Thursday, December 22, 2011

Michael Douglas' son gets 4½ more years in prison (omg!)

FILE - In this April 27, 2009 file photo, Cameron Douglas, son of Michael Douglas, arrives at a film premiere in Los Angeles. Douglas has been sentenced to spend 4? years in prison beyond the five years he is already serving for drug offenses.The judge criticized the government for being too lenient on Douglas after he repeatedly violated prison rules by arranging to get drugs. A lawyer smuggled drugs into prison for Douglas in her bra. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A judge called the imprisoned son of actor Michael Douglas reckless and irresponsible as he nearly doubled his prison sentence Wednesday from five years to 9? years for repeated drug offenses.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan cited Cameron Douglas' "history of reckless behavior" as he imposed a new punishment that was more than double what prosecutors were seeking for Douglas' guilty plea to drug charges that arose from his successful efforts to smuggle drugs into prison.

Berman added 4? years to the five-year term he gave Douglas last year for his guilty plea in connection with his sales of methamphetamine in July 2009 from a high-end Manhattan hotel.

The judge said he had never had a case before in which a defendant "has so recklessly, wantonly, flagrantly and criminally acted in such a destructive and manipulative fashion as Cameron Douglas has."

Berman reminded Douglas' lawyers that he had warned at the earlier sentencing that it was the defendant's last chance to turn around a life derailed by drugs and mental troubles stretching into his teenage years.

The judge also criticized the government for being too lenient on Douglas after he repeatedly violated prison rules by arranging to get drugs. The judge said the violations included four instances in which a lawyer smuggled anti-anxiety prescription drugs into prison for Douglas in her bra. The lawyer entered into a deferred prosecution agreement that enabled the charges against her to be dropped if she stayed out of trouble for six months.

The 33-year-old Douglas asked the judge to give him another chance at treatment.

"I cannot seem to find comfort within my own skin," he said. "I feel ashamed. I feel defeated. ... I know that I bear in my heart what it will take to overcome this plague."

He asked Berman to give him "the room to deal with this situation medically."

His lawyer also requested leniency for his client, saying that his efforts to get drugs in prison were not unusual for a drug addict who had not been rehabilitated.

The judge noted at one point that Michael Douglas had told probation authorities that his son had been treated six or seven times for drug addiction, but had not completed the treatments.

Berman recommended that Cameron Douglas be sent to a prison facility that can offer him drug treatment and mental health care, although the final decision is let up to the Bureau of Prisons. He also recommended that Douglas be allowed family visits, which have been disallowed since he has been held in solitary confinement for 11 months for violating prison rules.

Earlier this year, Douglas testified as part of a cooperation deal with the government at a drug supplier's trial.

He said he had been addicted to heroin for five years before his 2009 arrest.

The cooperation by the son of the Oscar-winning actor allowed him to escape the mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison that the charges to which he pleaded otherwise required.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_michael_douglas_son_gets4_more_years_prison_180547453/43974286/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/michael-douglas-son-gets-4-more-years-prison-180547453.html

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Snoop, Khalifa look to be next Cheech and Chong (AP)

ATLANTA ? Snoop Dogg remembered watching all of the Cheech and Chong movies growing up, idolizing the pothead tandem's ability to always escape from danger in their comedy films.

Wiz Khalifa revered Snoop Dogg for his weed-smoking, ultra-smooth West Coast swagger shown extensively throughout his rap career.

One is the mentor, the other is the protege. Since the two rappers met for the first time last year, they've built a strong rapport with each other and have united to create their own album, "Mac & Devin Go to High School," which was released this week.

The album is the soundtrack of the rappers' upcoming stoner comedy, "Mac & Devin Go to High School," which is expected to be released early next year. The duo feels they are capable of following the footsteps of Cheech and Chong, who gained fame through their marijuana humor.

"They smoked joints, they were funny, they were cool and they would get into real situations," Snoop Dogg said. "To me, that's what me and Wiz represent. A lot of kids growing up don't understand who Cheech and Chong are. So we're the modern-day image of them. We're bringing it back."

Snoop Dogg and Khalifa have embodied the fun-filled, carefree life, with a devotion to smoking marijuana. Their easygoing demeanor is displayed on the duo's single, "Young, Wild & Free," featuring Bruno Mars, which peaked at No. 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

The rappers are latest popular hip-hop characters to create an album and movie revolved around their pothead excursions. Rapper Redman and Method Man appeared in the 2001 film, "How High."

But Khalifa said he and Snoop Dogg are ""trying to create our own lane.

"There have been others to pave the way for us, so we're just trying to keep it going, and tell our own stories," added Khalifa, who finished a six-city tour with Snoop Dogg this week.

Some believe the rappers are having too much fun with their storytelling. In May, there were reports that school officials canceled the filming of "High School" at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, Calif., after learning the theme of the movie was centered around marijuana, which is an illegal substance.

When contacted by The Associated Press, school officials declined to comment.

But Snoop Dogg and Khalifa ? who both stand at a lanky 6-foot-4 ? coolly denied there were any problems.

"We heard about it, but it didn't mean much to us," Snoop Dogg said. "We got done what we needed to get done. It was shot and promptly prepared."

Snoop Dogg, 40, took a liking to the 24-year-old Khalifa after he noticed his kids' infatuation with the Pittsburgh-bred rapper's ubiquitous 2010 hit "Black and Yellow." From there, Snoop Dogg invited Khalifa to his home in Los Angeles.

"We have built a bond and a friendship that's going to last a lifetime," Khalifa said. "People will hear it in the music, and see it in the movie."

After a conversation that lasted a few hours, the two rappers decided that same day to collaborate for an album and movie. They didn't waste time, filming the movie and recording the album within a two-month timeframe.

In "High School," Khalifa stars as a senior valedictorian named Devin who is only focused on his academics. He breaks out of his shell after meeting Snoop Dogg's character, Mac, a teenage student (yes, he is playing a teen) who has street smarts but struggles to apply them in the classroom.

Snoop Dogg described his partnership with Khalifa as "a magical situation."

"I've been around magic a lot of times from being with Dr. Dre, Tupac, Master P. and Nate Dogg. What me and Wiz had was a magical moment right there."

___

Online:

http://www.snoopdogg.com

http://www.wizkhalifa.com

___

Follow Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mrlandrum31

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_en_mu/us_music_snoop___wiz

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Golden Globe 2012 Nominations Announced!

Golden Globe 2012 Nominations Announced!

The 2012 Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning by Sofia Vergara, Rashida Jones, Gerard Butler and Woody Harrelson. The movies to beat this year [...]

Golden Globe 2012 Nominations Announced! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/ylfziBab5A8/

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Governor vows to prepare Calif. for climate change (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? The United Nations' top climate change official is in San Francisco to join California Gov. Jerry Brown at a conference addressing the costs associated with preparing for the effects of a warming world.

Brown organized Thursday's conference at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.

The event includes Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also is expected to attend Thursday afternoon.

Brown vowed to continue investing in renewable energy and infrastructure projects to protect coastlines from sea-level rise and homes from increased flooding from faster snow melts and longer wildfire seasons.

Brown opened the conference by calling for people to wake up to these threats, and called skeptics of global warming a well-funded "cult."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_us/us_california_climate_change

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NFL extends TV deals with CBS, Fox, NBC (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The National Football League reached deals with the CBS, FOX and NBC broadcast networks that will extend television rights for the games through the 2022 season while substantially increasing payments to the league.

The networks agreed to pay annual increases of about 7 percent on average, a person familiar with the deals said. That will lift yearly rights payments to the NFL from the networks to nearly $3.1 billion in 2022, up from about $1.9 billion in 2013, the person said.

The higher payments, which follow a new contract reached with ESPN in September for Monday night games, reflect the importance of sports and particularly the NFL to TV networks. Sports is almost always watched live by viewers, which is of immense importance to advertisers and separates it from most programming such as dramas and comedies, which are often recorded and watched later.

"Live sports, especially football, drives higher audience ratings than anything else on television in the U.S. So NFL is a very important property for these networks," Morningstar analyst Michael Corty said.

Combined with payments from Walt Disney Co's ESPN and satellite TV provider DirecTV, annual payments to the NFL for televising games will reach about $6 billion annually.

In September, the NFL announced an eight-year, $15.2 billion contract extension with Walt Disney Co's ESPN for Monday Night Football. The deal, which includes additional rights beyond just the TV broadcast, represents a roughly 73 percent increase over the previous contract.

Under the new agreement with broadcasters, CBS will continue to televise AFC Sunday afternoon games, and News Corp's FOX broadcast network will keep the NFC's Sunday afternoon games.

NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp, will again carry Sunday night primetime games and the Thursday night NFL season kickoff game. The network will add an annual Thanksgiving primetime game starting in 2012.

The league, which announced the new agreement the broadcasters on Wednesday, said it will expand the number of Thursday night games on its own NFL Network beginning next year, with the exact number not yet determined.

Each network will air three Super Bowls during the nine-year period.

"These agreements underscore the NFL's unique commitment to broadcast television that no other sport has," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

Network executives noted the NFL's importance to fans and advertisers in their announcements of the deals.

"No other franchise delivers ratings the way an NFL game does," CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said in a statement.

(Reporting by Soham Chatterjee and Himank Sharma in Bangalore and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/tv_nm/us_nfl_deal

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Crochet Artist Olek Is in Legal Trouble in London - New York News ...

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    Video: Tea Party favorite reappears on the 2012 political scene

    Get connected at America's techiest airports

    If you?ve ever found yourself at the airport hunting for an available outlet or waiting on glacial-paced Wi-Fi, help is at hand. On Thursday, PCWorld magazine released its first-ever report on the Top Airports for Tech Travelers.

    Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45689454#45689454

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    Wednesday, December 7, 2011

    Few parents recall doctor saying child overweight (AP)

    WASHINGTON ? Pediatricians are supposed to track if youngsters are putting on too many pounds ? but a new study found less than a quarter of parents of overweight children recall the doctor ever saying there was a problem.

    Does that mean doctors aren't screening enough kids, or aren't frank enough in these tough conversations? Or is the real story parent denial? The research published Monday can't tell, but makes it clear the message too often isn't getting through.

    "It's tricky to say, and it's tricky to hear," says lead researcher Dr. Eliana Perrin of the University of North Carolina. She analyzed government health surveys that included nearly 5,000 parents of overweight children from 1999 to 2008.

    Parents tend not to realize when a weight problem is creeping up on their children. When almost a third of U.S. children are at least overweight, and about 17 percent are obese, it's harder to notice that there's anything unusual about their own families. Plus, children change as they grow older.

    The new study suggests when parents do recall a doctor noting the problem, it's been going on for a while.

    About 30 percent of the parents of overweight 12- to 15-year-olds said a doctor had alerted them, compared with just 12 percent of the parents of overweight preschoolers. Even among the parents of very obese children, only 58 percent recalled a doctor discussing it, says the report published Monday by the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

    "Many pediatricians don't worry until children are very overweight, or until they're much older," says Perrin, whose team has created stoplight-colored growth charts to help doctors explain when a problem's brewing. "If we can notice a concerning trend early, we're more likely to be able to do something about it."

    That means taking a family approach, says Dr. Nazrat Mirza, medical director of an obesity clinic at Children's National Medical Center in Washington. Important changes ? such as switching to low-fat milk and water instead of sugary sodas and juice, or cutting back on fast food ? should be viewed as making the whole family healthier, not depriving everyone because Johnny needs to lose weight.

    "You do not want to single out one individual in the family. That's enough to cause a lot of friction," says Mirza, who wasn't involved with the new study.

    Doctors have long tracked children's height and weight during yearly checkups, but more recent guidelines urge them to calculate a youngster's body mass index, or BMI, to screen for developing obesity. Unlike with adults, one measurement alone doesn't necessarily mean children are overweight ? they might be about to shoot up an inch.

    The next step is plotting that BMI on a growth chart. Youngsters are considered overweight if their BMIs track in the 85th to 95th percentile for children their same age and gender, a range that just a few years ago was termed merely "at risk." Above the 95th percentile is considered obese.

    To tackle lack of awareness, Children's National has begun calculating BMIs for every child age 2 or older who is admitted for any reason. Mirza calls it "a teachable moment."

    Perrin's analysis shows more parents of overweight kids are starting to get the message. Overall, 22 percent of parents reported a health professional telling them their child was overweight. But that rose to 29 percent in 2008, the latest year of the survey data and about the time guidelines changed.

    So what should parents, and overweight children themselves, be told?

    Perrin focuses on health, not fat. She tells them the child is at an unhealthy weight that puts them at risk for later problems ? and that she can help families learn to eat better and get more active. That's where her color-coded BMI charts (http://www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com) come in. Parents can tell at a glance if their child is in the overweight yellow zone or the obese red zone, and over time if they're moving closer to the green zone. Perrin calls the charts especially useful between ages 3 and 8, when children are growing so fast it's particularly hard to tell if they're a healthy size.

    Portion size is key, too. Nutritionists define the right size as about 1 tablespoon of each food type for every year of age. Perrin's easier measure is that a serving is about the size of a child's palm, which will grow as the child gets older.

    Pre-teens and teens are more independent and have to be on board, adds Mirza. Teens, for example, start to stay up late, eating more at night and skipping breakfast, not a healthy pattern. The kid who never exercises will tune out all weight advice if told to hit the gym but might agree to walk around the block. The athlete might be sabotaging physical activity with 600-calorie snacks.

    The good news: As kids grow older and taller, "they can grow into a healthier weight," Perrin says. And "we know that parents with an accurate assessment of their child's weight are more likely to make weight-related changes."

    ___

    EDITOR'S NOTE ? Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

    __

    Online:

    Journal: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/

    BMI charts: www.eatsmartmovemorenc.com

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_he_me/us_med_healthbeat_overweight_kids

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    S&P threatens euro zone, EU chief urges bigger fund (Reuters)

    BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) ? Standard & Poor's fired a second warning shot at the euro zone in 24 hours, threatening on Tuesday to cut the credit rating of its financial rescue fund as European leaders raced to find a political solution to their sovereign debt crisis.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy want to change EU rules to impose mandatory penalties on euro zone states that exceed deficit targets, aiming to restore market trust and prevent the crisis spiraling out of control.

    Visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said after talks in Berlin he was encouraged by recent moves towards fiscal union in Europe and stressed the central role of the European Central Bank (ECB) in tackling the crisis.

    Citing "continuing disagreements among European policy makers on how to tackle the immediate market confidence crisis," S&P put the ratings of 15 countries, including Germany and France, on review late on Monday for a downgrade by 1-2 notches.

    The U.S.-based agency went a step further on Tuesday, placing the top-notch rating of the euro zone's 440 billion euro rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), on negative watch since it depends on the creditworthiness of the currency bloc's six AAA-rated sovereigns.

    European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, who will chair a crucial summit of the 27-nation European Union this week aimed at turning the corner on the crisis, proposed giving a bigger permanent euro zone rescue mechanism the status of a bank that would allow it to access ECB funding.

    Germany has so far opposed any such move, which it says would breach a treaty ban on the ECB financing governments.

    Van Rompuy said tighter budget oversight sought by Paris and Berlin for the 17-nation euro area could be achieved quickly with only minor tweaks to the EU treaty that might not require full ratification procedures in many countries.

    "To restore market confidence in the euro area, and to ensure the political sustainability of solidarity mechanisms, it is crucial to enhance the credibility of our budget rules (deficit and debt levels) and to ensure full compliance," he wrote in a report to EU leaders obtained by Reuters.

    He also said the issuance of joint euro zone bonds should be a long-term objective, challenging another German red line in a text likely to be the object of heated negotiations.

    S&P warned of slowing economic growth amid so much austerity, predicting a 40 percent chance of a fall in euro zone output.

    A downgrade could automatically require some investment funds to sell bonds of affected states, making those countries' borrowing costs rise still further.

    Merkel brushed off the threat, saying: "What a ratings agency does is its own responsibility." Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the wake-up call was S&P's way of urging European leaders to act.

    But Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of euro zone finance ministers, said he was astonished by S&P's announcement, which he called "a wild exaggeration and also unfair" because it failed to take account of Italy's new austerity plan.

    In Paris, Sarkozy's office said S&P had taken its decision last Tuesday, before both the Italian budget and the Franco-German plan for stricter budget rules.

    POLITICAL COVER

    Geithner met ECB President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt and Schaeuble in Berlin, starting a round of consultations with top European policymakers before the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, a sign that Washington shares the view that the event may be a decisive moment for the global economy.

    He will also meet the leaders of France, Italy, Spain, and EU institutions to press for decisive action to halt the crisis.

    That could provide the political cover that the ECB needs to buy more bonds of ailing countries as a stopgap, preventing countries from running out of money if they cannot sell bonds on the open market.

    ECB chief Draghi has signaled that a euro zone "fiscal compact" could encourage the central bank to act more decisively on the crisis. It has been reluctant to buy up debt from distressed euro states more aggressively, arguing doing so would take pressure off governments to fix their finances.

    Investors cheered a plan announced on Monday by new technocrat prime minister Mario Monti, slashing its borrowing costs. Yields on Italian 10-year bonds fell below 6 percent for the first time since October 28.

    Just last month, Italy - the euro zone's biggest debtor with 1.9 trillion euros of bonds outstanding - appeared headed for a crunch after the interest rate demanded by investors to lend to it soared above 7 percent, a rate at which other countries needed bailouts.

    Were it not for his 30-billion-euro austerity plan, Monti declared, "Italy would have collapsed, Italy would go into a situation similar to that of Greece."

    Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O'Neill told Reuters that Italian government debt yields now looked very attractive unless there was a "complete fiasco" at this week's EU summit. There would be no euro without Italy, he said.

    Sarkozy and Merkel say they want treaty changes to be agreed in March and ratified after France wraps up presidential and legislative elections in June.

    They won a boost on Tuesday when incoming Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said he would support a new treaty. Although not yet in office, Rajoy is expected to meet Merkel and Sarkozy and outline his policies at a congress of European conservative leaders in Marseille on Thursday.

    However, some other EU governments, notably Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, are reluctant to amend the treaty, either due to eurosceptics at home or because they fear losing possible referendums on ratification.

    If countries such as euro outsider Britain blocked a treaty change for all of the 27 EU members, the 17 states that use the common currency could proceed with an agreement on their own, Merkel and Sarkozy said.

    S&P said it would conclude its review "as soon as possible" after the summit, making clear that it wanted to see political as well as financial solutions.

    European stocks, bond futures and the euro recovered early losses after the warning, with analysts cautiously optimistic that the S&P move would spur European leaders into more decisive action.

    Sarkozy and Merkel will send their own proposals to the EU's Van Rompuy on Wednesday, who would have preferred to avoid treaty change but is sounding out other governments on their receptiveness.

    (Additional reporting by Michael Shields and Sylvia Westall in Vienna, Catherine Bremer in Paris, Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Writing by Peter Graff and Paul Taylor; Editing by David Stamp)

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111206/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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    Tuesday, December 6, 2011

    Video: AutoNation CEO Talks Business

    Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation, discusses automobile sales and the business of electric-hybrid cars.

    Related Links:

    Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

    Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45550726/

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    Monday, December 5, 2011

    Carl Pelini hired by Florida Atlantic (AP)

    BOCA RATON, Fla. ? Carl Pelini helped turn around Nebraska's defense. He's now taking on a significantly bigger challenge.

    Pelini was hired Monday by Florida Atlantic, where he'll become the second coach in program history and is replacing the now-retired Howard Schnellenberger. Pelini and FAU agreed to terms on a deal late last week, and the university's trustees formally approved the hiring Monday morning.

    "At the end of the day, I felt that the guy I would trust with my career on the line also is Carl Pelini," FAU athletic director Craig Angelos said Monday.

    Pelini's deal is for five years, starting with a $450,000 base salary in his first season and, with annual raises, would be worth a total of $2.49 million at its completion. In any season where the Owls sell more than 12,000 season tickets, Pelini would get at least another $100,000, and is eligible for other bonuses such as bowl appearances, conference titles and meeting certain academic standards.

    FAU will likely make him earn that money.

    The Owls finished this season 1-11, tied with Akron, Indiana and New Mexico for the worst record in major college football, and were one of only five clubs nationally not to win a single game within their own conference.

    Pelini was to be formally introduced at a Monday afternoon news conference. He is the brother of Nebraska coach Bo Pelini.

    "It is a very big hire for this university because it is a very visible hire for this university," Angelos said.

    Trustees met by teleconference to discuss the hire before it became official, and none of them aired any complaints about the move. Angelos also assured trustees during that call that Pelini is "comfortable" with the pool of money the school is making available to pay for the hiring of nine assistant coaches.

    "He's a guy that will roll up his sleeves and take whatever he's been given and make it better," Angelos said.

    In that respect, he sounds more than a bit like Schnellenberger, who founded the FAU program from the ground up, oversaw the transition from what was then known as Division I-AA to the major-college level, led the Owls to a pair of bowl appearances ? winning both ? and a Sun Belt Conference title. In October, the crown jewel of the program opened, a 30,000-seat on-campus stadium that Schnellenberger spent years trying to get done.

    Trustees got packets with Pelini's sales pitch over the weekend, coming away duly impressed.

    "Frankly, if he does three-quarters of what he says in here, it's pretty amazing," FAU trustee Bob Rubin said. "Craig found the right guy."

    When Pelini arrived at Nebraska in 2008, he inherited a defense that ranked 112th ? out of 119 ranked teams ? nationally the previous season in yards allowed. The Cornhuskers got better in a hurry, ranking seventh in 2009 and 11th in 2010 in total defense.

    Pelini was a graduate assistant for Nebraska's defense in 2003. He was Minnesota State's defensive coordinator in 2004, an assistant at Ohio from 2005-07 and then moved back to Nebraska in 2008. He played two seasons at Columbia before transferring to Youngstown State, and holds master's degrees from Kansas State and Ohio State.

    ___

    Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_florida_atlantic_pelini

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    Dispute Over New Air Pollution Rules for Power Plants

    [unable to retrieve full-text content]The Obama administration says the rules won?t cause power shortages, but an expert panel warns that compliance could strain generating capacity.

    Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1a0724797a00c7c9399664fc4be0aeae

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    Genetically Engineered Neurons Light Up When Firing

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    Sunday, December 4, 2011

    Mayans never predicted world to end in 2012: experts (Reuters)

    PALENQUE, Mexico (Reuters) ? If you are worried the world will end next year based on the Mayan calendar, relax: the end of time is still far off.

    So say Mayan experts who want to dispel any belief that the ancient Mayans predicted a world apocalypse next year.

    The Mayan calendar marks the end of a 5,126 year old cycle around December 12, 2012 which should bring the return of Bolon Yokte, a Mayan god associated with war and creation.

    Author Jose Arguelles called the date "the ending of time as we know it" in a 1987 book that spawned an army of Mayan theorists, whose speculations on a cataclysmic end abound online. But specialists meeting at this ancient Mayan city in southern Mexico say it merely marks the termination of one period of creation and the beginning of another.

    "We have to be clear about this. There is no prophecy for 2012," said Erik Velasquez, an etchings specialist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). "It's a marketing fallacy."

    The National Institute of Anthropological History in Mexico has been trying to quell the barrage of forecasters predicting the apocalypse. "The West's messianic thinking has distorted the world view of ancient civilizations like the Mayans," the institute said in a statement.

    In the Mayan calendar, the long calendar count begins in 3,114 BC and is divided into roughly 394-year periods called Baktuns. Mayans held the number 13 sacred and the 13th Baktun ends next year.

    Sven Gronemeyer, a researcher of Mayan codes from La Trobe University in Australia, who has been trying to decode the calendar, said the so-called end day reflects a transition from one era to the next in which Bolon Yokte returns.

    "Because Bolon Yokte was already present at the day of creation ... it just seemed natural for the Mayan that Bolon Yokte will again be present," he said.

    Of the approximately 15,000 registered glyphic texts found in different parts of what was then the Mayan empire, only two mention 2012, the Institute said.

    "The Maya did not think about humanity, global warming or predict the poles would fuse together," said Alfonso Ladena, a professor from the Complutense University of Madrid. "We project our worries on them."

    (Reporting by Pepe Cortes; editing by Anthony Boadle)

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/fossils/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111202/lf_nm_life/us_mexico_maya_prediction

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    Saturday, December 3, 2011

    Police take down Occupy L.A. camp, arrest nearly 300 (Reuters)

    LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Police in riot gear and biohazard suits removed anti-Wall Street activists from their camp at Los Angeles City Hall Wednesday, arresting nearly 300 people and fencing off the area.

    On the East Coast, about 100 Occupy protesters in Philadelphia swiftly and peacefully vacated their encampment overnight, but police later arrested 52 around the city on charges ranging from obstructing a highway to assaulting a police officer, officials said.

    In Los Angeles, police officers brought in on buses surrounded the Occupy LA camp after midnight and declared protesters on the lawn, sidewalks and streets around City Hall to be an unlawful assembly, ordering them to disperse or face arrest in line with an eviction order from the mayor.

    The Los Angeles encampment, which officials had allowed to remain even as other cities moved in to clear out similar compounds, had been among the largest on the West Coast aligned with a 2-month-old Occupy Wall Street movement against economic inequality and excesses of the U.S. financial system.

    Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had originally welcomed the protesters, even supplying them with ponchos for rainy weather. But as city officials complained of crime, sanitation problems and property damage he decided the group had to go.

    Villaraigosa initially set an eviction deadline for 12:01 a.m. Monday, but city officials held off on enforcing it for 48 hours in the hope protesters who had swelled to 2,000 at a recent peak would drift away on their own.

    The strategy appeared to pay off, with police avoiding the use of tear gas or pepper spray that marked evictions of protesters in Oakland and other cities. Aside from minor initial scuffles, the crowd was boisterous but mostly peaceful and the bulk of the operation was done before dawn.

    "I couldn't be prouder of what I believe is maybe the finest moment in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department," Villaraigosa told reporters. He said there were no major injuries to police or protesters.

    PROTESTERS PULLED FROM TREES

    Police swept into the park overnight as the raid began in earnest, arresting anyone who refused to leave and dismantling the camp. Tents were pulled down and flattened after police peeked inside each one with a flashlight.

    Some protesters took refuge in tree houses but were ultimately removed by officers using platform lifts and evicted from the camp, which had been estimated to have 500 tents and 700 to 800 full-time residents,

    Once the park was cleared of stragglers, workers erected fences and said they would rehabilitate debris-strewn grounds whose landscaping was ravaged by campers. They later collected 30 tons of waste from the site, the city said.

    Lieutenant Andy Neiman said before the operation that some protesters had been reported to be storing human waste at the site for unknown reasons. He later said police entering the camp had encountered "a horrible stench."

    Los Angeles police Sergeant Mitzi Fierro said 292 people were arrested, all but two of those for failure to disperse. One person was arrested for interfering with police and another accused of battery on an officer.

    Protesters said the raid would not be the last word.

    "This isn't over," said Alex Everett, 26, who was arrested during the eviction. He did not say what the group planned next.

    In Philadelphia, demonstrators left their camp in a plaza outside City Hall without incident shortly after 1 a.m., but confrontations erupted a short time later at four different locations and resulted in arrests.

    Philadelphia police said 52 people were arrested on various charges including obstructing a highway, conspiracy and failure to disperse at a busy intersection. One person was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.

    In San Francisco, protesters who hold one of the largest remaining Occupy camps on the West Coast essentially rejected an offer to trade their compound for a new site even as officials said time was short for a deal.

    The rejection late Tuesday appeared to harden lines between the city and protesters, with a city negotiator saying officials wanted tents gone from the current site by noon on Thursday but stopping short of issuing an ultimatum.

    (Additional reporting by Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angles; Writing by Steve Gorman and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Bill Trott, Jerry Norton and Cynthia Johnston)

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/us_nm/us_usa_protests

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    Colorado Still Divided on Medical Marijuana (ContributorNetwork)

    According to a report by the Associated Press, the governors of Washington and Rhode Island are pushing for a federal reclassification of marijuana that would allow doctors to prescribe the drug and pharmacists to supply it. However, the Denver Post reports that in Colorado, citizens still remain divided on whether legal medical marijuana is a good thing.

    Here's a look at medical marijuana in the state:

    * Colorado is among 16 states, and the District of Columbia, who have laws on the books regarding medical marijuana. Colorado's law, Amendment 20, was passed in November 2000. The law amended the state constitution to allow medical marijuana for patients with a qualifying condition. Doctors can recommend the use of marijuana for illnesses such as nausea, HIV/AIDS, cancer, chronic pain and seizures. A primary caregiver may register with the Medical Marijuana Registry to possess up to two ounces of usable form marijuana and not more than six plants, with no more than three being mature, per patient.

    * Voters in 33 cities and towns, as well as those in nine counties in Colorado have opted to ban medical marijuana businesses in their communities. Another 44 cities and 30 counties have banned dispensaries by ordinance, the Denver Post reports. Though medical marijuana is legal in the state, 43 percent of Colorado's residents live in communities where businesses providing medical marijuana products are not allowed.

    * A study released in November, by Daniel I. Rees of the University of Colorado Denver, indicates that legalization of medical marijuana is associated with increased use of marijuana among adults, but not minors. Legalization in the sixteen states that have passed medical marijuana laws, Rees wrote, is associated with a nine percent decrease in traffic fatalities. The reason, the study reports, is that medical marijuana is often a substitute for alcohol. The highest reduction in traffic fatalities in medical marijuana states is with the 20-29 age group, the study showed.

    * An independent poll conducted this summer showed that, in spite of all the municipal bans of medical marijuana businesses, 51 percent of the state's citizens support an outright legalization of marijuana. The most support (71 percent) came from individuals in the 18-29 year old age bracket. Males tend to support the idea more than females. An organization calling itself the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has been collecting petitions in order to get a 2012 statewide ballot initiative to end marijuana prohibition in Colorado, establishing the ability to tax the drug as alcohol is taxed and also provide for the cultivation of industrial hemp.

    * A spokesman for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper stated to the Associated Press that the governor may be compelled to join on with the petition by Washington and Rhode Island's governors for the reclassification of medical marijuana. The reclassification would make marijuana a Schedule 2 drug, rather than a Schedule 1. In the past, the Drug Enforcement Agency has denied such petitions, though this is the first one signed by governors, the Associated Press reported.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/meds/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111201/hl_ac/10573407_colorado_still_divided_on_medical_marijuana

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    Friday, December 2, 2011

    NPR loses 2nd news executive as BBC hires Meyer (AP)

    WASHINGTON ? NPR Executive Editor Dick Meyer is leaving the public radio network to lead BBC News America.

    Meyer's appointment at BBC was announced Wednesday. Since 2009, he has been NPR's executive editor, managing all news operations. His resignation follows the departure of NPR's top news executive Ellen Weiss in January. She left following an internal investigation on how the firing of commentator Juan Williams was handled.

    NPR's search for a news leader has been on hold until new CEO Gary Knell starts work on Thursday. NPR's board pushed for the resignation of former CEO Vivian Schiller in March in an effort to limit damage after hidden camera video footage showed a fellow executive deriding the tea party movement as "racist."

    Meyer's last day at NPR will be Dec. 9, spokeswoman Anna Christopher said. Margaret Low Smith continues to serve as senior vice president of news until a replacement is hired. NPR will wait until its top news post is filled before deciding how to fill the executive editor role, Christopher said.

    Before public radio, Meyer was editorial director of CBSNews.com and was a producer for "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather."

    Beginning in February 2012, Meyer will lead the BBC's U.S. newscast "BBC World News America" and its American website. In a statement, he says the BBC has "real opportunity for growth" in the U.S. as American news organizations struggle.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_en_ot/us_npr_executive_editor

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