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By NBCBayArea.com
Solano County's first countywide gun buyback program today collected 344 weapons including a military rocket launcher and multiple assault rifles, according to Vallejo police Chief Joseph Kreins.
The buyback, conducted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., drew in 113? handguns, 67 shotguns, 163 rifles, including multiple assault rifles and the? rocket launcher, Kreins said.
"The goal of the operation was simple: We wanted to get as many? illegal and unwanted guns off the streets of Solano County as possible,"? Kreins said in a statement today.
"We all know that these very firearms are often used to commit? violent crimes against our fellow citizens and in a variety of tragic? scenarios, including suicides," Kreins added.
A similar gun buyback in Santa Clara County last weekend had a starting budget of $150,000.??? In the end, the Santa Clara County sheriff's department said they received 1,116 guns, which included 47 assault weapons. They gave out about $114,0000, which means they had money left over.
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Opponents of same-sex marriage are trying to "reintroduce Section 28 by stealth", gay rights campaigners have warned.
The law, which was part of the Local Government Act 1988, stipulated that local authorities should "not intentionally promote homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship".
It was repealed by the Scottish Parliament in June 2000.
But the Equality Network, which leads the campaign to allow same-sex couples to marry in Scotland, is concerned about recent contributions to the debate to legalise same-sex marriage.
Tom French, policy co-ordinator, said; "We are deeply concerned that opponents of same-sex marriage are attempting to reintroduce Section 28 style discrimination back into Scotland's schools.
"This would roll back equality and have a damaging effect on young people and the wider education system.
"We firmly believe that school should be a welcoming environment for all young people, regardless of their sexual orientation or family situation. Schools have a duty of care to their pupils and it would be wrong to allow discrimination against LGBT people in the education system."
The Scottish Government is currently consulting on its laws to legalise gay marriage, and is seeking views on its Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill and its implications in areas such as education.
Scotland for Marriage, the umbrella group campaigning against same-sex marriage in Scotland, has raised concerns about what will be taught in schools.
The group wants parents to have the right to opt their children out of any lessons that mention same-sex relationships.
Meanwhile a briefing on the same-sex marriage consultation Christian organisation CARE for Scotland said: "Concerns have been expressed that should so-called 'same-sex marriage' be introduced it is likely that children will be taught in school that marriage can be between two people of the same sex.
"To raise a generation of children with such a subjective view of marriage, is a huge social experiment which is likely to result in severely detrimental consequences.
"Arguably it may even increase the occurrence of homosexual relationships."
Source: http://news.stv.tv/politics/217096-section-28-could-be-reintroduced-by-same-sex-marriage-opponents/
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Small water frogs marketed and sold as pets are linked to an outbreak of Salmonella infections from 2008 to 2011, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report published in Pediatrics on Monday found the infection sickened 376 people in 44 U.S. states and sent 29 percent of those infected to the hospital - mostly children.
"This was the first Salmonella outbreak associated with aquatic frogs, and in this case the frogs are often marketed as good pets for kids," said Shauna Mettee Zarecki, the study's lead author from the CDC in Atlanta.
"The majority of people didn't realize there were any risks from these amphibians or other amphibians, like turtles and snakes," she added.
While most people hear about Salmonella-contaminated food, Zarecki said reptiles and amphibians also carry the bacteria. Humans can become infected after handling the animals, cleaning their containers or coming in contact with contaminated water.
People infected with Salmonella can have prolonged diarrhea, cramps, vomiting and a persistent fever. The infection can be deadly if it's left untreated, and it's most dangerous in the young, elderly and people with weak immune systems.
Previous research has found that reptiles and amphibians are responsible for about 74,000 Salmonella infections in the U.S. every year.
In the new report, Zarecki and her colleagues write that researchers from the CDC - along with state and local health departments - investigated an outbreak of Salmonella infections, mostly among children, in 2008.
By early 2009, the number of cases returned to normal before the researchers could find a cause. The investigation was started again when five more children were infected with the same strain of Salmonella in Utah later that year.
To find what was behind the outbreak, the researchers interviewed people who were infected with that strain of Salmonella from January 2008 through December 2011. They asked each person what animals and food they were exposed to in the week before they got sick.
They then compared the data from 18 people with that strain of the bacteria to 29 people who were infected with a different type of Salmonella.
Overall, they found 67 percent of the people in the new outbreak were exposed to frogs during the week before their illness, compared to 3 percent in the comparison group.
The majority of people who came in contact with a frog during the week before they got sick remembered the type - an African dwarf frog.
"Everything really linked these frogs with the illnesses," said Zarecki.
The investigation eventually led to an African dwarf frog breeding facility in Madera County, California. There, researchers found the same strain of the bacteria in the facility's tank water, tank cleaning equipment, water filters and floor drains.
The facility started distributing frogs again in June 2011, after the owner voluntarily shut down the operation and instituted cleaning measures.
The researchers write, however, that African dwarf frogs can live for five to 18 years, which means infected frogs may still be in homes and continue to cause illness.
"The important consideration with any aquatic pet is to provide adequate filtration to keep the water clean and perform regular partial water changes," said Dr. Nicholas Saint-Erne, a veterinarian for PetSmart, Inc., in a statement to Reuters Health.
Saint-Erne, who was not involved with the new report, added that people with questions should ask veterinarians who specialize in aquatic animals or reptiles to help "ensure their pets are healthy and being given the proper care and nutrition."
"If these aquariums are in homes, children under five (years old) shouldn't be allowed to clean the aquarium," said Zarecki, adding that also applies to people with weakened immune systems.
"Pets are wonderful. We think they're a great learning tool for children, but some pets just aren't appropriate for children or individuals," she added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/HjQ8dI Pediatrics, online March 11, 2013.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pet-frogs-linked-salmonella-outbreak-kids-cdc-043535643.html
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Complaining about "rats the size of small dogs," debris that falls like thick snow and a pervasive, rancid odor, neighbors at a public hearing Friday protested a plan to expand a Sun Valley recycling operation into one of the largest waste-transfer facilities in the state.
"Vermin run rampant," said Gary Aggas, president of the Sun Valley Neighborhood Council and one of many residents to testify before a city planning officer about the matter. "Dust blows through the neighborhood constantly.... Our children and grandchildren should not be subjected to conditions that can be prevented."
Community Recycling & Resource Recovery has been operating its massive, open-air waste-sorting operation for nearly a decade without full permits from the city and state. The facility has permits to take in about 1,700 tons a day but has been receiving up to 4,600 over the last decade. The excess waste was authorized under a 2007 agreement with the city that was supposed to last for just a few months but has flowed in for years because of bureaucratic delays.
Now the operation, which sorts and processes yard waste, construction debris and supermarket scraps, wants to expand its operations to take in up to 6,700 tons a day. As part of its proposal, the company has pledged to enclose some of its operations to cut down on odors and air pollution.
Residents and nearby workers, however, want the company to put most of its operation indoors, in a building with air filters. They voiced concern that the issue has been drawn out until now, when District 6 is without a council member. Tony Cardenas, the former councilman, is now in Congress.
"There are days you can't walk outside. It's like it's snowing ... debris," said Fred Burhoe, an equipment supervisor at Security Paving, which is adjacent to the company. He said some of his workers have quit because their health is suffering, that he's seen dog-sized rats running from the facility and that chicken bones rain down on his roof from the beaks of scavenging gulls.
"It's the dirtiest facility I've ever been near, and I've worked on a number of landfills," he said. "This thing should not be permitted to run like this."
Company officials listened silently for two hours. Then Fred Gaines, a lawyer for the Community Recycling, pledged to work with the community to improve conditions.
He said company officials want to build "a modern, well-mitigated facility that can continue to do all the good work it has done."
The facility has a complicated ? at times tortured ? history with the city.
City officials sued Community Recycling in 2004 for environmental violations and filed cease-and-desist orders against it in 2004 and 2006. But it stayed those orders six years ago.
The city heavily relies on the facility. The operation processes more than 10% of the yard clippings picked up by city garbage trucks and nearly 40% of the food recycled from a restaurant composting program. A crackdown could imperil a recycling system that elected officials tout as one of the nation's best.
The company has contributed to one of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's signature environmental projects, pledging in 2008 to give $15 million worth of trees to the Million Trees Initiative ? although it has only partially fulfilled that pledge.
These days, city inspectors visit the facility at least every two weeks and sometimes more often. Each time, according to state regulations, they issue "violations" because the facility is taking in more waste than it is permitted to accept. But they take no further action, in part because they have allowed the company to operate without full permits.
Wayne Tsuda, the official in charge of those inspections, noted that he continually receives complaints about dust and odor.
After listening to a colorful, often disgusting, litany of those complaints, Daniel P. O'Donnell, the city planner who presided over the hearing, urged company officials, residents and city officials to work together to come up with an improvement plan before the company's proposal moves to the city Planning Commission later this spring.
If the feuding parties can't reach an agreement, O'Donnell will make his own recommendation to the commission.
"Something has to be done," he said.
jessica.garrison@latimes.com
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So you are feeling a bit dejected about your home. Many people go through periods where they want to rip everything out and start over, or they just want to move. The thing is, you can always make your home better. Why not try out a few of the tips in this article?
Always communicate with anyone that shares responsibility for the project, whether it is a business partner or a spouse. Understanding what the project consists of right from the start by ensuring everyone knows their roles, helps eliminate finger pointing when something isn?t done on time during the project. Ultimately, it takes the pressure off you because you have a clear idea of what areas are your responsibility.
DIY
When doing a DIY home improvement project, put safety first. Make sure you wear protective equipment such as a hard hat and goggles when needed. Use power tools (especially ones you are not familiar with) with extreme caution. Read the directions and ask for help when needed. Home improvement stores are a great resource of information.
Almost all DIY projects are pretty easy and self-explanatory. Most people can paint a room, clean storm windows, and make minor repairs. Be careful not to overextend your actual DIY abilities in more complex areas. Unless you really know what you are doing, you are likely to have trouble (and encounter danger) with projects such as DIY electrical wiring and DIY sewer line replacement. Call an expert!
One of the biggest causes of failure in a DIY home improvement project is to start more than one project at a time. When you focus your efforts on one area, you end up with better results and a better success rate of finishing your project. Also, you have more usable space while renovating if only one area of the home is in progress at one time.
Take advantage of a small bathroom space by getting great deals on remodel materials. For example, your limited countertop and flooring needs translate to a higher likelihood of you finding both countertop and flooring remnants that will work at your local DIY, bathroom or carpet store. These remnants are still brand new but come at a steep discount thanks to their fixed dimensions.
Home improvement is often a daunting task. This is because of the time and the amounts of money required. However, it doesn?t have to be so bad. If you have several projects in your house, divide them up into several smaller DIY projects. For example you may want to redo the entire living room. Start simple, by just replacing the carpet, and before you know it, your living room will be like new.
Your inspiration for home improvements can come from reading magazines or watching television shows, as well as looking around your home and seeing projects you?d like to accomplish. Even if you?re a long way away from your next home improvement job, sorting out what you want to take on next and getting the planning started early is a great idea. Not only that, you can buy materials a bit at a time to cut down on one-time big costs.
Although it is much less expensive to work on your home yourself, making mistakes or not having the motivation to complete a project can quickly add to the cost. It is important to think through what you want to accomplish; the The General Gazette is meant to be a starting point for you as you begin to gather your thoughts about what you want to do.
Source: http://www.23cdk.com/advice-for-planning-a-home-improvement-project/
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FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2012 file photo, Justin Bieber performs at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London on Thursday, March 7, 2013. A spokeswoman for Bieber said that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at his show at London's O2 Arena. (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2012 file photo, Justin Bieber performs at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London on Thursday, March 7, 2013. A spokeswoman for Bieber said that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at his show at London's O2 Arena. (Photo by Isaac Brekken/Invision/AP, File)
FILe - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file photo, Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs at the O2 Arena in east London. Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London. A spokeswoman for Bieber said Thursday, March 7, 2013, that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at London's O2 Arena. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this March 4, 2013 file photo, Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs at the O2 Arena in east London. Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London on Thursday, March 7, 2013. A spokeswoman for Bieber said that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at his show at London's O2 Arena. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file photo, Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs at the O2 Arena in east London. Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London. A spokeswoman for Bieber said Thursday, March 7, 2013, that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at London's O2 Arena. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2013 file photo, Canadian singer Justin Bieber performs at the O2 Arena in east London. Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London. A spokeswoman for Bieber said Thursday, March 7, 2013, that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at London's O2 Arena. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
Justin Bieber is recovering after fainting backstage at a concert in London.
A spokeswoman for Bieber said late Thursday that the 19-year-old pop star was given oxygen and took a 20-minute reprieve after fainting backstage at London's O2 Arena.
"Getting better," Bieber posted on Twitter. "Thanks for everyone pulling me thru tonight. Best fans in the world. Figuring out what happened. Thanks for the love."
In a video of the concert posted online, Bieber's manager appeared on stage Thursday night and told the crowd that the singer was feeling "very low of breath" but would return to finish the show, which he did.
The "Baby" singer is in London to perform four concerts at the O2 arena.
The incident caps a difficult week for Bieber. He was forced to apologize to outraged fans who accused him of taking the stage almost two hours late for his first concert at the O2 on Monday. He insisted he was only 40 minutes late and blamed "technical issues." He took to Twitter to vent his frustrations with the media's portrayal of the incident.
___
Online:
http://www.justinbiebermusic.com/
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A U.N. peacekeeper from the Philippines UNDOF force works at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, March, 9, 2013. Syrian rebels freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned fighters trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
A U.N. peacekeeper from the Philippines UNDOF force works at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, March, 9, 2013. Syrian rebels freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned fighters trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
A U.N. peacekeeper from the UNDOF force walks up to a watch tower at the Quneitra Crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Saturday, March, 9, 2013. Syrian rebels freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned fighters trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)
Hamida Ulidal Kakim, an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), arrives Saturday, March 9, 2013 in Manila, Philippines, after being repatriated from civil war-torn Syria. On Wednesday, a convoy of 21 peacekeepers were seized near the Syrian village of Jamlah, just a mile from the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in an area where the U.N. force had patrolled a cease-fire line between Israel and Syria without incident for nearly four decades, with UN and Philippine Foreign Affairs officials negotiating for their safe release. The Syrian rebels want the Red Cross to escort them out of the area because of fighting with Syrian government forces, the Philippine military said. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers on Saturday after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned fighters trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity.
The episode is bound to prompt new questions about U.N. operations in war-torn Syria. The peacekeepers were part of a force that has spent four decades monitoring an Israeli-Syrian cease-fire without incident.
The Filipino peacekeepers crossed from Syria to safety in Jordan on Saturday afternoon, said Mokhtar Lamani, the Damascus representative of the U.N.-Arab League peace envoy to Syria.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed their release, and called on all parties in Syria to respect the peacekeepers' freedom of movement.
The peacekeepers were seized Wednesday and were held in the village of Jamlah in southwestern Syria, near Jordan and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Their captors from the Martyrs of the Yarmouk Brigades initially said they would only release the hostages once Syrian troops withdrew from the area. In the days leading up to the abduction, rebels had overrun several regime checkpoints and apparently feared reprisals.
However, as the abduction made headlines, the rebels eventually dropped their demand and began negotiating a safe passage for the peacekeepers with U.N. officials. On Friday, a U.N. team tried to retrieve the hostages, but aborted the plan because of heavy regime shelling of the area.
On Saturday, another U.N. team headed toward Jamlah to try again, said a rebel spokesman, who spoke via Skype, insisting on anonymity for fear of reprisals.
He said the U.N. team aborted the mission because of fighting in the area, and that the rebels instead escorted the hostages to the Syrian-Jordanian border.
Lamani said the U.N. team was near Jamlah and was waiting for the rebels to hand over the hostages when the rebels changed their minds and instead drove the peacekeepers to the Jordanian border.
"They asked us to wait for an hour as they negotiated between themselves. Then we were surprised to hear to hear the news from a satellite channel that they had reached Jordan," he said. "Praise God in the end that all of them were released safely."
For its part, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the United Nations that was shared with the media that the Syrian army had held its fire in the area "out of concern for the security and safety of the UN forces."
It called on the U.N. to "unequivocally condemn the attacks of those terrorist groups against civilians and work to dislodge those terrorist groups immediately from the region."
The Syria government says the uprising is a foreign-backed conspiracy to weaken the country carried out by "terrorists" ? its blanket term for the opposition.
Many rebel groups operate independently, despite efforts by the Syrian opposition to unify the fighters under one command. The abduction appeared to have been such a local initiative, and leaders of the political opposition repeatedly urged the Jamlah rebels to free the hostages.
On Friday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland warned the rebels that holding the peacekeepers "is not good for them, it's not good for their reputation."
The peacekeepers are part of a U.N. monitoring mission known as UNDOF. It was set up in 1974, seven years after Israel captured the plateau and a year after it managed to push back Syrian troops trying to recapture the territory in another regional war.
The U.N. monitors have helped enforce a stable truce between Israel and Syria.
But in recent months, Syrian mortar shells overshooting their target have repeatedly hit the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. In Israel's most direct involvement so far, Israeli warplanes struck inside Syria in January, according to U.S. officials who said the target was a convoy carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia allied with Assad and Iran.
Israeli officials have expressed concern that the violence might prompt UNDOF to end its mission.
On Friday, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said "the mission in the Golan needs to review its security arrangements and it has been doing that."
He said the mission has been looking at different scenarios and arrangements on how to operate "in these new rather difficult and challenging circumstances."
It was the first time that Filipino peacekeepers, of whom 600 are deployed worldwide and 333 in the Golan Heights, have been seized. The incident has prompted President Benigno Aquino III to review the Philippines' contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations.
The Syria conflict began two years ago, starting with largely peaceful protests against Assad. A harsh regime crackdown triggered an armed insurgency that has turned into a full-scale civil war.
The U.N. estimates that the conflict has claimed more than 70,000 lives and forced nearly 4 million people from their homes. The fighting has devastated large areas of the country.
___
Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
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Budget gurus for the state of Washington are still calculating the actual effects of the federal spending cuts known as sequestration, but what is known is that vulnerable populations ? the disabled, seniors, poor preschoolers ? will feel the brunt.
The cuts, which began taking effect March 1, are expected to carve almost $83 million out of state-administered programs over the next seven months. The timing and effects vary by program.
?We absolutely expect to be impacted by sequestration, but we have limited information about how and when at this point.? said Tim Church, a spokesman for the state Department of Health, which anticipates big cuts in food assistance for low-income mothers. ?We?re waiting to hear from multiple federal agencies about multiple federal grants so we can determine what our next steps are.?
Bigger troubles might be ahead. House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan told union activists Thursday that he figures sequestration could erase $500 million from the state?s revenue forecast, increasing the potential 2013-2015 budget gap to $3 billion if lawmakers opt to direct more money into K-12 schools and other needs.
The $85 billion in federal across-the-board cuts, if carried out fully across the country, could subtract $3.4 billion or 4 percent, from the state?s economy, according to the state Office of Financial Management. ?
Defense cuts could translate into furloughs for up to 16,200 civilian workers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and another 16,000 Navy employees in the Northwest, most of whom are in Washington state. All told, Financial Management estimates potential job losses across the economy are estimated at 43,151 in 2013 and 54,359 in the following year? if Congress fails to act to blunt the effect or reverse the cuts.
House Republicans on Wednesday approved a plan that would give the Defense Department flexibility to determine where cuts should apply, and Senate Democrats are pushing to give additional Cabinet agencies similar authority.
But without certain relief in sight, agencies are gearing up to absorb the reductions.
Sandy Nelson, assistant superintendent for early learning at Educational Service District 113 based in Olympia, said ESD leaders expect to decide by the end of the month what changes they will make to the district?s Head Start program. The cuts could mean the closure of a couple of classrooms at the facilities she oversees in Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor counties.
She estimated that upward of three dozen children would be unable to get services.
?I?ve been in Head Start since 1977 and have never ever had to do this,?? she said.
Overall, Head Start programs in Washington stand to lose $9 million. State schools Superintendent Randy Dorn as well as advocates at both the Washington State Association of Head Start and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program say that could mean 1,090 kids from low-income homes will not get into the preschool programs next fall.
?The impact here will be huge. In (Washington) we?re only serving about 38 percent of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds in (Head Start) and ECEAP, and this just makes things worse,? said Katy Warren, deputy director of the state Head Start association. ?
Cuts for public schools are also looming, although most won?t happen until fiscal year 2014. Those include more than $14 million in Title I funds that pay for instructional staff, extended-time programs and other help for students in poor K-12 schools and more than $14 million for supplemental services for disabled students.
Dorn says one cut hitting during the current budget year is $2 million for federal ?impact aid? that goes to school districts that have large areas of tax-exempt federal lands such as military bases and American Indian reservations.
State Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, said this week that higher education cuts could exceed $900,000 in the area of financial aid, causing reductions in aid packages for 1,357 public and private school students.
The impacts also will be felt across a swath of programs administered by the state. Some of the bigger reductions include:
n The Department of Social and Health Services anticipates $10.6 million in reductions, including a $2.1 million cut that would reduce services for about 1,600 foster-care children, agency spokesman Thomas Shapley said.
Another $2.8 million reduction could affect as many as 1,300 people with disabilities, preventing them from getting unemployment plans or vocational rehabilitation help. A
$1.9 million cut to substance abuse programs could cause 3,000 DSHS clients to receive less treatment and prevention services as county outpatient and tribal contracts are reduced. And a $494,000 cut in mental health funds would reduce treatment, prevention and wellness assistance for about 7,200 clients, which DSHS says could increase hospitalization and shift more mentally ill people into homelessness or the criminal justice system.
Shapley said the mega-agency is exploring potential options for limiting the harm. Those could include use of leftover funds from prior budget years, asking state lawmakers for help, prioritizing cuts inside grant programs that allow it, and time limits or benefit caps for participants to avoid halting services.
n Cuts at the Department of Health could eliminate $7.9 million from the Women, Infants and Children supplemental nutrition program. An estimated 13,300 clients would lose some nutritional assistance, according to OFM. Another $2.5 million in capital grants for improving local waste water and drinking water systems could disappear, and reductions in federal immunization funding could slash vaccine availability for more than 4,000 kids.
n The Employment Security Department is waiting for more direction from the U.S. Labor Department on how to put $42 million in benefit cuts into place for those receiving weekly jobless benefits.
n Nearly $3.1 million less in the home-energy assistance means 4,800 fewer households get help with heating bills from the Commerce Department.
Other Commerce cuts include $526,000 less in aid to crime victims, which results in $2,100 less for 79 different providers of services to victims of sexual assaults and $4,000 less for each of 43 domestic-violence agencies.
Jordan Schrader contributed to this report.
Brad Shannon: 360-753-1688
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Legoland Florida hasn?t said what its expansion will be, but I?m planting my flag on Legends of Chima.
The park released a video this morning showing construction crews finding a mysterious energy source coming from the ground.
Legends of Chima is Lego?s latest toy brand and TV series revolving around animal warriors. The show launched in January on Cartoon Network.
OK, now here?s why I think it?s Legends of Chima.
In Legoland?s teaser video, there?s the obvious scene of the crews mistakenly tapping into some strange power shooting from the ground. After that, the video ends leaving us with no idea of the power source?s origin.
Well, after doing some research on Legends of Chima, the show is based on those animal warriors fighting for a special energy called ?chi.?
In the TV show?s teaser video, the narrator states the characters are ?fighting for the control of the magical ?Chi? ? the energy source that gives the animal warriors, and [their] vehicles, special speed, strength and power.?
And if you listen to the noise the energy makes at the precise moment ? the 0:25 second mark ? it sounds similar to the noise in Legoland?s video. (By the way, yes, I typically dive that deep into researching geeky stuff. It?s in my nature)
But video aside, it makes even more sense for Legoland Florida to get behind the latest Lego brand. It?ll be fresh in kids? minds as they see it each week and why not be the first Legoland park to bring the real TV experience to guests.
Now, Legoland Florida hasn?t announced what the expansion is, but I?m betting it?s Legends of Chima.
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By Us Weekly
There's a little bit less of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi?to go around these days -- 42 pounds' worth! The former "Jersey Shore" party girl, 25, has experienced a complete life makeover since last year, thanks to her engagement to boyfriend Jionni LaValle, her first-ever pregnancy, and the August birth of her adorable baby boy Lorenzo.
Us Weekly
PHOTOS: Snooki's wild pregnancy
"When you have a baby, everything changes," the 4-foot-9 star says in the new issue of Us Weekly. Part of Snooki's transformation? She's shed an astounding 42 pounds since giving birth, weighing in at a 102 pounds and revealing the sexy results for Us in body-revealing bikinis.
PHOTOS: Her over-the-top style
"I lost it for me," she tells Us, "but I also wanted Jionni to know that I can be hot as a mom."
For more exclusive shots of Snooki's amazing post-baby body, how she dropped the weight (including fitness and diet tips) and her new life with her boys, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands Friday!
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TAIYUAN, March 1 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese power generating firm that uses coal-bed methane as materials announced on Friday that it received 278 million yuan (44 million U.S. dollars) in 2012 through participating in an emissions trading scheme that forms part of the Kyoto Protocol.
The Shanxi Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group (JAMG), based in China's largest coal-producing province of Shanxi, generated 1.4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year with natural methane gas extracted from coal beds, according to the company.
Coalbed methane is a byproduct of coal, and a major danger in coal mines. If it is explored, coal mines will have methane content slashed by 70 percent to 85 percent and become much safer.
As a clean energy source close to natural gas, coalbed methane can be used as industrial chemical, a domestic fuel and for electricity generation.
Through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) defined in the Kyoto Protocol, the JAMG sold its certified emission reduction credits, each equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide, to industrialized nations needing to meet emission reduction targets under the protocol.
The JAMG has 91 gas turbine generators with an installed capacity of 189 megawatts, 138 megawatts of which belong to the CDM project. It can consume more than 300 million cubic meters of coal-bed methane annually and reduce carbon dioxide equivalent to 4.66 million tonnes every year.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, which commits its parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.
The CDM allows emission-reduction projects in developing countries to earn certified emission reduction credits. These credits can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries.
The mechanism stimulates sustainable development and emission reductions, while giving industrialized countries some flexibility in how they meet their emission reduction limitation targets.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-03/01/c_132201389.htm
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow Jones industrial average soared to a record closing high on Tuesday, breaking through levels last seen in 2007 and as investors rushed in to join the party in anticipation of more gains.
Signs of a strengthening economy, continued support from the Federal Reserve, and fairly attractive valuations compared to other assets have boosted the Dow by almost 9 percent so far this year. A strong reading in the services sector, which accounts for the bulk of economic activity, was the latest indicator of improving demand.
"I'm surprised at the speed of the gains, which have come at a pace that we can't annualize. But stocks are still not expensive, and we can expect to continue getting a reasonable advance from here," said Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Chicago-based Northern Trust Global Investments, who helps oversee $760 billion in assets.
Gains came across the board, with 10 of the Dow's 30 component stocks reaching new 52-week highs on a day when 456 securities hit new yearly highs on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones Transportation Average also closed at a new high after rising 1.5 percent.
About 71 percent of the NYSE stocks closed higher while 67 percent of Nasdaq-listed shares ended in positive territory. About 6.41 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, slightly below the daily average so far this year of about 6.48 billion shares.
About 16.9 million contracts changed hands in the U.S. options market on Tuesday, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert. The turnover consisted of 8.90 million calls and 8.01 million puts. The overall option turnover was in line with last month's daily average of 16.89 million contracts.
The blue-chip Dow's forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio was at 15.87, compared with 16.99 during the 2007 highs, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream. The S&P 500's price-to-earnings ratio was at 13.5.
Outside the Dow, Google continued its gains with the stock rising 2.1 percent to close at $838.60, an all-time high for the Web giant. Google is the highest-priced stock in the S&P 500.
The Institute for Supply Management's services index showed growth accelerated in February to its fastest pace in a year. Still, some areas of the economy haven't recovered as well as equity prices have since the financial crisis. The unemployment rate is at an elevated 7.9 percent, far above the 4.7 percent rate at the time of the Dow's previous high.
Markets have shrugged off the stalemate between the congressional Republicans and the White House over automatic U.S. government spending cuts, known as the "sequester." Other recent headwinds, including political turmoil in Europe, have also been navigated without much pain, with investors using any decline as an opportunity to buy.
"The economy is still expanding and improving despite the risk of higher taxes and lower spending," McDonald said. "While you can never rule out a correction, we don't see the economy or the Fed getting in the way of the market."
Among Dow stocks hitting all-time highs on Tuesday were Walt Disney Co and 3M Co. All 10 of the S&P 500's industrial sector indexes rose, with tech shares among the day's gainers. Just two components ended lower - Coca-Cola and Merck & Co, while Alcoa Inc ended flat.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 125.95 points, or 0.89 percent, to close at 14,253.77. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 14.59 points, or 0.96 percent, to 1,539.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 42.10 points, or 1.32 percent, to 3,224.13.
Qualcomm Inc rose 2 percent to $67.97 after the world's leading supplier of chips for cellphones said it was raising its quarterly cash dividend by 40 percent. BMC Software rose 3.7 percent to $42.32 and Micron Tech added 3.9 percent to $8.73.
CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow rose above 14,198.10, the intraday all-time high reached in October 2007, when the world was heading toward the financial crisis. The Dow's previous closing high was set on October 9, 2007, when it ended at 14,164.53.
On Tuesday, the Dow set an intraday all-time high at 14,286.37.
The broad benchmark S&P 500 is at a five-year high and about 2.3 percent away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09.
Equity investors have been welcoming signs of improvement in the U.S. economy, but a big part of the rally that has continued in 2013 without a significant correction is the result of the U.S. Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy and the near zero short-term interest rates since December 2008.
As the market is aware that the cheap money from the Fed would have to eventually end, more investors were growing cautious. While the CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, fell 3.8 percent on Tuesday, it is still above lows reached in February.
"It's clear the economy isn't ready to have the Fed leave," said Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O'Neil Securities in New York. "No one thinks we're going into a crisis like we did after 2007, but the sense of play is very telling. Even though people are in the market, they're very cautious and searching for yield.
"The caution is frustrated caution."
(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dow-surges-closing-high-economy-feds-help-032459668--sector.html
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It has been a fair amount of time since we commented on the Robopocalypse. Here we go. Brown fucking University has developed a remote that allows us to control robots with our dome-pieces. C?mon, Skynet. Just hijack that shit. We are asking for it.
You still can?t download your brain ? but we?re one step closer to controlling robots with our minds. Researchers at Brown University have developed the first brain-computer interface that doesn?t require being physically tethered to a computer. Earlier instances have allowed wearers to control cursors on a computer screen or manipulate robotic arms, but ExtremeTech reports that until now the wearer?s motion was limited because the devices couldn?t be used wirelessly. The new technology allows a subject to move freely during use, enabling humans to have a more natural lifestyle while using the device. The device can also be used to collect data on brain activity, and researchers can now more easily study animals embedded with the device in non-laboratory environments.
The new brain-computer interface is about the size of a matchbox and sits on top of the wearer?s skull. A thin wire connected to a 100-electrode chip extends from the device and is implanted through the skull and into the motor cortex. It can report data to a computer up to one meter away by wireless radio. The device runs for seven hours on a single charge of its 200mAh Li-ion battery, and it can be recharged by wireless induction. However, it might not be ready for human tests ? the device heated up by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit during charging, and the team had to cool off its subjects with chilled water.
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the face of increasing government-led crackdowns on social media, Google Inc
In an interview with Reuters, Cerf acknowledged that the search giant's sweeping push in the past 18 months to institute real-name authentication for Google+ and other services has sparked intense debate within its Mountain View, California, headquarters. But he argued that current name policy, which allows for some users to display pseudonyms, offers adequate "choice" in how users choose to represent themselves.
Over the past year, the company has strongly encouraged users to merge their accounts on YouTube, Gmail and other Google properties into a single Google+ identity, the company's social network offering that asks users to use the "common name" they are known by in the real world.
"Using real names is useful," Cerf said. "But I don't think it should be forced on people, and I don't think we do."
The comments from one of the Internet industry's most high-profile thinkers come at a time when the debate over the future of online anonymity is roiling tech circles, with the outcome bearing profound implications for Internet use around the world.
Google and Facebook Inc
But Cerf recognized using real names could land social media users under oppressive regimes in "fatal trouble," and Google will not enforce its policy in such instances. But in many other cases, user authentication should be promoted, he said.
"Anonymity and pseudonymity are perfectly reasonable under some situations," Cerf said. "But there are cases where in the transactions both parties really need to know who are we talking to. So what I'm looking for is not that we shut down anonymity, but rather that we offer an option when needed that can strongly authenticate who the parties are."
In the past few months Cerf has warned that governments ? including democratic ones ? are increasingly censoring and filtering the Web, while some regimes are seeking to ban online anonymity in order to control political speech.
"At Google, we see and feel the dangers of the government-led Net crackdown," he wrote in a CNN.com editorial in December.
DOLLAR MOTIVE
Yet digital rights activists have accused two of the Internet industry's most influential players ? Facebook and Google ? of leading the charge against anonymity by pushing its users to identify themselves, which can turn up valuable information for two companies that essentially make money by advertising and tracking user behavior.
When Google+ launched in 2011, its requirement that users display their real names alarmed activists who accused the Web giant of abandoning its "Don't be evil" corporate mantra to pursue growing rival Facebook. The world's most popular social network has been the most aggressive in enforcing its policy, with Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg once equating keeping multiple identities with "a lack of integrity."
In one instance in 2011, Facebook suspended British author Salman Rushdie's account and, after reviewing his passport, changed his Facebook identity to "Ahmed Rushdie." The company relented after Rushdie played up the row on Twitter, but it has stood by its policy as a general matter.
"This real name culture leads to greater accountability and a safer and more trusted environment for our users, and we firmly believe that the use of authentic identity helps people get the most value out of the site," Facebook spokesman Frederic Wolens said.
Due to its easy integration, many online messaging boards or third-party apps ? like music-streaming service Vevo.com, for instance ? increasingly require users to log in with their Facebook credentials. Last week, Google introduced a similar Google+ log-in service for third-party sites.
In response to public outcry, Google in 2012 began allowing nicknames and pseudonyms for a fraction of Google+'s 500 million users, and has since reiterated that it would encourage - but not require - Gmail and YouTube users to sign in with Google+.
Although its algorithms sift through Google+ to flag accounts with symbols or common nouns, a Google spokesman said the company will not require user authentication with official documents such as passports.
Still, Google's aggressive push to implement Google+ has been controversial even within the company, and Google+ chief Vic Gundotra had to downplay suggestions of internal disagreements over its roll-out in recent press interviews.
"There was a debate on this subject and it was resolved," Cerf told Reuters. Requiring real names "denies (users) choice," he said. "Our conclusion was that choice is important."
Google respected its users' rights more than Facebook, but the company did not go far enough, said Jillian York of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet rights group.
"Google's approach to this takes the view that the only thing that people want to stay safe from is government, and that's not entirely true," York said. "People are also concerned about staying protected from Google itself."
Cerf, 69, co-invented the protocols that underpin the Internet in the 1970s, when he taught at Stanford and worked with the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Since 2005, when he joined Google as its "chief Internet evangelist," Cerf has been a fixture at international technology conferences, often sporting his signature three-piece suits and fiercely advocating for Internet freedom.
Cerf personally uses two Google+ accounts, for work and socializing, but took a few tongue-in-cheek swipes at Google's rival, which he said was diluted by too many distractions.
"I'm on Facebook and I found it less than useful," said Cerf, who explained that he accepted every Facebook friend request when he first joined the service ? only to quickly hit the maximum threshold of 5,000 friends.
"I complained to (Facebook Chief Operating Officer) Sheryl Sandberg that I thought that was a personal insult that they thought I had too many friends," he said. "I think they changed it for me."
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/google-services-not-require-real-names-vint-cerf-120515311--sector.html
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I am pretty sure Sugata Mitra isn't hanging out out with the same eight-year-olds I am. In the world Mitra describes, eight-year-olds are self-motivated and self-realized. They gather together in a space without grown-ups, managed effectively by a cluster of "cloud grannies" -- a heart-warming bunch of hired telecommuters who Skype in to pose what he calls "The Big Questions": Did dinosaurs really exist? What is irony? Can you kill a goat by staring at it?
The eight-year-olds I know, on the other hand, are downright goofy. Even the most focused and ambitious of them have pretty sketchy attention spans. They're new to the world of the written word, and they're fascinated by the land of Pokemon. In their schools, group projects are tugs-of-war between the teacher-pleaser rule-followers, and the less extrinsically motivated kids who march unwittingly to a different drummer -- an off-beat rhythm of self-deprecation and potty humor.
Mitra, the winner of the $1 million 2013 TED Prize, is building a cloud classroom for his eight-year-olds, which he described in the New York Times as follows:
"It will be totally automatic, completely controlled from the cloud. There will be a supervisor, but that person is not going to be a computer expert or a teacher in anything. She -- and it will probably be a she -- will be there only for health and safety requirements."The rest of the school, if we call it a school, is a facility that I can hand over to a mediator from the cloud. She logs in from her home, wherever her home is, and she's able to control everything inside, the lights, the air-conditioning, you name it. Then there are four mediators who Skype in and use the pedagogical method. That's going to take a lot of work."
To say the least.
Working with third-graders -- not to mention sixth- and seventh-graders -- is a lot like herding cats: they have a desperate need to end up in the right place, but it takes a lot of incentivizing, cajoling and prodding to get them there. And that, my friend, is what I call a lot of work.
And that's the fatal flaw in Mitra's $1 million idea: its calculus fails to figure in the hugely human connections that attend and characterize some of the very best kinds of active learning.
At the TED awards on Tuesday night, Mitra talked compellingly of his experiments with his 'hole in the wall' computers project, which provides computer access to kids and then stands back to watch what happens. It isn't all that astonishing to hear that kids with Internet access and a question to answer will do just that: use the Internet to answer the question.
And yes, their response is helpful confirmation of what many of us who study digital natives have known for a decade: knowledge production in the 21st century is grounded not in acquisition but in access. The industrial model of education -- in which the teacher owns the knowledge and gives it to the students -- has in the digital age been replaced by an assumption that knowing is defined by what you can find online -- and how quickly. You don't have to carry it in your brain if you can find it on your phone, or your calculator, or your laptop. And that leaves your brain to do much more of the fun stuff, using -- instead of storing -- the information.
Mitra gets that part. It's not new, but it's important.
He also understands the value of peer-supported, student-centered learning, of big questions and collaborative problem solving, and the ideal of leveraging children's natural curiosity to spark their independent learning. But Mitra is standing on the shoulders of giants in that enterprise: John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget and the "problem-based learning" (PBL) movement would recognize themselves readily in his "Self Organized Learning Environment" (SOLE) mantra.
That's the iterative value of Mitra's big idea: it's a digital-age version of a longstanding progressive pedagogy. And it makes great fodder for hit movies (Slumdog Millionaire was loosely based on his work) and trendy TED talks.
But on the ground, where kids live and learn, it smacks of the same rhetorical extremism that plagued public discourse in the early days of the Internet: Schools are outdated. Teachers are obsolete. Knowing is irrelevant. And in their place? Broadband, computers, and cloud-granny telecommuters who deliver digital encouragement on cue.
I don't doubt for a moment that kids working in teams who have access to all of the information on the planet (including the synopsis of The Men Who Stare at Goats) can figure out the answers to some pretty big questions. Throwing the Dewey-Montessori-Piaget-PBL premise into the cloud has the potential to deliver an impact around the globe. That's value added, in every community, on every continent. And maybe that's a $1 million idea, in and of itself.
But pedagogical progress isn't an either/or proposition. We don't have to throw out the teachers, the schools, and our collective commitment to knowledge in order to create a learning environment that sparks students' curiosity and supports exploration -- online or off. And we do need to remember -- as we embrace radical reformation of our children's education -- that much of what they learn from a good teacher can't be delivered by a peer mentor or a Skyping cloud granny. Work ethic, responsibility, focus, goal setting, socialization and self-discipline are produced through human interaction and active role-modeling- and when it comes to eight-year-olds, it takes lots and lots of both.
It seems to me that independence, self-realization AND finding the answers to life's big questions is a lot to ask of an eight-year-old kid with a bad sense of humor and a pocket full of Pokemon cards. But if we're going to do that to him, at least let's ask him the biggest question of all: Can a SOLE teach him everything he needs to know?
The irony is, we don't need the Internet to answer that one.
?
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dianne-lynch/post_4489_b_2803615.html
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/rss/mind_brain/child_development.xml
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