Colorado movie shooting suspect James Holmes was charged Monday with 24 counts of first-degree murder -- two counts for each of the 12 people killed in the shooting.
Twelve murder counts cite "deliberation," and 12 cite "extreme indifference" to the value of human life.
The 24-year-old former doctoral student was also charged with 116 counts of attempted murder, one count of felony possession of explosive devices and one sentence enhancer.
In addition to the 12 fatalities, he is suspected of wounding 58 moviegoers who had packed a Batman film premiere that began shortly after midnight on July 20.
Holmes to face formal charges today The media and the massacre Greene: Movie atmosphere was safe Shooting victim: 'I forgive you'
He is also being held in connection with the subsequent discovery of his booby-trapped apartment, which authorities think he rigged before the massacre in the Century Aurora 16 multiplex.
His next hearing is scheduled for August 9.
Holmes was to be led Monday through an underground tunnel that connects the courthouse to the Arapahoe County Jail, where he has been held in isolation without bail.
In his initial court appearance last Monday, Holmes -- his hair dyed various shades of orange -- appeared dazed and did not speak.
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said last Monday that deciding whether to pursue the death penalty would take some time, since it would involve input from victims and their relatives.
Authorities have remained silent about a possible motive in the case.
A court document filed Friday revealed that Holmes was a patient of a University of Colorado psychiatrist before the attack.
The disclosure was made in a request filed by Holmes' public defenders for authorities to hand over a package he sent to Dr. Lynne Fenton at the university's Anschutz Medical Campus, where he had been studying neuroscience before announcing earlier this month that he was withdrawing from the program.
The package seized by authorities under a July 23 search warrant should remain confidential, protected by the doctor-patient relationship, the request said.
"The materials contained in that package include communications from Mr. Holmes to Dr. Fenton that Mr. Holmes asserts are privileged," said the document. "Mr. Holmes was a psychiatric patient of Dr. Fenton, and his communications with her are protected."
In response, prosecutors asked for Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester to deny Holmes' request, saying it contained inaccuracies including claims of media leaks by government officials that in reality may have been fabricated by news organizations.
Sylvester granted a hearing on the request, which is also scheduled for Monday.
Monday's court appearance comes after a weekend of funerals and memorial services for the victims. On Saturday, family and friends gathered outside Dayton, Ohio, to honor Matt McQuinn, who died while shielding his girlfriend from gunfire.
Colorado movie theater massacre
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends," said Herb Shaffer, McQuinn's uncle. "In a moment of crisis, you don't have time to think about what you're going to do, all you have time is to react."
Jessica Ghawi was remembered in San Antonio, Texas, by her brother, Jordan, who encouraged mourners to turn the tragedy into something positive. "If this coward could have done this with this much hate, imagine what we can do with this much love," he said.
Ghawi, a 24-year-old aspiring sports broadcaster, had narrowly escaped a shooting incident at a Toronto mall less than two months before the killings in Colorado.
"If you're putting your dreams on hold, you stop that right now," her brother said. "You don't know how long you have here."
A private service was held in Crystal Lake, Illinois, for John Larimer, a 27-year-old Navy petty officer, who received full military honors.
Ten survivors remained hospitalized on Monday, four of them in critical condition.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Look to the good in humankind -- look to heroes, says grieving father
Alex Teves treasured Marvel and DC comics with their Spider-Man and Batman icons, and he was at his best in high school when he wrote about the superhero genre in English class.
He revered the enduring themes of good versus evil, and he is remembered here, in the place where he grew into a man, as one of the good guys: a boy who inspired an "Alex Teves Day" at school, pursued a calling to heal both minds and bodies, and died at age 24 facing evil in the darkness of a crowded Colorado movie theater.
"If you want to describe Alex in one word, he was just good," says his father, Tom Teves. "He wasn't a standout in anything, but he cared about people."
It is the goodness of humanity that Teves wants the world to know and remember: the virtues of his son -- and the 11 others killed at a midnight premiere of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.
That desire has taken shape as a crusade. In the midst of mourning his first born, Tom Teves has wrested purpose from his grief -- the Alex Teves Challenge, he calls it. He demands that the media stop naming and showing images of the gunmen in mass murders.
Girlfriend Amanda Lindgren credits Alex Teves with saving her life.
Publicity glorifies killers, he says, and the notoriety spurs others to commit the same barbarities just for attention.
Columbine. Virginia Tech. Tucson. And now Aurora.
Alex Teves had just completed his master's degree in psychological counseling. His father says he would have condemned the practice of focusing on the murderers.
Remember the victims, the heroic acts, Tom Teves exhorts.
Let good triumph over evil.
'A zest for life'
Alex Teves died shielding his girlfriend from the rain of bullets. His last act was more than just heroism.
It attested to his nature to help humankind.
Opinion: They lost their lives, upheld the code
Fresh out of the University of Denver with his master's degree, he was readying to seek another degree, a bachelor's in physical therapy at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He chose this long path because he wanted to heal the whole person, his family says.
Tom Teves is deeply satisfied that the oldest of the couple's three children, all sons, came to know himself so well.
Alex Teves, center, at a Tough Mudder obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test endurance and teamwork.
"He told me one day, 'I'm not going to do what you do -- because it's business,'" says Teves, an executive for a corporate services firm.
Alex said he didn't have it in him to order people around. "And it was my proudest moment. He knew what he wanted to do," the father adds.
Alex's mother, Caren, recalls his ever-present smile and appetite for life.
"He loved food. He loved to travel. He loved to explore new things. He just had a zest for life. He just wanted to experience everything he could.
"I'm glad he did as much as he could in the time he had here."
He met his girlfriend in graduate school, and Alex planned to marry her once he finished his studies, the mother says.
Tales of heroism in Aurora
In the elegantly designed Phoenix community of Ahwatukee, where the boulevards are desert-landscaped with saguaro cacti and palo verde trees, Alex was such an ordinary guy of irrepressible cheer that he was celebrated for it by his classmates at Desert Vista High School, a high-performing public school opened in 1996 that sends graduates to the Ivy League.
Every day, he wore a crisp, white T-shirt, blue jeans and loafers to school; he just wasn't into materialism and liked to think of the more important things, his mother said. By his senior year, his AP statistics classmates -- and then the entire class of 2006 -- decided to hold a day in his honor. Everyone came to school dressed like him.
And now, says his mother, friends and supporters of those slain in the movie theater massacre held a memorial service in Denver with an Alex Teves dress code, and friends in Hawaii told the family they were planning a similarly attired service.
Alex Teves was a cooperative student with a streak for being fun and funny, says high school math instructor Francoise Dastous, who teaches the statistics class. "He really didn't have a clique per se. He got along well with everybody, and everybody wanted to be friends with him."
Alex once recounted to the class a hiking adventure that went awry, Dastous says. For anyone else, the experience would have been horrific, "but Alex put a positive spin on it," Dastous says. "He was just really engaging and really fun to listen to."
Colorado massacre: Mourning the victims
Six years have passed since the 57-year-old teacher had Alex in class, but the memories are clear. "He just really kind of stood out from the other kids. He was always smiling."
Alex was an honors student whom other faculty recalled as having a sense of humor, says Anna Battle, principal of the 3,000-student school, one of the largest in Arizona.
"He wasn't Mr. Flamboyant. He wasn't Mr. Social Anybody. He was an even-keeled, pleasant, quality young man who loved superheroes," Battle says. "One English teacher said he was a good writer and wrote exceptionally about superheroes.
"Unfortunately, it sounds like the young man who created this incident (in the Colorado movie theater) had some challenges that Alex may have been able to help," Battle adds.
The alleged gunman is also 24 and was a neuroscience doctoral student at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. According to a court document filed by his public defense attorneys, he was also a patient of a university psychiatrist.
'My hero every day'
Alex Teves will not be forgotten.
His father shares one more memory.
Alex was injured with a group of kids when their car rolled over in an accident in the desert. He was a student at the University of Arizona at the time.
When an ambulance arrived, Alex insisted the other passengers get inside first, his father recalls, even though he needed immediate treatment, too.
Once in intensive care, Alex asked his father to visit one of his friends who was hospitalized because that boy's parents had yet to arrive.
Alex Teves "got along well with everybody, and everybody wanted to be friends with him."
"That's the kind of kid he was," the father says. "The world is worse off because he's not in it."
4 Colorado shooting victims remembered for vitality, selflessness
That the suspect had dyed his hair red to resemble the villain Joker of the Batman series is a cruel turn of fate that enrages the grieving father.
Tom Teves doesn't want his son's legacy to be defined by a gunman. When the man first appeared in court last week in Colorado, Teves was there. He calls the suspect "a coward."
"He didn't look like much," Teves says. "My son could have wiped the floor with him."
Then the father continues: "If he would have known my son, he would have helped him."
He returns to his challenge to the media. He blames news outlets, including CNN, for playing a role in perpetuating mass shootings.
"You make him out to be a madman," he says of the man suspected of killing his son. "He knew he was going to be on television. These guys are playing you like fiddles. Either you're not that bright -- I used a better word than I was thinking of -- or you don't care and you're using it to sell advertising, and then you're the worst thing on the face of the earth."
Tom and Caren Teves have been married 28 years. He worked two or three jobs sometimes, so that their kids could benefit from having their mother at home full-time.
Now the couple faces raising their 16- and 17-year-old sons without their big brother.
"He was my hero every day," Teves says.
Alex Teves
The father isn't surprised by the way Alex responded when savagery slipped inside the movie theater. "Alex is in heaven," he adds. "I'm quite sure of it."
His anger subsides. The couple is accompanied by Caren Teves' sister and her husband, whom the Teveses earlier picked up at the Phoenix airport. The in-laws express outrage that the suspect's photo appears five times on the front page of a national newspaper, overwhelming any photos of Alex and the others who lost their lives.
"Stop showing cowards and start showing heroes," Tom Teves says, "so that another father doesn't feel the hole in his body that I have and I know will never go away."
He puts his hand over his heart. His wife extends her hand and joins his.
"It's got to end," he says. "You do your part, and I promise to do the other."
He says he will spend his days reminding the media of this challenge in his son's name.
Remembering Rebecca Wingo, Aurora victim
How to help the victims of the Colorado massacre
Driven by personal tragedy, man builds crosses for Aurora victims,
He revered the enduring themes of good versus evil, and he is remembered here, in the place where he grew into a man, as one of the good guys: a boy who inspired an "Alex Teves Day" at school, pursued a calling to heal both minds and bodies, and died at age 24 facing evil in the darkness of a crowded Colorado movie theater.
"If you want to describe Alex in one word, he was just good," says his father, Tom Teves. "He wasn't a standout in anything, but he cared about people."
It is the goodness of humanity that Teves wants the world to know and remember: the virtues of his son -- and the 11 others killed at a midnight premiere of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.
That desire has taken shape as a crusade. In the midst of mourning his first born, Tom Teves has wrested purpose from his grief -- the Alex Teves Challenge, he calls it. He demands that the media stop naming and showing images of the gunmen in mass murders.
Girlfriend Amanda Lindgren credits Alex Teves with saving her life.
Publicity glorifies killers, he says, and the notoriety spurs others to commit the same barbarities just for attention.
Columbine. Virginia Tech. Tucson. And now Aurora.
Alex Teves had just completed his master's degree in psychological counseling. His father says he would have condemned the practice of focusing on the murderers.
Remember the victims, the heroic acts, Tom Teves exhorts.
Let good triumph over evil.
'A zest for life'
Alex Teves died shielding his girlfriend from the rain of bullets. His last act was more than just heroism.
It attested to his nature to help humankind.
Opinion: They lost their lives, upheld the code
Fresh out of the University of Denver with his master's degree, he was readying to seek another degree, a bachelor's in physical therapy at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He chose this long path because he wanted to heal the whole person, his family says.
Tom Teves is deeply satisfied that the oldest of the couple's three children, all sons, came to know himself so well.
Alex Teves, center, at a Tough Mudder obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test endurance and teamwork.
"He told me one day, 'I'm not going to do what you do -- because it's business,'" says Teves, an executive for a corporate services firm.
Alex said he didn't have it in him to order people around. "And it was my proudest moment. He knew what he wanted to do," the father adds.
Alex's mother, Caren, recalls his ever-present smile and appetite for life.
"He loved food. He loved to travel. He loved to explore new things. He just had a zest for life. He just wanted to experience everything he could.
"I'm glad he did as much as he could in the time he had here."
He met his girlfriend in graduate school, and Alex planned to marry her once he finished his studies, the mother says.
Tales of heroism in Aurora
In the elegantly designed Phoenix community of Ahwatukee, where the boulevards are desert-landscaped with saguaro cacti and palo verde trees, Alex was such an ordinary guy of irrepressible cheer that he was celebrated for it by his classmates at Desert Vista High School, a high-performing public school opened in 1996 that sends graduates to the Ivy League.
Every day, he wore a crisp, white T-shirt, blue jeans and loafers to school; he just wasn't into materialism and liked to think of the more important things, his mother said. By his senior year, his AP statistics classmates -- and then the entire class of 2006 -- decided to hold a day in his honor. Everyone came to school dressed like him.
And now, says his mother, friends and supporters of those slain in the movie theater massacre held a memorial service in Denver with an Alex Teves dress code, and friends in Hawaii told the family they were planning a similarly attired service.
Alex Teves was a cooperative student with a streak for being fun and funny, says high school math instructor Francoise Dastous, who teaches the statistics class. "He really didn't have a clique per se. He got along well with everybody, and everybody wanted to be friends with him."
Alex once recounted to the class a hiking adventure that went awry, Dastous says. For anyone else, the experience would have been horrific, "but Alex put a positive spin on it," Dastous says. "He was just really engaging and really fun to listen to."
Colorado massacre: Mourning the victims
Six years have passed since the 57-year-old teacher had Alex in class, but the memories are clear. "He just really kind of stood out from the other kids. He was always smiling."
Alex was an honors student whom other faculty recalled as having a sense of humor, says Anna Battle, principal of the 3,000-student school, one of the largest in Arizona.
"He wasn't Mr. Flamboyant. He wasn't Mr. Social Anybody. He was an even-keeled, pleasant, quality young man who loved superheroes," Battle says. "One English teacher said he was a good writer and wrote exceptionally about superheroes.
"Unfortunately, it sounds like the young man who created this incident (in the Colorado movie theater) had some challenges that Alex may have been able to help," Battle adds.
The alleged gunman is also 24 and was a neuroscience doctoral student at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. According to a court document filed by his public defense attorneys, he was also a patient of a university psychiatrist.
'My hero every day'
Alex Teves will not be forgotten.
His father shares one more memory.
Alex was injured with a group of kids when their car rolled over in an accident in the desert. He was a student at the University of Arizona at the time.
When an ambulance arrived, Alex insisted the other passengers get inside first, his father recalls, even though he needed immediate treatment, too.
Once in intensive care, Alex asked his father to visit one of his friends who was hospitalized because that boy's parents had yet to arrive.
Alex Teves "got along well with everybody, and everybody wanted to be friends with him."
"That's the kind of kid he was," the father says. "The world is worse off because he's not in it."
4 Colorado shooting victims remembered for vitality, selflessness
That the suspect had dyed his hair red to resemble the villain Joker of the Batman series is a cruel turn of fate that enrages the grieving father.
Tom Teves doesn't want his son's legacy to be defined by a gunman. When the man first appeared in court last week in Colorado, Teves was there. He calls the suspect "a coward."
"He didn't look like much," Teves says. "My son could have wiped the floor with him."
Then the father continues: "If he would have known my son, he would have helped him."
He returns to his challenge to the media. He blames news outlets, including CNN, for playing a role in perpetuating mass shootings.
"You make him out to be a madman," he says of the man suspected of killing his son. "He knew he was going to be on television. These guys are playing you like fiddles. Either you're not that bright -- I used a better word than I was thinking of -- or you don't care and you're using it to sell advertising, and then you're the worst thing on the face of the earth."
Tom and Caren Teves have been married 28 years. He worked two or three jobs sometimes, so that their kids could benefit from having their mother at home full-time.
Now the couple faces raising their 16- and 17-year-old sons without their big brother.
"He was my hero every day," Teves says.
Alex Teves
The father isn't surprised by the way Alex responded when savagery slipped inside the movie theater. "Alex is in heaven," he adds. "I'm quite sure of it."
His anger subsides. The couple is accompanied by Caren Teves' sister and her husband, whom the Teveses earlier picked up at the Phoenix airport. The in-laws express outrage that the suspect's photo appears five times on the front page of a national newspaper, overwhelming any photos of Alex and the others who lost their lives.
"Stop showing cowards and start showing heroes," Tom Teves says, "so that another father doesn't feel the hole in his body that I have and I know will never go away."
He puts his hand over his heart. His wife extends her hand and joins his.
"It's got to end," he says. "You do your part, and I promise to do the other."
He says he will spend his days reminding the media of this challenge in his son's name.
Remembering Rebecca Wingo, Aurora victim
How to help the victims of the Colorado massacre
Driven by personal tragedy, man builds crosses for Aurora victims,
Thursday, July 26, 2012
President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with leaders of all political stripes to "arrive at a consensus" on how to reduce gun violence across the United States after the Colorado shootings highlighted the issue in an election year. Closing out a multiday trip that began in Aurora, Colorado, where he met with families and victims of the movie theater massacre there, Obama told a mostly African-American audience that such tragedies are replayed on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country on a daily basis. "Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theater," Obama said in remarks to the National Urban League, a group that works to promote civil rights and economic improvement for African-Americans. "I'm going to continue to work with members of both parties and with religious groups and with civic organizations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction." Discussing or even touching on the issue of gun control during an election year is risky, and Obama has been careful to avoid making proposals that could offend gun owners and rally his Republican opponents. The president made a point of emphasizing his support for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which covers the right to bear arms. "We recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage," Obama said. "But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities." Obama did not make any new proposals on gun control in his remarks, though he said background checks for people seeking to buy firearms were more thorough since he took office. Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's opponent in the November 6 election, said earlier this week that additional laws would not have stopped the massacre in Colorado. The former governor of Massachusetts has backed gun control measures in the past. POLITICAL APPETITE Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded after a shooter opened fire at a screening of the latest Batman movie in the Denver suburb of Aurora last week. That was not the first major massacre to happen while Obama was in office, nor was it the first event to prompt a discussion about the issue of guns in America. The assassination attempt on then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011, in which six people were killed and 14 wounded, also sparked a debate over how to reduce violence. Obama noted that the political appetite to tackle the issue was low and that initiatives to address it were often stymied. "Too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere," he said. "Other steps to reduce violence have been met with opposition in Congress. This has been true for some time, particularly when it touches on the issue of guns." The president has little political incentive to take on the issue of guns more directly. He is trying to shore up support among white, working-class men in political battleground states such as Virginia, where a robust message on gun control would not be likely to help him politically. His message was well received by the mostly African-American audience in New Orleans, however, and Obama's visit was meant to court that group ahead of the election, too. The National Urban League released a report recently that said although blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008, if the number of African-American voters drops even 5 percentage points this year, it could tip the outcome in some vital states. Coinciding with his speech, the White House said Obama will sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at helping prepare African-Americans better for high school graduation and college. The executive order will create a presidential advisory committee and a federal inter-agency working group to help the initiative succeed, the White House said.
Community members in Anaheim prayed for peace Wednesday night to calm the tensions between police and demonstrators. The protests were sparked by two fatal officer involved shootings that occurred over the weekend.
“We’re praying for peace in the community, peace in the heart of the people that were hurt this weekend,” Angel Rangel told CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Stacey Butler.
Earlier on Wednesday, Genevieve Huizar, pled for an end to the violent protests. Her son, Manuel Diaz, 25 was fatally shot by Anaheim police on Saturday as police say he reached for his waistband and ran.
“We want peaceful justice. We want to honor Manuel by doing things within the law. We want the officers in question to be arrested for the execution of my son Manuel,” Huizar said.
Violence in Anaheim seemed to subside Wednesday night, but police remained on a city-wide tactical alert and kept a close eye throughout the night.
On Tuesday night, protesters clashed with police and lit fires, smashed windows, kicked police cars, and threw rocks and bottles at officers in riot gear. About 250 law enforcement officers were called in to quell more than 600 protesters who had gathered along Anaheim Blvd. Law enforcement officers shot pepper balls and bean bags at the unruly crowds. Approximately 24 demonstrators were arrested by the end of the Tuesday night’s protest.
Meanwhile, City Council members unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night calling for a federal investigation into the two deadly shootings.
On Saturday, Diaz, whom police have identified as a documented gang member from Santa Ana, was approached by officers around 4 p.m. on the 600 block of North Anna Drive. Police said Diaz and his two companions ran off, but an officer caught up to Diaz and shot him when he reportedly threw an unidentified object. However, no weapons were found at the scene and Diaz died at a hospital several hours later.
On Sunday, Anaheim police fatally shot Joel Mathew Acevedo at the end of a stolen-car pursuit. Acevedo, 21, who is also described as a gang member by police, allegedly fired at officers before being fatally shot.
A $50 million legal claim and accompanying suit was filed against the city Tuesday by Diaz’s family. They allege he was first shot in the back, then in the head when he fell to his knees.
“We’re praying for peace in the community, peace in the heart of the people that were hurt this weekend,” Angel Rangel told CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Stacey Butler.
Earlier on Wednesday, Genevieve Huizar, pled for an end to the violent protests. Her son, Manuel Diaz, 25 was fatally shot by Anaheim police on Saturday as police say he reached for his waistband and ran.
“We want peaceful justice. We want to honor Manuel by doing things within the law. We want the officers in question to be arrested for the execution of my son Manuel,” Huizar said.
Violence in Anaheim seemed to subside Wednesday night, but police remained on a city-wide tactical alert and kept a close eye throughout the night.
On Tuesday night, protesters clashed with police and lit fires, smashed windows, kicked police cars, and threw rocks and bottles at officers in riot gear. About 250 law enforcement officers were called in to quell more than 600 protesters who had gathered along Anaheim Blvd. Law enforcement officers shot pepper balls and bean bags at the unruly crowds. Approximately 24 demonstrators were arrested by the end of the Tuesday night’s protest.
Meanwhile, City Council members unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night calling for a federal investigation into the two deadly shootings.
On Saturday, Diaz, whom police have identified as a documented gang member from Santa Ana, was approached by officers around 4 p.m. on the 600 block of North Anna Drive. Police said Diaz and his two companions ran off, but an officer caught up to Diaz and shot him when he reportedly threw an unidentified object. However, no weapons were found at the scene and Diaz died at a hospital several hours later.
On Sunday, Anaheim police fatally shot Joel Mathew Acevedo at the end of a stolen-car pursuit. Acevedo, 21, who is also described as a gang member by police, allegedly fired at officers before being fatally shot.
A $50 million legal claim and accompanying suit was filed against the city Tuesday by Diaz’s family. They allege he was first shot in the back, then in the head when he fell to his knees.
Obama pledges to tackle gun violence after Colorado killing
President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with leaders of all political stripes to "arrive at a consensus" on how to reduce gun violence across the United States after the Colorado shootings highlighted the issue in an election year.
Closing out a multiday trip that began in Aurora, Colorado, where he met with families and victims of the movie theater massacre there, Obama told a mostly African-American audience that such tragedies are replayed on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country on a daily basis.
"Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theater," Obama said in remarks to the National Urban League, a group that works to promote civil rights and economic improvement for African-Americans.
"I'm going to continue to work with members of both parties and with religious groups and with civic organizations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction."
Discussing or even touching on the issue of gun control during an election year is risky, and Obama has been careful to avoid making proposals that could offend gun owners and rally his Republican opponents.
The president made a point of emphasizing his support for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which covers the right to bear arms.
"We recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage," Obama said.
"But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."
Obama did not make any new proposals on gun control in his remarks, though he said background checks for people seeking to buy firearms were more thorough since he took office.
Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's opponent in the November 6 election, said earlier this week that additional laws would not have stopped the massacre in Colorado. The former governor of Massachusetts has backed gun control measures in the past.
POLITICAL APPETITE
Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded after a shooter opened fire at a screening of the latest Batman movie in the Denver suburb of Aurora last week.
That was not the first major massacre to happen while Obama was in office, nor was it the first event to prompt a discussion about the issue of guns in America. The assassination attempt on then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011, in which six people were killed and 14 wounded, also sparked a debate over how to reduce violence.
Obama noted that the political appetite to tackle the issue was low and that initiatives to address it were often stymied.
"Too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere," he said.
"Other steps to reduce violence have been met with opposition in Congress. This has been true for some time, particularly when it touches on the issue of guns."
The president has little political incentive to take on the issue of guns more directly. He is trying to shore up support among white, working-class men in political battleground states such as Virginia, where a robust message on gun control would not be likely to help him politically.
His message was well received by the mostly African-American audience in New Orleans, however, and Obama's visit was meant to court that group ahead of the election, too.
The National Urban League released a report recently that said although blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008, if the number of African-American voters drops even 5 percentage points this year, it could tip the outcome in some vital states.
Coinciding with his speech, the White House said Obama will sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at helping prepare African-Americans better for high school graduation and college.
The executive order will create a presidential advisory committee and a federal inter-agency working group to help the initiative succeed, the White House said.
Closing out a multiday trip that began in Aurora, Colorado, where he met with families and victims of the movie theater massacre there, Obama told a mostly African-American audience that such tragedies are replayed on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country on a daily basis.
"Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theater," Obama said in remarks to the National Urban League, a group that works to promote civil rights and economic improvement for African-Americans.
"I'm going to continue to work with members of both parties and with religious groups and with civic organizations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction."
Discussing or even touching on the issue of gun control during an election year is risky, and Obama has been careful to avoid making proposals that could offend gun owners and rally his Republican opponents.
The president made a point of emphasizing his support for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which covers the right to bear arms.
"We recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage," Obama said.
"But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."
Obama did not make any new proposals on gun control in his remarks, though he said background checks for people seeking to buy firearms were more thorough since he took office.
Republican Mitt Romney, Obama's opponent in the November 6 election, said earlier this week that additional laws would not have stopped the massacre in Colorado. The former governor of Massachusetts has backed gun control measures in the past.
POLITICAL APPETITE
Twelve people were killed and 58 wounded after a shooter opened fire at a screening of the latest Batman movie in the Denver suburb of Aurora last week.
That was not the first major massacre to happen while Obama was in office, nor was it the first event to prompt a discussion about the issue of guns in America. The assassination attempt on then-congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in January 2011, in which six people were killed and 14 wounded, also sparked a debate over how to reduce violence.
Obama noted that the political appetite to tackle the issue was low and that initiatives to address it were often stymied.
"Too often those efforts are defeated by politics and by lobbying and eventually by the pull of our collective attention elsewhere," he said.
"Other steps to reduce violence have been met with opposition in Congress. This has been true for some time, particularly when it touches on the issue of guns."
The president has little political incentive to take on the issue of guns more directly. He is trying to shore up support among white, working-class men in political battleground states such as Virginia, where a robust message on gun control would not be likely to help him politically.
His message was well received by the mostly African-American audience in New Orleans, however, and Obama's visit was meant to court that group ahead of the election, too.
The National Urban League released a report recently that said although blacks voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008, if the number of African-American voters drops even 5 percentage points this year, it could tip the outcome in some vital states.
Coinciding with his speech, the White House said Obama will sign an executive order on Thursday aimed at helping prepare African-Americans better for high school graduation and college.
The executive order will create a presidential advisory committee and a federal inter-agency working group to help the initiative succeed, the White House said.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Penn State hit with severe financial penalties
Penn State University was hit with an unprecedented series of financial penalties Monday as the NCAA and Big Ten conference announced sanctions related to the school's child abuse scandal.
The financial penalties are likely the first of many payouts the university will make.
Along with a loss of football scholarships and a four-year prohibition on postseason play, the university has agreed to pay a $60 million fine that will be used to help the victims of child abuse.
In a separate enforcement action, the Big Ten announced that Penn State will not receive a share of the conference's bowl revenues for four years, a hit of around $13 million.
The actions against Penn State, taken together, are likely to dramatically reduce the recruiting prowess and on-field performance of one of the nation's most storied football programs.
But the university is likely to suffer millions more in fines and payments as civil cases brought by Sandusky's victims are resolved. The school's credit rating could be downgraded, and corporate sponsorships are in jeopardy.
Related: Full CNN coverage
It was not immediately clear whether Monday's $60 million fine would be paid by the athletic department or another university fund.
Some penalties are likely to be assessed to the university at large, while others are paid by Penn State's athletic department -- one of the richest in the country, and almost uniquely well-suited to weather severe financial penalties.
"The money is there," said Dan Fulks, a professor of accounting at Transylvania University and a research consultant for the NCAA. "This athletic program is self-sufficient."
Last season, Penn State's revenue of $72.7 million from football was the fifth highest of any college program in the country, according to a CNNMoney analysis of figures reported by each school to the Department of Education.
And when comparing revenue to total expenses, Penn State football's profit of $53.2 million was second only to the University of Texas' total of $71.2 million.
In addition, Penn State reported an additional $24.1 million in athletic revenue not specifically assigned to one team or sport. Much of that is in general merchandise sales and sponsorships, driven by the popularity of football.
And while the NCAA said it arrived at the $60 million fine because that is roughly the amount of revenue the football program collects each year -- the penalty will be paid over a five-year period.
Still, significant questions remain about the university's exposure to civil lawsuits and the level of monetary support it can expect from alumni.
Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service said in November that it was reviewing whether Penn State -- which carries the second highest credit rating -- should be downgraded.
Moody's has since affirmed its ranking, but the school remains on "credit watch negative," which means that a future downgrade -- an event that could make it more expensive for the university to borrow -- is still a possibility.
"The negative outlook reflects the high degree of uncertainty about direct litigation costs as well as emerging reputational risk that can result in weaker student demand or reduced philanthropic support from the university's alumni and other major donors," Moody's said earlier this month.
The school has an operating budget of about $4 billion dollars, and carries debt of $1.4 billion, according to Moody's.
Related: Penn State scandal will cost millions
In some respects, the non-monetary penalties imposed by the NCAA might have the largest effect on the athletic department's finances.
Football players are now eligible to transfer to other institutions without penalty, scholarships have been reduced by 40% and the team has been barred from post-season competition.
While Penn State was spared the so-called "death penalty" some were expecting -- in which a sports program is shut down entirely, typically for at least one year -- the sanctions will make it difficult for the university to field a competitive team.
"This might not be a sudden shut-down death penalty, but is very close to slow death by attrition," said John Vrooman, a sports economist at Vanderbilt University.
"Penn State football will not recover for over a decade," Vrooman predicted, citing the example of Southern Methodist University's program, which was given the death penalty in 1987 and has yet to fully recover.
For its part, the NCAA says the Penn State penalties are worse than the death penalty.
"The NCAA sanctions on Penn State, taken in sum, far exceed the severity of shutting down a program for a year or two," the group said on its website. "What some refer to as the death penalty was not severe enough."
Lackluster performance on the field coupled with the fresh memories of the Sandusky affair could lead to reduced enthusiasm from fans, who provide much of the program's revenue in the form of ticket and merchandise sales.
"Nittany Lion fans will still be faithful," Vrooman said. "But State College will be an empty place on fall afternoons."
The financial penalties are likely the first of many payouts the university will make.
Along with a loss of football scholarships and a four-year prohibition on postseason play, the university has agreed to pay a $60 million fine that will be used to help the victims of child abuse.
In a separate enforcement action, the Big Ten announced that Penn State will not receive a share of the conference's bowl revenues for four years, a hit of around $13 million.
The actions against Penn State, taken together, are likely to dramatically reduce the recruiting prowess and on-field performance of one of the nation's most storied football programs.
But the university is likely to suffer millions more in fines and payments as civil cases brought by Sandusky's victims are resolved. The school's credit rating could be downgraded, and corporate sponsorships are in jeopardy.
Related: Full CNN coverage
It was not immediately clear whether Monday's $60 million fine would be paid by the athletic department or another university fund.
Some penalties are likely to be assessed to the university at large, while others are paid by Penn State's athletic department -- one of the richest in the country, and almost uniquely well-suited to weather severe financial penalties.
"The money is there," said Dan Fulks, a professor of accounting at Transylvania University and a research consultant for the NCAA. "This athletic program is self-sufficient."
Last season, Penn State's revenue of $72.7 million from football was the fifth highest of any college program in the country, according to a CNNMoney analysis of figures reported by each school to the Department of Education.
And when comparing revenue to total expenses, Penn State football's profit of $53.2 million was second only to the University of Texas' total of $71.2 million.
In addition, Penn State reported an additional $24.1 million in athletic revenue not specifically assigned to one team or sport. Much of that is in general merchandise sales and sponsorships, driven by the popularity of football.
And while the NCAA said it arrived at the $60 million fine because that is roughly the amount of revenue the football program collects each year -- the penalty will be paid over a five-year period.
Still, significant questions remain about the university's exposure to civil lawsuits and the level of monetary support it can expect from alumni.
Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service said in November that it was reviewing whether Penn State -- which carries the second highest credit rating -- should be downgraded.
Moody's has since affirmed its ranking, but the school remains on "credit watch negative," which means that a future downgrade -- an event that could make it more expensive for the university to borrow -- is still a possibility.
"The negative outlook reflects the high degree of uncertainty about direct litigation costs as well as emerging reputational risk that can result in weaker student demand or reduced philanthropic support from the university's alumni and other major donors," Moody's said earlier this month.
The school has an operating budget of about $4 billion dollars, and carries debt of $1.4 billion, according to Moody's.
Related: Penn State scandal will cost millions
In some respects, the non-monetary penalties imposed by the NCAA might have the largest effect on the athletic department's finances.
Football players are now eligible to transfer to other institutions without penalty, scholarships have been reduced by 40% and the team has been barred from post-season competition.
While Penn State was spared the so-called "death penalty" some were expecting -- in which a sports program is shut down entirely, typically for at least one year -- the sanctions will make it difficult for the university to field a competitive team.
"This might not be a sudden shut-down death penalty, but is very close to slow death by attrition," said John Vrooman, a sports economist at Vanderbilt University.
"Penn State football will not recover for over a decade," Vrooman predicted, citing the example of Southern Methodist University's program, which was given the death penalty in 1987 and has yet to fully recover.
For its part, the NCAA says the Penn State penalties are worse than the death penalty.
"The NCAA sanctions on Penn State, taken in sum, far exceed the severity of shutting down a program for a year or two," the group said on its website. "What some refer to as the death penalty was not severe enough."
Lackluster performance on the field coupled with the fresh memories of the Sandusky affair could lead to reduced enthusiasm from fans, who provide much of the program's revenue in the form of ticket and merchandise sales.
"Nittany Lion fans will still be faithful," Vrooman said. "But State College will be an empty place on fall afternoons."
Condemned Georgia inmate gets reprieve
Georgia's Supreme Court halted Monday evening's scheduled execution of a convicted murderer on procedural grounds, but rejected a plea to spare him due to mental retardation.
The unanimous ruling from the seven-member court gave a reprieve to 52-year-old Warren Lee Hill, who was condemned for bludgeoning a fellow inmate to death in 1990. He had been scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Monday.
Justices said they would review whether prison officials needed public hearings before changing the drugs used in lethal injections from a mix of three to a single drug.
Hill's lawyers also argue that the condemned convict should be spared because he has an IQ of 70. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 struck down the death penalty for convicts with mental retardation, but Georgia law says an inmate has to prove mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt, and a state court ruled earlier this month that Hill's lawyers had failed to do that.
All justices except Robert Benham refused to review Hill's appeal of that case.
"I cannot join in any ruling by this court that would allow the execution of Warren Hill Jr., who has been found by a preponderance of the evidence to have a mental disability," Benham found.
Hill was already serving a life term in the 1985 shooting death of his girlfriend, Myra Sylvia Wright, when convicted of killing inmate Joseph Handspike.
The state announced last week that it was replacing its use of a three-drug cocktail to put prisoners to death with a single drug, pentobarbital. Hill's lawyers argued the decision required public notice under the state's Administrative Procedure Act, a question the court halted proceedings to consider.
The unanimous ruling from the seven-member court gave a reprieve to 52-year-old Warren Lee Hill, who was condemned for bludgeoning a fellow inmate to death in 1990. He had been scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Monday.
Justices said they would review whether prison officials needed public hearings before changing the drugs used in lethal injections from a mix of three to a single drug.
Hill's lawyers also argue that the condemned convict should be spared because he has an IQ of 70. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 struck down the death penalty for convicts with mental retardation, but Georgia law says an inmate has to prove mental retardation beyond a reasonable doubt, and a state court ruled earlier this month that Hill's lawyers had failed to do that.
All justices except Robert Benham refused to review Hill's appeal of that case.
"I cannot join in any ruling by this court that would allow the execution of Warren Hill Jr., who has been found by a preponderance of the evidence to have a mental disability," Benham found.
Hill was already serving a life term in the 1985 shooting death of his girlfriend, Myra Sylvia Wright, when convicted of killing inmate Joseph Handspike.
The state announced last week that it was replacing its use of a three-drug cocktail to put prisoners to death with a single drug, pentobarbital. Hill's lawyers argued the decision required public notice under the state's Administrative Procedure Act, a question the court halted proceedings to consider.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Philadelphia mayor: $10,000 reward for suspect in attempted abduction
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has announced a $10,000 reward for the capture of a man who attempted to abduct a 10-year-old girl while she was walking home from a store with her 2-year-old brother on Tuesday.
"It's a sick individual to do something like that," Nutter said Wednesday at a news conference. "I want this creep off our streets immediately."
The attempted abduction was caught on surveillance video, which was released Wednesday on the Philadelphia Police Department's YouTube page.
Video shows Georgia girl, 7, fighting off alleged kidnapper
Phila. Mayor offers reward for suspect
The video shows a white car pulling up to the corner of Porter and Lee streets while the girl and her brother are walking home. As the children make a left onto Lee Street, a male gets out of the car and appears to follow the children.
The video then switches to Lee Street as the suspect walks up behind the girl and grabs her, pulling her away from her little brother, whose hand she was holding. The girl falls to the ground moments after she is grabbed and the suspect then lets go and runs away, fleeing in the white car. Authorities say the man also put his hand over the girl's mouth, though that is unclear in the video.
Police describe the suspect as a Hispanic male in his 30s or 40s who was last seen in a white, four-door midsize car.
Neighbors told CNN affiliate KYW they are grateful the little girl is OK, but worried for children in the neighborhood while the man is on the loose.
"It's scary. It's making people nervous, making people think that they can't bring their kids outside, you know, and let them play outside by themselves, and that's not right," neighbor Kathleen McDowell told KYW.
"It's a sick individual to do something like that," Nutter said Wednesday at a news conference. "I want this creep off our streets immediately."
The attempted abduction was caught on surveillance video, which was released Wednesday on the Philadelphia Police Department's YouTube page.
Video shows Georgia girl, 7, fighting off alleged kidnapper
Phila. Mayor offers reward for suspect
The video shows a white car pulling up to the corner of Porter and Lee streets while the girl and her brother are walking home. As the children make a left onto Lee Street, a male gets out of the car and appears to follow the children.
The video then switches to Lee Street as the suspect walks up behind the girl and grabs her, pulling her away from her little brother, whose hand she was holding. The girl falls to the ground moments after she is grabbed and the suspect then lets go and runs away, fleeing in the white car. Authorities say the man also put his hand over the girl's mouth, though that is unclear in the video.
Police describe the suspect as a Hispanic male in his 30s or 40s who was last seen in a white, four-door midsize car.
Neighbors told CNN affiliate KYW they are grateful the little girl is OK, but worried for children in the neighborhood while the man is on the loose.
"It's scary. It's making people nervous, making people think that they can't bring their kids outside, you know, and let them play outside by themselves, and that's not right," neighbor Kathleen McDowell told KYW.
AT&T introduces data-sharing plan
Welcome to the multiple-mobile-gadget world.
AT&T on Wednesday became the latest wireless carrier to announce it will offer a range of "shared" data plans, which let customers buy a pool of data and share it among several Internet-connected mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets.
Verizon made a similar move in June when it announced its "Share Everything" plans.
Not to be outdone on the marketing front, AT&T calls its new plans "Mobile Share." Customers aren't forced to switch to the new one-big-pool-of-data plans. AT&T says in a news release that the "bucket" data plans prep the company for a multiple-device world.
"Today we think of people's smartphones and tablets sharing a bucket of data," David Christopher, chief marketing officer for AT&T Mobility, said in a written statement.
"But in the future we'll see health care monitors, connected cars, security systems and other devices in the home all connected to the mobile Internet."
The new plans will be available in late August.
The shared plans are designed for households that own several Internet-connected mobile devices and to encourage people to purchase wireless data connections for all of those devices. Currently, many tablet owners, for example, only connect to the Internet with Wi-Fi, which is free, because they don't want to purchase new mobile plans for tablets. The company is trying to encourage those people to pay more per month to get wireless data service, but without having to create a new plan entirely.
The data is shared between the devices in the sense that all gadgets connected to the plan would draw from the same overall pool of data. This may work well if only one of the devices is a "data hog," but multiple data-sucking devices could become costly.
Tablet and e-reader ownership is becoming more common, with 29% of American adults owning at least one of those mobile devices, according to a January survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
More than half of all U.S. cell phone users own a smartphone, which is distinguished because it usually connects to the Internet and requires a data plan.
For AT&T's new plan, customers pay for an overall pot of data -- 1 GB per month is $40; 20 GB is $200 -- and then pay additional fees to add extra devices. Smartphones cost between $30 and $45 per month, depending on the amount of data a person purchases. A person can add a tablet computer or gaming device for $10 per month. The per-gadget and per-GB rates get cheaper, relatively, as you add more devices and more data.
AT&T describes this graduated payment system as "the more you share, the more you save," but, of course, customers will actually pay more in total for additional services.
Let's do a quick comparison of the old and new plans.
Depending on how many devices you have, the plan may or may not be smart.
Say you have a smartphone and a tablet computer and you want 6GB of data per month, between the two gadgets. Under the new "shared data" plan, you would pay $35 for the phone, $10 for the tablet and $90 for the data. That's a monthly total of $135.
Under the old plan, 3GB of data for a tablet would cost $30 per month, with a contract. A phone with unlimited talk and text (that's offered on the "shared" plan) costs $90 per month. And then the remaining 3GB of data on the phone costs $30.
So that's a total of $150, or $15 more than the new "shared" plan.
The shared data plan can include up to 10 devices, however, and the prices per GB and per gadget drop as the plan becomes more involved and includes more devices.
For more information, see this online guide to the new pricing structure (PDF). AT&T also has a "data calculator" to help customers decide how much data they use. There are overage fees for going over the data limit, and AT&T says other fees may apply. (A company representative could not immediately be reached for comment on this matter).
The tech news site CNET says the plans are better for large groups of people.
"While these plans aren't the best deals for individuals, large families or even groups of really, really close friends may want to consider them," writes Roger Cheng. "That's because the more people who sign on, the lower the price per gigabyte and user. Of course, if someone is a heavy data user, that person may want to stick with an individual plan, or risk hogging up the total available data for everyone."
That site also has posted charts that compare the AT&T and Verizon shared-data plans.
"Individuals who don't use a lot of data and are considering the entry-level option would save a bit of money with AT&T, although those savings are negated when a second person jumps on the plan because of the higher smartphone fee," CNET writes.
"At the 10GB mark, however, Verizon gets the edge if an individual was buying into that plan. But the price is the same if a second person signs on to the plan, and is actually a better deal if more members join."
As CNNMoney reports, the cheapest shared plan is more expensive than the least expensive existing data plan. "Today, the cheapest available AT&T smartphone plan is $60 a month, giving users 300 MB of data and 450 voice minutes per month. The cheapest Mobile Share plan, with 1 GB of data, is $85 per month," that site writes.
Once you take a look at the plans, let us know what you think in the comments.
AT&T on Wednesday became the latest wireless carrier to announce it will offer a range of "shared" data plans, which let customers buy a pool of data and share it among several Internet-connected mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets.
Verizon made a similar move in June when it announced its "Share Everything" plans.
Not to be outdone on the marketing front, AT&T calls its new plans "Mobile Share." Customers aren't forced to switch to the new one-big-pool-of-data plans. AT&T says in a news release that the "bucket" data plans prep the company for a multiple-device world.
"Today we think of people's smartphones and tablets sharing a bucket of data," David Christopher, chief marketing officer for AT&T Mobility, said in a written statement.
"But in the future we'll see health care monitors, connected cars, security systems and other devices in the home all connected to the mobile Internet."
The new plans will be available in late August.
The shared plans are designed for households that own several Internet-connected mobile devices and to encourage people to purchase wireless data connections for all of those devices. Currently, many tablet owners, for example, only connect to the Internet with Wi-Fi, which is free, because they don't want to purchase new mobile plans for tablets. The company is trying to encourage those people to pay more per month to get wireless data service, but without having to create a new plan entirely.
The data is shared between the devices in the sense that all gadgets connected to the plan would draw from the same overall pool of data. This may work well if only one of the devices is a "data hog," but multiple data-sucking devices could become costly.
Tablet and e-reader ownership is becoming more common, with 29% of American adults owning at least one of those mobile devices, according to a January survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
More than half of all U.S. cell phone users own a smartphone, which is distinguished because it usually connects to the Internet and requires a data plan.
For AT&T's new plan, customers pay for an overall pot of data -- 1 GB per month is $40; 20 GB is $200 -- and then pay additional fees to add extra devices. Smartphones cost between $30 and $45 per month, depending on the amount of data a person purchases. A person can add a tablet computer or gaming device for $10 per month. The per-gadget and per-GB rates get cheaper, relatively, as you add more devices and more data.
AT&T describes this graduated payment system as "the more you share, the more you save," but, of course, customers will actually pay more in total for additional services.
Let's do a quick comparison of the old and new plans.
Depending on how many devices you have, the plan may or may not be smart.
Say you have a smartphone and a tablet computer and you want 6GB of data per month, between the two gadgets. Under the new "shared data" plan, you would pay $35 for the phone, $10 for the tablet and $90 for the data. That's a monthly total of $135.
Under the old plan, 3GB of data for a tablet would cost $30 per month, with a contract. A phone with unlimited talk and text (that's offered on the "shared" plan) costs $90 per month. And then the remaining 3GB of data on the phone costs $30.
So that's a total of $150, or $15 more than the new "shared" plan.
The shared data plan can include up to 10 devices, however, and the prices per GB and per gadget drop as the plan becomes more involved and includes more devices.
For more information, see this online guide to the new pricing structure (PDF). AT&T also has a "data calculator" to help customers decide how much data they use. There are overage fees for going over the data limit, and AT&T says other fees may apply. (A company representative could not immediately be reached for comment on this matter).
The tech news site CNET says the plans are better for large groups of people.
"While these plans aren't the best deals for individuals, large families or even groups of really, really close friends may want to consider them," writes Roger Cheng. "That's because the more people who sign on, the lower the price per gigabyte and user. Of course, if someone is a heavy data user, that person may want to stick with an individual plan, or risk hogging up the total available data for everyone."
That site also has posted charts that compare the AT&T and Verizon shared-data plans.
"Individuals who don't use a lot of data and are considering the entry-level option would save a bit of money with AT&T, although those savings are negated when a second person jumps on the plan because of the higher smartphone fee," CNET writes.
"At the 10GB mark, however, Verizon gets the edge if an individual was buying into that plan. But the price is the same if a second person signs on to the plan, and is actually a better deal if more members join."
As CNNMoney reports, the cheapest shared plan is more expensive than the least expensive existing data plan. "Today, the cheapest available AT&T smartphone plan is $60 a month, giving users 300 MB of data and 450 voice minutes per month. The cheapest Mobile Share plan, with 1 GB of data, is $85 per month," that site writes.
Once you take a look at the plans, let us know what you think in the comments.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Larry King debuts online talk show on Hulu website
Larry King is returning as a talk show host this week, with his new home the Internet.
"Larry King Now" is produced by Ora TV, a new digital venture backed by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. Ora TV is announcing a deal to also make "Now" available through the online service Hulu and Hulu Plus.
King's first guest is comic producer Seth MacFarlane of "Family Guy" and "Ted." Other guests scheduled for this week will be political commentator Meghan McCain and "Magic Mike" actor Matthew McConaughey.
King spent a quarter-century as a prime-time talk show host at CNN. Episodes of his new, half-hour show will be posted on the Hulu website in the early evening Monday through Thursday.
"Larry King Now" is produced by Ora TV, a new digital venture backed by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. Ora TV is announcing a deal to also make "Now" available through the online service Hulu and Hulu Plus.
King's first guest is comic producer Seth MacFarlane of "Family Guy" and "Ted." Other guests scheduled for this week will be political commentator Meghan McCain and "Magic Mike" actor Matthew McConaughey.
King spent a quarter-century as a prime-time talk show host at CNN. Episodes of his new, half-hour show will be posted on the Hulu website in the early evening Monday through Thursday.
No housing in new NBCUniversal studio upgrade plan
NBCUniversal is abandoning plans to build nearly 3,000 residences as part of an expansion on what is now its studio back-lot after complaints from surrounding residents and local politicians.
The company announced Monday it will instead pursue plans that scrap the residences in favor of more hotel rooms, a bigger expansion and upgrade of the Universal Studios theme park and surrounding retail and more studio offices and production facilities.
Los Angeles County supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Tom LaBonge had asked that the studio eliminate the proposed neighborhood with 2,937 residences.
NBCUniversal now plans to build two 500-room hotels instead of one, to more than double the space devoted to retail and theme park entertainment to 327,000 square feet and to build 1.45 million square feet of production offices and studios.
The company announced Monday it will instead pursue plans that scrap the residences in favor of more hotel rooms, a bigger expansion and upgrade of the Universal Studios theme park and surrounding retail and more studio offices and production facilities.
Los Angeles County supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Tom LaBonge had asked that the studio eliminate the proposed neighborhood with 2,937 residences.
NBCUniversal now plans to build two 500-room hotels instead of one, to more than double the space devoted to retail and theme park entertainment to 327,000 square feet and to build 1.45 million square feet of production offices and studios.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Drop your pitchforks and let State College have the football it needs
The people outside State College, Pa., have spoken, and they've made it clear: They want Penn State football dead. Now and maybe even forever, but for the time being they'll settle for now -- and they don't much care how it happens. The NCAA could give Penn State the death penalty for the way it cowered behind Joe Paterno and covered for Jerry Sandusky. Or, school administrators could have a genuine moment of contrition and cancel the 2012 season.
However it happens, and however long it lasts, the people outside State College have spoken: They need Penn State football to die.
But the people inside State College need it to live -- and frankly, their concerns are more important right now than, say, yours.
State College is Penn State, and Penn State is that football program, which means State College is Penn State football. The city and the football program are linked geographically and even emotionally, yes, but I'm talking about a connection more basic than that.
I'm talking financially.
State College, not to mention Penn State itself, needs the football team to remain alive. That's not what America needs, but America needs vengeance, and sometimes vengeance isn't as important as compassion -- compassion for the indirect victims of Jerry Sandusky's evil and Joe Paterno's cowardice:
More on Penn State
Analysis
Bryan Fischer
Penn State football needs to receive the death penalty so the program can move on
Related links
Paterno family 'vehemently disagrees' with report
JoePa contract reached amid grand jury testimony
Penn Staters defend embattled school, community
Freeh: Penn State disregarded children's welfare
Nike strips Paterno name | Bowden: No statue
More college football coverage
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State College.
And Penn State.
Look, there's a chicken-or-egg thing here that you and I are both going to have to concede: Which came first, Paterno's power trip or the unhealthy adoration he received from his school and city? It's impossible to say, but both combined to create a culture where Penn State football was exalted to the point that a child predator could be met with shrugs and denial. A child predator at Penn State? I'm sure Paterno and his band of sycophants -- PSU president Graham Spanier, vice president Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley -- thought that was terrible. But a stain on Joe Paterno and Penn State football? To them, that was worse.
Which is why Sandusky was never stopped. Paterno and his underlings valued Penn State football over doing the right thing, a barren spot to reach psychologically -- but a spot they reached with help from their blind supporters.
My point is, the entire community around the football program -- the city, the campus and the people at both -- deserves some blame. But they're paying a price, and you have to know that. The reputations of Penn State and even State College are in the sewer, connected unbreakably to Jerry Sandusky, and that connection will remain at least as long as you and I live. Lots of us can't move on just yet. None of us will forget, ever.
But that doesn't address the issue of State College, and Penn State, and their utter reliance on Penn State football.
Yes, I get it, and I just addressed it -- the reliance on football created a culture that led to Joe Paterno, which led to Jerry Sandusky remaining free for 13 years after his evil bubbled to the surface in 1998.
But that reliance on the football program, as distasteful as it may be, is real -- and it's not going away. State College needs Penn State football. State College is Penn State football. An economic impact study by the university found that a season of seven home games generates roughly $40 million for the area within 25 miles of Beaver Stadium -- and that study was done in 1987, when the stadium seated 83,370. Today the capacity is 106,572. So start with $40 million, add another 23,000 fans -- factor in a quarter-century of inflation -- and you see my point. Without Penn State football, State College suffers.
Children suffered under Sandusky. I get that, and I'm crushed by it too. But making State College suffer now won't fix anything. It might mollify some in the pitchfork crowd, but that's all it would do. Canceling Penn State football for 2012 and beyond would cripple the city and surrounding areas. Unemployment would rise. So would foreclosures. In awful economic times like we've been facing, with State College doing like so many towns and trying to stay above water, is that really what anybody wants? To attach cinder blocks to this town's feet?
Maybe that is what people want. They want vengeance, and if too many people get hurt in the process, well, that's better than too few. Right?
It's wrong. If Penn State does away with football, it might as well cancel the rest of its athletic department. The football program generated a $53 million profit for the 2009-2010 school year, third most in the country according to Forbes, and those profits helped the school compete in 28 other sports, almost all of them unable to pay for themselves. How do college sports like lacrosse and baseball and track exist? They exist because of football.
You want to kill every sport at Penn State?
No. You don't. So put down your pitchfork, and maybe the headline-seeking NCAA will do the same. The NCAA hasn't decided yet whether the Sandusky scandal falls under its jurisdiction, but if the NCAA determines that what happened at Penn State violated its rules on ethics or institutional control, only one penalty would suffice: the death penalty.
That can't happen. Not for the sake of the Penn State community, a community which is not -- no matter how angrily anyone says otherwise -- accurately represented by the biggest football acolytes or the smallest Paterno apologists. And it can't happen for the people of State College, so many of whom need the football program to pay their bills.
Kill Penn State football? Come on. Think it through. That wouldn't prop up the right people -- but it would punish the wrong ones.
However it happens, and however long it lasts, the people outside State College have spoken: They need Penn State football to die.
But the people inside State College need it to live -- and frankly, their concerns are more important right now than, say, yours.
State College is Penn State, and Penn State is that football program, which means State College is Penn State football. The city and the football program are linked geographically and even emotionally, yes, but I'm talking about a connection more basic than that.
I'm talking financially.
State College, not to mention Penn State itself, needs the football team to remain alive. That's not what America needs, but America needs vengeance, and sometimes vengeance isn't as important as compassion -- compassion for the indirect victims of Jerry Sandusky's evil and Joe Paterno's cowardice:
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State College.
And Penn State.
Look, there's a chicken-or-egg thing here that you and I are both going to have to concede: Which came first, Paterno's power trip or the unhealthy adoration he received from his school and city? It's impossible to say, but both combined to create a culture where Penn State football was exalted to the point that a child predator could be met with shrugs and denial. A child predator at Penn State? I'm sure Paterno and his band of sycophants -- PSU president Graham Spanier, vice president Gary Schultz, athletic director Tim Curley -- thought that was terrible. But a stain on Joe Paterno and Penn State football? To them, that was worse.
Which is why Sandusky was never stopped. Paterno and his underlings valued Penn State football over doing the right thing, a barren spot to reach psychologically -- but a spot they reached with help from their blind supporters.
My point is, the entire community around the football program -- the city, the campus and the people at both -- deserves some blame. But they're paying a price, and you have to know that. The reputations of Penn State and even State College are in the sewer, connected unbreakably to Jerry Sandusky, and that connection will remain at least as long as you and I live. Lots of us can't move on just yet. None of us will forget, ever.
But that doesn't address the issue of State College, and Penn State, and their utter reliance on Penn State football.
Yes, I get it, and I just addressed it -- the reliance on football created a culture that led to Joe Paterno, which led to Jerry Sandusky remaining free for 13 years after his evil bubbled to the surface in 1998.
But that reliance on the football program, as distasteful as it may be, is real -- and it's not going away. State College needs Penn State football. State College is Penn State football. An economic impact study by the university found that a season of seven home games generates roughly $40 million for the area within 25 miles of Beaver Stadium -- and that study was done in 1987, when the stadium seated 83,370. Today the capacity is 106,572. So start with $40 million, add another 23,000 fans -- factor in a quarter-century of inflation -- and you see my point. Without Penn State football, State College suffers.
Children suffered under Sandusky. I get that, and I'm crushed by it too. But making State College suffer now won't fix anything. It might mollify some in the pitchfork crowd, but that's all it would do. Canceling Penn State football for 2012 and beyond would cripple the city and surrounding areas. Unemployment would rise. So would foreclosures. In awful economic times like we've been facing, with State College doing like so many towns and trying to stay above water, is that really what anybody wants? To attach cinder blocks to this town's feet?
Maybe that is what people want. They want vengeance, and if too many people get hurt in the process, well, that's better than too few. Right?
It's wrong. If Penn State does away with football, it might as well cancel the rest of its athletic department. The football program generated a $53 million profit for the 2009-2010 school year, third most in the country according to Forbes, and those profits helped the school compete in 28 other sports, almost all of them unable to pay for themselves. How do college sports like lacrosse and baseball and track exist? They exist because of football.
You want to kill every sport at Penn State?
No. You don't. So put down your pitchfork, and maybe the headline-seeking NCAA will do the same. The NCAA hasn't decided yet whether the Sandusky scandal falls under its jurisdiction, but if the NCAA determines that what happened at Penn State violated its rules on ethics or institutional control, only one penalty would suffice: the death penalty.
That can't happen. Not for the sake of the Penn State community, a community which is not -- no matter how angrily anyone says otherwise -- accurately represented by the biggest football acolytes or the smallest Paterno apologists. And it can't happen for the people of State College, so many of whom need the football program to pay their bills.
Kill Penn State football? Come on. Think it through. That wouldn't prop up the right people -- but it would punish the wrong ones.
Solar storm generates higher than usual auroral activity Read more: http://www.capitolcolumn.com/news/solar-storm-generates-higher-than-usual-auroral-activity/#ixzz20nezO3Mw
A massive solar flare triggered a solar storm which affected the Earth over the weekend, according to a report from Space.com. A solar flare erupted on the Sun’s surface on Thursday, releasing a wave of charged particles into space in the direction of the Earth. The wave of particles reached the planet on Saturday, and could lead to lingering radio and magnetic disturbances, and has already generated higher than usual auroral activity.
Solar flares are produced when lines of magnetic activity on the Sun become entangled, storing up high amounts of magnetic energy. These magnetically energetic regions can be seen on the Sun’s surface as sunspots. When the magnetic fields “snap,” they can fling large amounts of radiation and charged particles into space.
Normally, these eruptions, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occur in regions facing away from the Earth, but occasionally the Earth happens to be right in the way of an oncoming CME.
Read more: http://www.capitolcolumn.com/news/solar-storm-generates-higher-than-usual-auroral-activity/#ixzz20nf2M3AH
Solar flares are produced when lines of magnetic activity on the Sun become entangled, storing up high amounts of magnetic energy. These magnetically energetic regions can be seen on the Sun’s surface as sunspots. When the magnetic fields “snap,” they can fling large amounts of radiation and charged particles into space.
Normally, these eruptions, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) occur in regions facing away from the Earth, but occasionally the Earth happens to be right in the way of an oncoming CME.
Read more: http://www.capitolcolumn.com/news/solar-storm-generates-higher-than-usual-auroral-activity/#ixzz20nf2M3AH
Study: More TV Linked to Larger Waists, Weaker Legs for Kids
The more television a child watches, even in the first years of life, the more likely he or she is to be thicker around the middle and less muscularly fit, according to a new study.
Previous studies have linked lots of television with childhood obesity and other child health detriments, but this study's authors say their report is the first to relate how time in front of the boob tube affects a specific measure of physical fitness, their explosive leg strength, an important asset for sports like soccer, basketball and football.
Caroline Fitzpatrick, the study's lead author, said the measure isn't just important for children who want to be athletes.
"Explosive leg strength is an important measure of a child's overall physical fitness, their general muscular fitness," she said.
Fitzpatrick and her colleagues at the University of Montreal studied more than 1,300 children from across Quebec. When the children reached age 2 and age 4, the researchers asked parents how many hours per day their children spent watching television. On average, the 2-year-olds watched almost 9 hours of TV each week; by the time they reached age 4, average weekly TV viewing rose to nearly 15 hours.
A few years later, when the children were in second and fourth grades in school, the researchers measured their waist size and also how they performed on the standing long jump, hoping to measure each child's explosive leg strength.
The researchers were able to translate hours in front of the TV to centimeters of physical size and performance. They calculated that each hour of television watched during the week as a 2-year-old corresponded to a 0.361-centimeter decrease in a child's performance on the standing long jump. If a child watched an hour more of television as a 4-year-old than they did when they were 2, that corresponded to 0.285 centimeters shaved off of their jump. That extra hour of TV time also corresponded to a 0.047-centimeter increase in waist size.
The study was published Sunday in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Fractions of centimeters don't seem like they are that important, Fitzpatrick acknowledged.
"But on a small child, a centimeter becomes important," she said.
And considering that most children watch more than one hour of TV every day, those fractions of centimeters really start to add up. Fitzpatrick and her colleagues noted that 15 percent of the children in their study watched more than 18 hours of TV each week, corresponding to a 0.76-centimeter increase in their waist size by age 10.
Measuring waist size isn't only about physical appearance. Abdominal fat is also a predictor of heart health, back pain and other physical ailments, in both children and adults.
The study's findings are one more indictment of the impact television viewing may have on children's health.
Rahil Briggs, director of the Healthy Steps program at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., said the study doesn't prove that TV sets make children unhealthy, and the act of watching television itself is not necessarily evil.
"But it [TV viewing] comes at the expense of other age-appropriate and healthy things children should be doing," she said. "There are only so many hours in the day, and if children are watching TV, that's cutting into the hours of the day they could be doing something active."
Previous studies have linked lots of television with childhood obesity and other child health detriments, but this study's authors say their report is the first to relate how time in front of the boob tube affects a specific measure of physical fitness, their explosive leg strength, an important asset for sports like soccer, basketball and football.
Caroline Fitzpatrick, the study's lead author, said the measure isn't just important for children who want to be athletes.
"Explosive leg strength is an important measure of a child's overall physical fitness, their general muscular fitness," she said.
Fitzpatrick and her colleagues at the University of Montreal studied more than 1,300 children from across Quebec. When the children reached age 2 and age 4, the researchers asked parents how many hours per day their children spent watching television. On average, the 2-year-olds watched almost 9 hours of TV each week; by the time they reached age 4, average weekly TV viewing rose to nearly 15 hours.
A few years later, when the children were in second and fourth grades in school, the researchers measured their waist size and also how they performed on the standing long jump, hoping to measure each child's explosive leg strength.
The researchers were able to translate hours in front of the TV to centimeters of physical size and performance. They calculated that each hour of television watched during the week as a 2-year-old corresponded to a 0.361-centimeter decrease in a child's performance on the standing long jump. If a child watched an hour more of television as a 4-year-old than they did when they were 2, that corresponded to 0.285 centimeters shaved off of their jump. That extra hour of TV time also corresponded to a 0.047-centimeter increase in waist size.
The study was published Sunday in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Fractions of centimeters don't seem like they are that important, Fitzpatrick acknowledged.
"But on a small child, a centimeter becomes important," she said.
And considering that most children watch more than one hour of TV every day, those fractions of centimeters really start to add up. Fitzpatrick and her colleagues noted that 15 percent of the children in their study watched more than 18 hours of TV each week, corresponding to a 0.76-centimeter increase in their waist size by age 10.
Measuring waist size isn't only about physical appearance. Abdominal fat is also a predictor of heart health, back pain and other physical ailments, in both children and adults.
The study's findings are one more indictment of the impact television viewing may have on children's health.
Rahil Briggs, director of the Healthy Steps program at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., said the study doesn't prove that TV sets make children unhealthy, and the act of watching television itself is not necessarily evil.
"But it [TV viewing] comes at the expense of other age-appropriate and healthy things children should be doing," she said. "There are only so many hours in the day, and if children are watching TV, that's cutting into the hours of the day they could be doing something active."
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Alaska sues to block low-sulfur fuel requirement for ships
The state of Alaska sued the Obama administration on Friday to block environmental regulations that would require ships sailing in southern Alaska waters to use low-sulfur fuel.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, challenges the new federal regulations, which require the use of low-sulfur fuel for large marine vessels such as cargo and cruise ships.
The rule is scheduled to be enforced starting on August 1 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard for ships operating within 200 miles of the shores of southeastern and south-central Alaska, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit faults the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security and others for using a marine treaty amendment as the basis for the new federal regulations without waiting for ratification of that amendment by the U.S. Senate.
The Alaska Department of Law said in a statement that the low-sulfur-fuel requirement would be costly, jacking up prices for products shipped by marine vessel and harming Alaska's cruise industry.
"Alaska relies heavily on maritime traffic, both for goods shipped to and from the state, and for the cruise ship passengers who support thousands of Alaskan jobs," Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty said in a statement.
"There are reasonable and equally effective alternatives for the Secretary and the EPA to consider which would still protect the environment but dramatically reduce the severe impact these regulations will have on Alaskan jobs and families."
Totem Ocean Trailer Express, a major shipper operating in Alaska, estimates that the move to low-sulfur fuel will increase its costs by 8 percent, Geraghty said.
A spokesman for EPA's Seattle regional office was not immediately available to comment on the lawsuit.
The treaty amendment at issue is a 2010 agreement under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or MARPOL. The United States has signed onto MARPOL, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted the 2010 amendment.
Domestic enforcement of the amendment is not permitted without ratification by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, Assistant Alaska Attorney General Seth Beausang said. He said the EPA also erred by failing to conduct an environmental analysis.
"The only thing they relied on was the treaty amendment in issuing the regulations," he told Reuters, adding that Alaska was not coordinating its effort to overturn the regulations with any other state.
The lawsuit names as defendants the EPA and its director, Lisa Jackson, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the Coast Guard and its commandant, Admiral Robert Papp, and Clinton.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, challenges the new federal regulations, which require the use of low-sulfur fuel for large marine vessels such as cargo and cruise ships.
The rule is scheduled to be enforced starting on August 1 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard for ships operating within 200 miles of the shores of southeastern and south-central Alaska, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit faults the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security and others for using a marine treaty amendment as the basis for the new federal regulations without waiting for ratification of that amendment by the U.S. Senate.
The Alaska Department of Law said in a statement that the low-sulfur-fuel requirement would be costly, jacking up prices for products shipped by marine vessel and harming Alaska's cruise industry.
"Alaska relies heavily on maritime traffic, both for goods shipped to and from the state, and for the cruise ship passengers who support thousands of Alaskan jobs," Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty said in a statement.
"There are reasonable and equally effective alternatives for the Secretary and the EPA to consider which would still protect the environment but dramatically reduce the severe impact these regulations will have on Alaskan jobs and families."
Totem Ocean Trailer Express, a major shipper operating in Alaska, estimates that the move to low-sulfur fuel will increase its costs by 8 percent, Geraghty said.
A spokesman for EPA's Seattle regional office was not immediately available to comment on the lawsuit.
The treaty amendment at issue is a 2010 agreement under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or MARPOL. The United States has signed onto MARPOL, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted the 2010 amendment.
Domestic enforcement of the amendment is not permitted without ratification by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, Assistant Alaska Attorney General Seth Beausang said. He said the EPA also erred by failing to conduct an environmental analysis.
"The only thing they relied on was the treaty amendment in issuing the regulations," he told Reuters, adding that Alaska was not coordinating its effort to overturn the regulations with any other state.
The lawsuit names as defendants the EPA and its director, Lisa Jackson, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the Coast Guard and its commandant, Admiral Robert Papp, and Clinton.
Colorado says dentist put thousands at HIV risk from reused syringes
A suspended Colorado dentist reused syringes and needles in his now-shuttered practice, potentially exposing thousands of patients to HIV and hepatitis infection, health officials warned on Friday.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent letters to 8,000 patients of dentist Stephen Stein, urging them to seek tests for the diseases after learning of "unsafe injection practices" at two Denver-area clinics he owned between September 1999 and June 2011.
Investigators found that Stein reused needles and syringes in several patients' intravenous lines at his oral surgery and dental implant clinics, in violation of standard medical protocol, the department said in a statement.
"This practice has been shown to transmit infections," the statement said. It added that there had been no confirmed cases of anyone contracting the viral infections through Stein's clinics.
In the letters sent to Stein's former patients, the health department urged them to be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, said Jan Stapleman, a department spokeswoman.
Stein's records were incomplete, so it is likely more people were possibly exposed than those already identified, she said.
A hot line established for Stein's patients to call was "very busy" all day on Friday, Stapleman said.
Stein's lawyer, Victoria Lovato, said her client "is cooperating with the state's investigation."
Authorities said any patient who underwent any type of injection at the clinics, including sedation, might be at risk. They cautioned that if any patients of Stein tested positive for any of the viruses, there was no way to determine how they contracted the disease.
Stein's license to practice dentistry in Colorado was suspended for an unrelated matter, said Cory Everett-Lozano, spokeswoman for the state Department of Regulatory Agencies, which oversees medical licenses.
Until that probe is resolved, the reasons for Stein's current suspension are confidential, she said.
Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver, said Stein was already the target of a criminal probe for possible prescription fraud before the allegations emerged about reusing syringes. She said no criminal charges had so far been filed.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent letters to 8,000 patients of dentist Stephen Stein, urging them to seek tests for the diseases after learning of "unsafe injection practices" at two Denver-area clinics he owned between September 1999 and June 2011.
Investigators found that Stein reused needles and syringes in several patients' intravenous lines at his oral surgery and dental implant clinics, in violation of standard medical protocol, the department said in a statement.
"This practice has been shown to transmit infections," the statement said. It added that there had been no confirmed cases of anyone contracting the viral infections through Stein's clinics.
In the letters sent to Stein's former patients, the health department urged them to be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, said Jan Stapleman, a department spokeswoman.
Stein's records were incomplete, so it is likely more people were possibly exposed than those already identified, she said.
A hot line established for Stein's patients to call was "very busy" all day on Friday, Stapleman said.
Stein's lawyer, Victoria Lovato, said her client "is cooperating with the state's investigation."
Authorities said any patient who underwent any type of injection at the clinics, including sedation, might be at risk. They cautioned that if any patients of Stein tested positive for any of the viruses, there was no way to determine how they contracted the disease.
Stein's license to practice dentistry in Colorado was suspended for an unrelated matter, said Cory Everett-Lozano, spokeswoman for the state Department of Regulatory Agencies, which oversees medical licenses.
Until that probe is resolved, the reasons for Stein's current suspension are confidential, she said.
Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver, said Stein was already the target of a criminal probe for possible prescription fraud before the allegations emerged about reusing syringes. She said no criminal charges had so far been filed.
Judge rules Mississippi abortion clinic can stay open for now
Mississippi's sole abortion clinic won a court battle on Friday to stay open while it challenges the constitutionality of a new state law requiring its doctors to have local hospital admitting privileges.
The law, which abortion rights advocates say is a thinly veiled attempt to ban abortions in Mississippi, has threatened to make Mississippi the only U.S. state without such a facility.
The law requires doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Supporters argue this is necessary to ensure women's safety.
U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, in issuing a partial preliminary injunction, ruled on Friday that the clinic "will be permitted to operate lawfully while continuing their efforts to obtain privileges."
The ruling allows the new law to come into force "at least for now" but protects the abortion clinic - the Jackson Women's Health Organization - from any potential harm caused by the law, the judge wrote.
The measure was originally due to take effect on July 1. Following the mixed ruling, both supporters and opponents of the law claimed victory.
Republican Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said immediately after the ruling: "I am gratified with the court's decision," adding, "Mississippi will continue to defend this important measure as the legal process moves forward."
Sam Mims, who had sponsored the bill, said in a statement he was "confident that the new legislation will result in the improvement of healthcare for women."
Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which provides legal counsel for the clinic, said the decision "ensured, for the time being, that anti-choice politicians ... cannot relegate the women of their state to a second class of citizens that can be denied their constitutional rights with the stroke of a legislator's pen."
CLINIC OPEN FOR NOW
Mississippi became a battleground for reproductive rights last fall when voters weighed in on a constitutional "personhood" amendment that defined life as starting at the moment eggs are fertilized. Voters handed abortion opponents a setback by rejecting the proposed amendment.
Undeterred, state lawmakers this spring passed legislation requiring abortion providers to be board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and to have staff with admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
Representatives of the clinic had asked the U.S. District Court to issue the preliminary injunction. The ruling means the clinic can continue providing abortions for now.
"I think it's probably the best outcome we could have anticipated," said the clinic's owner, Diane Derzis. "Certainly, it's part of the process. We have to show that we have attempted to comply with the law. This is just part of the dance."
The clinic will still be subject to inspection by the state Department of Health and could ultimately lose its license, said Derzis, who anticipates an ongoing battle to remain open.
Neither of the clinic's two abortion doctors, who are certified in specialty areas, have been able to obtain admitting privileges at any of the local hospitals in Jackson despite a nearly three-month effort.
"I'm issuing an invitation for Governor Bryant and the lieutenant governor and Mr. Mims and everyone who has been real concerned about this to help us obtain these privileges," Derzis said.
Mississippi, which had as many as 14 abortion providers in the early 1980s, already has some of the country's strictest abortion laws and one of the lowest abortion rates.
It also has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the United States - more than 60 percent above the national average in 2010.
The law, which abortion rights advocates say is a thinly veiled attempt to ban abortions in Mississippi, has threatened to make Mississippi the only U.S. state without such a facility.
The law requires doctors who perform abortions to be board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Supporters argue this is necessary to ensure women's safety.
U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, in issuing a partial preliminary injunction, ruled on Friday that the clinic "will be permitted to operate lawfully while continuing their efforts to obtain privileges."
The ruling allows the new law to come into force "at least for now" but protects the abortion clinic - the Jackson Women's Health Organization - from any potential harm caused by the law, the judge wrote.
The measure was originally due to take effect on July 1. Following the mixed ruling, both supporters and opponents of the law claimed victory.
Republican Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said immediately after the ruling: "I am gratified with the court's decision," adding, "Mississippi will continue to defend this important measure as the legal process moves forward."
Sam Mims, who had sponsored the bill, said in a statement he was "confident that the new legislation will result in the improvement of healthcare for women."
Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which provides legal counsel for the clinic, said the decision "ensured, for the time being, that anti-choice politicians ... cannot relegate the women of their state to a second class of citizens that can be denied their constitutional rights with the stroke of a legislator's pen."
CLINIC OPEN FOR NOW
Mississippi became a battleground for reproductive rights last fall when voters weighed in on a constitutional "personhood" amendment that defined life as starting at the moment eggs are fertilized. Voters handed abortion opponents a setback by rejecting the proposed amendment.
Undeterred, state lawmakers this spring passed legislation requiring abortion providers to be board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and to have staff with admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
Representatives of the clinic had asked the U.S. District Court to issue the preliminary injunction. The ruling means the clinic can continue providing abortions for now.
"I think it's probably the best outcome we could have anticipated," said the clinic's owner, Diane Derzis. "Certainly, it's part of the process. We have to show that we have attempted to comply with the law. This is just part of the dance."
The clinic will still be subject to inspection by the state Department of Health and could ultimately lose its license, said Derzis, who anticipates an ongoing battle to remain open.
Neither of the clinic's two abortion doctors, who are certified in specialty areas, have been able to obtain admitting privileges at any of the local hospitals in Jackson despite a nearly three-month effort.
"I'm issuing an invitation for Governor Bryant and the lieutenant governor and Mr. Mims and everyone who has been real concerned about this to help us obtain these privileges," Derzis said.
Mississippi, which had as many as 14 abortion providers in the early 1980s, already has some of the country's strictest abortion laws and one of the lowest abortion rates.
It also has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the United States - more than 60 percent above the national average in 2010.
Ravaged by fires, Western ranchers face "scary" summer
It took less than an hour last month for a Montana wildfire to reduce Scott McRae's ranch to thousands of blackened acres devoid of the grasses that were to sustain hundreds of cattle.
"That is 500 mouths to feed with nothing to eat in sight," said McRae, 53, co-owner of a family ranch founded in the 1880s in southeastern Montana.
McRae is among scores of ranchers across the U.S. West whose grazing lands have been charred by blazes or ravaged by drought amid a regional shortfall of the alfalfa hay that could stave off starvation.
With drought affecting more than half the continental United States and less than a quarter of the nation's pasture and range rated good to excellent, cattle producers from Montana to Nevada are bracing for a rough season.
While some ranchers like McRae use private lands for grazing, many others pay modest fees to graze herds on acreage managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service under decades-old laws governing grazing on the West's vast federal lands.
But recent wildfires in states such as Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have displaced thousands of cows from federal rangelands which may not be fit for grazing for years. Where range has not been destroyed, drought has lessened forage.
"We're going to run out of grass. It's shaping up to be scary," University of Idaho Extension Agent Rauhn Panting said.
The dire situation in the West follows an historic drought in the ranching state of Texas last year that devastated herds and cost the state's agriculture $7.6 billion, according to Texas A&M university. The size of the Texas cattle herd fell 11 percent in the last year as ranchers had to sell cattle or move them to other states, the U.S. Agriculture Department said.
While some areas of Texas have improved after receiving rain, the dryness has also spread north to the nation's breadbasket and threatens the worst drought since 1988 in the U.S. corn and soybean growing belt this summer, according to weather experts.
STARK CHOICE: FEED OR SELL
In the drought-stricken West, such forecasts spur fears among ranchers already advised by government land managers that they may be forced to vacate grazing grounds weeks, even months, earlier. Depending on the terrain, producers with seasonal grazing permits can place cows and unweaned calves on allotments as early as May and herd them home as late as October.
This year, cattlemen face a stark choice: feed or sell, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.
The U.S. Agriculture department this week designated 1,016 counties in 26 states as "natural disaster areas" allowing farmers and ranchers in those areas access to low interest emergency loans from the federal government.
It is a hardship for those ranchers whose families have worked for generations to build a herd with certain traits but "you can't starve profit out of your mother cows," said University of Idaho Extension Educator Reed Findlay.
Producers who have been unable to locate or afford high-priced supplies of alfalfa hay have sent their cattle to sale barns in spring instead of autumn.
Torrington Livestock Markets in Wyoming recorded a steep rise in sales for cattle from such states as Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming in May and June, auctioning more than 36,000 head. That compares to roughly 5,500 for those months in an average year, co-owner Michael Schmitt said.
Small-scale ranchers with 30 to 50 cow-calf pairs have been hardest hit, he said. "They are at a loss with what they are going to do with their cattle," he added.
Compounding the strain are springs, streams and reservoirs that in some cases are running low or dry.
Desiree Seal, executive director of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association, said ranchers have not struggled with similar conditions for generations.
"Everyone is having issues," she said.
For McRae, the Montana rancher whose pasturelands were destroyed by wildfire, choices narrow to the lesser of two evils. He has found temporary ground for his cows but he will sell much of the herd this fall. Neighbors are facing harder times, losing livestock as well as grasslands to the blaze.
"All that people here have lost ... it is devastating to me," he said.
"That is 500 mouths to feed with nothing to eat in sight," said McRae, 53, co-owner of a family ranch founded in the 1880s in southeastern Montana.
McRae is among scores of ranchers across the U.S. West whose grazing lands have been charred by blazes or ravaged by drought amid a regional shortfall of the alfalfa hay that could stave off starvation.
With drought affecting more than half the continental United States and less than a quarter of the nation's pasture and range rated good to excellent, cattle producers from Montana to Nevada are bracing for a rough season.
While some ranchers like McRae use private lands for grazing, many others pay modest fees to graze herds on acreage managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service under decades-old laws governing grazing on the West's vast federal lands.
But recent wildfires in states such as Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have displaced thousands of cows from federal rangelands which may not be fit for grazing for years. Where range has not been destroyed, drought has lessened forage.
"We're going to run out of grass. It's shaping up to be scary," University of Idaho Extension Agent Rauhn Panting said.
The dire situation in the West follows an historic drought in the ranching state of Texas last year that devastated herds and cost the state's agriculture $7.6 billion, according to Texas A&M university. The size of the Texas cattle herd fell 11 percent in the last year as ranchers had to sell cattle or move them to other states, the U.S. Agriculture Department said.
While some areas of Texas have improved after receiving rain, the dryness has also spread north to the nation's breadbasket and threatens the worst drought since 1988 in the U.S. corn and soybean growing belt this summer, according to weather experts.
STARK CHOICE: FEED OR SELL
In the drought-stricken West, such forecasts spur fears among ranchers already advised by government land managers that they may be forced to vacate grazing grounds weeks, even months, earlier. Depending on the terrain, producers with seasonal grazing permits can place cows and unweaned calves on allotments as early as May and herd them home as late as October.
This year, cattlemen face a stark choice: feed or sell, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.
The U.S. Agriculture department this week designated 1,016 counties in 26 states as "natural disaster areas" allowing farmers and ranchers in those areas access to low interest emergency loans from the federal government.
It is a hardship for those ranchers whose families have worked for generations to build a herd with certain traits but "you can't starve profit out of your mother cows," said University of Idaho Extension Educator Reed Findlay.
Producers who have been unable to locate or afford high-priced supplies of alfalfa hay have sent their cattle to sale barns in spring instead of autumn.
Torrington Livestock Markets in Wyoming recorded a steep rise in sales for cattle from such states as Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming in May and June, auctioning more than 36,000 head. That compares to roughly 5,500 for those months in an average year, co-owner Michael Schmitt said.
Small-scale ranchers with 30 to 50 cow-calf pairs have been hardest hit, he said. "They are at a loss with what they are going to do with their cattle," he added.
Compounding the strain are springs, streams and reservoirs that in some cases are running low or dry.
Desiree Seal, executive director of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association, said ranchers have not struggled with similar conditions for generations.
"Everyone is having issues," she said.
For McRae, the Montana rancher whose pasturelands were destroyed by wildfire, choices narrow to the lesser of two evils. He has found temporary ground for his cows but he will sell much of the herd this fall. Neighbors are facing harder times, losing livestock as well as grasslands to the blaze.
"All that people here have lost ... it is devastating to me," he said.
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