How Karen Sheperd Got Her Start in Martial Arts and Movies ...

by Robert W. Young
Photo by Rick Hustead ? Yesterday

Karen Sheperd sits across the table from me and aims her chopsticks at a tiny plate of shrimp sushi. She?s one of America?s best-known martial artists ? and one of the few to make it in movies and television ? but she?s as down-to-earth and friendly as anyone you?ll ever meet.

And when it comes to how she got her start in the martial arts, you?ll see that she?s not that different from the people you kick and punch with every day.

Inspired

?I hate to sound clich?, but it?s true: Bruce Lee was the big inspiration for me,? the Black Belt Hall of Fame member says. ?I just thought he was awesome.?

After she saw Lee in action, Sheperd made a beeline for the local karate school, which happened to specialize in shotokan. ?I took a class and really liked it,? she says. ?It felt natural. The moves were easy for me. I knew it was something I was going to enjoy.? She was hooked after the first lesson.

?In junior and senior high school, I was a gymnast,? she continues. ?That?s why I liked the freedom of movement of the martial arts. Karate is a sport where you?re on your own, using just your body, making it move in a disciplined way ? which is what gymnastics is.?

Driven

Then Bruce Lee?s ride to superstardom accelerated, and his face was plastered all over magazines, movies and TV screens. ?I went to see his movies, and I thought that was the most incredible thing ever,? Sheperd remembers. ?I wanted to do that, too!?

But shotokan is a far cry from jeet kune do, the style Lee created, you?re probably saying to yourself. Well, Sheperd figured that out, too.

?I started to investigate different martial arts because I noticed the way Bruce Lee was moving was not quite like shotokan,? she says between sips of iced tea. ?Whereas shotokan taught me the basics of discipline, punching and kicking, it was very regimented. I felt limited in my movement. When I saw Bruce Lee, I saw this free-flowing, gymnastic-looking art with interesting kicks and movements.?

So she switched to kajukenbo, a hybrid style that combines karate, jujitsu, judo, kenpo and Chinese boxing. ?I got the best of all worlds and the freedom to create movements,? she says. ?That?s when I really got interested in kata competition; it was an overflow from being a gymnast. I loved training for it, doing it ? everything about it. Competition was very exciting and a lot of fun. It gave me something to live for ? a goal. From there, I kept on training, and it became a lifestyle.?

Isolated

There were a few other young students in Sheperd?s class, but she was the only girl. That didn?t bother her much. ?I didn?t expect to be treated differently,? she says. ?It was physically hard at times, but I enjoyed it.

?Some of my friends thought it was cool, but they didn?t really understand. They would look at me when I would say, ?I learned this new jump-spinning crescent kick,? but it was a whole different language. They didn?t know what I was talking about. Nobody understands unless they?ve done it.

?It?s like anything you choose to do in life. You find people who think you?re whacked out of your mind, and you find people who relate because they also have an interest. Those are the people you end up hanging out with.?

Misunderstood

I hand Sheperd back some old photos of her taken in the 1970s and ?80s ? when she won most every competition she entered. As she sticks them into a folder, the rubber band she tries to stretch around it busts and goes flying. Naturally, it lands right in my iced tea. Plop. She smiles and orders me a replacement with nary a pause in her word flow.

?I never worried about people who didn?t understand, but I was very patient with them,? she says. ?One person who didn?t understand was my father. He thought it was another fad I was going through. [He probably thought,] ?Last week it was gymnastics, and next week it?ll be ballet lessons or something.?

?He never thought I?d stick it out, but I knew I would. After I won my first national title ? No. 1 female black-belt kata competitor in the United States ? my dad sent me a letter to say he now realized this was not a fad and he was very proud of me. Eventually, he realized it meant a lot to me, and he warmed up to it.?

Enlightened

The takeaway from Karen Sheperd?s story is obvious: Try not to force your interest in martial arts on people who don?t understand. ?You don?t have to try to convince them,? she says. ?What really matters is what you do. It?s not what other people think; it?s what you think about yourself.?

That?s what martial arts training is all about, she says. ?The main thing it offers is focus and discipline. It offers young people something to concentrate on that?s good, something that can help you develop mentally, spiritually and physically. Besides teaching you how to defend yourself if you have to, it teaches you how not to fight, how not to do the wrong thing. If you have the right teacher and school, the martial arts can offer you direction and discipline for the rest of your life.?

***

What If ?

Without the martial arts, Karen Sheperd says she might have become a figure skater. ?In my next life ? if we have another life ? that?s where you?ll find me: hopefully, in the Olympics,? she says.

***

Fighting Films

Karen Sheperd?s movie career began in 1980 when she got a call from martial arts legend Tadashi Yamashita. He wanted her to come to Japan and appear in a movie called The Shinobi Ninja.

?I thought it was a great honor to be asked,? she says. ?So I said, ?Of course.? I loved every minute of it, and I knew [acting] was what I wanted to do.?

In addition to shotokan and kajukenbo, Sheperd studied taekwondo, jujitsu and a few other styles, then blended them for the silver screen. ?Now my style is ?film-fighting? style,? she says. ?It?s whatever I need to use for whatever job I?m doing.?

If you want to see more of Sheperd?s film-fighting, track down her movies on cable or Netflix. They include Mission of Justice with Brigitte Nielsen, Eliminator Woman with Jerry Trimble, Cyborg 2 with Jack Palance, Righting Wrongs with Cynthia Rothrock, For Life or Death with Richard Norton and Firestorm with John Savage.

One of the best places to see Sheperd in action is in reruns of the now-defunct TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Her superhuman character was introduced in an episode called ?The Enforcer? in 1996. She used her unique fighting style to beat the tar out of a few dozen unlucky humans.

Because of the popularity of her character, the producers of Hercules brought her back later the same year in an episode titled ?Not Fade Away.? She waged war with none other than Cynthia Rothrock.

Permalink: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/martial-arts-entertainment/martial-art-movies/how-karen-sheperd-got-her-start-in-martial-arts-and-movies/

Source: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/martial-arts-entertainment/martial-art-movies/how-karen-sheperd-got-her-start-in-martial-arts-and-movies/

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Common Core Spelling Standards | Pennington Publishing Blog

Common Core Spelling Standards

*****

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts provide instructional challenges for all conscientious upper elementary and middle school teachers. In addition to the Reading, Writing, Speaking & Listening Strands, teachers are expected to teach the grammar, mechanics, language application, spelling, and vocabulary Standards of the CCSS Language Strand (Standards L. 1-6). When establishing instructional priorities to address these Standards, many teachers have placed spelling (Standard L. 2) on the back-burner.

It?s not that teachers devalue spelling instruction. Instructional time and the diverse instructional needs of our students are the key instructional concerns. Teaching is reductive-spending time on this takes away from that. Instructional decision-making is largely about establishing priorities. So, curricular materials must afford teachers the choices to reflect those priorities.

Recently I attended an all-day introduction to the Common Core State Standards sponsored by my school district. As expected, the changes in the reading standards assumed the vast amount of instructional attention. Writing standards were allotted an hour and listening and speaking standards a mere ten minutes. A passing reference was given to the language standards of grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary. However, spelling (Language Standard 2.0) was not mentioned.

Perhaps our trainers were taking their cues from the minimal references to spelling in the Language Strand of the Common Core State Standards. Following are the spelling standards from Grades 4?8:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.2e?Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.5.2e?Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.6.2b?Spell correctly.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.2b?Spell correctly.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.2b?Spell correctly.

Hardly the specificity or attention that most parents, teachers, and administrators would desire, especially given the heavy focus on phonics, syllabication, and word analysis in the primary grades and the sound-spelling emphases of CCSS contributors to the appendices.

Indeed, those same authors would readily acknowledge that teaching explicit spelling patterns in conjunction with reading has a solid research base. The spelling-reading (encoding-decoding) connection is well-established at every stage of word study?from sound-spelling relationships in the primary grades to derivational and etymological influences from elementary through high school.

Perhaps their assumption is that all students have mastered the sound-spelling relationships, derivational, and etymological underpinnings of our language by the end of third grade. Our new standards are rigorous, but even so?

So what about students who clearly have not mastered the basic sound-spellings by, say, eighth grade? The Common Core State Standards shy away from this all-too-often reality in many schools. Here is the advice:

?The Standards set grade-specific standards but do not define the intervention methods or materials necessary to support students who are well below or well above grade-level expectations.?

My take is that teachers are going to have to flesh out meaningful spelling instruction beyond the third grade level to benefit our students. Additionally, students who have not mastered those primary grade sound-spelling patterns and sight words deserve our addition in the upper elementary, middle school, high school, and community college settings. We can help students ?keep up? with grade-level instruction and ?catch up? on spelling pattern deficits.

The author of the Pennington Publishing Blog, Mark Pennington, has written a comprehensive Grades 4-8 language series to teach each of the grade-level Common Core Language Standards.?Teaching the Language Strand provides interactive grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling lessons, a complete spelling patterns program, language application openers, and vocabulary instruction. Simple sentence diagrams, error analysis, mentor texts, writing applications with sentence combining and sentence manipulation, and formative assessments are woven into each lesson. Students learn to apply these language standards in both the writing and reading contexts. Each instructional component includes diagnostic assessments and remedial worksheets to help the teacher easily individualize instruction. Previews of the grade-level teacher guides and student workbooks are available on the author?s?website.

Spelling/Vocabulary Common Core Language, Common Core Spelling, Spelling Standards

Source: http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/spelling_vocabulary/common-core-spelling-standards/

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Italy vote hits world stocks; Bernanke lifts Wall Street

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks jumped on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reassured investors about the continuation of stimulus measures, bucking a downward trend in global equities and oil prices on the uncertainty created by Italy's election.

A closely watched gauge of European stock market volatility hit a 2013 high after the muddy election outcome in Italy raised fresh concern about the outlook for the euro zone's debt crisis.

Investors are fearful that the strength of the vote for anti-austerity parties will weaken efforts to reform Italy's public finances and its labour laws, damaging the euro zone's efforts to resolve its three-year old debt crisis.

Markets across Europe fell on the vote results, with Italy's FTSE MIB among the hardest hit, tumbling 4.9 percent.

"This should remind us the crisis has only been in remission," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, Ohio.

However, U.S. stocks climbed as Bernanke strongly defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus, easing worries that monetary policymakers might be getting cold feet about continuing the extraordinary measures to support the economy. Data showing sales of new homes hit a 4 1/2-year high added to bullish sentiment.

Bernanke "certainly said everything the market needed to feel in order to get comfortable again," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shot up 115.96 points, or 0.84 percent, to close at 13,900.13. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 9.09 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,496.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 13.40 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 3,129.65.

The MSCI world equity index slipped 0.5 percent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index ended down 1.4 percent.

The election uncertainty led to a sharp rise in volatility, with Europe's VSTOXX index, which reflects demand for protection against a drop in major European equities, hitting a new year's high on Tuesday at 24.73.

Southern European government bond prices sank. Italy's 10-year bond yields rose as much as half a point to 4.86 percent, their highest since mid-December.

The Italian elections also weighed on oil prices, with Brent crude oil futures falling $1.73, or 1.51 percent, to settle at $112.71 a barrel. U.S. crude oil fell 48 cents, or 0.52 percent, to settle at $92.63.

In the foreign exchange market, the euro traded flat against the U.S. dollar and yen, recouping earlier losses with the help of the Fed assurances on stimulus.

The euro last traded at $1.3058, down 0.02 percent on the day. During early London trade, the euro touched $1.3017, its weakest showing since January 7.

Against the yen, the euro finished the day in the 120.20-yen area, up 0.27 percent.

The dollar last traded at 91.89 yen, up 0.10 percent for the day.

U.S. BONDS SLIP

U.S. Treasuries prices fell, though yields held near their lowest levels in a month following Bernanke's comments and as political instability in Italy boosted demand for lower-risk assets.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 6/32 in price, with the yield at 1.89 percent.

U.S. financial markets were rattled last week when minutes of the Fed's January meeting showed some officials were thinking of scaling back the central bank's monetary stimulus earlier than expected.

In his testimony, Bernanke also urged lawmakers to avoid sharp spending cuts set to start taking effect on Friday.

"Bernanke's commentary showed the Fed chairman wants to continue quantitative easing (i.e. bond purchases) and keep its general stance of monetary policy accommodation," said Eric Stein, vice president and portfolio manager at Boston-based Eaton Vance Investment Managers.

The Fed is currently buying $85 billion in bonds each month, and has said it plans to keep purchasing assets until it sees a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market.

Bernanke's remarks also boosted gold prices. Spot gold gained 1.3 percent to $1,615.16 an ounce, its biggest one-day advance since November 23, 2012.

Among data having the biggest influence on markets, U.S. Commerce Department data showed sales of new homes jumped 15.6 percent to a 4 1/2-year high in January. The percentage increase was the largest in almost 20 years.

A separate report showed U.S. consumer confidence rose more than expected this month as Americans shrugged off worries about fiscal policy.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Ellen Freilich and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler, Leslie Adler and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asia-shares-decline-deadlocked-italy-election-033722567--finance.html

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Texas Insider ? Pre-K Won't Help Kids

By Phyllis Schlafly

President Obama ended his State of the Union speech on a warm and fuzzy note by calling for pre-K programs for almost all children. The best thing he could do for pre-kindergarten children is to make sure he doesn?t hang trillions of dollars of debt around their necks, but that isn?t the route he is taking.

Instead, Obama wants to provide government daycare for all preschoolers who live in households where the income is below approximately $47,100. He doesn?t call it daycare or babysitting (which is a more accurate term); he calls it early childhood education.

Early childhood education means programs for kids from birth to age 3 (a massively expanded Early Head Start, home visits by nurses, parental education and health services), more of the existing Head Start (mostly for 3-year-olds), more ?high-quality preschool? for 4-year-olds available to every child in America and full-day kindergarten for all.

Obama went to College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center near Atlanta to formally unveil his extravagant program. He said, ?Let?s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.?

The daycare advocates like to cite as models for success the so-called Perry Preschool Project and the Abecedarian Project. Those two projects took place a half-century ago, using highly trained teachers under optimum conditions; one project studied only 58 3-to 4-year-old children, and the other only 57.

The proclaimed purpose of pre-K education is to close the gap between kids from high-income and low-income households. The defect in Obama?s announcement is that there is no evidence that pre-K schooling can or will accomplish that ? it?s not a program ?that works.?

The federal program called Head Start was created in 1965 as part of Lyndon B. Johnson?s War on Poverty. It has been running nearly 50 years, now costing $23,000 per student, and incurring a total expense of $150 billion, but it still does not provide promised benefits.

Obama likes to say he is guided by ?the science,? and he claims that ?study after study? shows every dollar of Pre-K ?investment? (that?s the liberals? synonym for taxes) saves seven dollars later on. Obama?s falsehood is easily refuted.

In fact, all studies show that Head Start and all the early interventions do not achieve what they promised, and any benefits ?fade out? by the third grade. His own Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did an important Head Start Impact Study tracking the progress of 3- and 4-year-olds from entering Head Start through kindergarten and first grade and then a follow-up study on the students? performance through the end of the third grade.

The conclusion was that Head Start had little to no effect on cognitive, social-emotional or health outcomes of participating children. The HHS report was released on the Friday before Christmas, hoping to avoid press coverage and to minimize public attention.

The principal goals of the billions of federal tax dollars poured into public schools during the George W. Bush Administration were to raise U.S. scores on international tests and to close the gap between high-income and low-income students. All that spending was a failure on both counts.

Head Start was based on the assumption that government schools can compensate children for the disadvantage of being poor. It?s time to face up to the fact that children are poor mainly because they don?t have a father provider-protector, and the problem we should address is the decline in marriage.

Obama?s pre-K proposals are just a reprise of the perennial feminist demand for government-paid daycare. The feminists believe it?s part of the war on women by the patriarchy for society to expect mothers to care for their children, and they should be relieved of this burden by the taxpayers.

Can you believe? The feminists are still whining about President Richard Nixon?s 1971 veto of the Brademas-Mondale Comprehensive Child Development Act, which would have made daycare (now called Pre-K) a new middle class entitlement. A feminist article on Feb. 14, 2013 in The New York Times claimed that Obama?s pre-K proposal is a resurrection of Walter Mondale?s bill that was defeated under a tsunami of public opposition.

The feminists are thrilled that Obama has picked up where Mondale left off 42 years ago. Remember Mondale? He was defeated by Ronald Reagan back in 1984.

The real difference between high-achieving and low-achieving children is whether or not they live in a traditional family. There is no substitute for the enormous advantage to children of growing up in a home with their own mother and father.

A better formula for helping kids to achieve in school would be to stop giving financial handouts that operate as incentives to women to have babies without marriage.

Phyllis Schlafly is a national leader of the pro-family movement, a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Feminist Fantasies.

Source: http://www.texasinsider.org/pre-k-wont-help-kids/

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My Husband Is Not Sexual - Her Busy Life

In a question to me on one of my webinars, Melanie writes: ?My husband is very loving, but not very sexual. I?ve tried to talk to him about this many times in non-threatening ways, but his lack of enthusiasm toward sex makes it very difficult to engage myself when he finally does get around to feeling sexual. We have zero intimacy mentally and very little physically.?
We often hear of men complaining that their wives are not sexual. It might surprise you that I often hear this complaint from women as well.

In my experience, there are a number of reasons why a man might not be sexual in his relationship:

He might have a very low testosterone level. This is something that can be tested and there is medication to raise testosterone level.

? He might have a fear of engulfment regarding sex. If he had an emotionally and/or sexually incestuous mother, he might be terrified of being smothered.

? He might be in resistance to being controlled by his wife. If his wife is critical or demanding, he may shut down sexually to avoid being controlled her.

? His wife might be needy and he might feel pulled on by her to make her feel good about herself. Just as a woman feels used when her husband uses sex addictively to feel good about himself, a man can also feel used when his wife uses sex to feel lovable.

? He might have learned to avoid both rejection and engulfment by being sexual on his own, using pornography as a safe way of being sexual without triggering his fears.

? His sexuality might be connected with emotional intimacy, and he might not feel emotionally intimate with his wife.

? There may be a control issue within the relationship regarding sex.

? Sex just might not be important to him.

? He might be impotent due to some of the above reasons.

Melanie states that her husband is very loving, but that they have zero intimacy. For both men and women in long-term relationships, sex can become boring when there is no emotional intimacy. The first thing I would do if I were to work with Melanie is to explore why there is no emotional intimacy, and if any of the above reasons could be contributing to the problem.

Melanie also states that when her husband is finally interested in sex, she has a hard time being involved. To me this indicates that there might be a subtle control issue going on between them: she wants sex when he is not available, but when he becomes available, she pulls away. Sometimes, having control over having sex is more important to one or both partners than actually having sex.

I would also question Melanie regarding whether she knew this before marrying her husband. People often do know these things about their partner, but convince themselves that either it?s okay with them, or that they can change it. I always encourage people to fully accept how things are before marriage, as there is never any guarantee that things will change. One thing is for sure: we cannot change anyone. People can change if they want to, but we cannot make them change. If someone is not very sexual before marriage, it is unlikely that this is going to change.

Given this fact, I would explore with Melanie what she knew before marriage. Since we attract a partner from our common level of woundedness, there may be a part of Melanie that is okay with a lack of sexuality, but she might be taking her husband?s lack of sexuality personally, which may be why she is having a problem with it.

Sexuality is sometimes a barometer of what is happening in the rest of the relationship, and since there is no emotional intimacy between Melanie and her husband, this is likely at least one cause of their sexual issues.

Whatever the reason, there is always much to learn if both people are open to learning.

?

By:?Margaret Paul, Ph. D.?Article Dashboard

Source: http://herbusylife.com/relationships/articles-relationships/husband-sexual/

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Lingering racism crux of voting rights case

The historical marker, placed by the Alabama Historical Association, on the original Shelby County courthouse. (Tommy Daspit/YCN)

?Nobody likes to be stereotyped,? said Reggie Giles, a resident of Shelby County, Ala. Which is why stereotypical assumptions about Southerners, he noted?specifically, that they?re racists?is offensive.

?Racism is a stigma that the South can't seem to shake and that most of the rest of the country seems to want to perpetuate,? Giles, a software engineer, said.

Giles was one of several Shelby County residents who shared their thoughts with Yahoo News earlier this week as the Supreme Court prepares to hear Shelby County v. Holder on Wednesday. It?s a case that may determine the constitutionality of nearly five decades of voting rights legislation, specifically Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and a referendum of sorts on how far their county, and most of the South, has evolved on voting rights in the past 50 years.

Giles, who lives in Pelham, a Birmingham suburb, said protecting all voters? rights is a ?no-brainer.? But like many Shelby County residents, he finds some laws antiquated: Legislation conceived in 1965, he noted, doesn?t always apply in 2013.

At the heart of the debate reaching the court is local control of election laws against alleged racial discrimination in voting. Nine states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia) are covered under Section 5 of the act, which mandates that changes to local election laws?no matter how trivial those alterations are perceived?must receive clearance from the Justice Department or through a lawsuit at the D.C. district court. Also subject to Section 5 are 57 counties and 12 townships outside those nine states. (See a full list.)

Congress has renewed the law several times, the last time in 2006 when it extended the Voting Rights Act until 2032.

The petitioner in this case is Shelby County, home to nearly 200,000 residents. The county didn?t seek to amend its voting laws, but it nevertheless sued the Justice Department to strike down Section 5 in its entirety.

(SCOTUS Blog has more in-depth analysis and information for those interested in exploring the legislation?s more esoteric nooks and crannies, including the formula in Section 4 that determines which areas Section 5 covers.)

Legislative diversity helps battle racism in government

The racism label is hardly limited to the South. Former South Dakota state Sen. Thomas Shortbull, who also shared his thoughts with Yahoo News, says government oversight is needed in his state.

Two of the state?s counties?Shannon and Todd?already comply with the federal government. And for years, state politicians fought over the counties that hold part of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations along the southern border with Nebraska.

In 1975, Shortbull recommended that Shannon and Todd counties sit in the same legislative district where 90 percent of the voters would be American Indian. Shortbull argued that the only way the group could gain a legislative voice was to merge the reservations into one district. Five years later, the state?reluctantly, Shortbull said?created one district that covered most of the reservations.

?[Section 5] is the only vehicle in some states to fight institutional racism in local and state governments,? Shortbull wrote in his first-person account. ?In the state of South Dakota, racism towards minorities is prevalent, and the only means of diminishing the racism is to elect more minorities to state and local governments.?

Local victories tough to win?and maintain

In Houston, Rogene Calvert has advocated for the city?s Asian-American communities for years. While there are 280,000 Asian-Americans in Houston, Calvert says, they rarely can elect a representative candidate because the state has dispersed those voters into separate districts.

They did score a victory in 2004, however, when Rep. Hubert Vo bounced a 22-year incumbent from House District 149 in southwestern Houston and became Texas? first Vietnamese-American representative.

Vo, who won that race by 16 votes after three recounts, has been re-elected four times. But, Calvert said, in 2011, the state eyed redistricting to eliminate Vo?s seat and break it up into three districts.

?We objected to this at every stage of the process,? she said, noting that she testified before the state?s House Redistricting Committee, urging it to reconsider its plan to split up Asian-American voters in southwest Harris County.

?The state legislature ignored us,? she added.

Under Section 5, however, the Justice Department refused to approve redistricting.

?Because of that, we still have a vibrant coalition in HD 149 and we still can elect the candidates of our choice,? Calvert said. ?Without the protection of the VRA, the influence of the Asian-American community would have been drastically reduced.?

?Punished for the sins of our fathers?

In Shelby County, things are less pragmatic and more philosophical. Residents who shared their thoughts about the Voting Rights Act focused less on political gerrymandering and more on how they believed it impugns local control and the spirit of sovereignty.

Jonathan Williams, a 32-year-old Montevallo resident, often gathers at the local coffee shop to listen to wisdom from men he calls the town?s elders.

?Occasionally, they let me sit in their august presence?one of my favorite ways to spend a Friday afternoon,? Williams wrote in his account. ?Between the eight of them, they have seen and done almost everything?fought for their country, traveled the world, raised families, lost and won fortunes. Black, white, blue-collar and white-collar, they all gather around a table each afternoon to solve the world's problems while shamelessly flirting with the servers.?

When Williams raised Shelby County v. Holder, the elders weren?t shy about sharing their opinions, he said.

One elder offered: "Are we second-class citizens in our own country?"

Another said: "I don't care if a man is black, white, Mexican or Chinese.?

The more important questions, to him: ?Is he Republican or Democrat? Where does he go to church?"

Williams said he?s seen too much progress to believe Section 5 should survive a court challenge. ?How long must we be punished for the sins of our fathers before the rest of the nation realizes things have changed? I'm sick of it," he said.

Elections are the only true shared experience

Unlike Williams, Tommy Daspit hasn?t live in Shelby County his whole life. He?s called it home for three years after living in diverse locales such as Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Washington state and Indiana.

He noted the subtle differences in dialect, food, music and ideologies. But elections, he said, are the same.

?The experience of voting in Shelby County, Ala., was the same as it was in Tippecanoe, Ind., Kittitas County, Wash., or Dallas County, Texas,? Daspit, a photographer, said. ?Sure, there are some differences in the way the ballots look from one place to the next, but the experience of voting is the same.?

Daspit said Section 5 is dispensable and excessive: ?It has aided in transforming the South into a place where my children can grow up friends with children of all colors. However, it is no more relevant to Shelby County today than it would be in the North or the West.?

Bigots are not the prevailing entities

Daspit?s wife, Kelly, said she sees postracial evolution in Shelby County?s youngest residents. She writes:

Last week, my 8-year-old son was making Valentines for his 21 classmates at the elementary school he attends in Shelby County. He spent extra time decorating five of them, writing on those, in his approximated spelling, the word "FRANDS."

Two of those "FRANDS" are African-American boys. They play together and sometimes argue together, but they are friends. When my son celebrates his birthday, those two boys will be among the others invited to his party. There wouldn't be a question in the children's or in their parents' minds that it should be otherwise.

Born in 1975, Kelly Daspit said she understands life wasn?t always that way. Even after legal integration, unofficial social segregation?black and white students sitting at separate tables in school cafeterias?continued in her youth. But through the years, she said, it?s improved:

I have taught in five schools, and little by little, year by year, I have watched the change. No longer is it taboo for black and white children to have relationships. There are no longer "white" and "black" tables, and today's children could hardly imagine otherwise. Why? Because their parents did not teach them otherwise. Because, as we grew up in integrated schools, working in integrated workplaces, we learned each other. We learned there was nothing to fear from another's skin or another's culture. We learned that we really do all have the same worth. And racism, little by little, year by year, has perished. Yes, there are still some bigots; there always will be. You can find those in any town, in any state. But they are not the majority. They are not the prevailing entity.

How can I be sure? Because a public school is a reflection of its society. And if you wish to know about the prevailing society in Shelby County, Ala., just consider my 8-year-old son and consider who his "FRANDS" are.

Giles, the Pelham resident, offered his own evidence of progress: ?For the record, my votes were split in the past two presidential elections. In 2008, I voted for one of the two major party's candidate, and in 2012 I voted for the other.?

Nobody likes to be stereotyped.

The original Shelby County courthouse, 1854-1908, in Columbiana, Ala. (Tommy Daspit/YCN)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/shelby-county-v-holder-pits-local-election-control-224753576.html

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ASUS MeMo Pad tablets launching in the UK beginning early March

More ASUS related news has emerged from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, this time concerning the UK launch of their MeMo Pad tablets. Both the 7-inch and 10.1-inch tablets will be available to buy in the UK, with the first launching from March 7. 

The 10.1-inch ME301T -- more commonly referred to as the Smart 10 -- is a Tegra 3 packing, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean tablet with an extremely competitive price point of £249. It houses a 1280x800 resolution IPS display, 16GB of on-board storage and will only be available in Midnight Blue at launch with other colors to follow. Several retailers have picked up the MeMo Pad Smart 10 including Currys PCWorld, Tesco and Amazon. Pre-orders should be available from each of these online now, with in-store purchases set to begin on March 7. 

The MeMo Pad ME172V -- or MeMo Pad 7 as we shall refer to it -- again runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but is a more budget oriented offering. It's powered by a 1GHz VIA WM8950 processor, and has a display resolution of 1024x600 with 16GB of on-board storage. The killer feature on the MeMo Pad 7 though is the price, set to arrive for just £129 some time around mid-April. 

The full press release can be found after the break. 

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/eTV6gLmNFEU/story01.htm

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IKEA halts meatball sales after horsemeat found

PRAGUE/STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's IKEA halted sales of its trademark Swedish meatballs in 13 European countries after tests in the Czech Republic on Monday showed the product contained horsemeat.

IKEA, the world's No. 1 furniture retailer and known also for its signature cafeterias in its huge out-of-town stores, said it had stopped sales of all meatballs from a batch implicated in the Czech tests.

The checks were carried out in response to a Europe-wide scandal that erupted last month when tests carried out in Ireland revealed some beef products contained horsemeat. This has triggered recalls of ready-made meals and damaged confidence in Europe's vast and complex food industry.

"We take this very seriously," said IKEA spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson at the company's headquarters in Helsingborg, southern Sweden. "We have stopped selling that specific batch of meatballs in all markets where they may have been sold."

The meatballs, pulled from shelves at IKEA's stores after Czech inspectors discovered they contained horsemeat, had been available in stores in several European countries, the company's Czech spokesman said on Monday.

Besides the Czech Republic, they had also been on sale in Britain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, Hungary, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland, Magnusson said.

All IKEA's meatballs are produced in Sweden by supplier Familjen Dafgard, which said on its website it was investigating the situation and would receive further test results in the coming days.

IKEA's Magnusson said hopes were that test results would determine the percentage of horsemeat in the meatballs, and that there was is no indication any other batch had been affected.

In Italy, one of the countries where meatballs from the batch were withdrawn from sale, consumer rights group Codacons called for checks on all meat products sold by IKEA in Italy.

"We are ready to launch legal action and seek compensation not only against the companies who are responsible but also those whose duty it was to protect citizens," Codacons President Carlo Rienzi said in a statement.

The Czech State Veterinary Administration reported its findings to the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, it said in a statement.

The inspectors took samples for DNA tests in IKEA's unit in the city of Brno from a product labeled as "beef and pork meatballs", the statement said.

Meatballs, a famous Swedish dish, have become a trademark for IKEA across its markets.

(Additional reporting by Keith Weir in Milan; Writing by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/czech-inspectors-horsemeat-ikea-meatballs-110059113--finance.html

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Happy Everything Collection & Three Attachments ($197 value)

February 24, 2013 by Aimee ?

I love adding simple touches to my home that get my family excited about upcoming small and big events, the Happy Everything Collection is the perfect addition to my home!? This collection can be found at Coton Colors ? a store with unique, personalized, handcrafted pottery, Christmas ornaments, and creative giftware for everyone and I am so excited to host a giveaway from them for you.

Here?s how the Happy Everything Collection works?start off by choosing a neutral or colorful base platter, soap dispenser, frame, cookie jar?etc, which has unbelievably strong velcro?ready for the addition of super cute attachments to represent whatever it is you are celebrating throughout the year?there are over 80 additional attachment options, everyday fun, sports-oriented designs, an a great variety of holiday!? I have the Happy Everything Collection and it goes great with my neutral home decor?there?s the right size, shape, and color of base products for every home.? Coton Colors has a very cute blog?that you will want to check out too, it is adorable and filled with lots of inspiration.

Win a neutral Happy Everything Platter with stand and a frosty, menu, and party hat attachment!? Easy Rafflecopter entry, but first, head on over to Coton Colors and check out their website, then leave a comment below in the comment section with what you LOVE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was provided with items to review from Coton Colors, but the opinions are my own. These are beautiful products and I think you would love them!

It's Overflowing is a lifestyle blog, founded by Aimee Lane, sharing simply inspired diy & decor projects, useful crafts, organization tips, and photography tutorials. Subscribe, learn more, or connect with Aimee on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Subscribe to Barns & Noodles for Aimee's favorite recipes.

It's Overflowing is an amazon affiliate.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned in some of my posts in the hope that I would give it a good review on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe my readers will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission?s 16 CFR, Part 255: ?Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.?

Source: http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2013/02/happy-everything-collection/

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Daytona put to work again after accident at track

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Not long after a horrific crash caused carnage in the main grandstand of Daytona International Speedway, workers swept in to hurriedly make repairs.

Rest assured, NASCAR's biggest race will go on.

The green flag is set to drop Sunday for the Daytona 500 less than 24 hours after a last-lap crash injured at least 30 spectators and ripped apart a chunk of fencing that protects the mammoth seating areas at stock car racing's most famous track.

Large chunks of debris, including a tire, landed in the stands after Kyle Larson's car launched into the fence about 200 feet from the finish line during a race in the second-tier Nationwide series.

Speedway President Joie Chitwood declared the track will "be ready to go racing," and there were no plans to move fans who have those same seats where the wounded were strewn about Saturday.

This was the third time in four years the track has needed major repairs on Daytona 500 weekend. The 2010 race was interrupted for more than two hours because of a pothole in the track. Juan Pablo Montoya slammed into a jet dryer in last year's race, igniting a raging inferno that caused another two-hour delay.

"We're very confident that we'll be ready," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing operations. "As with any of these incidents, we'll conduct a thorough review and work closely with the tracks as we do with all our events, learn what we can and see what we can apply in the future."

Chitwood said there where wasn't enough time to replace a gate in the damaged section of fencing, which allows fans to walk from the grandstands to the infield. Otherwise, it might be difficult to find any evidence of where the wreck occurred.

The speedway president stressed that all safety protocols were met, perhaps preventing a more tragic result.

"Our security maintained a buffer that separates the fans from the fencing area," he said.

NASCAR and track officials didn't know how much fencing would need to replaced or repaired. Sections of the impact-absorbing soft walls had to be fixed, too.

But the track's recent history with expediting repairs was expected to speed along the process.

"You try to prepare for as much as you can," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "You also take away and learn from every incident."

The horror in the stands marred what had been a week of celebration that kicked off with Danica Patrick becoming the first woman to win a pole in the premier series.

Wreckage flew into both the upper and lower decks, and emergency crews treated fans on both levels. There were five stretchers that appeared to be carrying fans out.

A forklift was used to pluck Larson's engine out of the fence. There was a tire in the stands.

Across the track, fans pressed against a fence and used binoculars trying to watch. Reporters were ordered to leave the area.

Hours after the wreck, the fence was down and soft walls were being repaired as TV news helicopters hovered above the track.

Elsewhere, it was business as usual as the track underwent its makeover for "The Great American Race." The stages for driver introductions and the pre-race concert were already in place, as were the generators on pit road. The Daytona 500 logo was being painted on the grass and other track signage got a touch up. If not for the steady buzz from the welding done on the fence, it would have looked like any other late Saturday night before the 500.

Fans seated in the area of the wreck uploaded videos on YouTube that showed fans fleeing in horror and covering their heads as tires and an engine hurled their way. Most of the videos were soon removed from the video-sharing site.

NASCAR chief marketing officer Steve Phelps said the removal was ordered "out of respect for those injured. Information on the status of those fans was unclear and the decision was made to err on the side of caution with this very serious incident."

The scene was similar to a 2009 race at Talladega Superspeedway ? Daytona's sister track in Alabama ? when Carl Edwards' car went sailing into the fence on a last-lap accident.

O'Donnell said NASCAR and track officials would continue to strengthen safety standards as needed.

"We'll evaluate the fencing and see if there's anything we can learn from where gates are," he said. "I think we need to take the time to really study it and see what we can improve on, if we can. Certainly, the safety of our fans is first and foremost and we'll make that happen."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/daytona-put-again-accident-track-001743456--spt.html

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Iran says it has captured a foreign 'enemy drone'

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday that it captured a foreign unmanned aircraft during a military exercise in southern Iran.

Gen. Hamid Sarkheili, a spokesman for the military exercise, said the Guard's electronic warfare unit spotted signals indicating that foreign drones were trying to enter Iranian airspace. Sarkheili said Guard experts took control of one drone's navigation system and brought it down near the city of Sirjan where the military drills began on Saturday.

"While probing signals in the area, we spotted foreign and enemy drones which attempted to enter the area of the war game," the official IRNA news agency quoted the general as saying. "We were able to get one enemy drone to land."

Sarkheili did not say whether the drone was American.

Iran has claimed to have captured several U.S. drones, including an advanced RQ-170 Sentinel CIA spy drone in December 2011 and at least three ScanEagle aircraft.

State TV said the Guard's military exercise, code-named Great Prophet-8, involved ground forces of the Guard, Iran's most powerful military force. State TV showed tanks and artillery attacking hypothetical enemy positions. He said various systems, including unmanned planes that operate like suicide bombers, were tested.

"Reconnaissance as well as suicide drones, which are capable of attacking the hypothetical enemies, were deployed and their operational capabilities were studied," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-captured-foreign-enemy-drone-183530547.html

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Italy's Bersani on anti-glamour quest for power

ROME (Reuters) - In an electoral landscape crowded with some of the most colorful personalities in European politics, Italy's center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani is a conspicuously unglamorous exception.

Bald, rumpled and habitually seen dragging on a stumpy Tuscan cigar, opinion polls suggest the 61-year-old head of the Democratic Party (PD) is the man most likely to lead the next government after elections on Sunday and Monday.

The son of a mechanic who ran a small petrol station near the northern city of Piacenza, Bersani made his way up through regional politics before a spell as a well-regarded industry minister under former Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Bersani lacks the professorial aura of Mario Monti, and is no match as a speaker to the two great showmen of Italian politics: media magnate Silvio Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo, the rabble-rousing comic whose anti-establishment 5-Star movement is set to enter parliament for the first time.

But Bersani has traded on a homespun image and even rivals acknowledge his decency.

"I'm sure Bersani would govern well, though he still has to prove himself. He was a good industry minister," said Monti, who has been harshly critical of PD allies like Nichi Vendola, head of the leftist SEL party, or the hard-line trade union CGIL.

Bersani has pledged to maintain the broad reform course set by Monti while easing the burden of austerity policies on ordinary families and pensioners. He has also expressed strong reserves about moves to ease hiring and firing rules that were one of the centerpieces of Monti's reform drive.

Although financial markets appear unruffled at the prospect of a Bersani victory, doubts persist about his capacity to emulate German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the last European center-left leader to push through major economic reforms.

But while he has none of the international prestige of Monti, a former European commissioner who has been praised by U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, none of Italy's allies have expressed concern about the prospect of Bersani taking power.

"I think we're heading in the same direction," said Jean-Claude Juncker, former head of the group of euro zone finance ministers, after a meeting with Bersani in Brussels in December.

"BEER, NOT CHAMPAGNE"

Other rivals have been less kind, deriding Bersani, a former communist and practicing Catholic as an essentially local politician with narrow horizons and a man who would be unable to impose himself on his more left-wing partners.

"Bersani is like a beer, not champagne and certainly not barolo," said one veteran center-right senator, referring to the expensive Italian red wine that is popular abroad.

"He's nice, he doesn't scare anyone, he won't have much effect. He's the image of Italy today," he said.

Exploiting the deep suspicion of the left felt by a significant part of the electorate, Berlusconi brands Bersani a communist who would sell Italy out to his radical partners.

He has also done his best to tie Bersani to a scandal at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, a bank with close ties to regional politicians from the Democratic Party.

But although Bersani has sharpened his left-wing rhetoric and has had several spiky exchanges with Monti, with whom he may still have to form a government alliance, the PD leader appears more pragmatist than revolutionary.

His immediate priorities include passing anti-corruption legislation, strengthening Italy's often feeble state institutions and reducing payroll taxes to boost employment.

He has pledged to ease the burden of a much-hated housing tax on poorer homeowners by taxing the rich more heavily but has denied planning a more generalized "wealth tax".

Above all, he has promised not to deal in the kind of "fairy stories" he accuses Berlusconi of peddling to voters.

In a profoundly conservative country like Italy, Bersani's provincial image and his prosaic talk of fairness and improving people's lives may be no handicap after the turbulent era of Berlusconi and the year of austerity under Monti.

But in a back-handed warning, his ally Vendola noted that plain talk may not be enough to turn Italy around and a more inspiring message may be needed if he is to avoid the failure of previous left-wing leaders.

"Berlusconi understood that the country needed a dream," he said. "While the left sold itself as a group of good condominium administrators."

(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-bersani-anti-glamour-quest-power-094546600.html

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Ex-Canada ambassador slighted by Affleck?s ?Argo?

In this Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012 file photo, former Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor and his wife Pat, pose for photographers at the premiere of the film Argo in Washington. Taylor, Canada?s former ambassador in Iran, who protected Americans at great personal risk during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, says if ?Argo? wins the Oscar for best picture on Sunday there would be something wrong with director Ben Affleck if he didn?t mention Canada, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

TORONTO (AP) ? The Canadian former ambassador to Iran who protected Americans at great personal risk during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis says it will reflect poorly on Ben Affleck if he doesn?t say a few words about Canada?s role if the director?s film ?Argo? wins the Oscar for best picture Sunday.

But Ken Taylor ? who said he feels slighted by the movie because it makes Canada look like a meek observer to CIA heroics in the rescue of six U.S. citizens caught in the crisis ? is not expecting it.

?I would hope he would. If he doesn?t than it?s a further reflection,? Taylor said. ?But given the events of the last while I?m not necessarily anticipating anything.?

Taylor kept the Americans hidden at the embassy in Tehran and facilitated their escape by getting fake passports and plane tickets for them. He became a hero in Canada and the United States after. The role he played in helping the Americans to freedom was minimized in the film.

?In general it makes it seem like the Canadians were just along for the ride. The Canadians were brave. Period,? Taylor said.

Affleck?s thriller is widely expected to win the best-picture trophy. Two other high-profile best-picture nominees this year, Kathryn Bigelow?s ?Zero Dark Thirty? and Steven Spielberg?s ?Lincoln,? have also been criticized for their portrayal of some factual issues.

Affleck said in a statement Friday night he thought his issue with Taylor had been resolved.

?I admire Ken very much for his role in rescuing the six houseguests. I consider him a hero.?In light of my many conversations as well as a change to an end card that Ken requested I am surprised that Ken continues to take issue with the film,? he said in a statement. ?I spoke to him recently when he asked me to narrate a documentary he is prominently featured in and yet he didn?t mention any lingering concerns.?I agreed to do it and I look forward to seeing Ken at the recording.?

Taylor noted that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter appeared on CNN on Thursday night and said ?90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian,? but the film ?gives almost full credit to the American CIA.?

Carter also called ?Argo? a complete distortion of what happened when he accepted an honorary degree from Queen?s University in Canada in November.

?I saw the movie Argo recently and I was taken aback by its distortion of what happened because almost everything that was heroic, or courageous or innovative was done by Canada and not the United States,? Carter said.

Taylor said there would be no movie without the Canadians.

?We took the six in without being asked so it starts there,? Taylor said. ?And the fact that we got them out with some help from the CIA then that?s where the story loses itself. I think Jimmy Carter has it about right, it was 90 percent Canada, 10 percent the CIA.?

He said CIA agent Tony Mendez, played by Affleck in the film, was only in Iran for a day and a half.

The movie also makes no mention of John Sheardown, a deputy at the Canadian embassy who sheltered some of the Americans. Taylor said it was Sheardown who took the first call and agreed right away to take the Americans in. Sheardown recently died and his wife, Zena, called the movie disappointing.

Friends of Taylor were outraged last September when ?Argo? debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The original postscript of the movie said that Taylor received 112 citations and awards for his work in freeing the hostages and suggested Taylor didn?t deserve them because the movie ends with the CIA deciding to let Canada have the credit for helping the Americans escape

Taylor called the postscript lines ?disgraceful and insulting? and said it would have caused outrage in Canada if the lines were not changed. Affleck flew Taylor to Los Angeles after the Toronto debut and allowed him to insert a postscript that gave Canada some credit.

Taylor called it a good movie and said he?s not rooting against it, but said it is far from accurate.

?He?s a good director. It?s got momentum. There?s nothing much right from Day 1 I could do about the movie. I changed a line at the end because the caption at the end was disgraceful. It?s like Tiananmen Square, you are sitting in front of a big tank,? he said.

This entry was posted on February 22, 2013, 11:18 pm and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ArtesiaNews/~3/l_vrwd2_-DY/

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

This undated image provided by Roche on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 shows a vial and packaging for the drug Kadcyla. On Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones. (AP Photo/Roche)

This undated image provided by Roche on Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 shows a vial and packaging for the drug Kadcyla. On Friday, Feb. 22, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones. (AP Photo/Roche)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step forward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

"This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized and then explodes them from within. So it's very kind and gentle on the patients ? there's no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting," said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "It's a revolutionary way of treating cancer."

Cobleigh helped conduct the key studies of the drug at the Chicago facility.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer in U.S. women, and is expected to kill more than 39,000 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. Doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in patients with earlier forms of breast cancer

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech using drug-binding technology licensed from Waltham, Mass.-based ImmunoGen. The company developed the chemical that keeps the drug cocktail together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 2 cents to $14.32 in afternoon trading. The stock has ttraded in a 52-wek range of $10.85 to $18.10.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-22-Breast%20Cancer%20Drug-Roche/id-097d044b0bf34150ad4b0f22093f0395

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Former high school football coach charged in 1996 cold case murders of Tennessee women

A former high school football coach has been charged with the murders of two 18-year-old women found stabbed to death 17 years ago in Tennessee, authorities announced Thursday.

Patrick Lamonte Streater, who is currently serving time for robbery in a California prison, was formally indicted Wednesday in the deaths of Tiffany Campbell and Melissa Dawn Chilton.

The charge against Streater, 37, brings an end to the 17-year hunt for the women's killer. The two were found stabbed nearly 100 times in the back on Feb. 22, 1996, inside a business in Nashville called "Exotic Tan for Men." Investigators pursued several leads over the years, but no one was ever arrested. Authorities said Streater was dating Campbell at the time of the murders.

In a press release Thursday, the Nashville Police Department said "investigative work and interviews," as well as "scientific evidence," led to the charges against Streater, though it did not elaborate on what, specifically, cracked the case.?

"The indictment against Patrick Streater is the result of countless hours of detective work by Sgt. [Pat] Postiglione and his team," Nashville Police Chief Steve Anderson said in a statement. "They worked diligently to uncover new pieces of the investigative puzzle, as well as put into place those pieces developed by other officers over the past 17 years.?

"I know that Gail Chilton and Deborah Edmonds, the mothers of the victims, never lost hope. Neither did we," Anderson said.

The Tennessean newspaper reports that Streater was a track and football star at McGavock High School in 1996. He later became a football coach of Jesuit High School in Sacramento, Calif.

In 2002, Streater was arrested and charged in California with a string of violent robberies involving elderly women. He is currently serving a 12-year sentence.?

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Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/lq-oYx5M2t4/

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NextG agrees to pay $14.5 million for role in 2007 Malibu fire

A phone company whose equipment on a top-heavy pole was partly to blame for the 2007 Malibu Canyon fire has agreed to pay $14.5 million under a proposed settlement, according to legal documents.

NextG Networks of California Inc., now owned by Crown Castle NG West Inc., will pay $8.5 million into California's general fund and $6 million to hire independent engineers to inspect each of the company's attachments on tens of thousands of poles in California. Any pole found to be overloaded or decayed would be replaced, with co-owners sharing the cost.

On Oct. 21, 2007, three utility poles on Malibu Canyon Road snapped and fell to the ground, igniting brush. Propelled by strong Santa Ana winds, the resulting blaze burned thousands of acres and destroyed or damaged nearly three dozen houses and other buildings.

The poles that toppled were jointly owned by Southern California Edison Co., AT&T Mobility, Sprint Telephony, Verizon Wireless and NextG.

In January 2009, the California Public Utilities Commission opened a case to determine whether the five companies had violated the utilities code or other rules when they installed equipment on the poles. In the settlement agreement signed Thursday, NextG acknowledged that it failed to talk to other telecom companies or Edison before adding cables to one of the poles that broke.

In September, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon agreed to pay $4 million each to resolve issues relating to the fire.

Hans Laetz, a part-time journalist and Malibu resident who has campaigned for power pole safety, opposed the September agreement, saying it did not provide adequate protection for Malibu against future fires that might be caused by overloaded poles.

He praised the NextG settlement agreement for stipulating that overloaded or damaged poles be inspected and replaced as necessary. The settlement is subject to a vote by the full commission.

The settlement means that inspectors will examine NextG's poles, "starting in Malibu and then working out through all of western Los Angeles County," Laetz said. "We know there are many that are overloaded."

Hearings into Edison's involvement in the blaze were to begin Monday but now must wait until the commission has acted on NextG's settlement.

The NextG settlement "is really precedent setting," said Malibu Councilwoman Laura Z. Rosenthal. "We all know all the overloading that has been going on. Malibu is vulnerable."

martha.groves@latimes.com

Times staff writer Matt Stevens contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/ofJ_aDgTytU/la-me-power-pole-settlement-20130223,0,3207932.story

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From Energy Efficient Computing to Energy Efficient Buildings

Yuvraj Agarwal, Research Scientist, CSE, UC San Diego

February 25th (Monday), 10:00am
Harold Frank Hall (HFH), Room 1132 - CS Conference Room

Managing the energy consumption of computing devices is of critical importance given the limited battery lifetime of mobile platforms, and the increasing carbon footprint of mains powered PCs and servers. Traditional mechanisms to save energy such as shutting down (or duty-cycling) either individual subsystems or entire platforms do not work well in practice since they often come at the cost of usability or loss of functionality. In the first part of my talk, I will show that we can improve energy efficiency through system architectures that seek to design and exploit ?collaboration? among heterogeneous but functionally similar subsystems. Using collaboration, individual subsystems or even entire platforms can be shut down more aggressively to reduce their energy usage. I have built several systems that exploit this central idea to demonstrate energy savings across a broad class of devices, and in this talk I will show its application in reducing PC energy usage by 70% on average.

While computing is indeed part of the problem due to its increasing carbon footprint, in the second part of my talk, I will show that computing is also part of the solution, where it can be used to make other systems more energy efficient. In particular, I will focus on sensing and control solutions that we have designed and deployed within enterprise buildings to make them more energy efficient and sustainable. I will show that by using fine-grained occupancy information gathered from battery powered wireless sensors the energy consumption of the HVAC system within a building can be reduced dramatically, saving up to 40% in a test deployment. I will also describe our smart energy meter that can measure the energy usage of plug-loads within a building as well as provide a mechanism to control these loads based on a number of policies.

About Yuvraj Agarwal:

Yuvraj Agarwal is a Research Scientist in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California San Diego, where he also completed his PhD. His research interests are at the intersection of Systems and Networking and Embedded Systems, and he is particularly interested in research problems that benefit from using hardware insights to build more scalable and efficient systems. In recent years, his work has focused on Green Computing, Mobile Computing, Privacy and Energy Efficient Buildings. In 2012, he was awarded the "Outstanding Faculty Award for Sustainability" given by the UCSD Chancellor. He is a member of the IEEE, ACM and USENIX.

Hosted by: Computer Engineering Program

Source: http://www.ece.ucsb.edu/events/?i=4308

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