Society's ChildS


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More employers using firms that check applicants' social media history

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© Unknown
A friend hunts deer in Germany. His Facebook profile shows him hoisting a rifle in the air. Another friend wrote on Twitter last month, "On plane. Just took Ambien. Twitter is my dreams. You are all glue. Happy birthday cellphone!"

Innocent pursuits perhaps: The Ambien was prescribed; the rifle is licensed.

Even so, my friends would likely fail a social media background check.

Like criminal background checks and drug tests, the social media check is quickly becoming an automatic part of the hiring process. Employers regularly run quick Google searches to vet applicants, but since September, California-based Social Intelligence has been contracting with corporations across the country to institute standard social media background checks - with the blessings of the federal government.

Arrow Up

Soybeans Head for Longest Rally Since 2007 on Weather Woes; Corn Climbs

Soybeans rose, heading for the longest rally since 2007, and corn climbed to a one-month high on speculation that hot, dry weather will reduce crop yields in the U.S., the world's leading exporter.

High temperatures will rise to as much as 12 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for seven days starting tomorrow in the Midwest, Mike Tannura, the president of T-storm Weather LLC, said in a telephone interview. As much as 46 percent of the corn crop and 44 percent of soybeans have drier-than-normal topsoil, and the adverse conditions may extend into August, he said.

"Hot, dry weather will rob yield potential," Don Roose, the president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa, said in a telephone interview. "The crops are getting smaller, and we don't have any excess inventories to offset the losses."

House

Empire in Decay : Tonight Tens Of Thousands Of Formerly Middle Class Americans Will Be Sleeping In Their Cars, In Tent Cities Or On The Streets

oucast
© Unknown
Economic despair is beginning to spread rapidly in America. As you read this, there are millions of American families that are just barely hanging on by their fingernails. For a growing number of Americans, it has become an all-out battle just to be able to afford to sleep under a roof and put a little bit of food on the table. Sadly, there are more people than ever that are losing that battle. Tonight, tens of thousands of formerly middle class Americans will be sleeping in their cars, even though that is illegal in many U.S. cities. Tens of thousands of others will be sleeping in tent cities or on the streets. Meanwhile, communities all over America are passing measures that are meant to push tent cities and homeless people out of their areas. It turns out that once you lose your job and your home in this country you become something of an outcast. Sadly, the number of "outcasts" is going to continue to grow as the U.S. economy continues to collapse.

Most Americans that end up living in their cars on in tent cities never thought that it would happen to them.

An article in Der Spiegel profiled one American couple that is absolutely shocked at what has happened to them....
Chanelle Sabedra is already on that road. She and her husband have been sleeping in their car for almost three weeks now. "We never saw this coming, never ever," says Sabedra. She starts to cry. "I'm an adult, I can take care of myself one way or another, and same with my husband, but (my kids are) too little to go through these things." She has three children; they are nine, five and three years old.

"We had a house further south, in San Bernardino," says Sabedra. Her husband lost his job building prefab houses in July 2009. The utility company turned off the gas. "We were boiling water on the barbeque to bathe our kids," she says. No longer able to pay the rent, the Sabedras were evicted from their house in August.
How would you feel if you had a 3 year old kid and a 5 year old kid and you were sleeping in a car?

Vader

U.S.: Charges dropped against Oak Park woman over veggie garden

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© Robin Buckson / The Detroit NewsThe garden in the front yard of the Bass family in Oak Park.

Oak Park - Charges against the woman who planted a vegetable garden in her front yard have been dropped, her attorney said Thursday.

But other charges against Julie Bass have been resurrected for not having licenses for her two dogs - even though she took care of that issue, lawyer Solomon Radner said.

"This is really nothing other than a personal vendetta against the Basses either because somebody doesn't like them, or because they had the nerve to fight this unjust prosecution," said Radner, who plans to file a motion to dismiss.

Family

City living affects your brain, researchers find

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© Howard Sochurek/ CorbisResearchers found that the regions of brain that regulate emotion and anxiety are overactive in city-dwellers.
The part of the brain that senses danger becomes overactive in city-dwellers when they are under stress

The brains of people living in cities operate differently from those in rural areas, according to a brain-scanning study. Scientists found that two regions, involved in the regulation of emotion and anxiety, become overactive in city-dwellers when they are stressed and argue that the differences could account for the increased rates of mental health problems seen in urban areas.

Previous research has shown that people living in cities have a 21% increased risk of anxiety disorders and a 39% increased risk of mood disorders. In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is twice as high in those born and brought up in cities.

People

US: Northwest sees 35% infant mortality spike post-Fukushima

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© FoxNews3 reactors experienced full nuclear meltdown after Japan quake
Medical professionals publish report highlighting post-Fukushima mortality spike.

Physician Janette Sherman, M.D. and epidemiologist Joseph Mangano published a report Monday highlighting a 35% spike in northwest infant mortality after Japan's nuclear meltdown.

The report spotlighted data from the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on infant mortality rates in eight northwest cities, including Seattle, in the 10 weeks after Fukushima's nuclear meltdown.

The average number of infant deaths for the region moved from an average of 9.25 in the four weeks before Fukushima' nuclear meltdown, to an average of 12.5 per week in the 10 weeks after. The change represents a 35% increase in the northwest's infant mortality rates.

In comparison, the average rates for the entire U.S. rose only 2.3%

Family

California Companies Fleeing the Golden State

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© PayPalCalifornia companies, including PayPal, have been expanding or relocating outside the Golden State. PayPal recently opened a facility in Arizona.
New York - Buffeted by high taxes, strict regulations and uncertain state budgets, a growing number of California companies are seeking friendlier business environments outside of the Golden State.

And governors around the country, smelling blood in the water, have stepped up their courtship of California companies. Officials in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona and Utah are telling California firms how business-friendly they are in comparison.

Companies are "disinvesting" in California at a rate five times greater than just two years ago, said Joseph Vranich, a business relocation expert based in Irvine. This includes leaving altogether, establishing divisions elsewhere or opting not to set up shop in California.

"There is a feeling that the state is not stable," Vranich said. "Sacramento can't get its act together...and that includes the governor, legislators and regulatory agencies that are running wild."

Family

US: Louisiana Police Say Mom Killed Three Daughters, Self

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© AP PhotoTraumatised: Family members grieve for Nadia Braxton and her three little girls
Police said on Thursday that the shooting deaths of a mother and her three girls in a town near New Orleans was a case of murder-suicide.

Autopsies and interviews with family members, neighbors and the family's pastor convinced them that Nadia Braxton, 29, shot her three young daughters to death and then took her own life, said Police Lt. Wayne McInnis in Kenner, Louisana.

Braxton's common-law husband and the girls' father, Ronald Peters, found Braxton on Tuesday evening in a bedroom in their home, sprawled across the bodies of her three daughters -- Kayla Peters, 12; Nayah Peters, almost 2; and Nyla Peters, 6 months.

All but Kayla were shot in the forehead; Kayla sustained gunshot wounds to the back of her head, police said.

A semi-automatic handgun was at Braxton's feet, and there was gunpowder residue on her hands, police said.

Newspaper

Coronado, US: Girlfriend of Drug Company Executive Found Dead at His Home

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© MySpace.com/AP PhotoA woman found dead at the historic mansion was nude and hanging from a balcony with her hands tied behind her back and her feet bound, investigators said Thursday.
The girlfriend of a prominent pharmaceutical executive was found bound, nude and hanged from a balcony at his mansion near San Diego, and homicide detectives said on Thursday they have not ruled out suicide.

The body of Rebecca Nalepa, 32, was discovered on Wednesday morning at the seaside home of Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp founder and CEO Jonah Shacknai in Coronado, an upscale island beach resort connected to San Diego by a long bridge, authorities said.

The strange death came two days after Shacknai's 6-year-old son, Max, was critically injured and placed in a medically induced coma from what police said was reported as a fall from a staircase in the home, Coronado Police Chief Louis Scanlon said.

Land records show that Shacknai, 54, whose Scottsdale, Arizona-based company is maker of the acne treatment Solodyn and wrinkle-filler Restylane, purchased the 27-room landmark property known as the Spreckels Mansion in October 2010.

Shacknai was not present when authorities were called to his home on Monday morning, finding only the injured boy and his girlfriend at the residence.

Cell Phone

US: Suspect in bizarre text-message slaying arrested after fleeing Puerto Rico

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© Mel Melcon / Los Angeles TimesArtak Yepremyan and his wife, Ani Atajyan, look at a photograph of their son Mike Yepremyan, 19, who was shot to death in November 2009.
A suspect in a fatal Los Angeles shooting who was captured in Puerto Rico only to flee again after being released on bail was arrested in Van Nuys on Thursday afternoon, law enforcement sources said.

Zareh Manjikian is suspected of fatally shooting a 19-year-old just hours after the teen sent an insulting text message in a bizarre slaying that drew wide-scale media attention.

More than a year after the slaying, Manjikian was tracked down to a beach town outside Puerto Rico's capital city, San Juan, where federal authorities arrested him. Despite a no-bail arrest warrant issued by authorities in Los Angeles, he was released by a Puerto Rican judge on a $50,000 bond.

Then he disappeared, a turn of events that shocked police in Los Angeles, who have been investigating the case for more than 18 months, and the slain teenager's family.