finalized. In 2004 the couple renewed their vows and have been happily married since then. Little Helen is the sixth child for the Academy Award winning actor who has four other children. He has a son Raphael from his first marriage to Diahnne Abbott. Robert also adopted Diahnne?s daughter Drena from a previous relationship. Then there are his 16-year old twin boys Julian and Henry from his relationship with Toukie Smith. Well it certainly seems that De Niro and his family have even more reason to celebrate this holiday season with the addition of their new baby girl. What a great Christmas [...]
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/gWv7Yjuqi_Y/
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Schmidt Revolution VW Golf GTI Mk5 2012 Pictures
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Heineken makes room for Dos Equis
By
Published: December 25, 2011
Updated: December 25, 2011 - 12:00 AM
The producer of Heineken beer is only too happy to make room on U.S. store shelves for an upstart Mexican brand.
Heineken NV's flagship beer has lost U.S. market share to the likes of Belgium's Stella Artois over the past five years, according to Euromonitor International data. Now it's getting a boost in its fight against the competition with its fast-growing Mexican beer brand, Dos Equis, which Heineken acquired in 2010.
Dos Equis is "our shining star" in the U.S., John Nicolson, the head of the company's Americas unit, said in an interview.
Heineken, the ubiquitous Dutch beer sold in the U.S. since 1933, has been attempting to regain lost ground with a new global marketing campaign, and by pushing its brand more aggressively in bars and restaurants.
The Americas, including the U.S. and Brazil, is Heineken's second-biggest market after Western Europe, accounting for 23 percent of the brewer's $10.9 billion first-half sales.
Dos Equis is on a tear. Sales of the brand, named for the two Xs on its label, soared 17 percent in the quarter through October, compared with Heineken's 1 percent sales decline and industrywide declines of about 2 percent, according to research by Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Trevor Stirling.
At the core of Dos Equis's success is a highly effective marketing push, Nicolson said, including its "Most Interesting Man in the World" ad campaign, featuring the tales of one worldly man's experiences ? and the catchphrase "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis."
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tbo/money/~3/BQCAp2Rld2c/
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HOT: More details surface about Samsung GT-I9070 with Mali 400MP GPU & Android 2...
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Texas men trade same Christmas card for decades
WHITEHOUSE, Texas (AP) -- A Christmas card that crisscrossed the country as part of an old joke between two Texas men will rest this holiday for the first time in 61 years.
Acker Hanks mailed the card to his former neighbor Lee Kelley in 1950. Kelley, a prankster, mailed it back a year later.
The two continued sending the card back and forth, and when Kelley died, his widow mailed the tattered message for over a decade. Last year, it returned to Hanks unread. He believes Kelley's widow moved to a nursing home.
A list of dates and places in the worn card documents its journey. Hanks plans to frame it.
"I always looked forward to getting the card," he told the Tyler Morning Telegraph (http://bit.ly/vbaPyB ). "I don't think it'll ever leave me now."
---
Information from: Tyler Morning Telegraph, http://www.tylerpaper.com
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
TM_Technology: BBC News - DIY solar panel maker heads to Africa for charity http://t.co/AsavpTIo (via @PeterJonesToday)
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Casey Anthony sued for defamation
ORLANDO, Fla?? The man who found 2-year-old Caylee Anthony's body in 2008 is suing her mother for damages, saying Casey Anthony defamed him during her murder trial earlier this year.
Former meter reader Roy Kronk said in a lawsuit filed in Florida on Wednesday that 25-year-old Anthony and her lawyers tried to shift suspicion away from the young mother and on to him.
Kronk testified he found Caylee's body in the woods near Anthony's home and called police. Casey Anthony was charged with killing her daughter, but a jury acquitted her in July.
In the suit, Kronk claims the defense variously accused him of involvement in Caylee's death. He said lawyers described him as a killer, a child snatcher and morally bankrupt, and accused him of finding and keeping Caylee's body and then placing the remains where they were found.
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But defense attorney Jose Baez also told jurors Caylee accidentally drowned in the family's backyard pool. If that was true, then Anthony and her lawyers knew their statements about Kronk were false, according to his complaint.
Story: Retired prosecutor calls Casey Anthony attorney 'smarmy'Kronk also has sued the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper and bounty hunter Leonard Padilla for defamation.
In a motion to dismiss, the Enquirer claims its article accurately reported Anthony's attempt to blame Kronk and was based on documents filed in court records by her lawyers.
Padilla, who once bailed Anthony out of jail prior to her trial, contends in court records that anything he said about Kronk was opinion and related to a matter of public concern.
Kronk's suit against Anthony is the third she faces in Florida.
She is being sued for defamation by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez, who claims her life was ruined when Anthony initially told investigators Caylee was kidnapped by a nanny of the same name.
Anthony also is being sued for damages by Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit group, for expenses incurred during the five-month search for Caylee.
Also on Wednesday, a lawyer for Anthony filed a motion asking that a prosecutor be held in contempt of court for revealing details of her psychiatric evaluations in his new book about the case.
Jeff Ashton, who retired after Anthony's trial, published details from the depositions of two psychiatrists in his book, "Imperfect Justice." The doctors said Anthony claimed she had been molested by her father and her father had drowned Caylee.
Judge Belvin Perry sealed the depositions from public view before the trial began because the allegations were so sensational, according to Ashton, and Anthony's lawyers never called the psychiatrists as witnesses at trial.
Ashton could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45769844/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Reds trade Wood, 2 others, to Cubs for Marshall
By DAN SEWELL
updated 7:21 p.m. ET Dec. 23, 2011
CINCINNATI - The Cincinnati Reds acquired left-handed reliever Sean Marshall from the Chicago Cubs on Friday for young lefty starter Travis Wood and two other players.
It was the second time in a week that the Reds gave up several prospects for pitching help. They earlier sent four players, including Edinson Volquez, to San Diego for starter Mat Latos.
The 29-year-old, 6-foot-7 Marshall was 6-6 with a 2.26 ERA last season. He had five saves. The Reds have been in talks to try to re-sign closer Francisco Cordero, who became a free agent after last season.
"Sean has been one of the best and most durable relievers in baseball the last couple of seasons," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said in a statement.
The 24-year-old Wood made 35 starts for the Reds over two seasons. He finished 6-6 with a 4.84 ERA in 2011, with a stint in Triple-A after struggling early in the year.
The Cubs also get 24-year-old outfielder Dave Sappelt, who batted .243 in 38 games with the Reds, and 19-year-old infield prospect Ronald Torreyes, who batted .356 in 67 games for Class-A Dayton.
"Twenty-four-year old left-handed starters who have already had success in the big leagues don't grow on trees," Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said. "We had to give up a great relief pitcher in Sean Marshall and someone we were proud to call a Cub, but we think to acquire Wood and the two young guys, it was worth doing."
Wood made 17 starts for the Reds in 2010, going 5-4 with a 3.51 ERA. He took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies before giving up a double to Carlos Ruiz, and left after finishing the ninth with the game scoreless.
Wood began last season in the Reds' starting rotation, made 10 starts for Louisville, then returned to Cincinnati. He also had four relief appearances for Cincinnati.
"He had a little bit of a down year last year, a little bit of a sophomore slump, but we still think all the ingredients are there to make him an excellent starting pitcher in the big leagues and you tend to not be able to get guys like that after their strong rookie years," Epstein said. "But sometimes you have a chance to get them after they take a little bit of their lumps on the learning curve."
Wood said he relied too heavily on his cutter last season and "lost the ability to really stick that four-seam (fastball) in there." His control was off, but he also sees a shot at redemption in Chicago.
"I think it's a great opportunity for me," he said. "The Reds do have a lot of depth in their rotation. ... Hopefully, I can get to Chicago and make a difference."
Besides the addition of Latos, the Reds return starting pitchers Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Homer Bailey and Bronson Arroyo. Aroldis Chapman, a left-handed reliever in his first two seasons, is also a possible starter next season.
In another move, Cincinnati claimed reliever Josh Judy off waivers from Cleveland. The 25-year-old right-hander pitched in 12 games over four stints with the Indians last season, with no record and a 7.70 ERA. He was 6-2 with a 3.12 ERA and 23 saves at Triple-A Columbus.
Epstein said the Cubs could still use some more starting pitchers in their farm system and at the major league level. He also said they're weighing ace Matt Garza's trade value versus locking him into a long-term deal. The right-hander was tendered a contract last week and is eligible for arbitration.
"It's hard to find top-of-the-rotation-type guys, so if you have them and there's a way to keep them around, I think that's always compelling for the club," Epstein said. "Now, that said, we're in a mode where we have to listen on everybody. If there's a way to improve the long-term outlook for this club in a significant manner, then we just can't look past opportunities like that. We're not in a situation where we have to do anything with Garza, but generally, we're in the business right now of taking our short-term assets and turning them into long-term assets."
___
AP sports writer Andrew Seligman in Chicago contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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HBT: Jorge Posada definitely isn't returning to the Yankees, but he might stay in the division as the Rays are interested.
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Red Cross encourages donors to ?Tech the Halls? with Apple iPad 2 giveaway
The American Red Cross South Carolina Blood Services Region is encouraging donors to ?Tech the Halls? with an Apple iPad 2 giveaway. All presenting blood and platelet donors at the Columbia donation center Dec. 19, 2011 through Jan. 2, 2012 will automatically be entered for a chance to win a free Apple iPad 2.?
?Columbia Donation Center
2751 Bull St.
Columbia, S.C. 29201
?
Blood donation hours:
Monday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Tuesday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Thursday: 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Friday: 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Saturday: 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.
?
Platelet donation hours:
Sunday: 6 a.m. - 1 p.m. (open 6 a.m.-noon Christmas day)
Monday: 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Tuesday: 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thursday: 6 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Friday: 6 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Saturday: 6 a.m. - 1 p.m.
?
For your chance to win, simply stop by your local South Carolina Blood Services Region Red Cross donation center from Dec. 19, 2011 through Jan. 2, 2012 to donate blood or platelets. One lucky presenting donor in the South Carolina Region will be selected at random to receive an iPad 2.
?
The need for blood and platelets is constant and doesn?t pause for the holidays. By taking time to donate this winter, you can help the Red Cross ensure a stable supply for all patients who need blood products.
?
All blood types are needed to help maintain a sufficient blood supply, especially type O negative. Type O negative blood, the universal blood type, is always in high demand because it can be transfused to patients with any blood type, especially in emergency situations.
?
Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. The American Red Cross South Carolina Blood Services Region provides lifesaving blood to patients in 54 hospitals. Approximately 500 people need to give blood or platelets each week day to meet hospital demand.
?
Blood can be safely donated every 56 days. Most healthy people age 17 and older, or 16 with parental consent, who weigh at least 110 pounds, are eligible to donate blood and platelets. Donors who are 18 and younger must also meet specific height and weight requirements.
?
For more information or to schedule an appointment to donate, call 1-800-RED CROSS (733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org.
?
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Gingrich, Clinton had stormy partnership (AP)
WASHINGTON ? To hear Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich tell it, he and Democratic President Bill Clinton were political partners in the 1990s, lowering unemployment, balancing the federal budget and keeping the nation's economy in robust health.
"I worked with President Clinton ... and we ended up with about 11 million new jobs in a four-year period, went down to 4.2 percent unemployment," Gingrich said in a recent debate, suggesting that as president, he could do it again.
In fact, the economy wasn't as rosy as he's claiming during his time in leadership. And the Clinton-Gingrich relationship was marked by intense cycles of warfare and courtship. The major economic boost while they were both in power, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, was the product of compromise that enraged their respective political bases. And it inspired this pair of outsized personalities to huddle over secret plans for a centrist coalition to help them step around the purists on Social Security and Medicare reform. Only the House's impeachment proceedings against Clinton blew those plans apart.
"I like the guy so much I want to do a deal with him," Gingrich, then the House speaker, confessed to his outraged lieutenants during a government shutdown almost exactly 16 years ago, according to a book about the stormy Clinton-Gingrich partnership.
"I respect his ability to think and do," Clinton said of Gingrich this week on Fox News Channel. "And I eventually hammered out a really productive relationship with him."
At the brink of the 2012 election year, Gingrich is in strong contention for the Republican presidential nomination and is casting himself as the most electable candidate in the GOP field against Democratic President Barack Obama. He cites his two decades in the House, four years as speaker and knowledge of history as ample preparation for helping the economy recover from recession.
As he has all year, Gingrich is hitching his presidential hopes to the relatively healthy economy of the 1990s.
"For four years, we balanced the budget and paid off $405 billion in debt," Gingrich said in May as he kicked off his campaign. "We've done it before. We can do it again."
Sometimes, he mentions Clinton.
During a debate earlier this month, Gingrich cited his work with Clinton, the 11 million jobs created and the low unemployment figure of 4.2 percent. When Gingrich became speaker in January 1995, the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent. When he left office four years later, the rate was 4.3 percent.
Other times, he leaves out Clinton ? even though presidents have the highest-profile role in economic policy and therefore get most of the credit or blame for what happens on their watch.
"When I was speaker, our budget was balanced and 11 million jobs were created," Gingrich says in a campaign ad released this week.
Still, Gingrich's version is a potent message for an angry electorate this holiday season, as Americans struggle to get or keep jobs, pay their holiday bills and hang onto whatever trust they still have in government leaders who have spent the year making big decisions only under threat of catastrophe.
Gingrich did contribute to the economy of the 1990s, according to an account of the Clinton-Gingrich talks of 1996-98, which resulted in a balanced budget act ? and more.
"It's a fair claim for him to make," says Steven M. Gillon, who won Clinton and Gingrich's cooperation for his 2008 book, "The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation." For a "very fertile period ... they worked behind the scenes crafting significant legislation that had a positive impact on the economy. And they were doing so at great risk."
"Conservatives didn't trust him," recalled John Feehery, an aide at the time to House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who chaperoned Gingrich to meetings with the president to keep them from making deals. Throughout the four years Clinton's aides, too, maneuvered to keep the president and House speaker from being alone together, according to Gillon's book.
As part of the 1997 balanced budget deal, Gingrich agreed to a proposal to give block grants to states to pay for health care for uninsured children who didn't qualify for Medicaid. The deal forced Republicans to swallow a major new entitlement, the largest expansion of taxpayer-financed health insurance coverage for children since Medicaid began in the 1960s.
Many Republicans saw the State Children's Health Insurance Program as too much government involvement in private industry and a step toward the mandated health insurance championed by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gingrich not only supported the idea, he backed SCHIP's reauthorization in 2007.
The budget deal marked a change in the pair's relationship from the days after the 1994 Republican "revolution" that made Gingrich speaker ? and the two government shutdowns the following year. By striking the massive budget act, "They realized they could accomplish more by working together, even if that meant abandoning the liberal and conservative wings of their respective parties," Gillon writes.
Gingrich and Clinton tried to do even more together, convening a secret meeting on Oct. 28, 1997, in the Treaty Room of the White House on revamping Social Security and Medicare ? for which centrists would be the key to passage, Gillon wrote. The plan was for Clinton to propose reforming entitlements in his State of the Union speech, while Gingrich would respond with supportive words. But a week before the president's annual speech to the nation, the story broke about Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
"I knew it was over," Gingrich reflected of his partnership with Clinton, according to the book. Under fire from conservatives after his own lieutenants tried to overthrow him, Gingrich left Congress in January 1999. The House impeached Clinton on charges connected to his testimony about an affair, but the Senate acquitted him.
Fast-forward a dozen years, and Gingrich is casting his role in the 1990s economy his way.
"This country has enormous potential ... to balance the budget, as we did for four years when I was speaker," Gingrich said on Fox News.
In fact, the national debt went up, not down, during the four years Gingrich was speaker. In January 1995, when he assumed the leadership position, the gross national debt was $4.8 trillion. When he left four years later, it was $5.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion.
As for annual deficits, he did not preside over a four-year period of balanced budgets. In the 1996 and 1997 budget years, the first two years he influenced as speaker, the government ran deficits. In 1998 and 1999, the government ran surpluses.
Washington achieved surpluses for two years after that, making four consecutive years of black ink. But Gingrich only had a hand in the first two.
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Apple's late boss Steve Jobs to receive Grammy (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is receiving a posthumous Grammy for his technological innovations in the arts.
Jobs is among a dozen people, music groups or companies receiving honorary awards Feb. 11, the day before the Grammys. He died of cancer in October.
The Grammys are honoring Jobs with one of the group's Trustees Awards, citing the late Apple boss' advancements that "transformed the way we consume music, TV, movies, and books."
Grammy organizers called him a "creative visionary" for Apple Inc. innovations that include the iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Others receiving honorary awards the day before the Grammys include Diana Ross, the Allman Brothers, Glen Campbell, Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Jones, the Memphis Horns and recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
___
Online:
http://www.grammy.com
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Photos: Beard & Moustache Contest Wins Big For Silver Lake Library - Echo Park, CA Patch
echopark.patch.com:
The Silver Lake Library was the site of perhaps the largest public display of facial hair ever in our fair city--and certainly in our neighborhood.
70 Entries From as Far Away as Victorville
According to Young Adult librarian Johathan Pitre, organizer and MC, an estimated 250 crowded the library for the first annual Beard and Moustache contest judging Tuesday night.
Read the whole story: echopark.patch.com
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WAFB: RT @WAFBweather: Tornado Warning for Lafourche & Terrebonne Parishes until 10:45 AM Thu. Radar & more: http://t.co/Ixq3oE09
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RT @WAFBweather: Tornado Warning for Lafourche & Terrebonne Parishes until 10:45 AM Thu. Radar & more: bit.ly/mdPzp6 
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Virginia ballot shows Gingrich organization woes (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is rushing to get on the ballot for the Republican primary in Virginia, in another sign his campaign may not be ready for prime time and could struggle to beat President Barack Obama next year.
Gingrich, who is polling as a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination both nationally and in early voting states, has been forced to hold a rally of supporters in Virginia on Wednesday night as he hurries to get the 10,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot there.
The event at a hotel just across the Potomac River from Washington takes place far from Iowa, where voters are less than two weeks away from kicking off the 2012 election season on January 3. Most of his party rivals are campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire.
The former House of Representatives speaker has acknowledged that his campaign is behind and hustling to translate increased
support for his candidacy in recent weeks to organizational capabilities.
Gingrich failed to qualify for the ballot in Missouri and barely made the deadline in Ohio, a key swing state in the general election.
By contrast, main party rival Mitt Romney has a bigger and slicker campaign organization. The former Massachusetts governor's staff has already handed in 16,000 signatures to get on the Virginia ballot.
Gingrich said in New Hampshire on Wednesday that his last-minute scramble should not lead Republicans to believe that Romney is a more viable candidate than he is.
"It shows you that a guy who runs for six years and has millions of dollars has a different operational style than the guy who arouses thousands of people," Gingrich said.
Kevin Madden, a former spokesman for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney and an informal adviser to the Romney campaign, scoffed at Gingrich's troubles in Virginia, where the former speaker lives in a wealthy suburb of Washington.
"The effort to defeat President Obama in 2012 is of utmost importance to Republican voters," Madden said. "If, like Newt Gingrich, you're just going to casually wing it in a primary campaign, it's an indication you plan to just wing it in a general election campaign.
"We need a nominee who will be organized and disciplined, not scrambling around for ballot access at the last minute."
In Virginia, a candidate has to present at least 10,000 signatures of registered voters, with 400 coming from each of the state's 11 congressional districts.
Gingrich has until 5 p.m. on Thursday to get those delivered to the state board of elections in sealed boxes. A spokesman for the board said it recommends that candidates present at least 15,000 signatures - 700 from each district - to ensure legitimacy.
He said he has enough signatures to meet the requirement. He will hold another event on Thursday in Richmond, Virginia, then he will hand-deliver the signatures, Gingrich said.
Gingrich's campaign all but ended last summer when much of his staff quit over questions of campaign management.
If the race goes to many states, as Romney's campaign is anticipating, winning states like Virginia, which as its primary on March 6, could determine the Republican nominee.
Lara Brown, a political science professor at Villanova University and author of the book "Jockeying for the American Presidency," said that Gingrich's late-to-the-party style is "not a reassuring sign for those looking for clues into how he'd act as president."
"Although there is much more to governing than campaigning, candidates must show voters that they are competent enough to run a nationwide presidential campaign if they have any hope of sitting in the Oval Office," Brown said.
Gingrich is an unlikely front-runner as a longtime Washington insider with a history of bombastic, controversial statements, marital infidelity and private sector work that could be confused with lobbying activity.
The eventual Republican nominee faces Obama, a Democrat, in the November 2012 election.
(Reporting By Sam Youngman; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Heavy Hitters Join Probst?s Opportunity Scholarships BoardA Christmas surprise: College scholarships for the middle class gain momentum
Current and former CEOs and leaders of Boeing, Microsoft, Costco, Weyerhauser, Delta Airlines, and other major companies are committing their energy and abilities to state Rep. Tim Probst?s Opportunity Scholarships program.? Today, Gov. Gregoire announced the seven-person board of directors for the new college scholarship program, which is the state?s first scholarship program reaching far into the middle class.
Representative Tim Probst celebrates the kickoff of Opportunity Scholarships with (from left to right) former Delta Airlines CEO Jerry Grinstein, Boeing CEO Jim Albaugh, Governor Christine Gregoire, and Microsoft Senior Vice President Brad Smith.
Probst?s bill creating the program passed the state Legislature earlier this year, with overwhelming bipartisan support.? Called ?a G.I. Bill for our middle class students? by Probst (D-Clark County) and other supporters, it is funded through a public-private partnership, creating thousands of Opportunity Scholarships for students studying for bachelor?s degrees in high-demand fields.? Probst designed the scholarships to address the fact that tuition increases are making college harder to afford for middle income families.? Students from families with earnings up to 125% of the state?s average income can apply.? For a family of four, that figure is roughly $98,000 a year.
?Today?s announcement shows that major companies will be supporting this effort and asking their peers to support it, Probst said. ?That means more donations from the private sector, and more students getting scholarships.?
Probst added, ?This is what can happen when Americans focus on serving our neighbors instead of dividing our country. Companies and government, Democrats and Republicans, we all put our heads together and found a completely new answer. This is how American democracy was supposed to work in the first place.?
The scholarships will be financed by contributions from the state and private industry. The state allocated $5 million in seed money for the program and Boeing and Microsoft have already committed $50 million, combined.
The amount per scholarship and application process will be decided by the board.
Named to the board today were:
Jim Albaugh Albaugh is president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle and executive vice president of The Boeing Co. He is responsible for all the company?s commercial aircraft programs and services. He is a Washington state native.
Brad Smith Smith is Microsoft?s general counsel, responsible for the company?s legal work, its intellectual property portfolio and patent licensing business, and its government affairs and philanthropic work. He has served as chair of the Washington Roundtable, a leading business organization, and in 2010 he chaired Gov. Gregoire?s Higher Education Funding Task Force.
Mack Hogans?Hogans was a longtime senior executive at the Weyerhaeuser Co. A forester, he?holds a Master of Science degree in forest resources from the University of Washington. He is a former trustee of the University of Puget Sound and has served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards.
Kimberly Harris Harris is CEO of Puget Sound Energy, the state?s largest utility company. She started at the company in 1977, when she was the second lawyer hired in the utility?s newly formed legal department. She serves on the board of directors of the American Red Cross for King and Kitsap Counties and formerly was on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Theresa Gillespie Gillespie is ?tax matters partner? at Trilogy International Partners, a wireless communications investment company she co-founded with her husband, John Stanton, and a third investor in 2005. She and her husband are veterans of the industry: In 1988, they founded Stanton Communications, which later evolved into Western Wireless, the ancestor company of VoiceStream and T-Mobile.
Jim Sinegal Sinegal is a co-founder of Costco Wholesale Corp. and has been its chief executive officer since October 1993. He serves as trustee of Seattle University and of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
Jerry Grinstein Grinstein is a venture capitalist in Seattle and former CEO of Delta Air Lines. He also served as chairman of what is now BNSF Railway. He is a former member of the Board of Regents at the University of Washington and has served on the boards of several corporations and nonprofit organizations.
Rep. Tim Probst (left), Laura Peterson of Boeing (middle) and Bob Craves of the College Success Foundation celebrate Gov. Gregoire?s signing of the bill creating the Opportunity Scholarships program.
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Science Books from my Childhood
David Ng asked a question:
Are there any children?s books that are dear to you, either as a child or a parent, and especially ones that perhaps strike a chord with those from a science sensibility? Just curious really. And it doesn?t have to be a picture book, doesn?t even have to be a children?s book ? just a book that, for whatever reason, worked for the younger mind set.
Here is my list of childhood favourites, the books that turned me on to science ? a list that reflects the time and place where I grew up:
As a little kid, I have practically memorized the 1971 translation of the 1968 book The new golden treasury of natural history by Bertha Morris Parker (under the title of Riznica Prirode). This is where I learned all the names of prehistoric creatures like Dynichtys, trilobites, dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals. This is where I learned about the Solar system and about evolution. And everything else. This is the book that started it all.
At about the same time (very early childhood), I also had and read repeatedly Our Friend the Atom by Heinz Haber, where I learned the basic physics (which I, for the most part, forgot since then).
I also had a couple of books by Alfred Edmund Brehm, including his most famous Brehm?s Life of animals: A complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools, which I used, later in school, as a source for some early papers/reports about animals.
Then, I swallowed a number of translated books by Gerald Durrell and his Russian counterpart, Vera Caplina.
Later, I graduated to works by Konrad Lorenz and, at the age of 13, my first attempt at reading Darwin?s Origin Of Species.
Finally, probably the most important kids? books I had were a trilogy by Dr.Zivko Kostic (which I see has been reissued): ?Between Play and Physics?, ?Between Play and Chemistry? and ?Between Play and Mathematics?. Each of the books had a story ? a bunch of kids (mostly boys!!!! ? reflecting their origin in the 1950s and 1960s) having a club, meeting regularly and doing experiments or, even more often, using their knowledge to pull pranks on each other and the rest of the community.
But the story was restricted to just a few places scattered around the book. Most of each book was devoted to about 150 ?experiments?. I have not just read each of the books many times, but I have also tried to do many of the things described within. Math was easy ? paper and pencil was all one needed for most of it. Chemistry was great fun, but it was hard to come up with chemicals (probably impossible in the here and now). So, I mostly did the physics stuff, using materials easily found around the house ? some string, a glass of water, a pencil, a coat-hanger and a bottle cork. That was great fun.
More importantly, each book is broken into chapters, each chapter covering a particular topic or sub-discipline. And each chapter started with a brief and fascinating history of that field. Archimedes. Mendeleyev. Newton. They were all in there, in anecdotes and coming alive on the pages of the book.
But the greatest fun was when I got to meet the author when I was about 10 years old or so. For a kid in Yugoslavia at the time, it was equivalent of you getting to meet Carl Sagan or Isaak Asimov. My idol, in flesh and blood! And not just for a few seconds at a book signing ? he came to visit us for lunch and coffee at my grandparents? summer cottage.
So I listened with awe to his stories and he answered about a zillion questions I had for him. He is still alive and my mother said she was in touch with him recently. She just bought me the three-book set of Kostic?s books. They were re-issued about three years ago and are now in EVERY school library in Serbia, as well as favourite prizes to give to good students at end-of-the-year ceremonies.
Perhaps they may be fun to translate. Or, I can do something that I wanted to do for decades now ? write the fourth volume: ?Between Play and Biology?.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4af3e7589bbf7c0e61570dfc2f7b1b2e
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
'The war is over': Last US soldiers leave Iraq
As troops leave Iraq, they cross the border into Kuwait for the final steps toward departure. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services
Updated at?8:46 a.m.?ET
KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait -- The last American troops crossed the border from Iraq into Kuwait early Sunday, ending?the U.S. military presence there after nearly nine years.
As?the last convoy left Iraq at daybreak Sunday, soldiers whooped, bumped fists and embraced each other in a burst of joy and relief, The Associated Press reported.
NBC News' Richard Engel tweeted from the border:?"The gate to #iraq is closed. Soldier just told me, 'that's it, the war is over.'"
The final column of around 100 mostly MRAP armored vehicles carrying 500 U.S. troops trundled?through the night along an empty highway,?across the southern Iraq desert?to the Kuwaiti border.
300 troops return to Fort Hood
After a ceremony Thursday in Baghdad formally marking the end of the war, the timing and all other details of the departure of the last convoy were kept under tight secrecy due to security concerns. The low-key end to the war was just another reminder of how dangerous Iraq remains, even though violence is lower now than at any other time since the 2003 invasion.?
The 210-mile trip from a base in southern Iraq took about five hours.
"I just can't wait to call my wife and kids and let them know I am safe," Sgt. First Class?Rodolfo Ruiz said as the border came into sight. Soon afterward, he told his men the mission was over: "Hey guys, you made it."
NBC's Richard Engel answers your questions about Iraq
Pentagon Press Secretary George Little tweeted Sunday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "approved the order officially ending the Iraq war" at 6:59 a.m. ET.
The Iraq war began on March 20, 2003, at a time when national defense was a top priority for Americans still shocked by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It continued with the invasion and ouster of Saddam Hussein, then ground through years of war against an insurgency that left tens of thousands dead.
Among those dead were?nearly 4,500 Americans, and the war cost $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The question of whether it was worth it all is yet unanswered.
"It's good to see this thing coming to a close. I was here when it started," Staff Sgt. Christian Schultz said just before leaving Contingency Operating Base Adder,?185 miles south of Baghdad, for the border. "I saw a lot of good changes, a lot of progress, and a lot of bad things too."
Maya Alleruzzo / AP
Army soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, inspect their body armor at Camp Adder during final preparations for the last American convoy to leave Iraq.
For President Barack Obama, the military pullout is the fulfilment of an election promise to bring troops home from a conflict inherited from his predecessor that tainted America's standing worldwide.
For Iraqis, it brings a sense of sovereignty but fuels worries their country may slide once again into the kind of sectarian violence that killed thousands of people at its peak in 2006-2007.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government still struggles with a delicate power-sharing arrangement between Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni parties, leaving Iraq vulnerable to meddling by Sunni Arab nations and Shiite Iran.
PhotoBlog: Troops move out
The intensity of violence and suicide bombings has subsided for now. But a stubborn Sunni Islamist insurgency and rival Shiite militias remain a threat, carrying out almost daily attacks.
Iraq says its forces can contain the violence but they lack capabilities in areas such as air defense and intelligence gathering. A deal for several thousand U.S. troops to stay on as trainers fell apart over the sensitive issue of legal immunity.
NYT: Junkyard's secret accounts of massacre
For many Iraqis security remains a worry -- but no more than jobs and getting access to power in a country whose national grid provides only a few hours of electricity a day.
"We don't think about America... We think about electricity, jobs, our oil, our daily problems," said Abbas Jaber, a government employee in Baghdad. "They left chaos."
Payments to sheikhs
After Obama announced in October that troops would come home by the end of the year as scheduled, the number of U.S. military bases was whittled down quickly as hundreds of troops and trucks carrying equipment headed south to the Kuwaiti border.
U.S. forces, which had ended combat missions in 2010, paid $100,000 a month to tribal sheikhs to secure different parts of highways leading south to reduce the risk of roadside bombings and attacks.
The conflict by the numbers
At the height of the war, more than 170,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq at more than 500 bases. By Saturday, there were fewer than 3,000 troops, and one base.
At COB Adder, as dusk fell before the departure of the last convoy, one group of soldiers slapped barbecue sauce on slabs of ribs brought in from Kuwait and laid them on grills alongside hot dogs and sausages.
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Janna Less, center, 23, smiles as she sits on the last Air Force flight out of Ali Air Base near Nasiriyah, en route to Kuwait on Saturday.
The last troops flicked on the lights studding their MRAP vehicles and stacked flak jackets and helmets in neat piles, ready for the final departure for Kuwait and then home.
"A good chunk of me is happy to leave. I spent 31 months in this country," said Sgt. Steven Schirmer, 25, after three tours of Iraq since 2007. "It almost seems I can have a life now, though I know I am probably going to Afghanistan in 2013. Once these wars end I wonder what I will end up doing."
Remembering the last slain American
When the convoy crossed the border into Kuwait around 7:45 a.m. local time, the atmosphere was subdued inside one of the vehicles. Along the road, a small group of Iraqi soldiers waved to the departing American troops.
"My heart goes out to the Iraqis," said Warrant Officer John Jewell, acknowledging the challenges ahead. "The innocent always pay the bill."
'Smooth sailing'
Soldiers standing just inside the crossing on the Kuwaiti side of the border waved and snapped photos as the final trucks rumbled over.
"I'm pretty excited," said Sgt. Ashley Vorhees. "I'm out of Iraq. It's all smooth sailing from here."
Vote: How would you describe the war in Iraq?
Spc. Brittany Hampton joked that no one was going to believe her back home when she told them she was in the very last of the 110 vehicles in the convoy to exit.
"But we really truly were the last soldiers in Iraq. So it's pretty awesome," she said.
"It's just an honor to be able to serve your country and say that you helped close out the war in Iraq,"?added Spc. Jesse Jones, a 23-year-old who volunteered to be in the last convoy. "Not a lot of people can say that they did huge things like that that will probably be in the history books."
A handful of U.S. military personnel will remain in the country, working with the U.S. Embassy to help with arms sales and training for Iraqi forces. Talks could resume next year on whether more U.S. troops can return for future training missions.
In the meantime, U.S. officials say there will be roughly 16,000 people involved in the American diplomatic effort in Iraq.
About 2,000 will be diplomats and federal workers. The remaining 14,000 will be contractors -- roughly half involved with security.
NBC News, msnbc.com staff, Reuters and?The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Iraq War Not Worth It: Too Much Blood and Treasure for No Guarantee of Stability (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | According to CNN, the U.S. military intervention in Iraq, which began in 2003, has cost the nation almost 4,500 dead soldiers. Additionally, more than 32,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded and the financial cost of the 8 1/2-year conflict, as alleged by the Christian Science Monitor, may total up to more money than it cost our nation to fight in World War II.
World War II cost the United States around $3.6 trillion, adjusted for inflation, while the total costs of the Iraq War may amount to more than $4 trillion. Much of this tab goes to cover expenses related to healing and recuperating injured and traumatized soldiers, replacing ruined weapons and equipment, and giving assistance to our allies, some of whom have been less than cost-effective.
So we've lost 4,500 troops, have to help another 32,000 as best we can, and have spent a tremendous amount of money, some of which we could scarcely afford as the recent recession rocked our national economy to its core. What have we gained from this lengthy conflict, which also killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians?
Sadly, the United States has won precious little of what it sought prior to the spring 2003 invasion of Iraq: Aside from toppling Saddam Hussein's brutal regime, we have not made ourselves safer from foreign terrorist threats. We have not made the Middle East a safer, more stable region. We have not improved our respectability, prestige, or even intimidation factor among the international community.
If anything, our intervention in Iraq, made costly because we originally underestimated how many troops it would take to hold and secure the vast nation and provide security (according to an article in the National Security Archive), allowing an insurgency to erupt that continues to wreak havoc even today. We tried to fight a war on the cheap by sending in 130,000 troops instead of the 400,000 proposed by Marine General Anthony Zinni in 1999, whose ideas were mirrored in 2003 by General Eric Shinseki, the top-ranking Army officer, in a USA Today article.
By not properly securing Iraq in the beginning we doomed ourselves to a long, expensive, traumatizing war that has helped our enemies more than ourselves. Radical Islamic groups, various terrorist organizations, and hard-liners within Iran and Pakistan have been bolstered by the American mismanagement of the Iraq War. These groups can point to the chaos within Iraq and, regardless of who is genuinely at fault, blame the United States.
Worst of all, Iraq's security is still not guaranteed: When the last American troops pull out by the end of the year, it is unknown whether Iraq's temporary [relative] stability will last ... or crumble.
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Peru judge grants Berenson NY holiday (AP)
LIMA, Peru ? A Peruvian court is allowing paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson and her toddler son to travel to New York for the holidays, she and her father said on Friday.
Mark Berenson told The Associated Press by phone from his Manhattan home that Berenson had obtained permission to leave Peru from Dec. 16 to Jan. 11.
"I'm very glad that Peru is respecting its laws and human rights," he said. "As Lori says, if she doesn't come home, let Interpol arrest her."
Lori Berenson was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels, but she cannot leave Peru permanently until her sentence ends in 2015.
Her father told the AP on Friday he is "petrified" a negative local reaction to the New York visit could prevent the trip.
"My worry is that there's going to be screaming to stop this," he said. Some Peruvians consider her a terrorist, opposed her parole and have publicly insulted her on the street.
He said that as far as he knew, his 42-year-old daughter was still trying to buy a ticket for herself and son Salvador, who is 2 1/2.
"It's not going to be easy," he said. Flights are heavily booked and prices high at this time of year.
Reached by the AP, Lori Berenson confirmed her court permission by a text message but added: "I am not speaking to the press."
She has been repeatedly hounded and mobbed by Peruvian news news media, which has occasionally frightened young Salvador. Last month, one TV channel obtained her new address and showed video of her home on television, her father said.
"It was very dangerous," he added. "The (U.S.) Embassy complained."
His daughter is separated from Salvador's father, Anibal Apari, whom she met in prison and who serves as her lawyer.
He also confirmed the court's approval of the New York trip to Peruvian TV reporters on Friday.
Mark Berenson, 69, said his daughter is looking forward to seeing relatives she hasn't met since her 20s, including his 96-year-old aunt.
Since her initial parole in May 2010, Lori Berenson repeatedly expressed regret for aiding the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Arrested in 1995, the former MIT student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed takeover of Congress, an attack that never happened.
A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. But after intense U.S. government pressure, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.
Berenson was unrepentant at the time of her arrest, but softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually being praised as a model prisoner.
Yet she is viewed by many as a symbol of the 1980-2000 rebel conflict that claimed some 70,000 lives. The fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing, while Tupac Amaru was a lesser player.
Berenson has acknowledged helping the rebels rent a safe house, where authorities seized a cache of weapons. But she insists she didn't know guns were being stored there. She denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent acts.
In an interview with the AP last year, Berenson said she was deeply troubled at having become Peru's "face of terrorism."
Its most famous prisoner, she also became a politically convenient scapegoat, she said.
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Feds rebuke immigration tactics of Arizona sheriff (AP)
PHOENIX ? Sheriff Joe Arpaio's boundary-pushing foray into Arizona's immigration enforcement over the last six years met its most bruising criticism when the U.S. Justice Department said the lawman's office carried out a blatant pattern of discrimination against Latinos and held a "systematic disregard" for the Constitution.
Arpaio, defiant and caught by surprise by the report's release on Thursday, called the allegations a politically motivated attack by President Barack Obama's administration that will make Arizona unsafe by keeping illegal immigrants on the street.
The Obama administration "might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-New Mexico border saying welcome illegals to your United States, my home is your home," he said.
The government found that Arpaio's office committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos, including unjust immigration patrols and jail policies that deprive prisoners of basic Constitutional rights. "We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department, a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections," said Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division.
The report will be used by the Justice Department to seek major changes at Arpaio's office, such as new policies against discrimination and improvements of staff and officers. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4 deadline for saying whether he wants to work out an agreement to make the changes. If not, the federal government will sue him, possibly putting in jeopardy millions of dollars in federal funding for Maricopa County.
The fallout from the report was swift. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it is severing its ties with Arpaio, stripping his jail officers of their federal power to check whether inmates in county jails are in the county illegally.
Homeland Security officials also are restricting Arpaio's office from using a program that uses fingerprints collected in local jails to identify illegal immigrants.
Arpaio has long denied the racial profiling allegations, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they have committed crimes and that deputies later find many of them are illegal immigrants. He also said the decision by Homeland Security to sever ties will result in illegal immigrants being released from jail and large numbers.
The sheriff has built his reputation on jailing inmates in tents and dressing them in pink underwear, selling himself to voters as unceasingly tough on crime and pushing the bounds of how far local police can go to confront illegal immigration.
While widely popular among conservatives nationwide, Arpaio faces numerous problems at home that have him facing almost-daily calls to step down.
Apart from the civil rights probe, a federal grand jury also has been investigating Arpaio's office on criminal abuse-of-power allegations since at least December 2009 and is specifically examining the investigative work of the sheriff's anti-public corruption squad. The squad launched investigations of officials, lawyers and judges who ran afoul of Arpaio, and the cases all collapsed.
Arpaio has also been under pressure from his opponents to resign in the last week after an Associated Press article brought new attention to his office's bungling of sex crime and molestation cases in a predominantly Hispanic Phoenix suburb. His office said more than 400 sex-crimes investigations had to be reopened after the department learned of cases that hadn't been investigated adequately or weren't examined at all.
Officials discovered at least 32 reported child molestations ? with victims as young as 2 years old ? where the sheriff's office failed to follow through, even though suspects were known in all but six cases. The cases were originally reported by The Arizona Republic and other local media and received national attention in the last week.
Thursday's report said federal authorities will continue to investigate whether the sex crimes are being properly looked at; complaints of deputies using excessive force against Latinos; and whether the sheriff's office failed to provide adequate police services in Hispanic communities.
The report took the sheriff's office to task for launching immigration patrols, known as "sweeps," based on complaints that Latinos were merely gathering near a business without committing crimes.
Federal authorities single out Arpaio himself and said his office has no clear policies to guard against the violations, even after he changed some of his top aides earlier this year.
The report also said he and some top staffers tried to silence people who have spoken out against the sheriff's office by arresting people without cause, filing meritless lawsuits against opponents and starting investigations of critics.
One example cited by the Justice Department is former top Arpaio aide David Hendershott, who filed bar complaints against attorneys critical of the agency along with bringing judicial complaints against judges who were at odds with the sheriff. All complaints were dismissed.
The anti-corruption squad's cases against two county officials and a judge collapsed in court before going to trial and have been criticized by politicians at odds with the sheriff as trumped-up. Arpaio has defended the investigations as a valid attempt at rooting out corruption in county government.
The civil rights report said Latinos are four to nine times more likely to be stopped in traffic stops in Maricopa County than non-Latinos and that the agency's immigration policies treat Latinos as if they are all in the country illegally. Deputies on the immigrant-smuggling squad stop and arrest Latino drivers without good cause, the investigation found.
A review done as part of the investigation found that 20 percent of traffic reports handled by Arpaio's immigrant-smuggling squad from March 2006 to March 2009 were stops ? almost all involving Latino drivers ? that were done without reasonable suspicion. The squad's stops rarely led to smuggling arrests.
Deputies are encouraged to make high-volume traffic stops in targeted locations. Latinos who were in the U.S. legally were arrested or detained without cause during the sweeps, according to the report.
During the sweeps, deputies flood an area of a city ? in some cases, heavily Latino areas ? over several days to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders. Illegal immigrants accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps conducted by his office since January 2008, according to figures provided by Arpaio's office.
Police supervisors, including at least one smuggling-squad supervisor, often used county accounts to send emails that demeaned Latinos to fellow sheriff's managers, deputies and volunteers in his posse. One such email had a photo of a mock driver's license for a fictional state called "Mexifornia."
Federal investigators focused heavily on the language barriers in Arpaio's jails.
Latino inmates with limited English skills were punished for failing to understand commands in English by being put in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day or keeping prisoners locked down in their jail pods for as long as 72 hours without a trip to the canteen area or making nonlegal phone calls.
The report said some jail officers used racial slurs for Latinos when talking among themselves and speaking to inmates.
Detention officers refused to accept forms requesting basic daily services and reporting mistreatment when the documents were completed in Spanish and pressured Latinos with limited English skills to sign forms that implicate their legal rights without language assistance.
The Justice Department said it hadn't yet established a pattern of alleged wrongdoing by the sheriff's office in the three areas where they will continue to investigation: complaints of excessive force against Latinos, botched sex-crimes cases and immigration efforts that have hurt the agency's trust with the Hispanic community.
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.
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