vol 40 no 32 wednesday april 13, 2011

NUMBER OF NYC HOMELESS REACHED RECORD IN 2010 - PG. 3 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

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Final

FIRST LADY WANTS YOU TO HELP MILITARY FAMILIES

Drawing in everyone from Best Buy’s Geek Squad to support military families yesterday and prodded the Afghan war commander whom her husband everybody else in the country to get in on the act. fired, Michelle Obama ramped up her campaign to SEE PAGE 3.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

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N EW S BR I EF S BROOKLYN MAN CHARGED WITH CHOKING GIRLFRIEND A Brooklyn man was arrested and charged with murder Monday after police say his girlfriend was strangled in their home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Daniel Elias, 28, is charged with killing Cynthia Lopez, 29, in their apartment, according to police.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said investigators found Lopez Monday morning after they received a 911 call from her relatives.

The relatives said that Lopez had phoned them, saying she was having a dispute with her boyfriend.

QUEENS MUSEUM BREAKS GROUND ON $65M EXPANSION The Queens Museum broke ground yesterday on a $65 million expansion.

The conversion of the old ice skating rink will add another 50,000 square feet of space to the museum, doubling its size.

Upon completion it will include galleries, classrooms, public event spaces, a cafe and museum store.

The museum director estimates 250,000 people drive by the Queens Museum every day on the Grand Central Parkway and don’t even know the treasures it holds.

“A lot of people grew up in Queens, they don’t know where we are. We’re clearing the trees away — moving the trees away. There’s going to be a 220 foot long work of art on that side of the building facing the Grand Central, so you will know where the Queens Museum is,” said Queens Museum Executive Director Tom Finkelpearl.

The expansion is set to be finished in 2013.

Other parts of the museum, including the New York City panorama, will remain open during the renovations.

For more information, visit QueensMuseum.org.

BROOKLYN JANITOR CHARGED WITH RAPING STUDENT A janitor at a Brooklyn middle school has been arrested and charged with raping a 13-year-old female student.

Sources say Ambiorix Rodriguez, 32, had multiple sexual encounters with the student at the Middle School of Marketing and Legal Studies in East Flatbush.

The encounters allegedly took place inside the school between September 2010 and January of this year.

A Department of Education spokesperson says Rodriguez has been fired and will never be able to work at any DOE building again.

Rodriguez had been employed at the school since September 2000.

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D.C. mayor jailed for protesting budget WASHINGTON — Washington Mayor Vincent Gray and council members were freed from jail yesterday after being arrested while protesting cuts to the city in the U.S. budget deal.

Gray, six council members and others protested on Capitol Hill Monday, arguing that funding for several District of Columbia programs was nothing more than a chit in federal negotiations, Politico reported.

“We needed to make a statement that what happened in the budget process is just unacceptable,” Gray said after his release. “It’s time for the people of the District of Columbia to stand up and say we want to be treated like anybody else.”

Restrictions on the city agreed to as part of the budget deal were “completely unacceptable,” Gray said.

While he didn’t intend to be arrested, Gray said he was proud he was.

Capitol police said 41 protesters were arrested for unlawful assembly because they were “blocking passage” on Constitution Avenue.

District congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, said last week District of Columbia residents were being treated as “colonists of the Congress of the United States and we are absolutely outraged. ... It’s time that the District of Columbia told the Congress to go straight to hell.”

Among other things, the budget deal reached late Friday includes a measure that would block use of federal funds and city funds to pay for abortions for low-income women.

Gray and others were spurred to protest by a Washington Post article reporting that, during the negotiations, President Obama said to House Speaker John Boehner, “John, I will give you D.C. abortion” partly in exchange for Boehner agreeing to drop a GOP provision

that would strip federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the Post reported.

“Is D.C. the president’s to give?”

DC Vote head Ilir Zherka asked protesters who responded, “No.” Council member Muriel Bowser said the women of the District were “under attack.”

“I’ve got to tell you I’m disappointed in my president,” Bowser said. “If you don’t choose us, we won’t choose you.”

Student borrowing passes credit card debt Student loans are piling up in the United States with two-thirds of those who received bachelor’s degrees in 2008 graduating owing money, an expert says.

In 2010, student loans were larger than credit card debt for the first time, Mark Kantrowitz, who runs the Web sites FinAid.org and Fastweb.com, told The New York Times.

“In the coming years, a lot of people will still be paying off their stu-

dent loans when it’s time for their kids to go to college,” Kantrowitz said.

The number of students borrowing for college has increased enormously.

In 1993, fewer than half of graduates had loans to pay off.

Some experts say borrowing for college is an investment that pays off.

“College is still a really good deal,” said Cecilia Rouse, who served on President Obama’s Council of Eco-

nomic Advisers. “Even if you don’t land a plum job, you’re still going to earn more over your lifetime, and the vast majority of graduates can expect to cover their debts.”

But others worry that future graduates will not get the same economic benefits — but will still have the debts.

Students attending for-profit schools account for a disproportionate amount of borrowing and are more likely to drop out.

Conyers’ release request called long shot DETROIT — A law professor says a request by the former president of the Detroit City Council to commute her prison sentence to home confinement is a long shot.

Monica Conyers, the wife of Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., sent a letter to a federal judge this month requesting she be sent home to serve the remainder of her sentence in a corruption case involv-

ing a city contract.

Monica Conyers is doing time at a West Virginia facility, the Detroit Free Press said yesterday was nicknamed “Camp Cupcake” due to its relatively hospitable atmosphere.

But Wayne State University law Professor Peter Henning told The Detroit News it was unlikely the judge would be swayed by Conyers’

request. “You can ask,” the former federal prosecutor said. “Barring extraordinary circumstances, I doubt he would reconsider.”

Conyers, who has maintained her innocence, said her age, family ties and work history made it unlikely she would cause any problems at home. She also noted in her letter that her son’s babysitter would be returning to school soon.

Bones found in Long Island serial killer search Police searching on Long Island for more victims of a suspected serial killer on Monday found what look like human remains in two separate locations near a Nassau County beach.

“It appears to be a skull,” said Nassau County Police Officer Maureen Roach, noting that a final determination on whether the remains are human or animal will be made by

the medical examiner.

“We found what appears to be possible human remains,” she said.

The remains were found about 100 feet into the brush located one mile west of the entrance to the Town of Oyster Bay Beach, on the north side of Ocean Parkway.

Found in two locations, it is still unclear whether the remains are from two separate individuals, police

said.

The grim discoveries were made during an extensive search by police investigating a suspected serial killer who they believe preyed on prostitutes advertising on Craigslist.

Since December 2010, eight bodies have been found in neighboring Suffolk County. The search was expanded to Nassau County, where it continued yesterday.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

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First lady wants you to help military families

By NANCY BENAC WASHINGTON — Drawing in everyone from Best Buy’s Geek Squad to the Afghan war commander whom her husband fired, Michelle Obama ramped up her campaign to support military families yesterday and prodded everybody else in the country to get in on the act.

The first lady, joined in the East Room by the president and the Bidens, launched “Joining Forces,” an initiative to help military families who face a long list of unique challenges, such as moving around a lot and having a parent or spouse facing wartime perils far away.

Mrs. Obama didn’t dangle federal grants or incentives, rather a call to be civic-minded.

“This is a challenge to every segment of American society not to simply say thank you but to mobilize, take action and make a real commitment to supporting our military families,” Mrs. Obama said.

President Obama, for his part, said it was time to do more to support “the force behind the force.”

“They, too, are the reason we’ve got the finest military in the world,” he said.

Over the past year, Mrs. Obama’s primary focus was an ambitious campaign against childhood obesity, in which she urged businesses, nonprofits, school and others to get involved in fighting the problem.

First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks at the launch of Joining Forces, the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden's national initiative to support and honor America's service members, at the White House in Washington.

Now Mrs. Obama, working closely with Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president, wants to use that same model to tackle military family issue.

As a down payment, the White House released a list of companies and groups that already have signed on to the effort. For example, Best Buy’s Geek Squad will help military families use technology to connect with loved ones who are deployed, Sears and WalMart will offer trans-

fers to military spouses who have to move, and the national PTA will expand efforts to help military children adjust to new schools.

With the presidential campaign getting under way, military families are a motherhood-and-apple pie issue that can only help burnish the image of a first lady whose patriotism was called into question by critics on the right during the last campaign.

The effort was welcomed by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonpartisan organization for

veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “These families have been sacrificing for almost 10 years,” said Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. “It’s time for the rest of America to help shoulder their load.”

The White House has announced that retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was fired by the president, will be part of a three-person advisory panel that oversees the effort from the Center for a New American Security, a nonpartisan think tank.

McChrystal was ousted by Obama last summer after he and his aides were quoted making dismissive comments about their civilian bosses in a Rolling Stone magazine article.

Patty Shinseki, wife of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, also will be part of the advisory panel, along with a third person yet to be named.

White House aides said the Obama administration already had taken a number of steps to ensure the government does more to support military families, such as setting up an Office of Service Member Affairs in the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help military families with special financial challenges.

The first lady and Jill Biden plan a two-day, four-state tour to promote the initiative starting today in North Carolina and including stops in Texas, Ohio and Colorado. At various stops along the way, they will bring in celebrities including Jessica Simpson, Nick Jonas, Martha Stewart, Sesame Street’s Elmo, and the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters to generate interest in the effort.

U.S. probes A380 taxiway collision in New York Number of NYC homeless U.S. investigators have impounded an Air France A380 which collided with a smaller jet at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport on Monday but the airline says transatlantic A380 flights will be unaffected.

The Airbus superjumbo, the world’s largest jetliner with a wingspan of almost 80 meters, hit the tail section of a Bombardier CRJ regional jet which spun in a quarter turn on the taxiway, according to amateur video.

A CNN correspondent on the Air France flight to Paris reported that he felt a “slight rumble akin to hitting a patch of rough pavement” as the plane with over 500 people on board was moving on the ground at about 8:15 pm.

The correspondent said about a foot of the Air France superjumbo’s left wing appeared to be damaged.

Air France confirmed the incident and said both aircraft had been “immobilized” pending an investigation. A spokeswoman declined to estimate the time and cost of repairs to the wing.

Air France, which flies five times a day to New York including one flight using the Airbus double-decker, was to operate its daily A380 flight as normal, she said.

“Air France confirms an A380 operating flight 007 on April 11

between JFK and Paris-Charles de Gaulle, with 495 passengers and 25 crew on board, struck with its left wing the tail of a Comair CRJ-700 which was parking at JFK,” the spokeswoman said.

“This collision caused only material damage. The two aircraft have been immobilized and the passengers were given accommodation or placed on (other) flights,” she added.

Europe’s largest airline has four Airbus superjumbos in its fleet but has switched to a smaller aircraft on flights to Tokyo due to a drop in demand following last month’s Japan earthquake, leaving spare capacity to replace the A380 on New York trips.

It is due to take delivery of two more A380s in coming weeks and plans to add Washington, Montreal and San Francisco to its A380 network that includes New York, Tokyo and Johannesburg. Air France says it plans to restore Tokyo A380 flights in September.

Amateur video footage posted on Flightglobal.com showed the 70seat regional jet operated by Delta subsidiary Comair rocking sharply to one side as the colliding A380 wing flipped it into an almost 90degree turn to the left.

There were no reports of injuries.

reached record in 2010

By DANIEL TROTTA Homelessness has reached an alltime high in New York City because of the recession and the policies of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who once vowed to cut homelessness by two-thirds.

City officials complained that the report by the Coalition for the Homeless was skewed and overlooked an improvement in the current fiscal year, but acknowledged public spending cuts impeded their efforts to combat homelessness.

The rise is fueled in part by the effects of the financial crisis and recession from 2007 to 2009. A record 113,553 different people slept in municipal homeless shelters in fiscal 2010, up 9 percent from the previous year and up 39 percent from fiscal 2002 when Bloomberg took office, the coalition said.

In 2004, Bloomberg pledged to cut homelessness by two-thirds within five years but the number of people spending the night in homeless shelters hit a record of nearly 40,000 people one night in February 2011, the report said.

The homeless in fiscal 2010

included nearly 43,000 children, a 9 percent increase that the coalition blamed on Bloomberg policy change that put a strict time limit on paying rent subsidies for the homeless.

“The mayor’s failed policies have created a revolving door back into shelters, exacerbating the crisis and leading to record levels of homelessness in New York City,” Patrick Markee, author of the coalition report, said in a statement.

Seth Diamond, the city’s commissioner for homeless services, complained the coalition’s report failed to mention that homelessness was down 2 percent in the current fiscal year, from July 1 to present, and down 4 percent among children. He attributed the improvement to a city policy “to emphasize work and employment as opposed to simply waiting around for a subsidy.”

“I think we’ve been very successful in encouraging people to work and moving people out of the system,” Diamond said.

The city will face a new squeeze because the State of New York, facing its own budget shortfall, eliminated spending on the program providing rent subsidies to the homeless as of April 1.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

JOURNAL OF THE PEOPLE’S PASTOR ‘WRITING THE HISTORY I’VE LIVED, LIVING THE HISTORY I WRITE!’

Fifty-two nights and half-a-day in the hospital: My experience

THOMAS H. WATKINS

Manning, Malcolm and meaning

By REV. DR. HERBERT DAUGHTRY

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Part Six The Morning of the Surgery They came to wheel me downstairs to the third floor at 8 o’clock in the morning. They gave me the hospital clothes which were loosely hanging gowns — a piece for the front and another for the back.

Putting on the gowns added to the gravity of the occasion.

I was comforted by the same seven people who had been with me since the beginning. (See Part 1 of these series of articles.) A delegation, which was led by Ms. Deborah Shine and Mr. Clark Lassiter, from our newly organized church in Jersey City arrived. Bishop Eric Figueroa of New Life Tabernacle led us in prayer. Dr. Anders Cohen dropped by to reassure everyone that everything was set and everything would be okay. He had a confident “Iknow-what-I-am-doing” bearing.

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to Huntsville, Texas — the location where the State of Texas executes its prisoners. (An execution takes place after a person is strapped down on a gurney.

The lethal injections eventually take the person’s life.) I had become involved with the case of a man named Shaka Sankofa. I had visited him often while he was incarcerated in Houston, Texas before they shipped him Huntsville.

Once in to Huntsville, I was one of the last persons to see him alive.

On the operating table, I wondered how the prisoners must have felt. I was being strapped down to be made hopefully better, and even with this thought, it made me feel terribly uncomfortable. In the case of the prisoners, they were being strapped down for death.

I wonder what would be their last thoughts. In Sankofa’s case, he spoke to the world.

While he was dying, he said, “March on, Black people. March on!”

My eyes were dotting from face to face, from movement to

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We spent the next three hours praying, discussing scriptures, and recalling old times. There was a lot of laughter. I believed in the biblical truth, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” I didn’t want any sad faces or sagging bodies around me. I wanted the atmosphere to be as though the operation was already over, and I had emerged with flying colors. We even played a CD track of the prayer by Reverend Ray Scott who, in the rhythmic style of Black preachers, humorously called upon God to make life miserable for the “Governor.”

When it was time for me to be wheeled to the operating room, my family, friends, and I hugged, kissed, and joined hands to say one more prayer.

There were about six persons in the room. Each one quietly took care of various functions.

They were very nonchalant.

“It’s no big thing!” and “We got this!” were the messages their decorum delivered.

They stretched me out on the operating table and commenced to strap me down. My mind raced

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

CRL in 2011 State of Black America

By CHARLENE CROWELL For the 35th consecutive year, the National Urban League (NUL) has provided the nation an objective and thoughtful assessment of the African American experience.

In 2011, NUL’s annual State of Black America profiled what it means to be a person of color in the throes of the worst recessionary economy since that of the 1930s Great Depression.

According to the NUL, the 2011 equality index that compares the experiences of people of color to that of Whites has an approximate 30 percent gap. From 2010 to 2011, the equality index fell from 72.1 to 71.5.

“With every downturn in the economy”, observed Marc Morial, NUL president, “urban and minority communities fall further and further behind.”

With updated and disturbing data, the real challenge is: What do we intend to do about it? Embracing the NUL goal of making jobs the number one priority, the Center for Responsible Lending would quickly add that consumer protections go hand-inhand with job creation and economic innovation. Effective consumer protections help consumers to get the most mileage from their earnings and credit. By avoiding predatory debt, consumers gain a better chance to build wealth and enhance everyday living.

For several years, CRL’s research reports have repeatedly shown how Black America suffers a myriad of economic disparities. The chapter

that appears in the new 2011 State of Black America publication, authored

by Keith B. Corbett, CRL’s executive vice-president, CRL calls for the expansion of proven programs that deliver sustainable redevelopment.

Community residents are not only entitled to economic growth, but deserve the opportunity to participate in plans for their communities and a measure of whatever prosperity is derived.

According to CRL research, 2.5 million foreclosures have been completed nationwide. Further, nearly eight percent of African American and Latino homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosures, compared to only 4.5 percent of whites.

Between these two communities of color, an estimated $370 billion of wealth has been lost. Among homeowners still current on their mortgages, nearly one in five is underwater, owing more money than their home is worth.

HUD’s Neighborhood Stabilization program, authorized through the Housing and Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, communities are using these federal revenues to reverse the foreclosure effects that have devastated communities.

Currently, federal funding for multiple foreclosure assistance programs, including Neighborhood Stabilization, is in jeopardy. Several bills filed in the new Congress propose to end vitally-needed assistance.

According to Morial, “If you reduce federal spending, you reduce economic growth. Our analysis shows that the proposed cuts could kill as many as 700,000 jobs and throw the country into a double-dip recession.”

In the hospital: My experience Continued from page 4 movement, from machine to machine, and from gadget to gadget.

My ears were attuned to every sound, including the whispering voices and humming machines. I was trying hard to read meaning and glean understanding from everything; and, to hold onto something that would enhance my hope. I tried to focus on the presence of God. I tried to remember scriptures while constantly whispering prayers.

Approximately 2 hours later, I woke up in another room. My mind struggled through the fog to make sense of my surroundings. Slowly, I began to recognize some of the faces.

I started to call out names. The same seven people were there, and they answered to the call of their names.

Dimly, I could see everybody, and everyone was smiling. I heard words of reassurance: “You’re fine!”; “The operation is over!”; “Everything is okay!”; and, “Just take it easy and relax.” …to be continued.

Join Reverend Daughtry in Jersey City for the weekly Thursday Evening Educational, Cultural, and Empowerment Forum from 6pm8pm for an evening of information, inspiration, and challenge at 315 Forrest Street (Ground Floor), corner of MLK, Jr. Drive. For more info, contact The National Community Action Alliance at (201) 716-1585. ** Listen to Reverend Daughtry on the weekly radio program which airs Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. on New York City’s WWRL-AM, dial 1600. ** NEED QUALITY CHILD CARE? Call the Alonzo A. Daughtry Memorial Daycare Center located at: 460 Atlantic Avenue (corner of Atlantic and Nevins) 718 596 1993 333 Second Street (between 4th & 5th Avenues) in Park Slope (718) 499-2066 1005/07 Bedford Avenue (corner of Lafayette) 718 638 7979 Immediate openings are available in a state-of-the-art center.

During the past decade, the New Market Tax Credits program (NMTC) has either created or retained nearly 500,000 jobs – largely in communities where unemployment rates exceed 1.5 times that of the national average. The program’s attraction for investors is that for every dollar in cost to the government, $8.00 in private investment has been generated.

Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), the third economic innovation supported by CRL transforms traditional adversaries into allies.

Instead of community residents feeling displaced and overlooked in large-scale public projects, CBAs are negotiated and legally enforceable contracts that ensure community residents are participants as well as beneficiaries in major projects. By determining how exactly communities will benefit from employment, training programs, affordable housing and more, residents’ fears are relieved, municipal officials no longer feel a tug of war between investment and citizens, and the projects benefit all. Recently successful CBAs include Washington, D.C.’s Shaw District, the Twin Cities’ ‘Wireless Minneapolis’ project, and others

in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Seattle, and New York.

As more neighborhoods are saved from foreclosures and residents are able to benefit from jobs created near or where they live, CRL believes more people will participate in the economic recovery. The complete 2011 State of Black America chapter by CRL is available at: http://www.responsiblelending.org/allies/2011-CRL-GuestChapter-NUL-SOBA-Economic-Innovation-March-31.pdf As CRL’s Corbett wrote, “We must foster innovative investment solutions that lift up entire communities for growth and development. First we must stabilize housing losses that are the result of massive foreclosures. Next, we need public-private partnerships that leverage resources which on their own would be insufficient.”

And, wouldn’t that be a new State of Black America?

— Charlene Crowell is the Center for Responsible Lending’s communications manager for state policy and outreach. She can be reached at: Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

Jobs returning to cities

By JUDGE GREG MATHIS President Obama has taken a lot of flack from Republicans for his “failure” to create jobs and get millions of unemployed Americans back to work. To hear his critics tell it, the President has done little to nothing in the way of job creation. However, recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor paint a different picture, one that shows the President has kept his word and that, slowly but surely, Americans are finding jobs.

More than 200,000 jobs were created in February and March 2011 – the most jobs created during a twomonth period since 2006. Big cities, which need jobs the most, are fairing very well. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 75 percent of America’s 372 cities reported lower unemployment rates in February 2011. Among those cities that saw a drop in unemployment claims are Los Angeles, New York, and Miami.

This is good news for African Americans, who primarily live in large cities and struggle to find work more than other ethnic groups during economic recessions, and for the nation as a whole. Continued job

growth – no matter how slowly it happens – is a sign that our economy is, indeed, rebounding.

President Obama recently launched his bid for re-election. With Republicans, and even some Democrats, constantly taking shots at his presidency, Obama is in for what will arguably be one of the hardest fought campaigns of his political career. One of his key messages on the campaign trail should be that his approach to job creation is working.

Republicans, with all their spin and fear mongering, will try to convince the voting public that there are no jobs and that America is worse off than it was in 2008. President Obama has the data to prove that he delivered on one of his biggest campaign promises. He has to make sure that his messaging rises above the conservative noise and that, despite push back from political opponents, he is working in the best interest of the average American.

At the same time, elected officials at both the national and state levels must continue to ramp up job creation efforts. Re-election or no, getting Americans back to work is one of this country’s top priorities. Those in power should make sure they are doing everything possible to ensure that the unemployment rate continues to fall.

6

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

Court rules against Arizona immigration law PHOENIX — A U.S. appeals court, in a ruling, upheld a preliminary injunction against parts of Arizona’s controversial immigration law that were challenged by the Obama administration.

Arizona’s law included a provision that would require the police to determine the immigration status of a person they have detained and suspect is in the country illegally.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court did not abuse its authority by enjoining key sections of the state law, including the police requirement.

The law, which was signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer at the end of April last year, had wide support in the Mexico border state and across the United States as a whole, but was

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent looks at marijuana seized from Mexican smugglers in Arizona. opposed by President Barack Obama and civil rights groups.

Opponents of the law said it would lead to harassment of Hispanic Americans, and the Obama administration

argued the U.S. Constitution gave the federal government sole authority over immigration matters.

The Republican-controlled Arizona legislature passed the measure to try to stem

the flood of thousands of illegal immigrants who cross its border from Mexico and to cut down on drug trafficking and other crimes in the area.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton blocked the law’s most controversial elements shortly before it was due to come into effect last July, arguing that immigration matters are the federal government’s responsibility.

In addition to the requirement that police check immigration status, Bolton also had blocked a provision requiring immigrants to carry their papers at all times and made it illegal for people without proper documents to solicit for work in public places.

Brewer appealed the decision, arguing that the Obama administration had neglected its responsibility, and that Bolton had abused

her discretion in blocking parts of the law, an argument dismissed by the appellate court on Monday.

“We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion” by enjoining two key sections of the law, adding: “Therefore, we affirm the district court’s preliminary injunction order enjoining these certain provisions.”

Brewer’s office did not have any immediate comment.

A Justice Department spokesman said: “We are pleased with the court’s decision.”

Immigration as an issue has festered in U.S. politics for years and attempts to overhaul the system have failed, most recently in 2007 when Republicans torpedoed reforms pushed by George W. Bush, then the Republican president.

Is it torture? Those who decide have not felt it

By DEBORAH ZABARENKO WASHINGTON — Those who approve “enhanced interrogation techniques” probably have a flawed idea of whether this constitutes torture, because few have felt the pain these methods can cause, researchers reported Monday.

A new study that gave its subjects a mild taste of such interrogation methods as solitary confinement, sleep deprivation and extreme cold found most respondents characterized what they felt as torture.

Those who did not experience these techniques but were told about them generally underestimated how much pain they might cause, the researchers found.

“Because policymakers do not subject themselves to interrogation before assessing its permissibility, those who evaluate interrogation policies must predominantly rely on their subjective intuitions about how painful the experience seems,” the authors wrote in the journal Psychological Science.

Torture is banned in most countries, but the study said the United Nations Convention Against Torture offers a definition of torture that is open to interpretation: “infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering.”

“What this paper shows is that the legal standard of pain severity proves to be psychologically untenable,” said study co-author Loran Nordgren of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

“People who aren’t actively experiencing pain ... don’t understand how transformative it is,” Nordgren said in a telephone interview.

This so-called “empathy gap” — the underestimation of pain by those who don’t feel it themselves — was seen in officials who consistently underestimated the pain

caused by such Bush-era interrogation techniques as water-boarding, isolation and extreme cold.

In the experiment conducted at Northwestern’s campus in Illionis, test subjects faced challenges meant to give a small taste of full-scale interrogation techniques.

Instead of solitary confinement, subjects were excluded from an online ball-toss game. Sleep deprivation was simulated by a three-hour night class. To approximate confinement in a cold cell, some participants had one arm in a bucket of ice-cold

water.

Some participants merely heard about the interrogation techniques but did not experience the mild forms themselves.

Afterwards, participants rated how severe the pain was and how ethical the actual interrogation techniques were. Those who endured the mild pain rated the technique more severe and less ethical.

Those who didn’t, didn’t.

If those who had felt the pain of these mild procedures were questioned about them 10 minutes after the pain stopped, they also failed to

rate the technique as severely painful.

To correct for this tendency to underestimate pain that others suffer, one study author, George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University, suggested overcompensation.

“Knowing that we tend to be biased toward not counting torture as torture, we should define torture very liberally, very inclusively,” Loewenstein said in a statement. “This is an area where we can’t rely on our emotional system to guide us. We have to use our intellect.”

Applebee’s to retrain staff after mixed-drink mixup CHICAGO — The company that owns the Applebee’s restaurant chain said on Monday it was immediately retraining its workers nationwide after a server at a suburban Detroit location accidentally served alcohol to a toddler.

The company, Californiabased DineEquity Inc., said it would also change the way it serves juice to youngsters to eliminate the chance of any mixups that could result in any more toddlers receiving mixed drinks.

On Friday, Taylor DillReese went to an Applebee’s in Madison Heights, Michigan, where — among other things — she ordered her 15-

month-old son Dominick (right) an apple juice.

What the little boy apparently got instead was a margarita. His mom told WDIVTV that she only realized something was wrong when Dominick “kind of laid his head on the table and dozed off a little bit and woke up and got real happy.”

The little boy reportedly began hailing strangers, too.

Applebee’s released a statement on Monday saying it was relieved that Dominick was “not seriously injured as a result of accidentally receiving the wrong beverage” and apologizing to his family “for the stress and worry this caused them.”

It said it would begin to serve apple juice to children only from single-serve containers at the table and would “retrain all severs on our bev-

erage pouring policy, emphasizing that non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages must be stored in completely separate and identified containers.”

DAILY D CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

INTERNATIONAL

7

Japan equates nuclear crisis severity to Chernobyl

By RYAN NAKASHIMA & SHINO YUASA TOKYO - Japan ranked its nuclear crisis at the highest possible severity on an international scale - the same level as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster even as it insisted yesterday that radiation leaks are declining at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant.

The higher rating is an open acknowledgement of what was widely understood already: The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant is the secondworst in history. It does not signal a worsening of the plant’s status in recent days or any new health dangers.

Still, people living nearby who have endured a month of spewing radiation and frequent earthquakes said the change in status added to their unease despite government efforts to play down any notion that the crisis poses immediate health risks.

Miyuki Ichisawa closed her coffee shop this week when the government added her community, Iitate village, and four others to places people should leave to avoid long-term radiation exposure. The additions expanded the 12mile (20-kilometer) zone

People in radiation protection suits walk in J-Village in Naraha, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan yesterday. J-Village was a sports complex which has been converted to a base for workers at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

Photo/Hiro Komae where people had includes widespread general, said. already been ordered to effects on the environThe upgraded status evacuate soon after the ment and people’s did not mean radiation March 11 tsunami health.

The scale, from the plant was swamped the plant. designed by experts con- worsening, but rather “And now the govern- vened by the IAEA and reflected concern about ment is officially telling other groups in 1989, is long-term health risks us this accident is at the meant to help the public, as it continues to spew same level of the technical communi- into the air, soil and seaChernobyl,” Ichisawa ty and the media under- water. Most radiation said. “It’s very shocking stand the public safety exposures around the to me.” implications of nuclear region haven’t been high Japanese nuclear reg- events. enough yet to raise sigulators said the severity The International nificant health conrating was raised from 5 Atomic Energy Agency cerns. to 7 on an international said Japan’s decision did Workers are still tryscale overseen by the not mean the disaster ing to restore disabled International Atomic had been downplayed cooling systems at the Energy Agency due to previously. plant, and radioactive new assessments of the Early actions by isotopes have been overall radiation leaks Japanese authorities - detected in tap water, from the Fukushima evacuations, radiation fish and vegetables.

Dai-ichi plant. warnings and the work Iitate’s town governAccording to the at the plant to contain ment decided yesterday Vienna-based atomic leaks - showed they real- to ban planting of all energy agency, the new ized the gravity of the farm products, includranking signifies a situation, Denis Flory, ing rice and vegetables, major accident that an IAEA deputy director expanding the national

government’s prohibition on growing rice there.

Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, went on national television and urged people not to panic.

“Right now, the situation of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant has been stabilizing step by step. The amount of radiation leaks is on the decline,” he said. “But we are not at the stage yet where we can let our guard down.”

Japanese officials said the leaks from the Fukushima plant so far amount to a tenth of the radiation emitted from Chernobyl, but about 10 times the amount needed to reach the level 7 threshold.

They acknowledged the emissions could eventually exceed Chernobyl’s, but said the chance that will happen is very small.

However, regulators have also acknowledged that a more severe nuclear accident is a distinct possibility until regular cooling systems are restored - a process likely to take months.

“Although the Fukushima accident is now at the equal level as Chernobyl, we should not consider the two incidents as the same,” said Hiroshi Horiike, professor of nuclear engineering at Osaka University. “Fukushima is not a Chernobyl.”

In Chernobyl, in what is now the Ukraine, a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing

a cloud of radiation over much of the Northern Hemisphere. A zone about 19 miles (30 kilometers) around the plant was declared uninhabitable.

Thirty-one men died mostly from being exposed to very high levels of radiation trying to contain the accident. But there is no agreement on how many people are likely to die of cancers caused by its radiation.

No radiation exposure deaths have been blamed on the leaks at Fukushima Dai-ichi.

Two plant workers were treated for burns after walking in heavily contaminated water in a building there.

The tsunami, spawned by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, knocked out cooling systems and backup diesel generators, leading to hydrogen explosions at three reactors and a fire at a fourth that was undergoing regular maintenance and was empty of fuel. Workers have been improvising for weeks with everything from helicopter drops to fire hoses to supply cooling water to the plant.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, noted that unlike in Chernobyl there have been no explosions of reactor cores, which are more serious than hydrogen explosions.

“In that sense, this situation is totally different from Chernobyl,” he

EU awaits “str ong action” fr om T unisia on migrants

By MARIELOUISE GUMUCHIAN TUNIS The European Union awaits “strong and clear” action from Tunisia to help stem the flow of migrants fleeing the country, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, with cooperation key for deeper relations.

Tunisian migrants have flowed out of the

north African country since the fall of President Zine alAbidine Ben Ali in January loosened previously strict frontier controls and opened the way into Europe for thousands seeking employment.

The southern Italian island of Lampedusa has borne the brunt of a crisis which has seen some 25,000 people arrive on its shores in overloaded fishing boats since the start of the year.

“Migration should be seen as a common challenge, a shared responsibility,” Barroso told reporters after meeting Tunisian Prime Minister Beji Caid Sebsi. “We await strong and clear action from Tunisia, for it to accept the readmission of its migrants who find themselves in an irregular situation in Europe, as well as in the fight against illegal migration.”

Barroso said the bloc was looking to make

available 140 million euros in extra funds to Tunisia for 2011-2013 on top of the existing budget of 257 million euros ($371.8 million).

“Migration is not the solution to economic challenges in this country. The long-term solution is economic and social development,” Barroso added.

“Tunisia’s engagement is crucial for our cooperation. We are ready to help with supplementary means but we also need the engage-

ment of Tunisian authorities.”

“COURAGEOUS” TUNISIANS Italy, which signed an agreement with Tunisia to try to halt the flow, has quarreled with EU governments over how to handle thousands of migrants fleeing violence in north Africa.

The Commission has urged the bloc to do more for the refugees.

“In Europe it may be time to have a common immigration policy, the

Commission has asked for a common policy for a long time,” Barroso said at a second press conference, adding he had asked Tunisia to respect earlier agreements on migrants in irregular situations.

“It is essential that we can work together so this can be resolved, otherwise it will generate problems. What we don’t want are problems between Tunisia and Europe. We want conditions to develop deeper relations.”

AFRICAN SCENE

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

Ouattara urges peace after Ivory Coast rival held

By MARK JOHN & LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast’s internationally recognized president, Alassane Ouattara, called for peace after his rival was arrested with the help of French forces, but he faces a huge task reuniting a country shattered by civil war.

Ouattara, who won a November presidential election according to U.N.-certified results, can finally begin asserting his authority over the West African country after his predecessor Laurent Gbagbo was captured on Monday, ending more than four months of stand-off that descended into all-out conflict.

Gbagbo, who had refused to step down after 10 years in power, was arrested after French forces in the former colony closed in on the bunker where he had been holed up for the past week, and placed under the control

of Ouattara’s forces.

That has left Ouattara as the sole leader in charge of the country, although many analysts say it may not be enough to end the fighting that has bloodied the world’s top cocoa grower.

“I call on my fellow countrymen to abstain from all forms of reprisal and violence,” Ouattara said in a speech on his TCI television late on Monday, calling for “a new era of hope.”

“Our country has turned a painful page in its history,” he said, urging marauding youth militias to lay down their weapons and promising to restore security to the battered nation.

Ethnic violence has festered during Ouattara’s lengthy tugof-war with Gbagbo, particularly in the west of the country, with hundreds of people killed as both sides in the conflict committed atrocities against civilians, aid groups say.

Ouattara said Gbagbo, his wife and aides who have been detained will face jus-

tice. But he also promised a South Africanstyled Truth and Reconciliation Commission to shed light on all crimes and human rights abuses.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Ouattara to form a national unity government to help reconcile the country’s divisions, his spokesman said.

A Gbagbo aide said only negotiations with Gbagbo’s camp would spare further turmoil.

“There must be negotiations, talks with Gbagbo who is the only one who can prevent Ivory Coast from plunging into violence,” Pascal Affi N’Guessan, head of Gbagbo’s FPI party, told Radio France International.

HUMANITARIAN CHALLENGE An end to the standoff could pave the way for a quick resumption of cocoa exports from the world’s top grower nation, and raise hopes for payments on the country’s defaulted Eurobond, analysts said.

London cocoa prices were little changed early yesterday after heavy

Clashes erupt in Darfur as peace talks stall KHARTOUM Fighting has erupted between government forces and rebel groups in Sudan’s Darfur region, rebels and U.N. peacekeepers said yesterday, days after peace talks stalled over a planned referendum.

People from both sides were killed when the clashes broke out over the weekend, the rebel groups said.

Sudan’s army was not immediately available to comment.

Darfur has been racked by violence since 2003 when mostly nonArab rebels took up arms against Khartoum, which responded with a brutal counter-insurgency campaign.

Violence has fallen

from its peak in 2003 and 2004 but a surge in attacks since December has forced tens of thousands to flee. Peace talks in Qatar have stalled over Khartoum’s plan to hold a referendum on the administrative make-up of Darfur.

The joint African Union-U.N. mission in the region said its peacekeepers witnessed fighting near the Umm Baru area in Darfur yesterday, where they had earlier observed armed rebels and a buildup of government forces.

A spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the most powerful Darfur rebel group, said government-backed militia forces attacked its soldiers at the weekend with vehicles and followed that up with air strikes in the coming days.

JEM last week said it

suspended talks with the government in Doha, accusing Khartoum of making a unilateral decision to hold the referendum on Darfur.

A JEM soldier was killed in fighting on Saturday, spokesman Gibreel Adam said. He said the group had been working in an alliance with other rebel groups in the area — the Sudan Liberation Movement factions loyal to Minni Arcua Minnawi and Abdel Wahed Mohamed al-Nur. Nur’s spokesman Ibrahim al-Helwu confirmed the fighting and said the rebel groups had seized government vehicles and soldiers during the clashes.

“There is heavy fighting in the northern areas,” al-Helwu said.

“There was a big number of casualties.”

The International

Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara (L) shakes hands with with General Kassarate, Senior commander of Ivorian gandarmerie at Golf Hotel in Abidjan, Monday. The thunder of heavy weapons rocked Abidjan once more yesterday as Ouattara struggled to take control of Ivory Coast's commercial capital after capturing his rival Laurent Gbagbo. losses since mid-March, while the Eurobond traded down slightly.

In the commercial capital Abidjan, where people have been trapped in their homes with little food or water as fighting raged for 10 days, Ouattara faces a more immediate challenge.

Dwindling supplies as well as frequent power cuts and a shortage of medicines have fueled fears of a humanitarian disaster unless authorities can act swiftly.

The French government announced yesterday it would give Ivory Coast 400 million euros in financial aid to help residents and restart public services in Abidjan. The World Bank said it hoped it could move forward on writing off the country’s debt.

Ouattara said he had asked his police and gendarmerie forces as well as U.N. and French

troops to help restore security.

Gbagbo, looking submissive and startled, briefly spoke on Ouattara’s TCI television and called for an end to the fighting after his arrest.

But it is not clear whether pro-Gbagbo militias, which vowed to fight to the bitter end and still control parts of Abidjan, would heed calls to lay down their weapons. Nor was it clear if the 46 percent of Ivorians who voted for Gbagbo in the election would accept his defeat.

In a sign of continued high tensions, residents in the northern Abidjan neighborhood of Yopougon said armed militias were still roaming the streets there.

“Last night there were gunshots around 2300 (2300 GMT),” Jacques Kouakou, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. “When we woke up this morning we found that 14 youths

from the neighborhood had been shot dead.”

LEGITIMACY The November poll was meant to draw a line under a 2002-03 civil war which left the country split in two. Instead, it reignited the conflict, killing more than 1,000 people and displacing one million. The final death toll is likely to run into the thousands.

Ouattara’s legitimacy may be tarnished by accusations that his forces killed hundreds as they swept through the country to reach Abidjan, something that his aides deny.

He also faces questions about the role played by the French military in securing his rival’s arrest.

A column of more than 30 French armored vehicles moved on Gbagbo’s residence in Abidjan early on Monday after French and U.N. helicopter gunships pounded the compound overnight.

US criticizes Egyptian sentencing of blogger WASHINGTON - The U.S. is criticizing Egypt’s military council after a tribunal convicted a blogger of insulting the army and sentenced him to three years in prison.

The military court’s verdict against 26-year-old Maikel Nabil Sanad is raising fears the army is blocking greater freedom of expression and political reform. Sanad carried reports of abuses by the military and accused it of remaining loyal to ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the U.S. is “deeply concerned” about Sanad’s sentencing.

He said Egypt experiencing a “rocky time” in its transition from decades of autocracy.

D CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011 DAILY

AFRICAN SCENE

9

France, Britain urge NATO to press harder on Libya

By RAF CASERT & DON MELVIN LUXEMBOURG France and Britain urged their NATO allies, including the United States, to step up the campaign yesterday against Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, exposing a major faultline in the military alliance after three weeks of airstrikes have failed to oust the Libyan leader.

Paris lamented the limited U.S. military role in Libya and chided Germany for its lack of involvement. In a dire analysis, France’s defense minister acknowledged that without full American participation in the combat operation, the West probably can’t stop Gadhafi’s attacks on besieged rebel cities.

A top NATO general retorted that the alliance was “doing a great job.”

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe shredded NATO’s united front, saying its actions were “not enough” to ease the pressure on Libya’s rebel-held city of Misrata, which has been subjected to weeks of bombardment by forces loyal to Gadhafi.

absolutely “NATO wanted to lead this operation. Well, voila, this is where we are,” Juppe said. “It is unacceptable that Misrata can continue to be bombed by Gadhafi’s troops.”

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague agreed that the allies must “intensify” their efforts, but used a more diplomatic tone.

“The U.K. has in the last week supplied additional aircraft capable of striking ground targets threatening the civilian population of Libya,” Hague said before a meeting of EU foreign ministers. “Of course, it will be welcome if other countries also do the same. There is always more to do.”

He said the task was huge.

“Events in the Middle East are the most important events so far in the 21st century in the world, and the responsibility of the European Union is commensurate with the historic nature of those events,” Hague said.

French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet deplored that France and Britain were carrying “the brunt of the burden.” He complained that the reduced

U.S. role - American forces are now in support, not combat, roles in the airstrike campaign have made it impossible “to loosen the noose around Misrata,” which has become a symbol of the resistance against Gadhafi.

France’s frustration with the stalemate on the ground, where Libyan rebels have struggled to capitalize on Western air attacks, has been echoed in several Western capitals, but rarely were the comments as barbed as Juppe’s.

“We have to be more efficient. When you hit Misrata with cannon fire, these cannons must be traceable and can thus be neutralized,” he said.

The reduced U.S. role since NATO took over command on March 31 has clearly affected the operation.

“Let’s be realistic. The fact that the U.S. has left the sort of the kinetic part of the air operation has had a sizable impact.

That is fairly obvious,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Libyan opposition spokesman Ali al-Issawi, meanwhile, said that Gadhafi’s soldiers have killed about 10,000 peo-

ple throughout the country and injured 30,000 others, with 7,000 of the injured facing life-threatening wounds. He said another 20,000 people were missing and suspected of being in Gadhafi’s prisons.

There was no way to independently verify the report.

“We want more efforts to protect civilians against this aggression going on the ground,” al-Issawi told reporters in Luxembourg.

Longuet also criticized Germany, which is not taking part in the military operation, saying that Berlin’s commitment to primarily back the humanitarian effort only was “secondary” at best.

Germany does not take part in NATO’s military airstrikes in Libya because it sees the operation as too risky. Italy has also been reluctant to get involved in the airstrikes because it was Libya’s colonial ruler.

NATO Brig. Gen. Mark van Uhm sharply rejected French criticism of the operation in Libya, saying the North Atlantic military alliance is performing well and protecting civilians

effectively. He said the alliance was successfully enforcing an arms embargo against Libya, patrolling a no-fly zone and protecting civilians there.

“With the assets we have, we’re doing a great job,” Van Uhm told reporters.

However, he repeatedly declined to comment on reports that some alliance members were limiting their planes to patrolling the no-fly zone and prohibiting them from dropping bombs, saying that was a matter for governments to comment on.

The 27-nation European Union said over the weekend it was ready to launch a humanitarian mission in Misrata soon, with possible military support, if it received a request from the U.N. Britain, France and Italy all said some aid was getting through to Misrata without special military protection.

“Humanitarian assistance is getting through to Libya, including to Misrata. That, so far, has not needed military assistance to deliver it,” Hague said.

IHH, an Islamic aid group in Turkey, said it would send an aid ship to Misrata on Wednesday carrying food, powdered milk, infant formula, medicines and a mobile health clinic. Separately, Van Uhm said two aid ships had already visited the city and another would arrive yesterday.

The IHH has a mission to assist Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa. It deployed dozens of activists, including doctors, two days after the Libyan uprising began in February and established a tent city and a soup kitchen at a Libyan border crossing with Tunisia.

Meanwhile, Libya’s former foreign minister, Moussa Koussa, was traveling to an international meeting in Doha, Qatar, to share his insight on the workings of Gadhafi’s inner circle.

British officials said they hope Koussa’s trip to Doha, where Arab and Western leaders are meeting to chart the way forward in Libya, will give participants a better idea of how to force Gadhafi out of office.

South Africa to host richest Swazi police fire water cannons to stop protests world championship By PHATHIZWECHIEF ZULU

M A N Z I N I , Swaziland - Police in Swaziland fired water cannons and tear gas, beat people with batons and arrested activists to prevent pro-democracy protests yesterday in subSaharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy.

In recent weeks, an online campaign has tried to rally support for yesterday’s protests, which come exactly 38 years after the current Swazi king’s father, King Sobhuza II, banned political parties and abandoned the country’s constitution.

In this photo supplied by Swaziland Solidarity Network protesters gather to protest in Manzini, Swaziland yesterday before being dispersed by police.

Simantele Mmema, singing and chanting spokeswoman for the peacefully in a teacher’s Swaziland National training center in Association of Manzini, the country’s Teachers, said yester- economic hub. day that police fired Police spokeswoman water cannons and tear Wendy Hleta said she gas and beat people could not confirm with their batons to dis- police fired on protestperse more than 1,000 ers at the training cenworkers who were ter, but said police fired

tear gas elsewhere in Manzini after people threw stones that injured two officers.

“The situation almost got out of control,” Hleta said. “They were compelled to shoot tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd.”

More than 150 Swazi police guarded a square where pro-democracy protesters had planned to demonstrate in Manzini. Outside the square, uniformed and plainclothes police kept watch on the streets in southern Africa’s usually peaceful tiny mountain kingdom.

Swazi activists said police arrested nine labor and pro-democracy leaders yesterday.

With political parties banned, the labor movement has become a key platform for pro-democracy activists.

JOHANNESBURG South Africa yesterday announced a five-year deal to stage a $10 million World Golf Championship event featuring the top 70 players vying for what’s touted as the richest prize in the game.

“This is, without doubt, the most significant milestone in the history of professional golf in South Africa,” Sunshine Tour commissioner Gareth Tindall said in a statement.

“What is even more significant is that we have the commitment that we will host this World Golf Championships event for a period of five years,” said Tindall.

He told media that the $10 million tournament, to start in 2012,

would be the richest single event in the sport and have positive implications for the game and the country, according to the Sapa news agency.

The championship, which will be known as the Tournament of Hope, will be used to create awareness of poverty and AIDS in Africa, he said.

No dates or venues for the event have been confirmed, said Tindall.

The announcement came after local champion Charl Schwartzel lifted the 75th Masters trophy in Augusta on Sunday.

South Africa has produced top golfers like Gary Player Ernie Els and last year’s British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen.

1 10

CARIBBEAN NEWS DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

Turks and Caicos scholarship abuses revealed PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — One of the revelations emerging from the 2011/12 Turks and Caicos Islands Budget statement released last week by Permanent Secretary of Finance Delton Jones is the glimpse he provides into the abuse of scholarship payments, which has been going on since 2004 until the present time under the last internal government led by the Progressive National Party (PNP) and the British-run Interim government.

The figures released have spotlighted former Ministers of Education Lillian Boyce and Carlton Mills, who had the responsibility for

the spending the figures reveal.

This also carries forward into the present government, who may not have approved the abuse but failed to halt it.

It appears that not until British adviser Caroline Gardener looked into the financial details of the TCI starting as late as six months ago was this and other financial mismanagement issues revealed.

According to the budget statement, in several cases students received in excess of $250,000 each in financial assistance. However, under the scholarship program these same students should only have qualified for maximum grants ranging from $50,000 to $90,000.

This, the report says, affected two-thirds of those on scholarships.

Some students received funding long after their scholarship expired and/or their studies were completed.

This continuing funding went on for years in some cases, it was revealed.

While adequate grades were required to maintain scholarship status it appears that under Ministers Mills and Boyce the students’ grades were not obtained or confirmed directly from the institution but were taken at their word.

Despite this lax approach, 82 percent of students had incomplete grade records on file.

The TCI spent $17 million to fund scholarships under these conditions in fiscal year April 1, 2008 through March 31, 2009. Despite the scale of the problem finally being brought to the attention of the almost two-year old Interim Government, this past year the TCI will have spent half ($8.5 million) on the way to a now reduced budget of $3.5 million.

The Budget report indicates that

170 students were on the program, implying that the average student received a staggering $100,000 each for fiscal year 2008/2009.

Only now Jones claims he will “put in place immediate measures to improve the management of the program”. Jones says further that the government will finally terminate payments to students who are not entitled to any funding.

In the light of these abuses, the government has now decided to return to the pre-2004 programme of awarding scholarships to students with the highest grades Scholarship abuses had long been a complaint of the opposition Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and now, almost two years into direct rule and with the territory teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the British-run interim government is finally promising action.

Guns for bribes, says Trinidad attorney general Barbados opposition leader advises PM PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General, Anand Ramlogan, has called on Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs immediately to investigate claims that senior police officers take bribes in exchange for awarding firearm users licences.

The Guardian newspaper reported that, in an interview, Ramlogan, who expressed concern about the allegations made by the president of the Police Service Social Welfare Association Anand Ramessar and secretary Michael Seales, said such claims raised the question, “Who will

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan guard the guards?”

Saying that his office was not authorised to probe the allegations, Ramlogan said, “I am extremely concerned about these serious allegations. It raises the age-old problems of

‘who will guard the guards?’ I am of the view that the issues raised should be investigated. This is not the first time such allegations have been made.

Indeed, the office of the Attorney General frequently receives complaints from aggrieved persons who have applied for firearm users licences.”

He added that many of the applicants did not “have the courtesy of a response” even though their applications were duly processed and recommended for the award of a licence.

They are reportedly delayed until a bribe is paid.

F or ei gne rs want t o i nve s t in T ri nidad, say s PM PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar, who spent nearly a week in Washington meeting with OAS officials, investors and other business groups, said that a large number of people expressed interest in investing in the twin island republic.

She told the media that her mission abroad was very successful and she is optimistic that in the very near future investors will travel to Port of Spain to make

arrangements for investments in several areas.

Her comments came after the signing of an agreement between the president of the Public Service Association and the Chief Personnel Office concerning salary increases and better incentives for the 35,000 public servants.

The prime minister said she wants a peaceful industrial climate, which will held to by government in its thrust to woo international investors.

to be careful about country’s reputation BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Barbados opposition leader Owen Arthur has warned that the Shanique Myrie incident must not be allowed to tarnish relations between Barbados and Jamaica.

Arthur believes Bridgetown has more to lose than Kingston, given its heavier dependence on regional exports, and further cautioned the Freundel Stuart administration that it cannot afford to have the matter “spiral out of control”.

In an interview with the Sunday Sun, the former prime minister

stopped just short of criticizing government’s handling of the incident last month in which the Jamaican woman claimed she was cavity-searched at Grantley International Airport.

However, he did suggest that Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxine McClean might have rushed to judgment on the matter when she stated publicly that Myrie’s claims were unfounded.

“I do not want this matter pertaining to foreign relations to appear as though I am castigating Barbadian

Barbados opposition leader, Owen Arthur officials, but just put it this way, that I feel the Foreign Ministry should understand the role of diplomacy in solving problems and that is the first thing that you use,” said Arthur.

Drilling of geothermal wells in Dominica to commence late July ROSEAU, Dominica — The drilling of three exploratory geothermal wells in the Roseau Valley in Dominica is expected to commence at the end of July this year.

The contract for the over 4.5 million euros project was signed in Roseau last week.

The contract was awarded to the Iceland Drilling Company and is being funded by the Agence Francaise de Development, the European Union and the government of Dominica.

Project Coordinator, Jason Timothy, explained that the long term objective is to confirm the nature and extent of

the potential geothermal resource at various sites within the Wotten Waven area to determine the capacity of wells for sustainable commercial exploitation in generating electric power.

“We have continued studies into the 90s and recently as 2005, which have indicated that we have a very good resource to provide for development of all our energy needs and possibly to share with our French colleagues in the neighbouring islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. We have indications that these temperatures range from 250° - 300° which, in the context of geothermal energy is a very good resource. The area we are

looking at is approximately 15 square kilometres and with this, we hope for close to one hundred and twenty megawatts.”

The European Union is providing 1.5 million euros grant funds towards the project.

Charge d’Affaires of the EU delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Hubert Perr has voiced support for the project.

“It is a unique Dominica resource that is to be tapped into. It is important, as well, because it has great potential for export as much as for domestic use so that foreign revenues can be generated from the project,” he said.

- MERVIN MATTHEW

CARIBBEAN NEWS

11

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

Montserrat’s new governor sworn in Venezuela to deport suspected rebels

LITTLE BAY, Montserrat - The new governor of Montserrat, Adrian Davis, was sworn in Friday during a special sitting of the island’s Legislative Council.

Attorney General James Woods administered the oath after which the Governor was welcomed by Speaker of the House Teresina Bodkin; Deputy Governor Sarita Francis; Leader of the Opposition Victor James and Chief Minister Reuben Meade.

The Speaker said the challenging natural and global environment will not make the road ahead for Montserrat easier adding that she hoped the governor’s definition of success will embrace the island’s definition of success as well.

Meade, during his remarks, said Governor Davis’s tenure must be one of partnership and mutual respect. He said the goal of Montserrat’s sustainable development needs to be

Deputy Governor Sarita Francis (L) and Montserrat’s new Governor, Adrian Davis guided by integrity and fairness.

Opposition leader James in his greeting said he hoped the governor’s wealth of experience working for DfID Asia would be of benefit to the island.

The new governor said it was almost a year to the date since his appointment was

announced and that he’d had three months to prepare for the new post. He said his desire was to be transparent and open and to that end wanted to hold monthly meetings with the media.

Davis said his overriding priority was to work with Chief Minister Meade and the people to deliver a prosperous Montserrat.

Davis remarked that Montserrat needs to take its place in the international community and that globalization presented enormous opportunities to play a role.

He added that the volcano should no longer define the future of Montserrat and the message must be spread that the North is safe and open for business.

The governor wants to see the Diaspora take an active part on redeveloping the island with a more open approach to receiving support from wherever it is offered. Davis said he plans to pursue his new job with energy and enthusiasm.

The governor is accompanied on this tour of duty by his wife Sujue.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela deported two suspected Colombian rebels Monday, sending a positive message to other nations that want President Hugo Chavez to ensure suspected terrorists do not find haven in Venezuela.

Carlos Julio Tirado Hernandez and Carlos Duban Perez Marin, suspected members of the National Liberation Army, were captured near Guasdualito, a town along Venezuela’s southern border with Colombia on March 17, authorities said.

The two men, who are suspected of participating in an armed attack on Colombian marines, were taken to Caracas’ Simon Bolivar International Airport on Monday for return to Colombia, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Venezuela’s decision to deport the suspects came as the leaders of Colombia and Spain said they expected Chavez to guarantee that members of terrorist groups, including Colombia’s two rebel armies and the Basque militant group ETA in Spain, are not permitted to hide out in Venezuela.

“I hope that he cooperates so that any terrorist or terrorist groups can face trial,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said during a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid.

Rodriguez Zapatero said he hopes that Venezuela approves Spain’s request for the extradition of Arturo Cubillas, who holds a government job in Venezuela and is accused in Spain of helping ETA members get explosives training with Colombian rebels in Venezuela.

Cubillas insists he is innocent.

OAS Secretary General Meets with Joint Summit Working Group Institutions The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today chaired the meeting of the Joint Summit Working Group (GTCC), whose objective is to develop the role of interAmerican and international institutions that have a permanent role in the process of the Summits of the Americas and in the entire development process of the InterAmerican System.

During the meeting, the Secretary General recalled that it is essential to main-

tain a close and continuous dialogue between the GTCC and the Member States in order to identify the most important priorities for the countries and specific programs and initiatives that we can finance and implement.

For his part, the National Summit Coordinator and President of the Summit Implementation Review Group, Ambassador Jaime Girón, said that the Sixth Summit of the Americas, which will take place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in April of 2012, seems to be an excellent opportunity to send a message and to define the actions that will allow us to improve levels of development and address the difficulties fac-

ing the continent.

The meeting, which took place at Organization headquarters in Washington, DC, also was attended by representatives from the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB), the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the World Bank.

Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza

Jamaican Senate approves bill to exempt certain CARICOM nationals from work permits

By LATONYA LINTON KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Jamaican Senate, on April 7, approved amendments to a bill that will exempt certain categories of C a r i b b e a n Community (CARI-

and exemption from the “This provision is COM) nationals of the Revised Treaty of qualifications, Ministry of Labour and really important from the work per- Chaguaramas, estab- household domestics. lishing CARICOM and “I would like to Social Security,” because it addresses the mit requirement.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne, who piloted the Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens (Employment) (Amendment) Act, said the changes are in keeping with Chapter Three

the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Some of the categories of workers, who will be exempted from work permits, are: selfemployed persons, nurses, teachers, holders of associate degrees, artisans with vocational

emphasise that CARICOM nationals, who do not fall within the classification of the limited categories of skilled nationals, service providers or persons seeking to exercise rights of establishment, must still get a work permit or work permit

Lightbourne said.

The accompanying Regulations were also amended to require that persons exempt under the Principal Act will now have to apply to the Labour Minister for certificates stating the nature of the exemptions.

current gap in the law where, although it clearly provides for exemption certificates in specified cases, it does not mandate that the relevant categories of persons apply to the Minister to access the exemption,” the justice minister said.

New American

The

12

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

One Thought - One Humanity

For the conclusions of these stories check out the April 7th - April 13th, 2011 issue of The New American, which hits newsstands every Thursday Finally, it is revealed when Beyonce is dropping her next studio album: the moment we’ve all been impatiently waiting for!

Rumors surrounding Beyonce’s album situation have been circulating the industry since last year, and it seems that we’ve finally gotten some answers. The multi-platinum selling singer/performer and wife of Jay-Z reportedly unveiled six new tracks last week at a private listening session to her label exes who called them “groundbreaking”. According to MTV.com, these tracks along with the rest of her album will be released this June! *breathes a sigh of relief* Denis Handlin of Sony Music told the Daily Telegraph: “It was just amazing.

These songs, the best description I can give is groundbreaking”. The new album has not been titled yet.

R&B legend and icon R. Kelly is ready to expose himself, his life, his innermost thoughts and secrets in an upcoming memoir, “Soulacoaster.”

“I’m writing this book as Robert, not R. Kelly,” he said. Kels has endured so much throughout his career to scandals, cases, divorce, and even beef.

But he has continued to live life and make music the best he knows how. “I’m tired of being misunderstood. I will show you the tears, fears, and sweat. I will open my heart and reveal the good in my life as well as all the drama. I want to tell it like it is.” Cowritten with David Ritz, “Soulacoaster” has been described as “part memoir, part keepsake, promising his fans an intimate and unforgettable ride.”

Janet Jackson is booked to attend the

annual AIDS charity event Life Ball, to be held May 21 in Vienna — 30 years after the disease was first discovered, organizers announced. Jackson will be present in her capacity as representative of the Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR). “HIV/AIDS is a pandemic which requires our immediate and continued attention,” the singer says in a statement. “Combination therapy has made HIV a maintainable disease, but sadly, there is still no cure and it continues to spread at alarming rates. HIV/AIDS is a continuing hazard, both in the Unites States and abroad.” The Life Ball is held annually by AIDS LIFE, an independent non-profit organization that raises funds for people living with HIV. 50 Cent reportedly took back a blue Lambo that he gave Ciara.

TMZ is reporting that Nicki Minaj is in talks with Britney Spears’ camp to become the opening act on her upcoming tour. The rapper would replace Enrique Iglesias, who bailed at the last minute – reportedly because he had second thoughts about serving as Britney’s opening act. Nicki’s current tour with Lil Wayne and company ends on April 28, which would give her just short of two months to rest up before Britney’s trek begins on June 17 in Sacramento. TMZ says, “We’re told it’s looking very good that Nicki and Britney will reach an agreement in the next day or so.”

DJ Khaled’s albums are known for being star-studded affairs - a trend that will continue with his latest LP, We the Best Forever. “My album is the most amazing thing ever,”

said Khaled in an interview with XXLMag.com. Though the album will feature the artists that Khaled describes as “the usual suspects” - Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Jadakiss, Fat Joe and Birdman, the Terror Squad deejay revealed that Nas and Kanye West would be joining the fray. The album will have a bit of a smoother flavor to it as well, as Chris Brown, Keyshia Cole and Mary J. Blige will be featured, though Khaled cautions that it won’t be soft. “My Chris Brown record is – it’s called ‘Legendary.’ It ain’t R&B, that sh*t hard but everybody can relate to it.”

Rihanna is about follow in Beyonce’s footsteps and dump her manager Jay-Z. Word on the street is that Rihanna is getting ready to dump her manager Jay-Z. Sources are saying that Rihanna has a lot to be worried about now that Beyonce is part of Jay’s Roc Nation. The two divas will have to battle it out when it comes to endorsement deals, etc. and Rihanna’s people are concerned that there may be a conflict of interest for Jay, who will have to decide between his wife and Rihanna. I have to say I agree with RiRi on this one….I’m sure Jay will want to keep the money in the family (can’t say that I blame him!)

Tinie Tempah has already started working on his second album and hopes to have it released by October. The ‘Written in the Stars’ hitmaker is already working on the follow up to his debut ‘Dis-covery’ released October 2010 and while he is experimenting with new sounds, doesn’t want to stray too far from his previously successful formula.

Brian McKnight return to ‘old school R&B’ on new songs Brian McKnight has recorded four new songs to be part of a live CD/DVD package, “Just Me,” which the singer, songwriter, producer and TV personality will be releasing on April 12, with a first single due some time this month.

“I’m really going back to old school R&B with these four songs,” McKnight, who recorded the new material during January in Los Angeles, tells Billboard.com. he describes one, “Temptation,” as “a real Marvin Gaye-ish style,” with a message about “not succumbing to your desires and losing something that’s very important to you. I did it with my oldest son [Brian Jr.], so I’m sort of passing down some knowledge from father to son… in a very slick way.” McKnight says another new song is “a real throwback. I’ve been listening to a lot of Ray Charles lately, and I wanted a song that really sounded like 1953 Ray Charles. it definitely sounds like 1953 with the production and the way I did it.” The concert portion of “Just Me” was filmed and recorded on Feb. 8 at the Avalon Hollywood and captures the solo show McKnight has been doing recently. “It’s a one-man show,” he says. “All the songs I’ve written, everything I’ve done, they start the same way, either me sitting at the piano or sitting with a guitar. all the hits I’ve had have really come from that situation. so I’m basically going back to the way I started, playing in bars and then in hotel

lobbies when I was 15, very intimately with just a piano or just a guitar. I’ve brought that back full circle, and I’m telling the stories behind the songs and basically giving a real insight into not only what I do but to how I do it, and why.” McKnight says “Just Me” may provide a new model for him to release new music in the future.

“We are now a singles buying population. People aren’t really conditioned to believe in full albums anymore,” he explains. “So I’m experimenting. I have no idea what they want, but hopefully giving them four new songs now will get them ready for four new songs later in some other configuration. this is a record for the fans, and hopefully it’ll change the format of how I do things in the future.”

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

14

L.A. Reid: Leaving Def Jam for ‘X Factor’ is ‘still difficult’

By JOCELYN VENA L.A. Reid recently left Island Def Jam Records to be a judge on Simon Cowell’s upcoming “The X Factor.”

And although he’s been prepping his TV debut, he admits that it’s been a little bittersweet to see what some of his former artists are up to.

“I loved the artist roster that we created at Island Def Jam and I love the company and yes, it was difficult. It still is difficult,” he said.

“This morning I heard about a remix that Rihanna did with Britney Spears [for ‘S&M’] and I was like, ‘It’s the first time some music has been done that I wasn’t involved with and I don’t know if I like that or not.’ I don’t know.”

It wasn’t so much that Rihanna and Spears hooked up on the track as that someone other than him made that decision. “I don’t like anybody tampering with my Rihanna,” he joked. “Doesn’t matter [what the song sounds like]! I didn’t do it.

No, I think it’ll be great, but it was very difficult to leave.

It wasn’t difficult to decide to do ‘X Factor,’ it was difficult to walk away from this amazing roster and amazing staff of people and all the executives that were there that was tough.”

“X Factor” auditions are currently being held across the country. Next up, producers will make their way to New Jersey on Thursday to look for more talent.

The show premieres this fall on Fox with former “American Idol” judge Cow-

ell and Reid as the only two confirmed judges so far.

Reid said he’s ready for this next step in his career, which includes the chance to groom a new crop of pop stars. While he admitted he isn’t yet TV-ready, “what I’m ready to do is try my hand at discovering the next generation of musical talent through ‘The X Factor,’ and that’s why I’m doing it,” he explained. “You can keep the fame and popularity and all the other stuff that comes with it. All I want is the talent.”

Swizz Beatz aims to ‘raise the bar for New York’ with Knicks remix

By RAHMAN DUKES Swizz Beatz has taken on the daunting task of rejuvenating his hometown and his beloved New York Knicks, who are on the cusp of a new era in NY basketball, using — what else? — his music.

Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, the new kings of New York, were on hand to film a music video led by the producer to run on their team’s MSG network.

Swizz re-created the Knicks theme song “Go New York” putting his platinum

touches on the anthem just in time for the club’s reentrance into the NBA playoffs, ending an almost 10year drought. The Bronx native couldn’t be more proud to be at the forefront of the musical resurgence that’s jolted the city.

“As far as music-wise, my job is to make sure I make an anthem that takes the game level from point A to point B, keep the crowd hype,” Swizz told MTV News alongside the towering Stoudemire. “Just doing what I do. Just like what the players gonna do, what they gonna do on the court. It’s just a joint effort to

raise the bar for New York, let everyone know it’s a problem this year.”

Stoudemire, a longtime fan of hip-hop culture, said enlisting Swizz for the remix was a no-brainer.

“It’s been 10 years since they remade the ‘Go New York’ track,” he said. “So it’s only right to have Swizzy out here with us. We taking this thing to a whole ‘nother level thanks to the players and the whole team.”

According to Swizz, Stoudemire and Melo’s participation in bringing the New York Knicks back, both on and off court, proves that

the dynamic duo are men of their words who are right at home in the Big Apple.

“It shows me that they’re dedicated, to the team and to the team players. And they love music, love fashion, love art,” Swizz said. “And I think that when it all comes together, it’s a big movement. And for everybody to support the movement from New York, it’s a standing ovation.”

This coming weekend, the New York Knicks will enter the NBA playoffs as the sixth seed from the Eastern Conference facing the Boston Celtics in the first round. The

ball club and the entire TriState region are prepared for a showdown.

“It’s gonna be crazy, man,” Stoudemire said. “No matter who we play, we gonna be ready to go. [Been] waiting for this all year long. So now the playoffs are here. Everybody’s amped up, everybody’s ready to go .It’s gonna be a crazy atmosphere.”

“I’m sitting on the side,” Swizz added. “I’m supporting by any means necessary. We gonna take this song to the clubs, gonna take this song to the radio, get it crunk up in there too. So we having fun with it.”

Summer, Lewis to be Janet Jackson adds more dates to ‘Platinum Hit’ judges ‘Number Ones’ tour due to its success

By ALETA WATSON

Bravo says Leona Lewis (above), Donna Summer, Jermaine Dupri and Taio Cruz are to be guest judges on its new U.S. songwriting competition series, “Platinum Hit.” Natasha Bedingfield and Ryan Tedder are also to serve on the panel for the show, which is to premiere on the cable network May 30.

Recording star Jewel is the series’ host and song-

writer Kara DioGuardi is the show’s head judge.

“Platinum Hit” follows 12 up-and-coming musicians as they battle through a series of songwriting challenges testing their creativity, patience and drive, Bravo said in a synopsis.

The winner will walk away with a $100,000 cash prize, publishing deal with Sony and a recording deal with RCA/Jive.

Following an overwhelming amount of sellout performances in North America and Asia, icon Janet Jackson, will be expanding her ‘Number Ones: Up Close & Personal Tour’. This tour marks Jackson’s largest world tour to date. Originally planned as a 35 city venture to match the 35 number one singles from Jackson’s double-disc album ‘Number Ones’, the outbreak of support from fans has prompted Jackson to add more dates. In addition to her currently scheduled performances in London, Paris and Monte Carlo, Jackson will be making stops in more cities.

The high demand for Jackson in a multitude of venues on several continents will take the jet-setting beauty to every

corner of the world. While the North American leg of the tour is currently underway, fans here will have to wait until the fall for the tour to resume due to recently scheduled European dates added for the spring and summer.

Ever-humble, Jackson commented on the outburst of love and support the tour has received, “When creating music or a tour, I draw from what is going on in my life and hope that the fans relate to it. I am excited to know that the fans are having a great time at my shows and are asking for more. Thanks for all the love and your input on where I should take the show next. I’ll see you soon!”

Judging from critic responses, they are equally as enthused as fans are about the Performance Queen’s world tour: “This was a concert dis-

playing her growth as an artist and the tracks released during the journey.” -Entertainment Weekly, Brad Wete.

“This is one tour not to miss, a tour on which you can see a pop icon who has done it all, giving you her all.” -BET, Clay Cane.

“She did say it was going to be one that’s up close and personal. And boy, did Janet Jackson live up to that promise.”-Zaki Jufri I-S Magazine (Singapore).

NEW JERSEY

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

Trenton woman pleads guilty to aggravated manslaughter in slaying of aunt’s boyfriend

By LISA CORYELL TRENTON A Trenton woman accused of fatally stabbing her aunt’s boyfriend during a domestic dispute pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter Monday in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence.

Miashari Fox, 38, was charged with murder in the stabbing death of Anthony Williams, 51. She was also charged with attempted murder in the stabbing of 37year-old Kisha Fox, her aunt.

Fox had been holding out for a lesser sentence of 13 to 15 years but abruptly changed her mind the day the plea offer would have expired.

Miashari Fox “I was expecting to go into court to set up a trial and, all of a sudden, her attorney said she was taking the plea deal,” Assistant Prosecutor Brian McCauley said.

In court Fox admitted she stabbed the two during a family argument in March

15

Trenton man admits stabbing girlfriend to death while her children slept upstairs

2008.

“She said she was drinking, she was smoking some pot and an argument arose,” McCauley said. “She said she got angry and started slashing at them with a knife.”

Fox had argued with her relatives at the East Hanover Street apartment where she lived before grabbing a steak knife to settle the score, prosecutors said.

The trigger for the bloody knife attack was the fact that the aunt had been instrumental in Fox’s children being removed from her home by child protective services, Fox’s defense attorney said.

Under the terms of her plea deal, Fox would serve 85 percent of her sentence before becoming eligible for parole. She is scheduled for sentencing on June 28.

N.J. public university officials make case for more funding in effort to prevent large tuition hikes

By KELLY HEYBOER TRENTON - The state’s four-year public colleges and universities expect to hold tuition increases below 10 percent next fall if Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal passes, higher education officials said yesterday.

More than a dozen college presidents and education leaders appeared before the state Senate budget committee in Trenton to plea for more money after years of steady decreases. This year’s budget calls for $714 million in operating aid for the colleges, about the same as last year.

The hearing was less dramatic than last year’s budget debate, when the colleges faced sharp decreases in state funding. This year’s proposed budget keeps funding level for most schools and programs.

When asked if public colleges could keep tuition increases below double dig-

Superior Court in Mercer County in a file photo.

Martin Griff

By LISA CORYELL TRENTON - A Trenton man charged with brutally stabbing his girlfriend to death in 2009 has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison, prosecutors said Monday.

Rutgers University sign on the College Avenue campus in New Brunswick. its, Rutgers President Richard McCormick said he was hopeful.

“I believe we will,” said McCormick, who is the heads of the Presidents’ Council representing the state’s college leaders. “Although, until the Legislature finishes its work on the budget our institutions, by and large, will not finalize their tuition decisions.”

None of the college presidents gave estimates of how

large tuition increases may be.

Last year, Christie and the Legislature capped tuition and fee increases at 4 percent at four-year public colleges.

This year, the governor said colleges should have the freedom to set their own tuition increases. Most four-year public colleges will wait until June or July, after the state budget is finalized, to approve tuition for the upcoming school year.

Brian Carlos Oliver, 41, admitted he beat and stabbed Lisa Glennon in the her Trenton home on Melrose Avenue, said Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Oliver killed Glennon in the early morning hours of March 14, 2009. Prosecutors said an autopsy showed that Glennon had no defensive wounds on her body and appeared to have been dragged under the basement stairs.

After killing Glennon,

Oliver fled to New York and was arrested hours later at a Bronx hotel. Police found Glennon’s body after a relative of Oliver told police he had admitted killing her.

Prosecutors said Glennon’s two children, ages 7 and 15 years old at the time, were asleep upstairs during the murder. Oliver is the father of Glennon’s 7year-old daughter.

Under the terms of his plea agreement Oliver must serve 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole, DeBlasio said.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

16

Black women’s hair loss tied to braiding, weaving

By FREDERIK JOELVING Very tight braiding or weaving is linked to a permanent type of hair loss that affects many African American women, new research suggests.

While the findings can’t prove hair grooming is at the root of the problem, women might still want to take them into consideration, said Dr. Angela Kyei, who worked on the study.

“I won’t tell you not to braid your hair, but I don’t want you to braid it so tightly that you need to take pain medication,” said Kyei, of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Prolonged pulling at the hair strands may cause inflammation of the hair follicle, which has been shown to lead to scarring. In principle, that could lead to a type of balding that dermatologists call central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, or scarring hair loss.

This type of balding starts at the top of the scalp and then spreads slowly to the rest. It occurs only in Black women. Because there is no treatment for it, Kyei decided

to try to find out what is causing it instead.

Observations from the 1960s had hinted it was related to hot-comb straightening, but little research has looked at other explanations.

The new study, published in the Archives of Dermatology, is based on health questionnaires and scalp examinations of 326 African American women.

Nearly all of them straightened their curls chemically and about one in six had scarring hair loss. More than half the women with this condition said they had braids, weaves or hair extensions, as compared to only a third of those with less severe hair loss.

“This is just telling us there is a trend and we need to study it further,” said Kyei, adding that it doesn’t mean these hair styles are necessarily tied to balding, which could have other causes.

In fact, the researchers also found women with type 2 diabetes were more likely to have scarring hair loss, as were those with bacterial scalp infections.

“If there is any take-home message from this study, it is that hair grooming is not the only thing you should look at

Study: Higher rate of morning heart attacks not due to blood pressure Normal daily fluctuations in blood pressure aren’t linked with the well-documented fact that people are more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke in the morning, a new study shows.

It included 28 people without high blood pressure who underwent three types of sleep/wake cycle experiments designed to assess the connection between the internal body clock and the daily rise and fall in blood pressure.

In all three experiments, the volunteers showed an internal daily blood pressure variation with a peak at about 9 p.m. and the lowest blood pressure occurring in the late morning.

The researchers said the surprising finding that blood pressure is lowest in the morning means it’s unlikely that the internal blood pressure cycle is connected to the increased risk of heart attack and stroke in the morning.

The study was published April 7 in the journal Circulation.

“We used three complementary experimental protocols and three different groups and found essentially the same results. That means we’re dealing with something very robust,” lead author Steven A. Shea, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in a journal news release.

in these patients,” Kyei noted.

“If you have hair loss — specifically if you have the central type of hair loss,

which is permanent — you need to seek medical attention.”

Procter and Gamble donat-

ed shampoo samples for the study, which were given to the women as a reward for participating.

Having kids might make young women heavier, less fit

By MAUREEN SALAMON Young mothers tend to be heavier than their peers who don’t have children, and they also consume more saturated fat, sugary beverages and total calories, a new study suggests.

Examining data from Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults), researchers from the University of Minnesota focused on the link between parental status, dietary intake, physical activity and body mass index (BMI) in 838 women and 682 men with an average age of 25.

While fathers were no heavier than their non-parenting peers, mothers had significantly higher BMIs, and both moms and dads exercised less frequently.

But despite their greater intake of fat, sugar and calories, the young mothers also consumed as much fruit, dairy, whole grains and calcium as non-mothers, the study found.

Study author Jerica Berge said these mothers might be assuming more child-care duties than the dads, leading to the weight disparity. The aftereffects of pregnancy might also be a factor, she said.

“Maybe moms are taking on more responsibilities — including cooking the food

for the kids, with these high-fat choices,” said Berge, an assistant professor of family medicine and community health. “In parenting, there are conflicting demands and tradeoffs. It could [also] be they’re too tired at the end of the day and might not want to go to the gym.”

The study is published online April 11 in the journal Pediatrics.

Project EAT, a longitudinal population study, followed young participants through three age points between 1998 and 2009, as they progressed into young adulthood.

Participants who became parents between the second and third follow-ups and had a child aged 5 or younger formed the parent group in the study.

Height and weight were self-reported, while a foodfrequency questionnaire was used to assess the typical intake of such foods as fruit, dark green and orange vegetables, milk products and sugar-sweetened beverages over the prior year.

Young adults were also asked how many hours in a usual week they spent doing activities ranging from jogging or rollerblading to biking, skiing, dancing or bowling.

The fact that young mothers also consumed a similar amount of healthy foods

than non-mothers may suggest they are trying to be good role models for their children, Berge said, although their use of higher-fat foods may stem from having less time to cook.

“I do think the study makes some good points about the struggles of being a young parent and balancing work and family life, and finding the time to plan physical activity,” said Jen Brennan, clinical nutrition manager at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “It’s really easy to grab something unhealthy.”

Health care professionals have many opportunities to intervene in this dynamic, Berge and Brennan said, because young children typically see pediatricians at least several times a year.

Public health campaigns can also encourage healthy lifestyles among parents to set the stage for their children, they said.

“They already have time to talk about dietary intake and physical activity. There might be an opportunity to throw in, ‘how does this work from a family perspective?’” Berge noted.

“Obviously, we need more research before we go off and change everything,” she added. “We’re not out there to make parents feel guilty about it — it’s more for us to step back and ask, how can we support them?”

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

17

Tests could spot which kidney patients will do the worst

By AMANDA GARDNER Researchers have come up with two new tests that seem better able to predict which patients with chronic kidney disease are more likely to progress to kidney failure and death.

This could help streamline care, getting those patients who need it most the care they need, while perhaps sparing other patients unnecessary interventions.

“The new markers provide us with an opportunity to address kidney disease prior to its terminal stage,” said Dr. Ernesto P. Molmenti, vice chairman of surgery and director of the transplant program at the North ShoreLong Island Jewish Health System in Manhasset, N.Y. “Such early treatment could provide for increased survival, as well as enhanced

quality of life.”

“The main problem right now is the tests we use currently just are not very good at identifying people’s progressing to either more advanced kidney disease or end-stage kidney disease, so this has big implications in trying to determine who will progress,” said Dr. Troy Plumb, interim chief of nephrology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

But, he added, “there are going to have to be validated clinical trials” before these new tests are introduced into clinical practice.

Both studies will appear in the April 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, but were released Monday to coincide with presentations at the World Congress of Nephrology, in Vancouver.

Some 23 million people in the United States have chron-

ic kidney disease, which can often progress to kidney failure (making dialysis or a transplant necessary), and even death. But experts have no really good way to predict who will progress to more serious disease or when.

Right now, kidney function, or glomerular filtration rate (GFR), is based on measuring blood levels of creatinine, a waste product that is normally removed from the body by the kidneys.

The first set of study authors, from the San Francisco VA Medical Center, added two other measurements to the mix: GFR measured by cystatin C, a protein also eliminated from the body by the kidneys; and albuminuria, or too much protein in the urine.

They then compared the three markers together with the current standard of creatinine-based GFR alone.

Indeed, combining the

three markers more accurately predicted which of 26,643 patients were more likely to progress to kidney failure and death.

The next best predictor for end-stage renal disease was cystatin C plus albuminuria.

And, in fact, various organizations have already been lobbying for new guidelines that would add albuminuria to testing protocols. The current standard was introduced in 2002.

For the second study, researchers from Tufts Medical Center in Boston combined data from several commonplace lab tests to come up with a model that accurately predicted the short-term risk of kidney failure (needing dialysis or a transplant) in people who already had moderate-to-severe kidney disease.

Overall, the test was developed and confirmed in two groups of Canadian patients totaling nearly 8,500 men

and women with kidney disease.

A model that took into account the eight variables — age, sex, estimated GFR, albuminuria as well as blood levels of calcium, phosphate, bicarbonate and albumin — was more accurate than a four-factor model, which only took into account age, sex, GFR and albuminuria.

The authors were excited enough by the findings that they have already developed an online calculator and smart phone application so doctors can use the model in practice, said study author Dr. Navdeep Tangri.

“These are lab tests that are collected on every doctor’s visit, so it’s broadly applicable,” he said. “We’re gearing up for wider use.”

But, an accompanying editorial urged caution in immediately implementing the tests without further validation.

Study: Common drug ineffective in early Alzheimer’s

By JULIE STEENHUYSEN CHICAGO — A commonly prescribed Alzheimer’s drug had no effect in treating patients with a mild form of the disease, U.S. researchers said, underscoring the need for new and better treatments for the most common form of dementia.

Sold under the brand Namenda by Forest Laboratories Inc and Germany’s Merz Pharma, the drug had U.S. sales of about $1.2 billion last

year.

For the study, researchers culled through published studies, presentations at medical meetings and other sources to find studies that looked at the effectiveness of the drug memantine, Namenda’s generic form, in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.

They found that memantine worked no better than a dummy pill at treating the disease.

Memantine is one of the few approved drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, which affects 26 million people globally. Alzheimer’s can stretch

on for years, slowly robbing patients of their mind and memories. And there are currently no drugs that can keep the disease from progressing.

Memantine is intended to treat moderate to severe Alzheimer’s, but it is frequently used in mild Alzheimer’s patients “off-label” — for uses other than those approved by the FDA — either alone or in combination with a drug known as a cholinesterase inhibitor.

Cholinesterase inhibitors increase levels of the brain chemical acetylcholine, which may slow mental decline in

Alzheimer’s patients.

The team identified three studies that included 431 patients with mild Alzheimer’s and 697 patients with moderate levels of the disease.

“There were no significant differences between memantine and placebo on any outcome for patients with mild AD, either within any trial or when data were combined,” Dr. Lon Schneider of the University of Southern California and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Neurology.

Among patients with moderate Alzheimer’s, there was

Genital herpes can be spread when lesions aren’t present

By AMANDA GARDNER People with genital herpes can transmit the virus to partners even when they do not have lesions, new research shows.

Although this has been suspected before, “the data here looks really robust,” said Fred Wyand, a spokesman for the American Social Health Association.

Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases, affecting some 536 million people worldwide. Sixteen percent of U.S. adults have tested

positive for HSV-2, but only 10 percent to 25 percent of those infected recognized the disease.

Blood tests to detect HSV2 became widely available in 1999, making it easier for people to find out if they have genital herpes even if the infection isn’t active.

Still, previous large government surveys had found that some 80 percent of Americans don’t know they have genital herpes, said study co-author Dr. Christine Johnston. The report appears in the April 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a themed issue on infectious diseases and immunology.

“Most people don’t know

they have it,” Wyand said.

They may even have symptoms, but not recognize what they are.

“They could be mild symptoms or they may attribute it to something else: chafing, jock itch, yeast infections,” he explained.

Researchers had also known that people don’t have to have symptoms to transmit the virus.

The current study is the largest yet to look at the issue and also used a sensitive DNA test to detect the virus “meaning we were able to give a much clearer estimate of how often people shed,” said Johnston, who is acting assistant professor of

medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Shedding refers to when the virus is replicating and therefore is transmissible to another person.

The trial involved almost 500 people who had tested positive for the virus. Each person took daily genital swabs for at least 30 days.

More than 28,000 swabs were collected and analyzed.

The virus was detected on 20 percent of days in 410 people who had symptoms, compared with 10 percent of days in those who had no obvious symptoms.

But both groups shed about the same amount of virus on the days they were shedding.

no significant difference between memantine and the placebo in any individual trial, but there was a significant effect when the three trials were combined.

“Despite its frequent offlabel use, evidence is lacking for a benefit of memantine in mild Alzheimer’s disease, and there is meager evidence for its efficacy in moderate Alzheimer’s disease,” the authors wrote.

They said more scientifically rigorous studies are needed to show the drug works.

Bill Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, noted that the study was a “meta-analysis” — a study that combines already published data.

Given that, he said it is not clear how much the analysis will change the way doctors practice medicine.

“All the drugs we have for Alzheimer’s disease have modest effects and they are transient because the underlying disease is continuing to get worse while these drugs are being given. Eventually, that overcomes any benefit you get from the drug,” Thies, who was not involved with the study, said in a telephone interview.

Thies also said that there is a big range in how patients respond to the drug, with some patients getting quite a good benefit, and others getting none.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

18

Oil extends losses, high prices may hurt demand

By CHIKAKO MOGI and RISA MAEDA TOKYO — Brent crude fell to around $123 a barrel yesterday, extending overnight losses, on concern high fuel prices will destroy demand and after Goldman Sachs advised investors to lock in commodity trading profits.

ICE Brent crude for May fell nearly 1 percent to $123.05 at 0633 GMT, paring losses from a low of $121.97 after hitting a 2-year peak of $127.02 a barrel on Monday.

U.S. crude for May delivery fell 1.2 percent to $108.63 a barrel. Earlier, prices dipped to $107.87 after having touched a 2- year high on Monday at $113.46.

Pressure on prices emerged after long-term commodity bull Goldman advised its clients

Fuel storage tanks are seen at Mobil Oil’s oil refinery in Melbourne. on Monday to take profit as there is a strong chance that commodity prices may reverse.

It noted “nascent signs of oil demand destruction in the United States” that could drag prices down, as well as the possibility of a Libya ceasefire. The bank also said Nigeria’s elections, which had added further risk to oil markets, had thus far not caused supply dis-

ruptions.

“Open interest has been building up since the start of the new quarter in April, reflecting fresh inflows of speculative money into the oil market,” said an energy analyst at a leading Japanese trading house who declined to be named.

“The Goldman report put a damper on this flow, at least for now, given that there was a

sense of an overshoot in the market,” he said.

The International Monetary Fund warned in its World Economic Outlook on Monday that soaring oil prices and inflation in emerging economies pose risks to the world economy but are not yet strong enough to derail it.

“The IMF’s change of view on the U.S. economy is a catalyst which suggest high costs of imports will affect economic growth,” said

Jonathan Barratt, managing director Commodity Broking Services in Sydney.

Demand concerns also heightened in No. 3 oil consumer Japan, where the evacuation zone around its damaged nuclear plant was expanded because of high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock rattled the area.

Weekly oil inventory reports will offer a fresh snapshot of U.S. demand and stockpiles.

Analysts surveyed on Monday expected crude stocks to have risen last week, with distillate stocks dipping and gasoline stocks dropping.

Support for the market comes on continued unrest in Libya, which has cut export supplies from the OPEC member.

An African bid to halt Libya’s civil war collapsed on Monday after Muammar Gaddafi’s forces shelled a besieged

city and rebels said there could be no deal unless he was toppled.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that as of last Tuesday, hedge funds and other financial traders held a total net-long positions in U.S. crude contracts equivalent to a near record 267.5 million barrels.

“This could be interpreted as an overbought level,” ANZ’s analyst Serene Lim said. “If there is bearish sentiment in the market, it may trigger a sell-off, and a cycle of long liquidation.”

With Libyan production curbed sharply, Saudi Arabia has raised output. A senior Gulf source dismissed doubts among analysts about Saudi Arabia’s claimed 12.5 million barrels per day capacity, saying such doubts were the work of speculators trying to manipulate oil prices.

Nokia unveils two new Google invests $168 million models in smartphone battle

By TARMO VIRKI HELSINKI — Nokia unveiled yesterday two new smartphone models running on improved Symbian software, a stop-gap measure aimed at stemming customer defections to rivals like Apple.

Nokia has lost its lead in the high end of the cellphone market after Apple unveiled the iPhone in 2007.

In February, Nokia’s new chief executive Stephen Elop dumped Nokia’s Symbian software, saying the company would instead use Microsoft Corp’s unproven software.

Elop compared Symbian to a burning platform in a widely leaked internal memo, saying it was not good enough for the future of the world’s largest phone maker by volume.

On Tuesday Nokia unveiled a new version of Symbian software,

with new icons, improved text input, faster Internet browsing and a refreshed Ovi Maps application.

“It’s just a bit too late to put Humpty Dumpty back together.

Developers are bailing out in droves,” said Tero Kuittinen, analyst at MKM Partners.

Nokia has for years struggled to attract developers’ attention, due in part to Symbian’s cumbersome tools compared to those for the iPhone or Google’s Android platform. It has been hoping its larger scale would compensate for additional investment demanded from developers.

Nokia’s services chief Tero Ojanpera stuck to the target of selling some 150 million Symbian phones in coming years, and said daily downloads at Nokia’s Ovi Store have grown to 5 million.

In comparison, Apple is expected to

sell a total of 150 million iPhones in 20112012.

The new Nokia models, the E6 and the X7, will go on sale for 340 euros ($491.6) and 380 euros respectively excluding subsidies and taxes, later this quarter.

Its weakening position in the high end of the market is expected to drag Nokia’s underlying first-quarter earnings per share 29 percent below last year’s, a Reuters poll of 31 analysts showed on Tuesday.

Underlying operating profit at its key phone unit — an important metric for the company — is expected to drop to 8.6 percent from 12.1 percent a year earlier.

Nokia is scheduled to report JanuaryMarch earnings on April 21, and it has also said it would unveil large job cuts stemming from its Microsoft deal in lateApril.

in solar power plant

WASHINGTON — Google said Monday it has invested $168 million to help complete the construction of one of the world’s biggest solar energy power plants in California’s Mojave Desert.

The plant, which is being developed by BrightSource Energy, will generate 392 gross megawatts (MW) of clean solar energy when it is completed in 2013, enough to supply power to 85,000 homes a year.

“That’s the equivalent of taking more than 90,000 cars off the road over the lifetime of the plant, projected to be more than 25 years,” Google’s director of green business operations Rick Needham said in a blog post.

“The investment makes business sense and will help ensure that one of the world’s largest solar energy projects is completed,”

Needham said.

The U.S. Department of Energy said meanwhile that it has finalized $1.6 billion in loan guarantees to support the Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System.

“Today’s announcement is creating over 1,000 jobs in California while laying the foundation for thousands more clean energy jobs across the country in the future,” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.

“Through the loan program we are supporting some of the largest, most innovative clean energy projects in the world, and those investments are helping us to out-compete and out-innovate our global competitors to win the future,” Chu said.

President Barack Obama’s administration has been encouraging companies to

invest in green growth, calling it a new source of jobs and fearing that other nations — led by China — are stealing the march.

The Ivanpah project uses mirrors called heliostats to focus the rays of the sun onto a solar receiver on top of a tower. Steam generated by the solar receiver spins a turbine and generator to make electricity.

The Ivanpah Power Tower will be 450 feet (137 meters) tall when it is completed and will use more than 173,000 dual-mirror heliostats.

The project is being built by U.S. engineering giant Bechtel and construction began in October 2010.

The Mountain View, California-based Google said the BrightSource investment brings the company’s total investment in clean energy projects to $250 million.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

19

The greenest car you’ve (likely) never heard of

By MIRA OBERMAN GREENSBURG, Indiana — The greenest car you’ve likely never heard of will soon be hitting Honda showrooms across the United States as the Japanese automaker expands sales of its compressed natural gas powered Civic.

Honda has been quietly winning green car awards for more than a decade as it cautiously introduced the Civic GX first to government and business fleet owners and then retail customers in a handful of test markets.

The nationwide retail launch set for this fall comes as President Barack Obama pushes for wider adoption of fuel-efficient vehicles — including mandating that all federal cars will need to run on alternative, hybrid or electric power by 2015.

Potential customers could also be lured by substantial cost savings as oil prices climb amid tensions in the Middle East and natural gas prices fall in the wake of major new discoveries in the United States.

But the Civic GX enters a crowded field where new plug-in hybrid and fully electric cars — the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf — are grabbing headlines and zippy new compact cars offer competitive

fuel economy.

Honda’s goals are relatively modest — doubling sales to around 4,000 vehicles in the first year of national sales while Nissan is hoping to hit annual U.S. sales of 20,000 Leafs — but it still thinks the GX can compete.

“We’re asking the GX purchaser to make far fewer sacrifices than any other alternative fuel vehicle,” Eric Rosenberg, who heads Honda’s alternative fuel vehicle program in the United States.

“When you compare it to the Volt or Leaf, it’s the most affordable, it has the best range and it has the quickest refill.”

The GX can drive up to 250 miles (403 kilometers) on a single tank and only takes a few minutes to fill at public or home fueling station.

The Leaf has a range of 62 to 138 miles (100 to 222 kilometers) depending on road conditions and takes 30 minutes to partially charge at a quickcharge station and seven to 20 hours using a standard 220 or 110 volt outlet.

GM’s Volt can drive 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 kilometers) on its battery before switching over to a gasoline-powered engine and takes four to 10 hours to charge.

Honda’s GX is also

Honda’s compress natural gas powered Civic GX undergo final testing at the Japanese automaker’s Greensburg, Indiana, plant. the cleanest car on the U.S. market, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy which looks at a vehicle’s total environmental impact.

That’s because natural gas is a clean-burning fuel. It consists primarily of methane and emits about 30 percent less carbon dioxide and 70-90 percent less smog-forming particulates than gasoline.

Electric cars may emit nothing from the tailpipe, but they have a significant carbon footprint because 45 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by coal.

Their batteries also carry a heavy environmental toll.

Realtor and property manager Irma Vargas bought her first Civic GX in 2006 to save on fuel costs and get access to carpool lanes — a perk that can cut a 90-minute commute in half in congested Los

Angeles.

“Me and my business partner bought it and were going to take turns with it because it was a new idea,” Vargas said in a telephone interview.

“We found that we were fighting over it, so he ended up getting the next year’s model.”

Vargas sold the GX to an employee so she could upgrade to a new model in 2008 and has convinced four of her friends and customers to buy one as well.

She figures she’s saved thousands of dollars on fuel costs — she can fill her GX at home for about a dollar a gallon while it costs nearly four dollars a gallon to fill her Lexus hybrid, which she saves for long trips and big shopping excursions.

But it will be years before the GX or electric cars are sold in sufficient numbers to make a significant dent

Survey: Bank risk culture, pay not curbed enough LONDON — Banks need to do more to shift away from a culture of risk and the excessive pay structures that prevailed before the financial crisis, an industry report said.

Banks have made progress since 2008 as top management and boards have become more involved in setting risk policy and they developed internal stress testing models, according to the survey of 62 firms released on Tuesday.

But reforms were far from complete, with risk appetite across the firms broadly

unchanged, said the report by Ernst & Young, conducted on behalf of the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

The IIF, an international lobby group for banks, investment managers and other financial institutions, laid out risk management recommendations just before the height of the crisis in mid-2008 and has charted the industry’s progress since.

It found that in key areas such as compensation, banks had yet to make real headway in aligning pay to riskadjusted performance.

Although 78 percent of executives said they had reviewed compensation programs, up from 58 percent in a 2009 survey, only 40 percent said they were actually close to completing their initial rounds of changes to pay structures.

The most recent survey of banks from around the world was conducted at the end of 2010 and said many introduced new pay structures for the 2010 bonuses round, including more deferred pay and lower payouts in cash, but 10 percent of respondents to the sur-

vey said they had not yet begun a compensation review.

Banks have become far more focused on liquidity risk than ever before, one of the areas that tripped firms up during the crisis and led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

The report found that 92 percent of banks had made changes to liquidity risk controls, while 89 percent of respondents said the role of their chief risk officers had been elevated, with half of those polled now reporting directly to the CEO.

in greenhouse gas emissions, cautioned Lonnie Miller, an analyst at auto research firm R. L. Polk.

“If you look at the traditional batch of gaselectric hybrids, it’s 2.6 percent of all U.S. new vehicle registrations,” he told AFP. “CNG (compressed natural gas) and electric, they’re not even registering.”

It took six years for U.S. consumers to embrace hybrids, which require only a few tradeoffs like a higher initial price tag and limited trunk space.

Like fully-electric cars, the Civic GX requires a much bigger tradeoff.

While owners can fuel up at home with relatively cheap unit called “Phil,” longrange trips are essentially out of the question because there are only about 870 public fueling stations in the entire country.

The cost and environmental advantages of compressed natural gas will nonetheless help boost global sales by 9.1 percent a year to 3.2 million vehicles in 2016, according to a recent report by green tech consulting firm Pike Research.

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by sales to corporate and government fleets which typically operate their own fueling stations.

Honda started with fleet sales in 1998 and offered the GX to retail customers in California and New York in 2005 as more fueling stations came online.

It expanded retail sales to Utah and Oklahoma in 2008 and 2009 as tax incentives in those natural-gas producing states drew more customers, but has only sold a little over 12,000 of the vehicles so far.

“The whole idea was for us as a company to learn how to retail the car,” Honda’s Rosenberg said. “It is a little different, it has a few idiosyncrasies.”

The experience with the relatively-low cost GX will serve as a good model for the introduction of the holy grail of green cars — the far more expensive and complex hydrogen fuel cell.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

DAILY CHALLENGE

SPORTS

Lawrence Taylor declared S low-risk sex offender

PORTS

By JIM FITZGERALD NEW CITY, N.Y. - Former pro football star Lawrence Taylor, who pleaded guilty in January to sexual misconduct and patronizing a 16-year-old prostitute, was declared a low-risk sex offender yesterday, meaning there will be no photo of the former New York Giants linebacker on public online sex-offender registries.

Rockland County Court Judge William Kelly said Taylor was not targeting children and was unlikely to commit the same crime.

“He would be awfully foolish to go out and do this again,” the judge said. As to a posted photo, he said, “I don’t see how that’s going to make the public any safer.”

Taylor has said the girl told him she was 19. The former NFL standout, who lives in Florida, did not attend the hearing.

Kelly designated Taylor a Level 1, or low-risk, sex offender. Rockland County prosecutor Patricia Gunning had argued for a Level 2 label. Using established guidelines, she said

Taylor scored 80 points on a scale that says a sex offender has to be below 75 to get a Level 1 designation.

Twenty of the points were based on the girl’s age. But defense attorney Arthur Aidala said Taylor “wasn’t targeting a young child. He was trying to get some female companionship for that night.”

He also said it was irrelevant to count Taylor’s conviction in a tax-return case against him in a sex-crime case. And he argued that because of Taylor’s fame, “Putting his picture on the Internet damages him so much more than the average person.”

Kelly disagreed, saying, “My God, there’s been so much publicity already” that a posted photo wouldn’t matter much.

In the end, the judge took 20 points off Taylor’s score. But he laughed at some of Aidala’s arguments. When Aidala said Taylor was a victim of a scheme to defraud him, the judge said, “I’m trying to keep a straight face.” And when the lawyer talked about how Taylor helped the girl by giving her $300, the judge said, “This was a philanthropic endeavor?”

Taylor was sentenced last month to six years’ probation.

The teenager made a surprise appearance at the sentencing hearing, eager to declare that he should be behind bars, but she wasn’t allowed to speak in court.

Speaking outside, she denied she was a prostitute, and said Taylor should have been able to tell she had been beaten by a pimp and that she was underage when they met in a hotel room in May. Aidala said Taylor would be relieved to hear, “He’s not going to be plastered all over the Internet.”

“This chapter of Mr. Taylor’s life is closed,” he added.

In New York, Level 1 offenders aren’t posted on a public website, but anyone who calls the state Criminal Justice Services Division can find out if a person is a sex offender.

Aidala said the system was similar in Florida, where Taylor will be supervised.

Taylor was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. He redefined the linebacker position and was selected to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Chris Paul will consider Bobcats in ‘12 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chris Paul remembers every detail of the first time he met Michael Jordan.

Now referring to him as his mentor, could Paul decide to return home next year and make Jordan his boss?

Paul won’t rule it out.

“It would definitely be something to think about,” the New Orleans guard said yesterday when asked about the potential to sign with the Jordanowned Charlotte Bobcats in 2012. “But right now it’s all about trying to win a championship here with the Hornets.”

In a phone interview with The Associated Press to promote Saturday’s Jordan Brand Classic high school basketball AllStar game in Charlotte, Paul alternated praise for Jordan while stressing that his immediate concern is the Hornets’ impending first-round playoff series.

“I’m one of those people who tries to stay in the moment,” the fourtime All-Star point guard said.

But Paul, who has a contract with Jordan’s Nike footwear and apparel division, didn’t mind reminiscing about meeting Jordan for the first time when the Lewisville, N.C., native played in the Jordan Brand Classic

in 2003.

“We were getting ready to take the team picture,” Paul said. “I was sitting in one seat and [current Los Angeles Lakers guard] Shannon Brown was sitting in another seat and the middle seat was open. We obviously knew MJ was going to walk in and sit there.

When he walked in, man, he just took over the room. And he actually walked up and knew my name. So that’s something I’ll never forget.

“To have a personal relationship with him now and for him to be a mentor of mine, it’s something when you’re growing up as a kid in North Carolina you would never expect.”

But would that be enough to give Jordan’s struggling Bobcats a leg up if the explosive scorer decides to leave New Orleans? It was that kind of sway Charlotte fans were hoping the six-time NBA champion would have when he bought the team last year.

“I think guys do and will want to play for MJ,” Paul said. “Who better to learn from?”

But so far Jordan has overseen mostly cost-cutting, including a February deal that sent the franchise’s only All-Star, Gerald Wallace, to Portland for two first-round draft picks. The Bobcats then fell out of playoff contention.

21

BRIEFS

Hornets concerned about stumbling into playoffs

NEW ORLEANS - Although Hornets coach Monty Williams says he’ll be smart about how much he plays his starters in tonight’s regular-season finale at Dallas, he wants his team to look a lot more competitive than they have recently.

Williams and several Hornets players say they’re concerned about their form following double-digit losses to Memphis on Sunday and Utah on Monday.

The Hornets clinched a playoff spot last week, but still had an opportunity to improve their seeding. Instead, they’ve slipped to eighth in the Western Conference.

Chris Paul says the Hornets must recapture the defensive intensity that made them playoff contenders.

If the Hornets finish eighth, they’ll open the postseason against top-seeded San Antonio.

- BRETT MARTEL

Serena Williams gets back on tennis court Serena Williams has returned to a tennis court.

She said yesterday was her “first day back” after a series of health problems, including blood clots in her lung.

Williams tweeted a photo of herself with a racket in hand, and her agent, Jill Smoller, confirmed the 29-year-old American put in some work yesterday.

Smoller wrote in an email to The Associated Press that Williams is “taking it day by day depending on how she’s feeling.”

The 13-time Grand Slam singles champion and former No. 1-ranked player has not played an official match since she won the title at Wimbledon in July.

She hasn’t said when she will return to the tour.

- HOWARD FENDRICH

Bonds trial: Jurors deliberating for third day SAN FRANCISCO - The jurors weighing the Barry Bonds perjury case have worked through another morning of deliberations.

Several jurors left the courtroom area for a lunch break at noyesterday, the third day of deliberations.

Jurors told U.S. District Judge Susan Illston last Thursday that they wanted to keep to the same trial schedule during deliberations, which means lunch lasts for 30 minutes and they break for the day at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time.

When they return, the eight women and four men will again try to reach a verdict on the four charges pending against Bonds.

The jury failed to decide the matter after deliberating all day Friday, Monday and now yesterday morning.

Bonds is charged with three counts of lying to a grand jury in 2003 and one count of obstruction.

Prosecutors allege that Bonds lied when he denied knowingly taking steroids and human growth hormone. A third count of making a false statement alleges that Bonds lied when he said that no one other than his doctor ever injected him with anything.

The fourth charge is a catchall count of obstruction, which alleges that MLB’s all-time home runs leader hindered the grand jury’s sports doping investigation by lying.

2 22

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

Jeter a ground hog

By JEFF PASSAN Now that the terror alert in Boston has been downgraded and the Red Sox cataclysm has passed, the rest of the baseball world can return to more important things.

Like wondering when the New York Yankees are going to bury Derek Jeter at the bottom of their lineup, where at this point he unquestionably belongs.

This is coming, of course.

The Yankees won’t do it yet.

Looks too panicky, and they already spent their diss capital during their offseason disparaging Jeter in the media. Reality is, though, Jeter has no business hitting first or second in the Yankees’ mega-lineup, not when he’s busy earning a new nickname: 4-3ter.

Groundouts to the second baseman have become Jeter’s

go-to plate appearance.

Whether via the strideless stance he adopted this offseason or the traditional one he reverted to a few days back, Jeter has become an expert at the meager tapper to second base. He had two more in the Yankees’ 4-0 loss to Boston on Sunday night, bringing his season total to seven. Of the 29 balls Jeter has put into play this season, 23 have dribbled along the ground.

Jeter is playing basketball with a baseball bat.

Of the six hits Jeter has managed this season, three have come in the infield, three more on groundballs that skated into the outfield and a lonely line drive that is yearning for company. It may not get much.

Jeter is 36. He has chosen to age naturally. Juxtaposed with Manny Ramirez, who ended his career this week

rather than accept a 100game suspension for trying to lengthen it with performance-enhancing drugs, Jeter looks like a moral paragon and a physical runt. His body is betraying him, and he wouldn’t have abandoned his new swing this quickly if that thought hadn’t crept into his head.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he wants to give Jeter more than 100 at-bats before assessing him. That’s enough to assuage any sample-size fears. The rest of New York’s lineup can compensate. And perhaps sometime in the next month Jeter can find what has, for the last year-plus now, eluded him.

More likely is facing the fact that this decline is real and worthy of concern: for Jeter, who must live with his failings; for ownership,

DAILY CHALLENGE

SPORTS

Derek Jeter has hit 29 balls fair this season and 23 of them have resulted in grounders. which still owes him $51 million for this year and two after it; and for a team that can’t fall back on its bad-hit-

ting shortstop’s defensive bona fides because there aren’t any of those either.

Kings finale could also be last Tiger says swing change starting to pay off game in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Some will cry. Others will protest. There will be signs of support and banners expressing anger. And in the end, no matter the score, everyone will say goodbye.

Maybe for the last time.

The deadline so many fans here have dreaded finally arrives Wednesday night when the Kings host the rival Los Angeles Lakers in what might be the final game in Sacramento. With the Kings mulling a move to Anaheim, “Fan Appreciation Night” suddenly feels like farewell.

“It’s going to be a basketball funeral,” said Robert Crashner, a Kings season-ticket holder for almost a decade.

“Unless a miracle happens, I guess it’s going to be over.”

The outlook in California’s capital city certainly seems gloomy.

Kings fans, most already talking about their team in the past tense, are still organizing for what will surely be an exhausting regular-season finale. Social-networking efforts have sprouted up and a sellout crowd is expected, with everything from a sit-in afterward to a boycott beforehand among the possibilities planned.

Signs reading “Save Our Kings” and billboards across town plastered “It’s Not Over” have been the widespread themes thus far, and there will surely be countless posters maybe even a few cowbells - at the finale.

DONGGUAN, China - Tiger Woods believes his reworked swing has restored some of the fun and excitement to his game, and is a big reason why he played so well at the Masters.

The former top-ranked golfer, who finished in a tie for fourth place Sunday at Augusta National, was already back at work yesterday, promoting the sport and his sponsors on a trip to China.

“I hit the ball really well on the weekend and made some shots - those are shots I know I can hit. That was fun and exciting,” Woods said at the Mission Hills Dongguan clubhouse near the southern Chinese city Shenzhen. “It’s really starting to feel pretty good. This week was a pretty good week.”

The 14-time major champi-

on hasn’t won a title since returning from a five-month break after revelations of marital infidelity last year. But at the Masters, he made a strong run with four birdies and an eagle on the front nine of the final round before faltering on the back.

But while kicking off an Asian promotional tour, Woods credited swing coach Sean Foley, who started working with him at last year’s PGA Championship.

“I played well and unfortunately just came up a little short on the back nine. But it was a fun front nine on Sunday. That was fun. Had a blast,” Woods said. “It was fun being in the mix.

Unfortunately didn’t get it done.”

Woods hasn’t won a tournament since his return last year.

“When I was 25, I was on tour and having a pretty good run out there at the time, won a few tournaments right about that age,” Woods said.

“And at 35, I haven’t won a thing.”

But despite being happy with the overhaul of his driving, Woods told fans during an afternoon clinic that his putting was lacking, adding that his next goal is to finetune his short game.

Woods’ off-the-course troubles don’t appear to have diminished his popularity in China. Hundreds of fans lined the fairway at the 18th hole of the course as Woods wrapped up his four-hole demonstration, cheering loudly when he made a good shot. Woods wore a wireless microphone so spectators could listen in as he plotted his strategy for each shot.

Judge orders NFL and players to begin mediation tomorrow NEW YORK - A federal judge has ordered the National Football League and its players to begin mediation under the auspices of a Minnesota court this week in a bid to resolve a dispute that threatens America’s most popular sport.

Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan was to meet with representatives of the

players yesterday and the NFL today with formal mediation to begin tomorrow, Judge Susan Richard Nelson said in an order filed on Monday.

“Any communications conveyed between the parties in this process, shall not be admitted or used against any party in any other proceeding or forum, for any purpose,”

she wrote.

The comment appeared to address concerns by the players that new talks would result in the NFL Players Association being considered a union again.

The process also will not have the effect of a stay on litigation for a preliminary injunction now before the court, according to Nelson.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

UConn’s Kemba Walker to enter NBA draft

By PAT EATON-ROBB STORRS, Conn.

Connecticut’s Kemba Walker announced he will enter the NBA draft.

The 6-foot-1 All-American guard led the Huskies to a 32-9 record, including an 11-0 postseason run that ended with a national championship. Walker is expected to be a first-round pick, and perhaps the second guard chosen behind Duke’s Kyrie Irving.

Walker averaged 23.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists during his junior season, and scored a school record 965 points, accounting for 45 percent of the Huskies’ offense.

Walker yesterday thanked coach Jim Calhoun “for turning me into a man.”

Walker has not yet hired an agent.

“There’s no chance that I’m coming back,” Walker said before joking: “Like coach said, he doesn’t have a scholarship for me.”

Walker came into the season averaging just under 12 points a game, but quickly established himself as the team’s unquestioned leader, scoring 31, 30 and 29 points in powering the

Huskies to the Maui Invitational title in November.

He scored 30 or more points 11 times during the season, and 20 or more points 27 times, winning the Bob Cousy award as the nation’s top point guard.

Last week, Walker became the 14th Connecticut player to have his name and number placed on the “Huskies of Honor” wall in Gampel Pavilion - the first to receive the honor while he was still in school. The honor means any future Huskies will have to ask Walker for permission if they want to wear his No. 15.

Walker is the 13th Connecticut player to leave school early. Center Hasheem Thabeet was the last in 2009.

Walker finishes his career in seventh place on the school’s scoring list with 1,783 points in 111 games.

His departure means Connecticut will return four starters and nine players from its national championship team next season. The Huskies also will add another point guard in Ryan Boatright, a blue chip recruit from Illinois.

Shelvin Mack to test NBA draft process INDIANAPOLIS — Butler’s Shelvin Mack wants to find out where he stands in the NBA draft. If it doesn’t work out, hey, the 21-yearold junior can always return to the two-time national runner-ups.

Yesterday, the 6-foot3 shooting guard said he is declaring to enter the draft but has not hired an agent, making him eligible to return to school next season.

“I’m exploring my options and gathering information to see what opportunities might exist for me,” Mack said in a statement issued by the school. “I’ve always had a dream to play in the NBA, and I want to

make an informed decision on that possibility.”

Players must declare their intentions by April 24 and have until May 8 to withdraw if they do not hire an agent.

Mack met with coach Brad Stevens last Thursday, three days after the Bulldogs lost the national championship game to Connecticut.

Stevens told reporters then that he was gathering information for Mack and he would only provide the information he collected to Mack, not advise him what to do.

Following last week’s pep rally at Hinkle

Fieldhouse, Mack said he wanted to discuss the possibilities with his mother. Now Mack and NBA teams must determine where he fits in the draft.

Most media projections list Mack as a second-round pick, and some analysts have suggested he might have to play point guard in the NBA. Critics are concerned about the dip in his shooting percentage, from 45.4 percent in 2009-10 to 40.1 percent last season. Mack’s 3-point percentages also dropped from 39.1 percent in 2009-10 to 35.4 percent last season.

But he still finished as the Bulldogs’ No. 2

scorer at 16.0 points per game, led Butler in assists (131), finished third in rebounding average (4.5 rpg) and was the Most Outstanding Player in the Southeast Regional.

His tourney performance may have improved Mack’s draft stock.

The other wrinkle Mack must consider is a possible NBA lockout, which could affect next season.

“I’m sure that will be a factor for a lot of kids,” Stevens said after Butler’s pep rally. “The labor situation will do a couple of different things to this year’s draft.”

DAILY CHALLENGE

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SPORTS

SPORTS BRIEFS Tommy Amaker to stay at Harvard

Tommy Amaker will not be taking his talents to Miami.

Representatives of the Hurricanes flew to Boston to talk with the Harvard coach Monday, sources told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz, but he decided to remain with the Crimson.

“I am appreciative of and flattered by the interest shown in me by other fine universities, but I am proud and honored to represent Harvard,” Amaker said in a statement released by the school. “I look forward to continuing my efforts to teach, lead and serve at this great institution.”

Amaker guided the Crimson to their first Ivy League title and a school-record 23 victories in 2010-11. Harvard lost a playoff game to Princeton for an NCAA tournament bid and lost in the first round of the NIT. In just four years at Harvard, Amaker, a former Duke star, has led the Crimson to their top two winningest seasons and two postseason appearances.

Miami is searching for a replacement for Frank Haith, who took the Missouri job earlier this month.

Amare Stoudemire out GREENBURGH, N.Y. — New York Knicks star Amare Stoudemire sat out his third straight game with a sprained left ankle last night against Chicago and may not play again until the postseason.

Coach Mike D’Antoni says Stoudemire is still not 100 percent, but wouldn’t rule him out for Wednesday’s regular-season finale at Boston. He says Stoudemire would be ready for the opener of the playoff series against the Celtics, which will be Saturday or Sunday.

The Knicks are locked into the No. 6 seed, so they have nothing to play for in either regularseason game.

Stoudemire was hurt last Wednesday at Philadelphia when he stepped on Thaddeus Young’s foot trying to block a shot. The Knicks are 3-0 this season without their All-Star, who averages 25.4 points.

Injury-plagued Redd likely done in Milwaukee MILWAUKEE — Michael Redd knows his time with the Milwaukee Bucks likely will come to an end tonight. He doesn’t see the clock running out on his career anytime soon.

Despite two separate injuries to his left knee that have allowed him to play only sporadically off the bench since he returned late last month, Redd says he “absolutely” still believes he can be a regular contributor in the NBA. Redd is in the final season of a six-year, $91 million deal he signed in 2005. The Bucks aren’t expected to re-sign him, so tonight’s season finale at Oklahoma City probably will be his last game in a Bucks uniform after 11 seasons.

DAILY CHALLENGE

S SP PO OR RT TS S WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011

UCONN’S KEMBA WALKER TO ENTER NBA DRAFT SEE PAGE 23 JETER A GROUND HOG TAYLOR DECLARED LOW- SERENA WILLIAMS GETS

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RISK SEX OFFENDER

BACK ON TENNIS COURT

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