truesee's Blog

Suburbanite shoots 2 home invasion suspects

December 27, 2009 3:45 PM

UPDATED STORY

Chicago Tribune

A homeowner shot two masked men who pushed their way into a far north suburban Wauconda house early Saturday night, sending both suspects to the hospital, police said.

A trail of what appeared to be frozen blood ran from the front door of a home in the 300 block of Indian Ridge Trail in Wauconda on today, but the people in that home refused to comment to the media. On the door of that house, a piece of metal appeared to have been broken off.

Wauconda Police Department Sgt. Tim Burke said the names of the alleged victims and suspects would not be released until or unless charges are filed.

"The investigation is still ongoing," Burke said, adding that they have not turned over the results of their investigation to the Lake County State's Attorney's Office.

The two men who were shot were taken via ambulance to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, police said. No more information about their condition was immediately available, but Burke said they remained hospitalized as of early Sunday. A Fire Department official said Saturday evening that their injuries did not appear life-threatening.

The two homeowners present at the time of the apparent home invasion were treated at the same hospital and released Saturday night, according to Burke.

A press release from police said the shooting happened at about 5:47 p.m. Saturday, with the masked men forcing their way into a house in the Country Ridge subdivision, then engaging in "repeated demands and physical altercations." The pair refused to leave, according to police and one of the homeowners shot them.

One of the homeowners shot both suspects, who were found wounded in front of the home when police arrived on the scene, police said.

Burke said investigators do not believe the home was intentionally targeted but said police will not confirm the address to which they were called. The homeowners, he said, are worried about media attention.

"They're shaken up," Burke said.

David Bowen, who lives in the subdivision, said he saw police sirens and heard screaming at the time of the incident. Late in the night, he said, police towed away a pickup truck parked on his street. The alleged home invasion, he said, is unexpected in a neighborhood where everyone knows each other.

"It makes absolutely no sense," Bowen said. "I've been here over 20-some years. I never heard of anything like this happening."

LINK TO PHOTO

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/12/suburban-homeowner-shoots-2-home-invasion-suspects.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/12/27/2009-12-27_indian_governor_narain_dutt_tiwari_86_resigns_after_sex_tape_shows_him_in_bed_wi.html

December 22, 2009

$70 debt sparks rampage at church

Sara Leaming

The Spokesman-Review

A 56-year-old man who investigators say was so angry over a $70 repair bill he rammed his truck into a Spokane church and ransacked the inside was arrested Tuesday.

Mark T. Heitman, a parishioner of the Country Crossroads Church at 7011 N. Altamont St., allegedly drove his Chevrolet pickup truck into the church building to gain entry Monday night, the Spokane County Sherriff’s Office said. Nearly every window, television, computer and light fixture was smashed during the rampage, which caused thousands of dollars of damage, the pastor said.

The tirade was apparently sparked over a $70 repair bill that the church owed Heitman for some electrical work he had done.

“I tried to pay him with a check and he wouldn’t take a check, so I guess he got mad because I didn’t have any cash here at the time,” said Pastor Dan Eubank. “So I guess he decided to take (the money) another way.”

According to court records, it’s not the first time that Heitman has faced criminal charges for driving his truck through a building in a rage over money.

Documents show he still owes more than $40,000 in restitution and accrued interest stemming from a January 1996 incident in which he smashed his truck into the Child Support Enforcement building, 1600 W. Boone Ave., telling authorities “they were taking all of his money.” Court records state Heitman grabbed a hammer and “went to work on the computers.” He then drove his damaged truck to the Spokane County Jail to turn himself in.

Eubank said Heitman became enraged Monday when the church could not pay him cash, and was also agitated over other personal issues. Eubank said he knew of Heitman’s previous violent outburst and criminal convictions.

Before vandalizing the church Monday, Heitman also allegedly smashed out the windshield and the windows of the pastor’s truck while it was parked at his home in the 600 block of East Rich Avenue.

Heitman was located and arrested at an automotive shop in the 2900 block of North Nevada on Tuesday, and booked into jail on felony charges of second-degree burglary and malicious mischief.

Eubank said the church had to cancel Wednesday services, as well as a candlelight service planned for Christmas Eve for its 120 parishioners.

When asked whether Heitman would be barred from the congregation, the Pastor replied: “We don’t operate that way, we’ve forgiven him. If he wants to come back, he’s more than welcome.”

Old King Coal will stay on the commodities throne for years

Waking up to a stocking full of coal is probably not the most exciting start to a Christmas morning. But at least it's got a better chance of increasing in value by next year than a Wii Fit or a Zhu Zhu Pet.

 Rowena Mason, City Reporter (Energy)
6:16PM GMT 27 Dec 2009

Green problems with coal have not tarnished its prospects as a 'key fuel for the future' Photo: Reuters

There are many dismissing coal as the unwanted black sheep of the fossil fuel family, blamed for 40pc of the world's carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming.

But in defiance of environmental concerns, there has been little sign that any fall off in coal demand this year is due to anything other than the recession.

Analysts from JP Morgan reckon that thermal coal, used in power stations, will rise from $70 to $85 per tonne next year, based on rebounding demand from China and India. While global inventories have been unusually high in the downturn, the bank believes stocks may decline from 40m tonnes this year to 22.7m in 2010.

"Supply will be tight in the next two years," said Stevanus Juanda, a mining analyst. "In the second half of 2009, we have observed sizeable imports of coal by China, due to the closure of mines in the Shanxi region and rise in electricity generation."

Experts are also predicting a shortage in coking coal used to make steel over the next year, driven up 12-fold by demand from China.

Macquarie, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley estimate that prices may jump by between 23pc and 38pc in 2010, as global demand rebounds.

And the International Energy Agency believes that coal will account for 29pc of global energy needs in 2030, compared with 26pc in 2006. For Deloitte's energy consultants, this all goes to show that green problems with coal do not yet tarnish its prospects as a "key fuel for the future".

Listening to the political leaders at the Copenhagen climate change conference, you could be forgiven for imagining that the world was about to be seized with a Thatcherite fervour for closing down the mines.

That was the political rhetoric. But the summit failed to reach agreements on targets for lowering emissions and how they should be financed – mostly because burning coal is still in the national economic interest of most developing countries.

In the aftermath of the Copenhagen chaos, Western politicians have been blaming China and India for sabotaging the talks. If true, it is hardly surprising that they want to resist curbs on the predicted growth of their emissions, largely based on soaring use of coal.

The Copenhagen accord may have been vaguely worded, but its implications for commodities are clear: businesses still have little incentive to invest in more expensive renewables and nuclear power while coal and gas are cheaper.

Europe has decided to start closing coal plants without "carbon capture" facilities and China is keen to get its hands on this future technology, but the fact remains that old coal stations are still being built at the rate of one a day.

With "clean coal" technology unlikely to be commercial for another decade, it at least remains a helpful myth for politicians and companies to justify continued investment in the commodity.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/British-Man-Ben-Southall-Is-Set-To-Leave-Tropical-Australian-Island-And-The-Best-Job-In-The-World/Article/200912415506925?f=rss

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22054095/

(Yong Kim / Staff Photographer) The home of Pastor Kirk Caldwell on the 100 block of Ridge Ave., in Darby Borough, where Caldwell allegedly killed his son, Jordan Caldwell. Caldwell is the paster of End Times Harvest Mission for Christ church in Philadelphia.

Sat, Dec. 26, 2009

Cops: Phila. pastor shot son

Christmas killing in Darby Borough

STEPHANIE FARR
Philadelphia Daily News

Pastor Kirk Caldwell wrote last year that at age 15, he found God.

Yesterday, on Christmas, 29 years after he found God, he found himself in the most ungodly of situations.

Police said Caldwell, 44, a father of eight, shot his son Jordan, 21, once in the chest shortly before 2 p.m. during a gathering of between 15 and 18 family members at his home on Ridge Avenue near Main Street in Darby Borough.

Within the hour, Jordan Caldwell was pronounced dead at Mercy-Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, according to police.

The younger Caldwell was engaged in a physically violent domestic situation with a woman, possibly his girlfriend, Darby Police Chief Robert Smythe said.

"From what we're getting, it was extremely violent," Smythe said. "The father somehow became involved in this domestic thing, and at some point the father had a gun registered to him and fired one shot, striking the boy in the chest."

Kirk Caldwell stayed at the scene until police arrived and cooperated with detectives during questioning, Smythe said.

He will be charged with a crime, but just what charges he will face was uncertain pending police interviews with the numerous witnesses - which continued well into last night - and a review of the case by the Delaware County District Attorney's Office. Smythe said he expected Caldwell to be arraigned sometime this morning.

The violent incident came as a shock to those who know Kirk Caldwell, including neighbors and Smythe.

Caldwell, a pastor at the End Times Harvest Mission for Christ, on Cheltenham Avenue near 18th Street in West Oak Lane, was an outspoken voice against violence this summer when a 17-year-old was fatally shot on a Darby street in July.

"God has said, 'Vengeance is mine,' " Caldwell was quoted by the Delaware County Daily Times as saying at a vigil for the fallen teen. "He can do a better job of it than you can. Retaliation is never the answer. Retaliation is only going to make it worse."

Smythe, who said he met Caldwell a couple of times, was "quite surprised" by yesterday's events.

"I find this is not something I would expect this guy to do," he said.

Donald Mosby, 81, who has lived next door to Caldwell since he and his family moved in a couple of years ago, said Caldwell seemed "like a moderate man."

He said Caldwell worked as a plumber as well as a pastor, and that he used two of the five vans he owned to shuttle parishioners to and from church.

Caldwell and his wife, Sharron, served as foster parents and were redoing the garage behind their home to serve as a rehearsal space for some of their children who played instruments at the church, Mosby said.

"He had good intentions," Mosby said. "He was originally from North Philly, which is a bad area, but he seemed to survive it well."

In his MySpace profile, Kirk Caldwell calls his wife "wonderful" and his eight kids "beautiful."

"My life right now is wonderful because Jesus came into my heart," he wrote on his profile. "What a wonderful joy I have and the world can't take it away. I am a mighty man of God."

Mosby said that on Thursday, one of the Caldwell sons went into the middle of the street cursing and seemed to be drinking. He did not know whether it was Jordan Caldwell.

When Mosby heard the shot yesterday afternoon, he thought it had come from up the street, until one of Caldwell's daughters ran out of the house yelling on her cell phone: " 'He shot, he shot my brother!' " Mosby said.

"I said to myself, 'Of all days.' This is one Christmas they'll never forget," Mosby said.

LINK TO VIDEO OF FIGHT:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/26/kirk-caldwell-pastor-fata_n_404040.html

How the decade changed education

HERALD-TRIBUNE

Tiffany Lankes & Christopher O'Donnell

Published: Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 25, 2009 at 8:36 p.m.

The big theme in education for the past decade: accountability.

Heightened state and federal pressure to do well on standardized tests prompted schools to try everything from community outreach to technology to help their most struggling students.

Those efforts became some of the biggest trends of the early 2000s, as deemed by education publishing company Scholastic. Here's the company list of the biggest education ideas of the decade:

TESTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 kicked off an unprecedented era of testing and accountability in the nation's school system, charging educators to make every child proficient in reading and math by 2014. The law required states to develop standardized tests and report how well students in different racial groups were performing. Florida students were already taking the FCAT when the federal law went into effect. But No Child forced area schools to add remedial programs, offered parents the option to move their children to other schools and led to the dismissal of several Manatee County principals whose students were not making enough progress.

LITERACY FOR OLDER STUDENTS

One of the most striking statistics to come out of the decade was that just 35 percent of the nation's eighth-graders could read at grade level. In response, schools amped up reading efforts — once reserved for elementary schools — in middle and high schools. Sarasota hired an elementary principal who had successfully raised student test scores to use the same strategies at Booker High. Teachers tapped into students' interests to get them to focus on writing with programs such as the rap class at Bayshore High, in which students write, record and produce their own rap tracks.

AND SPEAKING OF READING...

Schools seized on the popularity of the Harry Potter and Twilight series in their effort to improve students' reading, adding them to school summer reading lists and starting programs to get students excited about books. Last year, Sarasota middle schools started a program in which every student read the same book at the same time. The idea was that students would discuss the book with one another and get excited to read it.

SAY HELLO TO NEW TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

Educators embraced a slew of technological innovations in hopes of getting students more interested in learning. Sarasota County became the world's largest purchaser of Activboards when it installed one in every classroom. In Manatee, many students used the E-folio system, creating an electronic portfolio of their classwork using Web publishing software, iPods, video cameras, scanners and digital cameras. Some schools also adopted initiatives to equip every student with a laptop.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

What happens at home can have a dramatic impact on how students do in school, especially among children who live in poverty. So schools have made efforts to try to improve students' lives at home, offering parents GED and English language classes. At Samoset Elementary School in Bradenton, school leaders formed a community coalition to clean up the neighborhood and raze abandoned houses used by drug dealers. They worked with the Sheriff's Office to get regular patrols by deputies on bicycles. An abandoned and vandalized community center was restored and reopened. Sarasota's Booker High School is even now trying to get jobs for area residents as the school is rebuilt.

DATA DRIVES INSTRUCTION

Schools started testing students more often and using scores to pinpoint their weaknesses. School districts hired data and reading coaches to assist with this effort. At the height of the trend, more than 2,500 reading coaches pulled struggling students for intensive one-on-one help. But drastic budget cuts this year forced many districts to cut the extra positions, including Sarasota and Manatee.

GOODBYE TO OLD SCHOOL CLASSROOM TOOLS

The push for more technology ultimately meant the sunset of some traditional classroom tools. Electronic white boards all but replaced blackboards, and even textbooks began to disappear as more schools invested in laptops. In Sarasota, one classroom at Phoenix Academy went entirely paperless.

ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO TEACHING

A shortage of teachers inspired a number of programs that made it easier for people to get into the classroom without going to a traditional education college. In Florida, fast growth in the mid 2000s drove the state to start offering fast-track certification programs through the community colleges and allowing professionals to start working while they earn their license.

CHARTER SCHOOLS

The decade brought a rise in the number of charter schools, which are privately run but publicly funded. The idea was to give parents more options. Florida has been at the forefront of the charter school movement, with state laws that make it easy for such schools to open. The state now has nearly 400 of the country's 3,000 charter schools.

ECONOMIC STIMULUS

One of the last major education trends in the decade could have the biggest impact on schools for the next few years. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act put more than $100 billion into American school systems, trying to help bridge the gap for budget losses because of the economy.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/gallery/chinesefood/

COMMACK, N.Y. (AP) - A 10-year-old girl in New York has been suspended for bringing peppermint oil to her middle school and distributing it to other students.

The Commack School District said in a statement on its Web Site that the oil is "an unregulated over-the-counter drug."

The girl's mother, Corrine Morton-Greiner, said on Thursday that the implication that her daughter Sara was bringing an illicit substance to school was "infuriating."

Morton-Greiner asked school officials to apologize and to revoke her daughter's suspension.

Commack Superintendent James Feltman said Sara's actions violated the school district's code of conduct when she brought the oil to school on Monday. He said the label on the bottle said it should be kept out of reach of children.

Schoolboy, 10, arrested after 'stabbing teacher in the chest with a pencil'

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:55 PM on 25th December 2009

The injured teacher was treated at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Lancashire

A ten-year-old was arrested after a teacher was stabbed in the chest with a pencil during a class.

The boy reportedly grabbed the pencil from the teacher's jacket pocket and then plunged it through the man's shirt puncturing his chest near his heart.

The stunned primary school teacher then pulled out the pencil himself as colleagues called 999 and paramedics took him bleeding from the wound to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, Lancashire, for emergency treatment.

Police were also called to the school and took the youngster - described as being of very slight build - into custody.

The boy who has just reached the age when he can face the justice system is understood to have admitted what he has done.

A police spokesman said : 'The teacher was very lucky, another inch and the sharp pencil could have punctured one of his main arteries.'

The incident is said to have occurred as the teacher tried to persuade the boy to go into the school's quiet room used when a pupil gets unruly and needs time cool down.

The boy refused and claims the teacher tried to grapple him into the room and it was then he allegedly grabbed the pencil and stabbed him with it.

There had reportedly been an earlier incident in which the same boy kicked the same teacher.

Lancashire Police have confirmed the boy was arrested and questioned by officers about the incident.

If it is decided whether to report him for a wounding offence, a Youth Court is likely to impose a referral order on him as he has not been in trouble before.

Such an order means he could go under the guidance of a team of specialist youth workers and may have to write a letter of apology to the teacher.

Blackpool Education Authority said the boy had been excluded from the school as a result of the incident and would receive home tuition in the meantime.

The teacher is recovering from the attack over the festive break and is expected back in the classroom in the New Year,

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1238345/Schoolboy-10-arrested-stabbing-teacher-chest-pencil.html#ixzz0akwXNaKM

Osama bin Laden came within minutes of killing Bill Clinton

Former President Bill Clinton came within minutes of being assassinated in the Philippines by terrorists controlled by Osama bin Laden, a new book has revealed.

Tom Leonard in New York
7:00PM GMT 22 Dec 2009

Bill Clinton came within minutes of being assassinated in the Philippines Photo: AP

The US leader was saved shortly before his car was due to drive over a bridge in Manila where a bomb had been planted.

The foiled attack came during Mr Clinton's visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the city in 1996.

At one point during his stay, he was scheduled to visit a local politician, his route taking him across a bridge in central Manila.

But as the presidential motorcade was about to set off, secret service officers received a "crackly message in one earpiece" saying intelligence agents had picked up a message suggesting an attack was imminent.

The transmission used the words "bridge" and "wedding" – a terrorists code word for assassination.

The motorcade was quickly re-routed and American agents later discovered a bomb had been planted under the bridge.

The subsequent US investigation into the plot "revealed that it had been masterminded by a Saudi terrorist living in Afghanistan – a man named Osama bin Laden".

Although al Qaeda members have admitted targeting Mr Clinton in the 1990s, no evidence has previously emerged suggesting the group's leader was involved or that the terrorists came close to succeeding.

Ken Gormley, an American law professor, said he was told by Louis Merletti, the former director of the Secret Service, of the bomb plot.

In The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs Starr, Prof Gormley wrote: "The thwarted assassination attempt was never made public.

"It remained top secret except to select members of the US intelligence community."

At the time, there were media reports about the discovery of two bombs, one at Manila airport and another at the venue for the leaders' meeting.

However, they were linked to a communist insurgency in the Philippines rather than as an external attempt to kill the US president.

A spokesman for the Secret Service refused to comment on Prof Gorman's allegations.

Commentators in the US questioned why the Clinton administration would keep quiet about the assassination attempt when it later needed to justify missile attacks on al-Qaeda training bases.

It could also have ramifications for the widely-held assumption that the Bush regime could not have anticipated the September 11 terror attacks.

Ramzi Yousef, the al-Qaeda member who used a truck bomb to attack the World Trade Centre in 1993, has admitted he plotted to assassinate Mr Clinton after fleeing to Manila, but was dissuaded by his high level of security.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described 9/11 mastermind, also lived in the Philippines in the mid-1990s and has admitted he considered trying to kill Mr Clinton.

The president and his national security team have been accused of passing up several opportunities to capture bin Laden and his associates in the 1990s when they were living in Sudan.

Mr Clinton has rejected such claims, insisting he was "obsessed" with the al-Qaeda leader during his time in office.

In the years leading up to the September 11 attacks, al Qaeda was blamed for bombing two US embassies in Africa and attacked the destroyer, the USS Cole.

However, Marisa Porges, a former government counter-terrorism advisor and an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US think tank, said the assassination plot, if true,would suggest al Qaeda was more developed than some thought it was prior to 9/11”.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said earlier this month that it was important to capture bin Laden, a goal that some believe has slipped down America's list of priorities in the years since the September 11 attacks.

Prof Gormley’s book, for which he interviewed Mr Clinton three times, focuses mainly on the former president’s pursuit by Ken Starr, the independent counsel.

Mr Starr’s conclusion that Mr Clinton lied during a sworn deposition about his affair with Monica Lewinsky led to the president’s impeachment.

AP sources: Northwest passenger who tried to blow up Detroit-bound flight linked to al-Qaida

LARA JAKES, LARRY MARGASAK

Associated Press Writer

6:28 p.m. CST, December 25, 2009

White House issues statement on Detroit airliner incident

3:09 pm

J.P. Karas, AP / December 25, 2009   This picture provided by J.P. Karas shows Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on the runway after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Amsterdam on Friday, Dec. 25, 2009. A passenger aboard the plane set off firecrackers Friday, causing a commotion and some minor injuries, a Delta official said. Delta and Northwest have merged. (AP Photo/J.P. Karas)

The White House issued a statement about an incident aboard Delta Flight 253 in Detroit, where a man reportedly set off what initially was believed to be firecrackers as the plane arrived from Amsterdam. The Airbus 330 was carrying 278 passengers. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told the Associated Press that the passenger was trying to blow up the plane but that the explosive device failed. 

"The president was notified of the incident this morning between 9:00 and 9:30 Hawaii time by the president’s military aide. The president subsequently convened a secure conference call with John Brennan, his Homeland Security and counterterrorism advisor, and Denis McDonough, [National Security Council] chief of staff. He asked to arrange a subsequent secure call and in that call instructed that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel. The president is actively monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates. There is currently no change to his schedule."

-- Alana Semeuls

Baltimore  Sun

Burglars take presents — and family dog

Richard Irwin

December 25, 2009

City police were seeking whoever broke into a Gardenville house Wednesday evening and stole several Christmas presents, electronic equipment, video games - and the family dog.

Keith Alioto, 41, of the 5700 block of Belle Vista Ave. said he, his wife and six children left the house about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and returned about 11 p.m. to find the house had been broken into through a rear window and that the TV, Christmas presents, two computer monitors and other items were missing.

"The rooms were messed up, and at first I thought Max, our 4-month-old mixed-breed dog, had gotten out of the kitchen through a gate and got into things," said Alioto.

He said it suddenly occurred to him that the dog also was gone, and his children are now heartbroken.

"He's a wonderful family pet, and we hope that whoever took him will somehow make arrangement to return Max to us," said Alioto.

The dog is mostly black with brown and white chest and paws. He said the dog had no collar, having outgrown it. Alioto said fliers with a photo of the missing dog have been distributed throughout the area.

http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2009/12/woman-knocks-over-pope-benedict-xvi-at.html