truesee's Blog

The Recession’s Over, but Not the Layoffs

PETER S. GOODMAN 

November 7, 2009

But just as climate change has altered how we contemplate the seasons, some economists argue that the business cycle no longer operates as it once did, failing to replenish the jobs it destroys, and leaving our economy vulnerable to a potentially long-term shortage of work.

The tools we use to assess the business cycle date back to the 1920s, when the economy looked much different. Manufacturing jobs have declined sharply as a percentage of overall employment, while services have emerged as the primary economic engine. Automation and globalization have supplied thrifty corporate managers with myriad ways to boost production without hiring.

“It’s a change in the structure of the business cycle,” argues Allen Sinai, chief global economist at the research firm Decision Economics, who has put together a panel to discuss the subject at a January meeting of the American Economic Association in Atlanta. “There appears to be a new tendency to substitute against labor. It’s permanent, as long as there are alternatives like outsourcing and robotics.”

Certainly, those inclined to argue that commercial life has been remade are frequently chastened when — as often happens — the dusty old laws of economics reassert themselves.

During the technology boom of the 1990s, some hailed a New Economy that supposedly liberated us from the tyranny of the business cycle while explaining how companies that never earned a nickel could be worth more than established brands. When arithmetic returned, the New Economy became synonymous with silliness.

This decade, as investors bid housing prices to levels that breached all connection to incomes, some economists argued that the booms and busts of real estate had been rendered inoperative by financial innovation. We know how that turned out.

But the latest reassessment of the business cycle now has a couple of decades of data to consider. After recession gave way to expansion in March 1991, it took a year before hiring resumed in earnest — a so-called jobless recovery. After the following recession ended in March 2001, two years passed before jobs grew. Many economists assume that the third straight jobless recovery has already begun, as nervous businesses — worried about the lingering bite of the financial crisis and weak prospects — continue to hold back on hiring.

This is not how things are supposed to go, not according to our traditional view of the business cycle. When the economy is growing, businesses hire aggressively as they increase production and sell more goods. As workers spend their paychecks, they distribute dollars throughout the economy, creating business opportunities that prompt other companies to hire — a virtuous cycle. As growth slows, companies let people go, then hire anew when new opportunities emerge.

Our unemployment insurance system is built for this kind of boom and bust cycle, giving furloughed workers some cash to tide them over until their companies call them back.

But as Mr. Sinai and his colleagues see things, our view of the business cycle is antiquated. They say it fails to account for the critical role of finance and changing appetites for risk that can influence economic growth; that, crucially, it dates to a time when manufacturing employed roughly one-third of the American workforce, well before what we now call the global economy.

In the middle of the last century, a retailer in Chicago who needed goods likely had to place an order with a factory in the Midwest. Today, that retailer could well be part of a conglomerate that taps a global supply chain; it sends its orders to workers in China and elsewhere, or to domestic factories that can increase production without hiring many more people, either by further automating or by bringing in temporary workers.

Of course, automation can itself create extra factory jobs for American firms that make robotics, and these companies increasingly export their gear to the same factories in China that produce goods now landing on shelves in Chicago. Yet the overall trend appears to make many American companies less inclined to hire, reluctant to take on cost in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Not everyone buys into this view. Labor-oriented economists like Lawrence Mishel at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington argue that the business cycle works the same as it always did; the problem is that economic growth has been weak in recent times.

“When growth comes back,” Mr. Mishel said, “so will jobs.”

Others suggest that the business cycle has not changed, but rather that we have developed unrealistic assumptions about the bounty that should accrue in good times. In this view, our expectations have been perverted by an unhealthy reliance on credit in recent years.

Kenneth S. Rogoff, a Harvard economist and co-author of a history of financial crises, “This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly,” recalls that when he was a graduate student, most economists viewed the normal level of unemployment to be about 7 percent.

But over the last decade, as the Federal Reserve relied upon excessively low interest rates to spur economic activity, the norm slipped steadily lower, with some proclaiming that unemployment had effectively been tamed and could remain permanently in the vicinity of 5 percent.

As Mr. Rogoff portrays it, what may seem like weak hiring in recent times is really just a return to normal. Eventually, after the lingering dysfunction of the financial crisis gives way to a more healthy flow of money, enabling more businesses to borrow and expand, unemployment will settle in to a long-term average of about 6 percent, he says.

In other words, recession still turns to expansion, much as spring follows winter, but the warm months may not be as bountiful as in years past, when easy money fertilized outlandish crop production.

In any event, we’d best get ready for leaner harvests.

                               RELATED STORY WASHINGTON POST:

                                             Why Won't Obama Give You a Job?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/06/AR2009110601900.html

If she cries - she dies: Rare seizure condition could kill British girl

Caters News/ZUMA PressTianna Lewis McHugh looks dead when she has a crying fit

When she cries, she dies - or so it seems.

A British baby has a rare seizure condition that appears to kill her when she cries.

Tianna Lewis McHugh looks dead when she has a crying fit, turning white and stiffening up like a corpse before the 2-year-old comes back to life.

"She cried for seconds and then she looked like she had died," mom Ceri Lewis, 23, told the British paper The Express last week.

"She went a deathly gray, her lips and around her eyes were blue and her eyes rolled back," the mother said.

Diagnosed with Reflex Anoxic Seizure at just 18 months, Tianna has survived at least 10 episodes, the most serious one lasting two hours.

The condition is believed to affect one in 20,000 children. It is potentially fatal if the victim suffers serious trauma during an episode, which can stop the heart from beating for up to two minutes.

"When she has fits it's horrendous," said her father, Andy McHugh, 30. "If she starts to cry we have to flick water in her face to bring her out of the shock."

The seizures can be brought on by any unexpected shock, according to medical experts. In Tianna's case, crying is enough to trigger the seizures.

LINK TO PHOTO WITH PARENTS:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1224668/The-toddler-tears-trigger-fatal-fit.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0WM5JmzUi

Pictures of first person to undergo plastic surgery released

The images of a wounded First World War soldier who became the first person to undergo plastic surgery have been released in an attempt to trace his family.

Daily Telegraph reporter
8:35AM BST 28 Aug 2009

Last updated BST 7 Nov 2009

Walter Yeo before (left) and after the skin graft surgery Photo: SWNS

The photographs show before, during and after pictures of the ground-breaking medical procedure carried out on sailor Walter Yeo.

Walter sustained terrible facial injuries including the loss of upper and lower eyelids while manning the guns aboard HMS Warspite in 1916.

In 1917 he was treated by Sir Harold Gillies - the first man to use skin grafts from undamaged areas on the body - and know as 'the father of plastic surgery'.

London-based Gillies opened a specialist ward for the treatment of the facially-wounded at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup, Kent.

Walter Yeo is thought to be the first patient to benefit from his newly-developed technique - a form of skin grafting called 'tubed pedical'.

The young sailor, of Plymouth, Devon, was given new eyelids with a 'mask' of skin grafted across his face and eyes.

Artist Paddy Hartley, 37, has previously used the images in an exhibition and is now attempting to track down Walter's family to find out what happened to him.

Paddy, of London, said: "This tragedy catalysed the surgeon to transform the fledgling discipline of plastic surgery.

"Walter Yeo last went for treatment at the Royal Naval Hospital in Plymouth 1938, but little else is known about him.

"It would be interesting to know what happened to him in the years that followed.

"I'm keen to find out how he and his family coped with the consequences of his injuries and subsequent surgery."

Walter was born in 1890 and after marrying wife Ada was severely injured during the battle of Jutland while manning guns.

Records show he was admitted to Sir Harry Gillies' care on August 8, 1917 - just two months after he opened his specialist hospital.

Documents show after the procedure Walter, a gunnery warrant officer, was 'improved, but still had severe disfigurement'.

Paddy said: "The First World War was a war dominated by high explosives and heavy artillery.

"Casualties treated by Sir Harold Gillies included an unprecedented number with horrific facial injuries.

"Often unable to see, hear, speak, eat or drink, they struggled to re-assimilate back into civilian life."

Gillies is credited with developing new, untried techniques to treat the injuries created by this new kind of war, taking grafts from undamaged areas of flesh.

He used tubular 'pedicles' from the forehead, scalp, chest, neck or shoulders but retained a connection to allow blood flow.

Paddy has previously used similar images for an exhibition called Faces of Battle at the National Army Museum in London.

The Queen's Hospital, opened in June 1917, provided over 1,000 beds.

There Gillies and his colleagues developed many techniques of plastic surgery and carried more than 11,000 operations on over 5,000 men.

Deja vu: Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target in DVD price war

It's the latest salvo in an ongoing online push by Wal-Mart designed to make sure everyone knows it intends to be the low-price leader on the Web, as well as in stores.

The retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., said late Thursday that it would lower the online prices of new DVDs such as "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and "Star Trek XI" to $10.

But when Amazon reduced some of its DVD prices to $9.99, Wal-Mart shot back by cutting its DVDs to $9.98 as of Friday morning. Target got into the act Friday morning, too. All three companies also sweetened the pot by offering free shipping for the DVDs being sold.

The goal of such tactics is to drive higher volume, said BMO Capital Markets analyst WayneHood. He noted that some businesses like Wal-Mart and Target can afford to lower their prices and still be profitable because of their low-cost distribution models.

But not all retailers appear to be engaging in the tug of war, as Best Buy Co., Barnes&Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc. all had higher prices for some of the DVDs Friday.

That might cost them some sales, but also might not be a bad idea.

Hood said it is important for some of Wal-Mart's rivals to remain competitive on price, but that trying to undercut Wal-Mart, with its huge scope and buying power, is a losing game. The retail giant sells enough products in enough categories to make up for any losses on individual items that it uses to pull people into stores or onto its Web site.

"On an everyday basis, customers expect Wal-Mart to be the benchmark or standard for pricing," he said.

Wal-Mart, which generated more than $400 billion in sales last year, has been aggressively trying to stake its claim online. The DVD discounts and last month's book discounts are part of a series of maneuvers the retailer has taken to draw shoppers to its Internet home.

Wal-Mart's book price war with Target and Amazon.com in October saw the companies lower the online preorder prices on titles such as "Under the Dome" by Stephen King and "Ford County" by John Grisham. Prices dropped as low as $8.98.

As books in the price war have come to market, prices have gone up, though the sellers are still discounting them heavily.

Wal-Mart's DVD price cut follows its announcement late last month that it would reduce prices weekly on top-selling items from bananas to board games and hold those cuts through the holiday season. It is also offering more than 100 toys at $10 during the holidays.

Aside from the discounts, Wal-Mart has tried to drive people to its Web site with a massive boost to its online product offerings. In late August the company said it would allow outside retailers to sell nearly 1 million items — from baby products to sports memorabilia — on Walmart.com. And in October Wal-Mart said it would start selling health and beauty products online.

Wal-Mart's stock fell 29 cents to $50.99 in afternoon trading, while shares of Target shed 7 cents to $49.63. Amazon.com's stock gained $5.18, or 4.3 percent, to $125.79. The shares hit a 52-week high of $126.98 earlier in the session.

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November 06, 2009 12:46 PM EST

http://www.justnews.com/video/21540609/

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/pets/galleries/animal_kingdom_oddities/animal_kingdom_oddities.html

House Democrats pass health-care bill

One Republican votes for plan Senate will act next on legislation

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Hours after President Obama exhorted Democratic lawmakers to "answer the call of history," the House hit an unprecedented milestone on the path to health-care reform, approving a trillion-dollar package late Saturday that seeks to overhaul private insurance practices and guarantee comprehensive and affordable coverage to almost every American.

After months of acrimonious partisanship, Democrats closed ranks on a 220-215 vote that included 39 defections, mostly from the party's conservative ranks. But the bill attracted a surprise Republican convert: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana, who represents the Democratic-leaning district of New Orleans and had been the target of a last-minute White House lobbying campaign. GOP House leaders had predicted their members would unanimously oppose the bill.

Democrats have sought for decades to provide universal health care, but not since the 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid has a chamber of Congress approved such a vast expansion of coverage. Action now shifts to the Senate, which could spend the rest of the year debating its version of the health-care overhaul. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to bring a measure to the floor before Thanksgiving, but legislation may not reach Obama's desk before the new year.

At the Capitol, Obama urged the few Democrats who were still wavering on Saturday afternoon to put aside their political fears and embrace the bill's ambitious objectives. "Opportunities like this come around maybe once in a generation," he said afterward. "This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people have placed in us. Even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. This is our moment to deliver."

The House legislation would for the first time require every individual to obtain insurance, and would require all but the smallest employers to provide coverage to their workers. It would vastly expand Medicaid and create a new marketplace where people could obtain federal subsidies to buy insurance from private companies or from a new government-run insurance plan.

Though some people would receive no benefits -- including about 6 million illegal immigrants, according to congressional estimates -- the bill would virtually close the coverage gap for people who do not have access to health-care coverage through their jobs.

"For generations, the American people have called for affordable, quality health care for their families," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said before the vote. "Today, the call will be answered."

The debate on the House floor extended for about 12 hours and settled into a civil, if predictable, pattern, after a heated start.

Republicans had blasted the 1,990-page bill as an ominous blueprint for a budget-busting government takeover of the private health-care system that would impose unprecedented mandates on individuals and employers, raise an array of taxes and slash projected spending on Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly. At a time of record budget deficits, Republicans argued that the country could ill-afford a new entitlement program that would cost an estimated $1.05 trillion over the next decade.

"Big government doesn't mean better health care," said Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.). "This is not the reform families need. This is all about taking a giant first step toward a single-payer national health-care system. Washington will ultimately decide what doctors you can see, what treatments you deserve . . . and, when you're sick, will you be worth their cost?"

Throughout the debate, Republican after Republican warned that the legislation would rob Americans of their right to make choices about their health care, cost the nation jobs and unfairly financially burden future generations.

Pelosi needed to corral at least 218 of 258 Democrats to push the bill across the finish line. That task appeared to grow easier after party leaders broke a weeks-long impasse over abortion by agreeing to hold a vote on an amendment -- offered by antiabortion Democrats -- that would explicitly bar the public plan from` covering the procedure. The amendment, approved 240 to 194, with 64 Democrats in favor, also would prohibit people who received insurance subsidies from purchasing private plans that covered abortion.

Related Story-- Health Care Plan Adds Billions, in Fees and Taxes

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/health_plan_adds_billions_in_fees_ZquKaRR0Yc1UNWA2oO8yKI

Pictured from left to right, House Majority Whip Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.); Chris Van Hollen of Kensington (D-Md.); Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); House Majority Leader Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.); and Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.), hold a press conference following a meeting attended by President Barack Obama on Capitol Hill. (Nikki Kahn - The Washington Post)

 President Barack Obama made an appearance to meet with the House Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill ahead of the health-care vote. (Nikki Kahn - The Washington Post)

Pictured from left to right, House Majority Whip Rep. James E. Clyburn, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Obama, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny H. Hoyer chat briefly outside the Caucus Room in Cannon Office Building on Capitol Hill following a meeting. (Nikki Kahn - The Washington Post)

Students Accused Of Totaling Coach's Car

Police Say Several Students Jumped On Car

POSTED: 4:24 pm EST November 6, 2009
UPDATED: 7:06 pm EST November 6, 2009

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. -- A group of middle school students is accused of vandalizing the car of an Anne Arundel County high school football coach, and surveillance video appeared to catch them in the act.

The incident happened late last week while the vehicle was parked on campus at Old Mill Middle-High School.

Police said at about 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 29, five students from the school decided to pounce on a 2000 Honda Civic, which belonged to the high school's head football coach, Damian Ferragamo.

"I don't know them. They didn't know me. They didn't know whose car it was. It was just kind of a senseless type of act," Ferragamo told 11 News.

The coach said he didn't find out about it until it was time for him to go home. He took pictures of the huge dents and broken windshield.

"(The glass) had been shattered, and as I looked a little bit closer, I saw that the hood of my car and the roof of my car had been severely dented in," Ferragamo said.

He said he got more bad news when he reported the incident to his insurance company.

The car got totaled. They said it wasn't worth what the damages were, so they went ahead and totaled our car, which they give you the book value of your car, but it's really not enough to get a suitable replacement for your transportation," the coach said.

School officials said they're working with police to investigate the vandalism and said the students caught on tape are receiving appropriate disciplinary action.

But that currently does little to help Ferragamo, who is trying to figure out how'll get back and forth to campus.

"It's definitely disappointing when kids make bad decisions. Everybody has been young and made bad decisions. It's disappointing, especially something so random and in broad daylight," he said.

Police are still investigating. There is no word if any of the students will be charged.  The incident happened late last week while the vehicle was parked on campus at Old Mill Middle-High School.

Police said at about 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 29, five students from the school decided to pounce on a 2000 Honda Civic, which belonged to the high school's head football coach, Damian Ferragamo.

"I don't know them. They didn't know me. They didn't know whose car it was. It was just kind of a senseless type of act," Ferragamo told 11 News.

The coach said he didn't find out about it until it was time for him to go home. He took pictures of the huge dents and broken windshield.

"(The glass) had been shattered, and as I looked a little bit closer, I saw that the hood of my car and the roof of my car had been severely dented in," Ferragamo said.

He said he got more bad news when he reported the incident to his insurance company.

"The car got totaled. They said it wasn't worth what the damages were, so they went ahead and totaled our car, which they give you the book value of your car, but it's really not enough to get a suitable replacement for your transportation," the coach said.

School officials said they're working with police to investigate the vandalism and said the students caught on tape are receiving appropriate disciplinary action.

But that currently does little to help Ferragamo, who is trying to figure out how'll get back and forth to campus.

"It's definitely disappointing when kids make bad decisions. Everybody has been young and made bad decisions. It's disappointing, especially something so random and in broad daylight," he said.

Police are still investigating. There is no word if any of the students will be charged.

LINK TO VIDEO IMAGES:

http://www.wbaltv.com/slideshow/news/21544731/detail.html

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/21544064/detail.html

Bloodless President Barack Obama makes Americans wistful for George W Bush

Barack Obama's reaction to bad news is to play it so cool that Americans yearn for a bit more drama - and some even for his predecessor, writes Toby Harnden in Washington.

Toby Harnden's American Way
Published: 5:57PM GMT 07 Nov 2009

Barack Obama has spent more than two months considering a troop increase but do we know how he really feels about the Afghan war? Photo: GETTY

During the election campaign, Barack Obama's cool detachment was a winning quality, the "No Drama Obama" a welcome contrast with the "Mr Angry" John McCain, never mind the hot-headed "I'm the decider" President George W Bush.

A year into his presidency, however, Mr Obama seems a curiously bloodless president. If he experiences passion, he seldom shows it. It is often anyone's guess as to whether an event or issue truly moves him.

He has spent more than two months considering a troop increase but do we know how he really feels about the Afghan war?

In a sign that the Obama honeymoon truly is over, I began to hear this week the first stirrings of a wistfulness about Mr Bush. "I never thought I'd hear myself say it," one Democrat told me. "But Obama makes you feel that at least with Bush you knew where he was on something."

When Mr Bush's Republicans were defeated in the 2006 mid-term elections, it was the President himself who stepped up and declared that his party had received "a thumpin'". The Democratic defeats on Tuesday were not on anything like the same scale but Mr Obama acted as if nothing at all had happened.

Mr Obama had campaigned for Jon Corzine, New Jersey's Democratic governor, five times, twice just last Sunday. But when Mr Corzine lost by four points in a state Mr Obama won by 15 last year - a 19-point swing to Republicans - White House aides just shrugged.

In Virginia, which Mr Obama won by six points last year, prompting Democrats to declare an historic political realignment in the state, the Democratic candidate went down by 17 points in the biggest landslide since 1961 - a 23-point swing to the Grand Old Party.

It took Senator Mark Warner of Virginia to admit that his party "got walloped". For three days, Mr Obama maintained a studied silence about the results while his aides blamed them on local factors that had nothing to do with the President. And to think that it was Mr Bush who was always accused of being "in denial".

More serious perhaps was Mr Obama's strange disconnectedness over the Fort Hood massacre of 13 soldiers by an Army major and devout Muslim who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had praised suicide bombing and shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire.

Maybe Mr Obama had been reading the American press, much of which somehow contrived to present the atrocity as a result of combat stress due to soldiers going on repeated war deployments (though Major Nadal Hasan had not been on any) and therefore, no doubt, Mr Bush's fault.

When the television networks cut to the President, viewers listened to him spend more than two surreal minutes talking to a gathering of Native Americans about their "extraordinary" and "extremely productive" conference, pausing to give a cheery "shout out" to a man named Dr Joe Medicine Crow. Only then did he briefly and mechanically address what had happened in Texas.

On Friday, when most of the basic facts were available, Mr Obama tried again. It was scarcely any better. He began by offering "an update on the tragedy that took place" - as if it was an earthquake and not a terrorist attack from an enemy within - and ended with a promise for more "updates in the coming days and weeks".

Completely missing was the eloquence that Mr Obama employs when talking about himself. Absent too was any sense that the President empathised with the families and comrades of those murdered.

It was a reminder that for the past 16 years Americans have had two Presidents who would often extemporise and express emotion. President Bill Clinton could certainly "feel your pain" while Mr Bush sometimes struggled to hold back tears. Mr Obama is more like President George Bush Snr, who famously communicated his concern for people by blurting out: "Message - I care."

The White House argues that Mr Obama was not on the ballot last week and there is therefore no need to fret. The problem with this complacency is that voters were angry about the state of the economy, which Mr Obama can't keep blaming on his predecessor. With unemployment now above 10 per cent, Mr Obama needs to show Americans that he can relate to what they're going through, and take responsibility.

It could do him good to show he has a bit of fire in his belly. Perhaps he might make a decision or two based on gut instinct and deep conviction. In other words, maybe he should try being a bit more like Mr Bush.

Sex-toy study at Duke raises some eyebrows

A spokesman for Duke said the sex-toy party project went through the peer review process. Vetter says he plans to discuss the topic at Sunday mass.

ORIGINAL STORY

Fri, Nov 06, 2009 03:22 PM

Ad seeking co-eds for sex-toy study roils Duke (study's full)

Nov 6, 2009 8:36 pm US/Pacific

Accused E. Bay Car Thief Steals Car To Go To Court

 CBS 5 CrimeWatch

Solano County Justice Center in Vallejo.

 A 24-year-old Oakland man is under arrest after authorities say he stole a car to make a court appearance on an auto theft charge.

California Highway Patrol investigator Chris Linehan said he arrested Samuel Botchvaroff Tuesday as he sat inside a stolen 2000 Range Rover at the Vallejo courthouse.  Botchvaroff had just left his arraignment on auto theft charges stemming from an Oct. 31 arrest.

Linehan said the Range Rover's LoJack system helped him locate the vehicle, which had been stolen from Oakland earlier Tuesday morning.

Authorities say Botchvaroff told officers his car had been impounded, and he had no other way to get to his arraignment.

He was booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of auto theft and possession of stolen property.

LINK TO PHOTO AND VIDEO:

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=57720@kpix.dayport.com

Thank the Lord you didn't get this MARTA bus driver

Mashaun D. Simon

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

LeRoy Matthews, a bus operator for the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, has more time to talk with God.

That's because Matthews, who has been with MARTA for six years, was suspended for five days after a passenger complained the driver would not allow him and others to leave the bus before leading them in prayer.

Matthews behavior violated MARTA's policy, said Lyle V. Harris, MARTA spokesman.

The incident took place Tuesday evening, Nov. 3 around 7:30 on the Route 125 Avondale/Northlake.

In the complaint, the passenger told MARTA officials the bus was traveling northbound when it stopped at the corner of Northlake Parkway and Lavista Road.

As the passenger, whose name was not released, approached the front of the bus, Matthews stood from his seat and asked everyone to hold hands for a brief word of prayer.

The prayer lasted around four to five minutes.

What they prayed for or about is unclear, said Harris.

It is also unclear whether this incident has ever occured before.

Fla. cops: Wife faked own abduction to scam hubby

AP – Quinn Gray is seen in this undated photo provided by the St. John's Sheriff's office Thursday Oct. 29, …

TAMARA LUSH

Associated Press Writer

Tamara Lush

Associated Press Writer

November 6, 2009 

6:45 PM

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – A wealthy health care executive came home one night in September to find a terrifying note from his wife, Quinn Gray: The 37-year-old housewife and mother of two had been abducted from her posh Florida beach community.

"There are three men holding me right now and they want $50,000 cash," Gray wrote. "Do not do anything stupid. NO COPS!"

Authorities say the 25-year-old mechanic charged with trying to extort thousands from Gray's husband wasn't her captor — but her accomplice and lover. Her husband, however, has stuck by his wife's side.

Gray said she went along with her captor's demands, eventually having audiotaped sex with him. Gray says she wasn't scheming, but went insane and started to believe the kidnapper's claims that her husband wanted her dead.

"I wish I knew how to write a screenplay, because if I did, I'd make some money off this story," said St. John's County Sheriff David Shoar.

The made-for-TV intrigue has everyone from TMZ.com to Oprah Winfrey's producers nosing around this exclusive community to seek salacious details of a pretty blonde's downfall.

Gray's Facebook page shows photos of her husband and two young daughters. Her interests were fairly typical: She liked the TV show "Lost," biking and rapper Flo Rida ("When I'm really silly," she wrote). She drove a Mercedes wagon and read books like Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now."

The ordeal began the night of Sept. 4, when Gray's husband, 38-year-old Reid Gray, discovered his wife's note at their $4 million seaside mansion.

Reid Gray called the St. John's County Sheriff's Office, touching off a multi-agency manhunt that included the FBI. The sheriff's office would eventually spend $90,000 on the investigation.

The next day, as sheriff's officials set up a command center for the investigation, Reid Gray received the first of at least six calls from his wife. According to a report, Quinn Gray demanded her husband drop the $50,000 at a Chik-Fil-A restaurant; when he drove to the area, Quinn called again and said he had "screwed up" because police were spotted nearby.

On Sept. 6, Quinn Gray's mother dropped $50,000 at a beach restaurant; a group of college kids picked up the money and called police, frantic that they were in the middle of a "dope deal."

On Sept. 7, the case took an odd turn: an agitated Quinn Gray walked up to deputies at a local mall. She was taken to the FBI office in Jacksonville, where she told agents that her kidnapper worked for a loan shark who wanted her husband to pay up.

Detective Kevin Kerr and others were skeptical, noting Gray seemed to be making up the story as she went along.

During another interview, Quinn Gray changed her story. She said she had been sexually assaulted and that "I was crazy then, I was just doing what I was told to do."

She did give police one telling detail: Her abductor's name was Jasmin, and he drove a white Volkswagen Jetta. She also directed investigators to the warehouse where she was held.

Detectives found Jasmin Osmanovic, driving out of the warehouse in his Jetta. He eventually wrote his version of events in an affidavit.

"I met Quinn Gray about a month and a half ago. We met at a gas station," wrote the young mechanic. He described going to her house and listening to her talk about her marital problems and her issues with drinking — she had nearly split up with Reid Gray and had gone to rehab at a tony Minnesota clinic. Her husband had affairs, she said, and she wondered if he wanted her dead.

On Labor Day weekend, Osmanovic said, the two spent time together — but he didn't know right away that she was plotting the kidnapping. He left her alone several times in a hotel room they shared — she could have left anytime, he said.

Osmanovic touched on one piece of evidence: an audiotape he and Quinn Gray made that weekend. Osmanovic's live-in girlfriend found it and gave it to officers. The recording captured the sounds of Gray and Osmanovic having sex, plotting the kidnapping and talking about mundane things, like how they needed to eat more salads.

Sheriff Shoar said Osmanovic felt that Gray was acting "hinky" and covertly made the recording.

"He is not a dumb guy. He is a very smart guy," Shoar said. "He wanted some proof and reassurance in case she tried to hang him out to dry."

Osmanovic was charged with extortion and is being held at the St. John's County Jail. Gray also was charged with extortion and is being treated at a psychiatric facility.

Osmanovic's lawyers won't comment. Neither will Gray's lawyers, citing a pending gag order in the case. Earlier in the week, however, the lawyers went on national TV to talk about Gray's long history of mental illness and how she eventually identified with the kidnapper.

"Not one e-mail, not one text message, not one cell phone record — there is nothing that supports (authorities') contention that it's a faked kidnapping," said lawyer Mark Miller on NBC's "Today" show. About the audiotape, he said that it is "an audio recording of a woman who has been kidnapped, abducted and being raped."

Interestingly, Gray's husband — the owner of a home health care company who detailed the couple's long, painful history of marital infidelity during hours of police interviews — is standing by his wife. Against the advice of friends and family, he is not seeking a divorce.

"I love my family," Reid Gray wrote in a statement to the media. "And will do whatever I can to make sure that Quinn receives all of the help and support that she needs."

LINK TO VIDEO SLIDE SHOW AND INTERVIEW:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/21533584/detail.html

Suspected burglar texts newspaper own photo

A wanted man taunted the authorities by sending in a picture of himself posing by a police van.

Harriet Alexander
2:54PM GMT 06 Nov 2009

Matthew Maynard contacted his local paper to complain about the mugshot they used of him Photo: ATHENA

Matthew Maynard, 23, texted the picture to a local newspaper from his mobile phone, commenting that he didn't like the photo issued by the police.

The suspected criminal is being hunted following a burglary in Swansea in September.

Mr Maynard was among eight people who were pictured in local media alongside a request for information from the public.

Four were subsequently apprehended, but the rest – including Mr Maynard – remain at large.

Police declined to comment on the provocative picture, taken on Mr Maynard's mobile phone and texted to the newspaper offices, but said that their recent drive to catch criminals was working.

Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Whitehouse said the public had made a very important contribution to solving a number of recent crimes.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Swansea for the information they have provided, which, without any doubt, was instrumental in enabling us to effect a high number of arrests."

SKorean woman passes driver's exam on 950th try

A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time. The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the drivers' license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Seoul.

Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local media said she took the test 950 times.

Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said.

Repeated calls to Cha seeking comment went unanswered. She told the Korea Times newspaper she needed the license for her vegetable-selling business.