Daily Challenge 7-13-11

WOMAN DIES AFTER LEAP OFF TAPPAN ZEE BRIDGE - PG. 2 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

THE NATION’S ONLY BLACK DAILY 35 Cents

Final

S EN IOR S C O U LD BE HUR T WITHOUT D E BT D EA L

President Barack Obama raised the stakes in the bud- may suffer first if the nation’s debt ceiling is not get talks by warning that senior citizens and veterans raised by August 2.

SEE PAGE 3.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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N EW S BR IE F S DOE REVISES POLICY ON ROLLOVER DOUGH The Department of Education is changing its policy of how much money schools are allowed to keep after saving throughout the year.

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has altered the rule to allow high-performing schools to keep every dollar they save.

The big caveat is that schools can only retain up to $44 per student.

That means some schools with lower enrollments could end up seeing less money roll over, even if they save throughout the year.

The previous policy of allowing schools to keep just 70 percent was implemented by short lived schools chancellor Cathie Black.

Schools that score a “D” or an “F” on their annual report card will have to get permission to be able to roll over any funds at all.

CUOMO SIGNS BILL TO ALLOW POLICE TO PULL OVER TEXTING DRIVERS Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that allows police to stop drivers for texting while driving.

Until now, drivers could only be cited for distracted driving if they were stopped for another offense.

New York joins 34 states, the District of Columbia and Guam in making texting while driving a primary offense.

Getting caught will cost up to $150.

FDNY TO OFFER ENTRANCE EXAM NEXT YEAR The New York City Fire Department is offering next year its first entrance exam in more than four years.

The test will be held early next year, but the sign-up process could reportedly begin as early as tomorrow.

Applicants would be able to apply through mid-September.

A federal judge reportedly signed off on the process, but there are still some legal issues to work out.

The same judge has agreed with a federal lawsuit claiming the city’s previous firefighter exam discriminated against Blacks and Hispanics.

CORRECTION OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE RIKERS ISLAND FIRE Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire on Rikers Island that forced more than 240 inmates from their cells Sunday night.

Flames broke out just after 8 p.m. in an air conditioning room.

It took firefighters three hours to bring the two-alarm fire under control.

Four firefighters suffered minor injuries.

The Department of Correction said the inmates were moved to other cells in other jails on Rikers and all were accounted for.

None of the inmates or staff were injured.

Civil suit against Strauss-Kahn still seen viable

By JOSEPH AX The question has floated in the background for nearly two months, ever since police arrested Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges of sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid: Would his accuser pursue a civil suit against him?

The answer has changed little since serious doubts about the woman’s credibility put in jeopardy the criminal case against the former International Monetary Fund chief.

A successful civil case could bring a multimillion-dollar judgment against Strauss-Kahn, if a jury finds his accuser’s story persuasive.

Civil litigators say the accuser would still have viable civil claims against Strauss-Kahn even if criminal charges against him are dismissed. But any judgment against him would prove difficult to enforce if the prosecution ends and he returns home to France.

“A civil case could certainly still succeed on the merits,” said Meg Garvin, the executive director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute at Lewis & Clark University Law School in Oregon.

Civil lawsuits do proceed after criminal prosecutions fail. The former American football player O.J. Simpson, charged with killing his ex-wife and her friend, was acquitted in 1995 but later found liable in a wrongful-death civil suit brought by the victims’ families and ordered to pay more than $30 million in damages.

In 2004, prosecutors dropped rape charges against Kobe Bryant, the basketball star, when his accuser refused to testify, but she filed a lawsuit against him and settled the case out of court for an unspecified amount.

The lawyers for the accuser in the Strauss-Kahn case have said they are not considering a lawsuit and did not

respond to requests for comment.

Criminal and civil trials have significantly different burdens of proof required to prevail.

In a criminal case, where a guilty verdict can result in imprisonment, prosecutors must prove the defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the law’s strictest standard.

In civil cases, where the loser is liable for money damages, the standard is a “preponderance of the evidence” — essentially, that it was more likely than not that the defendant was responsible.

This distinction can be particularly appealing to a witness who, like Strauss-Kahn’s accuser, has credibility problems.

Prosecutors revealed she had told authorities numerous lies, including fabricating a story about being gangraped in Guinea in order to gain U.S. asylum. She also changed details of her story about what happened after her encounter with Strauss-Kahn in his luxury hotel suite, though her account about what took place in the room has remained steadfast.

“There’s nothing from what I’ve heard about the alleged problems with the case that would make me immediately shy away,” said John Clune, the lawyer who represented the accuser in the Bryant case.

Unlike in a criminal case, where a jury may not draw any conclusions from a defendant’s decision not to testify, civil defendants typically must give their side during depositions and at trial. There is no Fifth Amendment protection against selfincrimination, and if a defendant refuses to answer, the jury is permitted to make inferences from that refusal.

In Strauss-Kahn’s case, a civil suit could shift the focus from her credibility to his own record of honesty, given reports about his past infidelities.

“This is exactly why civil defendants settle all the time,” said Julie

Suk, a professor at Cardozo School of Law. “They may not think there’s a winnable case against them, but it’s often much more costly, both in terms of lawyer fees and personal, psychic cost.”

Given Strauss-Kahn’s wealth, his accuser still risks being perceived as having financial motives in going after him.

According to the woman’s lawyers, prosecutors said they turned up a recorded conversation between her and a man detained in an Arizona jail in which she said “words to the effect” that “this guy has a lot of money. I know what I am doing.”

If criminal charges are dropped and Strauss-Kahn heads home to France, collecting damages from him might prove difficult.

While the United States and France do not have an extradition treaty, which would prevent StraussKahn from being forcibly returned here for a criminal trial, the two countries have treaties that would probably ensure that he could be served with a civil complaint and a subpoena to testify, international law experts say.

If Strauss-Kahn chose not to appear, a New York court could enter a judgment against him. But collecting damages would likely require the cooperation of a French court.

Paul Cohen, an attorney who specializes in international law for Thompson & Knight in New York, called the chances of extracting money from Strauss-Kahn if he is back in France “extraordinarily low.”

“It has nothing at all to do with the merits — it’s all to do with the geography and the jurisdictional issues that come with it,” he said.

“The French courts may not appreciate a civil complaint like this that is in effect a proxy for criminal prosecution.”

Woman dies, man lives after leap off Tappan Zee bridge

By ELLEN WULFHORST, BARBARA GOLDBERG and GREG MCCUNE Two people leaped off New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge yesterday and the fall left the woman dead and the man critically injured, police said.

Witnesses, including construction workers beneath the bridge that spans the Hudson River 25 miles north of New York City, saw the man and woman stop their car in the middle of the bridge yesterday morning.

They then climbed onto the car’s hood to get over a barrier on the bridge’s side and jumped, New York State Trooper Glen Williams said.

The workers managed to pull both of them from the water, he said. The woman died a short time later.

“She was alive at the scene before succumbing to her injuries,” he said.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition.

The relationship between the man, 44, and woman, 29, was not immediately known and they do not share a

surname, according to identification they had with them. Police declined to release their names as they were still trying to contact relatives.

The New York State Thruway Authority, which operates the bridge, referred all questions about the incident to the state police.

The authority raised the height of the bridge’s barriers to make it harder for people to jump or fall, said R.W. Groneman, an authority spokesman. There are also telephones placed along the bridge that connect with suicide-prevention counselors.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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Obama: Seniors could be hurt without debt deal

By DEBORAH CHARLES and JEFF MASON WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama raised the stakes in the third straight day of budget talks yesterday by warning that senior citizens and veterans may suffer first if the nation’s debt ceiling is not raised

by August 2.

The comments came as top Republicans toughened their stance in the deficit reduction talks. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said a “real solution” to the U.S. debt problem was unlikely while Obama was in office.

U.S. business leaders pressed Obama and congressional leaders to act swiftly to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling — which caps how much the United States can borrow — or risk derailing a sputtering economic recovery and endangering the global financial system.

The president said in an interview with U.S. television network CBS that checks to recipients of the Social Security retirement program may not go out in early August if he and congressional leaders do not agree on a debt deal.

“I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue,” Obama said, according to excerpts of the interview released in advance of its

broadcast.

“Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,” Obama said. He said veterans checks and disability benefits could also be affected without a deal.

After months of talks, Republican and Democratic leaders are still at an impasse over a deficit reduction deal that would clear the way for Congress to raise the debt ceiling.

While they agree on the need to raise the debt limit before the United States defaults on August 2, both sides have engaged in a furious blame game over the failure to advance the deficit reduction package.

Republicans yesterday ratcheted up pressure on Obama and his fellow Democrats, who have accused Republicans of refusing to compromise.

“I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office a real solution is probably unattainable,” McConnell said.

But he said Republicans will “do the responsible thing” and make sure the government does not default on its obligations on August 2, when the Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to pay the country’s bills.

White House spokesman Jay Carney called McConnell’s comments “unfortunate.”

Failure to seal a deal by August 2 could spook investors, causing U.S. interest rates to surge and stock prices to plummet, and could put the United States at risk of another recession, Treasury officials and private economists have warned.

Republicans have balked at raising the debt limit without steep spending cuts, while Democrats also want to increase revenue by eliminating tax breaks for the wealthy

and corporations in some sectors such as the oil and gas industry.

Republicans oppose any tax increases, which they argue would hurt the anemic economic recovery.

After briefing Republican members of the House of Representatives on the debt talks, House Speaker John Boehner said he was optimistic a deal could be reached. But he called the debt limit increase Obama’s problem, a statement that drew immediate criticism from Democrats.

Despite the heated rhetoric, investors assume that Washington will ultimately avert a crisis. Yields fell to seven-month lows on the benchmark 10 year Treasury bond on Tuesday morning, fueled by debt worries in Europe.

But the impasse has investors’ attention, and as the clock ticks toward August 2 with no deal in sight, it is contributing to a broadly negative sentiment on Wall Street.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has warned of catastrophic consequences if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, held firm on Tuesday to vows that the United States would not default.

“Failure is not an option,” he said.

Business leaders showed their growing concern by sending Obama and congressional leaders a letter yesterday that warned of the consequences if lawmakers did not reach a deal.

Mayor: U.S. default would States’ immigration drive slam financial system hits impasse in the courts

By JOAN GRALLA A U.S. debt default would have a catastrophic effect on the U.S. financial system and deal a huge setback to New York City’s recovering economy, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday.

Bloomberg, mentioned among possible successors to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, said the federal government must avoid damaging the nation’s economy and its credibility around the world with a first-ever U.S. default.

“America’s good name and credit are just too important to be held hostage to Washington gridlock, and I hope that in the end cooler heads will prevail and an agreement will be reached quickly,” Bloomberg, a political independent, said in a statement.

Congress and the President Barack Obama are squabbling over a compromise that would raise the country’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

Republican House leaders oppose tax increases; Democratic Senate leaders are fending off cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The battle must be resolved by August 2 or the country will run out of money.

Geithner will not make a decision on his future at the Treasury until after debt limit negotiations conclude, according to people familiar

with his thinking.

New York City mayors have a history of commenting on subjects of national and international significance, due to the city’s prominence around the world and its role as a magnet for immigrants.

Bloomberg is considered a financial expert because he made his fortune on Wall Street as a bond trader and then became a billionaire by founding a news and data company.

He said a default “would also take a serious toll on our economy, and that at a time when the nation is still trying to recover from the deep recession.”

Wall Street drives the local economy and the city remains a world financial capital despite rising overseas competition.

Like most states and cities around the nation, New York City’s economy has yet to recover its prerecession vigor. Economists say states and cities are imperiling the national recovery by laying off tens of thousands of public workers.

Bloomberg, who left the Republican party after leaving the Democratic party, is praised by fiscal monitors for improving the city’s finances by increasing reserves. He has faced criticism for not curbing the pay and benefits of unionized city workers, as well as rejecting an income tax on the wealthy in favor of layoffs.

By TIM GAYNOR PHOENIX — A year ago, immigrant labor activist Salvador Reza thought Arizona’s tough state immigration crackdown could empty the work site he ran in north Phoenix.

But 12 months on, after a federal judge blocked key parts of the law, day laborers still line up from dawn to look for work, occasionally heckled by protesters who want them gone. In short, deadlock.

“This is low intensity warfare that’s going to go on for years,” said Reza.

The stalemate at the sun-baked day labor site in Phoenix is emblematic of the impasse around the country as other states have followed Arizona’s lead on immigration, only to be knocked back by the courts.

Parts of Arizona’s law — notably a measure requiring police to quiz those they detained and suspected of being in the country illegally about their immigration status — were blocked hours before they took effect last July, after a judge ruled that immigration matters are Washington’s responsibility.

The wave of judicial rebuttals continued in May, when a federal judge temporarily blocked Arizonastyle enforcement provisions in a package of immigration laws passed

by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in March.

Then in June, key parts of tough state crackdowns due to take effect in both Georgia and Indiana on July 1 — seeking immigration powers for police and other restrictions — were stayed in temporary injunctions imposed by the courts.

In Alabama, civil rights groups last week filed a challenge to a law widely seen as the nation’s toughest, requiring public schools to determine the immigration status of students and punishing employers who hire people who are not legal residents and landlords who knowingly rent property to them.

“It’s been kind of one step forward and one step back,” said Bruce Merrill, an Arizona State University pollster and political scientist, of the emerging pattern of deadlock.

The states passed the laws amid frustration at the federal government’s failure to overhaul the United States’ broken immigration system, tightening security along the porous Mexico border and tackling the status of 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the shadows.

“We promised the people of Alabama we would take action to combat illegal immigration in this state, and that’s what this law does,” Mike Hubbard, the Republican speaker of the Alabama state House said in a statement last Friday after the state’s law was challenged in a suit.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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

Criticizing the criticizers of the criticizers THOMAS H. WATKINS

By REV. DR. HERBERT DAUGHTRY

No extortion for debt ceiling vote -

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Part Two As I read Mr. George E. Curry’s fair, accurate, courageous, and important article (in my opinion), I remember an article that I wrote for the Daily Challenge in November 21-23, 2008, entitled, “Election Day Results,” which became a chapter in my book, “In My Lifetime,” published by Africa World Press in 2010. I pointed out that things might be worst for Black people during the presidency of Mr. Barack Obama. I reasoned that because Black people now had a President there would be multitudes, Black and white, who would feel that since there is an African American president, African Americans have arrived. I believe those people would say, “What more do they want?”

In the article, I emphasized that there was nothing in Mr. Obama’s history that would give us hope that he was going to do anything meaningful for African Americans. Whatever African Americans get, it would be because they were a part of someone else’s agenda, or because everybody was doing better. I was trying to let people down easily. We were on such a high after the election. I knew if I were too harsh in expressing my lack of trust or belief that Mr. Obama was really going to advance our cause, I would be ostracized and severely casti-

gated. It was not that I feared the people’s reactions, but if I were as candid and open as my analyses dictated, the point I was trying to make would have been missed.

In the aforementioned book, I wrote, “But what of Obama? I have been discussing racism in the white community. What can we expect from the Obama administration? I am forced to say, ‘Were going to have to wait and see.’ I confess my hopes are not too high that he is going to put Black people at the top of his agenda. If there is anything for us at all, it will be because we are in a crowd with other people for whom he wants to do something. Except for his grassroots organizing in New York and Chicago, I wish I could cite something else in his background and/or associations that would enhance my hope for substantial change. Maybe there are those who can give other reasons. If they’re out there, I certainly hope they hurry with some answers.

“Now does this mean we should be without hope? Or, can we expect nothing to come from all our adulation, support, and prayers? Indeed, much will come of it. We will reap the benefits of this election for generations to come. And this may be in spite of Obama. He is a symbol. Symbolism is powerful, perhaps more powerful than the reality it represents. The very fact that across the world an image of Blackness in going forth that will inspire millions is super-important. In my travels around the world, I’ve seen,

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especially in Europe, on television, on posters, in literature, images of Black people that were grotesque and degrading.

I saw images, especially of some of the rappers, that were nauseating. But now, there is the image of a proud, brilliant, dignified, confident, handsome Black man who is the President of the United States of America.

Now, Black children yet unborn can aspire for the highest office of the land. Yes, boundless is the benefit of the symbol. And from this symbol, countless men, women, boys, and girls will be inspired to achieve in all of the fields or professions of the world.

“Yes, celebrate the symbol while critically analyzing the substance. Be active in the movement while holding accountable the man. Simply put, there are four “P” categories we should observe, analyze, and study: Personnel: Who is he appointing and for what position?

Priorities: What is at the top of his concerns?

Policies: What policy are being formulated and projected?

Programs: What programs are being planned?

“To repeat: Rejoice, celebrate, and be active, for all of us have contributed to this moment.”

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

Racing toward the bottom

By JULIANNE MALVEAUX While a Department of Education program embraces “a race to the top”, our nation’s current stance toward our 14 million officially unemployed people represents nothing less than a race to the bottom. We are content to report, month after month, unemployment rates in excess of nine percent, to use questionable language to describe tepid performance, and to assuage ourselves with myths that the economy is in recovery because GDP growth is up. Imagine that one of our children came home from school with a report card that showed a drop from a C- to a D, and she reported her grades as “substantially unchanged”.

She would, substantially, find her allowance cut, her study hours increased, her privileges restricted.

But when high unemployment continues month after month, an unsatisfactory outcome in and of itself, we hear nonsense and platitudes.

Fourteen million people are just the tip of the iceberg. When we look at those who are discouraged, dropped out of the labor market, and all of that, we are looking at something

closer to 20 million people. Among African Americans we are looking at more than one in four without work, and in inner cities, we are looking at nearly one in two men who do not work. Employers won’t create jobs, government won’t create jobs, and rhetoric won’t put people back to work.

Then, what are we to do? If traditional job creation will not fill the void, we must consider the possibility of encouraging entrepreneurship so that people can be trained to create jobs for themselves. Enslaved people were some of our nation’s original entrepreneurs. What kind of job creation ability did it take for some of us to purchase ourselves. Throughout our history, there are people who never joined the Fortune 500, but who created jobs and opportunities for themselves and for others through entrepreneurship.

Elizabeth Keckley, the seamstress who bought her freedom and worked for Mary Todd Lincoln, and others in Washington, is an example of the kind of entrepreneurial ability so many of the formerly enslaved exhibited. Thomas Day built a furniture manufacturing company in North Carolina in 1837. Elijah McCoy, “the

real McCoy” invented the lubricating cup that became an essential part of locomotive manufacturing in 1872, and made millions from that invention. AG Gaston was an entrepreneur with interests in insurance, funeral homes, broadcasting, public relations, banking, and the hospitality industry.

And the list goes on. All these folk are African American, many are little know, and each of them is a story of inspiration for someone who is out of work.

Entrepreneurship will not replace traditional employment; indeed, entrepreneurs create employment opportunities for those who do not have them. Even as this administration grapples with our tepid economy, it seems that there ought to be some conversation about encouraging entrepreneurs to create value in an economy that seems to devalue the lives, and efforts of at least 20 million of our citizens, those who want to work but can find nothing. It is interesting that some banks were described as “too big to fail”, but we have easily tolerated failure in the labor market.

In other words, our government was prepared to protect stockholders and bond markets, but not to protect people. The message is that if you are a

5

banker, government will manage your risk so thoroughly that you can jump on your high horse and talk about deficit reduction just a few minutes after you have been bailed out.

On the other hand, if you hold a mortgage or a job, you might as well line up for a beat-down because you are not too big to fail, indeed, you are too small to pay attention to.

Our economy is racing to the bottom because we have failed to pay attention to the details, to the small stuff, to the individuals who are being ground down and spit out by this economy. But the very folks who have been marginalized have to be the ones who will rise up and make a difference in our nation’s direction. Just as there are those who formed a Tea party, what would happen if the galvanized marginalized formed the Unemployed Party, the Worker’s Party, or the Economic Justice Party. Then the race to the bottom might turn into an explosion at the top. Or, next month and the month after and the month after, we will continue to read tepid reports about the labor market, and continue to wring our hands about the injustice of it all.

— Julianne Malveaux is President of Bennett College for Women.

Her book, Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History, is available at www.lastwordprod.com.

Proposed federal budget cuts could end HUD counseling

By CHARLENE CROWELL As President Obama and Congress strive to resolve different priorities in the nation’s 2012 federal budget, some are proposing an end to the only federal program that provides valuable housing counseling to millions of Americans. Majority members of a House subcommittee seek to zero out the $87.5 million program offering at-risk services has helped serve more than 11 million Americans since 2006. The range of services offered benefit homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and the homeless.

Housing advocates are also warning against the likely scams that will result from the service void.

If allowed to be axed from the new budget, not only will thousands of people not be served; but thousands of housing counselors will be laid off and some local agencies could close their doors. Most importantly, the homeowners now facing foreclosure will no longer have qualified, reliable and free services in their local communities.

In response, housing advocates have only a few days to organize and present an online petition supporting preservation of the counseling services. Although, at press time, over 2,000 people had signed the petition begun by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, (http://www.change.org/petitions/tell -congress-restore-housing-counseling-to-keep-people-in-their-homes), many more signatures will be

Criticizing the criticizers Continued from page 4 Cultural, and Empowerment Forum from 6pm-8pm 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 Immediate openings are available in a state-of-the-art center. ** Visit The House of the Lord Church’s website at holc.org. Or,

required to overcome the proposed cut.

While many foreclosures have occurred in urban areas, there are signs that future scams will occur in suburbs as well. Just a few days ago, Supreme Court Justices in Nassau County, New York froze the multimillion dollar assets of two companies that demanded upfront fees in exchange for a promise to secure mortgage modifications. Reportedly, the firms took money from more than 1,000 families across the country.

In suburban Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Marci Polokoff, a counselor told her suburban paper, The Courier Times, “One of my biggest concerns, knowing all this funding is going away, [is that] a lot of scams are probably going to pick up because people aren’t going to get the free services that were out there. They’re grasping for straws trying to find somebody to help them. They’re not going to be educated not to [fall for scams].”

The According to the Coalition of HUD Housing Counseling Intermediaries, the need for housing services already exceeds current funding levels. A significant number of those served were senior homeowners.

HUD data shows that 430,000 seniors were counseled on reverse mortgages as an option to preserve their financial independence.

Research from the Center for Responsible Lending confirms that from January 2007-2009, 2.5 million foreclosures were completed and an

additional 5.7 million homes are in imminent risk of foreclosure. Additionally, the Federal Reserve Board, National Council on Aging, the Urban Institute, and the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard have all concluded that housing counseling is an important prevention against further foreclosures.

Currently, free federally-funded housing counseling services administered by local service agencies offer: Pre-purchase counseling and education for first-time homebuyers Post-purchase counseling and education for homeowners Reverse mortgage counseling for senior homeowners Renter counseling, including for families transitioning out of homeownership Counseling for homeless individuals and families seeking shelter or other transitional housing With demonstrated consumer needs matched by respected research findings, it is indeed odd that some in Congress would prefer cutting proven services. But, this development is also an important reminder that ours is a participatory democracy. As citizens, we must stand up and speak to preserve what works for our nation.

— 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.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

Trial: New Orleans cops planted weapons, made up witnesses

By KATHY FINN NEW ORLEANS — Police planted a weapon and fabricated witnesses to cover up the shooting deaths of two civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a New Orleans detective told jurors on Monday.

Former homicide detective Jeffrey Lehrmann, who wore a wire to secretly gather evidence against fellow police officers involved in the shooting, faced them in court and described how those tactics helped them cover up a “bad” shooting for years and frame an innocent man.

Lehrmann’s testimony opened the third week in the federal trial of five police officers charged with civil rights violations or obstructing justice in the shooting just after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on New Orleans.

Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Anthony Villavaso

and Robert Faulcon face charges in the shooting, which killed 41-year-old Ronald Madison and 17-yearold James Brissette. Arthur “Archie” Kaufman is accused of orchestrating a cover-up of the crimes.

Surviving victims and other witnesses have said none of the civilians were armed.

Lehrmann and four other officers have pleaded guilty to a role in the crimes. He has been sentenced to three years in prison for knowing of a crime and not reporting it.

After cutting a deal with prosecutors last year, he agreed to wear a wire to record several meetings he had with Gisevius. Judge Kurt Englehardt allowed the information he obtained to be admitted in court.

The defense has argued that the police believed they were being threatened after responding to a radio call that police were taking gun-

fire near the bridge.

Lehrmann told jurors that when he arrived on the scene just after the gunfire ended, he knew officers had responded to a report that police were under attack.

But when he saw five people lying on the ground bleeding, with no guns in sight, he was suspicious, he said.

Kaufman later told Lehrmann “that Faulcon had shot an innocent man,” he said.

Lehrmann said he understood soon after the shooting that officers were bent on protecting themselves “from legal ramifications,” and he helped them justify their actions.

When it was obvious that the civilians’ lack of weapons was a problem, he said, they “fixed” it by planting a gun.

“We got one from Archie’s house,” he said.

Then, when the investigators entered Kaufman’s Colt revolver into evidence, he said

they took another step: They reported they had confiscated the weapon from Lance Madison, whose brother was killed at the scene. And they arrested him and charged him with attempted murder of police officers.

Lehrmann said after attributing the planted revolver to Madison, Kaufman “was not happy” to learn that Madison had no criminal record.

“These are big charges against a man who’s never been arrested,” Lehrmann said on the witness stand Monday.

Lehrmann said he and Kaufman also made up two eyewitnesses: Lakeisha Smith, who supposedly stated she saw Ronald Madison reach into his waistband for something before being shot, and James Youngman, whose statement said he saw young men shoot at police and then flee over the Danziger Bridge.

Neither Smith nor Youngman exist, Lehrmann said. cross-examination, In defense lawyer Steve London pointed to many discrepancies in the case.

Lehrmann was frequently fuzzy in his recollections, and defense lawyers caused him to stumble often. He admitted to being confused, and throughout his testimony spoke with a nonchalance that appeared to aggravate the lawyers.

“The lies changed whenever we needed to change them,” Lehrmann said at one point, in reference to filing many false reports. “It was part of the fun.”

“My client is on trial here.

You think this is funny?”

London demanded several times.

Lehrmann said he hopes to get a reduced sentence in return for cooperating with the prosecution.

The trial is expected to last several weeks.

Minnesota shutdown longest in recent history, no new talks

By DAVID BAILEY MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota state government shutdown, now the longest in recent memory in the United States, reached its 11th day on Monday with no new talks planned between the political leaders.

The state’s new fiscal year began on July 1 without a budget in place to close a projected $5 billion two-year deficit or a temporary spending plan, leading to the second Minnesota state government shutdown in six years.

The issues driving the impasse in Minnesota are similar to differences raised in Washington during negotiations over the debt ceiling and over budgets in other states.

Still, Minnesota is the only state where the government has shut down.

Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch have not met face-to-face since Thursday. There was little change in their respective positions on Monday.

On Monday, Dayton said he would tour the state to meet with residents about the impasse and again offered to meet with Republican leaders over his proposals to eliminate a $1.4 billion gap between his budget proposals and theirs.

“I am willing to compromise,” Dayton told reporters.

“I am willing to consider other possibilities. I am willing to consider any reasonable proposal that would get this matter resolved as quickly as possible.”

Koch said Dayton’s offers, included in a letter offering to meet Republican leaders, were disappointing.

“The governor continues to believe that the discussion needs to be about where the revenue comes from and how much,” Koch told reporters.

“There is no compromise in the area that we are concerned about, and that’s about reining in spending and

reforming the way we are spending.”

The toll on Minnesota’s economy was unclear, but economists expect it the economic drag to increase as the shutdown goes along, starting with reduced spending by more than 22,000 furloughed state workers.

Thousands of other workers have lost business after 100 state funded construction projects were suspended and state workers overseeing gaming were laid off, forcing cancellation of racing at two horse tracks.

Sujit CanagaRetna, senior

fiscal analyst for the nonpartisan Council of State Governments, said on Monday that the political impasse eventually would have an impact on the state’s economy at a time when the recovery remains fragile.

“The fact that it has gone on for so long and that state government is paralyzed means that this recovery that is so essential is going to be stalled,” he said.

Todd Haggerty, a fiscal affairs analyst for the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, said the shutdown already is the

longest since the group began to gather such data in 2002, but is also the longest in at least two decades.

Many states have gone months into the next fiscal year without budgets before, Haggerty said. New York and California last year took about four extra months to complete budgets.

A state court judge has ordered Minnesota to maintain only critical core state government functions during the shutdown, including state police patrols and staffing of prisons and nursing and veterans homes.

Texas-sized newborn weighs in at over 16 pounds

By KAREN BROOKS AUSTIN — Texans love to brag about how everything is bigger in the Lone Star State.

Now they have proof, with the birth of a baby boy who weighed a whopping 16 pounds and one ounce.

JaMichael Brown’s weight was more than double the national average for a newborn and he measures 24 inches long, just a few inches shy of an average one-yearold.

JaMichael holds the title of the biggest baby ever born at Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, located on the border between Texas and

Louisiana. The hospital has been open since 1938 and last year delivered nearly 2,900 babies.

The previous record there was set by a child born in 1988 who was just over 15 pounds, Victoria Ashworth, the hospital’s marketing director, told Reuters yesterday.

JaMichael was born at 9:05 a.m. on Friday to Janet Johnson and Michael Brown. This is Johnson’s fourth child, but the couple’s first together, officials said.

Johnson delivered him by scheduled Caesarean section in her 39th week of pregnancy, just a few days early, hospital officials said.

The state is still trying to

determine whether JaMichael breaks all records for Texassized newborns.

Johnson was released from the hospital yesterday but is staying there until JaMichael, who is under observation in the neonatal intensive care unit, gets to go home in the next few days.

“He’s ... stabilized and is just being observed and watched carefully,” Ashworth

said.

The little bruiser, who has already earned the affectionate nickname “Moose” across the Internet, gets his size partially from the fact that his mother had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy, Ashworth said.

But it’s also a matter of big Texans begetting other big Texans, she said. His father is 6 feet 6. His uncle? 6 feet 8.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

over-drying can waste a lot of energy and damage clothing. the best way to avoid over-drying is to…

7

plugging appliances into a power strip... a. makes them more powerful b. makes it easy to turn them all off to save energy

a. check the dryer every 10 minutes

b. take the clothes out while still damp

c. use the moisture sensor on your dryer

c. uses less energy because it all comes from one outlet

answer: c

what’s the largest energy user for homes in our area?

answer: b

showers use less energy than baths because... a. they require the water to be less hot than a bath does b. the acoustics are better for singing

©2011 Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. Ad: Arnell Group

c. they use about half as much hot water a. lighting

b. heating

c. electronics

d. toasters

answer: b

answer: c

for 100+ energy saving tips visit conEd.com or find us on Facebook at Power of Green

88

AFRICAN SCENE

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

Egypt protesters call for mass march for change

Egyptian pro-democracy activists yesterday called from a mass march in Cairo to push for political change, a day after the prime minister offered concessions which were criticised as falling short.

By MOHAMED were criticised as to attack protesters camped out in Tahrir falling short.

HOSSAM The march is to leave Square, state television said.

CAIRO - from Tahrir Square, “Thugs tried to force epicentre of protests Egyptian pro- that toppled president their way into the democracy activists Hosni Mubarak in square from four yesterday called February, at 6:00 pm entrances, but were from a mass march (1600 GMT) headed for pushed back by protestin Cairo to push for the cabinet headquar- ers,” state television reporting that political change, a ters, activists said on said, eight people were lightday after the prime Facebook.

The call came as ly injured. minister offered assailants armed with Protesters who first concessions which knives and sticks tried took to the streets to demand Mubarak’s res-

Former Chad dictator Habre ‘must face prosecution’ UN rights chief Navi Pillay yesterday welcomed Senegal’s decision to halt the repatriation of Hissene Habre to Chad, but said the former dictator must not be allowed to continue living with impunity.

“The high commissioner welcomes Senegal’s announcement that it is suspending its proposed repatriation of Hissene Habre to Chad,” said Pillay’s spokesman Rupert Colville.

“Nevertheless, the high commissioner stresses that this should not simply mean a return to the status quo, with Habre continuing to live with impunity in Senegal, as he has done for the past 20 years,” Colville added.

“It is important that rapid and concrete progress is made by Senegal to prosecute or extradite Habre to a country willing to conduct a fair trial,” he stressed.

Senegal reversed a decision to send Habre back to Chad, where he faces the death penalty for alleged rights abuses, after Pillay warned that he could be tortured there.

Habre ruled Chad from 1982 until 1990, when he was ousted by incumbent President Idriss Deby Itno and fled into exile in Senegal, where he has been living since.

A 1992 truth commission report in Chad said Habre had presided over 40,000 political murders and widespread torture.

- Dominique Faget

Protestors camped out in Tahir Square. ignation have increas- ordered a government sit-ins continued in ingly directed their reshuffle within a Cairo, Alexandria on anger at the Supreme week, as part of a series the Mediterranean Council of the Armed of measures aimed at coast and the canal city Forces which took placating protesters of Suez, following power when the strong- impatient with Sharaf’s nationwide rallies last man was ousted. alleged weakness in the Friday to demand politThe armed forces, face of the military ical change. which were hailed as junta.

Among protesters’ heroes at the start of The prime minister key demands are an the January 25 upris- also set a deadline of end to military trials of ing for not shooting July 15 for the dis- civilians, the dismissal protesters, have come missal of policemen and prosecution of under fire for using accused of killing pro- police officers accused Mubarak-era tactics to testers during the of murder and torture stifle dissent and main- uprising, and called on — before and after the tain an absolute and the judiciary to proceed revolution — and open unchallenged grip on with open trials of for- trials of former regime power. mer regime members. officials.

On Monday, Sharaf His speech came as

2.5 M euros for DR Congo rape victims

By TONY KARUMBA The European Union will provide 2.5 million euros ($3.5 million) to help care for rape victims in the D e m o c r a t i c Republic of Congo under an agreement signed Monday.

The cash will go towards “appropriate

medical care” for victims of sexual attacks in the east of the country, the EU said in a statement — an area where almost 250 women say they were raped by deserting soldiers last month.

Medical centres and hospitals in the NordKivu et Sud-Kivu provinces will receive funding as part of the project.

The European C o m m i s s i o n ’ s Humanitarian Aid and

Civil Protection (ECHO) unit already leads a support programme for rape victims, and last year the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) agreed a $42 million package to help those affected.

Armed groups, and in some cases soldiers, are regularly accused of carrying out attacks.

Colonel Kifaru, a former member of a

Mai Mai tribal militia, is suspected along with 200 soldiers of mass rape in the villages of Nyakiele, Kanguli and Abala after deserting from a military base on June 9.

In August last year at least 387 civilians, including 300 women, were raped by Rwandan Hutu rebels and Mai Mai militia in 13 villages of NordKivu, according to UN figures.

Moroccan rights group says referendum was rigged

By ABDELHAK SENNA RABAT, Morocco - A human rights group yesterday said Moroccan authorities violated their obligation of impartiality by using religion and the

media to promote a “yes” the Moroccan Human Rights vote in the recent constitu- Association (AMDH) said in a report unveiled at a press contional referendum.

“The use of mosques and (Islamic) brotherhoods as well as the state domination of media” during the referendum campaign amounted to “discrimination based on public opinion and an illegal use of of public goods,”

ference here.

It said “state agents, elected officials and associations mobilised public transport means to bring voters to polling stations and urged them to vote ‘yes’.”

D CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011 DAILY

AFRICAN SCENE

9

Somali children die en route to refugee camp By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED DADAAB, Kenya - Faduma Sakow Abdullahi and her five children tried to escape starvation in Somalia by journeying to a Kenyan refugee camp. Only one day before they reached their destination, her 4-year- Recently-arrived Somali refugees wait to be old daughter and 5- registered at a reception center at Dagahaley year-old son died of Camp, outside Dadaab, Kenya. exhaustion and Dadaab, the world’s people need food aid largest refugee camp. there, 40 percent more hunger.

At first the 29-yearold widow thought the two were merely sleeping when they wouldn’t get up after a brief rest.

She had to leave their bodies under a tree, unburied, so she could push on with her baby, 2-year-old and 3-yearold.

She saw more than 20 other children dead or unconscious abandoned on the roadside.

Eventually a passing car rescued the rest of her family from what could have been death.

“I never thought I would live to see this horror,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she described the 37-day trek to

Tens of thousands of Somalis have watched their land dry up after years without rain.

Then the livestock died.

Finally all the food ran out. Now they are making the perilous journey over parched earth to refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, regions that also have been hit hard by drought.

The U.N. expects at least 10 million people will need food aid, and a U.S. aid official said Monday he believes the situation in Ethiopia is even worse than the government acknowledges.

The Ethiopian government announced Monday that 4.5 million

than last year. Jason Frasier, mission director of USAID in Ethiopia, the U.S. government aid arm, suggested that Ethiopia might even be undercounting those who need help.

Aid agencies are appealing for more than $100 million in emergency funding while warning of dire consequences if help does not arrive.

Dadaab was originally built for 90,000 people; more than 382,000 are now here. People die here every day, though no one can provide a reliable estimate of the drought deaths.

“I must say that I visited many refugee

Somali refugees are called in for registration in one of the refugee camps in the southeastern Dollo Ado region of Ethiopia. Up to 2,000 Somali refugees arrive daily at the registration office. camps in the world. I have never seen people coming in such a desperate situation,” the head of U.N.’s refugee agency, Antonio Guterres, said Sunday while visiting the new arrivals area.

Most of those coming to Dadaab are former subsistence farmers whose lands were rendered idle and animals decimated after successive seasons of no rain hit their already warravaged country.

Hundreds of mothers and children with dustcaked faces gather at 6 a.m. every day at registration centers in Dadaab’s three sprawling camps.

Abdullahi, whose two children did not survive the journey, said her family’s problems took a turn for the worse

after her husband died in May. Still, with 20 cows and a small parcel of land, her family had enough to live on.

But when the rains failed, the cows died and the supply of maize was depleted.

“We started to dig up roots of trees to survive,” Abdullahi said, while her 3-year-old daughter who survived the arduous journey played near her.

Abdullahi lost her 4year-old and 5-year-old, but in many cases parents are dying first.

Andrew Wander, a spokesman for Save the Children, said his agency provides care to more than 300 unaccompanied children who were found on roadsides after their parents died or abandoned them.

“More children have died of malnutrition in the first four months of this year than in the whole of last year,” he said.

Abdi Aden, a former farmer who lived in Sakow town before the drought forced him to flee, said he lost an 8year-old son after eight days of trekking.

“He tried to cry before he died, but he could not. He was so weak. He died peacefully from hunger,” he said. “I buried him by myself in a shallow ditch so hyenas could not eat him.”

On her way to Dadaab, Abdullahi said she walked with friends for three days before she and her children lagged behind. She saw around 20 children dead or unconscious abandoned on the roadside.

“I saw two elderly people on the road,” she said. “They cried out, ‘Ma’am, give us a helping hand.’ They wanted to sweet-talk me, but I said to them ‘I can’t help’ and moved on.

“You will feel kind only when you have something,” she said. “I wanted to give the little water I had to my children.”

Victims, suspects await justice a year after Kampala blast

By MAX DELANY KAMPALA, Uganda One year after suicide bombers struck two bars in the Ugandan capital and killed 76 people, survivors are still struggling to recover while detained suspects have yet to face trial.

On the night of July 11, 2010, attackers wearing explosivesladen jackets sneaked into crowds watching the World Cup final and minutes to the end of the match, unleashed East Africa’s worst bombings in 12 years.

Twenty-four year-old Ramadan survived the blast at Kampala’s Ethiopian Village pubrestaurant — one of the two attack sites — which

claimed the life of his brother Siraj.

“My brother had fallen down as if he was sleeping. I was lying on his stomach and I tried to wake him,” said Ramadan. “I am still asking myself how come he died and me, I am still alive.”

The brothers had passed up several bars and settled on the Ethiopian Village restaurant after Siraj managed to squeeze into one of the few remaining seats in front of a giant screen. Ramadan sat on the ground between his brother’s legs.

“The investigation should have bee done already because it is already one year. I need those people to be taken to face the judge,”

Ramadan said.

Uganda has detained 36 suspects in the blast which was claimed by Somalia’s Shebab Islamist insurgents.

Authorities are yet to begin a full trial against the suspects who have been behind bars for nearly a year now.

They face charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder. They were last in court in November.

Rights activists and families of the suspects have blamed Uganda over its handling of the case, alleging illegal extraditions, abuses, inexplicable delays and political interference.

But Joan Kagezi, Uganda’s international crimes division chief prosecutor, denied that the judiciary was slug-

gish over the case and said the next hearing could be in August.

“Going by Ugandan standards, this case has really been fast tracked because other cases can take two or three years,” Kagezi told AFP. Among the detainees is Kenyan human rights activist Al-Amin Kimathi who was arrested in September last year while in Kampala to hear the cases agains Kenyan suspects in the bombing.

Rights groups and the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association have called for Kimathi’s release on grounds that his arrest was arbitrary, but Kampala has rejected those calls.

Kimathi’s brother, Onesmus Murithi Imanene, said the case is

Survivors are seen at an Ethiopian-owned restaurant in the Kabalagala area of Kampala moments after twin bomb blasts tore through crowds of football fans watching the World Cup final in 2010. One year after suicide bombers struck two bars and killed 76 people, survivors are still struggling to recover while detained suspects have yet to face trial. politically motivated and “Even though the charged that Kampala government of Uganda and Nairobi were collud- says that they are leting to stop Kimathi’s ting the law take its work. course, I believe this is a “There was no credi- political issue,” he ble investigation as far added, citing his brothas my brother is con- er’s campaign against cerned. The whole issue illegal rendition of susis political,” said pects by the Kenyan Imanene. government in 2007.

1 10

CARIBBEAN NEWS DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

CARIBBEAN BRIEFS ONE FAMILY.

Whether West Indian, African or African American.

One God, One Aim, One Destiny.

Turks and Caicos attorney arrested, questioned by special investigators PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — Late last week a well known Turks and Caicos Islands lawyer was arrested and his premises entered with a search warrant.

Sources have revealed the identification of the attorney in question but asked it be kept under wraps until officially released. The lawyer is said to be the attorney for a former cabinet minister in the last administration, who made news during the 2009 Commission of Inquiry.

Sources said that certain electronic equipment picked up during the search was found to have been tampered with, causing concern regarding withheld evidence. It is unclear if the reason for the arrest was the tampering or for questioning.

The lawyer was released later in the day.

While it has been reported that a second location was also searched under a separate warrant, sources were not able to identify the target of this search.

The Special Investigation and Prosecution Team headed by Helen Garlick has now frozen all of the assets of former Premier Michael Misick, which include known bank accounts in at least four countries, his residences and other real estate assets.

Misick must now, pursuant to a court order, provide a comprehensive inventory of his assets and return funds to the TCI. Misick’s Provo mansion has been seized.

OAS supports showcase of Caribbean cuisine WASHINGTON, USA — A celebration of Caribbean cuisine took place this week in Washington, DC, as the Organization of American States (OAS), through its Department of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism, collaborated with the Caribbean Export Development Agency, to present “A Taste of The Caribbean” at the Hall of the Americas.

Food and food products from across the Caribbean were showcased at a special reception in an attempt to highlight the potential of the creative industries of the Caribbean region.

Speaking at the launch of the event, OAS assistant secretary general Albert Ramdin said, “Events like these bring pleasure not only to our palate, but to thousands of people in the Caribbean Community, who work hard to develop and refine food products for an international market.”

Pointing to current economic challenges in the hemisphere, Ramdin called on Caribbean entrepreneurs to continue to think of creative new ways to generate income, employment and opportunity.

“Creative industries, if managed well, can contribute significantly to economic development, investment and economic diversification,” he pointed out. “Caribbean cuisine is known for its unique fusion of influences from all the major continents of the world. The Organization of American States supported ‘A Taste of the Caribbean’ event as part of the Inter-American Year of Culture.”

Jamaica poised for economic takeoff, says finance minster

By ALPHEA SAUNDERS

KINGSTON, Jamaica Jamaica’s minister of finance, Audley Shaw, says that Jamaica is “poised for economic takeoff.”

He also announced that he will meet with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new regional director, Luis Breuer, on Wednesday to discuss all outstanding issues to be considered by the IMF board for the December and March quarter reviews.

He was speaking on Monday at the official launch of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) operations in Jamaica, which will replace the RBTT brand, at the bank’s headquarters in Kingston.

Breuer will be making his first visit to Jamaica in his capacity as regional director.

Shaw noted that the IMF fourth and fifth quarter reviews had been delayed in part due to the now concluded salary negotiations with the public sector.

Meanwhile, the finance minister pointed out that the economic stability now being experienced is as a result of the government’s commitment to a new, higher level of fiscal responsibility, which include legislation, and new levels of transparency in Parliament.

He noted also, the intense scrutiny of the budgets of public bodies, which in the past, often overran expenditure and became a liability to the government.

Shaw said the new phase of economic stability sets the foundation for growth to begin once again, noting some of the impor-

Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw (right), listens to a comment from chief executive officer, Caribbean Banking, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Suresh Sookoo, at the official launch of RBC operations in Jamaica on Monday morning. tant signs that have emerged US$700 million that we had set such as the Bank of Jamaica aside... we are now contemplat(BoJ) 30-day open market opera- ing, along with the Bank of tions interest rates, which as of Jamaica, whether we should Friday (July 9), stands at 6.5 send back some of the money to percent, down from 6.75 per- the IMF, because of the cost to cent, representing a 30-year low. keep that money at the Bank of In addition, he said, inflation Jamaica”.

Shaw told the gathering of is “well under control” and the exchange rate is not only hold- financial sector stakeholders ing, but had seen a modest five that for the first year in 14 conper cent appreciation during the secutive quarters, the country saw economic growth of 1.4 perpast year.

Shaw further pointed out that cent for the quarter ending the Net International Reserve March.

“We fully expect that there (NIR) is “healthy”, adding that part of the resources obtained will be a commensurate, if not from the IMF had been intended equal rate of economic growth to serve as a “cushion” had there for the June quarter... combined been any negative effects due to with a tempering of food prices the Jamaica Debt Exchange on the global market as well as the moderation of oil prices, we (JDX).

However, he pointed out that can conclude that we are stable, with a 99.2 percent voluntary and we are poised for economic participation rate, “we have not takeoff,” he stated. had to use one penny out of the

Caribbean Film Festival returns to Toronto TORONTO, Canada — The creativity of Caribbean filmmakers will be on show in Canada this September w h e n C a r i b b e a n Ta l e s W o r l d w i d e D i s t r i b u t i o n ’s Toronto Film Showcase returns to “Hollywood North”.

Now in its sixth year, the 2011 Toronto Film

Showcase, and the recently introduced Market Access Program, returns from September 7 to 17, 2011, and will run alongside the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film fest engages families, youth, community groups, and the celluloid industry in a program that includes workshops, screenings, networking sessions, and other activities celebrating the burgeoning

film and television sector in the Caribbean.

Frances-Anne Solomon, CEO of CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD), reports the showcase will celebrate 10 years of Caribbean animation. It will also feature the highly successful Market Access incubator Program, now in its second year, which connects Caribbean filmmakers with industry specialists, potential partners,

funders and business strategists in an intensive, three-day training.

“Last year we hosted a strong delegation of about 40 filmmakers and enthusiasts and we are hopeful a number of them will return to update delegates on the success of the partnerships they have forged and projects they have developed,” said Solomon, who also welcomed new attendees to make it to Toronto in September.

D CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011 DAILY

INTERNATIONAL

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Influential brother of Afghan president killed at home

By ISMAIL SAMEEM & AHMAD NADEEM K A N D A H A R , - The Afghanistan younger half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, one of the most powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was shot dead at his home yesterday by a senior and highly trusted family security guard.

Ahmad Wali Karzai’s assassination will leave a dangerous power vacuum in volatile Kandahar province, the Taliban’s birthplace and a focus of recent efforts by a surge of U.S. troops to turn the tide against the insurgency.

He was accused of corruption and ties to the opium trade, but always denied any wrongdoing and was strongly supported by his brother whose influence he shored up in the south.

President Karzai may find his reach there is now limited as a potentially violent power struggle plays out among the possible successors to his brother.

“We felt more safe when Ahmad Wali Karzai was around,” said Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of

Kandahar who outranked Karzai, but like almost everyone in the province deferred to him.

“His loss will have a negative impact on issues with tribes, and current affairs and security.

Kandahar today witnessed the darkest day,” Wesa added at a news conference.

Ahmad Wali Karzai was head of the Kandahar Provincial Council, a largely consultative role, but his power came from his family and tribal connections and his fortune.

Born in 1961, he was shot dead by Sardar Mohammad, a senior member of the Karzai family’s security team in Kandahar who had known his victim for at least a decade and was based at a compound in the village of Karz, where both brothers were born.

He traveled into Kandahar yesterday morning saying he had an application he needed to give his boss, Kandahar police chief Abdul Razeq told a news conference.

“The man carried his pistol through the security checks to Wali Karzai’s room. As soon as Wali Karzai came out of bathroom, he opened fire and shot him in the head and chest,” Razeq

said.

Mohammad was shot dead by Karzai’s bodyguards moments after opening fire, witnesses and officials said.

Ahmad Wali Karzai was the first of Karzai’s close relatives to be killed since he became president, but their father was assassinated in 1999 while in exile in Pakistan.

“My younger brother was martyred in his house today,” President Karzai said at a news conference in Kabul held with his visiting counterpart, French Nicolas Sarkozy. “I hope these miseries which every Afghan family faces will one day end.”

“MANY ENEMIES” Karzai was traveling down to Kandahar for the burial, set for today so his siblings had time to arrive. Security was dramatically tightened, with helicopters circling overhead, extra checkpoints and many roads closed.

The killing cast a shadow over the city, which has been a focus of violence in recent months as the Taliban came under pressure in surrounding districts from a wave of extra troops ordered in by U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009.

More than half of all assassinations in Afghanistan since

March were carried out in Kandahar city, a U.N. report said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for one of the most high-profile political killings of the last decade after news of his death became public. In the past the security services have sometimes doubted instances when they have claimed responsibility.

Years in power and his sometimes ruthless operating methods meant there might be many other people keen to target Karzai, who was often known simply by his initials, AWK. “I’m not sure whether I would assume that this was the Taliban because he had a lot of enemies down there,” said Thomas Ruttig, codirector of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

But regardless of whether they had a hand in the killing, the Taliban are likely to benefit from his death. “(He) is irreplaceable in Kandahar,” said Haroun Mir, head of Afghanistan’s Center for Research and Policy studies.

“Despite all the criticism, he was a stabilizing factor in Kandahar.

Now Ahmad Wali Karzai is not there, oth-

Still image from video of Ahmad Wali Karzai speaking at a news conference in Quetta, Pakistan ers in Kandahar will be parliament and faces a afraid. This is a real slow but steady reducboost to the Taliban.” tion in Western finanAhmad Wali Karzai cial and military suphad survived several port over the next four other assassination years. attempts, including in The killing is also May 2009 an ambush likely to alarm Western on the road to Kabul military and civilian when Taliban insur- officials, despite misgents killed one of his givings they had about bodyguards. him, because it comes at CRITICAL POWER a time when they are BROKER trying to map out their Ahmad Wali Karzai departure from returned to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan after the “The Americans and removal of the Taliban the British were government, leaving extremely dependent on behind a career as a him for keeping a lot of restaurateur in Chicago these very prominent to eventually become Pashtun tribes in line probably the most pow- and not going over to erful man in Kandahar. the Taliban,” said The president will Ahmed Rashid, an miss his support, par- expert on the Taliban ticularly at a time when and longtime friend of he is mired in a long- the Karzai family. running dispute with

Gunmen abduct two Americans Greek reporters accuse minister on police violence in southern Philippines

By MANNY MOGATO MANILA - Gunmen in the Philippines kidnapped three people early yesterday, including a naturalized American woman and her 14-year-old son, police said.

The gunmen stormed a beach house on Tictabon island, near the southern port city of Zamboanga, and took three holidaymakers, city police chief Edwin de Ocampo told reporters.

The island is in the Philippines’ troubled south where Islamist militants and Muslim separatists are active.

De Ocampo said 14 armed men in two boats arrived around 3 a.m. yesterday (3 p.m. EDT) and overpowered unarmed guards. They took Gerfa Yeatts Lunsmann, 50, her son Kevin Eric, and a nephew, Romnick Jackaria, 19.

“We’re still tracking down the gunmen and find out where they took their captives,” de Ocampo said, adding

the woman’s husband, a German national, has been notified about the abduction.

The Lunsmanns are from Virginia and were on vacation with some relatives on the island.

They were due to return home this week after two weeks in the Philippines, de Ocampo said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction. There are a number of Muslim rebel groups operating in the area where the kidnapping took place, de Ocampo said.

By RENEE MALTEZOU

ATHENS - Greek journalists will file a lawsuit against the police minister today over violence by riot police against reporters during anti-austerity protests last month, their union said yesterday.

More than 100 people, including journalists, were injured in clashes with police outside parliament on June 29 and 30, as lawmakers voted on austerity measures needed to secure a bailout and

keep Greece from bankruptcy.

“This is a message to many recipients: Journalists will show no more tolerance,” the head of the Greek journalists’ union, George Savvidis told Reuters.

“We want the minister to be investigated, as well as the police.”

The lawsuit will be filed on July 13, he said.

Officials were not immediately available for comment.

Police clashed with black-clad youths, who hurled stones and set fire to buildings, and

fired several rounds of teargas at anti-austerity demonstrators in the protests. At least 40 police officers were hurt, the police union said.

Doctors working with the protesters said they had treated at least 25 people for minor injuries and hundreds with respiratory problems on the scene.

Health officials said a total of 99 people were treated in Athens hospitals. Among them were reporters, photographers and technicians covering the protests, Savvidis said.

New American

The

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

One Thought - One Humanity

Salli Richardson-Whitfield and the cast of ‘Eureka’ return for more Syfy

For the conclusions of these stories check out the July 7th - July 13th, 2011 issue of The New American, which hits newsstands every Thursday Don’t call it a comeback… they been here for years. The highly anticipated Destiny’s Child Reunion you’ve been waiting for is on its way. While in New Orleans for the Essence Music Festival, Beyonce’s dad Mathew Knowles revealed that the group is currently working on a new album. Is anybody shocked by this? Not us… But we are kind of surprised that Matthew is still being allowed to make announcements on behalf of the group.

Shannon Brown has opted out of the final year of his contract with the LA Lakers, making him a free agent. But Lakers fans should not put those old jerseys on Ebay just yet, as Shannon opted out of his last contract but then resigned to the LA Laker a few years ago. So maybe its a tactic for more money....or time on the court. Shannon recently said “I haven’t ruled out the Lakers,” said Brown. “I don’t know if they will rule me out.

I’m staying open.” So we guess his free agent status isn’t cut and dry....

Janelle Monae wants to deliver a different “perspective” but says it’s hard for new artists. “I think there’s a lack of diversity,” Monae tells UK’s Evening Standard.

“People think that we’re all monolithic and it’s hard for young aspiring girls, who don’t necessarily want to sell sex and strictly sing crappy R&B songs. They need to understand there’s a different blueprint that you can create.” The “Tight Rope” hitmaker eyes starting a new trend, adding “I think it’s absolutely necessary for the balance of the universe that there are other representations and a different perspective of the

woman.”

Outkast plans to release a new album by early next year. Additionally we have confirmation that both Andre 3000 and Big Boi will drop solo projects, both before the end of 2011.

A rock solid industry source tells HipHopWired, “Outkast is on track to release a new album by early next year. Both Dre and Big are working on solo projects; they want those out by the end of 2011.”

Rihanna has sparked rumors she has revived her shortlived romance with Drake after she was photographed cuddling the rapper at a nightclub in Canada.

The pair briefly dated following Rihanna’s split from Chris Brown in 2009, but the beauty subsequently admitted she put a stop to the budding relationship because she was not ready for another boyfriend. She went on to date Los Angeles Dodgers star Matt Kemp, but remained friends with Drake and they are now rumored to be giving their romance a second try after they were pictured together during a night out at the Buonanotte Supperclub in Montreal, Canada, last month. The photograph, obtained by TMZ.com, shows the stars sitting close together, with Drake’s arm wrapped around Rihanna’s shoulders, while a source tells the website they were “all over each other” throughout the evening.

Philly-bred radio personality, Star of the “Star and Buc Wild” morning show on 100.3 The Beat, hopes to help reduce the crime numbers within the city and surrounding areas by launching his “Start Snitching”

campaign, which he previously started back in in New York with its struggle with violence back in 2002. “The ‘Start Snitching’ campaign is more than just words being spoken on the microphone, it’s a commitment I’ve taken on personally!” Star told NBC. “Even if ridicule is being pointed at me, I have been an individual all my life. I don’t like to lay in a nice, comfortable and peaceful life,” he explained. “I don’t want animals on two legs violating my rights based upon some silly ass codes. So whether or not they are codes or something they feel that have to oblige by, it doesn’t have any say on the barring of my existence, as a rational man. It’s very asinine the amounts, not just homicides, but the shootings, that are taking place down here.

This is literally the O.K. Corral. So codes don’t apply here. There is a much deeper need for peace amongst this particular community.”

Have you seen Jill Scott lately? She is looking better than ever. The bold singer dropped 63 pounds, but she warns there won’t be much change in her frame. With her latest album, “Light of the Sun” which debuted at no.1 on Billboard 200 this week, Jill is saying she made the transformation by simple diet and exercise. It only took eating three lowfat meals a day and working out with her trainer Scott Parker who had her doing 60 minutes of cardio and strength training sessions every meeting.

She said her health was on the line and she knew it was time for a change when she’d “walk up nine steps and be out of breath!”

By KESHAUNTA MOTON

love to do one but she has her eyes on bigger sights. What RichardsonWhitfield really wants is to direct an episode. This is a feeling that Ferguson can completly agree with as the two admit that they are itching to get behind the camera of the show.

And while the likelihood of a full on Eureka-Warehouse collaboration is unlikely due to scheduling conflicts, the idea is a nice one.

When asked how the two of them get along during filming both Ferguson and Richardson-Whitfield describe an easy pairing that helps them both to give their best performances. From the beginning, Richardson-Whitfield says the two shared an instant on screen chemistry, very much different from their off-screen brother-sister like relationship. “As soon as that camera rolls something clicks. I look into Colin’s eyes, there’s something that clicks and I always find an instant connection… I feel everything I’m saying with him.” She goes on to say that because of this connection, they are able to work off of each other and give each other what they need for the scene. Ferguson agrees and credits Richardson-Whitfield for the ease of their relationship.

It’s time for the return of SyFy Network’s longest scripted drama, and as season 4.5 of Eureka is gearing up I had the chance to attend a Q&A conference call with stars Colin Ferguson and Salli Richardson-Whitfield.

When asked how she compares to her character Allison Blake on the TV series, Richardson-Whitfield says that, to her, their similarities seem to grow over the seasons. “I’m not as hard or as tough as I may seem,” and this is something that the characters of Eureka are now finding out about Allison, whose main vulnerabilities include being a mother and having to juggle work around family life. This is a plight that Richardson-Whitfield can relate to intimately as the show films in Vancouver and causes her to be away from her children while they are filming.

Several of the characters of Eureka have had crossover episodes in Warehouse 13 (a SyFy Network “cousin” show,) and vice versa.

When asked if she would ever do a guest spot on the series, Richardson-Whitfield says that she would - Full Story In This Week’s New American Newspaper -

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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Study: High salt + low potassium = early death

By JULIE STEENHUYSEN CHICAGO — Put down the salt shakers. Eating too much salt and too little potassium can increase the risk of death, U.S. government researchers said on Monday.

The findings from a team at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a counterpoint to a fiercely-debated study released last week that found no evidence that making small cuts in salt intake lowers the risk of heart disease and premature death.

“Salt is still bad for you,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, Health Commissioner for New York City, which is leading a campaign to reduce salt in restaurant and packaged foods by 25 percent over five years.

Most health experts agree with Farley that consuming too much salt is not good for you and that cutting salt intake can reduce high blood pressure, which raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Salt intake has been rising since the 1970s, with Americans consuming about twice the recommended daily limit.

The CDC study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, specifically focused on growing research that shows a diet high in salt and low in potassium is especially risky.

Farley, who wrote an editorial on the CDC study, said it is one of the best yet looking at the long-term effects of eating too much salt.

“It is entirely consistent with what we’ve said all along about sodium intake,” Farley said in a telephone interview.

For the study, researchers looked at the long-term effects of sodium and potassium intake as part of a 15-

year study of more than 12,000 people.

By the end of the study period, 2,270 of the study participants had died; 825 of these deaths were from heart disease and 433 were from blood clots and strokes.

They found that people who had a high salt intake and a low potassium intake were most at risk.

“People who ate a diet high in sodium and low in potassium had a 50 percent increased risk of death from any cause, and about twice the risk of death — or a 200 percent increase — from a heart attack,” said Dr. Elena Kuklina of the CDC who

Pinning down risk factors for autism elusive

By AMY NORTON Research has hinted that various factors around the time of birth may raise a child’s risk of autism later in life, but there is still too little evidence to point to specific culprits, a U.S. study said.

Experts have long believed that genes play a key role in autism risk, but a U.S. study released last week found that genes appeared to explain a much smaller portion of the risk than previously suggested.

The latest study, a review published in Pediatrics of 40 previous studies, found that factors including low birth weight, fetal distress during labor and signs of “poor condition” in the newborn, such as problems with breathing or heart rate, have been linked to the risk of autism.

“There is insufficient evidence to implicate any one perinatal or neonatal factor in autism etiology, although there is some evidence to suggest that exposure to a broad class of conditions reflecting general compro-

mises to perinatal and neonatal health may increase the risk,” wrote Hannah Gardener, a researcher at the University of Miami who led the study when she was at the Harvard School of Public Health.

The current findings, Gardener said, underscore the importance of continuing to study which environmental factors — whether before, during or after birth — may act in concert with genetics to cause autism.

Twin studies have shown that when one identical twin develops autism, the other has a high likelihood of being affected as well. Most studies have shown less similarity between fraternal twins.

But another twin-based study last week estimated that environmental factors common to twins account for about 55 percent of the risk — but they could not weed out what those factors might be.

Gardener and her colleagues found that a number of factors were linked to autism, including multiple

birth, birth injuries to the baby, problems with the umbilical cord, maternal hemorrhaging during childbirth, and anemia or jaundice.

While none of these alone could be linked to a greater autism risk, exposure to a number of those factors might have an impact — possibly due to general compromises to a newborn’s health.

But even where associations exist, it’s not clear why.

For example, Gardener said that while it’s unlikely that low birth weight per se is a risk factor, it can be a “marker” of problems in fetal development — anything from genetic influences to dysfunction in the womb to poor nutrition.

In addition, researchers still do not know what biological mechanisms ultimately lead to autism.

That said, the current study did identify a number of birth factors with no relationship to autism, including the use of anesthesia, forceps or vacuum during childbirth, high birth weight and newborn head circumference.

helped lead the study.

She said consumers need to increase the levels of potassium in their diet by adding more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, such as spinach, grapes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and low fat milk and yogurt.

The Salt Institute, an industry group, challenged the findings, pointing out that the CDC study found that the link between salt intake and heart disease was statistically insignificant.

“This is a highly flawed publication that reveals more about the anti-salt agenda being pursued by the CDC than about any relationship between salt and health,” said Mort Satin, the Salt Institute’s Director of Science and Research.

“The only significance is between low potassium and mortality,” Satin said in a statement.

Dr. Robert Briss, director of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC, said the findings support the general weight of evidence and suggests that higher doses of sodium are linked with poor health consequences.

And it suggests “that

higher potassium may be better for you,” Briss said in a telephone interview.

“About 90 percent of Americans consume more sodium than is recommended. This impacts their blood pressure,” Briss said.

“Most of that sodium is not related to the salt shaker but it is in foods and especially processed and restaurant foods that we buy and order from restaurants.

Consumers, even motivated ones, don’t have as much choice as they could,” he said.

Kuklina said potassium often counteracts the effects of salt in the diet. This equilibrium is affected when people eat highly processed foods, which tend to increase sodium levels and decrease potassium content.

“If sodium increases your high blood pressure, potassium decreases it. If sodium retains water, potassium helps you get rid of it,” she said.

Instead of focusing only on salt, Kuklina said researchers should focus on the balance between potassium and salt.

“We need to strive to do both — decrease your sodium intake and increase your potassium intake,” she said.

Help your kids stay in shape this summer A bit of planning can help parents ensure their children eat right and get enough exercise during the summer, experts say.

To start, parents can seek a minimum commitment from their children of one hour of physical activity a day, suggested Dr. Stephenie Wallace, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“Set an expectation of doing something in the house — chores, set some goals and rewards for your young person,” she said in a university news release.

“Get them to play basketball with their friends or spend some time in the neighborhood, and really encourage them to do so.”

Parents should remember that active children need to stay hydrated with water, not calorie-laden sugary drinks, Wallace added.

Summer is also a good time for parents to reinforce healthy eating habits among children.

“One key is to keep healthy foods in the house, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grain granola bars, but don’t deprive the kids either,” Beth Kitchin, an assistant professor of nutrition sciences at UAB, said in the news release.

“Get the kids involved in choosing foods. Take them grocery shopping. Show them healthy choices and have them choose,” she recommended.

The authors said they hope that parent involvement will help prevent more children from becoming overweight or obese. Poor diet and lack of physical activity have led to a tripling of obesity among American children over the last 30 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

NEW JERSEY

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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Trenton houses are repaired by more than 400 volunteers from Christian mission group TRENTON Some grateful residents of East Trenton welcomed a small army of volunteers who came from all over the country this week to shape up houses in one of the city’s most neglected neighborhoods.

“They’re scraping and painting, and I am going to be blessed with a deck in my backyard.

They’re out there working really hard,” said Taylor Street resident Evelyn Hawthorne, who also pitched in yesterday to help with the work on her home.

The roughly 400 volunteers came with Group Cares Work Camps, a Christian organization that sets up short-term mission trips for children, youth and adults.

The volunteers will spend the next week working to rehabilitate more than 60 homes in a six-block area from North Clinton Avenue to Taylor Street and between Lawrence and Fillmore streets.

“This is my third (work camp). After you go to one, you can’t

turn down coming again,” said Luke Renner, who came from Marysville, Ohio, to work on Hawthorne’s home.

Hawthorne’s twostory row home is something of a special case on her block. The house she has lived in for the last 53 years adjoined a property with an unused building for the last decade.

“I asked the city to tear it down for the last seven years,” she said.

Last year the neglected building next door burned down, causing considerable damage to Hawthorne’s home, and only then did the city finally clear the lot, she said.

Suzy Jackson, a friend and neighbor just a few houses down on Taylor Street, invited Hawthorne and her grandson to stay with her after they were left homeless by the fire.

While staying with her friend, Hawthorne began working with Habitat for Humanity to spread the word about the volunteers who were coming to fix up the neighborhood.

“I worked about six months off-and-on, and

I got about 30 houses,” she said. Hawthorne added her own house and Jackson’s to the list of properties open to the group.

“She was always welcome, and she’s the one who told me about (the work camp),” said Jackson. “Without her, I wouldn’t ever know.

One hand washes the other.”

Even though the people working on Hawthorne’s and Jackson’s homes are volunteers, and none of the homeowners are being charged for the improvements the volunteers make, all this goodwill did not come cheaply for Trenton.

Local organizations footed a portion of the bill to bring the volunteers.

“The kids here who are going to this camp are spending $450 just to attend. Then they have to spend money to get here. If you’re coming from Wisconsin, that might be more money than the $450.

So they are driven when they get here, make no question about it,” said Tom Caruso, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Trenton.

It cost the East Trenton Collaborative which includes the Trenton Habitat chapter - about $19,000 to fund the work week, and this year that money was covered by a grant from New Jersey Manufacturer’s Insurance Co., he said.

Caruso also estimated the collaborative will have spent more than $100,000 on local products and services associated with the camp.

“We’d love to have them come next year,” Caruso said, after turning down a passerby who asked if the group could work on her house. “We’re not taking any more applications,” he told her.

Even if volunteers from Group Cares Work Camps don’t return next year, there is a good chance that a group of local volunteers may pick up where the out-of-towners leave off.

“We’ve been going around the neighborhood and we’ve got a lot of kids who are eager and willing to join in.

And when we do empty lot clean-up we’ve been seeing neighbors coming out also,” said Perry

Workcamp volunteers Trenton.

Shaw III, executive director of A Better Way, a charitable group in Trenton that helps ex-convicts readjust to normal life.

Shaw said he has been speaking with officials at the Department of Education and

fix up homes in East Trenton Central High School about requiring high school students to do community service across the city in order to graduate.

“People say good things don’t happen in Trenton. We beg to differ,” Shaw said.

Trenton boys whose mother was strangled Ju r y convi cts Tr e nto n have toys, piggy bank stolen in burglary man of sexual assaul t

By ALEX ZDAN TRENTON - The children of a city slaying victim were deprived of peace again less than a month after their mother’s death when their new home was burglarized, their father and police say.

Alex Leiva said his house was broken into about a month after Gladiz Polanco Ramos, his exwife and the mother of his three sons ages 11, 9 and 7, was murdered. Leiva took in the boys to raise with his new wife and young daughter after Polanco Ramos’ death.

Leiva said the boys are afraid of sleeping in the bedroom of the

Hancock Avenue home that was broken into, and since the burglary, the family, including Leiva’s wife and 31/2 year-old daughter, moved to another location.

“They left the beds, but they took a lot of the clothing, the good clothing, the rent money, televisions, toys, even the shoes,” Leiva said in Spanish. Even the boys’ piggy banks were raided, Leiva said.

After losing their mother, Leiva said it was also difficult for the children to lose their belongings, including things like jewelry that belonged to their mother.

Polanco Ramos’ body was discovered in a South Trenton trash container May 19. Police said David Lopez, her live-in

boyfriend, beat and strangled her inside the apartment the two shared before disposing of her body several houses away. Lopez was named by police as a suspect shortly after the killing and arrested in Bergen County six days later.

But Trenton Police were called out to help the family once again on the evening of June 20, when Leiva reported the burglary at the Hancock Street home.

Sometime between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., the suspects shattered the window of the kitchen door, unlocked it, and made their way inside.

“Once in the house, they pretty much ransacked it,” said Sgt. Tom McDonough, a police spokesman.

By LISA CORYELL TRENTON - A jury yesterday convicted a city man of repeatedly sexually assaulting his girlfriend’s two little girls while he baby-sat them over a 16-month period.

Jurors deliberated three hours before finding 31-year-old Tyrone Howard guilty of assaulting the girls, who are now ages 8 and 10.

It is the second time Howard has stood trial on the charges. Last fall a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the assaults that took place between September 2007 and January 2009. Both girls testified against Howard during the trial. “I commend the jurors for finding this defendant guilty,” said Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Downing, who tried the case. “So often our child victims do not have a voice. This trial was about justice for the two little girls who were brave enough to take the stand.”

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

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Spike Lee to reprise ‘Mookie’ role in new ‘Summer’ film

By CHRIS WITHERSPOON Fans of Spike Lee should be all smiles today because a new “Spike Lee Joint” is on the way.

At 5:30 a.m. this morning Spike Lee tweeted details on his new film project.

“Wake Up. I been up since 430am. On the way to the set of THE NEW SPIKE LEE JOINT.Today is 1st Day of Shooting.”

The new “Spike Lee Joint” is reportedly titled Red Hook Summer.

Few plot details of Lee’s new film are known, but sources are saying that the story is about a man from Atlanta who comes to spend the summer in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.

According to Blackfilm.com, in Red Hook Summer Lee will reprise his famous role as ‘Mookie’ from his 1989 film Do the Right

Thing, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay. In the film Lee played a pizza delivery man in Brooklyn, who clashes with his boss over racial issues.

Lee’s last major feature film was 2008’s World War II drama Miracle at St. Anna.

The war movie received mixed reviews and grossed

less than $8 million in domestic box office sales.

The director made headlines last week when he scored big along with fellow producers of the film. A French production company, Tf1 Droits Audiovisuels was ordered to pay $46 million dollars to Miracle at St. Anna producers for failing to distribute the World War II film internationally.

In 2006 Lee produced and directed the crime-drama Inside Man starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Willem Defoe and Jodi Foster. In a recent interview with Charlie Rose, Lee acknowledged Inside Man as his most successful film and also explained why he hasn’t made a film in years.

“Inside Man was my most successful film [financially], but we can’t get the sequel made. And one thing Hollywood does well is sequels.

The film’s not getting made.

We tried many times. It’s not

Mary J. Blige was a troubled 23-year-old when she dropped her classic My Life album. On the surface, she was “ghetto fabulous” — draped in high-priced, ‘90sera DKNY duds and oversize Versace glasses — but beneath the veneer, the Queen of hip-hop soul was broken, abusing drugs and swept up in one bad romance after another.

Being too young and too raw to tell anything but the truth, the girl from the Schlobohm housing projects in Yonkers, New York, poured all that turmoil into her sophomore album and then watched as tracks like “Be Happy” and “I’m Going Down” slow-strutted up the charts to the tune of more than 3 million albums sold.

Now, 16 years (and several Grammys and platinum plaques) later, MJB plans to revisit her enduring second disc with the release of My Life Too: The Journey Continues, due in October.

“It’s called The Journey Continues because on the first My Life album, we all

just were depressed and wanted to die. This one, we want to live, and we understand with living, life still comes with challenges and triumphs and good times and bad times,” Blige told MTV News at the Essence Music Festival earlier this month, where she was not only honored for her charitable work at the McDonald’s 365Black Awards but also closed out the New Orleans fest.

Among the beatmakers Blige has tapped to work on the sequel is Swizz Beatz, and she teased what fans can expect to hear. “There’s ballads, there’s midtempos, uptempos.

There’s love songs, there’s pain songs.

There’s triumph songs, there’s workout songs.

There’s all kinda stuff!” she laughed. “This one is definitely what people are looking for from me, and I’m digging and I’m reaching in deep to give them what they need.”

Blige is well aware of the My Life legacy, how fans connected to her slow-drip brand of blues. The singer even complained in ‘08 that many of her followers didn’t want her to be happy, prefer-

has stayed busy over the last few years working on the documentaries Kobe Doin’ Work as well as If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise, a follow up to his acclaimed Hurricane Katrina documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.

Recently Lee teamed up with Carmelo Anthony to make the mini-movie Be Heard about the basketball star’s return to the Brooklyn streets where he once lived.

Last month Lee announced that he was joining Mike Tyson, Doug Ellin, and John Ridley to direct a drama series titled Da Brick for HBO. The series is said to be inspired by Tyson’s youth and is being described as a “contemporary exploration of what it means to be a young, black man in supposedly post-racial America.”

The cast of Red Hook Summer has not been announced.

Monica and Shannon Brown wed again

Mary J. Blige ‘reaching in deep’ for ‘My Life’ sequel

By REBECCA THOMAS

going to happen.”

Lee added, “First of all, what in this world does not revolve around money? But money is a big part of film, unlike a lot of other art forms.”

Lee went on to explain why he feels that Academy Awards don’t matter.

“In 1989, Do the Right Thing was not even nominated [for best picture],” said Lee, with some mock outrage. “What film won best picture in 1989? Driving Miss mother f**kng Daisy!

That’s why [Oscars] don’t matter,” said Lee. “Because 20 years later, who’s watching Driving Miss Daisy?”

“There are many times in history where the best work does not get awarded,” he said. “And I’m not even talking about my own work. So that’s why [the Oscars] don’t matter.”

Although as of late, he hasn’t produced feature films for the big screen, Lee

ring the dark tunes she cooked up while depressed to her newer love songs. So, Mary’s aiming to strike a balance this fall.

“I just wanna express again, not just my own, but just people’s lives around me and just celebrate it, but celebrate it in a way — not that we don’t have, ‘OK, sister, let me get you through this’ [songs or], ‘OK, here’s what I’m dealing with,’ “ she explained. “And that’s basically what that record is about. But I want to get it right, so my fans can be happy.”

LOS ANGELES — Recording star Monica and professional basketball player Shannon Brown, wed in a civil service last fall, have remarried in Los Angeles, People reported.

People.com said Saturday’s ceremony took place at Vibiana, a renovated 19th century cathedral in downtown Los Angeles.

The brief religious service and elegant reception that followed were attended

by hundreds of the couple’s friends and family members, who were instructed to wear shades of blue for the occasion, People.com reported.

The couple met last summer when Brown, a Los Angeles Lakers team member, appeared in Monica’s music video “Love All Over Me.” They married quietly for the first time at their home last November, the celebrity news Web site said.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

17

NY judge dismisses charges against Foxy Brown

By COLLEEN LONG A judge yesterday dropped charges that rapper Foxy Brown violated a court order by mooning her neighbor after the woman told prosecutors she would not testify at the trial.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Isdith said he had tried to meet with the neighbor, Irene Raymond, in the weeks before the trial and didn’t get anywhere. When he finally got in touch with her, she said she didn’t want to pursue the case, he said.

“While the district attorney’s office has no doubt the defendant committed this crime, we have no other choice but to dismiss this case,” Isdith said.

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, pleaded not guilty to criminal contempt and her trial was slated to begin yesterday, following a dressing-down at her last court hearing by State Supreme Court Justice John Walsh when she appeared hours late.

The 31-year-old hip hop star was punctual this time, wearing a short silver silk dress and towering spike heels, and smiled and

hugged he attorneys as the courtroom erupted when Walsh dismissed the case.

“I was falsely arrested twice, slandered and defamed,” she said outside court, as she gave a thumbsup and smiled for cameras.

She described Raymond as jealous, and someone with a “borderline obsession,” ‘’someone who wants to be you or have your life ... that I worked really hard for,” she said.

The Brooklyn-based rapper was a teenager when she broke onto the rap scene as a protege of Jay-Z, but her career has foundered in recent years.

Prosecutors said Brown violated the order in July 2010 by screaming at Raymond before bending over, baring her buttocks and showing her underwear while shouting an obscenity.

Had the case gone to trial, her attorney Salvatore Strazzullo said her defense would have been not only did she not moon Raymond, but she wasn’t even wearing underwear at the time, so the neighbor was not telling the truth.

Brown was issued the order of protection after pleading guilty in 2008 to

menacing Raymond with her cellphone. The two had been in a fight over Brown blasting her car stereo outside their Brooklyn building in the leafy Prospect Heights neighborhood. The restraining order is in effect until 2013, her attorney said.

Strazzullo said they would be filing a civil suit in Brooklyn alleging malicious prosecution.

Brown became one of rap’s more popular stars in the 1990s, but in recent years she has stayed in the headlines mainly for her legal problems and hot temper.

She also has said she suffered from hearing problems.

Her debut CD, “Ill Na Na,” was released in 1996. She released her platinum-selling sophomore album, “Chyna Doll,” in 1999. Her third album, “Broken Silence,” — released in 2001 — reached gold status.

She rapped in the hip-hop group The Firm, which also featured Nas. Brown said outside court that she’s headed directly to the recording studio now that she’s free of the case, and said she’s not planning to return to criminal court any time soon.

Chris Tucker announces Armani taps Rihanna for brand ambassador stand-up tour

LOS ANGELES — Actor and comedian Chris Tucker has announced plans for an 18-date stand-up comedy tour.

Live Nation said the tour will kick off Aug. 19 in Long Beach, Calif. and will wrap up Nov. 26 in Oakland, Calif.

Tickets for the shows are to go on sale Friday at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.

Tucker’s film credits include “Friday,” “Dead Presidents,” “Money Talks,” “The Fifth Element,” “Jackie Brown” and the “Rush Hour” trilogy.

Pop/R&B star Rihanna has landed another spokesmodel gig. With brands like Nivea and Vita Coco already under her belt, the “Only Girl” hitmaker adds another after becoming the new face of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans.

Rihanna will appear in ad campaigns for the Italian fashion house during their fall-winter 2011-2012 promotional spots. She recently shot ads for the brand in New York, which will debut in September.

She joins long list of celebs to represent the brand, including Megan Fox, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal, David Beckham, and Victoria Beckham.

RIHANNA FINDS IT HARD TO DATE AFTER CHRIS BROWN Rihanna’s public breakup with R&B singer Chris Brown over two years ago is still affecting her love life.

The “Only Girl” hitmaker, who is currently single, says

she is “open to love” but sometimes guys find her intimidating.

“It can definitely be intimidating to guys to date someone in this industry,” she tells UK’s Cosmopolitan magazine in their August issue. “It’s really hard to find a guy who doesn’t care about that stuff. Right now, it’s easier just having my career to focus on.”

How can a guy change her status? “I’m open to love,” she says, “But guys should have to earn it. Because the minute they get it, they want something else.”

For now, the 23-year-old has no plans of settling down with a man. “Men are like hunters: they like the chase,” she adds. “So you have to keep ‘em guessing.

Actually, I’m like that too. I get bored quickly. So if someone can make me laugh, that’s the best.”

Outside of her past relationship with Brown and company, RiRi says her personality also makes dating complicated. “I’ve always been good at masking my emotions. For me, it’s tougher to be vulnerable than to be tough.”

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

18

A new U.S. law-enforcement tool: Facebook searches

By JEFF JOHN ROBERTS U.S. law-enforcement agencies are increasingly obtaining warrants to search Facebook, often gaining detailed access to users’ accounts without their knowledge.

A Reuters review of the Westlaw legal database shows that since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search individuals’ Facebook accounts. Many of the warrants requested a laundry list of personal data such as messages, status updates, links to videos and photographs, calendars of future and past events, “Wall postings” and “rejected Friend requests.”

Federal agencies seeking the warrants include the FBI, DEA and ICE, and the investigations range from arson to rape to terrorism.

The Facebook search warrants typically demand a user’s “Neoprint” and “Photoprint” — terms that Facebook has used to describe a detailed package of profile and photo information that is not even available to users themselves.

These terms appear in manuals for law enforcement agencies on how to request data from Facebook. The manuals, posted on various public-advocacy websites, appear to have been prepared by Facebook, although a spokesman for the company declined to confirm their authenticity.

The review of Westlaw data indicates that federal agencies were granted at least 11 warrants to search Facebook since the beginning of 2011, nearly double the number for all of 2010. The precise number of warrants served on Facebook is hard to determine, in part because some records are sealed, and warrant applications often involve unusual case names. (One example: “USA v. Facebook USER ID Associated with email address jimmie_white_trash@yahoo

.com,” a sealed case involving a drug sale.)

In a telephone interview, Facebook’s Chief Security Officer, Joe Sullivan, declined to say how many warrants had been served on the company. He said Facebook is sensitive to user privacy and that it regularly pushes back against law-enforcement “fishing expeditions.”

None of the warrants discovered in the review have been challenged on the grounds that it violated a person’s Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure, according to a review of the cases.

Some constitutionallaw experts said the Facebook searches may not have been challenged because the defendants - not to mention their “friends” or others whose pages might have been viewed as part of an investigation — never knew about them.

By law, neither Facebook nor the government is obliged to inform a user when an account is subject to a search by law enforcement, though prosecutors are required to disclose material evidence to a defendant.

Twitter and several other social-media sites have formally adopted a policy to notify users when law enforcement asks to search their profile.

Last January, Twitter also successfully challenged a gag order imposed by a federal judge in Virginia that forbade the company from informing users that the government had demanded their data.

Twitter said in an email message that its policy was “to help users protect their rights.”

The Facebook spokesperson would not say whether the company had a similar policy to notify users or if it was considering adopting one.

In several recent cases, however, Facebook apparently did not inform account-holders or their lawyers about government snooping.

Last year, several weeks after police appre-

hended four young Satanists who burned down a church in Pomeroy, Ohio, an FBI agent executed a search warrant on Facebook seeking data about two of the suspects.

All four ultimately pleaded guilty and received sentences of eight to 10 years in state prison (along with a message of forgiveness from a church official who called the sentence “God’s time out,” and presented them with a Bible). It is unclear if data obtained from the warrant was used in the investigation.

Lawyers for the two defendants were unaware of the searches until they were contacted by Reuters.

In another case, the DEA searched the account of Nathan Kuemmerle, a Hollywood psychiatrist who pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court after a joint operation last year by the DEA and local police revealed he had run a “pill mill” for celebrity customers.

Westlaw records show that that the DEA executed a warrant to search Kuemmerle’s Facebook account weeks after his arrest.

At Kuemmerle’s bail hearing, a Redondo Beach police detective pointed to comments Kuemmerle made on Facebook and in the site’s popular game “Mafia Wars” to argue

that he should be denied bail.

According to Kuemmerle’s lawyer, John Littrell, the detective testified on cross-examination that the information was from “an undercover source.” Littrell told Reuters that neither he nor his client was ever informed about the warrant, and that he only learned of its existence from Reuters.

The detective said in an e-mail message that he did not recall being asked about how he obtained the Facebook information. The DEA did not reply to requests for comment.

The Facebook searches potentially open up new legal challenges in an area that at one time seemed relatively settled: How much protection an individual has against government searches of personal information held by third parties. In a 1976 case, United States v.

Miller, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a bank did not have to inform its customer when it turned over his financial records to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

In doing so, the Supreme Court held that the customer could not invoke Fourth Amendment rights against illegal search and seizure because the records were bank property in which he had no legitimate “expectation of pri-

vacy.”

Under this reasoning, a person would have no more expectation of privacy in Facebook content than in bank records. A key difference, however, is the scale of information that resides on social networking sites.

“It is something new,” said Thomas Clancy, a constitutional-law professor at the University of Mississippi. “It’s the amount of information and data being provided as a matter of course by third parties.”

Eben Moglen, a cyberlaw professor at Columbia Law School, says the Facebook searches show that courts are illequipped to safeguard privacy rights in an age of digital media. In his view, “the solutions aren’t legal, they’re technical.”

Clancy, the Mississippi professor, said that courts are divided over whether the unprecedented volume of digital records in the possession of third parties

should give rise to special rules governing the search of electronic data.

He added that the Supreme Court had an opportunity to clarify the issue in a case called Ontario v. Quon, but that it decided to “punt.”

The Quon case concerned a California policeman who claimed his employer violated his Fourth Amendment rights when it read sexually explicit messages that he had sent from a work pager.

The Court found that that the employer’s search was not unreasonable, but declined to rule on the degree to which people have a privacy interest in electronic data controlled by others.

Explaining the court’s caution, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “The judiciary risks error by elaborating too fully on the Fourth Amendment implications of emerging technology before its role in society has become clear.”

Groupon offers first car deal, targets bigger items

By ALISTAIR BARR SAN FRANCISCO — Groupon Inc. offered its first car coupon yesterday, a sign the largest online daily deal company is expanding into bigger-ticket items.

Groupon offered a $199 deal good for $500 off the purchase or lease of a new or pre-owned vehicle at LaFontaine Auto dealership in Detroit.

Groupon, with more than 80 million members, usually offers discounts on smaller items, such as restaurants and spa visits. The company typically takes 50 per-

cent of revenue generated by deals. Branching out into bigger purchases means that 50 percent cut will be bigger in dollar terms.

“The prospect of opening up markets like new cars and leases is attractive,” said Ben Edelman, an associate professor at Harvard Business School who has been critical of Groupon. “To the extent they can still take 50 percent revenue share that’s more money.”

Groupon has done some other big-ticket deals recently, such as $500 off closing costs for real estate purchases, Edelman noted.

The car offering may

be more problematic, he added.

“This voucher is for a very small portion of the cost of a car or lease, so it’s basically an agreement to buy or lease a car from LaFontaine,” Edelman said. “That’s poor negotiating because the dealer could take advantage of that by offering the same car for more money.”

In many Groupon offers, like restaurants and spas, prices are posted already, so customers know what they are getting, Edelman noted. In the case of the car voucher, it may not be clear what the discount will be applied to, he explained.

Bob Milner, who runs LaFontaine Auto dealership, did not return phone calls or an email seeking a comment about the Groupon deal.

Groupon filed to sell shares to the public last month, saying it hoped to raise at least $750 million. The company has been called into question by critics who say its business — essentially a coupon service — can be easily replicated both by startups and existing Web powerhouses. Google Inc. has already begun such a service and Amazon.com Inc. started a similar effort called AmazonLocal this month.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

19

Business leaders urge action on debt ceiling

By DAVID MORGAN WASHINGTON — U.S. business leaders urged Congress and the White House to reach a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling and reduce the deficit in order to avoid dire economic consequences and set the stage for a stronger recovery.

After spending months quietly lobbying behind the scenes for an increase in the $14.3 trillion debt limit,

a coalition of business groups from Wall Street to Main Street publicly called on Republican and Democratic leaders to set aside their differences and work together for the good of the United States.

“Now is the time for our political leaders to act,” said a letter to President Barack Obama and every member of Congress that was signed by more than 450 business leaders and groups including the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce

and a number of Fortune 500 companies.

“It is time to pull together rather than pull apart,” the letter said.

The Treasury has said Congress must raise the debt ceiling, which caps how much the United States can borrow, by August 2 or face an unprecedented default. But Republicans and Democrats, including Obama, have been wrangling over a deal to slash America’s budget deficit, which Republicans demand

before agreeing to raise the borrowing authority.

The White House has warned that an agreement must be in place

by July 22 to give Congress enough time to act.

In their letter, business leaders warned that even a technical default would not only throw financial markets into disarray but also increase the cost of mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student loans.

“The debt ceiling trig-

ger does offer a needed catalyst for serious negotiations on budget discipline but avoiding even a technical default is essential. This is a risk our country must not take,” the letter said.

Up to now, businesses have largely relied on lobbying efforts to persuade members of Congress, especially Republican freshmen in the House of Representatives, to agree to a debt ceiling hike.

But on Tuesday, the business community called on political lead-

ers to make the necessary difficult choices for a plan to substantially reduce long-term U.S. deficits and stabilize the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product.

“The resulting plan must be long-term, predictable and binding. As businesses make plans to invest and hire, we need confidence that, in the absence of a crisis, our government will not reverse course and return to large deficit spending,” the letter said.

Small, medium companies turn sour on economy

By ALEXANDRA ALPER Small and mediumsized companies are increasingly glum about the chances of a pickup in growth in the U.S. economy over the next year, a survey showed.

The percentage of chief executives of small companies who expect the economy to improve over the next 12 months dropped sharply to 31 percent from 50 percent last quarter, according to a quarterly survey by Vistage International, which represents small business owners.

The survey comes

hard on the heels of a surprisingly weak payrolls report that showed rising unemployment in June, and added to suspicions that the economic slowdown may not be temporary.

“We are seeing a pretty substantial reversal in confidence,” said Rafael Pastor, CEO of Vistage International.

He said concerns over healthcare costs, tight credit markets, slow progress on new trade agreements and anemic economic growth underlie the “growing frustration” among CEOs. “They are seeing an economy that is going

to stagnate, putter along,” he said.

Confidence gains since the first quarter of 2010 have been erased, with CEOs citing customer demand as their biggest challenge.

Just half of all companies expect to grow profits in the next year, the lowest level in two years, the survey showed.

Dim expectations are keeping CEOs from expanding their longterm operations — 52 percent of those polled are holding back on permanent hires, though 49 percent said they would increase the total number of employees. That’s a

drop from the 54 percent who said they would add workers in each of the previous two quarters.

Only 42 percent of businesses plan to invest in new plants and equipment, lower than last quarter’s 48 percent but above the 37 percent recorded in the second quarter of last year.

The CEOS were gloomier than Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said on June 22nd that the economy will pick up in the second half of 2011.

Attributing the slowdown to high oil prices and companies’ difficulties obtaining parts

from Japan, Bernanke has said no stimulus was planned after the Fed’s $600 billion bondbuying program ended last month.

CEOs were also much more negative about the current economic situation — only 37 percent said it had improved, down from 63 percent in the first quarter.

There was some good news for workers: 66 percent of CEOs said they planned to increase wages over the next 12 months. No comparisons are available for the previous period. Hourly earnings decreased in June for the first time in a year, according to the

Job openings, rate little changed in May

By EMILY STEPHENSON WASHINGTON — There was little turnover in the U.S. labor market in May, and the number of available jobs at the end of the month was virtually unchanged from April, government data showed.

There were about 2.97 million jobs open at the end of May, a slight boost from April’s 2.95 million, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The rate of hires for

Job seekers wait to meet potential employers at career fair at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

U.S. nonfarm jobs remained at 3.1 percent, and the separations rate rose slightly from 2.9 percent in April to 3.1 percent in May. Hires and separations are indicators of labor movement during

the month. The number of jobs open at the end of the month — unfilled, posted vacancies that employers plan to fill within 30 days — help describe employers’ demand for labor.

The number of open-

ings available to job seekers is still well below pre-recession levels, the Labor Department said. There were 4.4 million openings at the end of December 2007.

The unemployment rate rose in May from

9.0 percent in April to 9.1 percent, the Labor Department said in an earlier report.

The job openings report showed the rate at which people quit their jobs, which can indicate workers’ confidence in their ability to find new jobs, was unchanged in May. The rate of layoffs rose slightly during the month from 1.2 percent in April to 1.4 percent in May. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey encompasses employment data from about 16,000 establishments across the country.

government’s non-farm payroll data released last week.

Small businesses represent the backbone of the economy, accounting for about half of gross domestic product and threequarters of jobs, according to some estimates.

The nationwide survey, which was conducted from June 14 through June 24, included responses from 1,719 CEOs. The margin of error was 1.6 percentage points.

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DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

DAILY CHALLENGE

21

SPORTS

Jeter earned the right to sit this one out

By TIM BROWN PHOENIX - Yes, it’s true, Derek Jeter is not here.

The outrage is palpable.

I mean, now that we’re through being outraged that he was coming.

That was palpable, too.

It’s how it goes for Jeter these days, overpaid one day and filling Yankee Stadium the next, finished as a player one day and asked to chart a course for Pete Rose the next, everything that is wrong with the All-Star game in the morning and all that is right with baseball by early evening.

The man was Teflon once.

At 37, batting .270, leading the free world in routine-grounder percentage, on a bum calf, he is a 45 Tesla hybrid magnet in pinstripes.

By the time he gets to the ballpark, he’s pulling every uptown train behind him.

Along with half the Yellow Cab fleet, a manhole cover and Ivana Trump.

So, Jeter is voted into the All-Star game as the American League’s starting shortstop, then finds that after weeks of chasing 3,000 hits and rehabbing his calf and re-chasing 3,000 hits, he is emotionally

Derek Jeter returns to the dugout after grounding out on July 7. He recorded his 3,000th hit two days later. and physically spent. was 21 years old.

Why can’t he be more Like, collapse-into-atown-car-and-get-out- like Shane Victorino, of-the-city-for-three- who is too hurt to play but honored the fan days spent.

And after 17 years, vote and wore the National League unihe takes a pass.

After a career of put- form last night?

Why can’t he show ting the Yankees first, the game first, he up like Ryan Braun, tapped out. After 3,004 Jose Reyes and David hits, 11 All-Star games Price did and wave to and 14 Octobers, he his public?

Because he didn’t took a blow. For himself, his calf and his want to, that’s why.

Because he couldn’t, not sanity.

What he gets is not if he’s going to milk compassion, not nearly that calf through the two decades of benefit next three months and of the doubt, but a lec- his head through the ture about his responsi- next 74 games. Because bility to the people he he didn’t believe he served for every inning could serve an exhibiof every game since he tion game and the

Derek Jeter watches Ichiro take batting practice prior to the 2008 All-Star game in New York.

Yankees and himself times.

“He’s played in that over a cross-country flight and two days of city, played that posiactivity that has less to tion, and been that guy do with baseball than it and he’s never dropped does marketing base- the ball. And I’m not ball, then a flight back saying he dropped the and then an eight-game ball this time.

“He’s been getting road trip.

Not this year. Not after 3,000 hits, which no one could imagine this time.

Should he have come other than the 27 other out and tipped his cap guys who have 3,000 to America? Didn’t he hits. And they didn’t do just do that two days it in that city. The way I ago? Hasn’t he done look at it is, cut him that countless times some slack. If there’s ever been a guy who’s over 17 years?

His responsibility is bought a rain check for to himself and the one of these, he’s the one. Let’s just move on Yankees.

“Look at the man’s and not make such a record as far as respect- big deal out of it.”

Very likely, Jeter is ing the game,” Paul Konerko was saying answering publicly for Monday afternoon. the mess the All-Star “He’s been there for the game has become. The All-Star game, for the face of the game for so game of baseball at all long - for the champi-

ons it’s crowned and the money it’s made and the fans it’s won - Jeter now gets to wear the ridiculous gluttony of 84 AllStars, and This Time It Counts, and a Home Run Derby that’s been stale for the better part of a decade. See, this is what happens when you make fun of Bud Selig and an All-Star game that ends in a tie.

So it’s Jeter’s fault Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera are hurt, and that many of the game’s best players deep down would really prefer the time off to another 48 hours of media and fan interaction. It’s his fault Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia and Cole Hamels and Felix Hernandez pitched Sunday, and his fault Albert Pujols, Joe Mauer and Ichiro didn’t make the cut in a year almost everyone else was an All-Star.

Well, folks, think of it as a chance to meet Andrew McCutchen and Matt Kemp and Asdrubal Cabrera.

And think of it as taking a good man at his word.

He is exhausted. It was all too much. Turns out he wasn’t chasing 3,000, it was chasing him.

He needed a day or two off. Let him take them.

Besides, he’ll be back next year.

And then we can all be outraged again.

Dez Br yan t wor ries Deion Sand ers Hall of Fame electee Deion Sanders used to mentor Dallas Cowboys recevier Dez Bryant, but he cut ties in March and continues to worry about the young player.

“Everybody is. I think the Dallas Cowboys are more concerned than I am,” Sanders told WCNN sports radio in Atlanta yesterday.

Sanders had said that Bryant had lied to

him when he decided to stop working with the 22-year-old. That came on the heels of Bryant having a run-in with police at a Texas shopping mall. Bryant also found his name in court over unpaid jewelry bills.

“It’s hard to talk to a person when they have millions, man, because there is so much noise in their life,” Sanders said on the radio sta-

tion.

“Everybody around them is employed and they have ‘yes men.’ You gotta start hiring a ‘no man.’ “ Bryant’s college career at Oklahoma State was cut short because he had contact with Sanders that ran afoul of NCAA regulations. In his first training camp with the Cowboys, Bryant refused to carry Roy

Williams’ pads, leading to another controversy.

Still, Sanders stuck with him, until the former Cowboy said he thought Bryant would negatively influence children in his youth program.

“I had to cut my umbilical cord with him because a lot of things people do not know about. I’m trying to open schools and get these kids prepared for

the future, and I can’t have that on my record saying that: ‘How am I going to send my kids to your school, and this is what you are turning out over here?’ “ Sanders told the radio station. “No, I am not turning that out over there. ... I love (Bryant).

I see him from time to time. I pray for him, but as a unit we had to separate.”

Dez Bryant

22

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

Ex-NFL Bengal killed by Calif. deputy in scuffle

David Lee “Deacon” Turner

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A California deputy shot and killed a former running back for the Cincinnati Bengals in front of a convenience store after he allegedly hit an officer with a bag holding two cans of beer.

David Lee “Deacon” Turner, 56, played with the Bengals from 1978 to 1980 and had long arrest history after his playing career was finished.

Deputies who were investigating reports of teenagers asking adults to buy alcohol and cigarettes approached Turner on Sunday as he left the convenience store with his 19-year-old son and a 16-year-old juvenile.

The deputies detained Turner while they investigated. The sheriff’s office said Turner initially complied but then decided to leave, and the scuffle occurred when deputies tried to stop the former NFL player. Deputy Aaron Nadal was hit on the back of the head with a bag holding two, 24-ounce cans of beer before Deputy Wesley Kraft drew his handgun and fired twice at Turner, authorities said.

Friends and family told the The Bakersfield Californian they have trouble believing authorities’ account of the story. Nephew Kevin Turner called his uncle “the backbone of our family.”

“He was a marvelous kid,” Bakersfield College coach Gerry Collins told the newspaper.

Turner excelled at shredding defenses at Shafter High School, Bakersfield College and San Diego State University before getting drafted by the Bengals in the second round in 1978.

Turner was used primarily as a kick returner in his three years in the league, amassing 1,149 return yards in 1979 for the last-place Bengals. He had 549 career rushing yards.

Court records show an arrest history stretching back to 1986. The most recent, on June 17, was for driving while his license was revoked because of a conviction for driving under the influence.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood said department investigators were getting tapes from video cameras at the store to see if the incident Sunday was recorded. He said he has purposely not researched Turner’s criminal background.

“I want to look at it with an open and objective mind,” Youngblood said. “Having a record is a tiny piece of the puzzle, but not a significant piece.”

DAILY CHALLENGE

SPORTS

Michael Irvin champions equality Former Dallas Cowboys great Michael Irvin appears shirtless on the cover of this month’s gay men’s magazine Out and discusses his passion for equality issues.

Irvin publicly acknowledges that the impetus for taking a stand comes from his relationship with his gay brother, Vaughn, who died of stomach cancer in 2006. Irvin had not spoken publicly about his brother previously, according to the magazine.

In the article, Irvin describes how his brother’s sexual orientation contributed to his own issues.

He says that he found out his brother was gay in the late 1970s, when he found Vaughn wearing women’s clothing.

Michael Irvin was rattled by the experience and has figured out since that it contributed to his own womanizing behavior.

Working with a Dallas area bishop, T.D. Jakes, Irvin looked at the past.

“And through it all we realized maybe some of the issues I’ve had with so many women, just bringing women around so everybody can see, maybe that’s the residual of the fear I had that if my brother is wearing ladies’ clothes, am I going to be doing that? Is it genetic?” Irvin said to Out. “I’m certainly not making excuses for my bad decisions.

But I had to dive inside of me to find out why am I making these decisions, and that came up.”

Irvin says that his father, Walter, helped him learn a tolerant form of Christianity because the elder Irvin accepted his gay son and encouraged him to love his brother unconditionally.

Irvin now believes the

African-American community should support marriage equality.

“I don’t see how any AfricanAmerican, with any inkling of history, can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life,” he said, according to the magazine. “No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality, and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an AfricanAmerican who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

“The last thing I want is to go to God and have him ask, ‘What did you do?’ And I talk about winning Super Bowls and national titles,” Irvin said, according to Out. “I didn’t do

anything to make it a better world before I left? All I got is Super Bowls? That would be scary.”

Irvin would support any athlete who wants to come out.

“If anyone comes out in those top four major sports, I will absolutely support him. ... When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100 percent support,” Irvin said.

And if the player produced on the field, he would have supported a gay teammate as well.

Winning was paramount.

“I believe, if a teammate had said he’s gay, we would have integrated him and kept moving because of the closeness,” Irvin said, according to the magazine.

He believes the team that won three Super Bowls could have integrated an openly gay teammate as well as any team.

Austin Box’s drug death an accident OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma linebacker Austin Box had five prescription painkillers and an anti-anxiety drug in his system when he died, according to a preliminary toxicology report released yesterday by the state medical examiner.

The death of the 22year-old Box two months ago was ruled accidental. In the report, the agency said the combination of drugs likely caused pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lungs, and aspiration

pneumonia, which is an inflammation of the lungs caused by inhaling foreign substances.

“There is no greater pain than the loss of a child,” Box’s parents, Craig and Gail Box, said in a prepared statement.

“The pain is intensified by knowing that the death of your child could have been prevented.

“Anyone that knew Austin would give testament to his pure heart.

The love and pride we feel for our son cannot be diminished by the cause of his death. He

gave us so much joy and so many wonderful memories. He will forever be ‘Mommy’s baby’ and ‘Daddy’s little boy,’ “ they said.

A friend found Box unresponsive in the friend’s El Reno home and called authorities the morning of May 19.

The friend told a dispatcher Box wasn’t breathing, that Box had been taking pain pills and later told a police officer “he believed he had overdosed.”

An autopsy found the painkillers oxymor-

phone, morphine, hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxycodone in Box’s system, along with the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam.

The report noted Box’s significant medical conditions included cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, and a chronic pain history.

Box starred at Enid High School, leading the Plainsmen to the Class 6A title game in 2006, playing quarterback, running back, wide receiver and free safety at different times.

DAILY CHALLENGE WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011

DAILY CHALLENGE

23

SPORTS

Plaintiff lawyer welcomes appeal in UCF trial

By KYLE HIGHTOWER ORLANDO, Fla. The attorney for the family of a University of Central Florida football player who was awarded a $10 million wrongful death judgment said Friday that he welcomes the university’s plans for appeal.

Steven Yerrid served as the lead attorney representing 18-year-old Ereck Plancher’s family and said the verdict by the jury after a 14-day civil trial will serve as a signal to the college athletic community atlarge, that the care of athletes should be put before winning on the playing field.

The two-year legal saga that followed the preseason workout death of Plancher three years ago ended late Thursday night when a jury found the UCF Athletic Association negligent in his death.

Plancher died after a March 2008 workout.

“Our goal was to make a difference so other parents don’t have to suffer a horrific experience of burying a child,” Yerrid said. “It speaks to bigger issue that winning is important, but the welfare of the athlete always has to come first. In most cases that is true in college athletics. But for those where it’s not the case, it’s a wake-up call.”

Enock and Gisele Plancher declined to

comment.

UCF spokesman Grant Heston said that the school will appeal Thursday night’s judgment and believes “the appeals court will side with us.”

“The jury’s decision to not allow gross negligence and punitive damages is a vindication of the actions and reputations of our athletics leadership,” Heston said Friday.

“The allegations about water and trainers being withheld during the workout were proved to be baseless during the trial. The leadership of our athletics department continues to have the university’s confidence.”

Plancher collapsed and died following conditioning drills at the school’s football complex in March 2008.

Orange County medical examiner Joshua Stephany and three experts hired by Plancher family attorneys testified he died from complications of sickle cell trait.

Plancher is one of more than 20 college football players to die since 2000 in offseason conditioning workouts.

The jurors in civil trial found the UCF Athletic Association was negligent and failed to do everything possible to save Plancher’s life.

It entered the amount of damages it believed should be awarded to Plancher’s parents, Enock and Gisele

Plancher. The total was $5 million apiece.

But the jury also decided there was no “clear and convincing evidence” that UCF’s athletic association was guilty of gross negligence and determined it should not face punitive damages.

The Plancher family filed their wrongful death lawsuit against UCF in March 2009.

When the trial began last month, their attorneys presented evidence during from four former UCF football players, including a former team captain, who all recalled a strenuous workout than UCF coaches and school officials originally said took place. The players also testified that Plancher was struggling throughout, gasping for breath at times.

They also alleged that no water or trainers were present during what one of the players said was a “punishment” workout for players coming back from spring vacation out of shape. They also accused coach George O’Leary of cursing Plancher shortly before he collapsed and had to be carried outside by teammates.

UCF officials contended from the day that Plancher died in 2008 that the school did everything necessary to save his life. During their case they had players that were at the workout testify that

water was available to players and argued that Plancher knew he had sickle cell trait and that it was actually a heart ailment that caused his death.

O’Leary and athletic director Keith Tribble originally said that the workout last 10 minutes in duration and that Plancher never was seen struggling.

They amended those statements to say the workout lasted longer, but O’Leary testified during UCF’s case that he only saw Plancher fall once at the end of a sprint, but never saw him in distress.

UCF’s athletic department is insured by a $21 million policy, but it is unclear whether their insurance company would cover the judgment.

Judge Robert Evans ruled early in the case that UCF’s athletic department was private and not under the umbrella of the university as a protected state agency.

Under Florida statutes, state entities are only liable for up to $200,000 in civil judgments.

Yerrid said prior to the start of the trial they filed a $4.5 million settlement offer to UCF that got no response.

Florida law says that if an eventual judgment exceeds any settlement offer by 125 percent, the defendant is responsible for all court costs and attorney fees.

Yerrid estimated their costs for repre-

Ereck Plancher senting the Plancher family is at least $500,000 and that they are do another $1.5 million in fees on top of that UCF is responsible for now.

“It’s not a winning strategy that they have employed,” Yerrid said.

“At some point they have to understand reforming their conduct is more important that refusing to lose.

“And by the way, they haven’t been right on anything yet. So they are batting zero.

I’m very confident they will continue to bat zero. We had an excellent, experienced trial

judge. I’m confident that his rulings will be upheld.”

Yerrid said the ruling is a win across the board for college athletes.

“We’re pleased the system works and will have a beneficial effect across the world of college athletics, not just in football,” he said.

“The emphasis will be not just sickle cell trait, but spread to other athletes. But if an athlete has a condition that can be detrimental, it’s our hope that it will be guarded for athletes at all levels of participation.”

Durant not ruling out going abroad during lockout TIANJIN, China Kevin Durant isn’t ruling out playing basketball abroad next season if the NBA lockout isn’t resolved.

The Oklahoma City Thunder forward said yesterday during a promotional tour in China that he thinks more players will follow

Deron Williams’ example and play overseas if the NBA season is disrupted. Williams has said he will play for Besiktas in Turkey if the lockout remains.

“We’ll see, I would like to try something new,” Durant said. “But of course, my first option is playing in the NBA. So now I want to see how this lockout

goes.”

He said he’s still hopeful that a new collective bargaining agreement will be reached.

“If not, I will make a decision on where I am going to play basketball,” said Durant, who added he’s in no hurry to make a decision. “I am going to take it slow, everybody’s going to wait to see how this

plays out. D-Will, you know, he made his decision quick and I am sure you are going to see a lot of guys kind of follow his footsteps. So, he’s very brave to be the first guy to do it.”

He added it is “tough” to see Yao Ming retire, and the 7-foot-6 Houston Rockets center deserves to be in the basketball Hall of Fame.

Durant said it has been an honor to play Yao, who is expected to announce July 20 that he’s retiring from the NBA after nine seasons because of leg and foot injuries. The 30-year-old Yao has missed 250 regular-season games over the past six seasons.

“Tough, man, tough to see a great player and a great competitor like

Yao Ming leave the game after being injured a few years,” Durant said. “As a player, you come into the league, the first thing somebody asks you is what you want to do when you get here, and a lot of players say, ‘I want to dunk over Yao Ming.’ So you can tell how much impact he has in the game.

DAILY CHALLENGE

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

JETER EARNS RIGHT TO “SIT OUT” SEE PAGE 21

MICHAEL IRVIN CHAMPIONS G AY R I G H T S S EE PA GE 22