Home » Archives for 11/07/11
Posted by Unknown on 9:25 PM
After less than two full days of deliberations, the jury in the Conrad Murray trial has reached a verdict. If convicted, Murray faces as much as four years in prison and the loss of his medical license. Over the six weeks of the trial, jurors listened to 49 witnesses. Murray chose not to testify. (For more information on the key moments in the trial, click here.)
LIVE UPDATES:
4:16 p.m. ET — The verdict is read: “We find the defendant Conrad Murray guilty.”
4:14 p.m. ET — Dr. Conrad Murray now in the courtroom.
4:05 p.m. ET — Dr. Conrad Murray has arrived at the Los Angeles courthouse for the verdict in the involuntary manslaughter case, according to the Associated Press. The jury reached its verdict today after deliberating for less than nine hours.
3:57 p.m. ET – Katherine,...
Posted by Unknown on 9:21 PM
The reigning emotion in the wake of the Conrad Murray guilty verdict on Monday was of hollow victory rather than catharsis.
At the end of the ordeal, Michael Jackson was still dead and no amount of prison for his doomed doctor would bring him back.
Surprisingly, the spectacle of Murray’s public humiliation didn’t seem to interest the normally voracious consumers of celebrity trash.
The story had little traction in the tabloids, drove even less TMZ traffic and the live feed of the six-week trial was neither the subject of water cooler debate nor late night comics across the nation.
Also read: Conrad Murray Guilty in Michael Jackson's Death (Updated)
Herman Cain’s sexual harrassment rumors nabbed more time on cable news than the courtroom account of how Conrad Murray injected the King of...
Posted by Unknown on 9:18 PM
He beat Muhammad Ali in the Fight of the Century, battled him nearly to the death in the Thrilla in Manila. Then Joe Frazier spent the rest of his life trying to fight his way out of Ali's shadow.
That was one fight Frazier could never win.
He was once a heavyweight champion, and a great one at that. Ali would say as much after Frazier knocked him down in the 15th round en route to becoming the first man to beat Ali at Madison Square Garden in March 1971.
But he bore the burden of being Ali's foil, and he paid the price. Bitter for years about the taunts his former nemesis once threw his way, Frazier only in recent times came to terms with what happened in the past and said he had forgiven Ali for everything he said.
Frazier, who died Monday night after a brief battle with liver cancer...
Posted by Unknown on 8:46 PM
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has won a lucrative contract to provide the US with 179 aerial refuelling tankers.
Boeing and European rival EADS had been competing for almost a decade for the $35bn (£21.6bn) US Air Force contract.
During that time both the US and the European Union have reported each other's companies to the WTO, alleging illegal subsidies. And over the past decade two previous attempts to choose a contractor have failed. The USAF is replacing its current fleet of KC-135 Stratotanker tankers, some of which date back to the 1950s.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said there had been a careful and thorough selection process.
Now EADS has 10 days to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the arm of Congress which deals with federal contract disputes,...
Posted by Unknown on 8:34 PM
The Republican presidential contenders have avoided saying much of anything about the accusations of sexual harassment lodged against Herman Cain over the last week. But several of the candidates seemed to be seeking a new level of distance from the former Godfather’s Pizza chief executive on Monday night after a woman stepped forward publicly to accuse him of unwanted sexual advances.
“The allegations are very serious,” Mitt Romney told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly during a radio interview. “I’ve got no counsel for the Cain campaign. I’ll let them keep their own counsel and I’m going to focus on my message.”
Newt Gingrich, who displayed exceptional warmth toward Cain during a Saturday debate in Texas, struck a similar tone during O’Reilly’s three-hour radio forum that featured back-to-back...
Posted by Unknown on 8:30 PM
White House hopeful Michele Bachmann said Monday that people who can afford to pay more in taxes should as part of a national tax overhaul that she hopes will set her apart from rivals like Mitt Romney and Herman Cain. The Minnesota congresswoman and tax lawyer wants to do away with the earned income tax credit — a Reagan-era incentive for people to work. Bachmann proposes that even those low-wage earners who get all of their income taxes refunded plus the credit pay at least $10 a year in income taxes.
Bachmann is trying to regain ground lost as Texas Gov. Rick Perry entered the race and Cain surged, as she launches a swing through early voting South Carolina. She said her everyone-pays-something plan is part of the needed reconfiguration of the tax code.
"That's part of the rethinking...
Posted by Unknown on 8:27 PM
A federal judge on Monday set sentencing for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich for Dec. 6.
The disgraced former governor was convicted last summer on sweeping corruption charges, including allegations that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated in 2008 by Barack Obama's election as president.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel set the sentencing date at an unscheduled status hearing Monday afternoon attended by just one reporter. A Blagojevich lawyer later confirmed that the former governor plans to speak at the sentencing hearing. He testified during his second trial.
Zagel set aside Dec. 7 if the sentencing takes more than one day to complete.
The judge had originally scheduled Blagojevich's sentencing for Oct. 6, but it was indefinitely postponed because Zagel was then presiding over...
Posted by Unknown on 8:25 PM
Television viewers and radio listeners across the Washington area will join viewers and listeners across the United States on Wednesday for a message marking the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, authorities said.
States and local governments have used the EAS to send weather alerts and report other emergencies, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that “there has never been a national activation of the system.” The idea of the test is to gauge the readiness and effectiveness of the system and see what incremental improvements may be made, FEMA said.
Having the alert issued throughout the country “can provide an accurate picture of the current state of the system” and of what improvements might make it more reliable and resilient.
This is “not a pass or fail...
Posted by Unknown on 8:23 PM
Another earthquake has shaken central Oklahoma, and once again, people reported feeling the tremors in Kansas City.
Nearly two days after an earthquake measuring 5.6 rocked the state, the U.S. Geological Survey reported a 4.7 magnitude quake centered about 5 miles northwest of Prague struck at 8:46 p.m. Monday. The survey had reported at least five additional tremors since the initial earthquake hit Saturday night.
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said she hadn’t received any immediate reports of additional damage or injuries from the Monday night quake, which occurred in the same area as the weekend temblor.
Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes annually until 2009. Last year, 1,047 quakes shook the state.
In the Kansas City area, the National Weather...
Posted by Unknown on 8:19 PM
(Country News)... A military policeman stationed in Alaska has been formally charged with attempted espionage by military prosecutors, who say he handed over unclassified national defense information to a contact he believed was a foreign intelligence agent.
The formal charges filed Monday against Army Spc. William Millay, assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, offer the first glimpse of the government's case against the 22-year-old soldier, who was arrested last week.
The Army statement released Monday suggests there was no actual contact between Millay and a foreign government, nor was any sensitive information handed over. Rather, Millay appears to have been caught by investigators, likely with the help of an informant, dealing with someone the young policeman purportedly...
Posted by Unknown on 8:15 PM
Michael Jackson's doctor was convicted Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the pop star's death for supplying an insomnia-plagued Jackson with a powerful operating-room anesthetic to help him sleep as he rehearsed for his big comeback.
Dr. Conrad Murray sat stone-faced, his chin held high, as he heard the verdict that could send him to prison for up to four years and cost him his license to practice medicine. He was handcuffed and immediately led off to jail without bail to await sentencing Nov. 29.
The verdict marked the latest chapter in one of pop culture's most shocking tragedies — the 2009 drug-overdose death of the King of Pop at age 50 as he was about to mount a series of heavily promoted concerts in London that he hoped would turn his career around after a slide prompted by child-molestation...
Posted by Unknown on 10:14 AM
Older Americans are now 47 times richer than the youngest generation, marking the largest wealth gap ever recorded between the two age groups.
In 2009, households headed by adults 65 years and older held a median net worth of $170,494, while households headed by adults 35 years and younger held a net worth of $3,662, according to a report by the Pew Research Center.
While it's typical for older generations to hold more wealth than younger ones who've had less time to save, the gap between the two age groups has widened rapidly.
A generation ago, the older age group was richer than the younger by a 10-to-1 ratio. Now, that gap stands at 47-to-1.
Compared to their same-aged peers in 1984, the younger group has actually seen its net worth decline 68%, but the older group has seen its wealth...
Posted by Unknown on 10:11 AM
The ranks of America's poor are greater than previously known, reaching a new level of 49.1 million — or 16 percent — due to rising medical costs and other expenses that make it harder for people to stay afloat, according to new census estimates.
The numbers released Monday are part of a first-ever supplemental poverty measure aimed at providing a fuller picture of poverty. It is considered experimental and does not replace the Census Bureau's official poverty formula, which continues to determine eligibility and distribution of billions of dollars in federal aid for the poor.
Based on the revised formula, the number of poor people exceeds the record 46.2 million, or 15.1 percent, that was officially reported in September.
Broken down by groups, Americans 65 or older sustained the largest...
Posted by Unknown on 10:06 AM
veterinarians in New York euthanized Jack, the cat who gained worldwide attention and more than 23,000 Facebook fans after being lost for two months, and then found, at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The news of Jack’s passing was reported in a statement posted on the Jack the Cat is Lost at AA Baggage at JFK Facebook page.
“Jack has gone over the rainbow bridge,” the statement said. “Jack had extensive wounds on the back of his body, and the wounds were unable to heal because his skin had deteriorated due to the malnutrition that occurred while he was lost.
“He needed surgery to treat the wounds,” the statement continued, “but there was not enough available skin to close the wounds after the surgery … The vet was very clear that she had conferred with every possible doctor...
Posted by Unknown on 10:04 AM
(Country News)... Bill Clinton, who has had an open fascination with Rick Perry in interviews, defended his stand on illegal immigration and the passage of an in-state version of the DREAM Act in Texas almost a decade ago in a USA Today interview:
"It makes my skin crawl when they attack Rick Perry for one of the best things he did," Clinton says, that is, his support of a Texas law that grants in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants brought to the state as children. "What would they like?" Clinton demands. "Would they like the kid to stand on a corner and sell dope or something?"
Perry takes the same view: He says the Texas law creates "taxpaying, contributing members" of societ...
Posted by Unknown on 10:01 AM
President Barack Obama says he expects lawmakers from both parties to approve a package of tax credits for businesses that hire military veterans. Speaking in the Rose Garden, Obama says supporting veterans who fought for their country is the responsibility of both political parties.
The Senate is expected to consider tax credits this week for businesses that hire unemployed veterans or injured vets who have been out of work. The president says there is no good reason to oppose the bill.
Obama is also promoting a new administration program that allows veterans to get six months of personalized case management, assessment and counseling at career centers.
The White House has been drawing contrasts with congressional Republicans who have opposed Obama's jobs bill a year before the 2012 election....
Posted by Unknown on 9:57 AM
Elaine Riddick was 13 years old when she got pregnant after being raped by a neighbor in Winfall, N.C., in 1967. The state ordered that immediately after giving birth, she should be sterilized. Doctors cut and tied off her fallopian tubes.
“I have to carry these scars with me. I have to live with this for the rest of my life,” she said.
Riddick was never told what was happening. “Got to the hospital and they put me in a room and that’s all I remember, that’s all I remember,” she said. “When I woke up, I woke up with bandages on my stomach.”
Riddick’s records reveal that a five-person state eugenics board in Raleigh had approved a recommendation that she be sterilized. The records label Riddick as “feebleminded” and “promiscuous.” They said her schoolwork was...
Posted by Unknown on 9:52 AM
The FBI has joined the search for a 2-year-old Washington state boy who was last seen by his mother inside a parked car.
Sky Metalwala was reported missing Sunday morning after his mother discovered him missing from her car in Bellevue, Wash.
The child's mother told police that she had run out of gas and left the boy buckled into his car seat while she and her 4-year-old daughter walked to a Chevron gas station, about a mile away.
When the pair returned to the silver Acura approximately an hour later, the 2-year-old boy was gone, Fox affiliate KCPQ-TV reports.
The woman reportedly told police that the car was not locked.
The toddler is of Indian and Caucasian descent, with brown eyes and dark hair, according to police. He was reportedly last seen wearing a dark green hooded sweatshirt...
Posted by Unknown on 9:48 AM
When President Obama was elected he seemed like a different kind of leader.
Not just the first black man in the White House but a new sort of American president: thoughtful, reflective and determined to represent all of his country.
Now, a year away from the next presidential election many people question what sort of leader he has turned out to be.
One unkind critic said that he seemed like a 50-year-old man who has just got his first proper job, that he has had no experience of running any organisation and it shows in his management of the White House.
Republicans are of course the harshest critics. Ed Rogers, a veteran of the George H W Bush and Reagan White House, told me: "I think Obama is not a very effective leader. "I think he is a thinker and a ditherer to a fault. I think his...
Posted by Unknown on 7:21 AM
Many of the commentors below have wondered how this quasar can be 18.5 billion light-years away when the universe is only 13.5 billion years old (and therefore nothing should be farther than the distance that light would travel in that time, namely 13.5 billion light-years). This is not a mistake. Though nothing traveling in the universe can move faster than light speed, the expansion of the universe itself can happen at any speed (including faster than light). Just one of the mind blowing facts about this strange universe we live in.
In the 13.5 billion years since the Big Bang, space has expanded so much that the farthest object we can detect are in fact more than 30 billion light years away. You can find out more about the quasar at this link and you can calculate distance to objects at...
Posted by Unknown on 7:19 AM
Scientists are set to begin a six-week mission to explore the Indian Ocean's underwater mountains.
Aboard the UK research vessel the RRS James Cook, the team will study animals thousands of metres below the surface.
This year a report in the journal Marine Policy found that deep sea trawling is one of the most damaging forms of fishing.
The expedition will help scientists to better understand the threats to this environment. The mission, led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is the second to visit the seamounts along the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge; the first set out in November 2009.
Seamounts are underwater mountains which rise to at least 1,000 metres above the sea floor.
Seamount communities
"Because of their interactions with underwater currents, the...
Posted by Unknown on 7:17 AM
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh's chin took a beating in the aftermath of his team's dramatic 23-20 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.
He can live with the beauty mark if his resilient team keeps finding ways to beat its arch rival.
Joe Flacco hit Torrey Smith for a 26-yard touchdown with 8 seconds remaining, starting off a giddy celebration in which Baltimore general manager Ozzie Newsome — a Hall of Fame tight end — dropped his head coach. "He's supposed to hold you up and keep you up when you jump into his arms," Harbaugh said. Thankfully for the Ravens, Smith has better hands.
Baltimore (6-2) ended Pittsburgh's four-game winning streak behind a brilliant final drive by Flacco, who led the Ravens 92 yards in 13 plays to move Baltimore into a tie with Cincinnati atop...
Posted by Unknown on 7:15 AM
Two high-ranking Penn State administrators have resigned, and will face arraignment Monday on charges they lied to a grand jury investigating suspected child abuse involving the university's former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Athletic director Tim Curley and university vice president Gary Schultz will be arraigned in District Court in Harrisburg today for charges of perjury and failure to report under Pennsylvania's child protective services law, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller. The university's board of trustees announced their resignations overnight, as officials try to deal with allegations against a trusted coach that could blemish Happy Valley's storied history.
Video: Ex-Penn State coach charged with sex abuse
Ex-Penn State coach charged in sex case
As defensive...
Posted by Unknown on 7:12 AM
According to TMZ, Bieber, 17, has vowed to take a DNA test in two weeks when he returns from an overseas trip to prove that he is not the father of accuser Mariah Yeater's three-month old child. TMZ, citing unnamed sources "directly connected with Justin," reported that after Bieber takes the paternity test his lawyers plan to sue Yeater. The sources said that Bieber's lawyer, Howard Weitzman, reached out to Yeater's attorneys on Friday to confirm that the DNA test will take place and have already chosen the lab they will use. After the test takes place, the "Baby" singer's team will reportedly file suit, though TMZ did not specify what kind of legal action is planned. A spokesperson for Bieber could not be reached for comment on the TMZ report. Just a few days after denying that he fathered...
Posted by Unknown on 7:09 AM
A human resources graduate from Venezuela, whose ambition is to work with children, was crowned Miss World 2011 at a glittering beauty pageant in London on Sunday.
Ivian Sarcos, 21, took the ultimate beauty accolade at Earls Court in London, the city where the first Miss World was staged in 1951. Outside the venue, a small feminist demonstration took place, protesting at what they said was an "appalling offense against women's equality."
The beauty contest was broadcast live to more than 150 countries and was watched by a billion viewers, organizers said.
The competition has drawn criticism in recent years for being outdated and little more than a chance to look good in swimwear.
But of the 122 contestants whom Sarcos beat, a quarter are graduates and more than half speak three or more...
Posted by Unknown on 7:07 AM
While much of the country was fast asleep, Lindsay Lohan was out and about. And while that might sound like any other day that ends in "y," in the case of Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday, the situation was a little different: Lohan reported to jail, for her 30-day sentence. TMZ broke that news, and also the news that she was released just 4 1/2 hours after she checked in to the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, Calif. The sentence was rendered after Lohan admitted that she violated her probation. Lohan actually reported to jail ahead of schedule; on Nov. 2, she had initially been told she would have to surrender herself by Nov. 9.
Lohan won't have to serve an additional 270 days in jail if she performs 12 days of community service at the morgue and attends four psychotherapy...
Posted by Unknown on 7:04 AM
Dish Network Corp., the second- largest U.S. satellite-television provider, reported third- quarter sales and earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates after losing video subscribers.
Earnings per share rose to 71 cents from 55 cents a year earlier, as sales increased 12 percent to $3.6 billion, the Englewood, Colorado-based company said today. Analysts projected earnings of 74 cents on sales of $3.63 billion, the average estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Dish lost 111,000 customers, more than the 81,000 nine analysts projected on average. Chairman Charlie Ergen is trying to shed Dish’s image as a low-cost television provider and may accept losses if it can attract customers willing to buy more expensive packages and products, said Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities in...
Posted by Unknown on 7:03 AM
Stocks turned positive in early trading on Monday, led by energy and material stocks as crude oil prices rose more than 1 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 35.42 points, or 0.30 percent, at 12,018.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 3.49 points, or 0.28 percent, at 1,256.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.73 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,689....
Posted by Unknown on 7:00 AM
Tens of thousands of Connecticut residents awoke Monday as part of an unenviable fraternity: people entering their second week without power after an early-season storm that hammered the Northeast with wet, heavy snow.
The power failures, the legacy of the storm Oct. 29 and 30, were largely an unpleasant memory by Sunday night for most of the 3 million who lost power at the height of the storm. But in Connecticut, about 50,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity by Monday morning, nine days after the storm. In Massachusetts, 100 customers remained without power, and New Jersey utilities said everyone was back on line.
Connecticut Light & Power, the state's largest utility, announced Sunday night that it would miss its goal of restoring power to 99 percent of its 1.2 million...
Posted by Unknown on 6:57 AM
New estimates released Monday show that the number of Americans living in poverty was higher than previously estimated, and stands at 49.1 million, according to the Census Bureau.
The nearly-50 million people who live below the poverty line represents 16 percent of all Americans. The numbers that were released were adjustments to the official 2010 poverty figures of 46.2 million, or 15.1 percent of Americans, that were released in September. The supplemental figure is higher than the official figure because it considers higher costs of living on expenses that aren’t factored into the official rate.
Hispanic poverty rose to 28.2 percent, affecting 14.1 million, surpassing that of blacks for the first time. Still, 9.9 million African-Americans suffered from poverty, a rate of 25.4 percent....
Posted by Unknown on 6:55 AM
Will slow and steady win the race for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney?
He’s already winning the electability argument — 33 percent of Republicans and Republican leaning independents choose him as the candidate most likely to beat President Obama one year from now, according to the results of the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll.
Even so, our pollster Gary Langer notes “fewer, 24 percent, support him for the nomination, basically steady the past three months, and slightly down from his peak support, 30 percent, in July.” http://abcn.ws/v1JPe5
Why? Here are a few reasons:
–Only 17 percent of GOP voters see Romney as the most “honest and trustworthy” candidate compared to 22 percent who say so about Herman Cain, who has spent the last week battling sexual harassment...
Posted by Unknown on 6:53 AM
Herman Cain's poll numbers dropped for the first time since revelations last week that he was accused of sexual harassment more than a decade ago, a poll released Sunday showed.
The poll, conducted by Ipsos for Thomson Reuters, showed the former pizza chain restaurant executive's favorability rating among Republicans fell to 57 percent from 66 percent a week earlier. Cain's favorability among all registered voters fell to 32 percent from 37 percent. The poll is the first national poll to show the scandal taking its toll on the candidate's ratings, though it should be noted that the poll was conducted online. Online polls are typically much less reliable than traditional telephone polls.
A Washington Post telephone poll conducted in the first four days after the revelations were made public...
Posted by Unknown on 6:52 AM
Clouds of dust belched from the corners of almost every room in Joe Reneau’s house as the biggest earthquake in Oklahoma history rocked the two-story building.
A roar that sounded like a jumbo jet filled the air, and Reneau’s red-brick chimney collapsed and fell into the roof above the living room. By the time the shaking stopped, a pantry worth of food had been strewn across the kitchen and shards of glass and pottery covered the floor.
“It was like WHAM!” said Reneau, 75, gesturing with swipes of his arms. “I thought in my mind the house would stand, but then again, maybe not.”
The 5.6-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks still had residents rattled Sunday.
Two minor injuries were reported from Saturday’s quakes by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, which said neither...
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