LOTTOMIKE's Blog

like millions of others i'm sitting by waiting on word of what will eventually happen with online gambling.since february i've won nearly 5 grand in winnings online.it will certainly hurt if they outlaw it because i've made a comfortable living with it the past few months.i've been able to take an extra day off work each week which is a luxury i couldn't afford before.i think the government needs to butt out of this issue until they figure out a better alternative.i would be open to them regulating it and taxing it but outlawing it is stupid.it didn't work with alcohol and it won't work with gambling.the major bust here recently of online gambling associates certainly won't help the issue but in fact may hurt it......

As gas prices again approach $3 a gallon, consumers are buying new vehicles that are faster and heavier than ever, and less fuel-efficient than 20 years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency says in a new report.

The average fuel economy of new 2006 models was virtually flat with a year ago at 21 miles per gallon, according to the latest EPA report, despite the increasing deployment of technologies such as systems that shut off cylinders in V-8 engines and six-speed transmissions.

   


   
The incremental gains from those technologies were offset by consumers, who continued to buy lower-mileage minivans, pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. Marc Schwartz, sales manager at Major Chevrolet in Long Island City, N.Y., says that while he has seen an increase in passenger-car sales, there is still a lot of interest in SUVs like the redesigned Chevrolet Tahoe. "People ask about mileage and say they are worried about it," he says. "But in the end, they still want an SUV."

The 2006-model-year vehicles are the heaviest, fastest and most powerful vehicles for any year since the EPA began compiling such data in 1975. The average weight of a 2006 vehicle is 4,142 pounds, compared with 3,727 pounds in 1997.

The EPA said the average 2006 vehicle generated 219 horsepower, compared with the average in 1997 of 169 horsepower. The amount of time it takes for a vehicle to go from zero to 60 miles per hour was 9.7 seconds in 2006, compared with 11 seconds for a 1997 model.

Fuel economy for 2006-model-year vehicles averages 21 miles per gallon. That is slightly worse than in 1987, when fuel economy averaged 22.1 miles per gallon using less sophisticated technology, according to the EPA report.

"The fleet fuel economy has remained stagnant mainly because of the types of vehicles consumers have purchased," says Charles Territo, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an association made up of nine auto makers, including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG and Toyota Motor Corp.

The EPA report divided auto makers into two groups in which Toyota, Honda Motor Co., Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Motors Corp., and Volkswagen AG have fuel economies that fall between 23.5 and 24.2 miles per gallon. In the other group, GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Nissan Motor Co. had fuel economies of 19.1 to 20.5 miles per gallon.

But all of the auto makers have let fuel economy slide compared with 20 years ago, including Toyota, Honda and Hyundai-Kia, which now sell more SUVs and trucks than they did in the past.

Mr. Territo noted that auto makers sell more than 100 models that get more than 30 miles per gallon. And there are 46 models available that offer fuel-efficient technology such as vehicles running on ethanol, diesel or a hybrid engine. But auto makers also offer other choices to consumers to meet their needs, such as SUVs and pickup trucks.



More than 55% of all new vehicles purchased in 2005 were minivans, pickup trucks, vans or SUVs, says R.L. Polk, an auto-data provider in Southfield, Mich.

Despite gas prices topping $3 a gallon in California and other parts of the country, light trucks have outsold passenger-car vehicles for the first six months of this year, making up 52.5% of total vehicle sales, according to Autodata Corp.

Consumers have been shifting toward smaller SUVs, known as crossovers, and passenger vehicles in the wake of higher gas prices. Sales of large and midsize SUVs, and pickup trucks, have fallen amid increasing concern over gas prices.

Yesterday's American Automobile Association Fuel Gauge Report showed the average price of fuel is now $2.964 per gallon, nearing the record set in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last year at $3.057 per gallon on Sept. 5, 2005.

The EPA report reflects the balance auto manufacturers have to pursue in meeting many customer requirements at once, says GM representative Sherrie Childers Arb. She also noted safety equipment, such as air bags, also make vehicles heavier.

"Fuel-efficiency improvements have actually taken place," she says. "But vehicles have gotten faster and heavier because of other things consumers want."

The traditional Big Three have relied more on pickup trucks and SUVs for profit, which has hurt them when it comes to fuel-efficiency perceptions. When consumers are more worried about fuel economy, it tends to benefit Asian auto makers that are perceived to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles.

   
   
   

In June, GM sales fell by 26%, while Ford was down by 7.1% and DaimlerChrysler declined by 13.2%. In contrast, Toyota's sales were up by 14.4% while Honda's sales remained flat.

That's why GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group have been focusing recent ads on the fuel-efficiency of their vehicles. The latest commercials for Chrysler's Town & Country, for example, say the minivan gets 26 miles per gallon.

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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Bolstered by eyewitness accounts and the Internet, the explosion of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York 10 years ago spawned a slew of sinister conspiracy theories, most notably the belief that a missile from a U.S. Navy ship was responsible.

So prevalent were these theories that the term "Pierre Salinger Syndrome" -- the belief that everything on the Internet is true -- entered the lexicon.

For investigators, the conspiracy theories wasted time and diverted valuable resources. Investigators ultimately determined that Flight 800 was the victim of a center fuel tank explosion, most likely caused by a spark in its vapor-filled center tank. Terrorism was ruled out, as was the notion of a friendly fire missile. (Watch animation of what happened aboard the flight -- 1:10)

"There's some percentage of people that think this was a conspiracy. That's crazy," James Kallstrom, who led the FBI investigation, told "CNN Presents" as part of an investigative documentary airing Saturday and Sunday.

But to some, the idea that the U.S. Navy ship, USS Normandy, brought down the 747 is very real. Donald Nibert of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, lost his 16-year-old daughter, Cheryl, on the flight and believes friendly fire is to blame.

"I know the answer, but no one will accept that," he said.

Naneen Levine was among those whose story was collected by Web sites. That summer evening, she was at the family's Long Island beach house. As the sun was setting, she says she looked out a window toward the ocean and saw a fireball in the sky. She talked with CNN 10 years ago, and the FBI interviewed her twice and asked her to sketch what she saw. (Watch Levine draw the sketch of what she saw -- :23)

"The little red dot went up like this, sort of curved and came to a point where I thought little fireworks were going to come down and fade and be a flare," she said. "Then like big, big thick streams of fire coming down, a little bit up, but it was very, very vertical coming down like that."

Compounding the confusion created by witnesses was a document on the Web -- one that took the missile theory and added layers of intrigue. It was a theory of how the USS Normandy accidentally shot down Flight 800 and how the government was covering it up.

Kallstrom said the theory is "crazy," because it wouldn't be possible to "keep the thousand agents in the FBI quiet on some conspiracy or the 400 people on the Normandy aren't going [to] say anything to anybody."

Kallstrom said the ship was too far away, didn't even shoot any missiles, and if a missile had hit the plane the 747 would have been blown to "smithereens."

Salinger's evidence was actually an e-mail from Richard Russell, a former United Airlines pilot who also used to investigate crashes for the Airline Pilots Association. A few months after Salinger stepped forward, Russell said he obtained even more "evidence" from friends in high places. That evidence was a videotape of radar screens from the night TWA exploded. (Watch clips of the radar video -- 1:00)

Russell claimed a blip on the radar was the supposed missile, and it took 30 seconds to reach the plane. One problem with the theory is that a missile would have gotten there much quicker. Also, the blip never appears to reach its intended target; instead it seems to be moving away from TWA Flight 800 when the airliner disappears from radar.

NTSB experts have said the blips could have been boat traffic or false returns from the radar, which happen all the time.

A decade later, Naneen Levine's sketch remains unchanged and so does her story.

"Deep down, I think it was a missile," she said. "But I know it's been refuted by experts."

As for Salinger, after years of suffering from dementia, he died of heart failure in 2004, but his syndrome lives on.

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Plane Crashes Into Oregon Neighborhood
Pilot Dies; One Home Destroyed, Another Damaged

HILLSBORO, Ore. (June 17) - A vintage British fighter jet crashed into a densely populated neighborhood near an airport during an air show Sunday afternoon, exploding, destroying a home and killing the pilot.

   


Firefighters pour water over the wreckage of a plane which crashed Sunday into a densely populated neighborhood in Hillsboro, Ore.


Fire officials said no residents or others on the ground were hurt.

The 1951 jet was taking off from the Hillsboro Airport to return to California when it went down, said Connie King, a spokeswoman for the Hillsboro Fire Department.

The jet slammed into a house at 4:28 p.m. and destroyed it, she said. No one was home at the time, she said. The pilot's name was not immediately released.

Another house with people inside sustained "significant damage," but no one was hurt, King said. The attic exterior of a third house was damaged, and there was fire damage in the yard of another, she said.

A firefighter was treated at a local hospital for heat exhaustion and released.

Ed Kerbs, a neighborhood resident, was hosting an air show party on his lawn when the plane went down.

   
   
"As it came in, it pitched up its nose and it looked like he was trying to stay afloat," Kerbs said. "I was talking to a buddy of mine and I said 'Hey, he's flying way too low; he's not going to make it.' And then there was a plume of smoke and a bang."

Diana Halvorson, who lives on the street where the plane crashed, said she and her family ran to a neighbor's house when they saw flames.

"It was a noise, a huge, huge, noise," she said. The flames "shot up like a bolt of lightning."

The plane crashed toward the end of the two-day Hillsboro International Air Show, where the plane had been on display, but did not perform, said Steve Callaway, an air show board member.

The Federal Aviation Administration provided a tail number that indicated the plane was registered to Robert Guilford, 73, an aviation attorney from Southern California.

According to information on his law firm's Web site, Guilford has been flying planes since 1961. But authorities would not say if he was piloting the plane Sunday. His law firm, Baum Hedlund, did not return a page Sunday.

Air show organizers canceled the show immediately after the crash. It was the first crash in the show's 19-year history.

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The Mafia has long held a spot in the American imagination. Despite their earned reputation for brutality, the Mafia has been glorified in countless movies, books, and television shows. Not so in this book. Selwyn Raab makes no attempt to perpetuate myths about the Mafia; instead, he exposes them as a serious threat to honest citizens: "The collective goal of the five families of New York was the pillaging of the nation's richest city and region," he writes. These five families--Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese--were responsible for corrupting labor unions in order to control waterfront commerce, garbage collection, the garment industry, and construction in New York. They also ran illegal gambling operations, engaged in stock schemes, and initiated the widespread introduction of heroin (among other drugs) into cities of the East and Midwest in the 1950s, leading to "accelerated crime rates, law-enforcement corruption, and the erosion of inner-city neighborhoods in New York and throughout the United States." Five Families offers a comprehensive look at the inner workings of the various clans along with vivid profiles of the gangsters who led--and continue to maintain--this criminal empire.
Beginning with a brief history of the Sicilian origins of the Mafia, Raab exhaustively explains how the Mob took over New York before spreading to cities across America, particularly Las Vegas, their most successful outside venture. He also shows how the New York Mafia lost a great deal of power in the 1980s and '90s due to many significant busts and effective plea-bargaining. However, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the F.B.I. has been focused mainly on external threats, leaving the Mafia room to regain some lost turf by moving into new avenues of crime. An investigative reporter for 40 years, Raab interviewed dozens of prosecutors, law enforcement officers, Mafia members, informants, and "Mob lawyers," providing anecdotes and inside information that tell the true story of the Mafia and their influence over the past 80 years. --Shawn Carkonen

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Former New York Times crime reporter Raab sets a new gold standard for organized crime nonfiction with his outstanding history of the Mafia in New York City. Combining the diligent research and analysis of a historian with the savvy of a beat journalist who has extensive inside sources, the author succeeds at an ambitious task by rendering the byzantine history of New York's five families-Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese-easily comprehensible to any lay reader. Of necessity, Raab also illuminates the Mafia's origin in 19th-century Sicily and its transition to this country. Throughout his survey of the mob's evolution-from simple protection rackets to pump-and-dump stock schemes-Raab renders the mobsters (including men less well known than John Gotti, but no less significant) as three-dimensional figures, without glossing over their vicious crimes and their impact on honest citizens. Law enforcement's varying responses as well as society's view of gangsters enrich the narrative, which merits comparison with the classic true-crime writing of Kurt Eichenwald. While Raab surprisingly gives short shrift to the 1980s pizza connection case, which revealed the growing influence of the Sicilian Mafia on America's heroin trade, he otherwise demonstrates mastery of his subject. This masterpiece stands an excellent chance of becoming a bestseller with crossover appeal beyond devoted watchers of The Sopranos. 24 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.

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Hillary Clinton Has $22 Million in War Chest


ALBANY, N.Y. (July 15) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has more than $22 million for her re-election run against two little-known New York Republicans, raising the possibility of plenty of leftover cash for a potential White House bid.

   


The filing by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., was the latest show of strength by the potential front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential bid. Any money she doesn't use for re-election can be used in a White House race.

   

The former first lady said her campaign had raised almost $5.7 million over the last three months and had raised more than $43 million overall. The campaign has spent more than $21.7 million on her bid for a second Senate term.

Clinton had $19.7 million cash on hand at the end of March after raising more than $6 million during the first three months of the year.

Patti Solis Doyle, executive director of the Friends of Hillary campaign committee, said that over the second quarter of this year, the Clinton committee received 38,377 individual contributions with almost 35,000 of those donors giving $100 or less.

Former Yonkers mayor John Spencer and Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, a Reagan-era Pentagon official, are vying for the Republican nomination to challenge Clinton. Both Republicans have had trouble raising money.

McFarland spokesman William O'Reilly said Friday that her campaign committee had just $282,199 on hand at the end of June, down from $430,000 in March. The latest account balance does not include a $100,000 loan she is making to her committee, O'Reilly said. Over the three month-period, the McFarland campaign has raised $224,000, he said.

The Spencer campaign had provided no information by mid-afternoon on Friday about its latest filing. It had $340,000 on hand in March.

The primary is Sept. 12.

The Clinton filing was the latest show of strength by the front-runner in the polls among the potential 2008 Democratic presidential contenders. Any money she doesn't use for her re-election race can be used in a presidential race.

By comparison, when she first ran for Senate in 2000, Clinton had just $6.9 million in hand at the end of June after raising about $19 million.

   


   
Other Senate candidates also released their most recent fundraising totals.

In Ohio, Republican Sen. Mike DeWine had $6.6 million compared to Democratic rival Rep. Sherrod Brown, who had $3.7 million. Brown raised $1.6 million in the three-month period, while DeWine took in $2.1 million.

DeWine launched his first negative ads of the campaign Friday, criticizing his rival's votes on intelligence spending in the 1990s and opposition to the expansion of government surveillance powers. The statewide ad buy was $470,000.

To emphasize DeWine's claim that Brown is "weakening America's security," the ad uses images of the burning World Trade Center towers and head shots of the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Brown's campaign complained that the ad was insensitive in its imagery and selective in its claims, ignoring Brown's support for $2.4 trillion in national security funding since 1993.

In Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, one of the most vulnerable incumbents facing re-election this November, said he has $9.5 million in cash for the remaining months of the campaign.

The lawmaker has raised $20.1 million, including $3.6 million in the three-month period ending June 30. Santorum's Democratic rival, state treasurer Bob Casey, has $5.2 million in cash after raising $2.8 million in the last quarter. He has raised $10.8 million for the race, according to his campaign.

The conservative Santorum has trailed Casey by double digits in polls in a state that went for Democrats Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. The No. 3 Republican in the Senate leadership, Santorum's fundraising total surpasses the record for a Senate candidate in the state - $19.8 million raised by Sen. Arlen Specter for his 2004 race.

Santorum was helped by fundraisers with first lady Laura Bush and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

In Connecticut, Sen. Joe Lieberman, who faces a tough primary challenge, said he has nearly $4.3 million cash on hand for his campaign. He raised $1.3 million in the two-month period ending June 30 and has collected nearly $8.5 million.

His Democratic rival, wealthy businessman Ned Lamont, said he would release his numbers on Saturday.

The Connecticut primary is Aug. 8.

In Nebraska, incumbent Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson had $2.1 million cash on hand after raising $5.8 million. His Republican rival, Pete Ricketts, is a multimillionaire and recently stepped down from the board of directors of TD Ameritrade.

Ricketts had $975,000 cash on hand. He has put $4.75 million of his money into the campaign.

In Arizona, more than half of the $6.3 million Democrat Jim Pederson raised to challenge Republican Sen. Jon Kyl came from checks he wrote to himself, according to campaign reports.

The strip-mall developer contributed $1.7 million of the $2.3 million his campaign raised from April 1 to June 30. He has given a total of $3.7 million so far. Kyl reported about $2 million in contributions during the same period, raising a total of $11 million. He has about $7 million cash on hand.

First Half of 2006 Was Warmest on Record in the U.S.

WASHINGTON (July 15) - The first half of the year was the warmest on record for the United States.

   

Dry conditions spawned more than 50,000 wildfires, burning more than 3 million acres in the continental U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center.


   

The government reported Friday that the average temperature for the 48 contiguous United States from January through June was 51.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3.4 degrees above average for the 20th century.

That made it the warmest such period since recordkeeping began in 1895, the National Climatic Data Center reported.

No state was cooler than average and five states - Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri - experienced record warmth for the period.

While much of the Northeast experienced extreme rainfall and flooding at the end of June many other areas continued below normal rain and snowfall.

As of June, 45 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate-to-extreme drought, an increase of 6 percent from May.

Dry conditions spawned more than 50,000 wildfires, burning more than 3 million acres in the continental U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Worldwide, it was the sixth warmest year-to-date since record keeping began in 1880.

July 13) -- Barely 15, the skinny youth from the city's troubled North Side already had a long rap sheet.

His juvenile court record included citations for 19 offenses, dating back three years. Last Thursday, police pulled up beside him with a warrant to arrest him again: He allegedly had violated the terms of his probation from a robbery citation last month by cutting off a leg bracelet that allowed Hennepin County authorities to monitor his whereabouts.

After a chase on foot through a crowded city park, "Killer," one of several aliases the youth uses, was back in handcuffs. "I am a maniac!" he screamed, declaring his affiliation with a local gang. "I am a maniac!"

The fugitive, whose name was not released by police because he is a juvenile, was among eight frequent-offender youths pursued last week by a team of officers from the Minneapolis Police Department, the county Probation Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.

The team was formed last month as part of a crackdown on violent young offenders who represent an increasing problem at a time when crime rates are ticking upward.

After nearly a decade in which violent-crime rates fell or were stable throughout the USA, the FBI reported last month that there was a 2.5% rise last year in violent crimes, which include homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults.

Here and in cities across the nation - including Washington, Milwaukee and Boston - police are linking the increase to a growing problem: Crime by kids as young as 10, many of whom have been recruited by gangs.

Budget Cuts May Be Factor

The reasons for rising crime among juveniles are complex.

Tight local budgets and reduced federal funding for police, along with new anti-terrorism duties, have stretched police departments and led to cuts in community programs for youths. Historically low crime rates in recent years often have been linked to a booming economy. Now, with the economy slowing, officials in several cities are tying poverty and financial uncertainty to rising crime, particularly among juveniles.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says 41% of the children in his city are in households in which the annual income is below the federal poverty line, about $20,000 for a family of four. "A lot of young people have no hope in their lives," Barrett says, and many "think nothing of carrying a gun."

"We have a lot of young people involved in robbery," Milwaukee Deputy Police Chief Brian O'Keefe says. "Some are 10 and 11. A lot of the kids we see never know anything but violence."

Many officials, including Boston police Superintendent Paul Joyce, say the release of thousands of felons who were imprisoned during drug crackdowns in the 1990s also has become a significant factor in boosting juvenile crime.

Joyce says just-released gang members, seeking to stake out turf without getting arrested again, have recruited juveniles to carry weapons for them or make drug deliveries. Earlier this year, Joyce says, Boston police found a 13-year-old boy with a handgun, standing with a 23-year-old gang member.

"The young kids don't think about the consequences of their actions," Joyce says.

"We have videotapes of young children working as mules for gang members," says Tom Cochran, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The group has hosted two summits during the past year to discuss the gang problem and plans to examine juvenile violence when it meets in September.

Juveniles "are carrying the guns and the drugs for the gang leaders so (the leaders) can avoid prosecution," Cochran says. "This is a major problem."

In Minneapolis, police began looking for "Killer" early last week, after he removed the leg bracelet. Keeping the bracelet on was a condition of the youth's probation, Hennepin County probation officer Mick Sandin says. The group that rounded up the fugitive youths represents an effort to reduce a backlog of 500 juvenile arrest warrants that grew after budget cuts forced the closure of the police department's Juvenile Division in 2001. The division was re-established in May.

"Before now, the pursuit of juveniles had not been a high priority," says police Lt. Bryan Schafer, who heads the Juvenile Division. "That created a perception that nothing much happens to juveniles" who commit crimes. "So (adult gang members) began sending the kids out to carry their guns, because they knew nothing would happen to them. We think we're changing that perception."

   



   
Since the fugitive-hunting team began work, many parents and family members of juvenile suspects have been reluctant to provide information to police, says police Sgt. Ron Stenerson, who leads the team.

That wasn't the case with "Killer," however. A concerned family member provided the tip that led to his capture by telling police they should search a park near his home.

Sandin spotted the youth at the park. When Stenerson called his name, the teenager turned toward the officers and then sprinted away. After running about 50 yards, he was hauled down by Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Payton, who's training for a triathlon.

Witnesses told investigators that the youth had tossed a gun into some tall grass before he was chased, police Lt. Bryan Schafer says. Police found a loaded .38-caliber gun, and are investigating whether it belonged to the youth.

Proliferation of Guns

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, noting that the number of juveniles suspected in violent crimes jumped by 18% from 2004 to 2005, says a "shocking proliferation" of guns is partly to blame.

Rybak has recruited local businesses to fill gaps in community programs for young people, from evening recreation events to summer job placements and college tuition assistance. He says the key is "winning back" kids who have drifted into delinquency.

"The issue of hopelessness is what we are addressing."