Saturday, April 11, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-developments-in-deadly-south-carolina-police-shooting/

New developments in deadly South Carolina police shooting
By VICENTE ARENAS CBS NEWS
April 10, 2015

Photograph – Karen Sharpe (left), mother of former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, and Jamie Slager, his wife (second from right), visit him at the Charleston County Detention Center on Friday, April 10, 2015, in Charleston, S.C.
 CBS NEWS

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A wake was held Friday in South Carolina for Walter Scott, who was shot and killed last Saturday by North Charleston police officer Michael Slager. His funeral will be Saturday.

Now fired and charged with murder, Slager remains at the Charleston County Detention Center, awaiting a bond hearing. His attorney says the ex-cop is being held in an isolation unit, for his own protection.

On Friday, Slager's wife Jamie -- who is eight-and-a-half-months pregnant -- and his mother, Karen Sharpe, were able to see him for the first time since he was charged. Sharpe told CBS News she's worried.

"He's a wonderful person, he's very sharing, very caring. He and his wife are having a baby very shortly," Sharpe said.

"I'm anxious about that -- he won't be there for the birth, so I'm worried about her," Sharpe continued. "This is not how you would think it would ever be."

When she first heard that Slager was going to be charged with murder, Sharpe said, she couldn't believe it.

"I was shocked, just -- just shocked," Sharpe said. "I couldn't imagine this of Michael."

Meanwhile, a new complaint was filed Friday against Slager and two other officers for a traffic stop in August 2014.

The complaint alleges Slager yelled "Watch out, I'm going to Tase," then used his Taser on the driver, who was already restrained. Messages left for police and Slager's lawyer seeking comment were not returned.

Investigators met Friday with the man who was in the car with Scott Saturday morning when Slager pulled him over. The man told investigators he did not want them to reveal his identity.

During the initial traffic stop, Scott told Slager he had just purchased the Mercedes the officer had pulled over.

Dennis Nye, Scott's boss, corroborated that story. He told CBS News that Scott, a forklift driver at his warehouse, gave him a ride and said he had just bought it from a neighbor.

"He said he just got engaged and he's about to get married to his longtime girlfriend," Nye said. "He said he was happy and he was ready to settle down."

Earlier this week, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said Slager could face the death penalty if convicted on murder charges.

CBS News researchers discovered in South Carolina, the death penalty may be imposed only if there is an aggravating circumstance -- if, for instance, the victim was a child, or the murder happened during a robbery.

It appears, in this case, the maximum penalty is life without parole.




"Now fired and charged with murder, Slager remains at the Charleston County Detention Center, awaiting a bond hearing. His attorney says the ex-cop is being held in an isolation unit, for his own protection. …. Meanwhile, a new complaint was filed Friday against Slager and two other officers for a traffic stop in August 2014. The complaint alleges Slager yelled "Watch out, I'm going to Tase," then used his Taser on the driver, who was already restrained. Messages left for police and Slager's lawyer seeking comment were not returned. …. During the initial traffic stop, Scott told Slager he had just purchased the Mercedes the officer had pulled over. Dennis Nye, Scott's boss, corroborated that story. He told CBS News that Scott, a forklift driver at his warehouse, gave him a ride and said he had just bought it from a neighbor. …. CBS News researchers discovered in South Carolina, the death penalty may be imposed only if there is an aggravating circumstance -- if, for instance, the victim was a child, or the murder happened during a robbery. It appears, in this case, the maximum penalty is life without parole.”

This is good news – the police department is not trying to protect Slager from receiving a charge of murder. The officials stated in yesterday's article that when a suspect is not armed the police officer is trained to chase him down rather than shooting unless he is a dangerous felon. Scott's arrests were due to his failure to pay child support and he did not assault the officer. Everyone from his supervisor at work to his neighbors and family praised Scott's friendliness and honesty. The article states that Slager cannot be sentenced to the death penalty because there were no “aggravating circumstances.” Slager's prior charges of unnecessary force came from an incident with two other officers in August 2014 when a suspect who had already been subdued and handcuffed was tazed with no good reason. Sometimes when officers are in the company of others it will cause them to be more scrupulous rather than less so, but it looks to me as though the “gang mentality” took over in this case resulting in more abuse.

Somehow police departments need to detect psychological problems in their rookies such as sadistic tendencies. Whenever there is a situation of complete freedom from oversight there is likely to be such situations as these. I'm glad to see that this police chief is upholding the honor of the department, and hopefully as more of these stories are aired in the news the local criminal justice systems will stop their corruption by firing cops who “go astray” and punishing them. If that happens the number of incidents like this will diminish noticeably. Cops will decide that the fun of misbehavior is not worth the punishment they will receive.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/powassan-virus-spread-by-ticks-could-be-worse-than-lyme-disease/

Powassan virus, spread by ticks, could be worse than Lyme disease
CBS NEWS
April 9, 2015

NEW YORK -- It spreads like Lyme disease, but doctors say it's even worse. Ticks in parts of the northeastern U.S. and around the Great Lakes have been found to carry a rare and potentially life-threatening virus.

CBS2 New York reports, doctors warn that the Powassan virus can come on with very sudden, severe symptoms. There is no known treatment or cure.

"The doctor just has to support you during the acute illness and hope that you survive," Dr. Daniel Cameron explained.

Cameron is president of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. He said that if bitten by a Powassan-infected tick, you can get the virus within a matter of minutes, and while the symptoms are similar to Lyme disease, they are more severe.

"You can get seizures, high fevers, stiff neck. It comes on so suddenly that it's the kind of thing people go to the emergency room for," he explained.

Researchers with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station said the Powassan virus is starting to show up in Bridgeport and Branford. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has also been seen around the Great Lakes, primarily in late spring, early summer, and mid-fall, when ticks are most active.

Only about 50 cases of Powassan have been reported in the U.S. in the last 10 years.

"I couldn't imagine having something worse than this. It sounds really awful," Lyme disease patient Jennifer Cirigliano said.

Cirigliano was diagnosed with Lyme disease 2 years ago. The 15-year-old said it's been a long road of recovery.

"I was getting scared that there could be seriously something wrong," she said.

Now, with this emerging tick-borne illness, doctors say there's even more reason to be on the lookout throughout the spring and summer.

"Be more vigilant about checking. I can't stay indoors. Summer is the time to be outside," one woman said.

There are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Experts suggest using bug spray, wearing long pants and long sleeves outdoors, avoiding wooded areas, and checking yourself for ticks after you've spent time outside.




"CBS2 New York reports, doctors warn that the Powassan virus can come on with very sudden, severe symptoms. There is no known treatment or cure. "The doctor just has to support you during the acute illness and hope that you survive," Dr. Daniel Cameron explained. …. He said that if bitten by a Powassan-infected tick, you can get the virus within a matter of minutes, and while the symptoms are similar to Lyme disease, they are more severe. "You can get seizures, high fevers, stiff neck. It comes on so suddenly that it's the kind of thing people go to the emergency room for," he explained. …. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it has also been seen around the Great Lakes, primarily in late spring, early summer, and mid-fall, when ticks are most active. Only about 50 cases of Powassan have been reported in the U.S. in the last 10 years. …. There are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Experts suggest using bug spray, wearing long pants and long sleeves outdoors, avoiding wooded areas, and checking yourself for ticks after you've spent time outside.”

Ticks are not only ugly animals, they are as dangerous as fleas and mosquitoes. The woods around our home in the piedmont region of North Carolina had very few ticks, but at my grandmother's house in the sandhills area they were plentiful and I can remember finding them on me several times. At that time we were worried about Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which is also deadly. Wikipedia has the following to say about the Powassan virus.

Powassan virus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Powassan virus is a virus transmitted by ticks. The disease it causes is named after the town of Powassan, Ontario, where it was identified in a young boy who eventually died from it. The Powassan Virus (POWV) is normally found in the warm climate across Eurasia where it is part of the TBE-complex.[1] The disease also exists in North America and can be transmitted with bites from the following species of Ixodes ticks....

There are a total of 6 known species of tick that act as vectors, with Ixodes cookei being the predominant species in Canada and the Northeastern United States and Ix. scapularis as a significant vector in Minnesota and Wisconsin.[3] There are rare cases in whichIx. cookei attaches to humans, and as a result the case-patients with POWV have been mostly confirmed as having the strain of POWV, the Deer tick virus (DTV). The Deer Tick Virus plays a vital role in maintaining the POWV and is vectored by Ix. scapularis.[1] Ix. scapularis is an important vector of the enzootic transmission cycle of the Deer Tick Virus.[1] Ix. scapularis is also a primary vector for the agent of Lyme disease because they are a generalist feeder and readily bite humans. The Powassan virus is transmitted by ticks among small mammals in eastern Canada and the United States, where it has been responsible for 49 deaths in the U.S. between 2000–2011.[verification needed][4] In North America, the Powassan Virus has been noted as the only tick-borne Flavivirus with human pathogenicity so far.[5]

Powassan virus encephalitis is a challenge to diagnose because there are only a few laboratories that offer testing, the most effective beingserologic testing.[6] There are currently no medications or vaccines to treat or prevent the POWV. Victims of the Powassan virus generally show first symptoms after 1–3 weeks.[3] …. Currently the best ways to treat POWV illnesses include: medications to reduce brain swelling, respiratory support and intravenous fluids.[7] 10% of the POWV encephalitis cases are fatal and half of the survivors have permanent symptoms that affect their brain.[8]

DTV is very closely related to Powassan virus and recent sequence analysis estimated that the two viruses diverged "approximately 200 years ago".[9] Even though lineage II has been predominant in POWV positive tick pools, both lineages have had confirmed cases of human disease in North America and Russia [3][ …. Once the POWV reaches humans it cannot be transmitted to a feeding tick, therefore humans are considered “dead-end” hosts.[7]





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-officer-arrested-in-washington-on-felony-charge/

Secret Service officer arrested in Washington on felony charge
AP April 10, 2015

Photograph – The seal of the Secret Service Uniformed Division is seen on the side of a vehicle on October 2, 2014 in Washington, DC.  MANDEL NGAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

WASHINGTON -- A uniformed officer in the Secret Service's Foreign Missions Branch was put on leave and his security clearance suspended Friday after he was arrested in Washington, the agency said.

Metropolitan Police arrested Arthur Baldwin early Friday in northeast Washington on a felony charge of first-degree attempted burglary and destruction of property. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy ordered that Baldwin be placed on administrative leave and suspended his security clearance after his arrest.

Court records show Baldwin was to be arraigned Friday afternoon. The records do not list an attorney for Baldwin and a telephone number could not be located.

Baldwin's arrest comes two days after a high-ranking supervisor was also put on leave after he was accused of misconduct in a case that is also being investigated by police. The Homeland Security Department's inspector general is investigating the allegations of misconduct by the supervisor.

Baldwin's arrest and the earlier allegation of misconduct are the latest black eyes for the agency responsible for protecting the president and his family.

The inspector general is already investigating a March 4 incident in which two high-ranking agency officials are accused of driving into a secure area at the White House after a night of drinking.




“Metropolitan Police arrested Arthur Baldwin early Friday in northeast Washington on a felony charge of first-degree attempted burglary and destruction of property. Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy ordered that Baldwin be placed on administrative leave and suspended his security clearance after his arrest. Court records show Baldwin was to be arraigned Friday afternoon. The records do not list an attorney for Baldwin and a telephone number could not be located. …. The inspector general is already investigating a March 4 incident in which two high-ranking agency officials are accused of driving into a secure area at the White House after a night of drinking.”

Issues surrounding drinking seem to be prevalent in the Secret Service. A “high ranking supervisor” is also under investigation. I wonder what sort of background searches and personal qualifications the Secret Service has for hiring their agents. Does any of this actually have anything to do with President Obama, or is it just a tangle of bureaucratic red tape that prevents the weeding out of all these “bad apples”? From the article below it appears that the ERT or Emergency Response Team are primarily responsible for protecting the White House, while the Special Agents would have been those in foreign countries to protect the President there. I can see some problem situations under a protective umbrella this large. The Secret Service has more than 1300 uniformed officers who are responsible for the White House. The number of employees in total was not stated in this description of the organization below.


http://www.secretservice.gov/whoweare.shtml

WHO WE ARE

The United States Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency with headquarters in Washington, D.C., and more than 150 offices throughout the United States and abroad. The Secret Service was established in 1865, solely to suppress the counterfeiting of U.S. currency. Today, the agency is mandated by Congress to carry out dual missions: protection of national and visiting foreign leaders, and criminal investigations.

Please follow the links to learn more about the men and women of the Secret Service:

Director
Special Agents
Uniformed Division Officers
Support Personnel

Joseph P. Clancy
Director 
United States Secret Service

President Barack Obama appointed Joseph P. Clancy as the 24th Director of the United States Secret Service on February 18, 2015.

A 27-year veteran of the Secret Service, Joseph P. Clancy was appointed Special Agent in Charge of the Presidential Protective Division on February 1, 2009. Mr. Clancy held this position until his retirement from the Secret Service on June 30, 2011. Following his retirement, Mr. Clancy served as the Executive Director of Cable Security at Comcast Corporation.

UNIFORMED DIVISION

Established in 1922 as the White House Police Force, this organization was fully integrated into the Secret Service in 1930. With more than 1,300 officers today, the Uniformed Division is responsible for security at the White House Complex; the vice president's residence; the Department of the Treasury (as part of the White House Complex); and foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington, D.C., area. Uniformed Division officers carry out their protective responsibilities through a network of fixed security posts, foot, bicycle, vehicular and motorcycle patrols.

Officers are responsible for providing additional support to the Secret Service's protective mission through the following special support programs:

The Countersniper Support Unit (CS): Created in 1971, the CS unit's purpose is to provide specialized protective support to defend against long-range threats to Secret Service protectees. Today CS is an operational element of the Presidential Protective Division.

The Canine Explosives Detection Unit (K-9): Created in 1976, the mission of the K-9 unit is to provide skilled and specialized explosives detection support to protective efforts involving Secret Service protectees.

The Emergency Response Team (ERT): Formed in 1992, ERT's primary mission is to provide tactical response to unlawful intrusions and other protective challenges related to the White House and its grounds. ERT personnel receive specialized, advanced training and must maintain a high level of physical and operational proficiency.

Magnetometers: The Secret Service began relying on magnetometer (metal detector) support by Uniformed Division officers to augment its protective efforts away from the White House following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. The Magnetometer Support Unit's mission is to ensure that all persons entering secure areas occupied by Secret Service protectees are unarmed.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alleged-debt-collection-scam-shut-down-by-ftc-illinois-ag/

An Illinois phantom-debt collector goes dark
By MITCH LIPKA MONEYWATCH
April 10, 2015

A phony debt collection operation set up in a Chicago suburb was shut down after the Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois Attorney General's Office obtained a court order following hundreds of complaints from consumers around the country said they were threatened over debts they didn't owe, the FTC said on Friday.

The case is one of a growing number of so-called phantom-debt collection schemes authorities have gone after.

"The defendants have threatened and intimidated their way into stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting people all across the country," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement.

The scheme dates to at least 2010, the FTC said, and involved a variety of business names. Those targeted were people who had either applied for or received a payday loan or other short-term loan.

While the companies had no right to collect any actual debt and often went after consumers who didn't owe money, they tried to extract payment by threatening imprisonment, lawsuits, wage garnishment and revocation of drivers' licenses, the FTC said. They even called victims at their workplaces and reportedly screamed threats and obscenities at them to try to frighten them into paying, the agency said.

Defendants in the case include K.I.P., LLC; Charles Dickey, Chantelle Dickey (aka Chantelle Rudd and Chantelle Williams), Ezell Williams and Associates; Ezell Williams, LLC; Excel Receivables; Second Chance Financial Credit; Second Chance Financial; Payday Loan Recovery Group; Payday Loan Recovery Group; Payday Loan Recovery; International Recovery Services; International Recovery Services; and D&R Recovery.

Charges against the defendants include violations of federal debt collection statutes, not providing a notice with the amount of debt, who the debt is owed to, how to dispute the debt and other rights someone presented with a debt is supposed to be afforded.

In addition, defendants were accused of not having a debt collection license and violating the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and the Illinois Collection Agency Act.




“The case is one of a growing number of so-called phantom-debt collection schemes authorities have gone after. "The defendants have threatened and intimidated their way into stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting people all across the country," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement. The scheme dates to at least 2010, the FTC said, and involved a variety of business names. Those targeted were people who had either applied for or received a payday loan or other short-term loan. …. While the companies had no right to collect any actual debt and often went after consumers who didn't owe money, they tried to extract payment by threatening imprisonment, lawsuits, wage garnishment and revocation of drivers' licenses, the FTC said. They even called victims at their workplaces and reportedly screamed threats and obscenities at them to try to frighten them into paying, the agency said.”

There's a new scam every day in the US, it seems to me. I protect myself by moving useless emails like these into the spam folder rather than simply deleting them, monitoring my phone calls with an answering machine, and throwing away envelopes from businesses I don't know, usually without even opening them. Besides, I haven't borrowed any money in years. It means that I live on cash and my debit card, and as soon as I get a medical bill over the amount that my insurance will cover, I call the hospital in question and give them a payment plan to eliminate the debt over time. There are very few of those. It does discourage me, however, the amount of dishonest businesses there are out there. I share my mother's distrust of anyone who comes around selling things or proposing a “great deal” of some kind. I tend to assume businesses are likely to be dirty in some fashion, so I don't feel that admiration of business leaders that the conservatives have. If I had someone calling me at work or that sort of thing I would call the police and report them. This way my life is simple.





http://www.npr.org/2015/04/11/398757780/students-push-college-fossil-fuel-divestment-to-stigmatize-industry

Students Push College Fossil Fuel Divestment To Stigmatize Industry
CAROLYN BEELER
APRIL 11, 2015

Photograph – Freshman education major, Josh Medel, has his picture taken by alumna Anjali Cadambi for social media.
Emily Cohen/NewsWorks

In the past few years, students at hundreds of colleges and universities have started pushing their schools to divest from fossil fuel companies as a way to slow climate change.

The campaign has had some notable wins in the past year. But at tiny Swarthmore College, outside of Philadelphia, where the movement was born, students have been staging a sit-in for nearly a month to try to make their voices heard.

On the first day of an extended sit-in at the elite liberal arts college, dozens of students are crowded into a hallway outside the finance offices, learning a new protest song.

"We're asking for our school to sell its holdings in the top 200 coal, oil and gas companies," senior Sara Blazevic says. "Divestment is a way for our school, as a institution with a lot of social standing and a lot of clout, to stigmatize the fossil fuel industry."

That stigma is key. Climate change activist Bill McKibben, who visited Swarthmore on day eight of the sit-in, explained that divestment isn't meant to stop the flow of cash to well-capitalized energy companies.

"No one's under the illusion that if Swarthmore or any other college sells its shares in Exxon, that will immediately bankrupt Exxon," he says. "What it will do is begin the process, further the process, of politically bankrupting them."

By that, he means creating a world where campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies will carry the same stigma as cash from Big Tobacco.

"Making it much harder for them to dominate our political life the way they have," McKibben adds. "Because this is the richest industry on earth, it has way more political influence than it deserves."

Swarthmore's divestment movement began back 2011, says Sara Blazevic.

"When our campaign started, it was sort of scrappy," she says. "It didn't have a ton of support, we didn't have a network the way that the divestment movement has a network now, and then it grew really quickly."

Hundreds of schools now have divestment campaigns. They have been successful at about two dozen U.S. colleges and universities, most recently at Syracuse, the largest endowment to date to commit to fully divesting.

Most other schools have said "no" to divestment, including Swarthmore in 2013.

"Primarily because we thought divestment would be too costly," says Gil Kemp, chair of the school's Board of Managers.

He says it would cost the school's roughly $2 billion endowment $11 to $15 million a year in returns. What's more, he argues stigmatizing fossil fuels won't reduce the amount of carbon released into the environment.

"Reducing our carbon footprint is a more effective way of dealing with this very real issue of climate change and global warming," Kemp says.

Divestment is a controversial tactic even among those working on climate change solutions.

Andrew Holland is an energy and climate fellow at the nonpartisan American Security Project in Washington D.C., which researches the impact of climate change on national defense.

"There are effective ways to fight climate change and there are ineffective ways to fight climate change," he says. "And I think that the divestment movement fundamentally is looking in the wrong direction."

Endowments at the 500 richest U.S. colleges and universities are worth nearly $500 billion. It's not known how much of that is invested in fossil fuels companies. But for some perspective, NYU, Bowdoin and Middlebury have all recently disclosed this information, and fossil fuels make up between 1.4 and 5 percent of their endowments.

Financial experts say even full divesture would have little impact on the energy industry. And the moral argument doesn't hold water with Holland.

"Stigma doesn't work for the fossil fuel companies," he says. "These companies are already stigmatized. You're not going to stop Jim Inhofe or other hard right Republicans from taking money from fossil fuel companies because a bunch of professors at Stanford or Swarthmore determine they don't like ExxonMobil."

Plenty of student movements have begun and ended without the targeted industries batting an eye. Today, though, anti-fossil fuel activists claim kinship to the anti-Apartheid divestment movement of the 1980s, which also started on college campuses amid choruses of criticisms.




"We're asking for our school to sell its holdings in the top 200 coal, oil and gas companies," senior Sara Blazevic says. "Divestment is a way for our school, as a institution with a lot of social standing and a lot of clout, to stigmatize the fossil fuel industry." That stigma is key. Climate change activist Bill McKibben, who visited Swarthmore on day eight of the sit-in, explained that divestment isn't meant to stop the flow of cash to well-capitalized energy companies. "No one's under the illusion that if Swarthmore or any other college sells its shares in Exxon, that will immediately bankrupt Exxon," he says. "What it will do is begin the process, further the process, of politically bankrupting them." …. "When our campaign started, it was sort of scrappy," she says. "It didn't have a ton of support, we didn't have a network the way that the divestment movement has a network now, and then it grew really quickly." Hundreds of schools now have divestment campaigns. They have been successful at about two dozen U.S. colleges and universities, most recently at Syracuse, the largest endowment to date to commit to fully divesting. …. Divestment is a controversial tactic even among those working on climate change solutions. Andrew Holland is an energy and climate fellow at the nonpartisan American Security Project in Washington D.C., which researches the impact of climate change on national defense. "There are effective ways to fight climate change and there are ineffective ways to fight climate change," he says. "And I think that the divestment movement fundamentally is looking in the wrong direction." …. "Stigma doesn't work for the fossil fuel companies," he says. "These companies are already stigmatized. You're not going to stop Jim Inhofe or other hard right Republicans from taking money from fossil fuel companies because a bunch of professors at Stanford or Swarthmore determine they don't like ExxonMobil." Plenty of student movements have begun and ended without the targeted industries batting an eye.”

Whether one effort affects the bottom line of a major company or not, if the public has become sufficiently aroused on the subject, the overall result can be significant. That is especially true with tools like Facebook and Twitter. A recent effort of that sort was on the issue of those “open carry” idiots parading with their AK-47s through Wal-Mart and Target. Target did finally issue a statement that no weapons are allowed in their stores. That's progress. It's affecting the public mind from a place of callous disregard to one of sensitivity on gun laws.

I think there is a cumulative effect going on now about the police shootings, too. When the young man was gunned down there there was a reaction, but when dozens of police decked out in military gear filled the streets and that was filmed for the news stations, people in the US were literally shocked. I had no idea that the military had been giving even things like tanks to city police departments since the George W Bush administration. It looked like a scene from a movie about Nazi Germany.

It started at Ferguson, but the news has now covered several dozen other shootings around the country for which there was no good reason. It has become a hot topic for the news, which reporters like, but it also is pointing up just how many of those incidents we have occurring around the US. It is not just a Southern thing. Racism is now becoming obvious where before it was hidden. I think student movements are a good thing because students have a comparatively free schedule and can go to meetings, marches, and help with voter registration. The overall effect of that can be a Democratic victory at the polls and a real effect on how businesses and police departments actually operate on a daily basis. Likewise, I think publicity is one of the keys to a change in how much of the greenhouse gasses are emitted unchecked. I'm glad to see students being active on liberal causes. I have missed them.






http://www.cbsnews.com/news/microsoft-to-recruit-hire-people-with-autism/

Microsoft set to hire people with autism
CBS NEWS
April 7, 2015

Microsoft has announced plans to hire people with autism.

Working with specialist employment agency Specialisterne, which trains and finds positions for people diagnosed on the autism spectrum, the pilot program begins in May with 10 full-time positions in the company's Redmond, Wash., corporate headquarters.

"Microsoft is stronger when we expand opportunity and we have a diverse workforce that represents our customers," said Mary Ellen Smith, corporate vice president of worldwide operations who has a 19-year-old son diagnosed with autism, on the company blog.

"People with autism bring strengths that we need at Microsoft, each individual is different, some have amazing ability to retain information, think at a level of detail and depth or excel in math or code," she wrote. "It's a talent pool that we want to continue to bring to Microsoft!"

This is not the first time that Microsoft has helped people with autism. In 2001, the company expanded its health benefits plan to cover a promising therapy for children with autism, a move adopted by Apple, Intel, Cisco, Oracle and Qualcomm, according to CNET. The company also educates employees on autism spectrum disorders and has hosted a hackathon to help develop ideas for tech tools to assist families dealing with autism.

The new hiring plan "represents only one of the ways we are evolving our approach to increase the diversity of Microsoft's workforce," Smith wrote. "We believe there is a lot of untapped potential in the marketplace and we are encouraged by the strong level of readiness from the vendors who cater to this segment."

CNET tech reporter Bridget Carey said she expects the latest move could also inspire other tech companies to follow Microsoft's lead, since you have "programs like Specialisterne to make it easier for companies to work with resources to find people in the workplace."

"It's great for Microsoft to kind of take that step and be a first here," she said.




“Working with specialist employment agency Specialisterne, which trains and finds positions for people diagnosed on the autism spectrum, the pilot program begins in May with 10 full-time positions in the company's Redmond, Wash., corporate headquarters. "Microsoft is stronger when we expand opportunity and we have a diverse workforce that represents our customers," said Mary Ellen Smith, corporate vice president of worldwide operations who has a 19-year-old son diagnosed with autism, on the company blog. "People with autism bring strengths that we need at Microsoft, each individual is different, some have amazing ability to retain information, think at a level of detail and depth or excel in math or code," she wrote. "It's a talent pool that we want to continue to bring to Microsoft!"

People have in the past been prone to consider the Autistic and Down Syndrome kids to be hopelessly disabled when actually there is a range of types of symptoms and degrees of disability. Autistic people often are gifted in mathematics. I will never forget the movie Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. That was made from a true story about an autistic person. If parents have such a child they will have to get help in dealing with him from professionals, get proper drugs for him, and patiently, progressively work on a close basis with them to educate them in the ways they need in order to make it on their own. Even schizophrenic patients with proper medication and help can sometimes live on their own.

When I was young people were embarrassed and often cruel to a child who had temper tantrums, couldn't learn to read, etc. I think our society does much better nowadays, and has a firm belief in kindness over harsh punishment as a way of teaching them. On the racial issue I don't think we have moved far enough ahead yet, but in the area of mental illness the average citizen is more likely to be understanding and helpful rather than abusing such a kid, as happened when I was in school.





http://patch.com/california/losalamitos/judge-shaves-10-years-mandatory-sentence-noting-rapist-3-year-old-didnt-intend-harm

Judge Shaves 15 Years from Mandatory Sentence, Noting Rapist of 3-Year-Old Didn't 'Intend Harm'
A judge used his discretion to ignore a mandatory minimum sentence for a man who sodomized a girl, 3, because he didn't see it as predatory.
By PAIGE AUSTIN (Patch Staff)
April 4, 2015

In a rare legal maneuver, an Orange County Superior Court judge today deviated from a mandated 25-year-to-life sentence for a man who sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl and sent him to prison for 10 years.

Kevin Jonas Rojano was convicted Dec. 3 of sodomizing a child younger than 10 and lewd or lascivious acts with a minor.

Rojano was playing video games in the garage of his home where he lived in Santa Ana June 4 of last year when a 3-year-old girl who he is related to wandered in to hang around, said Deputy District Attorney Whitney Bokosky. Rojano, who became sexually aroused by the child, pulled her pants down and assaulted her, Bokosky said.

The girl’s mother, meanwhile, tried to get into the garage as she looked for the child but realizing it was locked started looking elsewhere at a neighbor’s home, Bokosky said. This prompted the defendant, who had put his hands over the girl’s mouth to keep her from yelling for her mother, to have the child masturbate him, Bokosky said.

The defendant then unlocked the garage door and when the mother returned she took the girl, who appeared unharmed, into the home, Bokosky said. The crime came to light moments later in the kitchen when the girl complained of pain in her anus and the mother noticed it was torn, Bokosky said.

Rojano, 20, would normally be sentenced to a mandated 25 years to life term in prison, but Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly found that in this case that punishment would be unconstitutional.

Kelly agreed that under most circumstances the sentence would be appropriate.

“However, in looking at the facts of Mr. Rojano’s case, the manner in which this offense was committed is not typical of a predatory, violent brutal sodomy of a child case,” Kelly said. “Mr. Roiano did not seek out or stalk (the victim). He was playing video games and she wandered into the garage. He inexplicably became sexually aroused but did not appear to consciously intend to harm (the victim) when he sexually assaulted her.”

The defendant “almost immediately” stopped and “realized the wrongfulness of his act,” Kelly said.

“Although serious and despicable, this does not compare to a situation where a pedophilic child predator preys on an innocent child,” Kelly said. “There was no violence or callous disregard for (the victim’s) well-being.”

The judge also noted the defendant “has shown extreme remorse for his actions and has been willing to accept the consequences,” Kelly said. “Mr. Rojano was born into and raised in a dysfunctional familiar environment.”

Pointing to a doctor’s report, the judge said that while growing up the defendant suffered “a great deal of family disruption and abuse, making him an insecure, socially withdrawn, timid, and extremely immature young man with limited self-esteem.”

Bokosky said Kelly should have taken into account the defendant attempting to quiet the girl during the attack and that he resumed it when he felt the coast was clear. The prosecutor said her office will discuss an appeal of the judge’s sentence.




“However, in looking at the facts of Mr. Rojano’s case, the manner in which this offense was committed is not typical of a predatory, violent brutal sodomy of a child case,” Kelly said. “Mr. Roiano did not seek out or stalk (the victim). He was playing video games and she wandered into the garage. He inexplicably became sexually aroused but did not appear to consciously intend to harm (the victim) when he sexually assaulted her.” The defendant “almost immediately” stopped and “realized the wrongfulness of his act,” Kelly said. “Although serious and despicable, this does not compare to a situation where a pedophilic child predator preys on an innocent child,” Kelly said. “There was no violence or callous disregard for (the victim’s) well-being.”

Whitney Bokosky said that his pausing to quiet the child when her mother came to the garage door indicates an awareness that what he was doing was wrong and the intention to continue the assault as soon as the mother left. I agree with Bokosky. If Rojano is mentally deficient or psychotic I can see such a move by the judge, with a mandate of hospitalization in a home for the criminally insane of course, but this article doesn't say that. I would like to see some more of the evidence before I approved of lessening the sentence. In general I think many judges are too lenient on sexual abuse of all kinds, especially rape as in this case. He forcibly sodomized the child. Often predators get less than even the ten years that was given in this case. Then they are put on a sexual predator list and given some court supervision when they get out, but are in general able to have access to more children in the future, to molest or even kill them. I am under the impression that sexual predators do not usually get “cured” of their illness, and therefore remain dangerous for the rest of their lives.




http://www.npr.org/2015/04/07/397044111/new-orleans-educator-dreams-of-teaching-tech-to-beat-the-streets

New Orleans Educator Dreams Of Teaching Tech To Beat The Streets
Michel Martin
April 7, 2015

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, much has been rebuilt in New Orleans — including the public schools. But the current education system is radically different from the one that people who grew up in New Orleans remember. Virtually all students in the city now attend charter schools. Many of their teachers are both new to New Orleans and new to teaching.

Jonathan Johnson began teaching social studies to eighth-graders at one of the city's charter schools in 2010. After a rough start, Johnson says he became known as the "warrior teacher" because his classroom was all about "fighting the war on low expectations for African-American youth."

In 2014, Johnson was a finalist for the Fishman Prize, a prestigious and highly selective teaching award. Now Johnson is hoping to create a new education experience through a concept he called Rooted Schools. I reached out to him to learn why he decided to teach in New Orleans and why he is now trying to develop a new charter school.

The trend toward a school system dominated by charters came out of crisis, but the pluses and minuses are still being debated. What, in your view, is working?

Since 2004, we are getting better at preparing kids, academically, for college. More students are qualifying for TOPS scholarships, graduating from high school, and ACT scores have risen. We're expelling fewer students. Our schools have more nonblack students. Over the past 10 years, thousands of committed, passionate and smart leaders have made significant strides for students in New Orleans public schools.

Tell us about Rooted School. Where did the concept come from and what do you hope to accomplish by creating it?

The design — and now piloting — of Rooted School, began out of me noticing a glaring problem in our city's schools today: the gross disconnect between what we're teaching and where tomorrow's jobs are being created.

What we haven't seen is a significant change in student life outcomes. Visions of college help some, but kids know that college isn't a guarantee. And for a growing number of kids, it's another heavy financial burden on top of others they already know and carry. Streets are beating schools in the fight for the attention of so many of our young men. Our schools are missing a connection to something bigger, to a future that the kids could actually connect to from where they are today.

I understand this problem first hand. ... I got angry about the tragic killings of kids I've worked so hard ife this fall as a small-scale pilot for 15 students, designed as a school that can beat the streets in the fight for relevance with kids. It has the potential to shape what is possible in public school nationally. Rooted gives kids something to connect to in their own to teach, kids who were working hard, but couldn't escape the streets. I started looking for ways to do something about this a year ago: Rooted School will come to life this fall as a small-scale pilot for 15 students, designed as a school that can beat the streets in the fight for relevance with kids. It has the potential to shape what is possible in public schools nationally. Rooted gives kids something to connect to in their own city, something with the capacity to convince them there's a better choice than what's out there now, a choice that's only recently been added to the answer sheet: a career in software and tech.

Greater New Orleans Inc. reported that there are more than7,000 jobs expected to open in the digital sector over the next 10 years. Most local companies also state that our city does not have the consistent local talent base to supply the rising need, so they will either have to supply with nonlocal talent or move their companies elsewhere. The state of Louisiana has even implemented a Digital Interactive Media and Software Development Incentive which offers a 35 percent refundable tax credit on payroll ... for companies to hire in-state labor. A similar problem exists in five other high-growth regional industries.

I'm going to connect schooling to these amazing opportunities in tech and five other industry clusters, leveraging employers themselves in the training of our students for the jobs they will have available in the years to come.

If we do this successfully, we will remove the potential of poverty for our students by placing them on an entry-level path toward a financial independence.

What's next for New Orleans schools 10 years after Katrina? What can be done to make schools better?

I don't know what wave people will catch. I can say that I'm a part of a group called the Tiny School Project. We are small-scale pilots launching this summer and fall who aim to present new ideas for what the future of school could be in New Orleans. There's no other collective like this in the country, and we're really excited to see what comes of it.

As for what can be better, I have a few ideas:

Discover more low-risk ways to test out/pilot smaller versions of new school models. I'm not talking about the typical college prep charter school that we've seen before. I'm talking about school designs that are largely untested in the country (i.e. Rooted School, Noble Minds Institute for Whole Child Learning).

Incentivize the start of organizations like 4.0 Schools and Propeller who incubate leaders and businesses who are willing to rethink what school could be.

Create more options for career success than college. College doesn't promise the same return on investment as it once did and can cause more problems than solutions, especially for many of the students we serve in this city. Not to mention, most of the jobs that will become available in Louisiana over the next decade will be technical and won't require a four-year college degree. Our public schools haven't figured out a viable alternative for the students — like the 51 percent of black males in New Orleans who are unemployed.

Michel Martin travels to New Orleans on April 21 to moderate a live event on education ten years after Katrina. It's a collaboration with member station WWNO. You can join the conversation using #NOLASCHOOLS.




“Since 2004, we are getting better at preparing kids, academically, for college. More students are qualifying for TOPS scholarships, graduating from high school, and ACT scores have risen. We're expelling fewer students. Our schools have more nonblack students. Over the past 10 years, thousands of committed, passionate and smart leaders have made significant strides for students in New Orleans public schools. …. The design — and now piloting — of Rooted School, began out of me noticing a glaring problem in our city's schools today: the gross disconnect between what we're teaching and where tomorrow's jobs are being created. What we haven't seen is a significant change in student life outcomes. Visions of college help some, but kids know that college isn't a guarantee. And for a growing number of kids, it's another heavy financial burden on top of others they already know and carry. …. I'm going to connect schooling to these amazing opportunities in tech and five other industry clusters, leveraging employers themselves in the training of our students for the jobs they will have available in the years to come. If we do this successfully, we will remove the potential of poverty for our students by placing them on an entry-level path toward a financial independence. …. Not to mention, most of the jobs that will become available in Louisiana over the next decade will be technical and won't require a four-year college degree. Our public schools haven't figured out a viable alternative for the students — like the 51 percent of black males in New Orleans who are unemployed.”

This is something that I've been thinking about for a number of years now. Not only does a four year college degree cost a great deal of money, it is not really geared to the job market on the non-professional level, which is where most people are aimed after all. A technical certificate in computers, medicine, accounting, laboratory and legal fields will give an income boost without requiring genius. Some people do have an avid desire to read great literature or study a science, but most do not. This is a primarily blue collar country. Some are even turned on by marketing, and many by teaching. The trick is to get a job when you need one rather than floundering around under financial stress. It is always possible to read for pleasure if there is a public library in the area, and there always is.

Besides, many bright students who are above average IQ, but who still aren't intelligent enough to become a college professor in a difficult subject like physics. We need to learn to relax with life and live in a comfortable way without considering ourselves or others to be inferior. Read Walden Pond. That's all the religion I need. Most human satisfaction comes from giving to the community, being helpful to our neighbors and families, and in general getting pleasure out of our daily life. I have never been as ambitious as some people, and have never wanted to play king of the mountain with anyone. I do want to enjoy my life before I die. I am not concerned about an afterlife, and don't want to become fabulously wealthy, especially if I have to cheat and fight every day of my life to get there. I would like to see a nation full of kind, generous good citizens who live in reasonable comfort but not in luzury. There would be fewer crimes if that were the case, better mental health, more sharing and generosity -- fewer rich people, too, of course. If this means socialism, I am in favor of it.