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Entry #3,345
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New driver smashes vehicle into testing office
New driver's vehicle smashes into testing office
Michael Hasch
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Last updated: 10:09 pm
Nick Martin was taking a test Wednesday to obtain a driver's permit when he was surrounded by the sound of crashing glass and screaming people as a young man drove into the Drivers License Center in Collier.
"The boy was sitting in the car saying, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.' I was in shock," said Martin, 16, of Imperial, as he surveyed the damage at the facility in the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center on Washington Pike.
Two people were taken to the hospital with injuries, county emergency dispatchers said. Collier police Sgt. Brian Halbleib said the injuries were not serious.
"The boy had just passed the test and pulled into a parking space in front of the center to drop off the instructor," Halbleib said. "He thought the vehicle was in park."
When the vehicle started moving, the driver -- whose age and identity were not released -- panicked and apparently hit the accelerator instead of the brake, Halbleib said.
The car jumped the concrete parking stop and slammed through the front door and glass wall, coming to rest inside the building amid more than a dozen startled and scared customers and employees.
"I heard a loud bang. I actually thought something had dropped off the roof," said Michael A. Deeb, who works next door at the Dollar Bank Loan Center. "I heard people screaming and ran outside. There were people lying on the floor and glass everywhere."
The young driver was distraught, Deeb said.
"He kept saying, 'I hit those people. I hit those people. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Are they all right?' He was beside himself," Deeb said.
Martin said his 12-year-old sister, Alyson Martin, was taken to St. Clair Hospital in Mt. Lebanon with a small piece of glass in her back. He said a girl who was standing near the door also was hurt.
"She was on the ground in pain, holding her ankle and leg," Martin said.
Steve Weisbrod, a spokesman for the building owner, Kossman Development in Green Tree, said crews are still assessing the damage.
The center will be closed today, state Department of Transportation spokesman Craig Yetter said.
Entry #3,344
Final man freed from Chilean mine
Entry #3,343
Barack Obama is related to Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh
Obama's related to Palin
Jocelyn Noveck
Ap National Writer Wed Oct 13, 12:56 am ET
NEW YORK – President Barack Obama has family ties to none other than Sarah Palin, according to the genealogists at Ancestry.com, a discovery the family history site made when looking for connections between political foes.
And that's not all — Obama also is apparently related to conservative radio host and relentless critic Rush Limbaugh.
A genealogist at the Utah-based Ancestry.com, Anastasia Tyler, said Obama and Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor named John Smith, a pastor and early settler in 17th-century Massachusetts. Obama is related to Smith through his mother, as is Palin, Tyler said.
"Smith was against the persecution of the Quakers," Tyler said in an interview. "He was a very socially conscious man."
As for Limbaugh, he's also a 10th cousin of the president — one time removed — through a common ancestor named Richmond Terrell, who Tyler said was a large landowner in Virginia, also in the 17th century. "His history is a little more nebulous," Tyler said.
How do the genealogists come up with this stuff? Tyler said they start by picking the people they're interested in, then examine their family trees, going back further and further into history, looking for common surnames and locations.
In the recent project, genealogists looked at the trees of Obama, Palin, and Limbaugh but also a few others, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Fox News pundits Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. They didn't find anything much with the latter three.
But former President George W. Bush? He's related to both Obama and Palin, the site found. Obama and Bush are 11th cousins through common ancestor Samuel Hinckley, and Bush and Palin are 10th cousins one time removed, also through Hinckley — who, and stay with us now, was John Smith's father-in-law.
Ancestry.com has revealed in the past that Obama is related to investor Warren Buffett and actor Brad Pitt. It has also found that Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, is a distant cousin of both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Princess Diana.
The site isn't the only source of this sort of celebrity genealogy information — in 2007, Cheney's wife, Lynne, discovered ancestral ties between former Vice President Dick Cheney and Obama while researching her book. She said the relationship was eighth cousin, though the Chicago Sun-Times traced it as ninth cousins once removed.
And one other thing from Ancestry.com: It also found that Palin is distant cousins with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter, through John Lathrop, who was exiled to the United States from England for being a pastor of an illegal independent church
Entry #3,342
Rage against Pelosi a drag on Democrats
Rage against Pelosi a drag on Dems
Jonathan Allen
October 13, 2010 04:31 AM EDT
In the home stretch of the 2010 campaign, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, more than even President Barack Obama, is emerging as the heaviest drag on Democratic hopes of holding on to the House.
In district after district, from Florida's Gold Coast to central Ohio, in the Ozark Mountains, on the Minnesota prairie and in retiree-laden Arizona, Pelosi's face, plastered on billboards, recorded in video clips and emblazoned on mailers, is casting a pall over her colleagues’ chances of winning reelection.
Conventional wisdom holds that midterm elections are referendums on the president— and Obama is certainly the central figure in the unfolding drama of the 2010 election. But if Democrats lose the House, it’s likely to be as much a rejection of the policies and politics of a woman who has managed to simultaneously become one of the most powerful speakers in congressional history and one of the most unpopular figures in American politics today.
In less than four years as Speaker, polls show her image has been transformed from a barrier-breaking politician into something less lofty, a Democratic Newt Gingrich whose hard ideological drive has so alienated middle America that nearly every competitive race on the board is infused to some degree by voter animus toward her.
The anti-Pelosi rage that permeates Republican events and registers in public surveys will almost certainly contribute to the ouster of a wide swath of Democrats. She is the symbol of a "wrong track" Congress that has energized Republicans and left Democrats at home with their apathy. The only question is how many of her troops will be cut down.
A handful of Democrats have already asserted they will not vote for her as Speaker in the 112th Congress. Among them is Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), who went so far as to air a television ad Tuesday promising constituents that he "won't vote for Pelosi."
The pressure to break with Pelosi is intense. Along I-95 in South Florida, massive billboards depict Rep. Ron Klein as a marionette with Pelosi as puppeteer.
“Ron Klein votes with Pelosi 98%,” the billboards declare. “Fire them both!”
The National Republican Congressional Committee has aired anti-Pelosi ads in dozens of districts, many of them noting the frequency with which the Democratic lawmaker voted with Pelosi.
"Is Nancy Pelosi right 91 percent of the time?" one National Republican Congressional Committee ad against Rep. Chris Carney (D-Pa.) asked.
"The Pelosi/Adler agenda. Wrong for New Jersey," blared one aimed at freshman Rep. John Adler.
Steve Stivers, the Republican nominee in Ohio's Columbus-based 15th District, said his strategy to defeat freshman Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy is simple.
"Her record mirrors Pelosi's," Stivers said. "Really, my focus is going to be on Pelosi and Kilroy."
In Kilroy's district, where Pelosi's name and image are well-known, internal campaign polling shows Obama's favorable rating is even -- at 49 percent on each side. That may help explain why Pelosi is a target and Obama really isn't.
A recent survey of 4,000 likely voters in 10 western districts by the GOP-aligned American Action Forum showed Obama's favorability in those districts slightly lower at 44 percent. But Pelosi even polled well below that—at 29 percent.
A strategy designed to demonize Pelosi didn't work for Republicans in 2006 and 2008 -- indeed, it was a miserable failure -- but it's gaining traction now, according to Ronald M. Peters Jr., a political scientist at the University of Oklahoma who wrote a recent book on Pelosi.
"The vitriol against Pelosi now is not greatly different than what Democrats expressed against Gingrich,” Peters said. “The difference was the economy was going gangbusters.”
Democrats argue that Republicans are pounding so hard because the Speaker has been so successful.
"Republicans and their special interest allies have attacked Speaker Pelosi with an unprecedented level of money for one reason - she's effective,” said Jennifer Crider, deputy executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Successfully passing President Obama and the Democrats’ agenda of middle class tax cuts, health insurance reform, Wall Street reform, and closing tax loopholes that send American jobs overseas may threaten Republican corporate special interests, but show Democrats' commitment to a strong middle class."
Some Democrats insist an anti-Pelosi message is not an effective argument -- to the extent it appears to be sticking, they say, that's because it's background noise that blends in with the roaring Republican tide.
"There is not a single race in the country where this is making an iota of difference. Not one. There are a lot of other factors, the environment, the candidates and the campaigns," Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis says. "There are larger dynamics here at play and those larger dynamics are what’s influencing elections."
Still, the finely tuned political antennae of Democratic lawmakers are picking up something, suggesting that the notion of Pelosi as a liability is shared by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz says people often ask him about his links to Pelosi.
“The comeback is, every time they ask me that, people will ask me in a debate, ‘Are you just like Nancy Pelosi?’ And I’ll say, ‘I don’t know. Did she get the NRA endorsement last week? I’ll have to call and congratulate her because I didn’t see it happening.’”
The list of those threatening to withhold their votes for a return Pelosi engagement is growing by the hour: Reps. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, Bright of Alabama, Gene Taylor of Mississippi, Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Scott Murphy of New York. Two Democratic open-seat hopefuls in Tennessee have made clear they don't support Pelosi. Several others have either dodged the question entirely or are running ads that say they stood up to Pelosi on various issues.
It's enough to raise the question of whether Pelosi can hold the speakership in the event Democrats maintain control with a narrow margin -- an outcome that many Democrats wouldn't lay much money on right now anyway.
Pelosi has gone to ground: Her public appearances these days are mainly in her own backyard -- San Francisco -- where she dials for dollars and emerges for official activities. She skipped a Klein fundraiser in ritzy Coral Gables, Fla., this week.
Her aides have long denied that she's invisible on the campaign trail, pointing to private fundraisers as evidence that she's welcome around the country.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defended Pelosi -- and the possibility that Democrats will hang tight to their majority -- in an interview Monday night.
"Never underestimate Nancy Pelosi," Newsom said. "She got more done in the last two years. When history is written don’t ever underestimate Nancy Pelosi. Everyone who’s done it has lost. I’m not saying she can pull a rabbit out of the hat. But I’m not one of the few who's convinced this thing is over."
Outside her congressional district, however, the answer is different.
Joyce Elliot, the Democratic nominee in Arkansas’ 2nd District, won’t say whether she would back Pelosi if she’s elected.
“I don’t know; it depends on who’s running and I keep hearing rumors that other folks may run,” Elliot said.
Her opponent, Tim Griffin, makes the case that the choice is between him and a Pelosi-backer.
“If you like what you’re getting from this administration as a general matter, and this Congress -- Speaker Pelosi in particular -- then don’t vote for me but for my opponent,” he said, “because you’ll get more of that.”
Richard E. Cohen contributed to this story from Levittown, Pa., Darren Samuelsohn from San Francisco, Jake Sherman from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Manu Raju from Little Rock, Ark., Kasie Hunt from Tempe, Ariz., and James Hohmann from Mankato, Minn.
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Entry #3,341
Fast-Growing U.S. Areas Show Big Income Drop
Migration Bust: Fast-Growing U.S. Areas Show Big Income Drop, Census Reports
HOPE YEN | 10/12/10 04:47 PM | 
WASHINGTON — Call it the migration bust: Many of the fast-growing U.S. areas during the housing boom are now yielding some of the biggest income drops in the economic downturn.
That could have broad impact on the political map in the coming weeks. Voters discontent over the economy and related issues such as immigration head to the polls on Nov. 2 to decide whether to keep Democrats in Congress.
Whites and blacks have taken big hits since 2007 in once-torrid Sunbelt regions offering warm climates and open spaces, including Florida, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada, according to 2009 census data. Hispanics suffered paycheck losses in many "new immigrant" destinations in the interior U.S., which previously offered construction jobs and affordable housing, such as Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.
The few bright spots: Washington, D.C., San Jose, Calif., San Francisco and Boston. Their household incomes remained among the highest in the nation last year partly due to steady demand for government and high-tech work.
"As a whole, the income changes represent a sharp U-turn from the mid-decade gains," said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who reviewed the household income data. "The last two years have left those who couldn't move stuck in place with lower incomes."
In December, the Census Bureau will release 2010 population counts, which trigger a politically contentious process of divvying up House seats. In all, Southern and Western states are expected to take seats away the Midwest and Northeast. But last-minute shifts could affect a handful of states hanging in the balance, including California, which is hoping to avoid losing its first seat ever, and Arizona, which may now gain just one seat rather than two based partly on slowing Hispanic population growth.
The census data show that Hispanics, the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group, are helping drive growth in several Southern states.
Five states have seen their numbers double over the last decade – South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas in the South and South Dakota in the Upper Midwest. Other big gainers include Georgia and North Carolina.
Several of those states, South Carolina, Georgia and possibly North Carolina, stand to gain House seats based partly on that fast growth.At the same time, the Latino population remains a relatively smaller share of the population in those states, numbering about 8 percent or less. There, they also tend to be disproportionately low-income workers who lack a high-school education, speak mostly Spanish and don't vote in elections, which analysts say may be driving some of the tensions over immigration and jobs.
In recent months, the rhetoric has ranged from a call for English-only policies in states and localities that wish to minimize the use of Spanish and other languages, to a call to strip birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants.
"Hispanics' recent growth and sharp disparity with existing white populations may have something to do with the anti-immigrant backlash now being observed in large parts of the country," Frey said.
Hispanics had the highest income in metro areas such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Dayton, Ohio, and Virginia Beach, where they also were more likely to have a college degree. Lower-educated Hispanics also had strong earnings in San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., two areas with high costs of living where more-affordable immigrant labor tends to be in greater demand.
Nationally, the government reported last month that median household incomes dipped to $49,777, the lowest since 1997, with the sharpest drop-offs in the Midwest and Northeast. Broken down by race, blacks had the biggest income losses, dropping to $32,584. They were followed by non-Hispanic whites, whose income fell to $54,461. Asian incomes remained flat at $65,469.
Income among Hispanics edged higher but lagged whites significantly at $38,039.
The findings are part of a broad array of 2009 data released over the past month that have highlighted the impact of the recession – from soaring poverty and a widening gap between rich and poor to record levels of food stamp use.
On Tuesday, the Census Bureau posted additional 2009 findings.
Among them:
_Declining home values. Median values for owner-occupied homes dropped 5.8 percent last year to $185,200. They ranged from a high of $638,300 in San Jose, Calif., to a low of $76,100 in McAllen, Texas. In all, five of the 10 highest property values were located in California, with the rest in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Seattle and Baltimore.
_Increased welfare payments. About 2.6 percent of U.S. households, or 3 million, received government cash payments for the poor, up from 2.3 percent in 2008. States whose residents received the most aid were Alaska, Maine, Washington and Michigan.
_Growth of college sciences. About 36.4 percent, or 20.5 million, of college graduates in the U.S. had a degree in the science and engineering fields. Five states – California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington – as well as the District of Columbia had science and engineering degrees above 40 percent.
The 2009 figures come from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey, which gathers information from 3 million households. The surveys are separate from the 2010 census.
Entry #3,340
First of 33 trapped Chilean miners rescued
Entry #3,339
Teacher's Tirade Caught on Video
Entry #3,338
Lotto addict sent to prison for $2M embezzlement
5:56 PM, October 12, 2010
A downtown property manager was hauled off to serve at least five years prison today for embezzling more than $2 million -- thefts that fed his compulsion to buy tens of thousands of dollars a month in lottery tickets.
Richard Bassik was buying between $20,000 and $25,000 in tickets a month from the tri-state area in the delusional hope of winning bit and paying back what he'd stolen, said his lawyer.
Bassik admittedly stole from 13 properties he managed through his company, Downtown Properties -- buildings ranging from high-end co-ops and condos to a building owned by a non-profit, Manhattan prosecutors said. DA Cyrus Vance had noted the thefts "bankrolled a lavish lifestyle."
In addition to lottery tickets, Bassik spent the money on fine jewelry, stays at the Ritz Carlton and Caribbean vacations for his girlfriend, and bailed out a step-daughter who needed to pay back $400,000 in restitution in an unrelated criminal case in Suffolk County, prosecutors said.
Bassik was managing properties despite getting convicted in the 1976 kidnapping of a 6-year-old boy, for whom he'd demanded a $100,000 ransom.
"He is extremely remorseful," said his lawyer, Michael Soshnick.
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Entry #3,337
President Obama losing support among his backers
Somodevilla/GettyPresident Obama and Democratsare facing an uphill battle heading into the midterm elections.
Has hope turned into hopelessness?
More than 40% of voters who once considered themselves as backers of President Obama now say they either support him less or don't support him at all, according to a Bloomberg National poll Tuesday.
With exactly three weeks until crucial midterm elections, voters seem to dislike both parties, but Republicans appear likely to make big gains in the House and Senate.
"They are the lesser of two evils," Carol Wortham, 62, of Texas said of Republicans.
Missy Coombs, 52, of Utah, however, said the country needs to be patient with the President.
"I think people are knee- jerking a little too much. To expect instant results is crazy," she said.
Though the Democrats hold a 47%-45% advantage in favorability over the GOP, independent voters prefer Republicans six points more than Democrats.
For the most motivated voters, Republicans have a strong 51%-37% lead.
President Obama swept into the White House on a wave of voters who embraced his message of change.
"The excitement they once felt is gone," said J. Ann Selzer, whose company conducted the Bloomberg poll, of voters. "They are left wondering if they were sold a bag of goods."
The GOP is riding tepid support for its "Pledge to America," the party's vague set of proposals that aims to cut taxes and slash roughly $100 billion from the federal budget in 2011.
According to the poll, 48% support the "Pledge," while 39% disapprove.
The dwindling support for the President mirrors a poll in September in which 44% said they will likely vote for someone other than Obama in 2012.
In order to win control of the House, Republicans must grab 39 seats on Election Day; the magic number is 10 to take over the Senate.
Entry #3,336
Cheap deadly drug cheese mix aimed at kids
Entry #3,335
Five Questions for Condoleezza Rice
Entry #3,334
KFC Double Down going on more students' butts
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Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY KFC is doubling down on its promo across college coeds' backsides. The world's largest chicken chain is putting yet more college women — at three more universities — into sweatpants with "Double Down" emblazoned across their rear ends.Double Down is KFC's new male-targeted sandwich that uses chicken patties as buns.KFC's newest Double Down "ambassadors," found through a competition on its Facebook page, will be paid $500 each to wear the pants and hand out $5 KFC coupons for a day at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo.; Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.; and James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.
The move follows stinging criticism last month after KFC first rolled out the provocative promo at Spalding University in Louisville. Even before it begins later this week, the expansion of the promo is drumming up additional criticism."It's hideous," says Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women. "This is 12-year-old boy humor."Brand guru Steven Addis says the promo may be reprehensible, but it's not necessarily stupid. "Whether intended or not, KFC is becoming the Hooters of fast food."KFC received 600 applications for the new jobs on its Facebook page, spokeswoman Laurie Schalow says. The women were picked for their experience, not their looks, she says. Two of the women have done beer company promos.One is Sara Coleman, a 21-year-old senior at Colorado State, who majors in criminal justice. She says she already does promos for Anheuser-Busch and heard about the KFC promo from her mom.Coleman has no problems with the outfit. "There are worse things that sweatpants could say," says Coleman, who hopes to use the money to go to Las Vegas.She and two friends will pass out the coupons at CSU's homecoming football game Saturday. "There will be girls in a lot less clothing at the game. We're just wearing something we'd wear to bed."Her school's officials are OK with the promo. "We support the right of local and national businesses to distribute information about their products and services to our campus community," says Mike Ellis, assistant vice president for student affairs.Chris Muller, Boston University hospitality school dean, thinks the promo will be a hit, but doesn't like it. "In college life, women are supposed to be highly sexed and men are supposed to be very hungry. Someone said: 'Let's put them together.' " |
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Entry #3,333
Newt Gingrich: On the edge or over the line?
Entry #3,332
Flight attendant caught with cocaine
Police: Flight attendant caught with cocaine
Indy Star
9:23 AM, Oct 11, 2010
John Tuohy
Police arrested a flight attendant they said tried to carry cocaine through a checkpoint at Indianapolis International Airport.
Floydrina Williams, 39, who works for U.S. Airways, was preliminarily charged with felony possession of cocaine and dealing in cocaine or narcotics Sunday night, according to an Indianapolis Airport Police report.
Police said Williams had nine baggies containing 22 grams of cocaine in her waistband. A security screener noticed something suspicious on the full body scanner and searched Williams, according to the report.
Williams, who lives in Georgia, said she was taking U.S. Airways Flight 3205 to Charlotte , N.C., at 7:52 p.m. She said the cocaine was for personal use and not distribution.
She was taken to the Arrestee Processing Center downtown. Police said they notified the airline about Williams arrest.
Entry #3,331
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