truesee's Blog

Toyota to halt sales, shut down factories over sticking accelerator pedals

2009 Matrix compact wagons sit at a Toyota dealership in the south Denver suburb of Littleton, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) (David Zalubowski, Associated Press / August 16, 2008)

Justin Hyde

McClatchy/Tribune News

January 26, 2010

Players suspended for season; Arenas says he won't appeal

David Aldridge

TNT analyst
Posted Jan 27 2010 4:00PM

Updated Jan 27 2010 5:02PM

NBA commissioner David Stern has suspended Gilbert Arenas for the rest of the season, and the Washington Wizards' star guard has told associates that he will not appeal the league's decision, according to a league source.

Arenas has been suspended without pay since early January for his role in an incident with teammate Javaris Crittenton in which both Arenas and Crittenton brought guns into the team's locker room at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., a violation of both the league's constitution and of the city's laws requiring any guns in the city be licensed in Washington and kept in the home. Arenas brought his guns from his Virginia home.

Crittenton also was suspended for the rest of the season in the decision handed down Wednesday afternoon.

The suspension will cost Arenas the final 50 games of the season and an approximate $7.4 million of his $16.1 million salary this season. After this season, Arenas -- who was the Wizards' leader this season in scoring (22.6 points per game) and assists (7.2) -- has four years and $80.1 million remaining on the six-year, $111 million contract extension he signed in 2008.

"The issue here is not about the legal ownership and possession of guns, either in one's home or elsewhere," Stern said in a statement. "It is about the possession of guns in the NBA workplace, which will not be tolerated."

Arenas, who had already spoken with league attorneys investigating the incident, met with Stern and National Basketball Players Association executive director Billy Hunter in Stern's office for about an hour Wednesday morning before departing.

Arenas is awaiting sentencing in D.C. Superior Court March 26 after pleading guilty Jan. 15 to one felony count of carrying a pistol without a license, a crime whose punishments range from probation to a maximum five years in prison. Prosecutors, however, recommended that Arenas only serve six months to Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin, who will ultimately decide Arenas' fate. Morin set a sentencing date of March 26, before which he will receive a report on Arenas from the District's court services division. Prosecutors and defense attorneys will each make a recommendation on how much jail time Arenas should serve to Morin.

Crittenton pleaded guilty this past Monday to a misdemeanor count of possession of an unregistered firearm after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors. Judge Bruce Beaudin sentenced Crittenton to a year of unsupervised probation and a $1,250 fine as part of the plea agreement and ordered him to mentor young people in Washington and aid in relief efforts for victims of the Haitian earthquake earlier this month.

Crittenton, who has not played this season for Washington and was not likely to be retained by the Wizards next season even before the incident with Arenas, met with Stern on Tuesday.

"Both have expressed remorse for their actions and an understanding of the seriousness of their transgressions. Both have volunteered to engage in community service in order to turn the lessons they have learned into an educational message for others. I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and intent to create something positive from this incident," Stern said in the statement. "Nevertheless, there is no justification for their conduct."

The Wizards fully backed Stern's decision.

"[Arenas' and Crittenton's] poor judgment has also violated the trust of our fans and stands in contrast to everything that [owner] Abe Pollin stood for throughout his life," the team said in a statement. "It is widely known that Mr. Pollin took the extraordinary step of changing the team name from "Bullets" to "Wizards" in 1997 precisely to express his abhorrence of gun violence in our community. We hope that this negative situation can produce something positive by serving as a reminder that gun violence is a serious issue."

The union's president, Lakers guard Derek Fisher, acknowledged late Tuesday night that the union is walking a tightrope between being there for Arenas and protecting his rights of appeal and due process and a possible public backlash against players should the union be viewed as defending the indefensible -- all while the union and the league begin discussions on a new collective bargaining agreement that would stave off a possible lockout before the 2011-12 season.

"I think that's a real issue," Fisher said. "That's the best way for me to put it. At this point, it's something that's on the table, it's up for discussion, and we have to be real about that. But at the same time, we can't forgo our responsibilities as a union to provide support, assistance, belief amongst our members that if there's anybody on earth that's going to be there for them, it's us. So it's a delicate balance and one that, once the NBA makes their decision ... it's going to be a delicate dance, and we're going to have to play it exactly right."

Fisher said Tuesday that he didn't have a specific number of games in mind that would be considered acceptable from the union's perspective for a suspension.

"That's another tricky part," he said. "Because there's not a precedent that you can balance it against. People have thrown out the brawl in Detroit (in 2004) and how many games those guys got. But that's a totally different set of circumstances--fans being involved, people getting physically injured. So it's hard to compare those. But at the same time, it's not just as simple as saying 'you brought a gun in the locker room, and that's it.' I don't know if we have a number in mind, that would be acceptable, or that would be too high or too low...hopefully we can have honest enough dialogue with the NBA about what goes into that decision. As long as we can fairly, in a proper manner, lay out our reasons--if it is way high, in anybody's opinion--as long as we can state our reasons why we feel it is over the top, that may be all we can do."

The Pistons-Pacers "Brawl at Auburn Hills" on Nov. 19, 2004, was one of the worst incidents in league history, beginning with a fight between the two teams in the final minute of their game that sprawled out of control and went into the stands. Fisher's now-Lakers teammate, Ron Artest, then playing for Indiana, was suspended by Stern for the final 73 games of that season after he went into the stands and punched a fan whom he (mistakenly) believed had thrown a cup of soda at him. (The fan who actually did throw the soda at Artest was banned from Pistons games for life.)

Stephen Jackson, then Artest's Pacers teammate and now in Charlotte, received 30 games for also going into the stands and punching fans. Jermaine O'Neal, who'd hit a fan on the court, received 25 games, but that punishment was reduced to 15 upon appeal. Six other players were suspended a total of 15 games for their respective roles in the incident.

The Arenas-Crittenton incident took place Dec. 21, in the Wizards' locker room. Crittenton and Arenas intially had a dispute two days earlier, on the team's plane ride back from Phoenix to Washington at the end of a road trip. The dispute, according to sources, involved a gambling debt that Crittenton believed Arenas owed him.

The prosecution's version of events, based on grand jury testimony from Arenas, Crittenton and other witnesses, states that Crittenton challenged Arenas to a fight. Arenas replied that he was too old to fight and that he would either burn Crittenton's car or shoot him. Crittenton replied that he would shoot Arenas in his knee, which had been surgically repaired in 2007 through a microfracture procedure.

After the team had the next day, Sunday, Dec. 20, off, it reconvened at Verizon Center for practice the morning of Dec. 21. Arenas brought four guns from his home to the arena, took them out and placed them on a chair in front of Crittenton's locker, and wrote "PICK 1" on a piece of paper. When Crittenton asked what was going on, Arenas said, "You said you were going to shoot me, so pick one."

Crittenton replied that he had his own gun, and tossed one of Arenas' guns across the locker room floor. Contrary to a published report in the Washington Post, the prosecution's version of what happened does not claim that Crittenton chambered a round of ammunition into his gun. Nor did Arenas or Crittenton point weapons at one another, as the New York Post claimed in its initial report of the incident. While Arenas has always maintained that he was joking about every threat he made to Crittenton, Crittenton told prosecutors he believed Arenas was serious, and that's why he brought the gun to practice.

Sources indicate that at least two players witnessed the incident. Several players and Wizards Coach Flip Saunders were subpoenaed to testify.

Stern suspended Arenas indefinitely Jan. 6, after Arenas had spent the previous weekend making light of what he deemed inaccurate coverage of the matter on his since-discontinued Twitter page, followed by a claim that he hadn't done anything wrong in a postgame interview Jan. 5 following Washington's game in Philadelphia. The capper was likely a picture of Arenas before the 76ers' game, surrounded by several laughing teammates, in which he was using his fingers to pantomime guns and was "shooting" his teammates.

At the time, Stern said in a statement, "Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game."

Arenas also issued a statement after the initial suspension, saying, "While I never intended any harm or disrespect to the NBA or anyone else, my gun possession at the Verizon Center and my attempts at humor showed terrible judgment. I take full responsibility for my conduct."

The Wizards, who had been instructed by the Commissioner not to comment or take action against Arenas until the league had done so, have issued three statements since the initial incident. The last, which was issued the day Arenas pleaded guilty, said in part, "Gilbert used extremely poor judgment and is ultimately responsible for his actions."

NBA COMMISSIONER DAVID STERN STATEMENT ON GILBERT ARENAS AND JAVARIS CRITTENTON

NEW YORK, January 27, 2010 – National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern issued the following statement today:

“The NBA has conducted a thorough investigation of events relating to this matter.

“It is not disputed that, following an argument on the team’s flight home from a game in Phoenix, both Mr. Arenas and Mr. Crittenton brought guns to the Verizon Center locker room and – with other players and team personnel present or nearby – displayed them to one another in a continuation of their dispute. The players engaged in this conduct despite a specific rule set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the Players Association prohibiting players from possessing a weapon at an NBA facility, and reminders of this prohibition given annually by the NBA to players both in writing and in person.

“The issue here is not about the legal ownership and possession of guns, either in one’s home or elsewhere. It is about possession of guns in the NBA workplace, which will not be tolerated.

“I have met separately with Mr. Arenas and with Mr. Crittenton. Both have expressed remorse for their actions and an understanding of the seriousness of their transgressions. Both have volunteered to engage in community service in order to turn the lessons they have learned into an educational message for others. I accept fully the sincerity of their expressions of regret and intent to create something positive from this incident.

“Nevertheless, there is no justification for their conduct. Accordingly, I am today converting Mr. Arenas' indefinite suspension without pay to a suspension without pay for the remainder of the 2009-10 season, and am also suspending Mr. Crittenton without pay, effective immediately, for the remainder of the 2009-10 season.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/revealed-see-who-was-paid_n_438933.html

Friday, January 22, 2010

If you read the confessions of the Greeley couple dubbed the “Bonnie and Clyde” robbers, it could be a chapter of “We'll be home for Christmas.”

In court affidavits obtained Thursday, the couple — Joseph Nieto and Christine Drummond — confessed to two robberies in Greeley in December, saying they were “unable to find jobs and needed money to get back to California ... to be with their children by Christmas.”

One of the robberies, at Guaranty Bank, 930 11th Ave., occurred on the morning of Christmas Eve, and police say the couple left later that day to drive to California.

They also have been charged in a December robbery at the Premier Cash Advance store, 3820 W. 10th St.

Robbers got away with about $14,500 from Guaranty Bank and $2,000 from Premier Cash Advance, according to court records.

Another man, Michael Gabriel Nieto, 28, of Greeley was arrested this week and charged with robbery. Court records state he is Joseph Nieto's brother and charge that he was the driver of the getaway car in the two robberies. Although Michael Nieto told police he didn't know the couple were robbing the bank and cash store, and he just waited in the car for them, they both said they gave him some of the money taken in the robberies.

Court records also say employees at the check-cashing store recognized Drummond because she'd applied for a job at the store two months before the robbery. Police were given Drummond's job application, which also gave her California address.

Using the cell phone number on the job application, Greeley detectives were able to trace Drummond's telephone calls, beginning at three minutes after the bank robbery on Christmas Eve. They then followed the calls made on the phone from Greeley, across the mountains and eventually into Visalia, Calif., where the couple was later arrested.

California law officers arrested the couple, then searched their home, where they found two handguns, clothing that matched the robbers on bank video tapes, and bank bags from Guaranty Bank.

The couple will likely be extradited within the next month from California back to Greeley for trial in the robbery cases.

Michael Nieto remains in the Weld County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

James O'Keefe ARRESTED In Mary Landrieu Phone Scheme, 3 Others Also Charged

MICHAEL KUNZELMAN | 01/26/10 10:08 PM 

NEW ORLEANS — A hero of conservatives who bruised the liberal group ACORN by posing as a pimp on hidden camera is now accused in an attempt to tamper with phone lines at Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu's office inside a federal building.

It's not clear what James O'Keefe, 25, and three other young conservatives were trying to accomplish Monday at the New Orleans office of Landrieu, who has been criticized for securing more Medicaid benefits for her state in exchange for her support on health care legislation.

State Democrats quickly called the alleged plot a "Louisiana Watergate," but federal officials have not yet said why the men wanted to interfere with Landrieu's phones, whether they were successful, or even if the goal was political espionage.

A staff member in the office told the FBI that two of the suspects, including the son of an acting U.S. Attorney, wore white hard harts, tool belts and flourescent vests and said they needed to fix a problem with the phone system.

According to an FBI affidavit, O'Keefe was already sitting in the waiting area and recorded the men on his cell phone when they walked in.

A federal law enforcement official said one of the suspects was picked up in a car a couple of blocks away with a listening device that could pick up transmissions. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not part of the FBI affidavit.

O'Keefe said only "veritas," Latin for truth, as he left jail Tuesday with suspects Stan Dai and Joseph Basel, both 24. All declined to comment.

As he got into a cab outside the jail, O'Keefe said, "The truth shall set me free."

The fourth suspect, Robert Flanagan, 24, was released earlier Tuesday. His father, Bill, is the acting U.S. Attorney based in Shreveport. He was first assistant under Republican President George W. Bush appointee Donald Washington before Washington stepped down this month. President Barack Obama recently nominated Stephanie A. Finley for the post. His father's office declined to comment.

All four suspects were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Flanagan is the only suspect from Louisiana. Basel is from Minnesota; O'Keefe, New Jersey; and Dai, the D.C.-Virginia area.

"It was poor judgment," Flanagan's lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said in a brief interview outside the courtroom. "I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."

Flanagan recently criticized Landrieu for her vote on the Senate health care bill after securing a Medicaid provision estimated in value at up to $365 million for Louisiana. Conservatives accused her of selling her vote but she insisted no "special deals" were made.

"Do not be fooled into believing Landrieu is helping the state of Louisiana," Flanagan wrote in a Nov. 25 post on the Web site for the Pelican Institute, a Louisiana think tank that promotes the free market and limited government. "If the proposed healthcare legislation were to be signed into law, the $300 million allocated to Louisiana will pale in comparison to the long-term debt Louisiana citizens will ultimately shoulder."

Dai, who authorities said was arrested outside the building, is a former assistant director of a program at Trinity Washington University that taught students about careers in intelligence, university president Patricia McGuire said.

The program was part of a national effort following the Sept. 11 attacks to interest students at liberal arts colleges in careers as spies. McGuire said Dai was an administrator and that the program did not teach spy craft. He was also active in the conservative newspaper and other organizations at George Washington University.

O'Keefe and Basel were also active in conservative publications at their respective colleges, Rutgers University and the University of Minnesota-Morris. They gave a joint interview Jan. 14 to CampusReform.org, a Web site that supports college conservatives on student publications.

The allegations quickly prompted outrage from Democrats and claims of vindication at ACORN, which lost its affiliation with the U.S. Census Bureau and federal funding after the uproar over O'Keefe's videos.

Landrieu, who was in Washington at the time, said in a statement Tuesday that the plot was "unsettling" for her and her staff. She said she looked forward to the investigation to learn their motives.

O'Keefe's arrest "is further evidence of his disregard for the law in pursuit of his extremist agenda," ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis said in a statement. The organization's Twitter feed commented on the news: "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving soul."

O'Keefe managed to do what Republicans had been trying to for years: hurt the political affiliates of ACORN, which have registered hundreds of thousands of voters in urban and other poor areas of the country.

Using a hidden camera, O'Keefe, posing as a pimp and accompanied by a young woman posing as a prostitute, shot videos in ACORN offices where staffers appeared to offer illegal tax advice and to support the misuse of public funds and illegal trafficking in children.

The videos were first posted on biggovernment.com, a site run by conservative Andrew Breitbart. In the past, Breitbart has said O'Keefe – now a paid contributor to biggovernment.com – is an independent filmmaker, not an employee.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, Breitbart said: "We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O'Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu's office. We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment."

O'Keefe's father, James O'Keefe, Jr., of Westwood, N.J., said he hasn't spoken to his son in several days and didn't know he traveled to New Orleans, let alone why he went to Landrieu's office.

"That would not be something that I can even imagine him doing," he said of the allegations against his son. "I think this is going to be blown out of proportion."

O'Keefe said his son travels frequently for speaking engagements.

"He's a good kid," he said. "He's a very talented, very creative creative guy."

James O'Keefe

Reporter Stephanie Lambidakis has more on the arrests

http://wbal.com/apps/news/articlefiles/44580-STEPHANIE%20LAMBIDAKIS.mp3

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten says it was the quick thinking of the senators staff that lead investigators to arrest the men allegedly posing as phone repairmen.

http://wbal.com/apps/news/articlefiles/44580-US%20ATTORNEY%20JIM%20LETTEN.mp3

Drunken man tries to break into jail

A jailbreak usually involves someone trying to bust out of jail, but Medford police arrested a man trying to break into the Jackson County Jail early Monday morning, Medford police Lt. Bob Hansen said.

At 4:10 a.m., sheriff's deputies at the jail spotted a man scrambling over a tall fence that surrounds a secure lot where arresting officers unload potential prisoners and escort them inside. Jail officials met the man on the ground and contacted Medford police.

The man, James Merrill DeVore, 28, told police that he was distraught over the death of his mother two years ago and admitted that he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. He told officers that he needed help, so he went to the jail to ask for assistance. When he didn't get an answer at the front entrance, he decided to go around to the back.

Medford police charged him with disorderly conduct and trespassing.

But even the two criminal charges didn't land DeVore in jail. He was taken to the county's sobering center, referred to the county's mental health program and cited to appear in court later.

Toby Harnden

Toby Harnden is the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington DC.

Barack Obama is in denial

Toby Harnden 

Last updated: January 26th, 2010

Barack Obama is in trouble. His signature health care reform has been doomed by the Democrats losing their Senate super-majority. He needs to reconnect with ordinary Americans, his advisers tell him. So what does he do? He does a long interview with Diane Sawyer, the new ABC News anchor, in which he states that his big mistake was “we started worrying more about getting the policy right than getting the process right”.

Then the White House pushes out the disastrous Valerie Jarrett – who recently and hilariously described the Obama administration as “speaking truth to power” by bashing Fox News – to tell Politico that “there’s no one more frustrated than President Obama” and that the Scott Brown Massachusetts massacre was, er, nothing to do with Obama. “I don’t think it was directed at Barack Obama,” she said. “In fact, Senator Brown said himself he didn’t run against the President.”

This comes after Representative Marion Berry of Arkansas, announcing he would not fight an election he would almost certainly lose in November, revealed that Obama had told Blue Dog conservative Democrats that the difference between 1994 and 2010 was that “You got me.”

So which is it? It’s nothing to do with Obama but then again it’s all about him? Good luck with that message in November.

Democrats who (unlike Obama) face re-election in November are noting that the President campaigned for candidates in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts – all of which he won comfortably in 2008 – but they still bombed.

The Obama line that Massachusetts is about disgust with “process” not policy and the Jarrett line that it is about some vague unfocused frustration lead to the inevitable conclusion that this White House just doesn’t get it.

As William McGurn in the WSJ points out, the central problem is that Americans – only 20 per cent of whom view themselves as liberal – view the Obama agenda as too far Left. “There’s no sign that Obama buys any of this,” writes McGurn. “His team argues, apparnetly oblivious to the inherent condescension, that no intelligent American could possibly oppose his health-care agenda on substance.”

Yep, the mindset is one of: sooner or later these dumb Americans will realise that we know what’s best for them.

Obama also gave the game away during the Sawyer interview when he yet again compared governing the US to the election campaign.

“I’ve gone through this before,” he said. “I went through this through the campaign. When your poll numbers drop, you’re an idiot. When your poll numbers are high, you’re a genius. If my poll numbers are low, then I’m cool and cerebral and cold and detached. If my poll numbers are high, well, he’s calm and reasoned.”

So in the parallel universe that Obamaland has become, this is just like the summer of 2007 when the poll numbers of the man who Oprah Winfrey would call “the One” were slumping and Hillary Clinton was riding high – and then America woke up and realised that Obama was the answer to all their problems.

Well, I’d say that although Obama and his team have not moved on, Americans have. Things are different from the campaign. It’s now all about Obama only to the extent that his policies and their results are now being judged. It’s not all about Obama in the sense that his transcendent personality will trump everything in November.

Obama himself doesn’t seem to be able to grasp this. He’s suffering from what his predecessor George W. Bush was so often accused of: he’s in a state of denial.

LINK TO STORY: 

Urbanite

Bill Gates at Sundance: Geeks just want to have fun

Sunday January 24, 2010 5:14 PM

Perrie Samotin

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is interviewed at the  Bing VIP Happy and Douchebag Premiere Party" during the Sundance Film Festival  On Friday, (AP Images for Bing)

You go, Bill.

According to our ever-reliable Sundance Film Festival spy, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, 52, was spotted rocking out big time at Saturday’s John Legend/The Roots concert in Park City, Utah., hosted by search engine Bing.com. And, it seems, the brainiac sure can cut a rug.

Here’s the scoop, from our source:

“About halfway through the concert, I saw Bill Gates standing on a booth, talking to partygoers. As soon as the live music ended, a DJ started and Bill began dancing like a maniac.

“When Whitney Houston’s ‘I Want to Dance With Somebody’ came on, he really got into it right through to Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer.’ Then, ‘Hey Mickey’ came on and he started doing the swim and getting low, almost touching the ground. He clearly had the most fun during ‘Old Time Rock and Roll,’ clapping, shaking his head and grooving back and forth like a nut.

“He had a security team in front of him trying to block guests from snapping pics. Finally, he got down from the booth but nearly fell, prompting security to help him out.”

Jan 22, 2010 7:47 pm US/Eastern

Spurned Mistress Of Obama Advisor Takes Revenge

Highlights Relationship On Billboards In Several Cities

NEW YORK (CBS)

The billboard reads: Charles and YaVaughnie, "you are my soulmate forever." YaVaughnie Wilkins is the mistress, Charles Phillips, the head of Oracle Corporation, an advisor to President Obama, and married. Wilkins apparently had these billboards put up in Times Square, Atlanta and San Francisco after Phillips reconciled with his wife.

Dianna Musumeci of Kings Park approves "Good for her," she said. "You're cheating on your wife and then you go back to the wife."

"That's karma. What goes around comes around," said Tevin Gaider, D.C. resident.

On the bottom of the billboard was listed a website, filled with pictures of the affair and plenty of personal notes. Phillips released a statement saying: "I had an 8.5 year serious relationship with YaVaughnie Wilkins. My divorce proceedings began in 2008. The relationship with Ms. Wilkins has since ended and we both wish each other well."

Not going to happen, said infidelity expert and author of the book "Is he cheating on you?" Ruth Houston. "This is what happens when men cheat and don't check out their mistresses out."

"Pick better judgment in girls. That is ridiculous," said Anthony Spillman, D.C. resident.

Houston said the revenge factor was huge, and infidelity often tears everything apart. "Look at John Edwards. Look at Steve McNair. An out of control mistress can cost you your job, your wife, your marriage, all sorts of things. It cost Steve McNair his life."

She said infidelity was an epidemic affecting 80-percent of marriages and relationships in one form or another, and if you're going to take the risk you need to know who you're dealing with.

"You should not be out there cheating. If you're going to cheat, protect yourself and your family by checking these women out. You don't know who they are. You don't know what they're capable of doing," said Houston.

Houston said the best place to start is on the computer. You can either do your own investigation or there are plenty of websites where you can get background checks in minutes.

The billboards were taken down Friday after the scandal broke, but the damage was already done. While the billboard company wouldn't release how much Wilkins paid for the revenge campaign, it's been estimated it may have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://wcbstv.com/local/mistress.obama.advisor.2.1443533.html

 
CBS

Joplin jewelers thwart suspected ring thieves



Jeff Lehr

 Joplin Globe

January 22, 2010 10:37 pm 

A Joplin woman got her stolen ring back Thursday when a suspected thief literally coughed it up in front of police.

The ring belonging to Rebecca Moore was inside her purse in a vehicle parked at Northpark Mall when someone broke into the vehicle and stole the purse about noon Thursday. Her husband, Tom Moore, said the two-carat diamond ring — worth about $20,000 — was a family heirloom passed down to his wife from her mother.

“It meant the world to her,” he said.

Moore had just picked the ring back up from Comeau Jewelry store, where she’d had some repair work performed. She drove to the mall lot and parked, leaving her purse in the car while she went inside the mall. She discovered the theft when she came back out, and police were notified at 12:34 p.m.

Less than four hours later, a man and a woman walked into Newton’s Jewelry in downtown Joplin with a ring they wished to have appraised.

Store owner L.T. “Bunny” Newton recognized the ring right away from a picture Comeau’s sent to local jewelers in the wake of the theft. Newton said the diamond was distinctively set between two sapphires and was “easy” to spot.

“So we stalled, and kept weighing and measuring it,” he said.

Newton said the young couple represented the ring as having been her grandmother’s. The man told the jeweler they might be interested in selling it.

The business in the meantime had contacted police. Newton said he suggested that the store might need to steam clean the piece to appraise it properly, as a way of further stalling the couple. About 15 minutes had passed since they first came in.

“He got kind of antsy then,” Newton said. “You could tell he suspected something was going on.”

The man decided to take the ring back from the jeweler at that point, and the couple appeared about to leave when police officers walked into the store.

Newton said he never noticed, but the man must have swallowed the ring when he spotted the police. The officers asked the couple about their ring, and the man told them Newton still had it.

“I told him: ‘No, you took it back from me,’” Newton said.

Officers searched the suspect and could not find the ring. But the man began to cough uncontrollably, Newton said.

“And they kept questioning him, and he kept coughing,” he said. “Finally, he coughed it up.”

It was off to jail next for Cleon L. Harris, 23, and Breanna M. Johnston, 19, both of Joplin. They were charged with receiving stolen property. The arrest caused Harris to miss a court date Friday on a prior felony weapon charge, and another warrant was issued on him while he remained in jail.

Tom Moore said his wife wasn’t up to talking about the matter yet on Friday.

“She’s just very grateful that the retailers at both jewelry stores took the extra time and effort to distribute the information and respond to it,” he said.

He said their gratitude extends to the Joplin Police Department as well.

Thursday’s capture of a couple in alleged possession of a stolen ring was not the first time Joplin jeweler L.T. “Bunny” Newton, 87, has had a brush with lawbreakers or thwarted a crime in progress.

The World War II veteran scuffled with three masked men who invaded his family’s home in 1961 and struck him in the head with a gun. The men fled without accomplishing whatever their goal had been. Almost 20 years later, he was abducted at gunpoint outside his store by members of a four-state crime ring, who robbed him of a ring and cash before letting him go on the west side of town after he feigned a heart attack.

Police: Woman says she's eating powdered donut, turns out to be cocaine

Whitney Alison Holte

Mark Boxley
The Daily Times
Originally published: January 22. 2010 3:01AM
Last modified: January 21. 2010 7:57PM

When officers pulled a 21-year-old Knoxville woman over on Airport Highway in Alcoa early Thursday, she allegedly told officers it was a powdered donut she was eating when they came to the window.

But a field test on the substance indicated the white powder she put in her mouth was not from a sugary pastry, but, rather, was cocaine, according to an Alcoa police report.

Whitney Alison Holte was arrested and charged with possession of a Schedule II substance with intent to sell or deliver and three attachments for contempt; she was also cited with driving on a suspended driver's license, driving without proof of insurance, failure to maintain her lane of traffic and possession of drug paraphernalia.

She was being held at the Blount County Jail in lieu of bonds totaling $12,250 pending 1:30 p.m. Jan. 25

Obama's middle-class pitch: Dream alive   

'We all know what the American dream is'' -- pledging to keep it alive.

January 25, 2010 1:00 PM
 
Michael Muskal

Chicago Tribune

With what will serve as a preview of his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama today gave the nation an outline of new policies to help the middle class cope with lower expectations and the loss of faith in achieving the American Dream.

In televised remarks aimed at his task force that studied middle-class issues, Obama said his administration was committed to creating more jobs, increasing incomes and helping the battered middle class to grow. The task force is chaired by Vice President Joe Biden, who introduced the president.

"Hopefully, some of these steps will reestablish some of the security that has slipped away in recent years," Obama said, "because in the end, that's how Joe and I measure progress.

"Not by how the markets are doing but by how the American people doing. It's about whether they see some progress in their own lives," Obama said.

The administration's plan is designed to ease some of the pressure on people caught between an aging generation of parents and the new generation of youngsters trying to get established, Biden said. All three groups face special difficulties in these tough economic times.

Specifically, the administration wants to double the child care tax credit for families earning less than $85,000 a year. It wants a $1.6 billion increase in federal funding for child care programs and to place a cap on student loan payments so that those who pay for college can come out of debt easier and sooner.

Other proposals would offer incentives to help increase retirement savings and require employers to provide workplace savings plans. Tax credits would also be offered to help families care for the elderly.

Interestingly, Obama also made only a glancing mention of healthcare reform, noting that there was a need to prevent insurance companies from abusing consumers through refusing to pay for previous conditions, for example.

This was a far cry from past statements on a more ambitious healthcare overhaul, but a nod to the new political realities in the wake of the senatorial seat upset in Massachusetts which cost democrats their 60-vote super-majority.

In his comments, Obama repeatedly used the word "fight" or "fighting," continuing a usage that accelerated last week in his criticism of banks and during a town hall-style session in Ohio. "But above all we're going to keep fighting to renew the American Dream, and keep it alive not just in our time, but for all time," Obama said today.

"We all know what that American Dream is,'' the president said at a White House meeting of his Middle Class Task Force.

"It's the idea that in America we can make of our lives what we will. It's the idea that if you work hard and live up to your responsibilities, you can get ahead -- and enjoy some of the basic guarantees in life: A good job that pays a good wage, health care that'll be there when you get sick, a secure retirement even if you're not rich, an education that will give our kids a better life than we had.

"They're very simple ideas,'' he said. "But they're the ideas that are at the heart of our middle class -- the middle class that made the 20th Century the American Century.''

 LINK TO VIDEO:

 http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22333837/

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT MIDDLE CLASS TASK FORCE MEETING

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hey, folks. A year ago when President Obama established the Middle Class Task Force and asked me to chair it -- and I might add, we were only in office I think two days, Melody, when he set up this Middle Class Task Force -- because as we campaigned around the country, he made it clear that we were going to be sure that as we grew this economy, the middle class was not left behind as they had been the previous 10 to 12 years. And as we move from recession to recovery, our focus is the middle class.

Today -- today, living a quality middle class life starts, as it always has, with a good-paying job. And by job, we're not talking about merely a paycheck; it's more than a paycheck. And we're talking about dignity, we're talking about security. We're talking about knowing your pension is safe, your health insurance is reliable, your elderly parents and your children are going to be cared for, your neighborhood is safe, there's decent schools, and that your kids are going to be able to grow up and if they desire and you desire, be able to attend college. It's the old-fashioned notion of American Dream. I mean, it sounds corny, but that's literally what it is.

And the President -- and you and I -- have long believed that you can't have a strong America without a growing middle class. It's that simple. It's that basic. And right now, the middle class is nowhere near as strong as it needs to be.

So next month, the Middle Class Task Force is going to deliver its final report -- not final, its year-end report to the President. And this afternoon, we're spotlighting some of the items in that report that the President is going to be including in the upcoming budget. And these include, first of all, an expansion of the child tax credit. Since 2000, child care costs have grown significantly faster than inflation and twice as fast -- twice as fast as the median income of families with children. And that's why we're asking Congress to nearly double the credit for middle class families with incomes up to $85,000 and increase the credit for nearly every family making under $115,000.

Secondly, the President is going to be proposing an increase in funding for child care and -- the so-called Child Care and Development Fund to serve an additional 235,000 children in America. This is going to help working parents who are struggling to lift their families into the middle class.

And, thirdly, elder care. I mean, we all -- we're a generation -- the so-called baby boom generation is becoming very knowledgeable about elder care and the need to help middle class families who are caring for aging parents and relatives. People like Jill and me are part of what's called that "sandwich" generation. And I make a very good salary, but just going through caring for my mother the last year and a half, and before that, my father, who, thank God, lived to ripe old ages -- it was -- it's not easy. And I -- we sit there -- when my brother and sister and I -- brothers and sister and I divided up the cost of the care, we were able to do that, no complaints, not a problem. But I thought to myself, my lord, what would it be like -- a couple with two kids making $85,000 a year, even $125,000 a year? How do they do it?

So today we're proposing more support for caregivers by providing counseling, training, help with transportation, and temporary respite care when they just need a break or they have to work -- which most all of them do.

This is going to allow nearly 200,000 people who are now balancing work and providing care to an elderly relative to be served, and 3 million hours of respite care are going to be provided.

The fourth thing is we're going to be strengthening the income-based repayment program for student loans -- fancy way of saying a lot of kids and families graduate with significant loan responsibility and literally -- literally are left with very few options. They've got to go out and get the highest-paying job they can, maybe in an area they had no intention of working in, just to pay back the loan.

Today the average debt of a graduating senior from college -- now, listen -- the average debt -- people of my generation -- the average debt is $23,000. That is literally $2,000 more than my first house cost. But in any standard, it's a lot of money -- average debt. Some are graduating with a great deal more debt than that.

So our proposal ensures that Federal Student Loan payments for overburdened borrowers are never more than 10 percent of their income -- a change like that makes a real difference for a kid just out of school. For someone who earns 30,000 bucks and owes $20,000 in loans, this would lower his or her monthly
payment from $228 a month under the standard repayment plan to $115 a month. People who have to budget every day just to get by, they understand that's a big difference. That's a big difference.

And finally, we want to strengthen retirement security, which we talked about with the Secretary of Treasury, for American workers. Too many working people in this country don't have a good option to save their hard-earned money for retirement. And too many of those who do save are finding that at the end of the day they don't have enough saved to afford the basic retirement they deserve.

That's why we're proposing to give more workers better access to retirement plans at work, to match retirement savings for middle class Americans so they can save more, and to strengthen and update the 401(k) regulations so that they can save with greater confidence.

This means establishing an automatic individual retirement account. Today, 78 million Americans, working Americans --roughly half the workforce -- don't have employer-based retirement plans anymore. Our proposal lays the groundwork for an employer who do not currently offer retirement plans to enroll their employees in direct deposit IRAs. We found it's a simple proposition -- when you do that, people, if you're automatically enrolled, you can opt out. But they save a great deal more. And it just puts in place the requirement of the employer to provide that access out of their paycheck to go into an IRA. It's a simple proposition, but it's a big deal.

It also means simplifying and expanding the saver's credit, which helped working families save for retirement by providing a 50 percent match on the first $1,000 of retirement savings. So if you put a thousand bucks into a retirement account, your government is going to add even more -- another $500. It's an incentive, but long term it saves the government a lot more money than the 500 hundred bucks put in if in fact we find we have a generation that's able to care for themselves and not have to look to the government to provide some basic needs they need. This will not only help build up a nest egg for existing savers, but it's going to encourage workers who currently have no retirement accounts to start to save.

Taken together, these and other middle class proposals we believe will go a long way toward easing the strain on working families, allowing them to save more today to get further ahead tomorrow. Because if we give a working man and woman in this country -- and first of all, we make sure they've got good jobs -- if we give them an opportunity, they're the most productive workers in the world. We give them the tools, the flexibility, even just a chance to succeed, we're not only going to rebuild this economy, we're going to offer millions of Americans to build a future that they hope and still believe is available to them.

So I wanted to thank all you guys. You've been meeting with me on a regular basis. I've been a little bit of a pain in the neck. I know you have urgent, urgent, urgent things that were left on our plate -- placed on our plate when we took office. And one of the things you've done -- and I thank you for it -- when the President set up this task force is you have not taken your eye off the ball, you have serious people inside each of your agencies doing nothing every day but getting up, putting both feet on the floor, and saying, what are we going to do inside my shop that's going to ease the burden and increase the opportunity for people to get into the middle class and stay in.

So, Mr. President -- I think the President is here -- I'd like to invite him to come out because we owe the President a great deal for focusing this issue throughout the campaign and the first thing you did when you came to office. Mr. President, it's an honor working with you on this.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Hey, guys, everybody have a seat -- have a seat.

Well, I wanted to stop by to comment on all the great work that the Middle Class Task Force is doing. And you've just seen why Joe is the right person to do it. No one brings to the table the same combination of personal experience and substantive expertise. He's come a long way, and achieved incredible things along the ride, but he's never forgotten where he came from and his roots as a working-class kid from Scranton. He's devoted his life to making the American Dream a reality for everyone -- because he's lived it.

Now, we all know what that American Dream is. It's the idea that in America we can make of our lives what we will. It's the idea that if you work hard and live up to your responsibilities, you can get ahead -- and enjoy some of the basic guarantees in life: A good job that pays a good wage, health care that'll be there when you get sick, a secure retirement even if you're not rich, an education that will give our kids a better life than we had. They're very simple ideas. But they're the ideas that are at the heart of our middle class -- the middle class that made the 20th century the American Century.

Unfortunately, the middle class has been under assault for a long time. Too many Americans have known their own painful recessions long before any economist declared that there was a recession. We've just come through what was one of the most difficult decades the middle class has ever faced -- a decade in which median income fell and our economy lost about as many jobs as it gained.

For two years, Joe and I traveled this country and we heard stories that are all too familiar: stories of Americans barely able to stay afloat despite working harder and harder for less; premiums that were doubling, tuition fees that were rising almost as fast; savings being used up, retirements put off, dreams put on hold. That was all before the middle class got pounded by the full fury of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Their stories are why Joe and I ran for this office: to reverse those trends, to fight for the middle class, to make sure working families have a voice in the White House, and to do everything within our power to make sure they don't just survive the crisis, but again they can thrive.

And when we walked through these doors last year our first and most urgent task was to rescue our economy, to give immediate relief to those who were hurt by its downturn, but also to rebuild it on a new, stronger foundation for job creation. So we helped state and local governments keep cops and firefighters and teachers on the job, helping to plug their budgets. We invested in areas with the most potential for job growth both immediate and lasting -- in our infrastructure, in science and technology, in education, in clean energy. And these steps have saved or created about 2 million jobs so far.

But more than 7 million have been lost as a consequence of this recession -- an epidemic that demands our relentless and sustained response. Now, last month the House passed a new jobs bill. The Senate, as we speak, is hard at work developing its own job creation package. Creating good, sustainable jobs is the single most important thing we can do to rebuild the middle class -- and I won't rest until we're doing just that.

But we also need to reverse the overall erosion in middle class security so that when this economy does come back, working Americans are free to pursue their dreams again. There are a variety of immediate steps we can take to do just that -- steps we're poised to begin taking in the budget that I'll put forward next week.

Joe already spoke about some of these proposals in detail -- proposals that make it a bit easier for families to get by, for students to get ahead, and for workers to retire. To make balancing work and family more realistic, we'll make it easier to care for children and aging loved ones. To make college more affordable, we'll make it easier for students to pay back their loans, and forgive their debt earlier if they choose a career in public service. And to make retirement more secure, we're going to make it easier to save through the workplace.

Joe and I are going to keep on fighting for what matters to middle class families: An education that gives our kids a chance in life; new, clean energy economy that generates the good jobs of the future; meaningful financial reform that protect consumers; and health reform that prohibits the worst practices of the insurance industry and restores some stability and peace of mind for middle class families.

None of these steps alone will solve all the challenges facing the middle class. Joe understands that; so do I. So do all my members of the Cabinet and our economic team. But hopefully some of these steps will reestablish some of the security that's slipped away in recent years. Because in the end, that's how Joe and I measure progress -- not by how the markets are doing, but by how the American people are doing. It's about whether they see some progress in their own lives.

So we're going to keep fighting to rebuild our economy so that hard work is once again rewarded, wages and incomes are once again rising, and the middle class is once again growing. And above all, we're going to keep fighting to renew the American Dream and keep it alive -- not just in our time, but for all time.

So, again, to our team -- and that includes, by the way, the folks over here -- thank you for the great work that you've done. I'm excited about a lot of the proposals that you've come up with. And we expect that we're going to be able to get some of these critical initiatives passed soon so that folks can get some help right away.

Thank you very much. (Applause.)

Christopher priest arrested for felony theft

Danny Malkovich
Benton Evening News

Mon Jan 25, 2010, 01:42 PM CST

West City, Ill. -

A Catholic priest from Christopher was arrested at 4:49 p.m. on Jan. 21 on alleged shoplifting charges at the Wal-Mart  SuperCenter, according to West City Police.

The Rev. Steven F. Poole, 41, faces two counts of felony theft over $150.
He serves as priest for St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Christopher and St. Mary's Catholic Church in Sesser.

Poole, who has a previous arrest for stealing in Missouri, was arrested after Wal-Mart store surveillance video  caught him on camera failing to scan a $3.22 container of butter and a $60 sofa cover, police said.

Police said Poole then allegedly headed to the store's bedding department and picked up a memory foam mattress. He returned to the self-checkout lane where he was allegedly observed on tape switching the pricing bar code, causing the $144.88 item to be scanned for $30.88.

Loss prevention personnel then stepped in, police said, and accompanied him to the West City Police Department.

There Poole was found to be in possession of a laptop computer power pack, also allegedly taken from store, police said.

Poole was taken to Franklin County Jail where he was released on personal recognizance.

Obama to skip jury duty in Bridgeview

January 24, 2010 6:14 PM

Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON -- If Cook County had had its druthers, President Barack Obama would have shown up Monday for jury duty.

But court officials were told several weeks ago the prospect was a no-go, a White House official said today. The summons showed up at the president's home in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood.

Obama, a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, president of its law review and later a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, would have been bound for the courthouse in suburban Bridgeview, had he not been otherwise occupied.

With his first State of the Union speech on tap Wednesday, it's a busy week for the president -- though not strictly business.

His official schedule Monday calls for a meet-and-greet with the Los Angeles Lakers, the reigning NBA champions. The White House said players will be joined by the coaches, team staffers, NBA officials and former Laker greats.

Then, no doubt, it's back to business.

Lottery lovers, we've got your numbers.

If you have a dollar and dream -- and believe you can beat the odds -- start with 14, 36 and 48.

Those three numbers have hit more than any others among the 414 winning Mega Millions tickets sold between 2005 and Jan. 12.

And since June 24, 2005, when the latest version of the game launched, they've appeared on the winning six-number combinations the most often.

That's according to an analysis of Mega Millions payouts compiled by Matthew Vea, a consultant in Ernst & Young's financial services department in Midtown, who looked at the results of every drawing over the last 4½ years.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

UNITED STATES - MARCH 07: New York Lottery personality Yolanda Vega announces the Mega Millions Lottery numbers worth an estimated $370 million at the ABC Studios in New York City on Tuesday, March 6, 2007.

The game encourages players from 12 states, including New York and New Jersey, to plunk down a dollar in the hope of becoming fabulously wealthy.

A player's six picks must match the numbers that come up when officials randomly draw a half-dozen balls numbered 1 to 56.

With odds of more than 175 million to 1, jackpots routinely reach hundreds of millions. The record payout was $390 million in 2007. Tuesday's jackpot is an estimated $121 million.

The number 14 is a big winner.

Not only has it appeared on 48 of the 414 winning tickets since 2005 (a rate of more than 11 percent), it's been the second-hottest number during the last three months, averaging just 30.2 days between appearances on somebody's lucky ducat, Vea's analysis shows.

The number 36 also popped up 48 times since 2005, while 48 appeared 47 times. Three others -- 53, 5 and 46 -- hit 46 times.

Experts caution that every drawing is random, so playing "hot" or "cold" numbers is, statistically speaking, still a losing proposition.

"It's perfectly natural that in a small sample size, 414 drawings, that you would have a [hot] number," said NYU math professor Gerard Ben Arus. "But of course if you get a huge sample size, tens of thousands, it would equal out."

The most popular numbers chosen by players for New York's Numbers and Win 4 games are 111 and 0000, lottery organizers say.

After 111, the next most popular Numbers choice is 222, followed by 333, 777 and 999.

Among Win 4, they are 1111, 2222 and 3333.

Officials said that news events sometimes spur a run on numbers, such as 911, which sells out every year on Sept. 11, and 1549, the number of the US Airways flight that hero pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger safely landed in the Hudson River a year ago.

Omen numerals  

A consultant at Ernst & Young studied the numbers picked for the Mega Millions lottery since 2005. The results:

Most frequent winning numbers

14 On 48 winning tickets — 11.6%

36 On 48 winning tickets — 11.6%

48 On 47 winning tickets — 11.4%

Least frequent winning numbers

47 On 23 winning tickets — 5.6%

6 On 25 winning tickets — 6%

49 On 26 winning tickets — 6.2%

OTHER US LOTTERIES

The hottest numbers in 107 state lottery drawings nationwide between Jan. 7 and Jan. 13 this year:

20, 23, 30, 42, 7, 32, 16

NY NUMBERS

Most popular numbers picked by players:

 111, 222, 333, 777, 999

NY WIN 4

Most popular numbers picked by players:

1111, 2222, 3333

OTHER POPULAR NUMBERS

911 Sells out every Sept. 11 and won in 2002

1549 The number of the US Airways flight that splash-landed in the Hudson

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/number_hunchers_QMr6smQrA3GB66o4xEbswI#ixzz0dcWyyQl0