Study: 9/11 WTC dust sickened residents years later
Several years after dust from the World Trade Center twin towers found its way into thousands of homes and nearly every crevice in lower Manhattan, area residents still suffered health problems, according to a new study.
People living in homes damaged after 2001′s Trade Center attacks were more likely to report respiratory illness or disease years later, when compared with people whose homes were not damaged, according to a recent analysis of World Trade Center Health Registry data.
Hawaii sends Arizona verification of Obama’s birth
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett said Tuesday night that he has received information from Hawaii that proves President Obama’s American birth and satisfies Arizona’s requirements for having the president on the upcoming election ballot.
A Hawaii official sent Bennett’s office verification of birth for President Obama on Tuesday, according to both Bennett and Hawaii officials.
Bennett said the issue is now resolved from his point of view. He has cancelled a planned Wednesday news conference where he was expected to discuss the issue.
Attorney Of US Soldier Accused Of Mass Murder In Afghanistan Say He’s Seen Zero Evidence Of Massacre
Newark NJ Mayor Cory Booker (Obama Pal) PAID by BAIN to make Pro Romney Remarks
May 23, 2012 by Jack Blood
Filed under Americas
FOB… Friend of Barry OR Friend of BAIN?
Mayor Booker - payoffs and corruption worked for his friend Barry... Why not take the bribe?
Yesterday, Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker (D) attacked the Obama campaign for making an issue of Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital during an appearance on Meet the Press. While the progressive leader later backed off the criticisms, Republicans have been quick to highlight his comments as an attackagainst the idea that scrutiny of Mitt Romney’s record as a businessman is fair game.
A ThinkProgress examination of New Jersey campaign finance records for Booker’s first run for Mayor — back in 2002 — suggests a possible reason for his unease with attacks on Bain Capital and venture capital. They were among his earliest and most generous backers.
Contributions to his 2002 campaign from venture capitalists, investors, and big Wall Street bankers brought him more than $115,000 for his 2002 campaign. Among those contributing to his campaign were John Connaughton ($2,000), Steve Pagliuca ($2,200), Jonathan Lavine ($1,000) — all of Bain Capital. While the forms are not totally clear, it appears the campaign raised less than $800,000 total, making this a significant percentage.
He and his slate also jointly raised funds for the “Booker Team for Newark” joint committee. They received more than $450,000 for the 2002 campaign from the sector — including a pair of $15,400 contributions from Bain Capital Managing Directors Joshua Bekenstein and Mark Nunnelly. It appears that for the initial campaign and runoff, the slate raised less than $4 million — again making this a sizable chunk.
In all — just in his first Mayoral run — Booker’s committees received more than $565,000 from the people he was defending. At least $36,000 of that came from folks at Romney’s old firm.
RELATED:
Newark Mayor Cory Booker Defends Bain Capital, Attacks Obama Campaign
Chicago 3 – NATO terrorism defendants kept in ‘observation’ cells
May 23, 2012 by Jack Blood
Filed under Americas
One of their lawyers says the jail conditions amount to ‘sensory deprivation’ intended to hamper the defense.
A spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says three anti-NATO protesters accused of terrorism conspiracy have been held around-the-clock since Saturday in white-walled observation cells, where they are isolated from each other and the rest of the inmate population and kept from writing materials, books and all other media.
“It’s for their own safety and the safety of the [jail] staff and other inmates,” the spokesman, Frank Bilecki, said Tuesday afternoon. “Obviously we’re concerned about their mental status and well-being.”
Bilecki said Gary Hickerson, acting executive director of the sheriff’s Department of Corrections, ordered the observation because the defendants are young and because their charges are serious. Bilecki said the decision had nothing to do with behavior since arrest and that the State’s Attorney’s office had no input into the confinement conditions.
But a lawyer for one of the defendants says the jail conditions amount to “sensory deprivation” intended to hamper their defense. “This is a way to break someone’s spirit and break their ability to cooperate with their attorneys,” said the lawyer, Michael Deutsch, who represents Brian Church, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Deutsch complained about the conditions in a court hearing about the case Tuesday afternoon. Defense attorneys said they were “negotiating” with jail staff members to improve the conditions.
Those talks may be paying off. Bilecki said the jail was planning to move the three protesters Tuesday evening into the general inmate population.
Church and the other protesters — Jared Chase, 27, of Keene, N.H; and Brent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla. — also face charges of providing material support for terrorism and possession of explosives or incendiary devices. Cook County Judge Edward S. Harmening on Saturday set their bonds at $1.5 million each.
Authorities accused the trio of possessing Molotov cocktails and planning or proposing attacks on targets including President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home. The three were among nine people arrested during a police raid last Wednesday at the South Side apartment of some Occupy Chicago leaders who helped organize protests against the NATO summit.
Church, Chase and Betterly appeared at Tuesday’s hearing in tan jail uniforms but did not speak. Judge Adam D. Bourgeois Jr. granted a request by prosecutors to continue the case until June 12.
At least two other anti-NATO protesters arrested last week face serious felony charges. Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago is charged with falsely making a terrorist threat. Mark Neiweem, 28, of Chicago is charged with solicitation for explosives or incendiary devices. A judge on Sunday set their bonds at $750,000 and $500,000, respectively.
Senakiewicz and Neiweem are scheduled for a status hearing Wednesday.
Woman survives racial attack at McDonald’s drive-thru
May 23, 2012 by Jack Blood
Filed under Americas
DENVER, Colorado (KUSA) – Police are investigating a vicious beating at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Denver.
Shannon, who asked us not to use her last name, was the victim of an attack on May 9 just before noon.
She called our sister station KUSA 9News, and asked for help finding her attackers.
“I don’t feel safe anymore,” Shannon said.
The attack happened in the middle of the busy lunch hour at the McDonald’s on 3300 Colorado Boulevard near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Radio reference recorded dispatchers describing the attack, as multiple 911 calls came in.
“Two black females are inside. They’re fighting inside the car still in the drive-thru,” one dispatcher can be heard saying.
Shannon has been coming to the same drive-thru almost every day for five years without a problem… until this incident.
“I witnessed this young lady throwing trash out of her car and all I said was that it wasn’t cool,” Shannon said.
A few choice words later, Shannon thought the argument was over.
“All of a sudden I was being attacked,” Shannon said.
Two women jumped out of the car in front of her.
“She was right in my window just punching me in my face, pulling my hair,” Shannon said. “She started biting on my hands so severely. I thought she was gonna bite ‘em off, actually.”
Then a man jumped out of the car and threw a soda through her window.
“He said, ‘This is for you, you white b—-. This is a grape soda.’ And then they took off,” Shannon said.
The attack happened in plain view of a rooftop security camera, but Denver Police told Shannon the actual beating wasn’t caught on tape.
Investigators won’t release the security video, calling this an “open investigation.”
McDonald’s management has no comment, but say it is cooperating with police.
“If they can do that, they can snap and do something else. Something worse,” Shannon said.
Shannon hopes police find whoever beat her up before they do it again.
“I don’t want anybody else to get hurt like I got hurt,” Shannon said.
The description of the suspects – two black women and one black man – is vague. The best clue police have to go on right now is they were driving a light-blue Cadillac with temporary tags.
Call Denver Metro Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867) or text DMCS plus your message to 274637 if you have any information. You can remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward.
Gulf Drug Cartel Forced U.S. Citizen to Smuggle Heroin
May 22, 2012 by supermario
Filed under Americas
by Sergio Chapa
valleycentral.com
A Rio Grande Valley man is behind bars where he claims he was forced to smuggle more than $52,000 dollars worth of heroin by men he met at a bar in Reynosa.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers arrested 18-year-old Carlos Galaviz on a federal drug charge on Sunday.
Court records released Tuesday show that Galaviz came up from Mexico at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge where he allegedly appeared nervous.
Customs officers sent him to secondary inspection where authorities found a package with 1.64 pounds of heroin hidden in the crotch area under his clothes.
Authorities told Action 4 News that they believe the heroin is worth about $54,480 dollars on the streets.
Galaviz told invsetigators that he met a group of men at a bar in Reynosa on Saturday night.
They asked him to smuggle drugs but he declined. The men allegedly replied that they know where his family lived and something would happen to them if he didn’t.
The alleged drug smugglers told Galaviz to meet them on a shopping center on the American side of the border where they would give him money.
Galaviz appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos in McAllen on Monday morning.
Investigators identified Galaviz as an American citizen but did not say which city he lived in.
Judge Ramos denied bond for Galaviz until a Thursday morning hearing.
DEA Ordered Out of Honduras After 4 Innocent Civilians Die in Wild Shootout
May 22, 2012 by supermario
Filed under Americas
ajc.com
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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Bullets flew as U.S. helicopters swooped toward a river boat. Honduran national police rappelled to the ground and locals scattered after loading close to 1,000 pounds of cocaine. Now reverberations from a drug raid that locals say killed four innocent people are being felt from the sultry jungles of Central America to Capitol Hill.
Last week’s DEA-supported predawn raid on the banks of a remote Honduran river began when U.S. drug agents and Honduran national police tracked an airplane loaded with cocaine as it entered the country from South America, Honduras National Police Chief Ricardo Ramirez del Cid said in an interview Thursday.
Ramirez said his officers were in four helicopters when they came under fire from the boat. They fired back and then descended on ropes to the river after the shooting stopped. By the time they got there, they only found a boat full of cocaine. He said they didn’t know if anyone died. There were no people, dead, alive or injured.
Numerous local officials, including Mayor Lucio Vaquedano of the coastal town of Ahuas, said four people, including two pregnant women, were killed. He insisted they were diving for lobster and shellfish when were killed and that they were not involved with drug trafficking.
Congressman Howard Berman said Thursday that if the reports that innocent people were killed are true, the U.S. should review this part of its assistance to Honduras.
“I have consistently expressed deep concerns regarding the danger of pouring U.S. security assistance into a situation where Honduran security forces are involved in serious human rights violations,” said the California Democrat. “The problems are getting worse, not better, making such a review all the more urgent.”
There were many versions of what happened in the early morning May 11 and by the end of the day Thursday, the DEA wouldn’t confirm many details.
Colombia Secret Service Prostitution Scandal Spreads to the DEA
May 22, 2012 by Jack Blood
Filed under Americas
A month after the Secret Service was rocked by allegations that agents brought prostitutes to a Colombia hotel where they were preparing for a visit by President Obama, the Drug Enforcement Administration today announced that at least three of its agents are also under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in Cartagena.
Two of the agents allegedly had encounters with masseuses in the apartment of one of the agents, according to Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“It’s disturbing that we may be uncovering a troubling culture that spans more than one law enforcement agency,” the Maine Republican said this evening. “In addition to the Secret Service scandal, we now learn that at least two DEA agents apparently entertained female foreign national masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the agents. The evidence uncovered thus far indicates that this likely was not just a one-time incident.”
The revelations that Secret Service personnel had been drinking heavily and cavorting with prostitutes ahead of Obama’s trip to Colombia last month overshadowed the president’s trip to the Summit of the Americas. Twelve members of the military were also investgated for allegedly hiring prostitutes.
Eight of the 12 Secret Service employees implicated in the scandal lost their jobs, another is in the process of losing his security clearances, and three agents were cleared of serious misconduct but still could be disciplined. The military has completed its investigation but no disciplinary action has been carried out.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration was provided information from the Secret Service unrelated to the Cartagena hotel Secret Service incident, which DEA immediately followed up on, making DEA employees available to be interviewed by the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General,” a DEA spokesperson said in a statement.
“DEA takes allegations of misconduct very seriously and will take appropriate personnel action, if warranted, upon the conclusion of the OIG investigation.” the statement said.
A spokesman for the OIG said the DEA is cooperating in the investigation, which is being coordinated with the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service.
The DEA has agents posted in Colombia to work on counter-narcotic and drug interdiction missions with Colombian authorities. According to officials the agents were among those assigned in Colombia, they were not specifically working on the President’s trip.
The revelations about the DEA agents comes ahead of a hearing scheduled on Wednesday with Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
Probe finds ‘flood’ of fake military parts from China in U.S. equipment
The results of a more-than-year-long Senate investigation into counterfeit parts being used in U.S. military equipment were released Monday and – as they had from the start – investigators are putting most of the blame on China.
“Our report outlines how this flood of counterfeit parts, overwhelmingly from China, threatens national security, the safety of our troops and American jobs,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which launched the investigation.
The probe began in March of 2011. But it was not easy for the committee staffers to conduct because the Chinese government refused to grant visas to committee staff to travel to mainland China as part of the investigation.
Last year, as the committee was still pushing for the visas, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, the committee’s rankling Republican, said, “It should be in Chinese interest not to have counterfeiting of these electronic parts going on because it would harm legitimate Chinese companies as well.”
