Vol 18 No 55, Monday May 16th, 2011

TUTU ISSUES CALL FOR ACTIVISM IN U.S. - PG. 3 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

THE NATION’S ONLY BLACK DAILY 35 Cents

Final

SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE OUTLOOK GRIM

U.S. Social Security trust fund payments topped income by reading “BACK OFF SOCIAL SECURITY” during an event in $49 billion in 2010 and will be $46 billion more in the hole by support of Social Security as it exists on Capitol Hill in the end of 2011, trustees said. Photo: Participants hold signs Washington.

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DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

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NEWS BRIEFS Obama meets with CBC at White House FADED LINES PLAGUE CITY ROADWAYS, SURVEY FINDS Drivers are having a tough time seeing where they’re going on city roads.

A new survey by AAA found missing or faded road markings on the seven most traveled roads in the city is making it harder for drivers to stay in their lanes.

Roads were also rated on rough pavement and potholes.

The Cross Island Parkway was in the worst shape according to AAA, with 53 percent of segments in poor condition.

Stretches of the FDR Drive, Bruckner Expressway and West Side Highway were also deemed unsafe.

The Belt Parkway, Grand Central Parkway and Staten Island Expressway were rated as good or acceptable.

BLOGGER POSTS NYPD DOCUMENTS ONLINE The New York City Police Department is downplaying the importance of police documents posted online by a blogger who says he found them in the trash.

Bucky Turco says he found papers marked “COBRA Task Force - Law Enforcement Sensitive” in a garbage can outside of the Manhattan South Task Force.

They contained a map of Times Square and detailed the deployment of 20 police officers.

COBRA, which stands for Chemical Ordinance, Biological and Radiological Awareness, is a federally funded program that teaches officers how to stop potential terrorist threats.

In a statement, Turco said he hopes the NYPD will be more mindful of its papers, and won’t just “toss them into a public trash can within blocks of the city’s biggest terrorist targets.”

NYPD officials said while they would have preferred a more discreet disposal of the papers, there was no security breach.

DOB: BROOKLYN HOME HAD ILLEGAL DOORS INSTALLED PRIOR TO FATAL FIRE The city says an illegal Brooklyn boarding house that went up in flames had as many as 10 people living inside.

The Department of Buildings says despite complaints filed against 16 Covert Street for illegal conversions, inspectors found no evidence of illegal wall construction. However, officials say the owner did break the rules by installing doors into existing walls to create separate units.

The fire department says residents tried to put out the flames themselves rather than calling the fire department right away.

The fire eventually spread to three adjacent buildings killing Gregory “Uncle Jiggs” Atkinson, 44, and Frank Edwards, 56.

Investigators believe a hot plate caused the fire.

Residents say there were no smoke alarms in the building.

The Congressional Black Caucus recently held its first full Caucus meeting with President Obama at the White House. The CBC emphasized the importance of innovative job and wealth creation, especially for the African American community, which is the hardest hit by the recession. President Obama and the CBC discussed a myriad of issues, but jobs were the primary focus including ways to address the conditions of the long term unemployed. The CBC commended President Obama on the successful military action taken by the Administration and our armed forces in capturing Osama bin Laden.

Additionally, the CBC acknowledged the importance of Assistant Leader, Jim Clyburn’s significant role in the budget deficit and debt ceiling discussions.

The CBC expressed to the President the importance of immediately identifying resources available for investment for critical programs that serve vulnerable communities.

The Caucus proposed the idea of youth jobs through aid and clean-up of the recent tornado and flood ravished areas.

President Obama

President Barack Obama meets with the Congressional Black Caucus in the State Dining Room of the White House. !

expressed his commitment to short and long term strategies to ensure economic growth thereby creating a more prosperous America. The President also assured the Caucus of its critical role as a partner in addressing the economic woes of our time.

President Obama expressed his goal

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to create a robust economy that will generate jobs for those in the African American community and for all Americans.

The Congressional Black Caucus is committed to continuing its work with the Obama Administration to get America back to work.

Shirley Sherrod working as USDA contractor WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said former official Shirley Sherrod would be working with the agency again as a contract employee.

Officials told Politico Sherrod had signed on to work on a USDA outreach program for minority farmers based on a report on longstanding claims of discrimination.

Sherrod was fired last year in a flap over public remarks she made that were spun on a Web site to make it appear she was discriminating against white farmers. The claim was debunked, but Sherrod declined to rejoin the department.

Politico said Sunday that the study had begun long before the Internet flap occurred. The USDA also recently reached a settlement in a large civil rights lawsuit filed by African-Amer-

ica, Indian and Latino farmers.

Sherrod now runs the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education, one of three organizations that

will work with the USDA on the outreach project. She could not be reached for comment, the newspaper said.

Obama warns of worse crisis if no debt ceiling rise

By JEFF MASON WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama warned Congress that failing to raise the debt limit could lead to a worse financial crisis and economic recession than 200809 if investors began doubting U.S. credit-worthiness.

In remarks recorded last week and broadcast by CBS News on Sunday, Obama repeated his stance that Republicans should not link the debt ceiling decision to spending cuts as part of deficit-reducing measures.

“If investors around the world thought that the full faith and credit of the United States was not being backed up, if they thought that we might renege on our IOUs, it could unravel the entire financial system,” Obama told a CBS News town-hall meeting.

“We could have a worse recession than we already had, a worse financial crisis than we already had.”

The White House and congressional Republicans are locked in a debate over the deficit and the debt ceiling.

The Treasury Department is expected to hit its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit on Monday, making it unable to access bond markets again.

Republican leaders, who have said they agree the limit must be raised, say they will not approve a further increase in borrowing authority without steps to keep debt under control.

A deal may not emerge for several months.

The Treasury Department says it can stave off default until August 2 by drawing on other sources of money to pay its bills.

Obama said he was committed to

deficit reduction but discouraged a link between that and the debt limit.

“Let’s not have the kind of linkage where we’re even talking about not raising the debt ceiling. That’s going to get done,” he said. “But let’s get serious about deficit reduction.”

A report from the think tank Third Way to be released on Monday supports Obama’s warnings. It says the United States could plunge back into recession if inaction in Washington forced a debt default, with some 640,000 U.S. jobs vanishing, stocks falling and lending activity tightening.

Vice President Joe Biden is leading talks between the White House and lawmakers over how to reduce massive U.S. budget deficits and raise the credit limit. He told reporters on Thursday that progress was being made but it was too early to be optimistic about a deal.

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

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Social Security, Medicare outlook grim WASHINGTON — U.S. Social Security trust fund payments topped income by $49 billion in 2010 and will be $46 billion more in the hole by the end of 2011, trustees said Friday.

The report issued by Charles P. Blahous III and Robert D. Reischauer also said Medicare accounted for 3.6 percent of gross domestic product last year and will grow to 5.5 percent by 2035 and 6.2 percent by 2085.

“The financial conditions of the Social Security and Medicare programs remain challenging,” the trustees said in their annual report.

“Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative modifications if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided.”

The report projects Social Security will not have enough money to pay full benefits after 2036 and Medicare by 2024 unless action is taken to shore up the systems.

The 2010 Social Security deficit was the first for that program since 1983, the result partly of the recession, which meant fewer people working and contributing to the

trust fund.

The report said Medicare’s situation would be even worse were it not for healthcare reform passed last year, which reduced annual payment increases for most Medicare services, noting, however, “the long-term viability of this provision is debatable.”

“The financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare should be addressed soon,” they said. “If action is taken sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that those affected can adequately prepare.

“Under current law, demographic trends will be the primary driver of cost growth for both Social Security and Medicare over the next couple of decades. The leading edge of the large baby boom generation began signing up for retirement benefits in 2008 and Medicare coverage in 2011.

This generation will dramatically increase the number of program beneficiaries through the mid-2030s, while also living longer than previous generations and having produced fewer children than did their own parents. …

“Even in advance of these delibera-

Participants hold signs reading “BACK OFF SOCIAL SECURITY” during an event in support of Social Security as it exists on Capitol Hill in Washington. tions, we believe that the essential message conveyed by these reports is clear and will not change, absent legislation: that the vital Social Security and Medicare programs face real and

States crackdown on immigration Georgia Governor Nathan Deal on Friday signed a bill cracking down on illegal immigrants, which was inspired by a tougher measure passed by Arizona last year.

The law allows police to investigate the immigration status of those suspected of committing state or federal crimes.

It also requires many private employers to check the immigration status of newly hired workers on a federal database called E-Verify, and makes transporting and harboring illegal immigrants a state crime.

Several other states have in recent months pushed immigration laws similar to the Arizona law signed by Republican Governor Jan Brewer in

April 2010.

States are acting because they said the federal government has failed to enact immigration reform.

Following are facts on some of the state measures, and their current status. * Alabama - The House and Senate voted through versions of an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration last month that would give state and local police broad powers to check the immigration status of people detained on other charges and require state employers to run checks on new workers through a federal computer database. The Senate bill now returns to the House to be approved, amended or merged.

* Arizona -Governor Brewer signed a law in April 2010 including a measure requiring police to determine the immigration status of those they have detained and suspect are in the country illegally. Key parts were blocked by a federal judge, after the Obama administration sued arguing that it improperly meddled in federal issues. Last month a U.S. appeals court agreed with the decision to block the law. Brewer this week said she would petition the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the injunction. * Oklahoma - The Oklahoma Senate approved a bill that would create criminal penalties for undocumented immigrants who work in Oklahoma and those who smuggle them into

Tutu issues call for activism in U.S. TACOMA, Wash. — Mankind must help God heal the world, Archbishop Desmond Tutu told an audience of 15,000 in Tacoma, Wash.

The retired Anglican prelate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate spoke at the Tacoma Dome in an event sponsored by the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, The (Tacoma) News Tribune reported.

“It’s not that we have to be doing spectacular things,” the 79-year-old anti-apartheid hero said. “Sometimes, it’s just sitting in a bus and refusing to move,” a reference to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

Tutu said God didn’t “zap” the perpetrators of apartheid, but people within and outside of South Africa worked together to bring down the racist system. “It has always, always been just that way,” he said.

The priest also singled out mili-

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, in one of his last public appearances in the United States, speaks at the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation “Be the Spark” dinner event in Tacoma, Washington. tary spending as a misguided priority.

“God’s world is not as it should be,” he said. “Trillions ... that is what we spend on instruments of death and destruction.”

The program was part of a “Be the Spark” movement the foundation initiated with the University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University and others to improve the community.

substantial challenges, and that elected officials will best serve the interests of the public if financial corrections are enacted at the earliest practicable time.” the state. It would also give police officers more authority to question the citizenship status of suspects.

Local police officers trained through a federal program would be authorized to ask about immigration status. The House has also approved a version of the bill, and the two chambers must reconcile differences before it could go to Republican Governor Mary Fallin. * South Carolina - The Senate passed a bill in March allowing police to determine whether a person is in the country legally, but only after they have been stopped on suspicion of another crime. A House committee is considering a version of the bill. * Texas - The Texas House of Representatives has approved a measure that would crack down on cities that provide sanctuary to illegal immigrants. The measure would prohibit local governments from banning law enforcement officers asking about the immigration status of people who are lawfully detained or arrested. Republican Governor Rick Perry designated the measure as one of his emergency priorities for the legislative session. The bill is now in the Senate. But Perry has said that an Arizona-style law is not the right approach for Texas. * Utah - Republican Governor Gary Herbert signed a two-pronged package of immigration laws in March comprised of four bills he called “the Utah solution,” including an enforcement measure and another that would create a guest-worker program. On the day it took effect this week a federal judge temporary blocked the law. * Arizona-style laws have been rejected or failed to advance during the 2011 legislative session in California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wyoming.

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DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

FORUM

Obama: Leadership supreme

By DR. FRED MONDERSON THOMAS H. WATKINS

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Sitting and listening to one of the newest musical tunes entitled “Obama’s Greatest Hits,” familiar names as Osama bin Laden, Donald Trump, Joe “the Plumber,” John McCain, Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and with aspirants to the Presidency lining up as the Republican Party ponders who will be their next “best man,” other names as Mitt Romney, Gov. Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich have emerged; its finally becoming apparent to some people, President Barack Obama is an extrarodinary individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership from the inception he appeared on the radar of national recognition. More important, in this short period, he has dumfounded his critics who used every trick in a political playbook to derail the man and his plans to serve and rescue his nation. Yet, despite the perennial criticism of his every effort, his resilience has proved a sustainable trait of the greatest magnitude allowing him to leave the competition in the dust, seemingly confused, as he goes about the people’s business while chalking up significant military, terror, diplomatic, economic and legislative results.

In a recent exchange the President exclaimed he was too busy to engage with “Circus criers” and as it turned out, he was exercising his thinking cap

in executing one of the most amazing military feats imaginable; that is, in addition to the herculean task of rescuing his nation, he has remained committed to and been work on from day one as President. That Mr. Obama is a man of great intellect despite the likes of the Donald Trumps who questioned his academic background and therefore his intellectual functionality, was evident in his organization of a Presidential campaign that trumped some of the most seasoned contenders possessing political machines of great experience. In addition, to his natural intellect developed at Columbia and Harvard Universities, the hard knocks gained as a Community Organizer in the Chicago urban environment have all seasoned the man to the viscissitudes of the political jungle experience. Not forgetting his wonderful family, one of his greatests assets is his penchant for surrounding himself with some of the most seasoned minds of the American political, economic and educational landscape that add an aweful dimension to his thinking ability. In fact, during the rigors of the Presidential Campaign, when Senator Obama was accused of being deficient in an area of expertise, viz., economics, financial and foreign policy, education, diplomacy, military action in times of challenge, he would “go to school” on the opposition by consulting his reservoir of “wise men” and he would come out demonstrating new mastery of some area

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his challenger focused on. This strategy, therefore, early established Mr. Obama in the tradition of great African American thinkers as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Case in point, like all other candidates for the office of the President Mr. Obama had to submit proof of his natural birth citizenship which is a constitutional requirement. He proved he was born in Hawaii and thought this was sufficient to qualify him for the office.

While he went on to win the Presidency, amidst the many accusations he was subjected to, men pursuing ulterior motives still questioned the authenticity of his birth and therefore his Presidency. This led to a movement called “Birthers” who insisted to nauseating limits, Mr. Obama illegally occupied the White House. What an insult to the American people who elected him President! Let us also add, the world watched as some in this country heaped mud on our leader and the leader of the western world.

Even more, these “rebels” generated quite a following as some observers labeled their actions racist because Mr. Obama was a Black man, considering the history of this nation, particularly in reference to the role the institution of slavery has played in developing its economic and social foundations as the nation transformed itself. Now despite the birth certificate shennanigans some still believe Mr.

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DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

Ex-offender discrimination

By JUDGE GREG MATHIS When pundits discuss America’s still too high unemployment rate, they usually tell stories of individuals with impressive work histories and college degrees who are having a hard time finding a job after being downsized. Or, they relate tales of former manufacturing employees lost in our new, more tech-driven economy. Rarely does anyone share the plight of the more than 65 million Americans with some sort of criminal past who have a hard time finding work.

We need to talk about this population more often and come up with solutions to help them secure The reality is that employment. more and more people with criminal histories are trying to enter the work force but failed background checks keep thousands of people from getting hired, some for offenses that are decades old and as minor as disorderly conduct, drinking and having too much fun in the street with friends. Some of those being denied work have never been convicted of a crime, only arrested.

Every year, more than 700,000 people are released from state and federal prisons: they all need to find

Leadership supreme Continued from page 4 Obama was not born in the United states and that he is also a Muslim.

One sign at the “Rally on the Mall” read “I don’t care if the President is a Muslim!”

Still, Mr. Obama probably viewed this distraction as just that, as he set about addressing the challenges facing the nation, the job he was elected President to combat. Let us not forget, he applied that great intellect together with his team of great minds so that from the inception of his new Administration, he secured TARP Funds and Stimulus Dollars then set about rescuing Wall Street, the Auto Industry, engineering significant and far reaching legislation for equal pay for women, as well as health care reform; issued a challenge to the scientific community to experiement and develop new forms of clean energy whether solar, wind, or battery, with focus on the environment’ and insisted they employ any strategy that would help to alleviate America’s dependence on foreign sources of that precious commodity, oil. He created incentives to encourage an overhaul of the American Educational system while emphasizing the relevance of new strategies for teaching; the need for more com-

petent teachers and techniques and insisted on the need for greater proficiency in math and science to make America more competitive in this modern changing and complex world. Aididng housing recovery, he consistently wrestled with unemployment that has significantly impacted American society despite enormous efforts made to address this problem.

During the campaign and at the start of the Obama Administration, the full impact of the overall state of the American economy was not fully realized and now more than two years into his term, unemployment persists, despite the avalanche of effort expended to address this issue; not to mention the national debt that has been growing, particularly since significant portions are owed to foreign nations. Nevertheless, while his economic team fights feverishly to contain and reduce unemployment, some light is seen in the tunnel but its still quite distant.

Notwithstanding, as the image of the President faced the challenges of “party politics,” even individuals as Donald Trump picked up the mantra of the “birther” quest. Perhaps Mr. Obama held out on the final birth revelation to allow critics to show the venom of their underbelly. However, while some called their actions racist,

Views on swipe fee reform Dear Editor, Thank you for publishing the article about Debit Card fee reform.

For years, the credit card companies and big banks have been gouging small business owners like me, charging us sky-rocketing and exorbitant swipe fees whenever customers use their debit cards.

Last year, President Obama and Congress gave small business owners much-needed relief when they passed swipe fee reform.

But the big banks are now trying to use their political muscle to delay the reforms even before they go into effect.

I oppose the big banks getting

bailed out again at the expense of my business and my clients. Senator Schumer and Gillibrand, I urge you to protect swipe fee reform and to oppose any legislation that would delay it. Help small business owners create savings in the community.

Eboni Holloway, Owner, Eb Did It Baskets Dear Editor, Debit card swipe fee reform will create savings in our community As a small business owner, I was thrilled when Congress finally passed commonsense swipe fee reform last year. We needed the relief, as swipe fees have increased dramatically over

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work so that they may support themselves and their families, contribute to their communities and to ensure poverty, frustration and desperation don’t force them to return to a life of crime. There are no federal laws that protect individuals with a criminal past from being discriminated against by employers.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, however, does suggest that employers take into account the severity of the offense, the amount of time that has passed since the crime was committed and how the crime relates to the position being applied.

We need more than EEOC guidelines. There has to be a conscious effort by the business community to weed out practices that discriminate against ex-offenders. Most accept that some with a criminal past will

not be able to work in certain sectors; for example, a child predator cannot work with children.

But there are countless other positions this individual can hold that won’t present a danger to society.

Employers also need to understand that, just because someone committed a crime once does not mean they’ll do it again. In fact, research shows that the farther back the crime occurred, the less likely the offender will be to repeat that mistake.

Current hiring practices are locking millions out of the work force.

This discrimination not only hurts the individuals in question, it damages America’s long-term economic health.We’re losing millions of workers and need to help keep our country moving forward.

others saw wisdom in his birth holdout indicating the clown nature of some of his detractors.

Vowing he would get Osama bin Laden during his election campaign, as President, Barack Obama pursued the head of Al Queda relentlessly as he prosecuted the war on terror and the mastermind’s network. Call it disinformation if you like, but whenever the question of bin Laden’s whereabouts was raised, the standard response given was “He’s somewhere in the Pakistan mountainous badlands” meaning the trail had gone cold! Even if it did, by keeping certain details out of the press, the team assigned to “Get bin Laden” kept working on their assignment, updating the President on progress, narrowing their focus and finally locating his hideout.

The military task force chosen to carry out the plan to “get their man,” practiced some say, 100 times on how to successfully storm the terror mastermind’s stronghold. As they approached “D-Day” the President’s leadership skills took center stage as he pondered all the unimaginable risks involved in the ambitious plan.

In view of past failed military forays, viz., Kennedy’s “Bay of Pigs” failure in Cuba and Jimmy Carter’s “Iran hostage rescue” collapse, President Obama was faced with a tough Presidential decision as to time and manner to execute the plant to get the man. Combining “old faithful” listen-

ing to his people skills, and mindful of his “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets” we will act, speech he made the gutsy decision which turned out to be a spectacular triumph for his image, trumping the likes of Donald Trump who questioned his leadership abilities. Not only did Mr. Obama show the world he was a strong leader by proving he was tough on terrorism, he signalled to domestic opponents “You can’t use the soft on terror argument” in your 2012 Presidential campaign. Some say execution of the operation, disposing of bin Laden and seizing his treasure trove of terrorist data was as good as it gets, and that the Obama Administration performed brilliantly demonstrating Mr. Obama is truly an outstanding leader, decisive and courageous.

As he demonstrates these many traits, the hard working Mr. Obama continues his unrelenting domestic efforts to address problems in the economy, unemployment, fiscal policy, educational initiatives, the various forms of new alternative energy sources, passing legislation that’s designed to make people’s lives better, his chances of beign re-elected seem to be getting much better.

Without a doubt, however, Mr. Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership at a critical time in America’s history as he seeks to make a brighter future for this nation.

the years. The reforms, which are due to take effect in July, would allow me to pass along savings to my customers.

But the big banks are using their political muscle to try to delay these reforms. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) has recently introduced legislation to do just that. Should his bill become law, small businesses will pay…$33 million per day.

Senator Gillibrand, stated recently that “small business is the answer to our economic downturn.” As a small business owner I am asking that you oppose the Tester Amendment and give small business owners the relief we need to succeed.

Thank you.

We Can’t Afford Swipe Fee Delay I have been mystified by the recent swipe debate going on in Capitol Hill.

Swipe fee reform would save consumers cash, help small businesses create jobs and will spur our economic recovery.

It’s a no brainer.

The big banks and credit card companies are trying to protect their outrageous windfall profits at the expense of Main Street America. I hope my Senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, stand with us and oppose any legislation to delay or repeal swipe fee reform.

Akisha Freeman, Manager of Sugar Hill Restaurant

David Parker, Owner, David’s Brisket

6

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

Louisiana braces as flood spillway opens

By KATHY FINN MORGANZA, Louisiana — Army engineers on Saturday opened a key spillway to allow the swollen Mississippi River to flood thousands of homes and crops but spare New Orleans and Louisiana’s capital Baton Rouge.

The Army Corps of Engineers opened one of the 125 floodgates at the Morganza Spillway 45 miles northwest of Baton Rouge shortly after 3 p.m. CDT, sending a flume of water onto nearby fields.

The move, last taken in 1973, will channel floodwaters toward homes, farms, a wildlife refuge and a small oil refinery in the Atchafalaya River basin to avoid inundating Louisiana’s two largest cities.

Weeks of heavy rains and runoff from an unusually snowy winter caused the Mississippi River to rise, flooding 3 million acres of farmland in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas and evoking comparisons to historic floods in 1927 and 1937.

It could take three weeks for the enormous flow of water to pass through a system of levees and spillways to the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles to the south, said Major General Michael Walsh, president of the Mississippi River Commission.

“It’s putting tremendous pressure on the entire system as we try to work this amount of water through the Mississippi River tributaries,” Walsh told reporters before the floodgates opened.

The Morganza Spillway is seen in Morganza, Louisiana.

Some 3,000 square miles of land could be inundated in up to 20 feet of water for several weeks. When flows peak around May 22, the spillway will carry about 125,000 cubic feet per second, about one quarter of its capacity.

About 2,500 people live in the spillway’s flood path, and 22,500 others, along with 11,000 buildings could be affected by backwater flooding — the water pushed back into streams and tributaries that cannot flow normally into what will be an overwhelmed Atchafalaya River.

Some 18,000 acres of cropland could be flooded as waters rise, hitting their crest in about a week and remaining high for several weeks before subsiding.

“The land’s going to wash away, but that’s life,” said Hurlin Dupre, who represents Krotz Springs on the St. Landry Parish Council.

“The worst of it is we are in a drought and we can’t use none of that water.”

Failing to open the spillway would have put New Orleans at risk of flooding that, according to computer models, would eclipse that seen during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when 80 percent of the city was flooded. About 1,500 people died in the disaster.

In addition to threatening densely populated areas, lower Mississippi flooding threatened as many as eight refineries and at least one nuclear power plant alongside the river.

The refineries make up about 12 percent of the nation’s capacity for making gasoline and other fuels.

In the Atchafalaya River basin, authorities went door to door to begin evacuations in small towns and parishes in the path of the water,

Bush tells Obama on bin Laden: ‘Good call’ WASHINGTON – Former President George W. Bush, who spent years searching for Osama bin Laden, had two words for President Barack Obama when Obama told him of the al Qaeda leader’s death: “Good call.”

Bush, who has shied away from the public eye since leaving office in January 2009, spoke about the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden in remarks to a conference of hedge fund managers. An ABC News contributor attended the event and reported on them.

Bush said he was eating souffles at a Dallas restaurant with his wife, Laura, and two friends when he got word that Obama, his successor as president, was trying to reach him.

“I excused myself and

went home to take the call,” Bush said. “Obama simply said, ‘Osama bin Laden is dead.’”

After Obama described in detail the secret U.S. raid on Osama’s compound in Pakistan and the decision he made to go ahead with the mission, Bush said he told Obama: “Good call.”

ABC News said Bush told the group that bin Laden’s death was a victory for the American people and “a great victory in the war on terror.”

He said U.S. intelligence services deserve a lot of credit for tracking down bin Laden and spoke of meeting in Afghanistan with Navy SEAL Team Six, the highly skilled strike team that reportedly conducted the raid.

“They are awesome,

skilled, talented and brave,” he added. “I said, ‘I hope you have everything you need.

One guy said, ‘We need your permission to go into Pakistan and kick ass.’”

Bush escalated a U.S. hunt for bin Laden after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, but the al Qaeda leader escaped from the mountains of Tora Bora in Afghanistan and ended up living in a large house in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, apparently for years.

Bush’s predecessor, President Bill Clinton, launched missile strikes against bin Laden’s compound in Afghanistan in 1998 in an unsuccessful effort to kill bin Laden following al Qaeda attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa.

which could take weeks to reach the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said on Friday the state had plans with the American Red Cross to provide shelters for evacuees.

“I’m very scared,” said Heidi Fangue, a Morganza resident. “I have my bags packed and ready to go.”

Fangue, who was selling T-shirts that read “Morganza Spillway 2011 — Gates finally opened,” said she would depart in her mother’s camper once floodwaters began to creep over the nearby levee.

In Morgan City to the south, workers were reinforcing levees and placing sandbags along the Atchafalaya River.

“The fatigue factor is

something we’ll have to watch for, both on the levees and on the people,” Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte told Reuters. “This is unprecedented.”

The Corps said the gradual opening of the spillway’s gates would prevent an immediate rush of water.

Alon USA Energy said it expected its 80,000 barrelper-day refinery in Krotz Springs to be surrounded by water within 10 to 14 days of the spillway being opened.

Exxon Mobil’s 504,500 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Baton Rouge, the nation’s second-largest, was not expected to cease operations, but its Mississippi River dock was shut due to high water, a plant spokesman said.

Texas House passes bill banning TSA airport ‘groping’ AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House of Representatives late on Thursday approved a bill that would make invasive pat-downs at Texas airports a crime, after a former Miss USA said she felt “molested” at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport last month.

Transportation Security Administration agents could be charged with a misdemeanor crime, face a $4,000 fine and one year in jail under the measure.

The proposal would classify any airport inspection that “touches the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person including through the clothing, or touches the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person” as an offense of sexual harassment under official oppression.

The measure’s author, Republican David Simpson, said: “Indecent groping searches when innocent travelers are seeking access to airports and public buildings would be outlawed under this bill.”

The bill needs a final vote from the House before it would go to the Senate.

“This has to do with dignity in travel,” Simpson said.

TSA spokesman Luis

Casanova said he could not comment on pending legislation. He said just 3 percent of the traveling public is subjected to pat-downs.

TSA pat-downs have drawn some high-profile criticism, including from former Miss USA Susie Castillo, who said in a widely-viewed online video. that she felt “molested” by a pat-down at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport last month.

The agency reviewed Castillo’s incident and found that the officer followed proper procedures, said TSA assistant administrator Kristine Lee. “We wish we lived in a world where security procedures at airports weren’t necessary but that just isn’t the case,” Lee said in a statement.

DAILY D CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

7

JEFF KING BAND VISITS “FOR MY SWEET”

JEFF KING

Dwayne Eubanks

Pianist Richard Cummings

Drummer George Grey Clinton Hill and at Jazzy Monday, May 2nd at the new intergenerational space “For In my humble opin- My Sweet” at 1103 ion, the Jeff King Band Fulton Street in Bedis one of the hottest and Stuy. most versatile musical The band has a firm groups playing regu- rhythm section with larly in New York City. pianist Richard Today, you could go out Cummings, bassist and hear them night Bryce Sebastian and after night and never be drummer George Grey bored. In recent weeks, or his replacement, they have appeared at Doug Richardson. The The Ink Well in Park frontline is manned by Slope, the New York three top notch men of Aquarium in Coney brass. Jeff King is a Island, Jazz 966 in

By JITU K. WEUSI

hardworking creative voice on the Tenor Sax. The youngest of the group is Dwayne Eubanks, who is developing into a clear and smooth voice on trum-

Bassist Bryce Sebastian vocalists in Carolyn Harding and Vanessa Rubin and while they sing in different styles, they both sound good backed by the Jeff King Band.

Jeff King, who celebrated his 13th Wedding Anniversary on May 2nd, will return to “For My Sweet” on June 20th to celebrate his birthday.

Don’t miss the party.

Meanwhile, “For My Sweet” features master poet and spoken word artist Louis Reyes Rivera on Monday May 9th and on Monday May 16th, the exciting “Ms. Saxophone”, Tia Fuller (part of Vocalist Carolyn Harding Beyonce’s road band) pet.

When Dwayne rience and dedication to will be appearing as the solos, he forces the the historic playing of featured artists of the Sanders audience to listen to his his ancestors has Brandon offering. What more marked him as one of Quartet. can we say about the the best on instrument.

- Photos by Lem trombone playing of Last night, the band Peterkin Craig Harris? His expe- backed two outstanding

AFRICAN SCENE

88

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

AFRICAN SCENE

Ivory Coast president: ‘no one is above the law’

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI

f Cameroon opposition vows to disrupt election Y A O U N D E , Cameroon - Cameroon’s main opposition says it will disrupt a presidential poll later this year over claims of government manipulation ahead of the vote.

The Social Democratic Front said Friday it will disrupt a vote scheduled for October because of repression and acts by the electoral board.

Five candidates have expressed intent to run.

Journalists and activists say they have faced intimidation in recent months. Public meetings have been banned in some parts of the country.

And Twitter was suspended last February to prevent planned demonstrations against President Paul Biya.

Biya has held in power for 28 years and is considered one of Africa’s remaining strongmen. In 2008, parliament changed the country’s constitution to remove term limits.

Mandela to vote in South Africa poll next week JOHANNESBURG South Africa’s ailing former president Nelson Mandela is expected to cast his vote in upcoming local government elections, his office said Friday.

“Having spoken to him, we know that he will vote,” daughter Zenani Dlamini said in a statement.

“We of course know where his historical allegiance lies, but casting his vote is a private matter, just as it is for any other citizen of our country.”

The 92-year-old anti-

apartheid hero has not been seen in public since he was discharged from hospital in January after treatment for an acute respiratory infection.

His office could not say whether he would vote privately at home or go to a public voting station, as he has done in previous elections.

The revered leader is currently under homebased care but in stable condition, according to information released in February.

His two-day hospitalisation, initially described by his foundation as a “routine” check-up, created a flurry of media speculation over his health.

The iconic leader cast his first vote in April 1994, before he was elected the country’s first black president, a position he held for one term, until 1999.

Migrants reach Tunisia after deadly sea odyssey GENEVA - Three men who survived a harrowing odyssey at sea that saw dozens die of thirst and starvation on a boat fleeing Libya have been found in Tunisia, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Ethiopian men were discovered in the Shousha refugee camp in Tunisia early Thursday.

The men’s account to aid workers confirms London’s Guardian newspaper report that the boat carrying subSaharan migrants from Libya to Italy encountered military units who refused to help, Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

DAKAR, Senegal - Ivory Coast’s president on Friday said no one is above the law and vowed to investigate all war crimes committed in the five months following last year’s election - including massacres blamed on fighters loyal to him.

Alassane Ouattara told reporters during a state visit to Senegal that he only accepted the help of a former rebel army on March 17, more than three months after he was declared the winner of last November’s election. Ouattara spent those months imprisoned inside a hotel because the country’s entrenched ruler, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to leave office.

Gbagbo was finally toppled in April, after the armed group swept across the country in a two-week campaign marred by reports of massacres. United Nations investigators said at least 330 people were killed in the western town of Duekoue, where reporters saw bodies at the bottom of wells and where the smell of death still hovers over the vegetation where corpses were dumped.

“We want to end impunity in Ivory Coast,” Ouattara said. “No one is above the law. All those that committed crimes of blood

will be punished ... There will be no exceptions.”

In Ivory Coast, a three-day period of mourning is being observed to honor the dead. At least 1,000 people were killed in the postelection violence, first by the army under Gbagbo’s control and later by the soldiers fighting to install Ouattara, whose victory in last year’s poll was recognized by the U.N., the United States and the African Union.

The 68-year-old leader said he only accepted the help of the armed group after it became clear Gbagbo would only leave by force.

“I need to tell you that in reality the Republican Forces were only constituted on the 17th of March because I realized that we were in a phase where things had dragged on for too long,” he said.

The fighters took less than a week to sweep across the Polandsized nation and reach the outskirts of Abidjan, the commercial capital that is home to the presidential palace and the hotel where Ouattara was holed up.

Ouattara told reporters Friday that he expected Gbagbo to accept defeat once he realized he had lost control of the countryside, but the strongman sealed himself inside an underground bunker accompanied by over 100 of his closest aides including his ministers, his gardener, his wife and his grandchildren.

He was arrested April 11 after

French special forces used Mi-24 attack helicopters to destroy the tanks and arsenal that Gbagbo had positioned outside his bunker, allowing Ouattara’s forces to rush in. He is now under house arrest in a village in the country’s north awaiting trial. His ministers and closest aides are under house arrest in a hotel in Abidjan.

Ouattara said he dispatched a prosecutor to Duekoue one week after the massacre, and has also asked his government’s human rights commission to send a team to investigate. He said he has also ordered an inquiry into the April 27 killing of a popular fighter called Ibrahim Coulibaly, or IB, who was rumored to have presidential ambitions.

IB’s fighters initially joined the battle to oust Gbagbo, only to then clash with Ouattara’s soldiers during the final days of the military campaign. IB’s top aide said the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) fighter - who years ago was one of Ouattara’s bodyguards - was shot in the heart by soldiers under the command of Ouattara’s prime minister.

“My instructions were clear: Human life is sacred,” said Ouattara. “There will be an investigation. ... IB was one of my bodyguards. He was a boy that was part of my household.

We know him well - his wife, his children. So I cannot remain indifferent to his death.”

Nigerian ‘Islamists’ kill governor’s driver, chief KANO, Nigeria Suspected members of an Islamist sect blamed for a series of attacks in northern Nigeria have shot and killed a driver for a state governor as well as a local chief, police said Friday.

The driver, Mai Kadai, had just left home Friday morning and was on his way to the Borno state governor’s office when two gunmen on motorcycles shot him dead, said police commissioner Mohammed Jinjiri Abubakar.

“From all indications, they knew who he was and were on his

trail,” Abubakar told AFP of the attack in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Referring to the Islamist sect, he said: “Apparently, this attack was carried out by members of Boko Haram. The mode of operation resembles Boko Haram’s.”

The attack followed another late Thursday that saw two motorcycle-riding gunmen open fire on local chief Abba Mukhtar outside his home in Maiduguri, killing him and seriously wounding a friend, police spokesman Lawal Abdullahi said.

The attackers in that incident were also sus-

pected to be sect members, he said.

Boko Haram launched a short-lived uprising in parts of the north in 2OO9 in a doomed bid to establish an Islamic state.

It was crushed in a brutal military crackdown that saw hundreds of people killed and the sect’s headquarters and mosque destroyed in Maiduguri, where most of the violence has occurred.

In recent months, the sect has been blamed for a series of attacks on military and police personnel, community and religious leaders and politicians, including the high-profile

killing of a leading governorship candidate.

It has also been blamed for raids on police stations, churches and a prison.

Police have said they believe some of the recent attacks were politically related, with Nigeria having held presidential, parliamentary and governorship elections in April.

Borno State governor-elect Kashim Shettima this week offered to grant amnesty to sect members if they renounce violence, an offer someone claiming to be a sect spokesman has rejected.

Shettima assumes office on May 29.

D CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011 DAILY

AFRICAN SCENE

9

A gruesome display: Somalis drag bodies in streets By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED NAIROBI, Kenya - It’s a gruesome display seen many times over the years in Mogadishu: The bodies of dead soldiers dragged through the streets.

Somalis angry over 20 years of violence say they do it in hopes of driving out African Union forces.

The latest incident happened Thursday, when the body of a fighter who appeared to be a member of the AU’s peacekeeping mission was pulled through the streets by a rope. The spokesman for the country’s most danger-

ous militant group, alShabab, also displayed a body alongside documents that identified the man as a Ugandan soldier.

“Today we are celebrating the death and blood of your sons,” Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage said at a news conference Thursday.

The most infamous occurrence happened in 1993, when fighters dragged a U.S. soldier through the streets after a disastrous U.S. military assault into the Somali capital described in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down.”

The deaths and grisly scene were widely used by media outlets who had to weigh the images’ news value against their violent nature. The incident hastened the U.S. with-

drawal from the East African nation.

In 2007, Somalis dragged the bodies of Ethiopian soldiers through the streets.

Ethiopia withdrew after two years of war.

The spokesman for the AU mission, which has 9,000 troops in Somalia, said militants or residents dragging bodies through the street wouldn’t result in a withdrawal.

“We condemn the act of the insurgents in the strongest terms possible because its inhuman and un-African,” said Paddy Ankunda, whose force has lost hundreds of soldiers since its deployment four years ago.

Some Mogadishu residents angry at the AU for past shellings into residential neighbor-

hoods say they vent their frustrations by dragging bodies.

“The people drag the corpses to force these so-called peacekeepers to leave the country,” Abdisalam said Abdullahi, a 19-year-old high school student in Mogadishu. He said several of his friends have been killed by shelling from AU forces.

Another resident, Ahmed Hassan Nur, 21, said he has dragged six foreign bodies since 2007, including Ethiopians, Ugandans and Burundians.

“The Africans killed my brother with their ruthless shelling,” said Nur, referring to the AU forces.

Asked if he felt any shame after dragging bodies, he said: “No.

Rights abuses by security forces rife in Africa: Amnesty JOHANNESBURG - Human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions and torture, by security forces still plague several African countries, A m n e s t y International said on Friday.

A report by the London-based rights group said excessive use of force and other illtreatment at times resulting in unlawful killings, were among violations documented in countries such as Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda.

It said the situation in Nigeria’s Niger Delta deteriorated in 2010,

Ugandan police officers kick and beat a supporter of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye as they disperse a rally to welcome Besigye returning from Nairobi to Kampala. with armed groups and gangs kidnapping oil workers and their relatives and attacking oil plants.

“The reaction from the Nigerian security forces often led to human rights viola-

tions, including extrajudicial executions and torture,” the report noted.

Numerous cases of unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture by security

agencies also remained the norm in other parts of Nigeria.

In South Africa, numerous cases of torture and ill-treatment by police were reported, many of which were investigated by the Independent Complaints Directorate. Reported incidents included beatings, electric shocks, suffocation and death threats.

Last month, footage of a 33-year-old unarmed protester being kicked and beaten with batons by police officers was shown on South African television.

The man died a few minutes later after being shot twice with rubber bullets at close range.

U.N. resumes food aid in South Sudan states KHARTOUM The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said it had resumed operations in two states in South Sudan halted after a wave of violence before secession in July.

Southern authorities had given assurances that no food aid would

be commandeered again, the U.N. organization said in a statement late on Thursday, after the southern Sudan army took a lorry full of food destined for schools in Lakes state in April.

A WFP employee was killed in Jonglei state last month, forcing the organization to suspend aid to seven of 11 counties in Jonglei,

beset by violence between the army and rebels.

The oil-producing south voted in January to separate from the north and form a new nation, the climax of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war in Africa’s largest nation. The conflict claimed at least two million lives.

More than 1,100 peo-

ple have died this year in rebel and tribal violence across nine of the south’s 10 states, displacing nearly 100,000 people, according to official figures.

More than 160 people have been killed in clashes in the past seven days alone, according to official figures.

Absolutely not. I’m happy with what I did.”

Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said he condemns the dragging of bodies.

“But I understand why the people decided to drag the corpses of AU peacekeepers,” he said.

Muse has said that African Union troops bear a large portion of responsibility for civilians killed in fighting.

The AU says it tries to minimize such deaths.

In February, Islamist insurgents brought the bodies of nine AU peacekeepers to an area that has now become the preferred site for displaying bodies, Bar Ubah, which lies near the city’s busy Bakara market.

Islamists then tied

ropes to the legs of the corpses and asked a mob to drag them, but with one caveat.

“Don’t touch them because you don’t know if they have diseases,” said Abdihakim Yahye, who participated in that day’s dragging, quoting the militants.

Yahye said that as the mob moved through the city, its numbers grew as idle residents joined in.

“They were falling over themselves to drag the corpses. You can’t imagine how happy the people were. You would think it was a holiday,” said Yahye. “My mind told me to drag them and humiliate them. I was happy to do that. I dragged them because I harbor strong animosity and grudge against them.”

Row between Zimbabwe parties stalls constitution drive HARARE Zimbabwe’s muchdelayed drive to draw up a new constitution as part of a power-sharing deal has been suspended amid a row between the two main political parties, a party spokesman said Thursday.

The mammoth process of public consultations for a new constitution began in 2009, months after the deal between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but has been repeatedly disrupted and marred by violence.

The new delay was caused by disagreements between Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) over the weight given to the public submissions, MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told AFP. ZANU-PF favours ranking submissions according to the number of times they were raised during meetings to gather people’s views, he said. The MDC prefers an approach based on the quality of those submis-

sions.

“ZANU-PF’s proposal is populist but it leads to the emasculation of voices in wards with less people than others,” Mwonzora said.

“Given that we had totally disagreed, we referred the matter to the management committee. The committee said the work should stop and they will give directions on the method to use,” he said.

The constitution committee had set September for a referendum on the draft constitution but the suspension is likely to cause a delay.

Public consultations over the constitution were repeatedly postponed after outbreaks of violence, with a Tsvangirai supporter killed when militant backers of Mugabe stoned a meeting in September 2010.

Mugabe, in power since 1980, and his long-time rival Tsvangirai formed the power-sharing government more than two years ago in a bid to stop a conflict sparked by disputed 2008 elections and to mend a shattered economy.

1 10

CARIBBEAN NEWS DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

UN mission calls for explanation of poll results in three disputed districts in Haiti PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti — The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti has called on the country’s electoral authorities to explain as soon as possible why their results from three districts in recent legislative elections do not match the figures of local and international observers.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the mission (MINUSTAH) said it took note of the final results announced on Tuesday by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) in the 18 districts where the original results were contested.

The Council set up a special office to re-tabulate and verify the results in those cases, in cooperation with observers from Haiti’s National Human Rights Defence Network (RNDDH), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

In 15 of the 18 cases, the office’s results matched those of the observers, but

not in the cases of the districts of Jacmel, Belladère and Vallières/Carice/MobinCrochu.

“In the interests of transparency and in order to legitimize these results, MINUSTAH calls on the CEP to post as soon as possible the decisions of its special office and to explain to all concerned parties, including the candidates, the reasoning that led to these decisions,” the mission said.

MINUSTAH also called on Haitians to refrain from violence during the post-election phase and to work together to reconstruct the country, still reeling from last year’s catastrophic earthquake.

President-elect Michel Martelly is scheduled to be inaugurated on Saturday after he won the run-off round of polls earlier this year and he spoke by telephone yesterday with UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon.

A high-level UN delegation, led by Deputy Secretary-General AshaRose Migiro, will attend the inauguration.

CTO welcomes CaribbeanTales New York Film Showcase The CaribbeanTales New York Film Showcase was described as a “fantastic addition” to Caribbean Week in New York by the island region’s tourism body.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization, made up of the region’s governments, enthusiastically welcomed the Film Showcase to the huge Caribbean Week festivities in New York and hinted the partnership may extend to other markets where similar festivals are produced.

Addressing community leaders and members of the North American press in Manhattan, Sylma BrownBramble, the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s director of the Americas, said New York generates the largest volume of business to the Caribbean and her organization was pleased that CaribbeanTales had become a new addition to the program

of activities this year.

“Anything that happens in the Caribbean affects the tourism industry, positively or negatively CaribbeanTales is one of the very positive (aspects) of the tourism industry,” said Brown-Bramble.

The CTO executive saw the emergence of a new promotional tool for the region: “As the film industry takes wings in the Caribbean, CaribbeanTales is helping us to promote the (beauty of the) region.”

The Film Showcase, an allday affair, will screen on Saturday, June 11. The location will be announced shortly.

Dr Keith Nurse, chairman of CaribbeanTales Worldwide Distribution (CTWD), saw synergies developing in the partnership with the CTO, especially with destination branding possibilities.

Barbados economy on the rebound, says PM

By CATHY LASHLEY

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — Figures for 2010 show the economy has Barbados stopped contracting and there was evidence of modest advancement, reinforced by a 2.8 percent growth in the first three months of this fiscal year.

Now is the time for all citizens and businesses to be recommitted to the sustainable development of Barbados, “as a just and thriving society”, emphasised Prime Minister Freundel Stuart on Wednesday, as he delivered the feature address at the 51st Annual General Meeting and Luncheon of the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC).

Stuart said if this country was to function as “a welloiled, appropriately and highly competitive economy”, employers had to find ways of creating wealth and distributing it fairly “in order to satisfy the needs of our people.”

Stuart added that other indices, such as the provision of enough foreign exchange to cover 20 weeks of imports, the slender reduction in unemployment to 10.5 percent, and the slight improvement in the fiscal deficit by $90 million, offered “a glimmer of hope for the country’s continued performance.”

Added to this, he disclosed

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart that government had pledged to guarantee a $50 million loan to the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation and to allocate $1.5 million to Fund Access to facilitate small business development.

The prime minister stated that the abolition of the environmental levy on imports, the reduction of fees paid by private transport operators, and those requiring retail liquor licences, as well as the reduction in water rates for registered farmers, were all measures that were intended to assist the private sector.

Stuart emphasised that his government would continue its policy “of maintaining a reliable, social safety net”, while at the same time supporting employers and reaching out to those “who

have the courage and foresight to sow the seeds that would lead to meaningful and durable recovery.” prime minister The thanked the private sector, including the BEC, for “holding strain during the past three years and collaborating with all the stakeholders to keep industrial strife in Barbados to an absolute minimum.”

He also commended the private sector for creatively using measures to maintain employment for Barbadians.

“In the current prolonged recession, you have found and used innovative ways of maintaining employment levels, despite declining profits, serious cash flow challenges and sometimes actual losses,” he noted.

Stuart thanked entrepreneurs for “using the unique mechanism of the Social Partnership” to reach consensus with the Barbados Workers’ Union, thus enabling agreement on six collective labour settlements and other wage issues.

“It is to be lauded that there were no reported work stoppages in the private sector during the past year, while there was but one in the public sector,” he added.

The prime minister affirmed that government would continue its strategy of supporting existing businesses, injecting certain stimuli to aid survival and expansion, and encouraging new business ventures.

Need for increased agricultural production in St Kitts-Nevis critical, says IICA coordinator CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — Coordinator of the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in St Kitts and Nevis, Augustine Merchant, has stressed the critical need for an increase in agricultural production and productivity in the Federation when he quoted statistical information from an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Report.

Merchant brought the issue into sharp focus when he addressed participants at

a two-day greenhouse management and production workshop at the Department of Agriculture on Thursday.

He said IICA was pleased to be associated with the workshop, which marked a new chapter in the history of agricultural development in St Kitts and Nevis.

“I wish to draw to your attention two vital pieces of information from St Kitts and Nevis. According to the IMF, with 2000 as the base year, the Consumer Price Index of St Kitts and Nevis

has increased by 30 percent over the period 2000 to 2008.

“Secondly, despite some marginal increases in food and meat production in recent years, the country imports more than 70 percent of its annual food consumption needs, estimated at approximately US$42 million in 2007. These statistics do not sound too good for us.

There is therefore a critical and urgent need to increase agricultural production and productivity in St Kitts and Nevis,” he said.

D CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011 DAILY

INTERNATIONAL

11

Syria to pursue “national dialogue” over protests

By KHALED YACOUB OWEIS AMMAN - Syria said on Friday it would hold a “national dialogue” after two months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad and a military crackdown that has killed hundreds of people.

Thousands demonstrated in towns and cities across Syria after the weekly Muslim prayers, activists and witnesses said, but unlike previous Fridays there were few reports of clashes and some protests appeared smaller than in recent weeks.

Assad has sent troops and tanks to crush major protest centers and a presidential adviser said earlier this week Syria had passed the “most dangerous moment” of the uprising, which has shaken his 11-year autocratic rule.

“President Assad has met with local dignitaries and heard their

views and opinions regarding what is happening in Syria. The coming days will witness a national and comprehensive dialogue in all the Syrian provinces,” Information Minister Adnan Hasan Mahmoud said in televised remarks.

He also said army units had started to withdraw from the coastal city if Banias and completed a pullout from the southern city of Deraa, though residents there reported tanks outside Deraa mosques in the morning.

Prominent activists said that dialogue would only be serious if the government freed thousands of political prisoners and allowed freedom of expression and assembly.

Aref Dalila, an economist who met Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban last week, said “the domination of the security apparatus on life in Syria” must end for different opinions to be represented. “We are long used to these ‘dialogues’ in Syria, where the regime assembles its loyalists in a confer-

ence and the other opinion is either in jail or underground,” he said. dispatched Assad troops and tanks into several cities two weeks ago to stamp out protests, after an early combination of repression and reform gestures — including lifting a 48-year state of emergency — failed to quell the dissent.

The government, which blames the unrest on armed Islamists, has encountered increasing international pressure over the violence in which rights groups say 700 have been killed. One activist said he had been told by Shaaban that the president had ordered troops and police not to fire on demonstrators.

Al Jazeera television said security forces shot dead two people in the city of Homs on Friday. But it was not immediately possible to confirm the report as Syria has prevented most foreign journalists from reporting inside the country.

PROTESTS Witnesses said there were protests in

Damascus, in a suburb of the capital and the city of Hama where Assad’s father crushed an armed Islamist uprising in 1982. A Kurdish opposition figure said thousands marched in three towns in eastern Syria.

“I am moving among a huge crowd... They are coming from every direction,” said a witness in Hama, 270 km (170 miles) north of Damascus, as demonstrators converged on a city square. He said security forces backed off from confronting the crowd.

Residents and activists also reported protests in towns and villages across the southern Hauran Plain, saying troops fired in the air to disperse a crowd of hundreds who took to the streets of Deraa despite an afternoon curfew.

Despite the minister’s comments about an army withdrawal, they said tanks in front of mosques and heavy security prevented most people attending prayers. A 2.30 p.m. to 8.00 a.m. curfew started two hours earlier on

Friday at 12.30 p.m.

In the Damascus district of Barzeh and in the suburb of Saqba, witnesses said protesters chanted “We want the overthrow of the regime,” the slogan of the Arab uprisings which swept out the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia earlier this year.

Just north of the capital, security forces fired tear gas into a crowd of 1,000 in the town of Tel, residents said.

In Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border and in village of al-Shujail north of Deir al-Zor, thousands demanded Assad’s removal, according to activists and two residents in the eastern region where authorities carried out mass arrests last week.

RALLYING POINT The main weekly prayers are a rallying point for protesters because they offer the only opportunity for large gatherings.

Fridays have seen the heaviest death tolls in the wave of unrest in which rights groups say 600 to 800 people have been killed.

Geneva-based The I n t e r n a t i o n a l Commission of Jurists said troops have killed 700 people, rounded up thousands and indiscriminately shelled towns during the protests.

The government says about 100 troops and police have been killed.

A statement from the official SANA news agency said on Friday more than 5,000 people had surrendered to authorities over their role in the protests and been released, under an amnesty offer which runs until May 15.

In nearly two months of unrest, protests and bloodshed have spread across southern towns, cities on the Mediterranean coast, Damascus suburbs and the central city of Homs. But the two main cities of Damascus and Aleppo have remained relatively quiet.

Syrian forces spread through southern towns on Thursday and tightened their grip on two other cities, broadening a crackdown before the weekly prayers.

Yemen’s Saleh def ies cr owds demanding his exit

By MOHAMED SUDAM & MOHAMMED GHOBARI SANAA Huge crowds across Yemen demanded on Friday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh leave after months of unrest which has put the Arab world’s poorest country on the brink of an economic meltdown.

But in a defiant speech to thousands of flag-waving supporters in the Yemeni capital, Saleh declared: “We will confront a challenge with a challenge.”

Three people were killed and 15 wounded when troops shot at protesters in Ibb, a city south of Sanaa, medics and witnesses said.

Demonstrators then set

fire to an armored troop carrier. Gunfire wounded three protesters in Yemen’s third city, Taiz.

The latest killings pushed the overall death toll since protests began to at least 170.

Saleh, a wily political survivor, has clung to power despite defections from politicians, army officers and tribal leaders.

Armored vehicles, troops and even military academy students with batons deployed in Sanaa to contain a sea of protesters stretching seven km (four miles) down a main street in Sanaa.

“We are steadfast, you leader of the corrupt,” anti-Saleh demonstrators chanted. “Peaceful, peaceful, no to civil war.”

Protesters in Sanaa,

Ibb, Taiz and Hudaida held funeral processions for some of the 13 protesters killed on Wednesday, as tensions simmered after a spike in bloodshed in recent days.

In Sanaa, six coffins were taken to graves strewn with red roses.

Some protesters held signs saying: “We won’t be silent over this regime’s crimes. The blood of martyrs is not cheap.”

Saleh, addressing his supporters, denounced opponents as “saboteurs” and said the protesters, growing increasingly frustrated by their inability to dislodge him, should head to the ballot box if they wanted to unseat him.

“You are not using the same restraint (as we have). We don’t cut roads, we don’t cut gas

lines in Maarib — this is the property of the people,” he said. “It is the people’s wealth.

They eat from it and drink from it. Stop playing with fire.”

The president’s remarks suggested serious high-level concern about pipeline sabotage and economic damage from the conflict, earlier highlighted by two government ministers.

‘CATASTROPHE BEYOND IMAGINATION’ “If the problem persists, the government will be unable to meet the minimum needs of the citizens. The situation will pose a catastrophe beyond imagination,” Oil Minister Amir al-Aidarous told parliament, according to the official news agency Saba.

Saba quoted Trade and Tourism Minister Hisham Sharaf as saying the unrest, which began in late January, had cost Yemen $5 billion, or about 17 percent of 2009 gross domestic product.

International alarm has mounted over instability in Yemen, home to an ambitious wing of al Qaeda, whose leader has sworn vengeance for the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden.

France’s foreign ministry accused Saleh of dragging his feet on a Gulf Arab-mediated power transition plan he refused to sign in April.

“We call for an end to the violence and repression, we call for the president of Yemen to sign this agreement...and we call on

all who have participated to remain engaged in the active search for a solution,” spokesman Bernard Valero said.

Saleh offered a “constructive dialogue” with opposition parties, but did not promise to sign a Gulf Arab plan to which they have already agreed. Under the proposal, Saleh would step down in 30 days, rather than when his term ends in 2013.

The deal mediated by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had angered many of the youthful protesters because it would shield Saleh and his entourage from prosecution.

GCC member Qatar pulled out on Thursday, citing “stalling... continued escalation, and lack of wisdom.”

New American

The

12

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

One Thought - One Humanity

Idris Elba happy that Thor casting was ‘color blind’

For the conclusions of these stories check out the May 5th - May 11th, 2011 issue of The New American, which hits newsstands every Thursday Toni Braxton’s life may be in danger. Toni was scheduled to perform a Mother’s Day concert in Trinidad but was asked to pull out by one of the concert promoters who had threats made against his life. According to freddyo.com, who is close with Toni’s sister Tamar, Toni not only fears for her life, but she doesn’t want to be mixed up in the cross fire between the promoters. Toni is so worried that she has pulled out of the show and forfeited her check.

Chris Brown’s single “Look At Me Now” has logged its sixth week atop the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. Featuring veteran rapper Busta Rhymes, “Look At Me Now” is lifted from Brown’s latest offering, F.A.M.E., currently in stores. “Look At Me Now” is looking to follow in the footsteps of Brown’s 2010 hit “Deuces,” which spent over thirteen weeks at No. 1.

In New York City, Keyshia Cole attended the 14th Annual EIF Revlon Run/Walk For Women. We guess Keyshia didn’t participate in the actual run” becasue she had stilletto heels on...but the fans were happy to see her.

Frank Ocean is not happy with the LAPD. The hot newcomer recently tweeted is dislike for the boys in blue after he was arrested and detained for an unknown incident.

“Just got out of jail,” Ocean tweets to his Twitter followers.

“Would like to go on record saying..f**k the police. F**k LAPD to be specific. F**k a cop, non-stop. frank will never speak to a cop again in his natural life. i have no respect for police.” Frank continues, “I swear if i

weren’t sane in mind I’d throw a f**kin Molotov in a cop car right now,” adding “Cuh had napoleon complex. and seemed really sad that he was on that lame a** bike patrol.” No word from authorities regarding the incident.

Monica has officially been announced as an advisor on NBC’s new talent hit show “The Voice.” Monica will pair up with the show’s coaches Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton to help contestants hit the high notes. The coaches will eventually put two of the artists on each teams against each other in a series of dueling duets.

Enrique Iglesias and Shakira were the toast of the 2011 Billboard Latin Music Awards as they each landed a haul of trophies. Iglesias scooped nine honors, including Latin Artist of the Year, while his Euphoria disc was named Latin Album of the Year and Latin Pop Album of the Year.

Colombian superstar Shakira picked up six prizes included Latin Pop Airplay Solo Artist of the Year and Hot Latin Songs Female Artist. Her track Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) was voted the Latin Digital Download of the Year. Other big winners were newcomer Prince Royce, who took home four awards, Aventura, Daddy Yankee and Juan Luis Guerra, who all received three honors apiece.

It was ladies’ night at FFAWN’s 2nd Annual Mary J. Blige Honors Concert in New York City. The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul presided over the evening’s festivities at Hammerstein Ballroom. Her fellow divas including Jennifer Hudson, Christina

Aguilera, LeToya Luckett, and Jill Scott were on hand to perform and help award scholarships to tomorrow’s young female leaders.

MJB started the organization to ensure that educational opportunities are made available to women so that they can get the training needed to be successful.

Waka Flocka Flame can rest a little easier today -- because a grand jury just CLEARED the rapper of all drug related charges stemming from a police raid on his Georgia home last year. A grand jury in Henry County, GA ruled ... there was not enough evidence against Waka to warrant a trial for the drug charges filed against him -- possession of a controlled substance and possession of weed measuring less than an ounce. Three other charges stemming from the raid were dropped before the case went in front of the grand jury.

In the spirit of First Lady Obama's "Let's Move" campaign, music maven, Beyonce crashed PS/MS 161 in Harlem to surprise students. The middle schoolers were shocked beyond words as the superstar led a workout routine with them.

Beyonce has been doing her part to help Michelle Obama's fight against childhood obesity by remixing her hit 'Get Me Bodied' to be a workout song now titled 'Move Your Body' for the keep-fit initiative. While there, Beyonce was spotted working out and dancing with the students - all in stilettos by the way.

Afterwards, the fans were allowed to take pictures with Bey. It is amazing to see so many celebrities have taken an interest in what the First Lady is doing.

Idris Elba, the BBC “Luther” star or Luther – that seems to be a comexplains how his role in the Marvel mon denominator in the characters I comic movie sparked anger from a play.” white supremacist groups.

We’re glad Idris is playing the Idris recently spoke about how role of the Norse god Heimdall, it much he respected director Kenneth gives diversity and another perspecBranagh for being “color blind” in tive to the film. his approach to the blockbuster.

So far, the signs are looking pretElba explains: ty good for Thor, Marvel’s trickiest “When Kenneth asked me to be Avenger to slot into our universe. So part of it, I did find myself question- as you’d expect, director Kenneth ing race.

Branagh was in a good mood when “But Kenneth hadn’t even given we spoke to him. He did address the that a thought. He just needed an biggest controversy that has actor who has presence and com- attached itself to his film so far: the mand, and felt that I fit the bill. casting of Idris Elba as Norse god “It was so refreshing – and a tes- Heimdall. tament to him as an actor and direc“Idris Elba is a fantastic actor - we tor that his casting was genuinely were lucky to get him. He provides color blind. I feel very proud of being all the characteristics we need from part of that movie.”

Asgard’s gatekeeper, the man who Elba also added how Thor fits into says, “Thou shalt not pass”. When his catalog of work: Idris says that, you know you’re “It’s different from anything else gonna have a problem. He’s smart, I’ve done; but at the same time, it’s intelligent, handsome and an been pointed out to me that here I absolute joy to work with. If you am playing a central, solid figure have a chance to have a great actor again – the one that people should in the part, everything else is irreletrust. vant.

“Take [The Wire’s Stringer Bell] “If you’re going to say the color of - Full Story In This Week’s New American Newspaper -

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13

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DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

14

Common drug helps babies with sickle cell disease

By JULIE STEENHUYSEN CHICAGO — A drug that eases symptoms of sickle cell disease in older children is safe and effective to use for babies with the blood disorder and should become the new standard of care, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

They said the generic drug hydroxyurea significantly reduced pain and other common complications in babies with the disease, including hospitalizations and the need for blood transfusions.

“These results show that hydroxyurea has the poten-

tial to dramatically improve the quality of life for an entire generation of patients with sickle cell disease,” said Dr. Winfred Wang of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, who led the six-year study published in the journal Lancet.

Wang said in a statement the findings mean hydroxyurea should now be considered for treatment of all infants and toddlers with the disease, also called sickle cell anemia, in hopes of preventing or delaying disease complications.

In sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder, the body makes mutant, inflexible, sickle-shaped red blood

cells. These deformed cells block small blood vessels, causing pain, strokes, organ dysfunction and premature death.

It affects 70,000 Americans and 3 million to 5 million people globally. At one time, most people with the disease died in childhood, but new treatments allow people to live into middle age.

Hydroxyurea is a cancer pill that has been shown to stop the severe pain and prevent the need for blood transfusions in adults and older children with sickle cell disease.

But little has been known about how it works in babies.

For the study, Wang and colleagues enrolled 193 chil-

dren from 9 to 19 months at 13 U.S. medical centers and a coordinating center between October 2003 and September 2007.

The children were randomly assigned to receive hydroxyurea or a placebo for two years, and 167 completed the trial.

“We found a decrease in chest syndrome and hospitalization among trial participants who received hydroxyurea,” Dr. Zora Rogers of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

“We used to offer hydroxyurea as secondary prevention, but with these findings, it could become the primary

preventive measure.”

The researchers said the study will likely change how doctors treat very young children with sickle cell anemia.

“This medication reduces painful events, the major crisis patients fear about sickle cell disease,” Rogers said.

It also helps prevent chest syndrome — a life-threatening condition, similar to pneumonia, in which an infection or sickle cells become trapped in the lungs.

“Patients may still experience painful crises, but the events are much less frequent and severe,” she said.

Rogers said the next step is to make a standardized liquid form of the drug.

treatment admissions were categorized by the types of abused substances involved.

Each 10-percent increase in the availability of highspeed Internet service in a state was correlated with a roughly one-percent increase in admissions for prescription drug abuse, the researchers found.

During the same period

admissions to treat abuse of heroin or cocaine, drugs not available over the Internet, and alcohol either rose minimally or actually fell.

“The lack of an increase in abuse of drugs not available on the Internet suggests that an overall growth in drugseeking behavior cannot explain the rise in prescription drug abuse,” Jena said.

Internet tied to rise in drug abuse BOSTON — Access to rogue online pharmacies may be driving a rapid increase in the abuse in the United States of prescription drugs like powerful painkillers Percocet and Oxycontin, a new study shows.

The pharmacies, typically located outside the United States, send out millions of email solicitations a year, and many do not adhere to U.S. regulations requiring a physician’s prescription for the drugs.

Investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California found that, over a seven-year period, states with the greatest expansion in high-speed Internet access

also had the largest increase in admissions for treatment of prescription drug abuse.

The findings were released on Thursday by the journal Health Affairs, and will appear in its June edition.

“Our findings suggest that Internet growth may partly explain the increase in prescription drug abuse, since it is well known that these drugs are easily available online,” said Dana Goldman, director of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California.

Prescription drugs are fast replacing illegal substances in venues like college campuses, Goldman said.

Goldman and Anupam

Jena, of the MGH Department of Medicine, note that the recent marked rise in the abuse of prescription narcotic painkillers corresponds with an increase in the presence of online pharmacies.

Drugs that are frequently abused — painkillers, sedatives, stimulants, and tranquilizers — often can be purchased from rogue sites located outside the United States.

The researchers paired data available on Internet access from the Federal Communications Commission with figures on admissions to substance abuse treatment facilities.

Changes in both measures from 2000 to 2007 were analyzed on a per-state basis, and

Does sleep loss up weight by lowering energy use?

By NATASHA ALLEN Sleep deprivation makes the day drag and appears to put a drag on metabolism, causing the body to use less energy, European researchers found in a small study.

The results, which appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, add to evidence that a lack of shut-eye can promote weight gain — not just by boosting hunger, but by slowing the rate at which calories get burned.

The study suggests that getting plenty of sleep might prevent weight gain, said Dr. Christian Benedict of the Uppsala University in Sweden, who led the new work.

Approximately 50 to 70 million Americans - including a significant number of shift workers — suffer from chronic sleep loss and sleep disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Previous studies have linked sleep deprivation with weight gain, and shown how disrupted sleep also disrupts levels of stress- and hungerrelated hormones during waking hours.

To help identify the exact mechanisms by which a lack of sleep might pack on the pounds, Benedict and his colleagues put 14 male university students through a series of sleep “conditions” - curtailed sleep, no sleep, and normal sleep - over several days, then measured changes in how much they ate, their

blood sugar, hormone levels and indicators of their metabolic rate like oxygen use.

The team found that even a single night of missed sleep slowed the volunteers’ metabolisms the next morning, reducing their bodies’ energy expenditure for tasks like breathing and digestion by 5 to 20 percent, compared with the morning after a good night’s sleep.

The young men also had higher morning levels of blood sugar, appetite-regulating hormones like ghrelin, and stress hormones like cortisol after sleep deprivation.

Still, the sleep loss did not boost the amount of food the men consumed during the day.

A number of studies have observed that people who

snooze five hours or less are more prone to piling on weight and developing weight-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

But those studies do not prove that sleep loss causes weight gain.

“It is not clear that sleep deprivation leads to obesity,” Dr. Carol Everson, who was not involved in the German study, told Reuters Health by email.

Factors such as lifestyle and diet may also add to obesity risk, said Everson, a sleep expert at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

It’s tempting to link sleep health and obesity but sleep deprivation is complicated, added Dr. Sanford Auerbach, who heads the Sleep Disorders Center at Boston Med-

ical Center. For instance, medications and other conditions may influence sleep, he said.

The new findings, Auerbach noted in an email, should be kept in context.

“They showed that we adapt to sleep deprivation and that some of these adaptations could theoretically contribute to obesity.” On the other hand, it’s not clear how chronic sleep loss influences hormone levels, he said.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get about seven to nine hours of sleep each night.

For those who don’t get their full 40 winks and worry about weight gain, Benedict recommends they commit to a daily mealtime to help keep the extra weight at bay.

NEW JERSEY

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

15

Union County vows to cor ral cor r ections of ficers’ over time

By RYAN HUTCHINS Kenneth Wright is a hard worker.

One week last year, the 57-year-old corrections officer logged more than 72 hours of overtime with Union County, where he is one of 31 sergeants at the county jail in Elizabeth.

That was on top of his regular 40-hour work week, spent coordinating training programs.

It might seem overly grueling to some, but to Wright, who has 22 years with the county, it’s not far from the norm.

A contractually negotiated system has allowed Wright to average 29 hours of overtime every week for the past six years. He more than doubled his base salary and brought home $205,000 last year, making him one of the highest paid county employees without a medical degree, according to documents obtained by The Star-Ledger through open records requests.

Wright tops a long list of big-bucks overtime earners at the county jail, where extra manhours cost $6 million last year - down from $7.3 million in 2006 and 2007, records show.

And while the overtime costs may be down due in part to an increase in staffing - it’s still a controversial issue, with critics saying more needs to be done. The county doesn’t disagree, and has pledged to increase the ranks of supervising officers, a group that now accounts for the lion’s share of overtime.

“Continually, we’ve been the highest overtime-total jail in the state of New Jersey, at least since I’ve been affiliated with the jail,” said Brian Riordan, the director of Union County’s Department of Correctional Services, which runs the facility that houses about 1,000 inmates a day.

But Monmouth County surpassed Union in total jail overtime costs last year, paying officers about $5.7 mil-

lion in county funds plus an additional $1.1 million through federal funding, said Cynthia Scott, a spokeswoman for the county sheriff’s office. That was an increase from 2009, when Monmouth paid at least $5 million for overtime. The jump was driven by the layoffs of 35 corrections officers, Scott said.

The type of work being done only makes the situation more complex. In a jail, where the stakes are high, understaffing could lead to injuries or death. When an officer scheduled to work calls out sick, someone has to fill that shift.

“I can’t leave floors unattended,” Riordan said. “We have direct supervision.”

Bob Thomas, an Olympia, Wash.-based consultant on law safety and justice operations, said hiring additional officers may appear to be the fastest way to reduce the amount of overtime, but adding more staff may not reduce overtime enough to reduce a

department’s overall costs.

Balancing staffing levels and overtime, Thomas said, is a “science.”

ADDING SUPERVISORS Union County had already hired about 50 additional rank-and-file officers since 2007, but they weren’t eligible to work supervisory shifts.

So, to address overtime by supervisors, the county is promoting officers to create more sergeants and lieutenants.

Since the staff grew in size, overtime has decreased while straight pay has increased. The total payroll cost, though, would have decreased slightly if corrections officers weren’t given contractual salary increases, according to figures county officials provided.

Much of the overtime expense isn’t how many officers are working the extra hours, but who those officers are. For years, the jail has used a seniority system that requires the county to offer the longest-serving

corrections officers - and thus the highest paid the first chance to refuse overtime, in accordance with union contracts.

“The more senior people that you have doing it, it’s going to cost more,” said Thomas, who has authored a half dozen reports on overtime in the corrections field.

The county doesn’t refute that giving the most-senior workers the most overtime costs more, but officials there say it would be difficult to do away with a system that has been guaranteed by contract for decades. Union leaders said they do not want give up the seniority process.

Lt. James Rinaldo, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 213, a union that represents a majority of the jail’s superior officers, said the system is “fair and equitable.”

“What Sgt. Wright works is voluntary overtime,” said Rinaldo, who is also one of the county’s top overtime earn-

ers, with more than $77,000 last year. “He makes a sacrifice to come in on his days off, weekends, holidays.”

It’s typical for Union County jail officers to increase their base salary by more than 25 percent with overtime, records show. And dozens of employees earned at least 50 percent of their base salary in overtime last year.

Wright, one of the most senior sergeants, was among a handful of officers who more than doubled their base pay. The overtime does not count toward the officers’ pensions, according to the state Treasury Department and the president of the state Police and Fire Retirement System.

Wright, who lives in Clark and declined to comment, has an annual base salary of $98,330 and has earned an additional $650,000 in overtime since 2005. The county manager, the highest-paid county employee without a medical degree, has a base salary of $168,000.

N.J. fund to help homeowners fix underground tanks runs out of money, creates $33M of spill cleanups By CHRISTOPHER BAXTER For Marty Lipp, the only thing deeper than the 8foot hole contractors dug in his driveway to remove an old heating oil storage tank may soon be the one in his wallet for having to unexpectedly pick up the tab for the work.

Lipp, 53, of Maplewood, will now have to fork over up to $12,000 after a popular state fund created to help residents remove leaky underground tanks ran dry last

week - just five years after its coffers bulged with $90 million.

“I checked the website a day or so before this happened, and suddenly they hang out the sign and say there’s no more money?” said Lipp, a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Star-Ledger. “I don’t understand where the oversight was, and how they could not see this was coming.”

About 1,300 people seeking grants or loans will not get help for at least a year, creating a backlog of an estimated $33 million worth of spill cleanups, said Frank Pinto, chief financial officer for the state Department of

Environmental Protection’s Site Remediation Program.

The money woes also will prevent the agency from processing new requests until at least 2014, Pinto said.

Once celebrated as the solution to getting rid of rusted and aging tanks, the fund ran out of cash because of maneuvers to divert dollars to other priorities and expand the number of people and institutions eligible for the program.

“This was a very successful program but then everyone started trying to take a little piece of it and now the program is basically being diverted to death,” said Jeff Tittel, director of the New

Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club.

Average cleanup costs for leaky underground tanks range from $3,000 to $8,000, according to grants and loans awarded. But spills that cause widespread contamination can cost $100,000 or more to remediate. The program had paid for 12,587 projects as of Dec. 31, 2010, according to the state Economic Development Authority, which oversees the fund along with the DEP. Environmentalists say the ramifications of the fund’s demise could be extreme: Leaking tanks could remain in the ground longer, increasing the likelihood of a major

spill.

Typical underground home heating oil tanks hold 550 to 1,000 gallons, and a spill of just one gallon of oil into the groundwater can contaminate 1 million gallons - the equivalent of about 11/2 Olympic-size swimming pools.

Though the DEP prefers not to take strict enforcement against homeowners, David Sweeney, assistant commissioner for the department’s site remediation program, said by law, residents are responsible for the spill.

“There will be cases where homeowners don’t have the money to do it, and if it ranks high enough, we’ll go

in there and then we’ll put a lien on the property,” Sweeney said.

State Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee, said he plans to hold a hearing to determine why the money ran out and why the problem was not brought to the Legislature’s attention sooner.

“Everybody’s intention will be to try to make sure we keep our promises to our citizens,” Smith said.

The EDA warned last year in its annual report that the tank fund could hit empty this year and recommended lawmakers take action. But no changes were made.

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

16

Nick Cannon, Mariah Carey working on new albums

By JASON LIPSHUTZ Nick Cannon is still recovering from the adrenaline rush of welcoming twins with wife Mariah Carey, but the actor/comedian/rapper is staying busy with a new stand-up special and forthcoming musical album, while Carey is working on a new full-length of her own.

“She’s planning on having a record out this year,” said Cannon of Carey, who gave birth to Moroccan Scott Cannon and Monroe Cannon on April 30.

According to Cannon, Carey completed a good amount of recording a few months ago during her pregnancy. “She’s been working away, and we have a studio in the crib, and has totally inspired her on so many different levels. You’re definitely gonna see some new phenomenal music from Mariah.”

Before that, Cannon’s latest comedy special, “Mr. Showbiz,” premiered on U.S. cable network Showtime on May 14, while an accompanying album for the special

is set for release today.

Cannon said that the stand-up routine makes mention of his rumored feud with Eminem, who took a verbal jab at Carey on his “Relapse” album, but the comedian claimed that it’s all in good fun.

“At the end of the day, I

don’t think anybody was really mad at anybody,” he said. “I’m in such a beautiful place in my life that I have no need or reason to be upset or mad at anyone I’m not stirring up the beef. If anything, I’m making fun of the beef.”

Cannon plans to follow the stand-up release with “Mr.

Showbiz Sings the Hits,” an album that blends hip-hop and comedy and showcases a slew of guest stars. “I got a record with Flo Rida, Snoop, Ice Cube, Wyclef, Cee Lo,” said Cannon. “We got some hilarious songs. It’s kind of bringing the fun back to hiphop.”

Cannon is also finding time to run his NCredible Entertainment management company and assist the career of client Corey Gunz, the New York rapper best known for his appearance on Lil Wayne’s single “6 Foot 7 Foot.”

Cannon has started putting together “Son of a Gun,” a docu-series that follows the rapper’s ascent to the hip-hop mainstream and focuses on Gunz’s relationship with his father, rapper Peter Gunz.

“I really believe Corey Gunz is a genius, and I wanna see his career thrive, so I just kinda rolled up my sleeves and got involved in a way where I wanna see him win,” said Cannon.

Of course, Cannon is taking time to embrace the feeling of becoming a new father at the age of 30, although he’s not sure what he’ll do on his first Father’s Day next month.

“I hadn’t really thought about that,” he admitted. “I’m used to catering to my father and my grandfather on that day, so to be a father is going to be weird... I’ll just sleep, have breakfast in bed or something.”

Usher extends tour for the kids Beyonce tapped for ‘A Star Is Born’ film, set to perform at GMA Summer Concert

Usher is embarking on a new arm of his OMG tour.

Through his New Look Foundation, he’s going on a Powered by Service tour for youth.

He’ll be stopping in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Vancouver, and British Columbia.

“Music is what brings us together as one world and I’m excited to see this generation use its voice to be powered by service,” Usher said in a statement to the BoomBox. “Our youth leaders have been doing an incredi-

ble job throughout the country and around the world.

We are excited to bring this successful model to these five great cities.”

Each stop will provide service and leadership training to about 50 youth and will be given the opportunity to meet Usher. Students will also get to attend New Look’s World Leadership Conference in Atlanta in July.

Local schools and organizations has partnered with the foundation to make it all happen.

The second half of 2011 is shaping up to be a Beyonce year. As she gears up to release her forthcoming fourth studio album, 4, the Multi-Grammy winner confirms her role in the upcoming Clint Eastwood film ‘A Star Is Born.’

“It’s a dream come true; I’m still in shock that it’s really going to happen,’ Beyonce told Billboard. “Clint Eastwood is clearly the absolute best, and I’m so honored and humbled. I was in no rush to do another movie unless it was the right film, and I didn’t even want to touch “A Star is Born” unless it was with him. I actually learned that this project was in existence, and kind of claimed it. I want to get to work right now!”

In related news, Beyonce has been added to the line-up for Good Morning America’s 2011 Summer Concert Series.

The R&B diva, along with big name stars like Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hud-

son and Nicki Minaj will provide entertainment to early morning revelers at the Rumsey Playfield in Central Park in New York City beginning May 27th.

With the exception of Lady Gaga being a free, ticketed

event, all concerts are free and open to the public and will take place live during “Good Morning America,” Fridays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET. Dates and additional acts will be announced throughout the summer.

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

17

Mos Def joins ‘Dexter’ as hardened crook

By MARISA GUTHRIE LOS ANGELES — Actor/hip-hop star Mos Def artist will play a recurring role in the sixth season of “Dexter,” which begins production in June with an eye toward a fall bow.

Mos Def will play a hardened ex-con who claims to have found religion yet finds himself surrounded by vio-

lence. Michael C. Hall’s Dexter, a blood-spatter analyst who dispatches deserving criminals in his spare time, will reveal the truth of who he really is.

He joins Colin Hanks — who will appear in all 12 episodes — as one of the upcoming season’s villains.

Hanks will play Travis, Dexter’s main nemesis and a highly intelligent ancient artifacts expert who is linked to a series of grisly murders

in Miami.

At this point it is unclear in how many episodes Mos Def will appear. But he is one of multiple recurring characters who will populate the show in place of Season 5 guest stars including Jonny Lee Miller, Julia Stiles and Peter Weller.

Mos Def, whose real name is Dante Smith, has built an eclectic career in theater, TV and film. His feature credits include “Be Kind Rewind” and “The Italian Job.” He has

Keke Wyatt confirms reality show with Faith Evans, Tweet, Nicci Gilbert, Syleena Johnson

Keke Wyatt R&B singer Keke Wyatt recently confirmed a reality television series with R&B singers Faith Evans, Nicci Gilbert from Brownstone, Syleena Johnson, Tweet, Kelly Price and Angie Stone.

Wyatt described the premise of the show with YouKnowIGotSoul.com as “Basically going into our lives and showing that we’re not only singers of R&B, we’re also mothers and we lead lives like regular women do.”

The show is the latest reality television series that captures the full experience of woman that are in similar situations such as Basketball Wives, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Football Wives amongst others.

For fans that would like to have a look inside the glamor, the show will offer the other perspective on artists lives.

“We’ll be in the store grocery shopping and our baby decides it wants to poop everywhere or throw up all over us while we’re right in the middle of a grocery store.

At the same time, people are like “Oh my God how are you doing! Can I have your autograph!” and I’m thinking “Oh yea I’m going to give you an autograph with sh*t all over the front of my clothes!”

Faith Evans

Tweet

Nicci Gilbert Syleena Johnson

Angie Stone For Wyatt the show is an opportunity “showing that we go through the regular stuff, we argue with our spouses, we love our spouses, we have happy days and down days.

How we work and how we go to school meetings like every-

Kelly Price body else.”

In addition to the reality show Wyatt will be releasing her third effort since her debut album ‘Soul Sista’ in 2001.

served as the host, music supervisor and co-executive producer for the HBO series “Def Poetry.” He made his Broadway debut in the Tonynominated, Pulitzer-winning “Topdog/Underdog” and he just completed a run of “A Free Man of Color” at New York’s Lincoln Center opposite Jeffrey Wright.

“Dexter’s” fifth season was its most-watched to date averaging over 5 million viewers a week (in linear and ondemand plays). The season finale rivaled Season 4’s dramatic closer, pulling in 2.5 million viewers on its first airing.

Sanaa Lathan shares views on interracial relationship and success The beautiful and talented Sanaa Lathan is going back to her roots, so to speak, of playing characters involved in interracial relationships and is starring in the off-Broadway play, “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.”In fact, at this point, she’s developed an all-for-it attitude regarding racially mixed hook ups, shall we say.

“I think that at this point, 21st century, it’s like time to get on with it. I think there’s nothing wrong with dating interracially. There’s nothing wrong with dating your same gender. I think that at this point people should be able to love who they love, love is a blessing,” she told CYInterview. “I feel fortunate that I’ve gotten to play characters who happen to love. They love Black men. I play a character that falls in love with a Vietnamese man.

I played a lesbian character.

I played a character that loved a white man. So, I just think that it shouldn’t be an issue anymore. It’s sad that it still is an issue to me. You know what I mean?”

Besides “Vera Stark,” Lathan, 39, is starring in quite a few roles, including her recurring spot on TV show, “Nip Tuck.” She’ll also be in upcoming thriller movie, “Contagion.”

As far as being an African American woman in the industry, she knows

what it takes to make it and be a star.

“The first thing that comes to mind is just really, I really believe in developing. If you have a dream, I really believe in doing the work of developing of yourself, getting in. Whether if you’re a singer or you want to be a teacher or you want to be a writer, get in class, study the people who you admire, do the work to make yourself the best that you can be. I think that a lot of people think that things come easy in this life and it doesn’t always come easy. I think that the better you can be prepared through preparation and study, the better it will turn out for you.”

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

18

Cisco braces for biggest layoffs in its history

By JIM FINKLE BOSTON — Cisco Systems Inc is expected to cut thousands of jobs in possibly its worst-ever round of layoffs to meet Chief Executive John Chambers’ goal of slashing costs by $1 billion.

Four analysts contacted

by Reuters estimated the world’s largest maker of network equipment will eliminate up to 4,000 jobs in coming months, with the average forecast at 3,000. That would represent 4 percent of Cisco’s 73,000 permanent workers. It also has an undisclosed number of temporary contractors.

Cisco’s previous record layoffs was set in fiscal 2002, when the company shed some 2,000 jobs, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Paul Mansky.

That was back when the Internet bubble burst, ending a period of unrestrained spending on technology products as Internet startups and old school companies alike rushed to establish a Web presence.

But this time, Cisco can-

not point to bad market conditions or a weak economy as excuses for wielding the ax to its payroll. Instead, Chambers last month took responsibility for mistakes in managing Cisco, saying it needs to focus on its core businesses and be more disciplined about expanding into new areas.

Thus, some of the layoffs are expected to come from businesses that Cisco pulls out of in coming months.

Chambers, who has led Cisco for 16 of its 26-year history, has said he will pull out of some nonstrategic areas where Cisco is not the No. 1 or No. 2 player.

A month ago Chambers said Cisco would dump its Flip video camera business, ax 550 jobs and take a charge of $300 million related to the move.

He has yet to disclose which business will be next to go, but Cisco has invested heavily in a wide range of consumer products that have yet to take off, including its Umi home video conference system and home security cameras.

Cisco said on Wednesday

that it planned to trim its workforce as part of a plan to cut some $1 billion in costs from its annual budget.

Executives declined to comment on how many jobs they will cut, saying they will make an announcement by the end of summer.

Wall Street analysts, who were disappointed with the low revenue forecast that Cisco gave for the current quarter and the coming fiscal year, said they were pleased to see Cisco taking quick and decisive action on restructuring.

“It’s hard to criticize the pace and scope,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners. “We all love the billion dollars in cost savings, but you never cheer people losing their jobs.”

Nonetheless, Cisco shares fell 4.8 percent on Wednesday, as analysts said it would take many quarters to revive the company.

One of Cisco’s key challenges will be to boost the revenue and profit margins of its single largest business — selling switches that form the backbone of the Internet and corporate networks —

A pedestrian walks past the Cisco logo at the technology company’s campus in San Jose, California. with a smaller workforce.

That unit’s sales have fallen in the past two quarters amid steep competition from Hewlett-Packard Co and Juniper Networks, whose sales are growing.

Cisco’s planned job cuts stand out at a time when most other U.S. technology companies have started to add jobs after cutbacks during the recession. HP said last week that it was hiring more people to sell switches.

Cisco Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni said in an interview late on Wednesday that he did not know when switching sales will start to grow again.

“Part of the issue in there is competing with lowerpriced competitors,” said Alkesh Shah, an analyst with Evercore Partners. “By cutting these costs — as well as being more aggressive in pricing — they will be able to be more competitive.”

Inflation hits 2-1/2 year high, seen peaking

By LUCIA MUTIKANI WASHINGTON — Gasoline and food prices hoisted U.S. inflation to a 2-1/2-year high in April, but there was little sign of a broader pickup in consumer prices that would trouble the Federal Reserve.

The pace of food and fuel price rises slowed considerably from March, suggesting inflation pressures may be peaking.

That, along with a strengthening labor market, lifted the spirits of consumers who have been battered by rising prices.

But the rapid rise in inflation has left wages trailing and many Americans are worried about the squeeze on their personal finances, a survey found.

Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April, slowing from 0.5 percent in March, the Labor Department said on Friday.

The rise, which was in line with economists’ expectations, took the year-on-year inflation reading to 3.2 per-

cent, the highest since October 2008.

Stripping out volatile food and energy costs, core CPI rose a mild 0.2 percent from March.

The 12-month increase at 1.3 percent was at its highest level since February 2010. The Fed, however, would like to see that closer to 2 percent over time.

“The report raises no red flags for the Fed of an unruly inflationary dynamic taking hold,” said Julia Coronado, North America chief economist at BNP Paribas in New York.

“Surging headline inflation has taken some steam out of economic momentum of late which would leave the Fed more inclined to be cautious in removing accommodation.”

Year-on-year core CPI has risen 0.7 percentage point from a record low of 0.6 percent in October, an increase Fed officials will keep an eye on as they decide when to tighten policy.

Separately, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s index of consumer sentiment rose to 72.4 from 69.8 in April. The surveys also

showed consumers were less worried about inflation over the next year.

The stiff rise in food and energy costs in recent months has squeezed consumers, who are seeing only tepid wage gains.

Average hourly earnings, when adjusted for inflation, fell 0.3 percent in April — declining for a third straight month. In the 12 months to April, they dropped 1.2 percent.

The sentiment survey showed a quarter of respondents reported declining incomes, and almost a third said rising prices had lowered their living standards.

Many Americans are cutting spending to cope with rising prices.

John Bedell, 38, an architect living in Boston said he often brings his lunch to work and borrows movies and books from a public library rather than buy them. He also recently cut his cable package.

Kathy Wismer, a 45-yearold equine enthusiast from Baldwin City, Kansas, has parked her horse trailer and pickup truck in the barn.

She said she and her husband are planning to save more this summer ahead of what may be harder times ahead.

“I think the economy is turning around, but I don’t think there is any quick fix,” she said.

Data on Thursday showed high food and energy prices diverted spending from other areas in April as retail sales posted their smallest rise in nine months. For details see Last month, rising costs for housing, cars and trucks boosted core CPI. Prices for new vehicles rose 0.7 percent, reflecting lean inventories as a shortage of parts following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan disrupts production.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on the inflation report, while stocks fell. Strong growth data in Germany and France boosted the euro against the dollar.

The U.S. central bank has pumped massive amounts of money into the economy, in part to prevent a damaging downward spiral in prices.

Its focus is now shifting to

how best to eventually withdraw some of the monetary stimulus.

With commodity prices dropping sharply in recent days, economists said headline inflation was close to peaking, which would lessen the risk of broader price pressures building.

“Given what has gone on with commodity prices lately it’s likely to represent a peaking in near-term inflation pressures. You are going to see a rollover in the coming months,” said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds in New York.

“Inflation pressures as a whole throughout the economy remain modest.”

Gasoline prices accounted for almost half of the rise in overall consumer inflation last month, advancing 3.3 percent.

The pace of increase, however, slowed from March’s 5.6 percent rise and further declines are likely. U.S. gasoline futures posted their sharpest daily drop since September 2008 on Wednesday. They edged up on Friday.

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

19

Americans find simple ways to tighten their belts

By LAUREN KEIPER BOSTON — Americans squeezed by high gasoline prices and rising costs for food and other essentials are resorting to simple but effective steps to stretch their paychecks a bit further.

Cutting back on driving is an obvious option but even non-drivers have seen living costs rise as businesses try to pass on the higher prices of energy and raw materials.

Data on Friday showed gasoline and food prices pushed U.S. inflation to a 21/2 year high of 3.2 percent in the 12-months to April.

Inflation is a lot lower when food and energy are stripped out of the equation, the preferred way of looking at price growth for policymakers at the Federal Reserve. But stripping them out of a household budget is not so easy.

John Bedell, 38, an architect who lives in Boston, said he has been bringing his lunch to work more often to save money.

Bedell has also trimmed his

The price of bread is seen on a store shelf. entertainment expenses — lon, up from $3.81 a month making cuts to his cable tele- ago and 38 percent higher vision package and borrowing than a year ago.

Drivers whose cars demand books and movies from the public library instead of buy- premium gas are coughing up $4.25 per gallon on avering them.

Kim Williams of Boston is age.

Gasoline and food prices brown-bagging her lunch more often too. “I don’t shop prices were not the only as much as I used to. I try not headache for consumers last to eat out as much, and I try to month. Prices for new vehicook,” said Williams, 47, who cles rose and increases for used cars and trucks were works in customer service.

The automobile service club even steeper.

Americans also had to dig AAA on Friday put the national average price for reg- deeper to pay for medical care ular gasoline at $3.98 per gal- last month and prices for

apparel and furniture turned higher.

Many Americans have no choice but to drive to work.

Still, some trips have to be canceled, whether to the shopping mall or to see friends and relatives.

“I’m driving less. You don’t get to travel to see extended family as much,” said Dave Bennett, 51, of Waltham, Massachusetts. “You can’t really do much about commuting costs.”

Bennett takes the train to his job in the financial services industry but drives from his home to the station. He expects the price of his rail pass to jump as well.

In Kansas, in the U.S. Midwest, average gasoline prices are a little below the national average, at $3.89 per gallon, according to AAA. That is little comfort to equine enthusiast and freelance photographer Kathy Wismer, 45, of Baldwin City, Kansas.

It costs Wismer some $90 to fill the tank of her pickup truck to haul a horse trailer to and from events.

“The truck is pretty much parked in the barn now,” she

Travelers warned not to rely only on GPS

By LAURA ZUCKERMAN SALMON, Idaho — Travelers in the western U.S. should not rely solely on technology such as GPS for navigation, authorities said, after a Canadian couple were lost in the Nevada wilderness for 48 days.

Albert Chretien, 59, and his wife Rita Chretien, 56, sought a shorter route between Boise,

Idaho and Jackpot, Nevada during a road trip from British Columbia to Las Vegas.

Rita Chretien drank water from a stream and rationed meager supplies until hunters found her on Friday. Albert Chretien has been missing since March 22, when he went to seek help.

The Chretians mapped the route on their hand-held GPS, an electronic device tied to global satellites and common-

ly used for navigation.

Law enforcement and search and rescue officials said that too many travelers are letting technology lull them into a false sense of security.

“There are times when you need to put the GPS down and look out the window,” said Howard Paul, veteran search and rescue official with the Colorado Search and Rescue Board, the volunteer organization that coordinates that

state’s missions.

Sheriff’s offices in remote, high-elevation parts of Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming report the past two years have brought a rise in the number of GPS-guided travelers driving off marked and paved highways and into trouble.

The spike has prompted Death Valley National Park in California to caution on its web site that “GPS navigation to sites to remote locations like Death Valley are notoriously

Facebook admits hiring firm to highlight Google flaws

By YINKA ADEGOKE Facebook admitted on Thursday it had hired a public relations firm to highlight supposed flaws in Google Inc’s privacy practices but denied it had intended a smear campaign against the search giant.

Facebook, which has taken privacy missteps of its own with users in the past, hired WPP owned PR firm Burson-Marstellar to focus attention on the use of consumers’ personal informa-

tion on Google Social Circles, one of Google’s less known social networking features.

The revelation highlights the growing rivalry between Google, the world’s leading Web search business, and Facebook, the largest social networking site with over a half a billion users globally.

Facebook and Google’s skirmish shows how consumer privacy, particularly around sensitive data, could be a ticking time bomb for modern Internet companies who manage an increasing amount of information about their users such as credit

card and social security numbers.

Burson-Marstellar contacted several journalists and privacy experts without revealing the identity of its client. Facebook said it should have presented the issues in a “serious and transparent” way.

“We wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles,” the company said in a statement. “Facebook did not

approve of use or collection for this purpose.”

Privacy and security analyst Christopher Soghoian was contacted on May 3 by Burson-Marstellar asking if he was interested in writing an opinion column on privacy issues related to Google Social Circles.

“What struck me as odd was that this email wasn’t pitching for a company but against it,” said Soghoian.

“They said if I don’t have time they can write the column for me and get it into places like Huffington Post and The Hill.”

said. Instead, she and her husband, an air traffic controller, drive their gas-sipping subcompact car whenever possible.

Kyle Robinson, who owns a landscaping company, and his wife, Rebecca, a nurse, were vacationing in San Francisco on Friday. The Connecticut couple said the trip was possible only because they are staying with friends to cut costs.

“Between oil and food and gas, everyday expenses are much harder,” said Rebecca, 37.

The Robinsons show the conundrum the new thriftiness poses for the U.S. economy where small businesses are traditionally the engine for job growth.

Every worker who makes his own lunch could mean a lost sale for a local sandwich shop. Every homeowner forced to cut her own grass means lost business for a lawn service.

“Not as many people are spending money, it seems,” said Kyle Robinson, 26. That means “more hours by myself, fewer employees,” he said. unreliable.”

When two roads diverge in Western lands, take the one more traveled, authorities said.

“You’ve got people driving into the middle of a field because a machine showed a route that was shorter and quicker — which it ultimately is not,” said Rob DeBree, undersheriff in Albany County in southeastern Wyoming.

Searching for travelers who veer off an interstate highway in a county the size of Connecticut can be costly, time-consuming and dangerous for rescuers, he said.

Jerry Colson, sheriff of neighboring Carbon County, issued a broad appeal this winter to stay on paved roadways after several motorists consulted GPS devices for shortcuts and plowed into snowdrifts on roads to nowhere.

Authorities said such incidents show there is no substitute for common sense.

Kevin McKinney, detective sergeant with the sheriff’s office in Elko County, Nevada that is heading up the search for Albert Chretien, said motorists risk hardships on the patchwork of primitive roads in the wilds of northern Nevada where technology is ineffective.

“This country is as rugged and as unforgiving as you can get,” he said.

20

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DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

21

Rajon Rondo doesn’t need surgery, Jermaine O’Neal does

By CHRIS FORSBERG WALTHAM, Mass. — Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo will not require surgery for the dislocated elbow he suffered during the playoff series against the Miami Heat.

“I was in the back room when Rondo had the dislocated elbow, and he was in an amazing amount of pain,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Friday. “I mean, he was trying to get back out on the court now. He didn’t want to

ice it, he didn’t want the Xray. He said, ‘Pop it back, tape it up, let’s go.’ He was worried about the clock running down in the game and he was in excruciating pain and it was amazing what he was able to accomplish.

“He loves to play. No one can question Rajon and his toughness, and his desire to play.”

Celtics big man Jermaine O’Neal is not so lucky on the surgery front. He will undergo wrist surgery. O’Neal tore cartilage in his left wrist during the preseason while taking a charge in Toronto, then further damaged that

area taking another charge in the first round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks.

“Jermaine is sort of the quiet one through this,” Ainge said.

“Jermaine endured a lot this year, and Jermaine needs some pretty serious surgery on his left wrist, and he played. Jermaine is left-handed. Most people don’t know this, but he dunks and finished and drives and does everything with his left hand. He blocks shots — he was able to do that still with his left hand, but ... his left wrist was seriously hurt, and fractured

and he needs surgery, and probably pins put in his wrist. So yeah, our guys wanted it, and I’ll never question that.”

O’Neal said after Wednesday’s loss that he will take time this offseason to evaluate his own future, but the 32-year-old center (with a lot of NBA miles on his tires) remains under contract for one more season at $6.2 million.

Ainge also wasn’t sure what the future holds for Shaquille O’Neal.

Right Achilles and calf injuries sidelined him for all but 171⁄2 minutes in three

appearances after Feb. 1.

O’Neal boasts a player option for the 2011-12 season at the veteran’s minimum. “[Shaq’s future] doesn’t matter right now, from any of our planning, at this minute,” Ainge said. “I like everybody to just take some time off after emotional losses and get your heads together and we’ll talk about that in a future time.”

With the future of the two big men in question, Ainge said he would like to re-sign free agent Glen Davis. But “Big Baby” has said that he would like to be a starter someplace.

like that, it’s a nostalgic vehicle ... what can you really do with it to have a true impact?

My riding up and down the Dream Cruise a couple of days

a year means a lot to me — that day. But then I’m going to park it for a year,” Rose said. “It’s going to a worthy cause.”

Grant Hill dispute over, Jalen Rose says DETROIT — Former Michigan basketball star Jalen Rose says Grant Hill has agreed to help support the new charter school in Detroit bearing Rose’s name.

The Jalen Rose Leadership Academy is expected to open in September. Rose says Hill has promised to lend his support and that things are fine between them after Hill criticized Rose in March for comments he made in an ESPN documentary about Michigan’s famous Fab Five.

Hill, a former Duke standout, criticized Rose in the New York Times for saying the Blue Devils “only recruited Black players that were ‘Uncle Toms.’ “ Rose says he was only describing how he felt

back when he was a teenager — as opposed to now.

“Any time, for example, you have a critically acclaimed piece like the Fab Five documentary has been, you’re going to have 99 percent of the people that love it, but when you have the brutal honesty, you’re going to have that 1 percent on the other side of the coin, so to speak,” Rose said Saturday. “I definitely talked to Grant and reached out to Coach K, and again clarified that that was how I felt as a high school recruit.”

A Detroit native, Rose threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Detroit Tigers’ game Saturday against Kansas City. Afterward, he

was eager to promote the new school, and he said Hill — a former Detroit Piston — has agreed to support the venture.

Rose said Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh has also reached out to him.

Rose, who spent 13 years in the NBA and is now an ESPN analyst, recently decided to sell his version of the “General Lee,” a 1969 Dodge Charger used in “The Dukes of Hazzard” television series.

Proceeds will benefit the new school.

Rose said he got little use out of the car, except during the Woodward Dream Cruise, the Detroit area’s annual vintage car parade.

“You have a great vehicle

Celtics coach Doc Rivers accepts new five-year deal BOSTON — Doc Rivers has agreed to a fresh fiveyear deal to remain head coach of the Boston Celtics and take the franchise into a new era, the NBA team said on Friday.

Rivers’s existing contract was set to expire at the end of this season and he had initially planned to take a break from coaching to watch his son play college basketball.

However, the 49-year-old changed his mind after Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge approached him before the start of the playoffs about a possible return.

“I think Doc is the best coach in the league, so it’s great for us to have him around,” Ainge told reporters

at the team’s practice facility.

“Doc has always known that we’ve wanted him and that offer was on the table. As the playoffs first started, we started that conversation

again.”

Ainge did not disclose further details of Rivers’ new deal but local media estimate the contract extension to be worth $35 million.

“Doc wants to be here,” Ainge said. “It’s not all because he thinks that over the next five years we’re going to have the best team in the NBA. “He’s part of this franchise ... and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help us be successful.”

After the Celtics were eliminated from the Eastern Conference semi-finals in five games by the Miami Heat on Wednesday, Rivers had said he was “leaning heavily” toward coming back.

“I haven’t made that decision, but I can tell you I probably will,” he told reporters.

“I’ve kind of come to that over the last couple of weeks.

“I’m a Celtic ... and I love our guys. I want to win again

here, and I’m competitive as hell. I have a competitive group, so we’ll see.”

An NBA All-Star as a player with the Atlanta Hawks in 1988, Rivers led the Celtics to the 2008 NBA championship and also to the 2010 Finals where Boston were beaten by the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games.

By committing to a new five-year deal, he will be able to rebuild the team as the era of dominance by the ‘Big Three’ of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen draws to a close.

“To help Kevin, Ray and Paul, we just have to add talent,” Rivers said. “We relied on those three to carry the load for years, but we can’t do that as much anymore.”

22

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

Michael Vick to address graduates The students have spoken — they want Michael Vick.

The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback received more votes than Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and Philadelphia schools superintendent Dr. Arlene Ackerman in a poll among students at the five Philadelphia-area Camelot Schools to determine a commencement speaker.

Vick will speak at the ceremony next month at Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

Camelot consists of five educational institutions and works with the Philadelphia school district to provide transition services for teenagers with behavioral and emotional issues.

Camelot also assists children who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out.

“These students may have made a mistake along the way, but they turned it around,” Vick said in a state-

ment. “They did the right thing and finished school. I am honored to be speaking at their commencement.”

In 2007, Vick — once the highest-paid player in the league and a star with the Atlanta Falcons — was convicted for his role in a dogfighting ring and served 18 months in federal prison.

In 2009, the Eagles took a chance and signed him to a one-year deal with a team option for a second year. He spent 2009 as a thirdstringer, behind Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb. In 2010, McNabb was traded to Washington, and Kolb was injured in the season opener, giving Vick the chance to take over as the starter. He was named the 2010 NFL Comeback Player of the Year

by The Associated Press, throwing for 3,018 yards and 21 touchdowns, with six interceptions.

“Based on Vick’s recent story of making a mistake,

hitting rock bottom and having the courage to pick himself back up and work through difficult period of life, that was something we felt was very relevant to the student population and their story,” Camelot vice president of operations Milton Alexander said. “It will be something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Alexander said Vick, who has been working with the Humane Society in speaking out against dogfighting, sets a good example for the graduates.

“One thing that we are constantly addressing with our students is if you make a mistake, if you make a bad decision, there is accountability involved, and just because this is your reality now it doesn’t have to be your reality forever,” Alexander said.

“Vick’s story is very relevant to their situation.”

Donovan McNabb responds to Bernard Hopkins’ barbs PHILADELPHIA — Donovan McNabb wants to call for the bell and end this one-sided fight with Bernard Hopkins.

The agent for the Washington Redskins quarterback and former Philadelphia Eagles star released a statement Thursday that said Hopkins’ racially tinged insults about McNabb “are dangerous and irresponsible.”

“It perpetuates a maliciously inaccurate stereotype that insinuates those African Americans who have access to a wider variety of resources are somehow culturally different than their brethren,” Fletcher Smith said.

Hopkins, the former middleweight champion, has verbally bashed McNabb like a punching bag for years. Hopkins, a Philadelphia native and diehard Eagles fan, has repeatedly criticized McNabb for a variety of perceived grievances.

At a workout for his upcoming fight, Hopkins took time before a sparring session to rip McNabb. Referencing skin color, Hopkins said McNabb has “got a suntan, that’s all.”

Hopkins has long claimed McNabb wasn’t the right quarterback to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl championship because he didn’t have

heart. Now, Hopkins says that’s because McNabb was raised in a modest suburb outside of Chicago and not the gritty south side of the city.

Hopkins was raised in a more rough-and-ruthless part of North Philadelphia.

Reached by phone Thursday, Hopkins refused to soften his stance on McNabb.

“Look at professional boxing. I’ve never seen a suburban boxer be successful,” Hopkins said. “There has to be something in the DNA of the person’s experience, of what they overcame, to have that grit; like, I’m going to bite down and let it happen. I just didn’t see that in him.”

Hopkins will fight Jean Pascal for the light heavyweight championship May 21

in Montreal. If the 46-year-old Hopkins wins, he’ll become the oldest boxer to win a world title.

At the end of a nearly 40minute press session on Tuesday, Hopkins joked that with the Flyers and 76ers out of the playoffs and the Phillies’ season still months from the pennant race, he is Philadelphia’s sports “franchise.”

“With McNabb out of town, I ain’t got to worry about that no more,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins was then asked what he thought about Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who, like Hopkins, was raised in an impoverished community and spent time in prison.

Vick served 18 months in federal prison for running a dogfighting ring. Hopkins started boxing in a Pennsylvania state prison, where he served five years beginning at the age of 17.

Hopkins went on an uninterrupted seven-minute, often factually incorrect ramble that put down McNabb and praised Vick.

“I can relate, not to what he did, but I can relate to what kind of guy inside he is that McNabb didn’t have,” Hopkins said at a local gym. “That doesn’t make McNabb a bad guy. It goes back to what we always say about upbring-

ing.”

McNabb and his agent had enough. Smith detailed McNabb’s community service, his “impenetrable integrity,” and refused to apologize for how he was raised.

“Donovan’s parents are proud Americans who worked hard to give their sons the best childhood they could provide,” Smith said. “He is unapologetically proud of sacrifices they made for him.

Donovan and his brother were raised to be hard-working African American men who were taught to believe in themselves.”

McNabb was dragged into unwanted controversies when he played for the Eagles.

Conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh was forced to resign from a gig on ESPN after making negative comments about McNabb in 2003. J. Whyatt Mondesire, the publisher of the Philadelphia Sunday Sun, a Black newspaper, wrote in a column that McNabb was “mediocre” and that he found it insulting that McNabb had “concocted reasoning that African American quarterbacks who can scramble and who can run the ball are somehow lesser field generals.”

Wide receiver Terrell Owens saw his relationship

with McNabb disintegrate into a full-blown feud a year after they led the Eagles to the Super Bowl. Hopkins has long backed Owens in that fight because he felt the outspoken receiver was more “real.”

Hopkins called McNabb a good family man, a good corporate pitchman and a “fantastic guy.” But those qualities haven’t been enough to stop Hopkins from attacking McNabb.

“You know how many times I hear in the city, from the hardcore Philly fan, that he’s soft?” Hopkins said Thursday. “They’re like, ‘Yo, Bernard, this guy is soft.’

Where do you think it comes from? It’s in his DNA, man.”

McNabb was criticized in 2006 for injecting a race element into his rift with Owens, saying the receiver’s criticism amounted to “Black-on-Black crime.”

Fletcher called for an end to playing the race card.

“It is vital that we extinguish this brand of willful ignorance,” he said, “and instill in the minds of African American youth, regardless of the parental makeup of your household, they can become anything they wish if they work hard and make the right decisions in life.”

DAILY CHALLENGE MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

23

Reggie Bush still prefers Saints NEW ORLEANS — Reggie Bush is back in the Big Easy, where he’s backing away from recent Twitter posts that indicated he may not see the New Orleans Saints in his future.

“I would love to retire here if possible,” Bush said Saturday. “I would love to play for the Saints for however long my career, God willing, allows me to play. First and foremost, I want to be a Saint.”

Bush spoke during his annual youth football camp at Tulane, on the same fields where he’s been absent while teammates have been taking part in workouts organized

by Saints quarterback Drew Brees during the NFL lockout.

Bush said he soon expects to join some of those workouts, albeit “sparingly.” He also expressed regret over several of his recent comments on Twitter that he posted after the Saints selected Alabama running back and former Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram in the first round of the NFL draft in April.

Soon after Ingram was

drafted, Bush wrote: “It’s been fun New Orleans.” He has since tweeted that he was making the best of the lockout by relaxing and taking vacation. The timing of the latter tweet, after about 40 Saints players had started working out together at Tulane, drew criticism from a number of fans in New Orleans.

“Obviously sometimes you write things and you say things and it may come off the wrong way,” Bush said.

“It may be taken the wrong way. You may not even mean it that way or you may regret it. At the end of the day, I probably shouldn’t have tweeted that and I probably shouldn’t have said that and I’m sure a lot of people took it the wrong way and I apologize to the city of New Orleans if they have.”

Bush added that he believes Ingram is “a great player and I think he’s going to have a huge role here.”

“He can help us, you know? We need all the help we can get and that’s part of what happens in the NFL draft,” Bush continued. “You get help and you get great

players.”

Bush said he is healthy and that he has been working out hard on his own in Los Angeles at a gym owned by former Saints teammate Billy Miller.

“Look at these guns,” he said, chuckling, as he flexed his right bicep.

He added that he has been “messing around” with some ultimate fighting training with FOX Sports personality Jay Glazer.

Bush is due about $11.8 million for the 2011 season, but the Saints expect him to take a pay cut. Bush said he remains willing to negotiate, as he initially stated after the season. However, he stopped short of saying he was confident a deal would be reached.

“That’s something that me, my agent and the Saints have to collectively come together and talk about and just come to a meeting point, a happy medium,” Bush said.

“Obviously, we know that there’s going to have to be some type of pay cut and there’s going to have to be some type of re-negotiation.”

Bush and his agent, Joel Segal, cannot negotiate with

the club right now because of the lockout, which could drag on for months.

In 2010, Bush missed eight games because a broken bone in his lower right leg, and during the other eight games was used as a role player — with 36 carries for 150 yards and 34 receptions for 208 yards and his only touchdown of the season.

When a federal court ruling compelled the NFL to briefly lift the lockout the day after Ingram was drafted, Payton called Bush to ensure the five-year pro that there was still a place for him in New Orleans.

Brees said he also sent Bush text messages of sup-

port. The quarterback said Bush should see Ingram’s addition as an opportunity to reduce the pounding he takes on carries into the line and focus more on an array of runs and pass routes that let him use his speed and agility in the open field.

“Drew’s the leader of our team, he’s our quarterback, so of course it resonates definitely, a lot,” Bush said. “I hear it and I know they want me here and I know that the coaches want me here and the team wants me here. So it’s just a matter of handling the business side of it. It sucks, but every player is going to have to deal with it at some point in time in their career.”

Ochocinco rides bull for 1.5 seconds, gets $10,000

By GEORGE HENRY DULUTH, Ga. — NFL receiver Chad Ochocinco backed up his promise to ride a 1,500-pound bull on the Professional Bull Riders circuit Saturday night, earning $10,000 for making it out of the chute atop Deja Blu. The ride lasted 1.5 seconds before Ochocinco was bucked off with no apparent injury.

Ochocinco, who wore a helmet and a standard protective vest, fell 6.5 seconds short of the time needed to win a new Ford truck and to earn the right to rename the bull after Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.

But the challenge that began with a tweet earlier this month ended with Ochocinco proving PBR president Sean Gleason that he was serious. The six-time Pro Bowl receiver said, however, that he would never ride a bull again.

“One and done,” he said.

The publicity stunt was the latest for Ochocinco, whose Twitter account has nearly 2 million followers.

Ochocinco said he did not speak with Cincinnati coaches when the NFL lockout was briefly lifted in late April. He is under contract with the Bengals but is likely either to

be released or told to take a hefty pay cut now that Cincinnati has drafted A.J. Green.

Ochocinco acknowledged that the Bengals probably weren’t pleased that he was risking a career-threatening injury.

“I’m sure my coach was

probably (upset),” Ochocinco said. “I mean, I would be, too.

I’m sure the NFL is (upset), but I don’t follow their rules anyway.”

Ty Murray, a former world champion rider and a PBR director, coached Ochocinco the last two days at the Gwinnett Arena in hopes of preparing him for the powerful force of a bucking bull.

Murray compared the experience to a first-time skier attempting to navigate a run from the top of the French Alps.

“We practiced several crash scenarios today,” Murray said. “He’s a phenomenal athlete, he’s very easy to teach because he’s so athletic and aware of his body. But what he did was monumental and to try and ride a bull for 8 seconds with his lack of experience is impossible.”

Ochocinco and Deja Blu were the feature event at intermission of the Lucas Oil Invitational. According to Gleason, Ochocinco helped to generate much-needed pub-

licity for the PBR. “I think our viewership for this show will be our highest of the year, but I think the effects will be longranging,” Gleason said. “A guy like Chad can come in here and think that this is going to be an easy thing to do and then stand there and say, ‘I had no idea. This is unbelievable.’

“That’s going to help our sport more than anything.”

Ochocinco, who tried out in March with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer, has no plans to try another dangerous sport during the lockout.

Playing in the NFL is hard enough, but he disagreed that bull riding presented a major risk to his longevity.

“No, every down is a risk to my career,” he said.

“Every time I wake up in the morning there’s a risk to life in general. You never know what’s going to happen. One of the things about me is I’m extremely interesting, I’m unpredictable and I am willing to do anything.”

MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011

MI C HA EL V I CK T O A D DR ES S GRADUATES The students have spoken — they want Michael Vick. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback received more votes than Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and Philadelphia schools superintendent Dr. Arlene Ack-

VENUS WILLIAMS PULLS OUT OF FRENCH OPEN ROME — Venus Williams has joined her sister Serena in withdrawing from the French Open because of injury, the WTA said.

The world number 19 has not played since retiring from the Australian Open in January with an abdominal injury and she has failed to recover sufficiently, the WTA added.

With Serena also absent, this year’s French Open from May 22 to June 5 will be the first grand slam event without a Williams sister since the 2003 U.S. Open.

A number of high profile names have recently pulled out of the claycourt grand slam as former world number one Dinara Safina is taking an

indefinite break while Kim Clijsters is also a doubt after injuring herself at her cousin’s wedding.

Venus, 30, pulled out of the Brussels Open warm-up event last week.

She has played at the French Open every year since 1998, reaching one final in 2002, when she lost to Serena.

erman in a poll among students at the five Philadelphia-area Camelot Schools to determine a commencement speaker.

SEE PAGE 22.