Society's Child
The Japanese government is trying to calm fears about radiation levels and food safety in the region around the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, even as it has raised the severity rating of the crisis to the highest possible level. "Radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors, the situation is not stable at all," says Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University Of New York and the City College of New York, in an interview on Democracy Now! April 13. "The slightest disturbance could set off a full scale melt down at three nuclear power stations - far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl."
A feral hog
An expert on wildlife and human conflicts says there are more and more wild hogs in New York state.
Paul Curtis, a professor of natural resources at Cornell University, said some of these feral hogs weigh nearly 300 pounds.
"Breeding populations of wild boar are becoming established in New York state," he said. "These invasive, non-native hogs can cause tremendous damage to crops and native plant communities. There is also a risk of spreading diseases, such as pseudorabies, from feral hogs to domestic livestock. Feral swine produce rapidly, have large litters of six to eight piglets, and can produce multiple litters per year."
© Laurel Lockamy
Dolphin carcass left on sand, Pass Christian, MS
Dolphin carcass left on sand, Pass Christian, MS
So Laurel decided to take matters into her own hands and posted a note and a few photos of the dolphin onto the local WLOX-TV website: Dead Dolphin on Pass Christian Beach.
this is the dead dolphin that is still out there 5 days after the marine institute for mammals came and spray painted and tagged it in orange..it stinks..it is rotting and it is so wrong that this beautiful creature is rotting on the beach after 5 days..go look its still out there on the beach in Pass Christian where people are still swimming in this bad water..Someone Please Help This Dolphin!!
© Richard A. Lipski/The Washington Post
Arianna Huffington arrives for the Gridiron Dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C. on March 12, 2011.
Arianna Huffington arrives for the Gridiron Dinner at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C. on March 12, 2011.
Jonathan Tasini is the lead plaintiff in the suit against the news site, which AOL bought for $315 million in February. His suit, which he filed in a New York court Tuesday, seeks $105 million in damages in behalf of bloggers and other Huffington Post writers who submitted work for which they weren't paid.
Since its founding by liberal activist and author Arianna Huffington in 2005, Huffington Post has grown into one of the most successful and heavily visited news and information sites on the Internet. But its practice of soliciting commentaries and other articles, some from celebrity authors such as Alec Baldwin, without paying for them has irritated some writers.
Tasini, in an interview, said HuffPost was engaging in breach of contract with its contributors because of an "implied promise" of compensation. "Some people were given some promises about future payments," he said, declining to provide specifics.
It seems like wherever you turn there is bad news for the U.S. economy. Unemployment is rampant, the cost of gasoline is going up, the cost of food is going up and American families are getting poorer. Millions of jobs continue to leave the country and everyone is wondering why it seems like the "American Dream" is dying. American consumers are absolutely swamped with staggering levels of credit card debt, student loan debt and mortgage debt and each year the consumer debt crisis only seems to get worse. For millions of American families the money problems never seem to end. Meanwhile, our politicians are doing next to nothing to fix our horrific national debt problem. So yes, there are a whole lot of reasons to be absolutely disgusted with the U.S. economy. We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and anyone with half a brain can see that we are heading for complete and total disaster.
A lot of Americans do not like to read about economics, but what has been going on over the last few years has been nothing short of extraordinary. The Federal Reserve has basically tripled the adjusted monetary base. We have now been conditioned to accept that trillion dollar deficits are "normal". The U.S. dollar is being systematically destroyed right in front of our eyes and most Americans don't even seem alarmed about it.
A lot of Americans do not like to read about economics, but what has been going on over the last few years has been nothing short of extraordinary. The Federal Reserve has basically tripled the adjusted monetary base. We have now been conditioned to accept that trillion dollar deficits are "normal". The U.S. dollar is being systematically destroyed right in front of our eyes and most Americans don't even seem alarmed about it.
© AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2010 file photo, a plane takes off from Denver International Airport just before sunrise. An Oregon man is in a Colorado jail after police say he sexually assaulted a woman in a deserted concourse at the airport Tuesday night, April 12, 2011.
FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2010 file photo, a plane takes off from Denver International Airport just before sunrise. An Oregon man is in a Colorado jail after police say he sexually assaulted a woman in a deserted concourse at the airport Tuesday night, April 12, 2011.
Denver - The rape of a woman at Denver International Airport has left family members raising questions about the late-night attack and officials defending security at the Rocky Mountain hub, which serves millions of travelers each year.
Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Wednesday that violent crime is rare at the airport, and that he knows of one other alleged sexual assault there, which he said involved an airport worker attacking another employee in an area not accessible to the public.
Several thousand demonstrators participated in the "Rally for Respect" at Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto on Saturday.
CTV Toronto's Zuraidah Alman reports that the rally was organized by various labour and community groups, who say that Mayor Rob Ford has cut away at the city's public services.
The groups said that key concerns include the sale of Toronto Public Housing units, taking away the TTC's right to strike and privatizing garbage collection, which is something Ford has mused about in the past.
The people who showed up to the rally -- including transit operators, auto workers, caregivers and garbage collectors -- say they didn't vote for any of these actions.
Sid Ryan, from the Ontario Federation of Labour, said his organization expects to be consulted on such major public policy issues.
"We expect (Ford) to operate as a democratic mayor, not as some sort of a dictator," said Ryan.
© Dep/The Associated Press
Joseph Naso appears in court during his arraignment on murder charges Wednesday.
Joseph Naso appears in court during his arraignment on murder charges Wednesday.
New York State Police are eyeing Joseph Naso, 77, as a person of interest in Rochester's cold-case "Double Initial" murders because the four women he's accused of killing in California fit a similar pattern of alliterative initials - RR, CC, PP and TT.
In one striking similarity, a 22-year-old woman he allegedly dumped near a Port Costa, Calif., highway in 1978 has the same exact name as the 10-year-old girl abducted, sexually assaulted and strangled in the first murder of the Rochester-area spree - Carmen Colon.
Naso also once lived in the Rochester area and traveled between there and the West in the early 1970s, authorities said.
A couple accused of keeping two young children caged in a room have been arrested.
Clark County jail records show that 30-year-old John Eckhart and 26-year-old Alayna Higdon are accused of unlawful imprisonment and second-degree criminal mistreatment. The couple made an initial court appearance Wednesday, and a judge set bail at $25,000 each.
Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp says an officer found two boys, ages 5 and 7, locked in a bedroom with a cage-like door at the couple's apartment on Tuesday.
Clark County jail records show that 30-year-old John Eckhart and 26-year-old Alayna Higdon are accused of unlawful imprisonment and second-degree criminal mistreatment. The couple made an initial court appearance Wednesday, and a judge set bail at $25,000 each.
Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp says an officer found two boys, ages 5 and 7, locked in a bedroom with a cage-like door at the couple's apartment on Tuesday.
A Roane County kindergarten teacher who reportedly told students to encircle a classmate, call him a pig and make pig noises because the boy is messy, received a one-day unpaid suspension and had a letter of reprimand placed in her file.
The incident involved Debbie Hayes, an educator at Bowers Elementary School who has taught kindergarten in Roane County for 38 years.
Dr. Toni H. McGriff, director of Roane County Schools, called the March 16 incident "simply unbelievable."
In her reprimand letter, McGriff told Hayes she was "appalled with the actions in this situation.''
"It's a black eye on the profession,'' McGriff said Monday. "It's a black eye on our schools.''
Another educator walked into Hayes' classroom March 16 and saw kindergartners encircling their crying classmate.
"The students in the circle were 'oinking' and making pig sounds at the little boy,'' the reprimand states.
The incident involved Debbie Hayes, an educator at Bowers Elementary School who has taught kindergarten in Roane County for 38 years.
Dr. Toni H. McGriff, director of Roane County Schools, called the March 16 incident "simply unbelievable."
In her reprimand letter, McGriff told Hayes she was "appalled with the actions in this situation.''
"It's a black eye on the profession,'' McGriff said Monday. "It's a black eye on our schools.''
Another educator walked into Hayes' classroom March 16 and saw kindergartners encircling their crying classmate.
"The students in the circle were 'oinking' and making pig sounds at the little boy,'' the reprimand states.
