'I'm robbing you, sir': 'Polite' robber arrested

 

A man accused of robbing a Seattle convenience store at gunpoint last weekend might have earned points with its owner by being polite.

 

GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press

SEATTLE

 

A man accused of robbing a Seattle convenience store at gunpoint last weekend might have earned points with its owner by being polite.

But saying "sir" probably won't impress prosecutors or federal authorities who say they have supervised him since he wrapped up a prison term for an earlier string of hold-ups.

The King County Sheriff's Office identified the suspect Tuesday as Gregory P. Hess, 65. He's a former Starbucks barista who has been on federal supervision since 2007, when he was released from prison after receiving a nearly six-year sentence for hitting five banks and a video store in the Seattle area.

His bail was set at $250,000. He is being held for investigation of robbery but has not been charged.

Hess was arrested after surveillance video of Saturday's robbery "went viral" and prompted several tips about the suspect's identity, said sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart.

The man in the video is seen telling White Center Shell station owner John Henry: "Could you do me a favor? Empty the till for me please and put it right here. . I'm robbing you, sir."

"Are you sure?" Henry replies.

"Yes, I'm sure," the man says.

"Why do you want to do that?"

"Because I need the money," the man answers. "I've got kids that need to be fed, sir. . I really am sorry to have to do this."

Henry offered the man $40, but the suspect declined it and took $300, promising to pay the money back later, if he could.

Hess worked for three years at a Starbucks in Seattle's Madison Park neighborhood before quitting in late 2002 because "he became dissatisfied with a change in direction the company had taken," according to documents filed in his federal case. Months later, he was robbing banks to pay for his rent and other expenses, including his "precious dogs."

The federal case, which includes a lengthy sentencing memorandum that delves into his unhappy childhood and adult life, makes no mention of Hess having children.

His method in the 2003 robberies earned him a mundane nickname from the FBI: the "Transaction Bandit." He sometimes asked a teller to make change for small bills, and once the drawer was open he demanded the money that was inside, showing the teller a pellet gun in his waistband.

He was arrested in those cases after former co-workers at the caf� saw his wanted photo in The Seattle Times and alerted authorities to his identity. He confessed soon after his arrest and was sentenced to 57 months in prison, plus $9,723 in restitution.

In asking for a light sentence, his lawyer cited a letter written by his sister, recounting their unhappy childhood at the hands of alcoholic parents.

The sister also said the two of them stole from grocery stores to feed themselves, his sister wrote. Hess eventually was sent to live with a foster family.

After serving his sentence, Hess enrolled in a culinary arts program at South Seattle Community College. Although he earned $800 to $1200 per month, he failed to pay restitution as ordered for nearly a year after his release, the court documents state.

The federal documents also note that he was convicted in 1967 of forging a check to pay his rent.

 

LINK TO PHOTO OF POLITE ROBBER: 

 

The new 747-8 jumbo jet: Up close and inside

 

 

Dominic Gates

Seattle Times aerospace reporter

 

 

Unlike the Dreamliner that Boeing rolled out in 2007 but didn't get off the ground for two-and-a-half years, the new 747-8 jumbo jet unveiled in Everett on Sunday is not an empty shell.

"We're going to roll out an airplane that's darn near ready to fly," Boeing commercial airplanes chief Jim Albaugh said in an interview. "I think it'll fly within three or four weeks."

An advance tour inside the giant passenger plane, the 747-8 Intercontinental, revealed final preparations for flight testing.

The flight deck is ready for the pilots to take the controls. A little label above the pilot's steering yoke reads: "Boeing 001. Flight test."

In the cavernous passenger cabin, Boeing has installed racks of computer equipment and dozens of interconnected black barrels so that during the upcoming flight tests, the water that serves as ballast can be pumped around to simulate various loads.

On the outside, the plane looks dramatic because of what Albaugh called "that bigger bump on top."

This latest model of the iconic jumbo jet, whose first version flew in 1969, has an extended forward fuselage hump with a row of windows that stretches all the way back to the wings.

The rival Airbus A380 superjumbo airliner, with its full-length double-decker passenger cabin, has a regular, more nondescript fuselage shape. But the curve of the 747-8 upper fuselage hump will be distinctive even to people unfamiliar with airplane types.

Boeing's marketing mavens developed a brash new burnt-orange sunburst paint scheme unique to the plane in Sunday's ceremonial rollout.

"We wanted to gain the world's attention and to give the message that this is not your father's 747," said Steven Myers, a senior designer with Boeing's Seattle-based design partner Teague.

A swooping horizon line along the side of the jet separates a predominantly reddish orange lower fuselage from the pearl-white upper fuselage. Silvery gray highlights and gold stripes fade into the main blocks of color.

A nonmetallic mica in the clear topcoat will sparkle in sunlight.

Inside the hangar where the plane had just been painted, Myers said Boeing chose the reddish color scheme to appeal specifically to the Asian customers that are expected to be the major buyers of this jet.

The stylized figure 8 on the vertical tail fin represents the model number, but also conveys the Chinese "lucky number" representing prosperity and wealth.

The fading effect was done by hand and the paint job took 10 days, said Bill Dill, Boeing's paint operations leader.

The plane that rolled out Sunday � 250 feet long with a 224-foot wingspan � is a VIP jet for a private buyer, so it will never have a conventional airliner interior.

After flight tests are completed it will be refurbished and customized for the buyer.

Right now, the long passenger cabin is carpeted and has some stow bins and sidewalls in place.

But orange wiring snakes along the floor to the racks of electronic boxes in the center. And the interior space is otherwise largely empty except for the squat, load-shifting water barrels fore and aft, connected by tubes.

At the back of the cabin, a device resembling a giant hamster wheel is installed, about four feet in diameter. During test flights this wheel reels in and out from the tip of the vertical tail a long tubular line attached to a cone-shaped sensor that takes air pressure readings well away from the fuselage.

Admiring the paint scheme his team had completed, Dill said of the Sunday rollout that "the queen is ready for the ball."

Even better, the hardware inside suggests the queen is also nearly ready for her working flight tests.

 

 

LINK TO PHOTO GALLERY:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/businesstechnology2014200928/

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://bcove.me/nxick68m

Super-small antennas, better cell-phone service

 

Daily News Staff and Wire Services

02/11/2011 08:19:35 PM

Updated: 02/11/2011 09:00:04 PM 

 

Wim Sweldens, the president Alcatel-Lucent's wireless division is seen holding a lightRadio cube, a small cell-phone antenna that can be deployed on lamp posts, buildings, and other places that can't accommodate a full-sized antenna. The cube integrates much of the regular workings of a conventional cell phone base station, seen behind Sweldens. (AP Photo/Alcatel-Lucent)         As cell phones have spread, so have large cell towers - those unsightly stalks of steel topped by transmitters and other electronics that sprouted across the country over the last decade.

Now the wireless industry is planning a future without them, or at least without many more of them. Instead, it's looking at much smaller antennas, some tiny enough to hold in a hand. These could be placed on lampposts, utility poles and buildings - virtually anywhere with electrical and network connections.

If the technology overcomes some hurdles, it could upend the wireless industry and offer seamless service, with fewer dead spots and faster data speeds.

Some big names in the wireless world are set to demonstrate "small cell" technologies at the Mobile World Congress, the world's largest cell phone trade show, which starts Monday in Barcelona, Spain.

"We see more and more towers that become bigger and bigger, with more and bigger antennas that come to obstruct our view and clutter our landscape and are simply ugly," said Wim Sweldens, president of the wireless division of Alcatel-Lucent, the French-U.S. maker of telecommunications equipment.

"What we have realized is that we, as one of the major mobile equipment vendors, are partially if not mostly to blame for this."

Alcatel-Lucent will be at the show to demonstrate its "lightRadio cube," a cellular antenna about the size and shape of a Rubik's cube, vastly smaller than the ironing-board-sized

The cube was developed at the famous Bell Labs in New Jersey, birthplace of many other inventions when it was AT&T's research center.

In Alcatel-Lucent's vision, these little cubes could soon begin replacing conventional cell towers. Single cubes or clusters of them could be placed indoors or out and be easily hidden from view. All they need is electrical power and an optical fiber connecting them to the phone company's network.

The cube, Sweldens said, can make the notion of a conventional cell tower "go away." Alcatel-Lucent will start trials of the cube with carriers in September. The company hopes to make it commercially available next year.

That would be welcome news in neighborhoods across the country, as the larger cell towers have sparked zoning fights from residents who deride them as eyesores and potential health hazards.

In the San Fernando Valley, for example, residents have been fighting cell tower proposals for years. In the past year they have met with some success defeating several proposals from T-Mobile to expand its network coverage.

In Northridge, residents have so far been able to convince city officials to block a proposed T-Mobile tower on top of a commercial structure at Saticoy Street and Louise Avenue, complaining it would be an eyesore, destroy property values and the radiation would pose a health threat.

Similarly in Sherman Oaks, residents last year convinced the South Valley Area Planning Commission to shoot down a separate proposal from T-Mobile to build a 49-foot-high tower on top of a three-story commercial building on Burbank Boulevard.

But for cell phone companies, the benefits of dividing their networks into smaller "cells," each one served by something like the cube antenna, go far beyond esthetics. Smaller cells mean vastly higher capacity for calls and data traffic.

Instead of having all phones within a mile or two connect to the same cell tower, the traffic could be divided between several smaller cells, so there's less competition for the cell tower's attention.

"If it is what they claim, lightRadio could be a highly disruptive force within the wireless industry," said Dan Hays, who focuses on telecommunications at consulting firm PRTM.

Rasmus Hellberg, director of technical marketing at wireless technology developer Qualcomm Inc., said smaller cells can boost a network's capacity tenfold, far more than can be achieved by other upgrades to wireless technology that are also in the works.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/special_packages/104415168.html

http://www.suntimes.com/3780202-417/teen-dies-of-illness-after-root-canal.html

EDITORIAL: Obamacare's casualties: 800,000 jobs

Unemployment will rise if health care takeover isn't stopped

 

The Washington Times7:35 p.m., Friday, February 11, 2011

 

** FILE ** Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office. (AP Photo)

 

Repeal of Obamacare ought to be a priority not only on constitutional grounds, but also as a move essential to pulling our economy out of its malaise. The head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) let slip the reason why in testimony Thursday before the House Budget Committee. Over the course of a decade, the tax hikes and increased costs of government's health care takeover would take a big toll on the job market. If the reduction in the labor used was workers working the average number of hours in the economy and earning the average wage, there would be a reduction of 800,000 workers, CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf predicted.

That estimate only holds true if the most favorable scenarios play out. The actual reduction in employment could be far worse if the economy continues to struggle as it has done so far under President Obama's statist policies. Nobody knows better than Mr. Obama's second-in-command that things don't always work out as well as expected.

In a March video interview with Yahoo! Finance, Vice President Joe Biden answered a second grader's question about the future with a prediction of massive job growth within six months. By the time you go back to school in September, honey, you're going to be seeing 200,000 jobs created, he promised. Recovery summer, of course, turned out to be a bust. By the time young Davida hit the books last year, 280,000 jobs were lost - not gained.

It's no accident. This administration has turned America into a disproving ground for the failed economic theories of John Maynard Keynes, who taught that government investment was the key to growth. According to our Keynesian president, the endless supply of government money was supposed to serve as the fuel for productivity during the slump.

This ideology rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of how markets function in the real world. Every dollar that Mr. Obama spent with his Recovery Act was pilfered from the pockets of families and entrepreneurs across the country. Many of these businesses are expert at preparing for tomorrow. They see the looming debt and realize they have a target on their backs painted by the class warriors running the country. As a result, they didn't hire and didn't grow. The economy has ground to a near halt as a result.

After more than a trillion dollars spent in so-called stimulus funds, the best the Obama administration can do is lamely assert that things would have been much worse had the money not been spent. In fact, they see the current economic sputtering as evidence that a lot more taxpayer funds need to be blown on phony stimulation.

In many respects, this outcome fits neatly into Mr. Obama's anti-industrial policy that seeks to roll back the advances and conveniences of the modern era, replacing them with relics of the past. He wants more trains and bicycles, not cars and airplanes. He prefers windmills to modern, clean-energy nuclear plants. His primary goal has been to cut off cheap sources of energy, which are the lifeblood of any industrial society that seeks to create wealth.

Mr. Obama obviously isn't interested in wealth creation; he wants to be the guy who redistributes it. This, too, is the central concept behind Obamacare. It will take the modern marvel of American medicine and hand it to bureaucrats to decide how it might be distributed. That's why Obamacare must be defeated.

 Miller/GettyRadio talk show host and conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh salutes from atop the ratings.

 

The trade magazine Talkers has published its annual "Heavy Hundred" list of the top talk-radio hosts, and it shouldn't shock anyone that Rush Limbaugh (heard locally on WABC) is No. 1.

No big surprises after that, either. Sean Hannity (WABC) is No. 2, Glenn Beck No. 3, Michael Savage (WOR) No. 4 and Laura Ingraham No. 5.

Mark Levin of WABC continues his climb, coming in at No. 7, with progressive talkers Thom Hartmann and Ed Schultz (both on WWRL) No. 8 and No. 9.

Howard Stern of Sirius is No. 12, Mike Gallagher (WOR) No. 13, Lou Dobbs (WOR) No. 17, George Noory (WOR) No. 21, Don Imus (WABC) No. 26 and Michael Smerconish (WOR) No. 27.

Dr. Joy Browne (WOR) is No. 28, Boomer and Carton (WFAN) No. 34, Mike Francesa (WFAN) No. 38 and Randi Rhodes (WWRL) No. 41.

Bev Smith (WWRL) is No. 44, Steve Malzberg (WOR) No. 46, Mike & Mike (WEPN) No. 49, Jim Gearhart (WKXW) No. 53, Opie and Anthony (XM) No. 71, Doug McIntire (WABC) No. 74, Terry Gross (WNYC) No. 76, Curtis Sliwa (WNYM) No. 82 and Mark Riley (WWRL) No. 97.

RADIO SHOWS SOME LOVE: It's not that hard to find love songs on the radio any old time, but several stations are planning special Valentine's Day programming.

WAXQ (104.3 FM) will let listeners pick one love song to be played on the air every hour - even if, program director Eric Wellman notes, that song is something like "Love Stinks."

On WFUV (90.7 FM), Pete Fornatale will celebrate Valentine's Day today, 4-8 p.m., and the hosts of "Ceol na nGael" will do same with Irish love songs tomorrow, noon-4 p.m.

David Kenney of WBAI (99.5 FM) does an extended show of favorites from the Great American Songbook tomorrow night, 8-11.

WCBS-FM (101.1) will feature love songs in its Hall of Fame Monday night.

Sirius XM satellite is running a "Valentine's Radio" channel through midnight Monday. It's on Sirius 3 and XM 23 and features include Dionne Warwick unveiling her "Ultimate Love Playlist."

AROUND THE DIAL: If rumors were eviction notices, WRXP (101.9 FM) would be only a distant memory today. But the alternative rock station is hanging in. It celebrates its third anniversary next month with a pair of concerts: Matt and Kim on March 20 at the Stone Pony and Guster on March 21 at Irving Plaza. . . . Dan Romanello's "Group Harmony Review," midnight Saturdays on WFUV, presents its annual "Ladies of R&B" show tonight as part of its Black History Month celebration. The show features 1950s-style R&B vocal group harmony.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2011/02/11/2011-02-11_conservatively_speaking_these_hosts_rule.html#ixzz1Dk2kaYgK

Diet Pepsi 'skinny' can stirs up big controversy

 

SARAH SKIDMORE

AP Food Industry Writer

Posted: 02/11/2011 01:13:25 PM MST

Updated: 02/11/2011 04:35:05 PM MST
   

    

 

In this product image provided by PepsiCo Inc., a new Diet Pepsi Skinny Can is shown. (AP Photo/PepsiCo Inc.)

By

  Diet Pepsi has introduced a new "skinny" can for Fashion Week, but some critics are giving it a big, fat "no."

The can is a "taller, sassier" version of the traditional can that the company says was made in "celebration of beautiful, confident women." Some say Pepsi's approach only reinforces dangerous stereotypes about women and body image.

PepsiCo Inc. presented the new can at New York's Fashion Week, which began Thursday. It will be available to consumers nationwide in March.

The company, a Fashion Week sponsor, is hosting a series of events to launch the new can, include collaborations with popular designers such as Charlotte Ronson and Betsey Johnson.

"Our slim, attractive new can is the perfect complement to today's most stylish looks, and we're excited to throw its coming-out party during the biggest celebration of innovative design in the world," Jill Beraud, chief marketing officer for PepsiCo said in a statement.

Critics say it is nothing to celebrate.

Brand experts praised the new design but say the company may be a bit off on its sales pitch that skinny is better. The National Eating Disorders Association said it takes offense to the can and said the company's comments are both "thoughtless and irresponsible."

Libby Copeland summed up many of the criticisms in an article for Slate.

"Same old story - aspirational, looks-oriented advertising with a thin layer of faux-empowerment on top," Copeland wrote. "If you're confident on the inside, you'll be skinny on the outside, or something. Huh?"

Pepsi said that can and its campaign are focused on design.

"We are sensitive to this interpretation, and that is definitely not our intent," the company said in an e-mailed statement. "We intend to highlight the innovative look for Diet Pepsi and provide our fans with an "inside look" at events that celebrate innovation and style."

The company will take its campaign one step further on Feb. 28 when it launches a print advertisement for the new can featuring the buxom actress Sofia Vergara.

Pepsi says it will continue to sell its traditional-sized can.

http://www.kdvr.com/news/kdvr-after-neardeath-experience-boy-writes-book-heaven-is-real-20110210,0,2566980.story

Egypt's Mubarak steps down as president

ASSOCIATED PRESS 
02/11/2011 18:22

Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman announces that the embattled president has handed power to the military after 18 days of protests calling for his ouster. ElBaradei: "This is the greatest day of my life."

CAIRO  � Egypt's Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on Friday, bowing down after a historic 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands. "The people ousted the president," chanted a crowd of tens of thousands outside his presidential palace in Cairo.

Several hundred thousand protesters massed in Cairo's central Tahrir Square exploded into joy, waving Egyptian flags, and car horns and celebratory shots in the air were heard around the city of 18 million in joy after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall.

Mubarak had sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to Suleiman while keeping his title. But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soliders stood by, besieging his palace in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building.

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," a grim-looking Suleiman said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young suporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, "This is the greatest day of my life."

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.

Sloan steps down as Jazz coach

Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz are 31-23 this season.
(AP Photo/Colin E Braley, File)

While Sloan expected to wake up refreshed knowing he was done game-planning and tussling with fiery superstars such as Deron Williams(notes), the rest of the basketball world was awakening to a new era.

Man it's gonna be crazy and weird seeing anyone besides Jerry Sloan walking the sidelines for the Utah Jazz! Miami Heat star LeBron James(notes) tweeted. Jerry Sloan is the Utah Jazz. Wow.

James wasnt exaggerating.

Since Sloan took over in Utah for Frank Layden, there have been 245 coaching changes leaguewide13 alone by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Five current NBA teams (Charlotte, Memphis, Toronto, Orlando and Minnesota) did not even exist when Sloan was hired by the Jazz.

As a colleague, we'll miss him, said Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who along with Sloan and Pat Riley were the only coaches in NBA history to have 15-plus consecutive seasons with a winning record.

Sloan stepped down Thursday with 1,127 wins as Jazz coach and 1,221 overall (including his short stint in Chicago). The career total is the third-most in NBA history.

His decision came after an emotional loss to the Bulls on Wednesday night, a night that saw his former team and former players help hand the Jazz a 91-86 loss. It was their 10th loss in the last 14 games and third straight at home following a 15-5 start.

At halftime, Sloan and Williams clashed, reportedly over how a play was run. It wasnt the first time.

We had a disagreement, Williams told 1320-KFAN radio Thursday. I've seen him have worse ones with other players. Jerry's very fiery. I am, too. Sometimes we clash on things.

The All-Star point guard insisted there is no truth to the rumors that he forced the Hall of Fame coach out, and general manager Kevin OConnor also said it was false that Williams gave management a me or him ultimatum.

I would never force coach Sloan out of Utah, Williams said, deriding the media for twisting stories. He's meant more to this town, more to this organization than I have by far. I would have asked out of Utah first.

Sloan, who was choked up and wiped away tears during his farewell announcement Thursday, said there was no final straw. He simply said he didn't have the energy to coach any more, and that the losses were getting tougher and tougher to handle.

I could have done it last week, done it a week before that or waited another week, said Sloan, who has always thought it appropriate to conduct his pregame interviews next to a trash bin. When it's time for me to go, it's time for me to go.

The one thing that did surprise Sloan was that longtime assistant Phil Johnson joined him in retiring.

I came with him and I'll leave with him, the 69-year-old Johnson said Thursday.

Jazz CEO Greg Miller and other top team officials tried to talk Sloan out of retiring and insisted that no one forced either coach out. OConnor said he even begged both to stay. Team officials made a second pitch Thursday morning after telling Sloan to sleep on it.

He did, like a baby.

Best I've slept in six weeks, Sloan later quipped.

There'd be no changing his mind.

He is a little stubborn, I dont know if you noticed that about him, O'Connor said. But we're happy for him because when you can go out on your own call, that's pretty unique.

Jackson certainly saw the stubbornness.

You have to be as a coach, but he had a system and the system was effective, Jackson said. Its not easy to have a team in Utah. It's not the biggest draw in the country as far as for free agents to go there.  As a colleague, we'll miss him.

What will Sloan miss?

Being around players such as Karl Malone, whom he said competed hard every day.

Yet even with Malone and John Stockton, the Jazz never did win an NBA title.

Thats one regret for Johnson, who had offers to be a head coach elsewhere but never accepted.

Not Sloan.

Everybody would like to win a world championship, said Sloan, who for all his success also never won Coach of the Year. But to come and compete (and make the NBA Finals) after you lose the first one (in 1997)  that was one of the most rewarding thingseven though we didnt win it.

Sloan began working for the Jazz as a scout in 1983, became assistant to coach Frank Layden on Nov. 19, 1984, and was named the sixth coach in franchise history on Dec. 9, 1988, when Layden resigned.

He is the only coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games with one team, reaching the milestone Nov. 7, 2008, against Oklahoma City. Sloans other wins came with the Chicago Bulls from 1979 to 1982.

Few people have epitomized all the positives of team sports more than Jerry Sloan, NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement. A basketball lifer, Jerry was as relentless in his will to win on the sidelines for the Utah Jazz as he was as an All-Star guard for the Chicago Bulls. In over two decades as a coach, he taught his players that nothing was more important than the team.

Now the team moves forward with 48-year-old Tyrone Corbin, a former Jazz player who has been an assistant to Sloan the past seven years.

I have no desire for you to fill Jerry Sloans shoes, Jazz owner Gail Miller said. I'd like you to stand on his shoulders and move forward in the same direction knowing we are there to help lift you and help you do your job.

Team officials made it clear that Corbin is not an interim coach.

After so many years on the bench, Sloan had only a few bits of advice for his successor.

Be yourself, Sloan said

And follow the advice Sloan was given: Don't get on the officials too much and dont overcoach.

Sloan quipped that he got it half-right.

At his age, he wasn't looking for another job.

My wife has a job for me when I get home, Sloan said.

He also wasn't going to root against the Jazz.

Im not walking away hoping they lose, I guarantee that, Sloan said. I hope Ty does well, the team does well and the Miller family does well.

He said the same for Williams.

Most had similar hopes for Sloan, who built his reputation as a tough, gritty player in 755 games over 11 NBA seasons with the Bulls but was regarded as a fair and honest man.

He was one of my favorite people in the world, former All-Star Charles Barkley said.

Barkley wondered if there was a disconnect between old school and new school, particularly with Williams.

Maybe there is a shelf life for a coach, Barkley added.

OConnor couldnt say.

We hope the transition is as seamless at is right now, O'Connor said. If we do about the same, in 2034 we'll have another one of these press conferences.

Corbin already began meeting with players and will coach his first game Friday night against the Phoenix Suns.

He promised a few changes in practice, and in film study, but hoped to continue with some of the lessons he learned under Sloan.

Corbin also said he'd look to Williams for advice.

It was great to sit down with him and let him know firsthand I would be replacing coach and giving him an opportunity to voice as one of the leaders on this team some of his concerns and then where he think this team is and how I can help him and help this team be better, Corbin said.

After going from 15-5 to 31-23, Corbin's biggest chore may be restoring the faith.

 

 

 

Thu Feb 10 10:50am EST

Byron Scott lashes into the Cavs after his team's 26th straight loss

Kelly Dwyer

Twenty-six losses in a row for the Cleveland Cavaliers, a continuing NBA record. The team is stuck at 8-45 on the season, and outside of the return of solid players like Mo Williams(notes) and Leon Powe(notes), the group doesn't really have much to look forward to. You can understand why this would leave a dispirited bunch to hit the floor in an otherwise-anonymous game against the also-lowly Detroit Pistons.

What wasn't excused was the team's effort. Temperament? Sadness? Frustration? Sure. Apathy? No way.

And after the Pistons downed the Cavs, Cleveland coach Byron Scott lost it.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer has the story:

The performance was so bad that coach Byron Scott threw a fit at halftime and another one after the game, when he kept the locker room closed for 30 minutes.

But, frankly, he is at a loss to explain what is happening.

"I'm mad as hell because ... I can deal with losing, especially when our guys play as hard as they have in the last couple weeks," he said. "But I find it very hard to deal with when guys don't come out ready to play."

Scott is right to go off on his crew because, while the team has clearly struggled since the start of December (winning just once in that term), at least the effort was there on most nights. Poor play on both ends? Sure. Less-than-cerebral hoopage? No doubt. Sick of me asking questions?

Byron is sick of being out of answers:

"I thought we took a gigantic step backwards and it was all because of lack of effort," the coach said. "We had no sense of urgency whatsoever, and that kind of amazes me. When we've lost as many in a row as we lost and when you've been as close as we've been in the last four or five games and to be at home and come out the way we came out -- that amazes me."

Well, it shouldn't amaze Scott. But he shouldn't let it slide, either. Especially on one of the rare nights where Cleveland, and this isn't a joke, was actually favored to win.

High-speed rail: Obama's gift that nobody wants

 

Examiner Editorial

02/10/11 8:05 PM

 

 Vice President Biden, right, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, left, walk to a train at Union Station heading to Philadelphia.   AP Photo/Evan Vucci

President Obama sent his vice president, "Amtrak Joe" Biden, to Philadelphia's 30th Street rail station earlier this week to announce the administration's latest gift to the American people:   A six-year, $53 billion government subsidy for the mass transit industry in order to give "80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years."   And therein lies the fundamental problem - Obama, Biden and liberal Democrats in general can't resist giving the rest of us things we don't want.   And they almost always use our money to pay for them, whether we like it or not.   Nothing better illustrates this phenomenon than their obsession with forcing Americans out of the private passenger vehicles that enable them to go where they choose and into government-run transit systems like Amtrak, San Francisco's BART and Washington, D.C.'s Metro subway that take them where and when politicians and bureaucrats think they should go.

Transportation expert Ken Orski claims Obama's high-speed rail program is all but "dead-on-arrival" on Capitol Hill.   House Republicans will zero out the program as a wasteful subsidy of a 19th century transportation technology that cannot compete with 21st century commercial airlines for long-distance travel.   House Transportation Committee chairman Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.,  put it well in observing that "rather than focusing on the Northeast Corridor, the most congested corridor in the nation ... the administration continues to squander limited taxpayer dollars on marginal projects. This is like giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio."   The program's prospects are further dimmed by the fact that the new Republican governors of Wisconsin and Ohio don't want to participate in it, and Gov. Rick Scott, Florida's new chief executive, is also expected to decline the subsidies, even though his state has previously participated.

The fundamental problem facing Obama, Biden and others who favor big government subsidies for mass transit systems is that the vast majority of Americans prefer private cars and commercial airplanes over tax-supported trains, be they of the high-speed or light-rail variety.   Amtrak's chronic inability to make a profit reflects this reality, and it is even more evident in data comparing public mass transit and private passenger cars in daily commuting.   Contrary to the claims of high-speed rail and mass transit enthusiasts, the presence of such systems does not lure drivers out of their cars and into trains.   Between 1980 and 2009, for example, U.S. Census Bureau data cited by Wendell Cox in a recent Heritage Foundation study showed a 12.7 percent increase in the number of drivers in cars in three large metropolitan areas that are considered prime markets for mass transit - Baltimore, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.    The same data showed a 19.5 decrease in the number of people using mass transit rail and bus systems.  Transportation will improve in every respect when Washington stops trying to force people to do what they don't want to do.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/02/high-speed-rail-obamas-gift-nobody-wants##ixzz1DdrGbulu

Police: Surgical Nurse Stole Patient's Meds

Staff claims Sarah May Casareto visibly drugged

Wednesday, 09 Feb 2011, 2:59 PM CST

Shelby Capacio / FOX 9 News

MINNEAPOLIS - Police said a nurse anesthetist at Abbott Northwestern Hospital deprived a surgery patient of pain medications so that she could take them herself.

According to the complaint, the Minneapolis Police Department was contacted by the victim on Dec. 4 and was alerted that a surgical procedure he underwent on Nov. 8 involved extraordinary pain.

Police later learned that one of the nurses charged with caring for the man, identified as Sarah May Casareto, 33, of Forest Lake, showed visible signs of intoxication during the procedure.

Police said that Casareto signed out 500mcg of Fentanyl, but could not account for 50mcg. Beyond that discrepancy, investigators said they believe that Casareto used the medication intended for her patient. A review of medication sheets indicated that she administered only 150mcg, and wasted about 300mcg.

The victim was prepped by hospital staff before beginning the surgery to remove kidney stones, and doctors told him that he would be provided with medication so that he would not have to feel pain; however, a complaint filed in Hennepin County states that Casareto told him, "you're going to have to man up here and take some of the pain, because we can't give you a lot of medication. You're going straight into surgery."

The man said that once the procedure began, he felt pain that nearly brought him off the table, and it was "enough just about to bring off the table." In fact, one of the surgical assistants had to hold him down during the procedure, and suggested restraining him.

Hospital staff said, as the anesthetic nurse, Casareto was supposed to be monitoring his pain and sedation levels; however, while the patient was "screaming and moaning" other medical staff said Casareto told the victim to, "Go to your beach. Go to your happy place."

Officers met with one of the surgical technicians who oversaw the procedure who reported that Casareto had complained about her eyes being red from swimming beforehand and asked the technician to flush them out with saline. When the technician refused, Casareto used a syringe to flush her eyes herself, police said.

The same technician also told officers that Casareto was using grand gestures during the surgery and was talking very loudly into the patient's ear. She also struggled to put EKG leads on the patient or apply a blood pressure cuff, police said.

The doctor, who told police he has performed hundreds of similar procedures, said this one was unusual because of the amount of pain. Coworkers said they were concerned about Casareto's behavior during the surgery, and described her as being distracted and disoriented, even knocking over medications, falling asleep and leaving the room mid-surgery to do paperwork.

The nurse manager was called when another technician noted that her behavior was unusual and that she was not tending to her patient, police said. Hospital staff said that Casareto had to be ordered to administer medication to the patient, but was sluggish and dropped the syringe in the process.

According to the complaint, Casareto was found with two syringes in her pocket after the procedure. Both had the labels peeled off, which is against hospital policy. When confronted by a colleague, the complaint alleges that Casareto emptied one syringe but threw it into the garbage instead of placing it in the proper disposal container.

Casaretto faces a charge of theft of a controlled substance.

A spokeswoman for Allina Hospitals & Clinics confirmed that Casareto no longer works at the hospital.

The year-old post circulated through the student body on Tuesday

 

Sarah Larson

Doylestown Patch 

February 9, 2011

CB East Teacher Removed After Blogging About Students

 

A Central Bucks East High School English teacher has been removed from the school after a controversial blog post from a year ago enraged her current and former students and parents on Tuesday.

Natalie Munroe, who has been at Central Bucks East since 2006, teaches English.

CB East principal Abram Lucabaugh said Wednesday morning that he and the district administrators found out about the post this morning.

We were made aware of the situation this morning, Lucabaugh said. I have removed the teacher from the school. The matter is currently under investigation.

Lucabaugh referred questions about policies for teachers and staff about online behavior to the school district.

Central Bucks School District spokeswoman Carol Counihan said Munroe has been suspended pending the investigation.

As to whether Central Bucks has a written or even verbal policy for staff and faculty on what they should or shouldn't say online, Counihan said that is part of the investigation.

"I'm sure that's part of what they'll be looking at as this unfolds," she said Wednesday.

Munroe is pregnant and had been set to go out for maternity leave, according to students and parents who know her.

What She Wrote

The debate centers over a post Munroe wrote on her blog just over a year ago. Entitled, If You Dont Have Anything Nice to Say it outlined the things she wished she could really say to parents about her students performance and personalities.

They include:

• A complete and utter jerk in all ways. Although academically ok, your child has no other redeeming qualities.
• One of the few students I can abide this semester!
• Has no business being in Academic.
• Lazy.
• Just as bad as his sibling. Dont you know how to raise kids?
• Weirdest kid Ive ever met.
• I hear the trash company is hiring
• Theres no other way to say this: I hate your kid.

It ends with, Thus, the old adageif you dont have anything nice to saysay 'cooperative in class.'"

For a year, the only response to the post was a These are effing awesome boost from someone, presumably a friend.

But the next response reveals the danger of the Internet, where everything ever written can be seen by all.

Jokes on you because this link is being cycled throughout the students of CB East via facebook. Have fun applying for unemployment. Sincerely, cooperative in class. was posted at 5:54 p.m. on Tuesday night.

From there, word of Munroes blog spread via Facebook and Twitter.

On the Internet, Nothing is Ever Gone

The blog had been taken down early Wednesday morning, but in the age of the Internet, nothing is truly gone.

Printouts of the blog as it read late Tuesday night document the exchange, as do screenshots of the blog post and the scathing responses from people who identified themselves as Munroes current or former students.

Here are some excerpts, unedited except to remove an unprintable word:

Well..good luck getting a job as a teacher anywhere else. If youre in a school district as prestigious as CB East, you should act like it and stop blubbering to people who couldnt care less about your life. Just because you hate your job, doesnt make it okay to whine about it on the internet.

You have cheated, screwed and under-cut every single one of your students this year. And I speak for everyone when I say you were a douche to all of your students in class and made no effort to help any of us achieve our academic goals. Maybe you should learn to teach and be compassionate with your students. Respect goes a long way, and the only way people will respect you is if you respect them (too late). Have a nice life. Good luck with the inner-city hole they call a school in philly.

Im not sure if you remember me, but you were by far the worst teacher Ive ever had because you were simply a (unprintable word)I also heard that this little stunt is getting your fired, and to all the students and parents that youve pissed off over the years, Im going to take this opportunity to say good riddance!

Real Classy Ms. Munroe. I just have to say that I am very disappointed by this. I originally didnt completely loath you like the rest of the junior class, but now my feelings have changed.Also, how could you not have even thought to delete this? The worst of the posts are from a year ago, why didnt you delete them? Its understandable to want to talk about your day at work, but the internet, seriously?

Im just glad I had Hendrickson and Rosini my first couple years at East, I couldnt stand the thought of someone like you secretly bashing me and my classmates. Shame on you.

Hit the screenshot button so many times, its borderline rape.

As a former student of yours, I am so happy to see you mess up this bad. I pray and hope you get fired for this. The reason that you encounter any of these problems is because you are simply the most hated teacher in the schoolI hope that you never return from maternity leave, things do not get better, and that you enjoy working for your local trash company.

Mixing Social Media and Work

Other area teachers - some in Central Bucks, some not - say they have been encouraged by their principals to avoid using social media altogether.

Some say they've been discouraged, though not actually forbidden, from creating their own personal Facebook pages. Part of the concern isn't just about what the teachers might say; it's also about whether their students would try to "friend" them online, and the fallout from that, they say.

Many educational professional development groups encourage teachers to use social media to interact with and encourage students, as well as to make the learning environment interesting.

But nearly all come with the advice to watch what you say and do online.

"As a teacher, you are viewed as a leader and role model for your students," advises a list of teacher dos and don'ts. " You need to be careful to keep your personal and professional life separate, not crossing the line that separates using social media inappropriately for student-learning purposes. 

"It is also extremely important to always make sure that the content posted will not lead to you or your students getting in trouble or casting a negative representation of your school establishment."

 

LINK TO ON-LINE POST AND PHOTO OF TEACHER:

http://doylestown.patch.com/articles/cb-east-teacher-removed-after-blogging-about-students

Curry spice turmeric could hold hope for stroke victims

 

DailyRecord.co.uk

Feb 10 2011

 

A DRUG derived from the popular spice turmeric could be used to treat stroke patients, researchers said today.

A compound found in turmeric, a staple ingredient in curries, has been found to help protect and regenerate brain cells after a stroke.

Scientists created a new molecule from curcumin, the crucial chemical in the spice, and used it in laboratory experiments, though it is yet to be tested on humans. They found it could repair damage at a molecular level and is linked to the survival of the brain cells' neurons.

Sharlin Ahmed, research liaison officer at the Stroke Association, said: "When a stroke strikes, the brain is starved of oxygen causing brain cells to die or be damaged.

"There is a great need for new treatments which can protect brain cells after a stroke and improve recovery.

"The spice turmeric is known to have many health benefits, yet this is the first significant research to show that it could be beneficial to stroke patients by encouraging new cells to grow and preventing cell death after a stroke.

"The results look promising, however it is still very early days and human trials need to be undertaken."

Paul Lapchak, director of translational research in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, presented the findings at the American Heart Association International Stroke Conference being held in the city.

He said the benefits of using the new drug, called CNB-001, were that it "is quickly distributed in the brain and moderates several critical mechanisms involved in neuronal survival".

In the laboratory tests, it was found to reduce muscle and movement control problems when given up to an hour after a stroke.

Turmeric, a bright yellow spice used in many Indian, south-east Asian and Middle Eastern dishes, comes from a plant that is part of the ginger family and is already thought to have many health benefits.

Curcumin has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine - practised on the Indian subcontinent - to treat a range of gastrointestinal disorders. Previous studies have also suggested it has anti-inflammatory properties and works as an antioxidant.

There is currently only one drug approved for use after an ischemic stroke, where a clot stops blood from flowing to the brain.